9 h. ago Chinese automaker sparks excitement after revealing stats on incredible new model: 'Five stars'

Chinese automaker sparks excitement after revealing stats on incredible new model: 'Five stars'  The Cool Down

Politics

10 h. ago Anthropic’s Claude restrictions put overseas AI tools backed by China in limbo

An abrupt decision by American artificial intelligence firm Anthropic to restrict service to Chinese-owned entities anywhere in the world has cast uncertainty over some Claude-dependent overseas tools backed by China’s tech giants. After Anthropic’s notice on Friday that it would upgrade access restrictions to entities “more than 50 per cent owned by companies headquartered in unsupported regions” such as China, regardless of where they are, Chinese users have fretted over whether they could...

Politics

35 h. ago China’s biotech industry is gaining on the US. Can tariffs hold them back?

In the summer of 2015, a time when China’s pharmaceutical market was in a phase of rapid expansion, a sudden regulatory change sent tremors through the industry: drug companies would need to audit the clinical trial data for all pending applications. If withdrawn within a month of the announcement, firms could avoid penalties for submitting flawed applications, but hiding or falsifying data would court severe punishments, including multi-year filing bans. The response from the industry indicated...

Economics

38 h. ago Canada’s Carney unveils billions in relief hit by Trump and China tariffs

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday rolled out a multibillion-dollar relief package for businesses battered by tariffs imposed by both the US and China. Carney said his government will invest C$5 billion (US$3.6 billion) through a new fund to help firms adapt, diversify and grow, as well as boost Business Development Bank of Canada loans for small and medium-sized businesses and expand a loan facility for tariff-hit large enterprises. He also said his government would waive 2026 model...

Politics

40 h. ago The Triumvirate’s Triple Win: What Xi, Putin, and Kim Each Gained in Beijing

The Triumvirate’s Triple Win: What Xi, Putin, and Kim Each Gained in Beijing  The Diplomat – Asia-Pacific Current Affairs Magazine

Politics

42 h. ago Grains Try to Hold Gains on Technical Buying, Exports: Is China Really Buying Soybeans?

Grains Try to Hold Gains on Technical Buying, Exports: Is China Really Buying Soybeans?  AgWeb

Economics

43 h. ago Wall Street climbs to new highs on hopes of interest rate cuts

US stocks are rising to more records on expectations that the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates soon to help the economy. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 per cent on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 93 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.7 per cent. The action was much stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields tumbled following the latest weaker-than-expected update on the US job market. That raised expectations for a cut to rates by the Fed later this month....

Politics

43 h. ago US stocks wobble as Wall Street wrangles with whether job market is too weak

US stocks wobbled lower on Friday as Wall Street questioned whether the US job market has slowed by just enough to get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to help the economy, or by so much that a downturn may be on the way. After rising to an early gain, the S&P 500 erased it and fell 0.3 per cent below the all-time high it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 220 points, or 0.5 per cent, after swinging between an early gain of nearly 150 points and a loss of 400....

Politics

45 h. ago China's AI startup Zhipu offers plan for Claude AI users to migrate to its own model

China's AI startup Zhipu offers plan for Claude AI users to migrate to its own model  Reuters

Politics

45 h. ago China’s cities feed the AI monster with dedicated services for economic roar

China’s city governments are racing to stake out a role in artificial intelligence, with Wenzhou this week becoming the nation’s first to set up a dedicated bureau for AI-related matters – underscoring how local officials are ramping up efforts amid Beijing’s push to gain an edge in the AI race with the United States. Authorities in Wenzhou, located in the provincial economic powerhouse of Zhejiang, announced the bureau’s formation at a high-profile AI Innovation and Development Conference on...

Economics

46 h. ago Locals will gain from Hong Kong becoming global university hub: education chief

Local students are “beneficiaries and participants” in the process of turning Hong Kong into an international higher education hub, a government minister has said, amid concerns that they will become “victims” whose interests are being undermined. Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin also told lawmakers on Friday that authorities would closely monitor the need to make further adjustments to non-local student quotas. At a meeting of the Legislative Council’s education panel, lawmaker...

