Day: August 4, 2026

A Chinese speaker today might describe their day at work as first making a “PPT” (a PowerPoint presentation) and then having to “PS tu” (Photoshop an image). After clocking off, they might “chang K” (sing karaoke) with friends before taking the “C wei” (centre spot) in a group photo. These novel phrases spring from the widespread habit of adopting English abbreviations directly into daily speech, usually pronounced letter by letter. While this is the organic result of cultural exchange, the phenomenon has sparked concern in some quarters that the Chinese…

Taiwan will begin its annual war games on Wednesday, testing for the first time its ability to counter a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) maritime blockade in the western Pacific during the 10-day exercise. The 42nd edition of the Han Kuang exercise, the island’s largest annual military drill, will incorporate US military planning practices to improve coordination and mission command. It will also test the wartime relocation of weapons production lines to safer locations as Taiwan seeks to strengthen its ability to sustain military operations under attack, according to the island’s…

Clashes between the United States and European Union are becoming the “new normal” with competition over tech regulations at the “core”, according to an analysis published by a leading Chinese think tank. Guo Mingxu, head of the European Economy Programme at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, cited a recent row about hefty fines imposed on US tech giants for breaching European law as an example of how the relationship was shifting from being a collaborative partnership to a transactional exchange. His comments come amid a volatile period in…

A documentary broadcast on China’s state television has revealed details of test launches involving the world’s first operational hypersonic glide weapon system, the DF-17, highlighting its flexibility. Monday’s episode of Securing Victory – a series marking the 99th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on August 1 – was devoted to the PLA Rocket Force, which oversees land-based missiles and a chunk of China’s nuclear arsenal. In a rare glimpse during a test launch into the workings of the command-and-control centre, along with the research and development team and…

When Russian-born Belgian mathematician Yurii Nesterov reached retirement age in 2023, he found himself at the centre of a technological storm. The accelerated gradient algorithm he derived with pen and paper 40 years ago had become the engine driving the rapid advancement of modern artificial intelligence (AI). Faced with the full explosion of the AI age, the academic – hailed as the “master of international algorithm design” – wanted to continue his groundbreaking work, saying: “It is crazy to stop right now.” In June, Nesterov, now 70, embarked on a…

On the South Atlantic coastline, Angola stands out as rare ground on which the United States has been willing to vie with China for influence in Africa. It was the only country on the continent visited by former US president Joe Biden, albeit in the twilight of his term in December 2024. During the trip – the first by a sitting US president – Biden made the case for investment in the strategic Lobito Atlantic Railway. The administration of Biden’s successor, Donald Trump, also threw its weight behind the Lobito…

A China-led team has detected the highest-energy light particle ever recorded, showing that the universe can accelerate matter to 30 times the previously predicted limit. The particle was born in a violent binary system – known as Cygnus X-3 – in the constellation Cygnus. That process involves a dead star stripping material from a massive companion and shooting powerful jets into space. After travelling for nearly 30,000 years, the particle reached Earth in March 2024, where it was captured by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory – a giant…