News

Japan’s Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures are contemplating a fee for certain helicopter rescues on Mount Fuji outside the official climbing season, after a series of incidents involving under-prepared hikers. 

Mount Fuji’s climbing season ended on 10 September, but the mountain’s rescue problem does not end with it. Yamanashi and Shizuoka are considering fees for helicopter rescues during the off-season, when official trails are closed and conditions can become significantly more dangerous.

Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki said in May that, after the necessary legislation and preparation, the prefecture wanted to set a direction by autumn and introduce a new system for...

Suki Waterhouse has joked she will happily embrace nepotism to help her daughter navigate the entertainment industry.

In an interview with Nylon, the 34-year-old singer and actress discussed motherhood and her future plans for her 2-year-old child with her fiancé Robert Pattinson. When asked whether she would discourage her daughter from following in her parents’ footsteps, Waterhouse’s response was unapologetic.

“Why would I advise against it? I’d be nepo-babying the hell out of her,” she told the publication. After making the remark, the star realised how blunt the answer sounded, laughing as...

Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Hans Niemann and Javokhir Sindarov will headline the 46th Chess Olympiad when the prestigious tournament opens in the historic city of Samarkand.

Scheduled to run from 15-27 September, the international competition brings together an unprecedented 398 teams and nearly 2,000 competitors. Alongside the high-stakes board battles, the host city will also welcome the FIDE Congress to elect the federation’s president for the upcoming four-year term.

Central Asia’s first Chess Olympiad

The biennial Chess Olympiad serves as the largest team event in the sport. Competitors engage in individual matches, with...

Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on Wednesday, introducing a 2-nanometre A20 Pro processor, upgraded camera systems with variable aperture and a redesigned display cutout.

Apple’s September showcase delivered the expected annual upgrades: faster iPhone 18 Pro models, more adaptable cameras, smarter AirPods and new health tools for Apple Watch. Yet the device that changed the shape of the event — literally — was the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable handset and the natural place to start our review.

It was also John Ternus’s first product launch as Apple CEO.

Kimi Raikkonen’s son Robin will join the Red Bull Junior Team from 2027, the Formula 1 team confirmed on Wednesday, days after speculation about the young Finn’s future emerged during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.

The announcement follows reports last week suggesting that 11-year-old Robin, also known as Ace, was close to signing with Red Bull’s driver development programme. The speculation intensified at Monza, where the Räikkönen family was also seen at Red Bull hospitality during the race weekend.

Robin was pictured with his parents, Kimi and Minttu Räikkönen, alongside Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies. He was...

Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki is entirely oblivious to the recent explosion of generative artificial intelligence.

Producer Toshio Suzuki revealed to the Asahi Shimbun that the director shut himself off from outside information during the production of “The Boy and the Heron”.

According to Suzuki, Miyazaki “doesn’t even know about generative AI in the first place”.

The internet recently experienced a surge of AI-generated images mimicking the iconic Studio Ghibli aesthetic. Suzuki noted he received numerous interview requests regarding this trend but deliberately declined them. He predicted the fad would quickly fade and...

EA Sports FC 27 has handed launch cards to five Uzbek footballers, with Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov leading the pack at 82 overall. His 90 sprint speed makes him the obvious prize, while Eldor Shomurodov heads the attacking options at 76.

The official Uzbekistan ratings also include Abbosbek Fayzullaev, Khusniddin Alikulov and Mukhammadali Urinboev. Together, they give Uzbekistan two gold cards, two silvers and one bronze in Football Ultimate Team.

EA Sports FC 27 launches worldwide on 25 September, with early access beginning on 18 September. EA has warned that some player details could change following a database...

Researchers have detected a tuberculosis strain in Russia and other parts of Europe that can resist several of the disease’s most important medicines. These infections may be harder to cure, although scientists found no evidence that the strain spreads faster.

Researchers at Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin analysed the genetic records of 1,362 tuberculosis samples. Their peer-reviewed study, published on 5 September, identified an internationally dispersed family of closely related bacteria named EurA1.

Of the samples with location data, 308 were from Belarus, 166 from Germany, 162 from Ukraine, 112 from Georgia and...