Politics

55 h. ago Chinese firms still want Nvidia chips despite Beijing concerns: sources

Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance and other Chinese tech firms remained keen on Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips despite regulators in Beijing strongly discouraging them from such purchases, four people with knowledge of procurement discussions said. They wanted reassurance that their orders of Nvidia’s H20 model, which the US firm in July regained permission to sell in China, were being processed, and were closely monitoring Nvidia’s plans for a more powerful chip, tentatively named the...

Politics

61 h. ago Mexico considering imposing tariffs on China, President Sheinbaum says

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that her government is considering imposing tariffs on imports from countries that do not have trade agreements with Mexico, including China. The tariffs would be part of “Plan Mexico”, an initiative to boost domestic industry amid tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on some imports from Mexico. “We are considering tariffs as part of Plan Mexico, which we’ve proposed since we came into office,” said Sheinbaum. China is among countries...

Politics

63 h. ago 2 Koreans and a Swiss national among 16 dead in Lisbon tram crash

Portuguese authorities were investigating on Thursday what caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building. The Prosecutor General’s office said coroners had so far identified the bodies of five Portuguese, two South Koreans and one Swiss national, without disclosing further details of those killed. Portugal’s judicial police chief, Luis Neves, said there was a “high degree of certainty”...

Events

2 d. ago Popular Android VPN apps found to have security flaws and China links

Popular Android VPN apps found to have security flaws and China links  Malwarebytes

Events

2 d. ago Moonshot AI’s updated Kimi model offers expanded context window, improved coding

Alibaba Group Holding-backed Moonshot AI is set to release an updated version of the Kimi K2 artificial intelligence model that took the world by storm in July. On Wednesday, the Beijing-based start-up announced a giveaway for 20 users to beta test a model called Kimi K2-0905 on its Discord server. The announcement was later edited with the updated model’s name and other details removed. The original version of the model had been referred to as Kimi K2-0711, referring to its release date of July...

Politics

2 d. ago Cambricon shares slump 14%, the most in 7 months, as investors lock in gains

Cambricon Technologies, the artificial intelligence chipmaker dubbed “China’s Nvidia”, tumbled on Thursday as investors took profit from one of the mainland’s most frenzied stock rallies this year. Shares of the Shanghai-listed company sank as much as 16 per cent before closing 14.4 per cent lower at 1,202 yuan, the steepest single-day decline since January 16. The stock lost 84 billion yuan (US$11.8 billion) in market capitalisation. The sharp sell-off also erased 6.9 per cent from the...

Economics

2 d. ago In too deep? Filipino couple under scrutiny in flood control scandal

As public furore mounts over the revelation of widespread corruption in flood control projects in the Philippines, few names have captured public attention more than Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya and her husband Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya. The couple, once virtually unknown, emerged in the spotlight after Sarah Discaya ran against popular Pasig City mayor Vico Sotto in the May midterm elections – only to lose by a landslide. Her biography has since become a lightning rod for scrutiny. Born in London in...

Events

3 d. ago Viral video of skateboarders on Hong Kong highway sparks debate over road safety

A video of two young people skateboarding on a highway in Shek Tong Tsui has gone viral online, raising safety concerns and prompting an expert to warn that they may have violated Hong Kong laws. On the popular social media platform Threads, a video showing two young people skateboarding on the Hill Road flyover has gained 312,000 views. The pair wore helmets and gloves while travelling at high speed on the flyover. In the video, the pair are seen sometimes spreading their arms and leaning down...

Transport

3 d. ago Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent still want Nvidia’s H20 AI chips despite Beijing pressure

Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent still want Nvidia’s H20 AI chips despite Beijing pressure  Mitrade

Events