The half-marathon in Beijing’s E-Town economic and technological development zone on Sunday showcased a leap in the capabilities of Chinese-made humanoid robots. The winner of the race, autonomous-navigation robot “Lightning”, developed by Honor, completed the race in an impressive 50 minutes and 26 seconds, despite a minor mishap near the finish line, surpassing the human world record. “Lightning” incorporates Honor’s proprietary integrated joint modules, delivering a peak torque of 400 Nm. Its liquid-cooling system features cooling channels that penetrate deep into the motor’s interior like capillaries to dissipate heat, while…
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Japanese companies will finance investments valued at $36 billion in energy and minerals projects in Ohio, Texas and Georgia as part of a trade agreement that will cut U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%, according to the Trump administration. The announcement is part of Japan’s 2025 agreement to invest $550 billion over the next four years at the direction of the U.S., with the funds aimed at rebuilding and expanding core American industries. In October, the Trump administration provided details on Japanese investments of up to $332 billion to…
Japan is preparing to lift long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, marking another step in the erosion of its post-war arms export taboo. While the reform creates new diplomatic and commercial opportunities and allows deeper security cooperation with regional partners, Japan’s defence industrial base remains small, costly and capacity-constrained. Domestic procurement demands and labour shortages mean exports will likely remain modest, limiting the policy’s practical and strategic impact on regional military balances. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is looking to loosen Japan’s long-standing restrictions on weapons exports, marking another step…
Determined to push back against online falsehoods, the French state is turning to facts, humour and a new digital voice to challenge misleading narratives wherever they spread. France has set up a new digital rapid-response unit – titled “French Response” – to push back against what it sees as a rising tide of online disinformation, and it wasted little time making its presence felt. When the US secretary of state Marco Rubio took a swipe at European culture on X this week, the English-language account run by the French foreign…
Red flags that both job seekers and employers should watch for, in an era of AI slop and application scams. Hello world, My name is Andrew Losowsky, and I’m Product Director & Editor at The Markup and CalMatters. A few months ago, we wanted to hire a new engineer. Hiring is always a lengthy process, but this time I had to wade through what felt like an ocean of generative AI slop. Fake and exaggerated resumes have always existed, but now, thanks to the rise of AI tools, it’s incredibly…
State Sen. Scott Wiener wants to tackle energy affordability by making it easier than ever for households to adopt increasingly popular clean-energy tech. California lawmakers are considering two bills that would slash red tape for households looking to add certain types of clean tech. Earlier this month, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), whose district includes San Francisco, introduced legislation that would make it easier for individuals to adopt all-electric, superefficient heat pumps (SB 222) and plug-in solar panels (SB 868). “The cost of energy is too high,” Wiener told Canary Media.…
The ongoing Dutch restrictions against Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia risk causing “multi-layered and irreversible” real-world damage to the stability of semiconductor supply chains in Europe and globally, deputy chief of a chip industry association has warned in an exclusive interview with the Global Times. The comments from Wei Shaojun, vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), came in response to the Netherlands placing Nexperia under special administrative measures over so-called security concerns. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs revealed on October 12, 2025 that it had invoked the 1952…
HAIKOU — China’s largest offshore gas field, named Deep Sea No 1, has recently completed its 100th shipment of crude oil since being put into production, announced the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Friday. The field’s total oil and gas output in 2025 exceeded 4.5 million tons of oil equivalent, comparable to that of a medium-sized onshore oilfield. The project was implemented in two phases, with production commencing in 2021 and 2025, respectively. The second phase of the project represents the country’s most challenging deepwater gas development to…