JAKARTA, Indonesia — Air pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September alone, according to a scientific study. The same month, about 57.8 million people were inhaling unhealthy to hazardous air, said the report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank. "Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement. The study estimated the number of deaths brought about by short-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which are deaths occurring within days of exposure. Most occurred on Indonesia's part of Borneo island as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and the country's east. The researchers also looked at non-fire pollution from urban and industrial emissions, and found it had caused a further 1,750 deaths in September for a total of 5,310 in the country of around 278 million people.

NEW YORK — The nation's major political parties are at a crossroads. A decade after he began to remake the Republican Party in his image, President Donald Trump is facing the prospect of a voter rebellion Tuesday that could force conservatives to rethink their undying allegiance to the 80-year-old lame-duck leader and his “Make America Great Again” movement. Already, some Republican candidates have begun to distance themselves from him. And Democrats, who remain unpopular despite midterm momentum, are speeding toward a tug-of-war between establishment leaders and emboldened progressives demanding nothing less than transformative change. Whether either party wins or loses Tuesday, the end of the 2026 midterms marks the beginning of a high-stakes fight over the country's political future in the twilight of the Trump era — a fight that will swiftly surge to the forefront of American politics as new members of Congress descend upon Washington and the 2028 presidential contest takes off. “When President Trump leaves office, it’s going to create a tremendous vacuum. And I ask the q

SINGAPORE — North Korean hackers were behind a $6.3 billion raid on cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to U.S. blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs. "An attacker moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets on ten blockchains, most of it in about 20 minutes," TRM Labs said in a blog post on its website. "TRM attributes the attack to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, based on robust on and off-chain intelligence. We make this judgment with high confidence."

WASHINGTON — The top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies, including envoys from Russia and China, are meeting in Atlanta as they face deep rifts over multiple wars and other global crises that threaten international security and trade. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will chair the gathering Friday and Saturday that will set the stage for a G20 leaders summit hosted by President Donald Trump at his Miami golf club in December. There appears to be little chance that the group will come to a consensus on many of the most contentious issues. Among those are the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. tariffs and Chinese machinations in the South China Sea. All have contributed to spikes in the global cost of fuel as well as uncertainty about trade. U.S. officials say their top priority for the meeting is resolving differences over issues related to freedom of navigation, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and the South China Sea. The topic will include discussions on Iran, Russia-Ukraine and China and its small

MONTREAL — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the European Union’s top official pushed Thursday to make Canada the bloc’s first “associate member” and build a broader alliance open to other countries as they warned of threats to sovereignty from economic coercion during U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Speaking in Montreal on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would form the core of the proposed “Alliance for the Future,” but other like-minded countries would be welcome to join. Echoing Carney’s warning at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, von der Leyen said economic relationships once considered sources of stability were increasingly being used as instruments of pressure. “When trade becomes a tool of economic pressure, it is families that pay the price, from the supermarket shelf to the cost of a new car,” she said. “We are seeing in real time our sovereignty being attacked.” Carney said the alliance would help Canada withstand economic shocks and prevent foreign governments and technolo

A researcher and a student from Kookmin University have each received an award at the 2026 Sustainable Smart City Champions Session, the university said. The event was part of Smart Life Week 2026, co-hosted by the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) and the Seoul Metropolitan Government at Coex in southern Seoul from Oct. 6-8. Ra Min-su, a researcher at the university’s Global Development Cooperation Institute, and Ji Ye-jun, a senior at the Kookmin International Business School, won the 2026 WeGO Global Youth Award on Oct. 7. Ji is also a student supporter of the university’s HUSS (Humanities and Social Sciences) Global Symbiosis Project. WeGO is an international organization that promotes smart and sustainable urban development through cooperation among local governments, businesses and other relevant organizations around the world. Through its Sustainable Smart City Champions program, launched in 2022, the organization provides educational programs and international exchange opportunities in smart cities, digital governance and sustainable development to nurture the

Daily foreign exchange (FX) trading by banks in Korea rose slightly to reach a new high in the third quarter on strong trade-related transactions, central bank data showed Friday. Average daily FX turnover, including derivatives trading, came to an average of $122.01 billion during the July-September period, up $570 million, or 0.5 percent, from the second quarter, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The quarterly figure has been renewing records for the third consecutive quarter since the first quarter of this year. The BOK said the on-quarter increase slowed as a sharp increase in FX trading by robust exports was partly offset by a decrease in offshore investors' stock transactions amid a correction in the stock market. Exports and imports rose to a combined $173.9 billion in the third quarter from $154.7 billion three months earlier, while foreigners traded 1,154 trillion won ($862.8 billion) worth of equities per month in July and August, down from a monthly average of 1,285 trillion won in the second quarter. Average daily spot FX turnover fell 6.2 percent on-quarter

