'Phase-free' design builds disaster preparedness into everyday life Tadayuki Sato, representative director of the Phase Free Association, has introduced the phase-free concept in a bid to seamlessly integrate disaster preparedness with everyday life and business operations. A ball-point pen that can write on a wet piece of paper is an example of everyday goods that fit the phase-free concept. Fifteen years after the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is seeing growing momentum behind phase-free design, a new approach to disaster preparedness that integrates emergency functionality into everyday items. As major quakes have continued to strike various parts of Japan, Tadayuki Sato, representative director of the Phase Free Association, recognized the limitations of traditional disaster preparedness. Conventional approaches, led primarily by government bodies and focused on stockpiling specialized emergency supplies, were falling short. Around 2014, he introduced the phase-free concept in a bid to seamlessly integrate disaster preparedness with everyday life and business operations.

A powerful artificial intelligence model that appeared anonymously on a developer platform last week was revealed to be from Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle giant Xiaomi, and not DeepSeek as initially thought. BEIJING - A powerful artificial intelligence model that appeared anonymously on a developer platform last week was revealed on Wednesday to be from Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle giant Xiaomi, after it fueled speculation that startup DeepSeek was quietly testing its next-generation system ahead of a launch. The release of DeepSeek's low-cost models DeepSeek-V3 and R1 triggered a global tech stock selloff last year, causing investors to question whether U.S. AI firms needed to spend billions of dollars on AI computing power. Since then, there has been a great deal of interest in DeepSeek-V4, a next-generation model that has yet to be released. The mysterious free model, called Hunter Alpha, surfaced on the AI gateway platform OpenRouter on March 11 without any developer attribution and was later described by the platform as a "stealth model." In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is developing a Generative AI Platform, which will allow government employees to create AI applications to assist with their work. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and municipal governments throughout the Japanese capital are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence in their administrative operations. To support this trend, the metropolitan government is working with GovTech Tokyo, an affiliated organization that promotes digitalization in local governments, to develop a Generative AI Platform. The system will allow government employees to create generative AI applications tailored to their specific duties. By encouraging active use of the platform, Tokyo authorities aim to boost efficiency in public services and address growing concerns over labor shortages. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Since the conflict in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, Emirates has cancelled more than 2,000 flights -- 54% of scheduled services, according to data from Cirium. As Emirates flight EK10 from London cruised over Saudi Arabia on Monday, news broke of a drone strike at its destination, Dubai. The aircraft turned back to Gatwick, flight data shows, completing a 9,100 km round trip -- one of dozens of flights to nowhere triggered by the Middle East war. Roughly 30 Emirates flights heading to Dubai International Airport were also ordered back or rerouted after Iranian drone attacks temporarily shut what is normally the world's busiest airport for international passengers. Passengers expecting a dawn landing in the glitzy United Arab Emirates port city were stunned. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

NTT Global Data Centers is working on 34 projects to double its capacity to 4 gigawatts within as little as two years, CEO Doug Adams said, as it races to meet surging global demand driven by the AI boom. NTT Global Data Centers, the world's third-largest data center provider outside of China, is working to double its capacity to 4 gigawatts to meet the rising global demand for the critical digital infrastructure amid an artificial intelligence boom. The unit of Japan's NTT is working on 34 projects that will double its capacity in as soon as two years, according to the data center business's Chief Executive Officer Doug Adams. Capacity will continue to increase from there, and will be "well over 5 gigawatts" in five years, Adams said in an interview. NTT GDC has seen increasing demand from companies moving more of their software and operations to the cloud as well as businesses hunting for extra capacity to run AI programs. The business's revenue is expected to keep growing at more than 20% a year, Adams said, declining to give a specific time period.

A standard pick-up truck is mounted with a launching system for eight Cobra-3120 loitering munitions. TAIPEI - After years of sourcing drones from a wide range of international suppliers, including China, Ukraine has a new entrant supporting its battlefield needs: Taiwan. The self-ruled island has quietly been ramping up exports of domestically produced drones to war-torn Ukraine, underscoring how its homegrown industry has advanced in recent years, evolving from a largely experimental sector into a burgeoning supplier of battlefield-relevant technology. The move, which also helps expand Taiwan's defense-industrial base, has seen the island sell well over 100,000 drones to Ukraine since last year alone, mainly via Poland and the Czech Republic, according to data provided by the Taipei-based Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET). In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrive for a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2025. Moscow and Beijing are driving closer collaboration between authoritarian states and such networks help advance repression globally, according to researchers who used artificial intelligence to drill into the activities. The U.S.-based nonprofit Action for Democracy said in a report Wednesday that its researchers built an index to track seven types of cooperation, including on funding, diplomatic activities, propaganda and tech sharing. It found that China and Russia sit at the center of global authoritarian collaboration" and were jointly involved in around half of all recorded activity. The report's authors said that such cooperation generated compound returns because, for example, surveillance infrastructure exported to one regime becomes a template for the next." In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Tennessee minors sue Musk's xAI, alleging Grok generated sexual images of them Governments and regulators around the world have launched probes into xAI, imposed bans and demanded safeguards in a growing push to curb illegal and offensive material. Three Tennessee plaintiffs, including two minors, sued Elon Musk's xAI on Monday, alleging that it knowingly designed its Grok image generator to let people create sexually explicit content by using real photos of others. The lawsuit, filed in the San Jose, California federal court, is seeking class-action status for people in the United States who were reasonably identifiable in sexualized images or videos generated by Grok based on real images of themselves. The artificial intelligence company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After an outcry over sexually explicit content generated by the chatbot, xAI said in January that it had blocked all users from editing images of real people in revealing clothing and from generating images of people in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it's illegal. Governments and regulators around the world have also since launched probes, imposed bans and demanded safeguards in a growing push to curb illegal and offensive material.

A U.S. judge has ordered South Korean game developer Krafton to reinstate the head of one of its video game studios after ruling that he had been improperly removed as part of a takeover plan hatched by ChatGPT. WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - A Delaware judge on Monday ordered that South Korean game developer Krafton reinstate the head of one of its video game studios, ruling he had been improperly removed as part of a takeover plan hatched by ChatGPT. Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had largely followed the advice of artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT during a $250 million dispute with the leaders of the Subnautica game maker Unknown Worlds Entertainment, which Krafton had acquired, according to the ruling by Vice Chancellor Lori Will of the Court of Chancery in Delaware. Businesses and governments are scrambling for new ways to use AI, and the technology has been blamed for mass layoffs, fears of autonomous weapons and concerns about civil rights. Companies caught in takeover-related legal battles often spend millions of dollars on teams of attorneys and advisers from top-flight Wall Street firms. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight to Washington on Sunday. SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Iran of using artificial intelligence as a "disinformation weapon" to misrepresent its wartime successes and support. "AI can be very dangerous, we have to be very careful with it," Trump said to reporters on Air Force One shortly after he made a post on his Truth Social platform where he accused Western media outlets without evidence of "close coordination" with Iran to spread AI-generated fake news." The comments come amid renewed tensions between the Federal Communications Commission and broadcasters after Trump took aim at media coverage of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Saturday threatened to pull licenses of broadcasters who did not "correct course" on their coverage.