Day: October 6, 2025

China hastens to break down Babel barrier with LLMs and wearable tech

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How close are we to rebuilding the legendary Tower of Babel? China is rolling out a suite of AI tools that may soon make cross-language communication seamless. Advertisement In the Bible’s Book of Genesis, humanity came together to build a tower that would reach the heavens. To disrupt their ambitious project, God introduced one simple change: people would speak different languages. Chaos engulfed the construction site, and the unfinished tower came to be known as Babel – a word derived from the Hebrew for “confusion”. The metaphor is clear: language…

Australia signs key defence deal with Papua New Guinea

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Watch: We told China that Australia is our ‘partner of choice’, says Papua New Guinea PM Australia will gain access to Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) military facilities and troops under a new deal that will see both nations come to each other’s defence if either is under attack. Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese and his PNG counterpart James Marape signed the security pact in Canberra on Monday. It comes as China’s influence in the Pacific grows. But Marape said the pact was not born out of geopolitics “but out of geography,…

China reroutes clothes exports to Europe after US tariffs upset trade

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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. China’s textile exports into the EU have surged as manufacturers hit by heavy US tariffs redirect goods to Europe, the European textile industry body has said. EU imports of Chinese clothing and textiles increased by 20 per cent in value and volume in the first half of 2025, compared with last year, according to Euratex data shared with the Financial Times. The majority of the value increase came from an…

Will Japan’s next PM revive Abenomics?

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Israel and Hamas head into crunch-time negotiations in Cairo, and Japan’s prospective new prime minister will have work to do to bring her party back together. Plus, Europe is facing a flood of cheap Chinese textile imports, and investors are piling into an unproven technology to power the US artificial intelligence boom. Mentioned in this podcast: Israel and Hamas prepare for crunch ceasefire talks Japan gears up for ‘Takaichi trade’ as first female leader prepares for power China reroutes clothes exports to Europe after US tariffs upset trade US and…