Tokyo, Dec 12: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 has hit Japan’s northeastern region, prompting a tsunami advisory from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), local media reported.

The earthquake struck on Friday off the coast of Aomori Prefecture at 11:44 am local time (02:44 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12.4 miles), according to the JMA.

The Japanese weather agency on Friday issued a tsunami advisory for northern and northeastern Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, as well as Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, may see a tsunami of up to 1 metre following the temblor which struck at around 11:44 a.m. off the eastern part of Aomori at a depth of around 20 kilometres, Kyodo reported.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) also said that the quake measured 6.7.
Officials are urging people living near the coast and rivers close to the sea in Japan to evacuate to inland areas

The earthquake came four days after Monday’s powerful M7.5 temblor off the eastern coast of Aomori, prompting the agency to warn of the chance of a quake of similar or even larger magnitude hitting the same area within the coming several days.

As per Japanese national broadcaster NHK, the level of shaking from the quake was less than the bigger Monday’s 7.5 earthquake that tore apart roads, smashed windows and triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres (2.3ft).

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said today there were no immediate signs of abnormalities at the region’s nuclear facilities.

According to the NHK, Tohoku Electric Power Company says no abnormalities have been found at the Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori Prefecture, or at the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture. Tokyo Electric Power Company says no abnormalities have been found at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear plants. Both companies say there are no changes in readings at monitoring posts that measure radiation levels around the plants.

Washington, Dec 12: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at centralising the regulation of artificial intelligence in the United States, arguing that fragmented state-level rules could slow innovation and jeopardise America’s lead over China in a high-stakes global technology race.

“We have a big signing right now, and we have a tremendous industry where we’re leading by a lot. It’s the AI — Artificial intelligence,” Trump said at the signing ceremony on Thursday. “We’re leading China. We’re leading everybody by a tremendous amount.”

Trump framed AI as a decisive strategic contest. “There’s only going to be one winner here. It’s probably going to be the US or China,” he said. “And right now, we’re winning by a lot.”

The executive order seeks to steer AI development under a single national framework, limiting the impact of state-level regulations that the administration says could deter investment in data centres, computing infrastructure, and energy systems.

“If they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it,” Trump said. “All you need is one hostile actor.”

A senior administration official said the goal is to ensure AI “can operate within a single national framework in this country as opposed to being subject to state-level regulation that could potentially cripple the industry,” adding that AI leadership is tied to “economic growth, job development, national security and technological edge.”

David Sacks, introduced as the administration’s “AI and crypto czar,” warned that states are moving rapidly to legislate on AI. “We have over a thousand bills going through state legislatures right now to regulate AI. Over 100 of them have already passed,” he said, noting that “25 per cent of them are in California, New York, and Illinois.”

Sacks said the administration will work with Congress to “create that federal framework” and push back against “the most onerous and excessive state regulations,” while maintaining safeguards in areas such as child protection.

Speakers at the ceremony also cast AI as a contest of political values. Trump said slowing US AI development would give Beijing a strategic advantage. “Not doing this would be the greatest gift to China… that China has ever received,” he said.

Asked whether he was more concerned about China or the risks posed by artificial intelligence itself, Trump replied, “Both,” pointing to rapid breakthroughs already emerging from the technology.

“You look at the medical and medical research already… We’re way ahead of what we ever thought we’d be just from the infancy of AI.”

The executive orderseeks the administration to take decisive action to ensure that AI can operate within a single national framework in this country as opposed to being subject to state-level regulation that could potentially cripple the industry, he said.

Bangkok, Dec 12: An airstrike by Myanmar’s military destroyed a hospital in an area controlled by a leading rebel armed force, killing 34 patients and medical staff, according to a rescue worker and independent media reports on Thursday.

About 80 other people were injured in the attack on Wednesday night on the general hospital in Mrauk-U township, an area controlled by the ethnic Arakan Army in the western state of Rakhine.

The military, which took over Myanmar’s government in 2021 and has been fighting ethnic militias and armed resistance forces since then, has not mentioned any attack in the area.

Wai Hun Aung, a senior official for rescue services in Rakhine, told The Associated Press that a jet fighter dropped two bombs at 9.13 pm with one hitting the hospital’s recovery ward and the other landing near the hospital’s main building.

He said he arrived at the hospital early on Thursday to provide assistance and recorded the deaths of 17 women and 17 men. He said that most of the hospital building was destroyed by the bombs, and taxis and motorbikes near the hospital were also damaged.

Rakhine-based online media posted photos and videos showing damaged buildings and debris including medical equipment.

The hospital has been the main source of health care for people in Rakhine, where most hospitals have closed because of Myanmar’s civil war, said Wai Hun Aung.

It was reopened after doctors gathered in Mrauk-U to provide much-needed medical services.

Mrauk-U, located 530 kilometres northwest of Yangon, the country’s largest city, was captured by the Arakan Army in February 2024.

The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar’s central government. It began its offensive in Rakhine in November 2023 and has seized a strategically important regional army headquarters and 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships.

Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, was the site of a brutal army counterinsurgency operation in 2017 that drove about 7,40,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh. There is still ethnic tension between the Buddhist Rakhine and the Rohingya.

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, established by elected lawmakers who were barred from taking their seats in 2021, condemned the airstrike.

The organisation urged the international community to pressure the military to end its actions, take action against perpetrators and provide humanitarian assistance as soon as possible.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army took power in 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition. Many opponents of military rule have since taken up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.

The military government has stepped up airstrikes ahead of the planned December 28 elections against the armed pro-democracy People’s Defence Force, which is closely associated with the National Unity Government. Opponents of military rule charge that the polls will be neither free not fair, and are mainly an effort to legitimise the army retaining power.