Two months ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, promised it would be a “big year” for China-US relations. He was right, but perhaps not in the way he expected. Wang was speaking before a planned visit by the US president to Beijing in March, which would have been Donald Trump’s first trip to China since 2017. But the trip, and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was kicked back by several weeks after Trump decided to launch strikes with Israel against Iran, starting a war in the Middle…
Tag: US news
China now the ‘good guy’ on AI as Trump takes ‘wild west’ approach, MPs told
China is now the “good guy” on AI rather than Donald Trump’s US, where the technology is being pursued in a dangerous “wild west” manner, a former UN and UK government adviser has told MPs. Prof Dame Wendy Hall, who was a member of the UN’s AI advisory board and co-wrote a review of AI for Theresa May’s government, told the House of Commons business and trade committee that China was backing multinational attempts to introduce global governance of AI, in contrast to America, which had set up a race…
Congratulations to the Artemis II crew – but the case for sending astronauts into space is rapidly shrinking | Martin Rees and Donald Goldsmith
The 2020s has seen a revival of the “Apollo spirit”. The US and China are seemingly in a race to send humans to the moon by the end of the decade – and thereafter, perhaps, even to Mars. Nasa astronauts have just returned from a 10-day journey looping around the moon. Although they arrived back safely, Nasa accepts that the lack of data makes it impossible to quantify the risks involved – this represents only the second launch for the Artemis system and the first to carry astronauts. To date,…
Who can claim victory if Iran ceasefire holds? An early winner is China
Beijing’s powerbrokers are credited with winning Iran over, although one analyst says they were ‘pushing an open door’ Middle East crisis – live updates As the world struggles to make sense of what, if anything, was achieved by the ceasefire deal announced by the US and Iran on Tuesday, one major power that stands to win regardless is China. Beijing’s powerbrokers are being credited with pushing Iran towards agreeing to the ceasefire, bolstering its status as a regional mediator. In China’s tightly censored domestic media, articles basking in the glory…
As Iran war exposes global dependence on fossil fuels, the biggest emitters are reaping the rewards
Oil stands at about $110 a barrel and some forecasts have predicted it could reach $150. Food prices are on the rise and are expected to leap further owing to the fertiliser supply crunch, leading the World Food Programme USA to warn that global food insecurity could reach record levels, with 45 million more people pushed into acute hunger. Industries from steel to chemicals have alerted markets that they face shortages and soaring costs, while households across the world are feeling the pinch – people have been told to turn…
Private jets, deserted shores and an unbuilt resort: alleged links to sanctioned ‘scam’ empire revealed in Timor-Leste
Guests were enticed with the promise of luxury villas overlooking aquamarine seas; a world-first crypto resort where the tech elite could commune over the latest digital innovation in opulent surrounds. The promotional material from June last year pitched a sprawling, futuristic development that would hug the coastline of Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest countries, and donate a percentage of profits to philanthropy. But in February, when a joint investigative team visited the proposed site of the AB Digital Technology Resort – separated from Dili airport by a barbed-wire fence…
US-based dissident artist put on trial in China over satirical Mao sculptures, says rights group
The Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen, known for making satirical sculptures of China’s former leader Mao Zedong, has been tried over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs”, his wife and a rights group have said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit to China from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, his wife, Zhao Yaliang, and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese human rights defenders group, said. The closed-door, one-day trial took place on Monday at Sanhe city people’s court in Hebei province…
Man who allegedly planted bomb at US airbase at large after fleeing to China
A man who allegedly planted a bomb that went undiscovered for a week in the visitors center of the Florida headquarters of US Central Command, which oversees the ongoing war in Iran, remained at large on Friday after fleeing to China. Authorities charged Alen Zheng and his sister Ann Mary Zheng, both US citizens in separate indictments this week for their alleged role in planting the explosive device at MacDill air force base. Ann Mary Zheng was arrested in the US after a short trip to China, and was arraigned…
Trump’s trip to meet Xi Jinping in China rescheduled for May due to Iran war
Donald Trump will meet Xi Jinping in May during the US president’s first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip that had been postponed due to the Iran war. Trump was initially slated to travel next week, but will now visit Beijing on 14 and 15 May, he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump said he would host the Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year. Trump wrote: “Our Representatives are finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits. I look…
Tuesday briefing: With the horror of conflict throughout the globe, how likely is world war three?
Good morning. The world is at war. From the trenches of eastern Ukraine to the missile-streaked skies of the Gulf, a growing proportion of humanity is living under the horror of conflict. For some observers, there are gnawing fears that the worst is yet to come. The apparent collapse of the rules-based international order, the irrelevance of institutions designed to uphold it, and the interconnectedness of the fighting have sparked warnings that we could be at the beginning of a third world war. Indeed, half of Britons polled in a…