Uzbekistan has achieved a historic milestone in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, recording a massive short-term performance increase globally.

The nation’s 15-year-olds demonstrated remarkable improvement and secured the highest science score within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. Due to data inconsistencies, reading and mathematics scores for Uzbekistan were not reported, making science and digital learning the primary focus of this year’s assessment.

Uzbekistan’s mean science score reached 438 points. This represents an 83-point jump from the 2022 assessment, allowing the country to climb 32 places in the global ranking.

On a global scale...

Two men from Uzbekistan were arrested in Brooks County after fleeing a US Border Patrol checkpoint and leading authorities on a high-speed pursuit exceeding 100 mph, local outlet myRGV reports.

Erkin Khudoyberdiev faces federal charges for transporting a person illegally present in the United States. His passenger, Ikhtivor Rakhimov, unlawfully crossed the Rio Grande before being picked up in McAllen.

The incident occurred on Saturday, when the men drove their Chevrolet Malibu into the primary lane of the Falfurrias border checkpoint. A CBP agent reportedly verified Khudoyberdiev’s status as a legal permanent resident but became suspicious when Rakhimov claimed...

American Ben Shelton defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarter-final thriller at Arthur Ashe Stadium, sealing the victory with a 146 mph ace at 3:34 a.m. local time in the latest finish in US Open history.

Shelton outlasted the Spaniard 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, and 7-6 (10-7) in a night-session match that stretched well into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

US open match at a glance

Hundreds of athletes preparing for the Asian Games were moved from their accommodation on Tuesday after record rainfall struck the host city, although organisers said the Games remain on track to open as planned.

About 104 millimetres of rain fell on Nagoya in a single hour, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue its highest flood warning for a major river running through the city. Subway and bus services were suspended for several hours, and municipal officials ordered residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground.

Roughly 400 athletes and staff staying in converted shipping containers at the Port...

For months, industry speculation suggested Apple was preparing to unveil its ultimate premium smartphone under the “Ultra” moniker. However, leaks ahead of the 9 September reveal that the tech giant’s highly anticipated flagship isn’t Ultra at all – it is the $2,000 foldable iPhone Duo, Bloomberg reports.

This hardware presentation marks the company’s first major launch under new CEO John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook earlier this month. The iPhone Duo serves as Apple’s inaugural entry into the foldable market. Expected to retail for a staggering base price, the handset operates as both a phone and a tablet.

Serbia plans to begin producing long-range ballistic missiles within a year and is ready to cooperate with Uzbekistan, President Aleksandar Vucic has said. Belgrade has yet to disclose the projectile’s range or specifications.

Vucic has made the offer at a Serbia-Uzbekistan business forum during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s first official visit to Belgrade on 7-8 September.

«We already produce those with a shorter range. In a year, we will begin producing long-range ballistic missiles, and we are ready to cooperate in this field with our brothers and friends from Uzbekistan,» Vucic said, as quoted by local...

An artificial intelligence breakthrough that cracked a 90-year-old mathematics puzzle carried a hidden physical cost. To solve the Navier-Stokes equations, scientists spent an estimated average of 12.5 mn litres of water just to cool the data centres powering the computation carried out by the newly released GPT-6 Astra.

In the first 88 hours, 10,000 AI agents sent nearly three million messages and generated 130bn tokens. Multiple agents can share GPU infrastructure, and one agent can use multiple processors. The median electricity consumption for this mathematical search was 10 gigawatt-hours, assuming five to 20 kilowatts per active agent-equivalent.

JR East has launched a public vote to select the next image character for Suica, marking the beginning of the transition away from the familiar Suica Penguin after more than two decades.

The railway operator announced that the Suica Penguin will graduate from its role on March 31, 2027. A new character will take over from April 1, with the winner chosen through a public vote among three final designs.

Voting opened on September 8 and will remain available until 11:59 p.m. on September 23. Each person may vote once, and the contest is open to all, regardless of...

HMD Global is resurrecting the Asha brand, a name previously used by Nokia for its accessible mobile devices, with the introduction of a new budget handset.

