Radio Free Asia (RFA) has said it is suspending its news operations due to the US government shutdown and the Trump administration’s cuts to government-funded news services. “RFA has been forced to suspend all remaining news content production – for the first time in its 29 years of existence,” said Bay Fang, RFA’s president and CEO, in a statement. “In an effort to conserve limited resources on hand and preserve the possibility of restarting operations should consistent funding become available, RFA is taking further steps to responsibly shrink its already…
Month: October 2025
AI models from US and China flatter users too much, study finds
Leading artificial intelligence models from the United States and China are “highly sycophantic”, and their excessive flattery may make users less likely to repair interpersonal conflicts, a new study has found. Advertisement The study by researchers at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University published earlier this month tested how 11 large language models (LLMs) responded to user queries seeking advice on personal matters, including cases involving manipulation and deception. In AI circles, sycophancy is the phenomenon of chatbots excessively agreeing with users. DeepSeek’s V3, released in December 2024, was found…
Xi and Trump’s high-stakes meeting in South Korea: everything you need to know
1. Trump hails ‘great success’ as Xi talks raise hopes of easing US-China tensions China and the United States have reached a truce on thorny issues ranging from soybeans and rare earths to fentanyl, following Thursday’s meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. 2. ‘Amazing’ Xi-Trump summit, as it happened – deals struck as trade war thaws Catch up on our live coverage of Xi and Trump’s first in-person meeting since the latter’s return to the White House. 3. 5 takeaways from the Xi-Trump summit in South Korea The…
FirstFT: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping react to US-China trade truce
Also in today’s newsletter: Bank of Japan holds interest rates steady and Big Tech companies spend $80bn on AI infrastructureFinancial Times
China emerges as US ‘peer rival’ at Xi-Trump summit
China’s President Xi Jinping sought to cement a personal connection with his mercurial American counterpart when he met Donald Trump to hammer out a trade war ceasefire this week. Xi found common ground with Trump’s “Maga” agenda, which parallels the Communist party’s own ambitions of restoring China’s past glory, known as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. “I always believe that China’s development should go hand in hand with your vision to make America great again,” the Chinese president told Trump at the summit in South Korea on Thursday,…
Xi-Trump summit underlines China’s growing confidence as a US peer
China’s President Xi Jinping sought to cement a personal connection with his mercurial American counterpart when he met Donald Trump to hammer out a trade war ceasefire this week. Xi found common ground with Trump’s “Maga” agenda, which parallels the Communist party’s own ambitions of restoring China’s past glory, known as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. “I always believe that China’s development should go hand in hand with your vision to make America great again,” the Chinese president told Trump at the summit in South Korea on Thursday,…
The Guardian view on Trump and China: stepping back from the brink, but not solving problems | Editorial
The diverging verdicts offered by the Chinese and American leaders after their talks in South Korea on Thursday reflected more than the chasms between their personal styles and political cultures. Donald Trump gushed about an “amazing” meeting, scoring it 12 out of 10; Xi Jinping reportedly noted that a consensus had been reached, with the two sides needing to finalise follow-up steps rapidly. Mr Trump’s usual trade approach – shout loudly and wave a big stick – faltered when Beijing raised its own bludgeon. No tribute of gold crowns or…
A temporary truce in US-China trade tensions
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world Never one to undersell anything, President Donald Trump claimed that on a 0-10 scale his trade talks on Thursday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping were a “12”. Beijing’s account was cagier, but did not dispute any specific details. What is clear is that the first meeting of the two men for six years resulted in a verbal truce that averts, for now, an escalation in the trade…
Batteries are crucial technology for the 21st century
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is executive director of the International Energy Agency Batteries are a crucial part of our everyday lives and our economies: they’re in everything from phones and watches to cars and factories. Their role is only set to get bigger, especially in the energy sector, as costs come down and demand rises. But the world’s battery supply chains show a worrying dependency on one single country — China. History…
A tale of two embassies: UK-China dispute threatens diplomatic cooling
Ten years ago Britain and China hoped they were laying strong foundations for a “golden era” of greater trade and co-operation. Now the two countries cannot even agree if either one should be allowed to construct a new embassy. A dispute over China’s planned “mega embassy” at a site near the Tower of London, and the UK’s desire to carry out a significant rebuild at its long-standing embassy site in Beijing, has sparked a wider cooling of relations some fear threatens to become a diplomatic winter. China, which bought the…