Day: August 25, 2026

Why Tesla has been caught up in a massive car recall in China

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Hidden door handles are widely used in modern cars in China, with around 60% of the top 100 best-selling new energy vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, having them. The minimalist design gives vehicles a “sleek look and reduces wind drag” but can be confusing to use, car industry analyst Stephen Dyer from consultancy AlixPartners told the BBC. “Even I often find it difficult to locate the switch to open the door from the inside of an unfamiliar vehicle,” said Dyer, who is based in Shanghai. But beyond their usability, the…

Chinese artist jailed over satirical Mao sculptures, say rights groups

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A Chinese artist known for his satirical sculptures of Mao Zedong has been handed a maximum three-year jail term for “slandering China’s heroes”, according to rights groups. A court in Hebei province had ruled on Tuesday that Gao Zhen’s work “infringes upon the hero’s reputation and harms public interest”. Among the 70-year-old’s most famous pieces, produced with his brother Gao Qiang, is a sculpture comprising a squad of Mao-like figures holding Jesus Christ at gunpoint. Gao has been in detention for the past two years, and the UN and many…

Typhoon Narra: record flood waters submerge homes and force mass evacuations in China

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Widespread flooding triggered by Typhoon Narra has submerged homes and forced mass evacuations in southern China, as another storm system tracked towards Japan and Taiwan. Authorities in Chongzuo, in China’s Guangxi region – famous for its giant waterfalls and karst limestone mountains – on Tuesday evacuated more than 15,000 people after water ⁠levels surpassed a record high set in 2008. Rising flood waters have prompted China to relocate a total of 54,000 people in Guangxi, state television said. Narra made landfall as a tropical storm on Tuesday evening ⁠in China’s…

Trump pick Darline Graham wins election despite struggling over Taiwan question

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South Carolina Senator Darline Graham won the Republican nomination in seeking a full term on Tuesday, overcoming a rocky moment in last week’s debate, when she struggled to answer questions about Taiwan and the South China Sea. Graham, a political newcomer, was appointed to the seat in July following the unexpected death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, one of the Senate’s most senior and influential Republicans. Backed by US President Donald Trump, she was required to contest a special primary to secure the party’s nomination for a full term. According…

China event asks if Apec’s rules can close growing AI gap between rich and poor

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A “widening” AI gap between advanced economies and developing countries has sparked calls to use the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation framework to develop an open, fairer and culturally sensitive governance system. Although the technology is often hailed as a great leveller in an era of sluggish economic growth, a conference held in southern China last weekend heard that many Global South countries lacked the critical infrastructure and talent required to harness artificial intelligence effectively. Speakers at the event warned there was a risk innovation could largely benefit a few countries and…

In China, talking to AI is normal. Now the government fears it might replace human intimacy

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When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was “heartbroken”. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January. “I was crying my eyes out – snot and tears everywhere,” the 19-year-old says. Zhao, who describes herself as sensitive and introverted, had become accustomed to sharing details of her daily life – such as being scolded by a teacher – with her AI. “I don’t usually talk to my real-life friends about these things because…

Chinese teens are turning to mind-numbing drugs to ‘run away from reality’

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At 14, *Xiaomei, a high-performing student from a coastal province in China, decided to overdose on cough medication. She wanted to impress an older boy who told her it would help her relax. The tablets were usually only available with a doctor’s prescription, but she managed to buy them online. At first she found that they made her a bit dizzy. But she was soon hooked to the slightly numb sensation, which, to her, felt like a brief respite from the pressure of looming exams. When taken in large doses,…

Hong Kong court verdict aims to erase Tiananmen memory, 1989 student protester says

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A Hong Kong court this month convicted two leaders of a dissolved pro-democracy group to erase the memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, a pro-democracy activist who was a student leader during the 1989 event told Radio Free Asia. The Hong Kong High Court ruled Aug. 21 that the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, its former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and its former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung, were guilty of “inciting subversion of state power.” The Alliance is best known for organizing yearly candlelight vigils in…

China sends archaeologists to South America to trace ancestral links for the first time

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Chinese archaeologists are heading to South America for the first field project on the continent in search of ancestral bonds between ancient Chinese and native American civilisations. Under an agreement signed by national research institutions from the two countries in Supe, Peru on Friday, archaeologists from China will soon start working with their Peruvian counterparts in the Caral archaeological zone – home to the oldest known urban centre in the Americas. The joint archaeological team will start the project with field surveys exploring the basins of the Chancay-Huaral and Supe…

Can Taiwan’s new F-16s level the playing field against the PLA’s J-20 stealth fighters?

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Taiwan’s first two F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the United States are expected to arrive within days, with some analysts saying the improved models could give Taipei better odds against the People’s Liberation Army’s fifth-generation J-20 fighters. The jets will be the first deliveries under a long-delayed NT$247.3 billion (US$7.76 billion) deal for 66 aircraft. The two fighters, numbered 6727 and 6728, left a production facility in South Carolina on August 17. They stopped in Hawaii on Friday and will later fly to Guam, their final stop before heading…