When there's a vacuum, something or someone will fill it. In the climate leadership space, we now see many countries from the Global South stepping up,
Hollywood tried and failed to crack the microdrama code first. In 2020, Jeffrey Katzenberg launched Quibi with $1.75 billion in funding, A-list talent including Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro, and episodes under 10 minutes designed for mobile viewing. Six months later, it shut down, having burned through over $1 billion. The service reached fewer than 1 million subscribers against a target of 7 million, with its content library sold to Roku for under $100 million.
Given the current circumstances, if I do not suspend this edition of the film festival, anyone involved in the festival whether directors, forum participants, associated staff, volunteers, or even audience members could potentially face threats or harassment, he said in a statement. This situation places me in a difficult ethical position. As both an organiser and an individual, I have no intention of putting anyone in danger, whether such danger is real or fabricated as a means of intimidation.
The number of Chinese scientists taking on leadership roles in international science projects is growing rapidly. They now lead more than half of all research projects with the United Kingdom, and are expected to lead an equal number of projects with Europe and with the United States in the next couple of years, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week. Hongjun Xiang, a physicist at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, says the projections are consistent with what he has observed in the country, particularly in fields such as physics and engineering. But China needs to strengthen its leadership capabilities in disruptive basic research, "as Nobel-level original breakthroughs remain rare", he adds.
OPINION - Space has gone from frontier to front line. But despite this increased urgency and to remain first in flight, the Trump administration recently the Office of Space Commerce's budget. Additionally, NASA remains without a permanent leader and is struggling to select a new lunar lander for its Artemis missions. It's a dangerous place to be as America's adversaries are investing heavily in everything from spy satellites to landing on the Moon. Now is the time for the United States to prioritize investment in innovation and security.
TV footage showed Ren Junfei and Xing Jianing sitting with a large toy in the shape of a missile labelled DF-61 as they were waiting for their scores in the kiss and cry area at the Cup of China on Saturday. The toy was briefly held up by Ren, Xing and a coach, then placed across Xing's lap. The DF-61 is a new Chinese-made, land-based intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons which was unveiled at a military parade last month.
Russian attack helicopters (such as the Mi‑28N) are now reportedly being equipped with the Igla‑S MANPADS via the Strelets system launcher modules in order to intercept Ukrainian long-range drones. While traditional guns and rockets on helicopters have been used in this role, the addition of MANPADS shows Russian awareness of the threat posed by smaller, faster aerial targets. How effective MANPADS are against low-heat small UAVs remains to be seen.
Dobot calls its version the Sinosauropteryx, named after the feathered, bipedal carnivore first uncovered by Chinese farmers in 1996. The robotic version, according to the South China Morning Post, features bipedal locomotion, optical sensors, and pre-programmed motion-controls. A highlight video which made the rounds on Douyin, the Chinese varietal of TikTok, pokes fun at the concept, showing the near-lifelike Sinosauropteryx stalking around a museum at night.
The US government is reportedly considering new export controls that could block a wide range of products made with US software from being shipped to China, in what could become one of Washington's most sweeping trade measures to date. If implemented, the move could disrupt global technology supply chains and heighten uncertainty for multinational manufacturers that rely on US-developed software across their operations.
Companies in China claim they can now recover 99.6% of the nickel, manganese, and cobalt from an end-of-life EV battery. They don't make it clear if these are pilot program numbers or if that's what they're achieving at scale. China is the world's leading EV battery recycling power and it's unlikely the West will catch up anytime soon. The world needs to get electric vehicle battery recycling right.
The low-paid Chinese worker is at the mercy of an entirely unrestrained market. The jobs Hu does demand unpaid trial periods and have no base pay, and he works mainly for commission or a handling fee, which his employers can reduce on a whim. Disgruntled employees pick on each other, because going after the powerful will only cost us in the end. Experienced hands refuse to help newbies, on the grounds that teaching the disciple might starve the master.
On Friday morning, the S&P 500 was less than a couple of points from another all-time high. Then, after a single social media post from President Donald Trump, $2 trillion in market value was wiped out. The unraveling shows the sway the president's one-man trade policy still has over the fate of the global economy. Trump at 10:57 a.m. ET wrote on his Truth Social platform that China was "becoming very hostile" with the rest of the world, especially when it comes to its control of rare earth metals. He accused China of holding the world "captive" because of its "monopoly" on these crucial resources.
US export controls have had mixed results in stemming the flow of chipmaking equipment into China, according to a congressional investigation, which found US and allied companies sold $38 billion worth of semiconductor tools in 2024 alone. Those sales, it should be noted, were mostly older equipment that's either exempt from US export rules or was sold to unregulated parties in China. In other words, these equipment vendors did nothing wrong and were acting in compliance with US export control rules.
In its most recent threat report [PDF] published today, the GenAI giant said that these users usually asked ChatGPT to help design tools for large-scale monitoring and analysis - but stopped short of asking the model to perform the surveillance activities. "What we saw and banned in those cases was typically threat actors asking ChatGPT to help put together plans or documentation for AI-powered tools, but not then to implement them," Ben Nimmo, principal investigator on OpenAI's Intelligence and Investigations team, told reporters.
According to data collected by Helgi Library in 2021, China accounted for over 25% of the world's potato consumption. In total, the population ate around 66,437 kilotons of potatoes that year. To put that in perspective, there are 1000 tons in a kiloton - we're talking about a heck of a lot of potatoes. The World Population Review has even higher figures for the following year: 69,109 kilotons, or 47.4 kilograms per person.
China is making leaps and bounds with carrier technology. It recently showed off its newest aircraft carrier launching jets with electromagnetic catapults, a capability once unique to the US Navy's cutting-edge Ford-class flattops. And it did it with stealth jets, something the US has yet to do. But while Beijing's carriers may be nearing America's in technological capabilities, experts say they're still a long way from fighting like them. The real challenge isn't building ships.
Speaking by video at the UN Climate Summit in New York last week, China's president Xi Jinping laid out his country's climate ambitions. While the stated goals may not have been aggressive as some environmentalists would like, Xi at least reaffirmed China's green commitment. "Despite some countries going against the trend, the international community should stay on the right track, maintain unwavering confidence, unwavering action, and undiminished efforts," he said. Any reference to Donald Trump and the United States was surely intended (though not explicit).
When former lawyer Zhang Zhan posted hundreds of videos from Wuhan during the chaotic early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, she became one of China's most prominent citizen journalists. Jailed in 2020 for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" a charge Chinese authorities often use against journalists and activists she was sentenced recently to another four years for the same offense.
In a video address to the United Nations Climate Summit on 24 September, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced that China will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 7% to 10% from peak levels by 2035. The pace at which China cuts emissions will have profound global impact. The country has accounted for 90% of the growth in the world's CO emissions since 2015 and it is now the largest GHG emitter in the world
