Chinese smartphone maker Honor’s self-developed humanoid robot Lightning ran the 100m in 9.32 seconds, beating the human world record, China’s state broadcaster reported. The humanoid reached a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second during a preparatory test event for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which begin on Saturday. This performance surpassed the 9.58sec men’s 100m world record set by Usain Bolt 17 years ago at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. This story will update The Guardian
Month: August 2026
Why China’s EV boom is seen as an ‘unparalleled opportunity’ in Africa
While the US and some European governments view China’s vast production of electric vehicles and green-energy tech as overcapacity, African companies see it as an opportunity to secure EV technology and develop the industry. China is the global leader of the EV industry – it makes nearly 75 per cent of the world’s electric vehicles and dominates the supply chain. Its high production has driven down the cost of EVs, batteries and components, which has improved access to technologies that were once beyond the reach of many African markets. Chinese…
Mainland Chinese research ship spotted near Taiwan’s largest naval base
A mainland Chinese research ship has sailed close to a key Taiwanese naval base, marking its second appearance near the island in recent months. The Tong Ji, a 2,000-tonne scientific research vessel operated by Tongji University in Shanghai, was spotted 28 nautical miles (52km) southwest of Liuchiu, an island also known as Lamay, on Friday morning, according to the Taiwanese authorities. The island sits off the southwest coast of Taiwan, close to the city of Kaohsiung and Zuoying, the island’s largest naval base and home to its naval academy. In…
Would even an AI disaster on the scale of Hiroshima be enough to make humankind protect itself? I fear not | Timothy Garton Ash
Here in Silicon Valley, the experts think that within the next couple of years we’ll see an extraordinary takeoff for artificial intelligence. “Welcome to the foothills of the singularity,” as a Stanford University friend greeted me. More prosaically, the imminent breakthrough is described as “recursive self-improvement” – the point at which AI itself trains each successive model of AI, resulting in an exponential development to something which, in many significant respects, is more intelligent than us humans. As Robert Wright puts it in his book The God Test: “Never before…
Electrochemist Liu Jiawei moves from Singapore to Hong Kong to start her own lab
For materials scientist and chemist Liu Jiawei, moving to Hong Kong supported her pivot into launching her own research group. After a decade immersed in Singapore’s research ecosystem, Liu sought a transition that would keep her closer to family in mainland China while maintaining an international, high-standard research environment. Now establishing her laboratory at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), two years after her move, Liu said Hong Kong’s academic landscape operated on an independent principal investigator model, where researchers enjoyed substantial autonomy in steering their own labs and research…
Why Chinese foreign minister’s trip to South Korea ‘dealt a low blow’ to Seoul
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, concluded his visit to South Korea on Friday, but declined to back Seoul’s push for multiparty peace talks involving the North. North Korea, however, responded with more than 10 short-range ballistic missile launches on Thursday, prompting the South’s presidential office to convene an emergency security meeting. During the visit, both sides said bilateral ties had “fully recovered” after years of strain, citing recent exchanges between their leaders and renewed cooperation on trade, technology and people-to-people exchanges. But Wang, who visited the country last year with…
‘She’s not afraid of anyone’: the prison writings of one of Hong Kong’s last outspoken democracy activists
In one essay written from prison, Chow Hang-tung worries about her hairstyle before court appearances because there are no combs or mirrors in her cell. “In a place like prison, where anything that is personal is stripped away, it’s even more important to hold on to every means by which you can express yourself,” she writes. “Don’t let uniform, depersonalised rules, dress codes, schedules, and behavioural requirements grind down your edges and mould you into a ‘model citizen’”. The vignette is everyday, almost mundane. It stands in contrast to Chow’s…
Tesla recalls nearly 3m vehicles in China over door handle safety risks
Tesla and other carmakers are making a major recall of more than 4m vehicles in China over safety concerns mostly related to their door handles, according to Chinese authorities on Friday. The US carmaker is recalling about 2.98m China-made and imported EVs including Model 3, Model Y, Model X and Model S over door-handle safety risks, according to China’s state administration for market regulation. The recall, the largest this year, according to Chinese media, comes a few months after Chinese authorities said in February that starting next year, it would…
These bookshops let Chinese readers question their country – now the doors are closing
But now Zhu can sense this freedom being curtailed. She says she finds herself encountering authorities more often in Hong Kong than in mainland China. At one bookshop event, she recalls government officials entering the premises. “They just sat there listening alongside us.” Increasing raids have not only targeted explicitly political shops, according to a bookseller who asked not to be identified because of possible repercussions. “Luck Win Bookstore and Elmbook have always kept a very low profile,” the bookseller says. “They rarely make public statements or organise events. I…
TikTok, ByteDance agree to US$400 million settlement with US over children’s privacy suit
TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have agreed to pay US$400 million to settle a US Justice Department lawsuit accusing the video-sharing app of violating children’s online privacy laws, resolving a major federal case as the platform’s American operations remain under intense political scrutiny. The settlement, announced on Friday, resolves allegations brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission in 2024, that TikTok and ByteDance collected personal information from children under 13 without obtaining parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. Under…