Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday killing one person, injuring more than 500, and uprooting trees and severing power as it weakened and headed north toward the Chinese coast. Earlier classified as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was still packing gusts of about 126km per hour (78 miles per hour) near its centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA). The storm was about 150km (93 miles) east of Taiwan, the CWA said, having glanced off the island’s northeast…
Tag: China
North Korea has opened up bridges to Russia and China – in which direction will it go?
For more than a decade, local Chinese residents pilloried it as nothing more than an empty bridge that led to a North Korean vegetable patch on the other side. Fast forward 12 years and dozens of trucks are now traversing the bridge linking China to North Korea, boosting trade for the reclusive regime. But it has also triggered concern that it could intensify a struggle for influence over the North between Beijing and the region’s other major power, Russia. map The New Yalu River Bridge connects the north-eastern Chinese city…
China’s sanctions on Taiwan allies project its power, but with limited effect
China’s sanctions against foreign officials over their ties with Taiwan help Beijing project power and warn other governments, even as their financial impact and success in curbing engagement remain limited, analysts told Radio Free Asia. Beijing imposed sanctions on Oct. 12 against Paraguay’s information and communication technologies minister, Gustavo Villate, and Belize’s foreign minister, Francis Fonseca. Both countries maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China. China claims Taiwan is an integral part of its territory and considers it a rogue province. Beijing has sought to persuade governments to…
People evacuate building in Tibet as powerful earthquake strikes – video
Chinese TV footage showed people evacuating a building and debris falling as a magnitude-7 earthquake struck Tibet on Thursday, killing at least 16 people. Search and rescue efforts were under way after at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed in the city of Nagqu. It was the biggest quake in the region in the past five years, according to China’s national broadcaster CCTV The Guardian
Severe flooding in eastern Spain, while UK hit by first named storm of winter
Storm Adam brought torrential rain to eastern Spain earlier this week. In Pego, Alicante, 632mm fell in 36 hours with 430mm of this falling in just six hours, while the Valencian town of Olivia received 600mm in 24 hours. As a result, 145 municipalities, approximately 850,000 people, across Valencia and Alicante were placed in a temporary lockdown on Monday due to the severe flooding. At least five people have died and 500 have been rescued and 2,100 evacuated. The storm also affected the Balearic Islands, with more than 130 incidents…
Magnitude-7 earthquake hits China’s Tibet, killing at least 16 and destroying hundreds of homes
A magnitude-7 earthquake has hit China’s Tibet region, killing at least 16 people, injuring 54 and collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media said. Search and rescue efforts continued after the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials. More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including 1,000 prefabricated housing units and about 3,000 tents and folding beds as well as torches and winter clothing arrived…
Why am I obsessed with China’s ancient golden age? I took my daughter on a trip to find out – podcast
I felt a duty to write about the Tang dynasty and its incredible social and cultural sophistication – but also to connect my Chinese past with my child By Xiaolu Guo. Read by Elizabeth Chan Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Continue reading… The Guardian
Taiwan charges five men over plot to run over comedian for his Xi Jinping jokes
Taiwanese prosecutors have charged five men over a plot to ram a car into a comedian who made fun of the Chinese Communist party and Xi Jinping. Taiwan has repeatedly accused China of transnational repression to silence critics on the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its territory and has vowed to take by force if necessary. In one performance, Huang Yi-hao insulted the Chinese leader’s appearance, compared him to Winnie-the-Pooh and tore into his political record. Prosecutors in New Taipei said on Wednesday that an individual from mainland China…
China’s Free A.I. Models Are Thrown Into Uncertainty
When the Chinese start-up Moonshot AI in July released Kimi K3, an artificial intelligence model that rivaled some of the best systems made by American companies, it was free for anyone to download. By making advanced A.I. models easily available, Chinese companies have turned open access into one of China’s most powerful advantages in its rivalry with the United States to shape the future of the technology. Now Beijing is moving to tighten its grip on the global spread of the country’s top-tier A.I., proposing rules that could give the…
US bans use of China’s DeepSeek AI tools by government agencies
The US government on Monday ordered its agencies to stop using artificial intelligence (AI) tools from Chinese startup DeepSeek, as the countries race for dominance in the fast-moving sector. A notice from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the ban on products developed by DeepSeek – and tools created using DeepSeek by third parties – saying they must be removed from IT devices. The DHS can issue direction to civilian agencies but not the military or intelligence services. The US defense department did not respond to an AFP request…