Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper covering China, Asia, and international news.
US president expects negotiations to begin in next day or two but Iran says it is not reviving talks with Washington
Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, who helped engineer one of the greatest economic reforms in human history, has died. He was 97. Zhu, who served as China’s premier from 1998 to 2003, is remembered for tackling corruption, shaking up the centrally planned economy and overhauling the state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector. He was the mastermind behind negotiations for China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) entry in 2001, which opened China up to the international market and ushered in major changes
China’s regulatory ban forced Manus to cancel its acquisition by Meta and resume independent operations
Most of the visa revocations stemmed from law-enforcement encounters involving criminal activity, the department said
President Trump plans to sign two executive orders Thursday seeking to narrow birthright citizenship in several circumstances and intensify the federal crackdown on commercial "birth tourism," Axios has learned. Trump also is seeking to deny birthright citizenship for children born of some foreign diplomatic staff in the U.S. and, potentially, U.S. territories in the future. Why it matters: It's Trump's second attempt to curb birthright citizenship in the U.S. and is sure to be challenged in court as a violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born in America. The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 shot down a broader executive order Trump signed on Inauguration Day to deny automatic citizenship to those born of noncitizens in the U.S. Zoom in: Trump's administration argues that the ruling still grants him the authority to limit birthright citizenship under long-standing exceptions recognized by the court. The executive orders apply only to future births tied to four categories: Children born of foreign diplomatic staff working on behalf of another government while in the U.S. The 14th Amendment doesn't confer automatic citizenship to ambassadors' families, and this order would expand that category to other noncitizen employees.Children of people who are classified as alien enemies, including those who belong to federally declared terrorist groups. The 14th Amendment doesn't apply to invading armies, and this designation would expand that category.Those born in U.S. territories — but only if Congress changes the law to end automatic citizenship there. A bill seeking to do that was introduced last month but isn't expected to pass. This would apply most notably to those in Puerto Rico.Children born of mothers who expressly and deceptively enter the U.S. for the sole purpose of having a child here, namely at a birth-tourism center. The order seeks to limit the use of surrogate mothers for this purpose as well. Between the lines: The ad
More American titans of artificial intelligence are describing Chinese open-weight models as better for AI safety and security than closed-source models, challenging the long-standing claim by US closed-source AI model developers such as Anthropic that open-source models present a threat to society. “From what I’m seeing, I think open-weight models seem safer to me than closed-weight models,” AI pioneer Andrew Ng, the former head of Google Brain and former chief scientist at Baidu, said at the
The White House said on Monday it met its deadline to establish a voluntary framework for evaluating advanced AI models — but it won't say what the framework contains, who's seen it or when companies will start using it. Why it matters: The framework is being closely watched beyond the industry players it directly applies to. Policymakers, AI safety advocates, and U.S. allies have been waiting to see what the rules for the most powerful models in the world look like. What they're saying: "The voluntary framework outlined in the June 2nd executive order was complete by the deadline," a White House official said. "Discussions with industry about next steps are underway," the official said, adding that the administration is engaging with "many more" industry partners than just Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. Leading up to the deadline, the three labs gave the administration feedback on a draft of the framework. What's inside: The framework is meant to give AI developers a structure for engaging the government to determine whether models under development would be covered. The framework is supposed to spell out the confidentiality, cybersecurity, insider-risk, intellectual-property protection use and nondisclosure requirements that would apply when the government gets access to models for up to 30 days before they're released.The framework should also include which "trusted partners" will also have early access to models. Zoom in: The executive order explicitly says the benchmarking process to assess advanced cyber capabilities of AI models will be classified. The threshold for which models are covered under the order is also classified and will only be shared with AI developers and researchers "as appropriate."The order does not similarly designate the voluntary framework as classified, and policymakers and other observers expected to see details. Between the lines: Companies are seeking clarity early so they know whether models under development are likely to fall under
China on Thursday voiced “serious concern” over recent US economic restrictions during a video call between Vice-Premier He Lifeng, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The exchange took place as both sides sought to finalise economic deliverables ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the United States in September. “The Chinese side expressed serious concern over the recent economic and trade restrictions imposed by the United
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had heretofore never met a microphone from which he wished to social distance, refused to answer
A report published by Cambridge University features in-depth interviews with dozens of former members of Nigeria’s Boko Haram explaining how the jihadist group has used artificial intelligence to improve its ability to carry out terror attacks since 2023. Experts say they are unlikely to be the only ones
The White House on Wednesday accused Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI of stealing proprietary U.S. technology to develop its latest AI model, as Washington and Beijing compete for dominance in the advancing technology. “We have information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model,” Michael Kratsios, director of the […]
American robot makers have been lobbying Washington for months to take action to counter the spread of popular Chinese bots