Month: August 2026

The Justice Department and the FBI said on Wednesday that they seized two Chinese state-sponsored online platforms that targeted US critical infrastructure and other critical networks, including Nasa, the Federal Reserve and the US Senate. According to court documents, the seizures involved a group known as “QTFY”, operated by China-based Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Co, which created and ran the QScan and QTRouter sites. “State-sponsored malicious hackers preying on America’s critical infrastructure will be stopped and prosecuted,” said US Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement. “Federal law enforcement investigated…

Brazil has not answered two American proposals to formalise cooperation on critical minerals, a senior US diplomat said at Latin America’s largest mining fair, leaving Washington without a bilateral deal as it races to build rare earth supply chains outside China. Matthew Lowe, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Brasilia, said Washington invited Brazil years ago to join the Minerals Security Partnership, a US-led grouping that coordinates investment in mineral supply chains, but never received a response. A draft framework agreement sent in February also went unanswered. “We’ll probably…

The front page of the Danville Register & Bee, a local newspaper in southern Virginia with a circulation of fewer than 4,000, carried an unusual headline. “LEADER: CHINA BEHIND THE MISCONCEPTIONS”, it read, above a photograph of two homes dwarfed by a data centre behind. The leader in question was Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA), a local body jointly established by the city of Danville and neighbouring Pittsylvania County to promote economic development in one of the poorest parts of the state. Ingram had…

Beijing has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s expanded Iran sanctions targeting Chinese entities, threatening a clash that could erode recent stability in the US-China relationship and become a new flashpoint weeks before President Xi Jinping visits the US, according to observers. But they say that efforts on both sides, such as this week’s Track 1.5 dialogue, could serve as a check on tensions and allow each side to understand the other’s concerns. The US on Monday announced fresh sanctions against Iran and its trading partners, including entities in mainland China…

China’s delay of a high-stakes mission to hunt for water ice near the moon’s south pole may slow its lunar ambitions, but is unlikely to change the bigger contest with the United States over who can build a lasting presence on the moon, according to space experts. No reason was given when Chang’e-7 was postponed until next year, just hours before Sunday night’s scheduled lift-off, though a major tropical storm was approaching the launch site. Chinese space authorities said only that the mission did not “meet the launch requirements” and,…

Scientists in China have created a self-exercising muscle graft that might allow bedridden people to gain the benefits of working out without any physical exertion. With just an injection of muscle cells below the skin, the cells self-assembled into muscle grafts, which not only improved whole-body muscle mass in mice but also led to improvements in bone density, endurance, liver function and cognitive health. The “myografts” could provide the health benefits of exercise to patients with age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis, and future applications could even extend to…