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Timothy Heng was one of the two Singaporean hikers found dead on Mount Dukono on Sunday. Photo: Facebook/Timothy Heng
Singapore

Grieving family says Singaporean killed in Mount Dukono eruption died a hero

Timothy Heng’s stepsister said that she and her family were comforted to know that ‘his final moments were used to help someone else’.

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Indonesia

Indonesia finds bodies of 2 Singaporeans killed in Mount Dukono eruption

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Indonesia

Video | Indonesian volcanic eruption kills 3

Indonesia

Mount Dukono eruption in Indonesia kills 3 hikers, including 2 Singaporeans

The volcano in North Maluku province erupted on Friday morning, spewing volcanic ash as high as 10km into the sky.

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Mount Dukono spews volcanic material up to the sky during an eruption in North Halmahera, Indonesia, on Friday. Photo: Indonesia’s Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre/EPA
Science

Alaska 2025 tsunami was second-highest ever, taller than Empire State Building

Huge 481-metre wave that scoured an Alaskan fjord reached higher than the famed New York skyscraper.

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Indonesia

Bus and oil tanker collide in Indonesia, killing at least 16 people

The bus driver, 13 passengers, the tanker’s driver and assistant all burned to death inside the vehicles.

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The Philippines

Panic in Philippines as Mayon volcano ashfall blankets towns in total darkness

Some 32 volcanic earthquakes, including 25 volcanic tremors, had been reported over the weekend, vulcanologists said.

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Ash from the Mayon volcano is seen from Camalig, Albay province, on Saturday. Photo: AP
Bangladesh

Child, newlywed among 14 killed by lightning in Bangladesh

Lightning kills ‌hundreds of people every year in ⁠Bangladesh, which ⁠declared lightning strikes a natural disaster in 2016.

Japan

Magnitude 6.2 quake strikes Japan’s Hokkaido, JMA warns of more to come

The temblor, and another hours earlier, come less than a week after last Monday’s 7.7 earthquake off northern Iwate prefecture.

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Japan

Wildfires in Japan’s north worsen, 1,400 firefighters deployed

Japan has experienced relatively few wildfires compared with other parts of the world, but climate change has increased their frequency.

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A convoy of fire trucks make their way to the fire in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, northern Honshu, Japan on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Banking & finance

Default in our stars: China banks use satellites to track assets, cut loan risks

Analysts say orbital monitoring of sites, property and other assets provides vital data on borrowers.

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Chinese banks are increasingly using satellites to evaluate their clients’ terrestrial assets. Photo: Shutterstock
Extreme weather

Video | Northern Japan battles large wildfires

2,500 residents forced to evacuate as wildfires burn for a second day in Japan’s northern Iwate prefecture.

Extreme weather

Searchers find body of 1 of 6 missing crew members after typhoon overturns ship

The crew of the Mariana notified the US Coast Guard on April 15 that the vessel lost its starboard engine during Super Typhoon Sinlaku.

Indonesia

Why Japan’s earthquake has Bali on edge over magnitude 9 ‘megathrust’ risk

Bali, Sumba and the Flores Islands are expected to be the worst hit from a megathrust earthquake in the Sumba fault.

The sun rises behind boats moored at a pier on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on April 12. Bali recorded 547 earthquakes last year. Photo: AFP
Japan

Big one coming? Japan issues megaquake advisory after magnitude 7.7 shock

The Japan Meteorological Agency has upped the risk of a megaquake to 1 per cent, compared to 0.1 per cent at other times.

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An electronic signboard in Ofunato city, Iwate prefecture, displays a sign saying “Hokkaido and Off the Sanriku Coast Aftershock Advisory” early on Tuesday. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP
Earthquakes

Video | Powerful quake shakes northern Japan

Japan’s northern Tohoku region was struck by a 7.7-magnitude quake.

Japan

Tsunami warning issued in Japan after magnitude-7.5 quake hits northeast

Waves of up to three metres are expected after the quake struck off the Sanriku Coast.

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Malaysia

Video | Blaze destroys over 1,000 homes in Malaysian water village

Around 1,000 homes in a coastal village razed in Malaysia’s Sabah state.

This image made from video provided by Bernama TV shows a fire at a Malaysian coastal settlement in the Sandakan district of Sabah state on Borneo Island, Malaysia, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (Bernama TV via AP)
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New Zealand

New Zealand tells Wellington residents to evacuate as rain threat worsens

Wellington had received 77mm of rain ‌in less than an hour, its heaviest rainfall on record.

Japan

Magnitude 5 quakes hit Japan’s Nagano prefecture

The quakes struck Omachi at 1.20pm and 2.54pm, with the nation’s weather agency warning of aftershocks over the next week or so.

Pacific nations

Australia pledges US$1.7 million in aid after Cyclone Maila kills 11 in Pacific

Entire villages were destroyed in the storm, was briefly classified as a Category 5 cyclone.

A truck is engulfed by floodwaters brought on by heavy rains from tropical cyclone Maila in the Tinputz district of Northern Bougainville. Photo: AFP
Indonesia

Indonesia earthquake kills 1, triggers tsunami waves

The 7.4-magnitude quake hit at a depth of 35km in the Northern Maluku Sea off ⁠Indonesia’s Ternate island.

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Indonesian police officers inspect a damaged building following an offshore earthquake in Manado, North Sulawesi province, on Thursday. Photo: AFP
Australia

Australia’s Karratha LNG plant closed after cyclone amid fuel shortages

The plant’s co-owner Chevron said it suffered outages at its Gorgon and Wheatstone gas plants, which supply more than five per cent of the world’s liquefied natural gas.

Climate change

Himalayan glacial loss threatens 2 billion as Asia’s ‘water tower’ shrinks

Conflicts, such as the Iran war, are diverting global attention away from the ecological crisis, scientists warn.

Asean

Asean bets on new framework to remedy ‘uneven’ disaster response

The new ‘ASPECT’ initiative could help boost quicker collective regional responses during large-scale or evolving disasters, analysts say.

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Rescuers evacuate a woman after Tropical Storm Penha hit the area in Iligan, Philippines’ Lanao del Norte province, on February 6. Photo: AFP
Fukushima nuclear disaster and water release

Video | Fukushima’s stray animal saviour searches for redemption

Former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama spends his time and money caring for cats and dogs abandoned after the March 2011 disaster.

This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. Not far from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site, former plant worker Toru Akama tends to dozens of pets abandoned after the catastrophe 15 years ago, work he sees as part of his quest for redemption. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) / TO GO WITH ‘JAPAN-NUCLEAR-ANIMAL-FUKUSHIMA’ BY MATHIAS CENA
Japan

Japan struggles with rising maintenance costs 15 years after Fukushima disaster

The costs of maintaining public housing for disaster victims and sea walls in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima total over US$923.7 million.

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Science

China team mulls hitting typhoons with an energy beam from space

Scientist Duan Baoyan says the Zhuri project could also act as a ‘space-based power bank’ to charge satellites and other facilities.

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