Month: April 2026

Neither the United States nor Israel or Iran have been invited to the first major European push to influence a war that was launched six weeks ago by a US-Israeli bombardment on Iran. Europe insists it is not a party to the war, but as energy prices soar and munitions get diverted from Ukraine it is already paying the price. Advertisement China is among the Asian nations to have been invited – demarched by both Paris and London, it is understood – although it was unclear at what level it…

China’s food supply could be vulnerable to global price spikes triggered by extreme weather or global conflict, as international bodies warn the US-Israel war on Iran is worsening food insecurity worldwide. The country has sufficient staple grain supplies, but Beijing said the nation’s food sector still faced structural challenges, including a weak processing industry and a lack of high-quality crop varieties in some areas. These weaknesses could pose problems for China if global food markets were to experience a shock, although a policy document interpreting Beijing’s 15th five-year plan –…

In China’s hyper-competitive and lucrative tech industry, releasing cutting-edge artificial intelligence models for free may seem counter-intuitive – but it has become a core business strategy. At the University of Hong Kong last November, Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai was asked why the tech giant open-sourced its AI models. Addressing a room full of students, Tsai said he believed open-source AI would bring global benefits by lowering costs, making it a natural fit for talent- and cash-poor countries. The company’s flagship AI model, Qwen, has achieved nearly 1 billion…

When it comes to hotel rooms, “luxury” does not necessarily mean clean and hygienic. A number of studies have shown that light switches and television remote controls are among the objects with the highest levels of bacterial contamination, while toilets and bathroom sinks also contain high levels of microbial organisms. A 2012 survey in the United States – which is still cited by the travel industry 14 years later – found that 81 per cent of US hotel samples tested positive for surface faecal bacteria. The data was presented to…

China has crafted markets, mechanisms and incentives as the world’s largest buyer of commodities in a bid to free itself from its dependence on the US dollar, but the biggest threat to Washington’s global dollar dominance may well be Washington itself, witnesses said in testimony on Thursday before a key advisory committee to the US Congress. Economic sanctions and access to US-led global banking systems are a powerful US tool that can be used to great effect, said experts before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. And these have…

At a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, lawmakers and experts accused China of buying “what they can” and stealing “what they cannot” in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race, while warning the United States’ immigration and research policies could be hindering innovation necessary to stay ahead. “The pattern is clear. China is dependent on our tech stack to continue their AI development. China is willing to buy what they can, and steal what they cannot, to advance their AI ambitions,” said John Moolenaar, House Select Committee on China…