World News by Wild Rose

Just two weeks before the US midterm elections, Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he did not believe America would maintain its lead over China in frontier AI indefinitely, describing restrictions on advanced chips as Washington’s key leverage. “I don’t believe for one second that we’re going to maintain a lead over Chinese frontier models forever. But we should for as long as we can,” said Himes at a Brookings event in Washington. “And the one real lever we...

Virginia Tech is accelerating the closure of a joint undergraduate programme with China’s Xidian University, bringing forward the end of a partnership that it had previously planned to keep running until 2029, according to a university spokesperson and a copy of an official letter reviewed by the South China Morning Post. This decision comes as the Pentagon’s push to tighten oversight of US universities’ research ties with China has led to more than 80 termination-related actions across 30...

Tesla has agreed a deal to integrate Chinese fintech giant Ant Group’s Alipay digital payment software into its vehicles in China, as Elon Musk’s firm steps up efforts to offer localised smart features amid intense competition in the Chinese market. The agreement, signed on Tuesday, will see Tesla roll out an Alipay-powered smart parking service across its Chinese fleet, according to the fintech firm. Neither side revealed a launch date or which car models would receive the feature, though...

The US government’s latest ban on Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek could have a chilling effect on the wider American business community and deter companies from adopting low-cost Chinese AI models, industry experts say. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the Chinese AI model from their IT systems, according to a directive signed in July and published on Monday. The...

Europe should work with Beijing to develop shipping through the Arctic rather than trying to advance its transatlantic security alliance by framing China as a threat linked to Russia. That was the assessment of Chinese analysts following the release of the European Union’s Arctic policy on Tuesday. In addition to identifying Russia as its main threat, the policy warns of Beijing’s growing strategic ambitions in the European Arctic through its deepening alignment with Moscow. “With our new...

The European Union is likely to avoid a full-blown trade confrontation with China due to internal divisions in the bloc and fear of retaliation, according to a prominent research firm. The projection comes amid speculation that the two sides are on the brink of a trade war, with European policymakers raising the alarm about a looming “China shock 2.0” and pushing for stronger measures to protect domestic producers from Chinese competition. But the bloc would “continue to pull its punches” in any...

As turbulence grows in many countries, it is tempting to ask if there is a global hegemon that can sort everything out fairly. US President Donald Trump has threatened that his country would not defend Nato allies if they failed to spend enough on their defence. Together with new trade barriers, his words suggest that the US is scaling back its ambitions for global leadership and concentrating more on its own region. Our latest projections of national strength for 2027 take into account...

As Super Typhoon Champi – now the strongest storm of the year worldwide – barrels towards eastern China, authorities are planning evacuations and urging those in its path to prepare. Airports in major Chinese cities could be affected by the storm, including Wenzhou Longwan, Fuzhou Changle, Ningbo Lishe, Hangzhou Xiaoshan, Shanghai Hongqiao, Shanghai Pudong and Xiamen Gaoqi, according to aviation data platform VariFlight. Travellers are bracing for potential disruptions, though there have been no...

China’s tax authorities are accepting reasonable explanations when enforcing new rules on offshore trust gains, according to an executive who says their appeal was successful, offering some reassurance as a 90-day grace period expires on Thursday. The approach appears to be translating into greater clarity from regulators. Earlier this week, the State Taxation Administration published a question-and-answer series that suggested Beijing was implementing the rules in line with international...

Starbucks Corp. will require customers to make a purchase to sit in its China cafes, part of a push to revive its fortunes in the competitive mainland market.

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has fully open-sourced an internally developed framework designed to run AI models efficiently, as a senior researcher at the company described the growing divide between open-source and closed-source AI as a battle between “light and darkness”. The company on Tuesday released DeepInfer, an inference framework tailored to support its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model on both Nvidia’s SM100 Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) and Huawei...

Malaysia is negotiating with Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia to establish overland transit routes for fresh durian exports to China, according to Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu. The minister said the move would reduce transport costs and improve access to the lucrative Chinese market. “Durian is a favourite among Chinese consumers, but they sometimes find it difficult to get the fruit at a more affordable price,” he said during parliament’s question and answer time on...

Getting relations with China right is widely seen as Britain’s epoch-defining challenge. It is also one it is woefully unprepared to face. So concluded a recent audit by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which highlighted that top negotiators lacked basic Chinese language skills. More critically, it exposed a deeper deficit: a poor grasp of China spanning political elites and the public alike. This is rooted in a desk-bound classroom sinology rather than a nuanced appreciation...

