Day: May 11, 2025

In the era of heightened geopolitical competition in nascent technologies, it is tempting to view the artificial intelligence (AI) race as centred around two key players – the United States and China. Advertisement At the Politburo’s April 25 economic-analysis meeting, Chinese President Xi called upon the nation to “achieve self-reliance and strength”, according to a Xinhua readout, and “secure a competitive edge in AI” – stopping short of naming the US. Reciprocally, the US views China’s growing technological prowess with wariness – perhaps best epitomised by the Framework for AI…

Top Chinese and US trade officials held high-stakes talks over the weekend on easing a trade war that has disrupted global supply chains and triggered concerns over a prolonged economic downturn, as the world watched intently for the outcome. Advertisement Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer resumed negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva shortly after 10am local time on Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse. This followed eight hours of talks in a closed-door meeting on Saturday – the first high-level…

Pakistan’s Chinese-made weapons have shown strength against India’s Western and Russian ones in their clash over Kashmir, but analysts caution that it is too soon to say which side’s arms technology will prove superior in combat. Advertisement Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated after India conducted military strikes, dubbed Operation Sindoor, on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir on Wednesday. The strikes were in response to a terrorist attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered parts of Kashmir. The attack killed 26 civilians, most of whom were…

Advertisement The feat was made possible through major computational methods which could be applied to further problems in the field. As a result of the breakthrough, the mathematical world finally has proof that manifolds of Kervaire invariant one do exist in dimension 126, ending a decades-long mystery. The Kervaire invariant is a function that measures whether a smooth framed manifold, or a topological space or shape that can have curvature but locally appears flat, can be converted into a sphere through “surgery,” a concept introduced by American mathematician John Milnor…

After years of driving cars from European marques, one self-employed Londoner opted for a change in December and bought an electric vehicle (EV) made by Chinese carmaker MG. Advertisement “I was originally looking at a Tesla, but the price was just a bit too much for me,” he said. “With everything being so expensive these days, I thought ‘why not go for something more affordable?’” He joined a growing number of Britons embracing Chinese car brands. While Chinese electric vehicles have faced mounting headwinds in the European Union – including…