The newly unveiled HMD Asha 305 aims to connect traditional button-operated phones with modern smart devices, reflecting the original market position of the Asha series from the early 2010s.

The entry-level smartphone operates on Pulse OS, a custom platform built on an Android foundation. Notably, the software does not come pre-installed with Google services or the Google Play store. To compensate for this omission, HMD provides users with its catalogue featuring lightweight application...

Combining street-level filming, dashcam video and crowdsourced evidence, They’re Here, a 25-minute documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Rachel Lauren Mueller, follows immigrants in hiding and Minneapolis residents tracking down ICE teams across the city.

Warning: This story contains images some viewers may find disturbing.

The film received its world premiere on 7 September in Venice Open, an out-of-competition section of the Venice Film Festival.

They’re Here opens like a pursuit thriller, with ICE agents and neighbourhood observers engaged in a car chase. The film then moves between volunteer warning networks...

Serbia may become the first European country to enter into a free-trade agreement with Uzbekistan, as President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visits Belgrade to establish a strategic partnership and advance industrial and transport projects.

The two-day trip is Mirziyoyev’s first official visit to Serbia, and it reciprocates his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic‘s visit to Uzbekistan in October 2025. Back then, Belgrade and Tashkent exchanged 12 bilateral documents covering investment, agriculture, technology and culture.

Mirziyoyev and Vucic were also due to sign a joint declaration establishing a strategic partnership on 8 September, according to the Serbian president’s...

A Japanese torii gate, Chinese lanterns and “Seoul Mun” found themselves together at a Korea-themed district in Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent, Ajupress reports. The installation didn’t go down well with a Korean expert.

Seoul Mun, a sprawling complex built along a canal in Tashkent, features architectural elements inspired by traditional Korean palace gates, tiled roofs and taegeuk motifs.

However, the site recently drew scrutiny for installing a large red structure reminiscent of a Japanese torii, traditionally used to mark the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The gate is additionally decorated with Chinese-style red lanterns.

Samsung has dismissed defect claims surrounding the Galaxy Z Fold 8, clarifying that the compressible corners on the main folding panel are an intentional structural choice rather than a manufacturing error.

Debates over the smartphone’s build quality emerged on official European message boards after a consumer noticed the display margins depressing under light pressure during routine cleaning. As similar video clips circulated across social media platforms, buyers began questioning the high-end device’s durability and overall design integrity.

However, company spokespeople and hardware analysts note that this malleability is essential for modern foldable electronics to function properly. To allow the...

UFC would like to stage its first show in Kyrgyzstan, said former flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, a move that could bring the world’s biggest mixed martial arts promotion to Central Asia.

Shevchenko said she had already raised the proposal with the organisation’s leadership and had received a positive response.

«I hope the organisers on both sides can reach an agreement, and we will see the UFC in Kyrgyzstan,» she told journalists during the World Nomad Games at Issyk-Kul, as reported by 24.kg.

UFC event in Kyrgyzstan moves closer, but no deal yet

Shevchenko stated...

The fall 2026 anime season is bringing back several major franchises while introducing new adaptations of video games and fantasy series. Exact premiere dates have been announced for some of the season’s biggest titles, while others are still scheduled only for October or the broader fall window.

Here are 10 anime worth watching and when they are expected to arrive.

Sekiro: No Defeat — September 4 in Japan

Based on FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Sekiro: No Defeat explores the world behind the acclaimed action game. Set during Japan’s Sengoku period, the story focuses on the rule of Sword...

Team Uzbekistan have named a 23-man under-23 squad for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where they hope to win their first men’s football gold medal since they last won the competition in Hiroshima 32 years ago.

Head coach Ravshan Haydarov‘s picks feature Muhammadali O’rinboyev, the top scorer in the 2025 AFC U20 Asian Cup and the only member currently playing outside of Uzbekistan. The 21-year-old winger plays for Belgian Pro League club Royal Antwerp and previously spent six months with Brentford’s reserve team.

The squad included fifteen other players who represented Uzbekistan in the AFC U23 Asian Cup in January. Haydarov’s...