Day: June 18, 2026

Plans for US Vice-President J.D. Vance to travel to Switzerland for a new round of talks with Iran have been delayed, the White House said on Thursday. In a statement, the White House said the arrangements for the “technical talks” had not yet been finalised and that the US delegation remained prepared to depart at the first available opportunity. “The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement said. Advertisement The announcement followed reports by Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen outlet that Tehran had suspended its delegation’s trip…

South China Morning Post

Using a few mirrors, solar panels and a microwave transmitter, Fan Guanheng and his team can send power over 100 metres (330 feet) through the air. But they are dreaming much bigger – 36,000km (23,460 miles) bigger. The team at Xidian University in Xian, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province, are testing hardware that could one day be used to generate power in space and send it back to Earth. On a sweltering June morning, the team were measuring how well light was concentrated by a 4.8-metre, dome-shaped mirror suspended…

A recent survey in Japan and South Korea has revealed that strategic elites in both countries remain sceptical about developing nuclear weapons. However, should one of the two countries take the lead in acquiring nuclear weapons, support for such a move in the other country could rise rapidly, according to the survey published on Thursday by Washington-based think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The impact of such a move could potentially exceed that of a reduction in United States troop deployments in the region, thereby affecting…

A top US trade official took a veiled swipe at China on Thursday for a range of unfair trade practices, but also criticised the United States for being asleep at the wheel for far too long. “They subsidised, they dumped, they erected regulatory barriers, they supported state-owned enterprises, they used every tool available to build their industries and capture a greater share of the American market,” said William Kimmitt, the US under secretary of commerce for international trade, without mentioning China by name. But he added: “Our government too often…

A China-led team of researchers has developed a powerful brain implant electrode array that is as soft as brain tissue, thinner than a strand of hair and more durable than anything before it. In animal trials, a new flexible brain implant recorded neural activity with unprecedented long-term clarity and remained safely functional inside the body for 18 months. The breakthrough addressed a major hurdle that had long held back brain-computer interfaces. Advertisement Invasive interfaces deliver the clearest and richest neural signals, yet a persistent challenge haunts invasive systems: the inherent…

Vice-President J.D. Vance went on the offensive on Thursday to defend the “win-win” US-Iran agreement as critics slammed its vague provisions, even as others welcomed the apparent end to an expensive and unpopular war, no matter how potentially flawed the deal might be. “We have all the cards,” Vance told reporters at the White House. “Have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States. The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous.” Characteristically, US President…