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An AI startup in China just showed how it's closing the gap with America's top AI labs.The Chinese startup DeepSeek released a new AI model on Monday that appears to rival OpenAI's o1.Its reasoning ...

Silicon Valley and Washington leaders said the app shows China can challenge the U.S. The Nasdaq lost 3 percent and chipmaker Nvidia shed $589 billion in market capitalization.

The hydropower dam, in quake-prone Tibet, is set to be the world’s biggest. But China has said little about the project, which could affect nearby countries.

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to the west on a wellness voyage of discovery – just as his peers were losing faith in the Chinese Dream. By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai

Chinese startup DeepSeek overtook ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application on Apple's App Store in the U.S. on Monday. DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence tool, has become one of the most popular apps in the U.

China’s tech leap challenges US dominance through innovation. But unregulated competition increases the risk of catastrophe
Eight years ago, Vladimir Putin proclaimed that mastering artificial intelligence (AI) would make a nation the “”. Western tech sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should have dashed his ambitions to lead in AI by . But that might be too hasty a judgment. Last week, the Chinese lab DeepSeek unveiled R1, an AI that say rivals OpenAI’s top reasoning model, o1. Astonishingly, it matches o1’s capabilities while using a fraction of the computing power – and at a tenth of the cost. Predictably, one of Mr Putin’s first in 2025 was to align with China on AI development. R1’s launch seems no coincidence, coming just as Donald Trump backed OpenAI’s $500bn plan to outpace its peers. OpenAI has singled out DeepSeek’s parent, , as a potential threat. But at least three labs claim to rival or surpass OpenAI’s achievements.
Anticipating tighter US chip sanctions, Chinese companies critical processors to ensure their AI models could advance despite restricted access to hardware. DeepSeek’s success underscores the ingenuity born of necessity: lacking massive datacentres or powerful specialised chips, it achieved breakthroughs through better data curation and optimisation of its model. Unlike proprietary systems, R1’s source code is public, allowing anyone competent to modify it. Yet its openness has limits: by China’s internet regulator, R1 conforms to “core socialist values”. Type in Tiananmen Square or Taiwan, and the model reportedly shuts down the conversation.

Source says purpose of Wang Yi’s visit is to hold first UK-China strategic dialogue since 2018
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is due to visit the UK next month for talks with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, the Guardian has learned.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) is drawing up plans to host the Chinese foreign minister in mid-February, according to three people briefed on the plans. The FCDO declined to comment.

Analysis released by new director, John Ratcliffe, suggests the agency believes totality of evidence makes a lab origin
The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the coronavirus pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.
The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns. It was declassified and released on Saturday on the orders of president Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in as director on Thursday.

Everyone seems to agree candy-flavored vapes are bad for kids. So why can’t lawmakers find a way to block their sale?

Diplomatic frenzy and rattled nerves in republic as officials and former president reject US president’s comments

From a modern control room high above the canal expansion – overlooking the Cocolí locks, then lakes, rainforest canopy and, eventually, the Atlantic ocean – it barely registers that the era of gunboat diplomacy is returning to the .
But four days into Donald Trump’s second administration, here we are. Trump has declared that he is “” the Panama canal, sending TV crews from Washington to Beijing scrambling here to cover a crisis that has led to frenzied diplomatic efforts and elicited fears of a repeat of the 1989 US military invasion.

Everyone seems to agree candy-flavored vapes are bad for kids. So why can’t lawmakers find a way to block their sale?

The small port city of Gwadar has a huge new airport funded by China, but local suspicion of Beijing’s true intentions threatens to wreck the project
As the first flight touched down on the fresh tarmac at Gwadar, it was hailed by Pakistan’s government as a step towards “progress and prosperity”. The newly opened airport – now the largest in the country – built in Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province was “a symbol of the cooperation between Pakistan and China”, according to defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
Yet the optics of the event told another story. As it unfolded on 20 January, the surrounding city of Gwadar was put under a draconian security lockdown. And while several senior Pakistan government and military figures were present, their Chinese government counterparts were noticeably absent – even though it was China footing the $230m bill for the airport.