Category: Media Library

What happened to China’s fake Van Goghs?

Media Library

In a tree-lined alleyway in Dafen, a tiny village on the edge of China’s sprawling southern technology capital Shenzhen, painter Qiu Junbin gently corrects the brushstrokes of a girl attempting to reproduce a picture of a sweeping seascape. The girl’s mother snaps photos of them in front of the colourful display of artworks hanging on the walls of Qiu’s modest studio. Qiu, 49, is leading one of the many “art experience” workshops that have cropped up in the past two years to attract tourists to Dafen, once known as the…

AI is moving from answering questions to taking action

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Most of us have encountered artificial intelligence in the form of the chatbot. You ask a question and it gives you an answer. The exchange is low stakes because even if the AI is wrong the consequences are usually limited. Agentic AI breaks that model because it acts on its own. Give it a task and it will search, compare, decide and execute across digital systems on your behalf. The…

FirstFT: Pakistan and Afghanistan pause hostilities after Kabul attack

Media Library

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter: Pakistan and Afghanistan pause hostilities The AI craze taking China by storm Li Ka-shing’s growing cash pile We start with conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, after the neighbouring countries announced a temporary pause in hostilities yesterday for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr. What’s happening: The pause eased fears of an immediate escalation in the conflict, following an air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul on Monday night that Taliban officials said was carried out by Pakistan…

Pakistan and Afghanistan pause hostilities after Kabul hospital attack

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Even for a nation almost inured to tragedy, the attack on a drug rehabilitation centre in the heart of Kabul ahead of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr was horrific. The air strike, which Taliban officials said was carried out by Pakistan and killed more than 400 people, left the Afghan capital reeling. Rescue workers were still searching for bodies in the rubble of the drug treatment facility days later and relatives were anxiously waiting for news. But fears of immediate escalation in the conflict between the two Asian neighbours…

Looking for leverage: China keeps close eye on US politics after summit delay

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The White House said on Wednesday that China had agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as war in the Middle East rages on, complicating the US president’s position at home and abroad. China has not yet commented on the delay to the highly anticipated trip, in which Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will meet in person for the first time since October. Trump previously said he hoped to delay the trip, originally scheduled to run from 31 March to 2 April, for “five or six weeks”.…

A guide to Hong Kong’s best under-the-radar art spaces

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When German curator Tobias Berger moved to Hong Kong 20 years ago, the city’s cultural landscape was what he describes as a half-formed pyramid. “You need a museum at the top, commercial galleries and non-profit spaces filling out the rest of it,” Berger says. But at the time, apart from non-profit mainstays Asia Art Archive and Para Site (which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year), little of that existed. Today, the scene is transformed: from the 2000s on came the blue-chip galleries, Art Basel, the M+ museum, the Tai Kwun…

Four challenges for BHP’s incoming chief

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Mining myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Brandon Craig’s career straddling BHP’s old and new worlds — its long-standing cash cow of iron ore and the high-growth areas of copper and potash — paved the way for his elevation to the chief executive role. The world’s largest miner on Tuesday said Craig would succeed Mike Henry, who has led BHP since 2020 and presided over a reshaping that includes reducing its exposure to coal, oil and gas. He…

Trump is being schooled on the limits of US power – but he is a slow learner | Rafael Behr

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Donald Trump is teaching the world a lesson, but not the one he thinks. The attack on Iran was meant to be a dazzling display of military supremacy. It has instead illuminated chinks in the US’s armour. The US president’s formidable arsenal cannot summon up an insurrection from Iran’s tyrannised and leaderless opposition. It cannot force merchant ships to run a gauntlet of missile and drone attacks in the strait of Hormuz. The government in Tehran and the facts of geography that give it leverage over global trade are unchanged.…

Suspicions grow that China is exploiting FOI laws to gather UK security data

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