Day: March 27, 2024

Japan Moon Probe Survives Second Lunar Night

Media Library

TOKYO —  Japan’s unmanned moon lander woke up after surviving a second frigid, two-week lunar night and transmitted new images back to Earth, the country’s space agency said Thursday. “We received a response from SLIM last night and confirmed that SLIM had successfully completed its second overnight,” the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a post on the official X account for its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe. “Since the sun was still high in the sky last night and the equipment was still hot, we recorded…

Amazon invests US$2.75 billion more in OpenAI rival Anthropic to boost generative AI efforts

Media Library

Amazon.com says it is investing an additional US$2.75 billion in Anthropic, completing a deal it made last year to back the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up and expand a partnership between the companies. The infusion brings Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic, a well-regarded builder of AI tools able to generate text and analysis, to US$4 billion, following an earlier investment announced in September. As part of that deal, Amazon had the right to contribute the additional funds in the form of a convertible note, provided it did so before the end…

$75,000 for a baby? South Korean businesses float incentives as demographic crisis looms

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Korean construction group Booyoung is offering workers a $75,000 bonus for each baby they produce, one of many eye-catching incentives on offer as politicians and companies grapple with the country’s demographic crisis. “If Korea’s birth rate remains low, the country will face extinction,” Booyoung chair Lee Joong-keun told employees last month. South Korea’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to…

Why didn’t New Zealand impose sanctions on China?

Media Library

Politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing were among those targeted by cyber-attacks run by groups backed by China, western intelligence services said this week. The separate cyber-attacks hit the US, UK and New Zealand – all members of the Five Eyes alliance. The network of five countries, which also includes Canada and Australia, share security related intelligence. While Beijing rejected claims of its involvement, the US and UK chose to take further steps against those entities they said were involved, but New Zealand took a different tack. How did the…

Chinese scientists plan surface-to-air missile with 2,000km kill range

Media Library

According to the paper, the PLA would issue a warning to any target aircraft’s country of origin and only fire if it failed to turn back. The technology “is of great significance for maintaining regional and global peace and stability”. The PLA’s brief was for a weapon with low production costs that is also convenient for daily operations, at a maximum 10 metres (33ft) long and weighing no more than 4 tonnes to make it suitable for vehicle-mounted mobile launch, the paper said. 02:41 Marcos Jnr says China showing interest…

Why good news for Japan may be bad news for hedge funds

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Japanese business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. When the Tokyo stock market closed on Wednesday afternoon, the sun was shining, a weekend of cherry blossoms lay in prospect and the once leaden-footed Topix index — the broad benchmark of corporate Japan — had skipped to within inches of its all-time high. Tricky times, in other words, for some of the world’s biggest hedge funds. Good news, especially when fuelled by a fundamental change in the…

Imagine a world free from the oppression of a US-led global order

Media Library

If upturned, it would probably end the US ability to single-handedly block the decisions of international organisations, as it did with recent UN Security Council resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the working of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system, paralysed after the US obstructed the appointment of judges to the appellate body, reportedly for 60 consecutive times at WTO meetings. Washington would also find it difficult to call the shots at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In these two institutions, votes on substantive issues need…

Yellen Warns She’ll Confront China on Its Energy Subsidies

Media Library

washington —  U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that Chinese subsidies for clean energy industries create unfair competition that “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world.” Yellen said that during a visit she has scheduled to China, she intends to warn China its national underwriting for energy and other companies is creating oversupply and market distortion, among other problems. “I intend to talk to the Chinese when I visit about overcapacity in some of these industries, and make sure that they understand…

Fate of Byju’s founder rests with Indian court as investors try to oust edtech chief

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Indian business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Leading tech investors are fighting to remove the founder of Byju’s, the Indian education technology start-up whose valuation has crashed amid allegations of mismanagement and governance failings. The Karnataka High Court is expected to hear a case on Thursday that will help determine whether Byju Raveendran, a former celebrity tutor, will stay in control of the eponymous online education group he founded in 2011. Shareholders, which include Qatar’s…

Understanding Japan’s New Rules on Lethal Weapons Exports

Media Library

TOKYO —  Japan’s Cabinet OK’d a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets to other countries on Tuesday, its latest step away from the pacifist principles the country adopted at the end of World War II. The controversial decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in a year-old project to develop a new fighter jet together with Italy and the U.K., but it’s also part of a move to build up Japan’s arms industry and bolster its role in global affairs. For now, Tokyo…