Africa’s explosive growth in cities

The continent’s urban centres are set to expand by 19mn people annually, or by nearly two Londons a year. But urbanisation is not following a familiar path

China is turning trash into treasure on a vast scale

EV batteries, especially, will help it secure supplies of critical minerals

Sulphur scramble poses latest threat to global food prices

Deep-pocketed miners outbid fertiliser makers for scarce supplies of commodity used in production for both sectors

Google told to halt work on datacentres in Finland over environmental concerns

Order on two construction sites comes after Google failed to carry out environmental impact assessments

AI Agents Are a Threat to Travel Businesses. Airbnb Could Still Be a Winner.

For the lodging platform’s stock to thrive in the age of bots, it has to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.

Singapore workers embrace AI faster than global peers, but fewer feel secure in their jobs: PwC...

Confidence in job security has dropped 15 percentage points since 2024, while global sentiment is steady Read more at The Business Times.

Cost over climate: Most Asean firms scaling back decarbonisation plans as higher energy prices bite

Singapore has the most companies delaying sustainability strategies; Vietnam least affected by cost hikes Read more at The Business Times.

Malaysia builds Silicon Island for semiconductors

Malaysia’s Silicon Island aims to boost Penang’s semiconductor industry and AI ambitions with a new reclaimed tech hub. Read more at straitstimes.com.

India’s first bullet train stumbles over divisions with partner Japan

Flagship high-speed rail project has been beset by delays, cost overruns and tensions

AI industry moves to thwart data centre backlash ahead of US midterms

AI Infrastructure Coalition, whose members include Google, Meta and Microsoft, unveils commitments to cover energy costs and minimise water usage

S’pore’s fourth egg farm, set to produce Japanese eggs, breaks ground after four-year delay

DoMo Farm will commence production in 2028. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Singapore places bigger bet on chips

City-state’s economy is getting an AI uplift but costs and labour are constraints to its industrial growth

Vietnam’s data-centre investment rush faces reality check on power and site constraints

Tariff disputes, looming electricity shortfalls and tighter site economics are narrowing the investable pipeline Read more at The Business Times.

Exclusive | This Startup Is Using AI to Fight Off a Future AI Pandemic

Red Queen Bio is using artificial intelligence to design antibody drugs for novel pathogens—before future AI systems create them.

Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype 

Breathless claims about AGI and new capabilities fall apart pretty quickly under scrutiny.

US, Chinese visions for AI regulation differ sharply at UN meeting

Donald Trump rejects ‘globalist scheme’ to control AI in blow to Andy Burnham

President says US is ‘leading over China by a lot and everyone else, and we’re going to keep it that way’