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Japan city gets $3.6 mn donation in gold to fix water system

Japan city gets $3.6 mn donation in gold to fix water system

Osaka has received an unusual donation -- 21 kilograms of gold -- to pay for the maintenance of its ageing water system, the Japanese commercial hub announced Thursday. The donation worth $3.6 million was made in November by a person who a month earlier had already given $3,300 in cash

Facing US warnings, Iran defends right to nuclear enrichment

Facing US warnings, Iran defends right to nuclear enrichment

Iran's atomic energy chief on Thursday said "no country can deprive Iran of the right" to nuclear enrichment, following fresh US warning that there were "many reasons" to strike the Islamic republic. The two foes recently resumed indirect talks, after US President Donald Trump

Ex-South Korea leader Yoon gets life in prison for insurrection

Ex-South Korea leader Yoon gets life in prison for insurrection

A South Korean court declared former president Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid in 2024 an insurrection, sentencing the disgraced leader to life in prison on Thursday. Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised address in December 2024, saying drastic measures were needed to root out "

Laser-written glass can store data for millennia, Microsoft says

Laser-written glass can store data for millennia, Microsoft says

Thousands of years from now, what will remain of our digital era? The ever-growing vastness of human knowledge is no longer stored in libraries, but on hard drives that struggle to last decades, let alone millennia. However, information written into glass by lasers could allow data to be preserved

At least 16 killed after building collapses in Pakistan following blast

At least 16 killed after building collapses in Pakistan following blast

A building collapse caused by an explosion in Pakistan's southern megacity of Karachi killed at least 16 people on Thursday, including children, officials said. More than a dozen people were injured in the incident in the Soldier Bazaar neighbourhood of Karachi at around 4:00 am, when Muslim

Summit photo op fails to unite AI startup rivals

Summit photo op fails to unite AI startup rivals

Tech bro rivalry is real, or at least it is for Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, the CEOs of two leading US artificial intelligence startups. A video of the pair at a global AI summit in New Delhi on Thursday rapidly spread on social media after the former colleagues awkwardly

OpenAI's Altman says world 'urgently' needs AI regulation

OpenAI's Altman says world 'urgently' needs AI regulation

Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world "urgently" needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology. An organisation could be set up to coordinate these efforts, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said. Altman is