Left Review Online August 14, 2025
The US tech industry is endorsing a new plan this week called the ATOM Project, namely American Truly Open Models, which aims to win back the US lead in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) technology from China, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. This ambitious plan to pool resources...more
The shift from assessing the impacts of the global temperature rise to seeking a just global energy transition paved the way for the Paris Agreement in 2015. It was a landmark agreement for global sustainable development. To the benefit of the Global South, the climate debate has since...more
In order to obtain critical minerals, US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order directing the federal government to expedite mining permits for deep-sea mining within the US and in international waters. This move aims to quickly push related companies to begin mining activities in these areas....more
China's Cyberspace Security Association revealed in a report on Monday that the country's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT) had detected and handled a cyberattack launched by US intelligence agencies against a major Chinese commercial encryption provider. Experts described the incident as the latest example of...more
As of now, China has 102 nuclear power units, including those in operation, under construction and approved for construction, with a total installed capacity of 113 million kilowatts, ranking first globally, in terms of the overall scale, for the first time, according to a blue book - China...more
The substantial losses incurred by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC) factory in the US state of Arizona illustrate both the consequences of ignoring market logic and the deep-seated difficulties the US faces in its attempt to forcibly restructure global semiconductor supply chains through political intervention. TSMC's Arizona facility...more
South China's Hainan Province, host to the country's first commercial spacecraft launch site and also to the coastal national Wenchang spaceport, on Monday released a government document aimed at promoting the region into a crucial practice site for the building of new quality productive forces, with a focus...more
Chinese companies have made marked progress in designing and producing high-performance, energy-efficient chips, as part of the nation's ongoing efforts to bolster its semiconductor sector, industry experts told the Global Times recently. Although there has been a noticeable rise in the use of home-made chips by Chinese businesses,...more
"On August 25, when I logged onto the internet at 10 pm to give a lecture about our new brain-computer interface (BCI) program, 1,200 students and parents were waiting. This clearly demonstrates people's passion for the program, Liu Xiuyun, a professor in biomedical engineering from the Tianjin University...more
A new absurd "China threat" drama has unfolded on Capitol Hill once again. Recently, a dozen US lawmakers sent a letter to the Biden administration urging it to address "the use of Chinese-manufactured agriculture drones." Their so-called issues include the assumption that these aerosol-dispensing drones might collect and...more
China announced its ambitious plan to carry out Tianwen-3 mission with two launches to retrieve samples from Mars and bring them back to Earth by around 2028, chief designer of the mission Liu Jizhong disclosed on Thursday at an event on deep-space exploration held in Huangshan, East China’s...more
With the US House of Representatives set to vote this week to advance the Biosecure Act, which would prohibit US federal agencies from contracting with China's BGI, Wuxi AppTec and other biotech firms under the excuse of "national security," an influential Democratic US congressman is reportedly set to...more
Experts call for attention and countermeasures to prevent cybercriminals from using new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) powered deepfake technology amid growing concerns over the issue around the world. Numerous chat rooms suspected of creating and distributing deepfake pornographic material with doctored photos of ordinary women and...more
It has been one year since Japan began dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean despite broad opposition. So far, some 60,000 tons of water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been discharged as part of Japan's 30-year program to dump around one million tons of nuclear-contaminated wastewater...more
Recently, a research team from a Chinese university successfully sent samples of soybean bacteria to the nation's Tiangong Space Station via the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft. The project is the first Hong Kong agricultural research project to be launched into space, opening a new chapter for the integration of...more