Month: August 2026

The United States announced sanctions on a Hong Kong company on Friday for allegedly helping launder funds for a sanctioned Iranian exchange house, the latest Chinese entity to be targeted as part of Washington’s expanded efforts to squeeze Iran’s financial sector. Hong Kong-based Kameng Trading Ltd acted as a front company to help the Iranian entity Pedram Pirouzan Exchange House, also known as Opal Exchange, access the international financial system, the US Department of the Treasury said. “Treasury promised to sever every economic lifeline Tehran has left and finally end…

On the windswept plains just south of Tibet’s second-largest city, the towering smart inspection systems and automated cargo gantries of a brand-new international land port gleam under the plateau’s high-altitude sun. Official road maps predict the multibillion-yuan project in Shigatse will process up to 300 trucks daily by the end of 2030 – loading cargo off trains and onto the trucks that will take goods to their final destination. It will also allow the authorities to carry out customs checks away from the region’s international borders, which straddle the Himalayas.…

Artificial intelligence (AI) poses risks that do not respect national borders, from cyberattacks and misinformation to system malfunction and potentially dangerous misuse. In a geopolitically charged world, does greater incompatibility between countries make AI safer? UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres offered a clear answer at the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance: “When countries align on how to test systems, measure risk and assign responsibility, safety travels with the technology.” By contrast, “a patchwork of incompatible rules raises costs, divides the world – and protects no one”. Yet just…