The Lao state-owned Electricite du Laos (EDL) plans to implement a strategy to strengthen the country's electricity supply in the second half of 2025.

According to Lao Economic Daily on Thursday, senior officials and staff from the EDL and related sectors met to review EDL's performance and outline strategic plans,News Agency reported.

The EDL faced significant challenges in the first half of the year due to global and regional economic volatility, as well as a sluggish domestic recovery. These factors have affected EDL's ability to meet its performance targets, said the report.

The EDL is focusing on clear principles and policies to guide its operations and ensure alignment across departments. Staff are encouraged to work toward shared goals and follow the reform direction to improve efficiency and service delivery. It aims to provide reliable and sufficient electricity to the public while engaging in power trading to generate stable revenue for the government.

The eruption of Klyuchevskoy Volcano, located in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, has ended, leaving behind a new scoria cone in its crater, said the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on its Telegram channel.

Klyuchevskoy, standing at 4,754 meters above sea level and situated around 30 km from the village of Klyuchi, is one of Eurasia's most active volcanoes. The eruption, which began on July 30, followed a strong earthquake in the region the day before, reports news agency.

Ash plumes soared up to 12 km into the sky, with ashfall affecting communities across the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal district.

On August 7, the aviation alert code for Klyuchevskoy Volcano in the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East was raised from orange to red following intensified eruptive activity.

Europe's wildfire season has scorched 439,568 hectares so far this year, more than double the 19-year average for this point in the season, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said.

The tally covers fires larger than 30 hectares detected by the EU's Copernicus Emergency Management Service, News Agency reported.

Since January 1, authorities have registered 1,628 such fires, up from 1,089 in the same period last year, with associated carbon emissions estimated at 14.11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the JRC said in its latest weekly update.

Fire weather risks remain elevated. A seven-day fire weather index outlook for August 11 to Aug. 17 points to "extreme to very extreme" conditions across much of the continent, with particularly severe risk in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, most of France, the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary.

North Korea on Thursday denounced the United States for its recent back-to-back military exercises in the West Pacific, conducted jointly with other countries, including Australia and Japan, calling them "highly provocative."

"If the US and its followers obsessively pursue military actions that undermine peace and security in the Asia Pacific region, they will inevitably provoke protest and retaliation from countries in the region," reports.

The KCNA took issue with two recent US-led multinational military exercises: Talisman Sabre, conducted last month in northeastern Australia with 18 other nations, and a military exercise in the Philippine Sea of the Western Pacific from August 4-12, involving Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway and Spain.

"Needless to say, they were highly sensational and provocative both in content and in elements," the KCNA noted.

The news agency said the Korean Peninsula will also face another "manic" exercise, referring to the annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint drills between Seoul and Washington, scheduled for August 18-28.

Typhoon Podul, the 11th typhoon of the year, made landfall in eastern Taiwan's Taitung County at around 1.10 p.m. on Wednesday, bringing severe storms to Hualien and Taitung, according to the local meteorological agency.

The agency continued to issue both sea and land warnings for Podul on Wednesday. At noon, its central pressure was 945 hectopascals, with maximum sustained winds reaching 43 metres per second near the centre.

The land warning covers 13 counties and cities, including Hualien, Taitung and Miaoli, while the sea warning applies to the waters off eastern Taiwan, the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Strait and waters near Dongsha Island.

Rainfall is currently heaviest in eastern Taiwan and mountainous areas, the agency said, noting that as the typhoon moves westward, the rain will also spread from east to west -- with the heaviest rainfall expected in the latter half of Wednesday.

Sydney Airport in Australia was partially locked down on Wednesday morning after a police officer's firearm was discharged in the course of an arrest.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed that officers arrested a man in the T2 domestic terminal at the airport on Wednesday morning after a police firearm was discharged.

An AFP statement said that an investigation into the incident has commenced and that there is no ongoing threat to the public.

The man was being detained by AFP officers in a struggle when the gun was fired, reports news agency, quoting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Sydney Airport said in a statement that there were no reported injuries and that it was assisting the AFP. "The airport is operating normally," it said.

The latest attacks in the El Fasher area of Sudan's North Darfur State and violence in the Kordofan region alarmed the United Nations, a UN spokesman said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a large-scale attack in the El Fasher area affected the Abu Shouk displacement camp.

"The attack has been attributed by local sources to fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)," Dujarric said on Tuesday.

"At least 40 civilians have been killed within Abu Shouk, and another 19 injured."

He said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that exit routes from the city were blocked, trapping civilians under siege and cutting them off from safety and aid. At least 500 people have fled from Abu Shouk to other locations in North Darfur.

Residents reported that the attack began early Monday with intense RSF shelling on several areas, including the army headquarters and the Abu Shouk camp, before ground assaults started from the city's east, southeast and north.

Several Baloch human rights organisations on Tuesday severely condemned the heinous grenade attack launched by Pakistan military's death squads at a civilian residence in the Aapsar area of Turbat district in Balochistan.