Next week's sentencing hearing for former President Yoon Suk Yeol over election law violation charges will be broadcast live, court officials said Friday, a high-stakes ruling that could force the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) to return nearly $30 million in reimbursed election expenses. The Seoul High Court decided to allow broadcasters to air the sentencing scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Yoon was sentenced by a district court in July to a 18-month prison term, suspended for three years, for making false statements during the campaign ahead of the March 2022 presidential election that he ultimately won as the PPP's candidate. Yoon was charged with falsely claiming during a December 2021 press event that he had never introduced a lawyer to a former tax official, who is the older brother of former senior prosecutor Yoon Dae-jin, a close associate of Yoon from his time in the prosecution service. He also faces charges of lying in a January 2022 interview by claiming a party official had introduced him to shaman Jeon Seong-bae, while denying that he and his wife,

Park Gi-ho, a professor in the Department of Computer Sciences and Engineering at Sejong University, will co-organize the Eighth International Workshop on Domain Specific System Architecture in Athens, Greece, Sunday. The university said the workshop is part of the 59th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO 2026), which is scheduled to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 in Athens. The workshop aims to share the latest research advances in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors and domain-specific system architecture and promote research collaboration among experts from academia and industry worldwide. Key topics will include systematic design methodologies for AI accelerators, programming environments for next-generation neural processing units and memory technologies for robotic foundation models. The workshop is co-organized by Park, professor Sim Jae-woong of Seoul National University and professor Kim Hye-soon of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The International Symposium on Microarchitecture is a conference with a 59-year history in computer systems and proce

South Korea will continue taking necessary measures based on clear principles in response to the recent mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the country's top security adviser said Friday, reiterating the government's focus on establishing peace that eliminates the need for fighting. National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac made the remarks at a press briefing following the detonation of North Korean land mines inside the DMZ in September that wounded three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously. "Our government will continue taking necessary measures in response to the DMZ mine blast incident based on clear principles," Wi said. "The government will focus its resources on creating peace that makes fighting unnecessary by consistently pursuing its policy of peaceful coexistence," he added. The security adviser said that, since the incident, Seoul has demanded an apology from North Korea, removed mines at the accident site and ensured the military's readiness by test-firing a hypersonic missile. Seoul has also proposed military talks with the North on several occasions to clear u

A special counsel team said Friday it has appealed the acquittal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case linked to the 2021 mayoral by-election. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said it filed the appeal with the Seoul High Court earlier in the day, a week after the appellate court overturned a lower court ruling to acquit the mayor of violating the Political Funds Act. Oh had been indicted on charges of having a political supporter make payments totaling 33 million won ($24,700) for opinion polls he allegedly received on 10 occasions from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2021 election. The lower court found him partially guilty of the charges and sentenced him to a 10 million-won fine, which, if finalized, would have stripped him of his mayoralty. But the appellate court reversed the conviction, ruling that the only direct evidence for the allegations was Myung's testimony, which it said could not be fully trusted. "Denying the credibility of Myung's testimony was unlawful, as it exceeded the bounds of the principle of free evaluation of evidence," t

Growing volatility in the Korean stock market is prompting investors' attention to U.S. dividend-paying stocks, with some seeking regular income rather than relying solely on stock price gains, market watchers said Friday. One option is the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, which tracks 100 U.S. companies selected for their dividend records and financial strength. To qualify, companies must have paid dividends for at least 10 consecutive years. They are also assessed on their five-year dividend growth, return on equity and debt relative to cash flow. The index includes companies from a range of industries, including energy, consumer staples and health care. In Korea, Mirae Asset Global Investments' TIGER U.S. Dividend Dow Jones exchange-traded fund (ETF) had 4.56 trillion won ($3.41 billion) in net assets as of Thursday, making it the largest locally listed ETF tracking the index, according to the asset manager. Some asset managers are taking the strategy a step further by combining dividend-paying stocks with covered-call options, a strategy in which an investor sells call options on s

Sungkyunkwan University President Yoo Ji-beom has been reappointed for a second four-year term. The university's board of trustees approved Yoo's reappointment at a meeting Thursday. His new term will run from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2030. The board credited Yoo with strengthening the university's research capabilities and global competitiveness, particularly through improvements in international university rankings. It also highlighted his vision for advancing institutional innovation in the artificial intelligence era. The university rose 19 places to 68th among 2,297 institutions worldwide in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, released earlier this month. It ranked third in Korea and first among private universities, extending its streak of annual improvements in the rankings to four consecutive years. The university also ranked among the top five universities in education, research and graduate outcomes in The Korea Times University Rankings. Yoo graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1982 and later earned a master

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said Friday that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had dismissed recent speculation about strains in the Korea-U.S. alliance as “fake news” during their meeting earlier this week. Kang made the remarks to reporters as he arrived at the defense ministry in Seoul after attending the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in the Philippines. Asked whether the two sides had any disagreements, Kang said there were none. “Secretary Hegseth dismissed all the talk going around as ‘fake news,’” Kang said. “And I agree with him.” “I don’t believe such talk can shake the strength of the Korea-U.S. alliance, nor should it,” he added. Kang and Hegseth held their first face-to-face meeting Wednesday in Cebu, Philippines, on the sidelines of ADMM-Plus. The meeting lasted about 40 minutes, longer than the 15 minutes initially scheduled. Their talks came amid concerns about the state of the alliance, including the postponement of the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), differences over the timeline for transferring wartime operatio

