Vietnam Set to Sign Free Trade Pact With European Bloc This Week

Chinese artificial intelligence lab Z.ai’s latest flagship model, GLM-5.3, may be sophisticated enough to “fake” its way through safety tests, according to a new report published Thursday, sparking new fears about the ability of artificial intelligence systems to shape their own development. The model, launched in August, showed an ability to consider how its behaviour during safety evaluations might influence how future versions of itself would be trained, according to AI safety organisation...

Malaysia’s powerful Conference of Rulers and the government need to intervene and find a solution to the months-long royal stand-off in Negeri Sembilan and constitutional limbo over the status of the state’s ruler, according to political analysts. Negeri Sembilan’s royal house has been locked in a bitter deadlock since April over whether incumbent Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir or his proposed replacement, Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar, is the rightful ruler. The feud has taken down a state...

South Korea will continue supporting Ukraine “as a responsible member of the international community” despite a diplomatic dispute over the disclosure of two North Korean prisoners of war being repatriated to the South, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday. The official said Seoul would treat its help to Ukraine separately from the dispute, while continuing bilateral consultations to resolve outstanding issues. The remarks came after South Korean Ambassador to Ukraine Park Ki-chang was...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is in discussions regarding a potential role in Elon Musk’s proposed Terafab project in Texas, according to company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei, although he stressed that TSMC would retain operational control of any partner factory. The plant “has got to be run by TSMC”, Wei said during the third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has sent teams to Texas to assess expansion opportunities beyond its US hub in...

China and the United States are in regular talks about artificial intelligence (AI) as they seek to firm up plans for an incident “hotline” and develop a formalised dialogue process ahead of a presidential summit next month. The two sides aim to agree on a basic framework for addressing AI incidents before Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump meet on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen, the South China Morning...

When police cracked down, Neha Bora helped rally Gen Z protesters with a mix of boundless energy, street theatrics and satirical humor.

Indian authorities have asked Bollywood actor ⁠Imran Khan to ⁠leave the country by ⁠the end of the month, saying he breached immigration laws after joining a protest against the election commission chief, local media reported on Thursday. Khan, 43, is a US ‌citizen, the Indian Express newspaper reported. Under Indian law, foreigners’ participation in political protests may be treated as a violation of immigration and visa rules. Khan was given until October 28 to leave the country, the Times of...

The long-delayed opening of the New Yalu River Bridge comes as the two countries expand trade despite international sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Every time Kristaen Albert returns home, he reaches for one of the dozen cans of oxygen on a table by the entrance of his house in Central Kalimantan. The air in his neighbourhood has turned dusty amber, with air quality far exceeding hazardous levels. “My breathing is noticeably heavier whenever I step outside. It’s hard to concentrate and stay focused, and it is really affecting my work,” Albert, a 31-year-old software engineer, told This Week in Asia. “Living in this haze is awful.” “The...

Twenty-seven pupils and a teacher were killed on Thursday after a roof collapsed at a school in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, a hospital official said. Asim Khan from Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital confirmed the toll, adding that over 30 people were injured, with six believed to be in a critical condition. The hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded. A spokesman for the emergency rescue service in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the schoolchildren were...

Nepal has weathered three disasters in six weeks, including the deadly August flash flood, making this year one of the deadliest in a country where monsoon rains already frequently wreak havoc. Experts warn that climate change is only making matters worse. The rock-ice avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border that opened the floodgates in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers on August 26 killed more than 1,450 people, with nearly 6,000 others still missing. It was followed by a massive landslide...

The collapse, in Peshawar, also killed a teacher and injured more than 40 people. The country’s prime minister urged rescuers to speed up the search for survivors.