Indonesia is in the middle of a climate emergency, experiencing what Nasa calls the ‘apex predator’ of wildfires. It’s burning an area three times the size of Singapore and choking millions across south-east Asia with toxic haze.
But while Europe’s catastrophic summer made headlines in Australia, the climate emergency happening to one of our closest neighbours is less well known. Kate Lamb joins Matilda Boseley to talk about just how consequential these fires could become
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El Niño-fuelled wildfires destroy precious Indonesian forests – in pictures
Indonesian wildfires threaten leading orangutan research site in Borneo
Continue reading...Countries have come together before to make international agreements in the face of existential threats
With many technological developments, from algorithm-driven social media to AI, many people assume there’s a degree of inevitability to their widespread adoption in society.
The argument goes something like this: once the ideas and means to produce the tech are known, then it is inevitable that its usage will spread and we’ll essentially be stuck with it. So therefore we need to accept this and adjust our lives to live with the tech and use it (or at least tolerate it).
Continue reading...Safety crisis makes it more likely that governments will be spurred into action, says Yoshua Bengio
Concerns over AI safety are reaching a point where governments realise they must act to protect the public, similarly to in the Covid pandemic, according to one of the “godfathers” of the technology.
Yoshua Bengio said recent events, including a “swarm” of OpenAI agents hacking a startup and tech insider warnings of an existential threat, were cutting through – making government action more likely.
Continue reading...Armed group appears to reach agreement with Trump administration over safety of Red Sea shipping
Officials from the US met Houthi leaders over the weekend at the country’s embassy in Muscat, Oman, it has been confirmed, leading to the US decision not to intervene to help Saudi Arabia drive back a Houthi advance inside Yemen.
The Houthis reassured the US that the ceasefire agreement between the two sides struck in 2025 still held and the movement had no intention of attacking US shipping in the Red Sea. Only Saudi-linked shipping was regarded as a target owing to its blockade of Yemen, the Houthis confirmed.
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UTRECHT (ANP) - De gemeente Utrecht heeft de aangekondigde snelwegblokkade van Extinction Rebellion (XR) komende zaterdag verboden. De actiegroep wil opnieuw demonstreren op de Ring A12 bij Utrecht, maar de gemeente staat dat niet toe. "Het betreden en blokkeren van een snelweg is verboden en strafbaar", staat op de website.
"Het recht om te demonstreren is een belangrijk grondrecht in Nederland. Dat recht kent echter ook grenzen." De gemeente wijst erop dat demonstraties op snelwegen "ernstige risico's" met zich meebrengen. Zowel voor de veiligheid van demonstranten en andere weggebruikers als voor de bereikbaarheid van de nood- en hulpdiensten.
De gemeente heeft het Domplein aangewezen als alternatieve demonstratieplek.
Hoewel de snelwegblokkade niet is toegestaan, is verkeershinder op en rondom de Ring niet uit te sluiten. De gemeente Utrecht adviseert weggebruikers daarom om zaterdag alleen de auto te pakken als dat noodzakelijk is en zoveel mogelijk gebruik te maken van het openbaar vervoer.