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it plans to establish two special purpose companies (SPCs) next month to develop artificial intelligence (AI) data centers as part of its push to expand into AI infrastructure. The automotive group said its affiliates, including Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai AutoEver, will participate in the investment. One SPC will oversee data center construction and infrastructure development, while the other will handle graphics processing unit (GPU) services. The group said it plans to break ground on the project in the Saemangeum reclaimed land area in Gunsan, about 200 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in March 2027. Commercial operations are targeted for early 2030. The announcement came a day after Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon visited Saemangeum, reaffirming the group's commitment to invest 9 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in the region. During the visit, Chang outlined plans to transform Saemangeum into a hub for AI data centers, robotics and hydrogen-related industries as part of the group's broade

Robert Moreno has had quite an introduction to Korean football. When interviewing for the national team job in the summer after the disaster of the World Cup, he apparently impressed Korea FA officials with his knowledge of the subject. Nothing, however, can prepare you for reality. The 49-year-old former coach of Spain was given the job until the end of November, a period that includes six games. Four have been played already, and results were mixed. There was a 3-0 win over Ecuador, a 4-1 loss to Uruguay, a goalless draw with Venezuela and then, on Oct. 6, a 2-0 victory against Uzbekistan. Performances were, however, encouraging in the sense that tactically, there were some positive signs, and a sense that after the perceived passiveness of Hong Myung-bo at the World Cup, he was a coach who looked to make things happen during games. Now, there are two left. On Nov. 13, the Taeguk Warriors will take on Saudi Arabia and then, four days later, will face Qatar. Both games will take place in Qatar as there are security concerns around Saudi Arabia at the moment, with the country coming und

Newly approved buildings across the capital of Korea are expected to generate 3,811 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, driven by city mandates requiring solar facades and geothermal heating in building designs. According to data released Friday by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the projected clean energy output — stemming from architectural plans reviewed between 2022 and 2026 — will equal roughly 8 percent of the city’s total electricity consumption once construction is complete. The output from these upcoming structures is 1.5 times the annual capacity of the Seoul Thermal Power Plant, the city’s historic energy anchor, and represents 85 percent of all renewable energy capacity installed in the capital over the previous 17 years combined. The push comes as Korea works to expand its clean energy mix, where renewable sources currently account for around 9 to 11 percent of national power generation — leaving urban centers like Seoul, which relies heavily on power drawn from outside regions, under pressure to boost local self-sufficiency. The shift reflects a broade

Korean character and content companies lined up about $16.6 million in potential licensing deals at major trade fairs in London and Shanghai this month, the culture ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the state-run Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) ran Korea pavilions at Brand Licensing Europe (BLE), held Oct. 6-8 in London, and at the China Licensing Expo (CLE), held Oct. 21-23 in Shanghai. At licensing fairs, companies that own characters, brands and other intellectual property (IP) sell the rights to put them on toys, stationery, clothing and other products. A total of 35 Korean companies — including HYBE, the agency behind BTS, as well as The Pinkfong Company and CJ ENM — conducted 860 business consultations with overseas buyers, discussing deals valued at an estimated $33.62 million. Of that total, roughly $16.6 million is expected to result in binding contracts, according to the ministry. The participating firms also signed 11 on-site contracts and memorandums of understanding. At BLE, Europe’s largest licensing show, 10 Korean companies

Korea's tax revenue rose by 26.4 trillion won ($19.6 billion) in September from a year earlier on the back of higher corporate tax collections driven by improved earnings at chipmakers, data showed Friday. The government collected 55.2 trillion won in taxes last month, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Corporate tax revenue rose by 23.6 trillion won to 36.2 trillion won, with the finance ministry attributing the increase to improved earnings at chipmakers. Income tax revenue rose by 1.2 trillion won to 9.7 trillion won on the back of an increase in the number of regular workers, while more housing transactions led to higher capital gains tax collections. Other major gainers included inheritance and gift taxes, revenue from which increased by 200 billion won. The finance ministry attributed the increase partly to a rise in housing gift transactions, which reached 7,000 in June, up 31.2 percent from 5,300 a year earlier. For the January-September period, total tax collections came to 385 trillion won, up 95.4 trillion won from a year earlier.

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has slipped to below 40 percent following a brief rebound last week, a poll showed Friday. The survey, conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 people aged 18 and older, showed that positive assessments of Lee's performance fell 1 percentage point from a week earlier to 39 percent. Negative assessments also fell 1 percentage point to 49 percent. Lee's approval rating had remained below 40 percent in Gallup polls since early September, before rebounding to the 40 percent mark in the previous survey. Among those who positively assessed Lee's performance, 17 percent cited diplomacy, followed by economic and livelihood issues at 14 percent, and communication at 8 percent. Real estate policies and economic concerns were among the main reasons cited by those who disapproved of Lee's performance at 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Another 10 percent cited concerns over security and policies on North Korea. Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 2 percentage points to 35 percent, slipping back to its lowest le