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Trump administration bans foreign-made humanoid robots in move targeting China
The US Federal Communications Commission has barred the import and sale of new foreign-made advanced robots, including humanoid and quadruped models, alongside connected power inverters. The move is aimed chiefly at Chinese technology and matters because it expands Washington’s efforts to limit perceived national-security and supply-chain risks in sectors important to artificial intelligence, automation and…
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Greetings from an isolated region in northern Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains
This is a “postcard” dispatch from NPR correspondent Betsy Joles reporting from Chitral, a remote district in northern Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains that borders Afghanistan. The piece highlights the extreme isolation of the region, which has no flights and depends entirely on precarious mountain roads for access, offering a window into daily life in one…
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BTS Will Not Enter ‘Arirang’ Songs for Consideration at 2027 Grammy Awards
BTS have announced they will not submit any songs from their comeback album *ARIRANG* for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards. All seven members posted identical statements on Instagram saying they want music to “be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language,” a comment widely read as…
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BTS decline Grammys entry over new Asian Pop category
BTS have declined to submit their new album ‘Arirang’ for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards, in response to the Recording Academy’s newly introduced Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. All seven members posted an identical statement on Instagram Stories saying they hope their music “can be heard and loved for itself” rather than divided…
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Rare, fully-functional Nintendo Famicombox retro consoles were discovered in a Japanese love hotel
A Famicom archivist known as “Orochi” has discovered a working collection of Nintendo’s rare 1986 Famicombox arcade units installed throughout a Japanese love hotel, with the coin-operated systems still fully operational nearly four decades after release. The Famicombox was a commercial 8-bit console designed to hold up to 16 game cartridges for hotel guests, letting…
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WATCH: Rand Paul says there’s one thing Americans have never heard from Fauci
Republican Senator Rand Paul has said Dr Anthony Fauci owes Americans an apology ahead of a scheduled Senate hearing, arguing that in years of media appearances and previous congressional testimony Fauci has never expressed regret. The comments come as Fauci, who led the United States’ public health response to Covid-19 under two different presidential administrations,…
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Death Toll Rises To 18 As Rescuers Comb Through Quake Rubble In Southwestern Japan
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the Kumamoto area of Kyushu, southwestern Japan, has killed at least 18 people, with soldiers and rescue workers searching collapsed houses and a badly damaged shopping mall for survivors. The disaster has left at least 62 people injured, six seriously, and rescuers are working in sweltering heat amid fears…
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More than 100 aftershocks hit Japan after deadly quake that killed 13
A magnitude 6.8 (initially reported as 7.1) earthquake struck Japan’s south-western Kyushu region on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people, with more than 100 aftershocks recorded since. Rescue crews are searching through rubble in Kumamoto prefecture, including at a paper factory and the Aeon Mall in Kashima town, which suffered an explosion shortly after the…
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K-pop’s ‘Big Four’ and South Korean government reveal plans for Fanomenon festival in Seoul and Los Angeles
South Korea’s government has joined forces with the country’s four largest K-pop agencies – HYBE, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment – to launch FANOMENON, a new music festival debuting in Seoul in December 2027. The event is notable both as a rare collaboration between fierce industry rivals and as a public-private venture backed…