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…
Month: August 2026
Chinese teens are turning to mind-numbing drugs to ‘run away from reality’
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,…
Has World War III Already Started?
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I wrote a column under the headline “This Is How World War III Begins.” More than four years on, I wonder how much I got right. My argument was based on the origins of World War II, which did not simply start with Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Instead, the war was an accumulation of regional wars and crises, beginning with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, which gradually gathered into a single global conflict. That gathering, abetted…
Hong Kong court verdict aims to erase Tiananmen memory, 1989 student protester says
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…
Taiwan charges nine people for smuggling ‘high-end’ AI servers to China
Taiwanese prosecutors charged nine people Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting “high-end AI servers” to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI rivalry between China and the United States. Prosecutors said the servers involved were graphics processing units known as “B300,” which have been banned from sale to China. Seventy-four servers arrived in China successfully, according to the prosecutors. Of those, 50 were sent through Indonesia, 16 delivered directly to China and eight sent to Japan first, then Hong Kong,…
China denounces US threat of sanctions over trade with Iran
China has denounced the threat of US sanctions for its trade with Iran, saying any such measures would be illegal, and warned it would take “all necessary measures” to protect its national interests. Beijing’s rejection of the US threat of secondary sanctions for any country or entity continuing to trade with Tehran had been predicted. China buys an estimated 80% of Iran’s oil exports and has defied previous US efforts to limit the flow of revenue to the Tehran regime. Its statement of opposition raises the question of how far…
America’s economic war on Iran has a China problem
The US cannot fully isolate Tehran unless other trade partners co-operateFinancial Times
‘Economic D-day’: how desperate is Trump to end Iran war? — The Latest
The White House has threatened sanctions on any country that trades with Iran in another bid to economically isolate the country, as US military efforts falter. Launching what he called Operation Economic Outcast, the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, compared it with D-day. China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, has already signalled that it will not cooperate with Trump’s attack on the Iranian economy. Lucy Hough speaks to Julian Borger, senior international correspondent – watch on YouTube The Guardian
China sends archaeologists to South America to trace ancestral links for the first time
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…
The Heat on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Grows
Andrew here. Wowsers. Wall Street is buzzing about an opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal by Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire investor. Druckenmiller criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s bond buyback plan, calling it a mistake — and, worse, suggesting it’s a stab at manipulating the bond market. Remember that Druckenmiller more recently employed Kevin Warsh, now the Fed chairman, who has argued that the government should intervene less in markets, not more. Read more below. The risks of Bessent’s multifront war Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has spent much of August…