The growing popularity of Chinese artificial intelligence models has emerged as a key risk factor for Anthropic ahead of its blockbuster initial public offering, according to US research firm Hedgeye Risk Management. “It’s all about Chinese competition when analysing Anthropic,” said Felix Wang, managing director and global tech sector head at Hedgeye. “Many of my clients are asking the same question.” The assessment comes as Anthropic faces renewed investor jitters over whether its massive AI...

Morocco's biggest bank, Attijariwafa, joined China's CIPS payment network on 20 October, giving Moroccan firms a direct yuan route for trade with China. The post Morocco’s Biggest Bank Joins Yuan Hub 20 Oct appeared first on The Rio Times.

Brazil is readying its debut panda-bond sale, which could take place as early as next week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The United States is lulling itself into a “sense of false security” over its military rivalry with China, according to a Republican senator who called for more spending on modern warfare systems and closer cooperation with allies. Speaking at the Hudson Institute after a recent trip to Japan and South Korea, Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania senator and West Point graduate, claimed up to 90 per cent of US defence spending funded decades-old equipment and technologies. “We convince ourselves; we...

Brazil has halted all poultry shipments to its biggest buyer China after confirming a case of viral, highly contagious Newcastle disease.

Bahamas continent guide for October 2026: a US$17.2 billion island economy in CARICOM, CELAC and the OAS, tied to the United States and courted by China. The post Bahamas in Latin America, Its Role, Weight and Alliances appeared first on The Rio Times.

Nicaragua geopolitics in October 2026: how the US, China, Russia and Europe pull on the Ortega-Murillo government, with trade, loans, sanctions and gold. The post Nicaragua Geopolitics Explained 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.

Zambia geopolitics in October 2026: how the US, China, the UAE and Europe compete for Hichilema's copper, rail links and ports after his re-election. The post Zambia Geopolitics Explained 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.

Rwanda geopolitics in October 2026: US sanctions on its army, the Washington Accords, UN, EU, Qatar, China and Turkey ties, and what to watch. The post Rwanda Geopolitics Explained 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.

The European Commission has presented an updated strategy for the Arctic as climate change and rapidly melting ice open up the remote but resource-rich region. “With Russia and China increasing their footprint and ambition, the Arctic has become a front line of global power competition,” said European Union foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday. With the new strategy, the commission aims for the EU to keep pace with rivals as new shipping routes and mining opportunities, including for...

China’s hybrid car exports to the European Union tripled in September from a year earlier, with shipments expected to remain elevated before an import cap agreed during recent trade talks takes effect. The country shipped nearly 100,000 hybrid cars to the bloc last month, up 18.9 per cent from August and 204.2 per cent from a year earlier, customs data showed on Tuesday. The surge outpaced a 142.7 per cent year-on-year rise in China’s total exports of passenger cars to the EU. Analysts said the...

Vale filed to register up to 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) of panda bonds in China, a first step that depends on regulator approval and has no sale date. The post Vale Seeks US$1.5 Billion China Bond Plan appeared first on The Rio Times.

China's 4.6% growth in 2026 keeps Latin American commodity demand steady but selective, with copper, soy, iron ore and lithium facing different risks. The post China’s 4.6% Nine-Month Growth and Latin America appeared first on The Rio Times.

Lesotho wool and mohair exports to China have resumed, a 23 September report says, after a foot-and-mouth ban. Wool must be heat-treated; volumes are unknown. The post Lesotho Wool Exports to China Resume appeared first on The Rio Times.

An increasing number of Chinese celebrities are voluntarily sharing their histories of mental illness, rather than following the previous practice of keeping them hidden, in what some see as an effort to win empathy and audience support. These conditions include depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In January last year, famous actress Zhao Lusi’s suspension of work due to severe depression put celebrities’ mental health...

China’s military has published what appears to be the first official photograph of a Y-20B heavy transport aircraft in PLA Air Force livery fitted with aerial refuelling pods, suggesting that the multi-role tanker-transport (MRTT) configuration has entered service. An image published by the PLA Daily newspaper on October 14 shows the four-engine aircraft painted in standard military grey, with refuelling pods beneath its wings and its rear cargo ramp open as a truck carrying equipment is behind...

Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--A Chinese artificial intelligence tool called Artex is likely to have been used in cyberattacks targeting Japanese companies, an investigation by a Japanese cybersecurity business has found. GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae Inc., a subsidiary of GMO Internet Group Inc., traced cyberattacks targeting Japanese companies to six servers, all of which used Artex, an AI-pow...