Ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam has unleashed severe weather across New Zealand's Northland and Auckland, leaving thousands without power and causing widespread damage as it tracks southward.

Heavy rain and strong winds have downed powerlines, felled trees, closed roads, and disrupted transport.

As of Thursday afternoon, around 5,000 properties in Northland remained without power, with Northpower, the electric power distribution company, warning repairs could take up to three days.

At the storm's peak, over 8,700 Northland homes were affected, news agency reported quoting Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

Telecommunications were also impacted, with power outages affecting cellphone towers, RNZ reported on Thursday.

A destructive hailstorm ripped through parts of Pakistan's capital Islamabad and provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), claiming lives of at least five people and damaging properties and standing crops worth millions.

Several vehicles were damaged in Islamabad as hailstones as big as the size of a golf ball battered the region. The capital's famous Faisal Mosque also suffered damage with windows broken due to the hailstorm. Strong winds uprooted trees and power pylons in the Tornal area, which remained the worst affected in the capital.

Locals said they had never witnessed such a hailstorm in the capital before.

"The hailstones were the size of golf balls and started falling like rain. It felt scary. We saw it smashing the windscreens of several vehicles and also damaging other structures," said one of the locals in Islamabad.

Continuing with its humanitarian assistance to earthquake-hit Myanmar under Operation Brahma, India has sent an additional consignment of relief material that was handed over by Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Abhay Thakur to Mandalay Chief Minister Myo Aung in the presence of diaspora leaders of Mandalay and Sagaing.

The relief aid included RO water plant, genset, rice, noodles, cooking oil, atta, sugar, dal, salt, MREs, blankets and medicines for the needy, the Embassy of India in Yangon stated.

India had launched Operation Brahma to provide necessary support, including Search and Rescue (SAR), humanitarian aid, disaster relief, and medical assistance, following the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28.

Earlier, components of 20 prefabricated offices, weighing approximately 50 tonnes, were despatched by IAF C-17 on April 15 to Myanmar. The structures will be used as temporary offices for various ministries in Naypyidaw. Two IAF C-17 were also deployed to bring back doctors and personnel of 60-para field hospital post de-induction. The 200-bedded field hospital successfully provided treatment of 2519 patients over the past two weeks.

South Korean stocks rose nearly 1 percent on Thursday as investors became optimistic about the ongoing trade talks between the United States and Japan. The local currency rose to a more than four-month high against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 22.98 points, or 0.94 percent, to close at 2,470.41, rebounding from a 1.21 percent drop the previous day, reports news agency.

Trade volume was moderate at 589.6 million shares worth 6.5 trillion won ($4.58 billion), with winners beating losers 638 to 225.

Institutions purchased a net 346.2 billion won worth of stocks, while foreign and retail investors sold a net 351.9 billion won and 87.4 billion won, respectively.

The number of days each year that the world's oceans experience extreme surface heat has tripled over the past 80 years due to global warming, a new study has found.

Researchers found that, on average, the global sea surface saw about 15 days of extreme heat annually in the 1940s, news agency reported.

Today that figure has soared to nearly 50 days per year, revealed the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Global warming is responsible for almost half of the occurrence of marine heatwaves -- periods when sea surface temperatures rise well above normal for an extended time.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that the United States' 245 per cent tariff on certain products from China no longer makes economic sense.

It the US continues to play the "tariff numbers game", it will pay no attention to it, according to the spokesperson, news agency reported.

The statement came in the wake of White House's statement that China faces tariffs of up to 245 per cent due to its retaliatory action.

China now faces up to 245 per cent tariffs on imports to the US as a result of its retaliatory tariffs, according to the White House Fact sheet.

This came after Beijing ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets in response to the earlier US decision to impose 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods.

South Korea's Presidential front-runner Lee Jae-myung has ranked among US magazine Time's 100 most influential people of 2025, its website showed Wednesday.

The magazine chose Lee, former chief of the Democratic Party, in the category of leaders, offering a brief story of challenges he encountered during his early life and rise up the political ladder, and casting him as the "clear favourite" to win the June 3 Presidential poll.

Charlie Campbell, its Editor at Large, introduced his tough early life, noting that, born the fifth of seven children to a farming family, he walked 10 miles round trip to elementary school daily and later had his wrist crushed in a pressing machine while working underage in a factory.

The editor also stressed that "nothing" about Lee's political rise has been easy.

Mount Lewotobi, located in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Wednesday, triggering a flight warning and safety advisories, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre said.

The eruption released a column of ash up to 3,500 metres into the sky, and the thick gray cloud moved westward and northwestward of the crater.

To mitigate risks posed by the volcanic ash, a Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation has been issued at the orange level, the second-highest warning, banning planes from flying below 5,000 metres in the vicinity of Mount Lewotobi. Aircraft should also exercise caution regarding the presence of volcanic ash, which can disturb their flights.

To protect the residents living on the slope of the volcano from the risks of hot clouds and volcanic materials, the centre has issued safety advisories, news agency reported. The residents, tourists, and visitors should not engage in any activities within a radius of six km from the volcano.

The United States has carried out extensive airstrikes against Houthi targets across Yemen on Wednesday.

US aircraft reportedly struck more than 50 Houthi sites across multiple provinces in the north, center and west of Yemen,

The Houthis did not disclose the number of casualties as a result of the US airstrikes, vowing that the US attacks "will not go unanswered."

The group said it will continue to attack vessels with links to Israel or the United States.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel has adopted a policy of blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza to undermine Hamas' control over the population.

In a statement a day after a field visit to Gaza with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior military commanders, Katz outlined Israel's broader war strategy, which he said aims to secure the release of hostages and ultimately defeat Hamas.

"Israel's policy is clear -- no humanitarian aid is about to enter Gaza," Katz said. "No one is currently preparing or intending to bring any humanitarian aid into Gaza under the current circumstances," he added.

Israel resumed its blockade on the entry of food, water, medicine, fuel, and other supplies on March 2,news agency reported. Netanyahu said the move was intended to pressure Hamas into accepting a deal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, without requiring Israel to end the war.