China
IMF raises its forecast for world growth this year but warns of risks from AI boom and debt
BANGKOK | The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slightly upgraded its outlook for the world economy for this year, while warning of growing risks from rising debt, including the financial frenzy around artificial intelligence. The IMF says it expects the global economy to grow at a 3.1% pace this year. That’s up from its July […]
Movie Review: Falling rocks, avalanches, heroism and greed converge in ‘The Last First: Winter K2’
“He has to go and live on the edge,” explains Lina Móey about her husband, the Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri Sigurjonsson, in “The Last First: Winter K2.” And she means it literally: He has to go live on the edge of a mountain. In this case, it’s the most forbidding mountain on the planet: K2, […]
Some climb for faith, others for the views. This Chinese sacred mountain draws them all
WUDANG, China | A banknote clasped between her hands, Liu Haiyan prayed to the protector of the Wudang mountains. The range in central China has long been considered sacred in Taoism. “I asked him to bless our motherland with favorable weather and to make it even more prosperous,” Liu said while sitting outside the Golden […]
China’s Alibaba unveils new powerful chip and ambitious AI model plans
HONG KONG | China’s Alibaba unveiled new artificial intelligence chip technologies and plans for more powerful models on Tuesday, including what it said was China’s most powerful AI chip, days ahead of a meeting between Chinese and U.S. leaders at which competition to lead on AI technology is expected to be a major theme. Alibaba’s […]
Trump decries Democrats as ‘communists,’ even as he looks to impress China’s communist leader
WASHINGTON | Communism, President Donald Trump says, is the greatest threat the U.S. has ever faced. This summer, citing similarly grave concerns, he took the rare step of delivering a primetime address to the nation, accusing China of “sinister election meddling” in 2020 and reviving his yearslong push to dispute his loss in that year’s […]
A global AI safety strategy depends on US-China cooperation. They each see the other as the problem
HONG KONG | As concern rises over the risks of artificial intelligence, hopes for any kind of global approach depend on cooperation between the U.S. and China — superpowers that seem only to be more skeptical of each other’s AI strategy. AI governance is expected to be on the agenda in a meeting planned for […]
Climate change made deadly Nepal glacier and rock collapse more likely, according to analysis
BENGALURU, India | Human-caused global warming thinned glaciers and thawed mountain permafrost, likely helping to destabilize the Himalayan slope that collapsed last month and unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal, according to a report released Thursday. The report by the World Weather Attribution cautioned that climate change was not the sole cause of the Aug. 26 […]
Trump dismisses new AI guardrails, says there is a ‘SICK conspiracy’ against AI and data centers
WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump said Monday that he is a sufficient guardrail against rogue artificial intelligence, claiming that any efforts to limit the technology was part of a “SICK conspiracy.” “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump […]
Nod if you’ve heard this: Bobblehead dolls are an American favorite
NEW YORK | It’s all in the name. Bobble. Head. It’s what the tiny collectible figurines with the spring-laden oversize heads are known for: Give them a tap and watch their tops go, gyrating up and down or side to side. And any head can bobble – entertainers, athletes, politicians, animals, fictional characters, even your […]
Mass burials in Nepal as death toll from flash floods exceeds 1,000
KATHMANDU, Nepal | Rescue teams with search dogs continued to search through mud, rocks and debris on Tuesday on the border with Nepal and China for thousands of people still missing following the catastrophic floods that tore through communities across the Himalayas, leaving more than 1,000 dead. As police in Kathmandu buried dozens of bodies […]