Month: March 2024

‘Historic breakthrough’: China’s installed wind turbine cost drops to one-fifth of the US in green energy race

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The tender documents for a wind power project of 9.1 million kilowatts in Inner Mongolia, the lowest price offered by companies submitting tenders was 2.15 yuan per watt, with the highest being 2.7 yuan per watt – a pattern likely to be repeated across the market. Meanwhile stateside, the US Department of Energy reported the average installed cost of wind projects in 2021 was US$1,500 per kW, or US$1.50 per watt (10.8 yuan). This marked a drop of more than 40 per cent from its peak in 2010. The costs…

A new day dawns for the yen

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The end of negative interest rates in Japan threatens to bring a new era of volatility for the yen, and Florida and Disney resolve a legal dispute. Plus, US small-cap stocks are suffering their worst run of performance relative to large companies in more than 20 years. Mentioned in this podcast: End of negative interest rates in Japan raises threat of yen volatility US small-caps suffer worst run against larger stocks in over 20 years Disney settles lawsuit in Florida theme-park dispute The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona…

Is China a major threat to British democracy? – Politics Weekly UK – podcast

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Despite pressure from some Conservative MPs, the government stopped short of defining China as an official threat this week. How deep does Chinese interference in the UK go? John Harris speaks to the Guardian’s foreign leader writer Tania Branigan and deputy political editor, Peter Walker. As MPs break for Easter, they also discuss the state of the Conservative and Labour parties How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian

Investors bet a Modi election win will extend India’s stock market boom

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India’s stock markets are expected to power on if Narendra Modi wins a third electoral victory this year, even as investors grow fearful that the index gains are built on stretched valuations. The country’s enviable economic performance, which has underpinned strong corporate earnings, and political stability under the prime minister are fuelling bullish sentiment among investors, with the IMF forecasting India will grow at 6.5 per cent this year and next. The BSE Sensex index hit a record high this month, having risen every year since 2016, while the total…

As Space Threats Mount, U.S. Lags in Protecting GPS Services

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The United States and China are locked in a new race, in space and on Earth, over a fundamental resource: time itself. And the United States is losing. Global positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their signals have become fundamental to the global economy — as essential for telecommunications, 911 services and financial exchanges as they are for drivers and lost pedestrians. But those services are increasingly vulnerable as space is rapidly militarized and satellite signals are attacked on Earth. Yet, unlike China, the United States does…

Japan Moon Probe Survives Second Lunar Night

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TOKYO —  Japan’s unmanned moon lander woke up after surviving a second frigid, two-week lunar night and transmitted new images back to Earth, the country’s space agency said Thursday. “We received a response from SLIM last night and confirmed that SLIM had successfully completed its second overnight,” the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a post on the official X account for its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe. “Since the sun was still high in the sky last night and the equipment was still hot, we recorded…

Amazon invests US$2.75 billion more in OpenAI rival Anthropic to boost generative AI efforts

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Amazon.com says it is investing an additional US$2.75 billion in Anthropic, completing a deal it made last year to back the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up and expand a partnership between the companies. The infusion brings Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic, a well-regarded builder of AI tools able to generate text and analysis, to US$4 billion, following an earlier investment announced in September. As part of that deal, Amazon had the right to contribute the additional funds in the form of a convertible note, provided it did so before the end…

$75,000 for a baby? South Korean businesses float incentives as demographic crisis looms

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Korean construction group Booyoung is offering workers a $75,000 bonus for each baby they produce, one of many eye-catching incentives on offer as politicians and companies grapple with the country’s demographic crisis. “If Korea’s birth rate remains low, the country will face extinction,” Booyoung chair Lee Joong-keun told employees last month. South Korea’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to…

Why didn’t New Zealand impose sanctions on China?

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Politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing were among those targeted by cyber-attacks run by groups backed by China, western intelligence services said this week. The separate cyber-attacks hit the US, UK and New Zealand – all members of the Five Eyes alliance. The network of five countries, which also includes Canada and Australia, share security related intelligence. While Beijing rejected claims of its involvement, the US and UK chose to take further steps against those entities they said were involved, but New Zealand took a different tack. How did the…

Chinese scientists plan surface-to-air missile with 2,000km kill range

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According to the paper, the PLA would issue a warning to any target aircraft’s country of origin and only fire if it failed to turn back. The technology “is of great significance for maintaining regional and global peace and stability”. The PLA’s brief was for a weapon with low production costs that is also convenient for daily operations, at a maximum 10 metres (33ft) long and weighing no more than 4 tonnes to make it suitable for vehicle-mounted mobile launch, the paper said. 02:41 Marcos Jnr says China showing interest…