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We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2020: With 850 million children worldwide shut out of schools, tech evangelists claim now is the time for AI education. But as the technology’s power grows, so too do the dangers that come with it. By Alex Beard

This is the third of a five-part series. Part One is here and Part Two is here. Dr. Catherine Chan Dr. Catherine Chan is the assistant vice provost for high impact practices in the Division of ...

Report finds that religious, historical and cultural references have been removed in crackdown by Beijing
Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party ideology, a report has found.
Research published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp documents about 630 communities that have been renamed in this way by the government, mostly during the height of a crackdown on Uyghurs that several governments and human rights bodies have called a genocide.

Robert O’Brien says US should abandon moratorium but experts say proposal would hasten global nuclear arms race
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, widely tipped to play a leading role in a second Trump presidency, has advocated the resumption of nuclear testing, and the possible renewed production of plutonium and weapons-grade uranium.
Arms control experts said O’Brien’s proposals would accelerate the global nuclear arms race and backfire in terms of US security, handing greater advantages to Russia and China.

Justice department charges 24 defendants and says long investigation reveals links between Mexico’s Sinaloa gang and China
The US justice department has accused Chinese “underground bankers” of helping ’s Sinaloa cartel launder more than $50m in drug-trafficking proceeds.
An indictment unsealed in California charged 24 defendants with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and money-laundering offenses.

Ecuador has announced the suspension of an agreement with China that had waived visas for Chinese citizens traveling to the South American country.

Donald Trump’s military ran a covert campaign to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine at the height of the pandemic
In July 2021, Joe Biden rightly inveighed against social media companies failing to tackle vaccine disinformation: “They’re killing people,” . Despite their pledges to take action, lies and sensationalised accounts were still spreading on platforms. Most of those dying in the US were unvaccinated. An additional source of frustration for the US was the fact that Russia and China were , questioning their efficacy, exaggerating side-effects and sensationalising the deaths of people who had been inoculated.
How, then, would the US describe the effects of its own disinformation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic? A shocking new report has revealed that its military ran a secret campaign to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine with Filipinos – when nothing else was available to the Philippines. The found that this spread to audiences in central Asia and the Middle East, with fake social media accounts not only questioning Sinovac’s efficacy and safety but also claiming it used pork gelatine, to discourage Muslims from receiving it. In the case of the Philippines, the poor take-up of vaccines contributed to one of the highest death rates in the region. Undermining confidence in a specific vaccine can also contribute to broader vaccine hesitancy.

Esmeralda Upton was convicted of hate crime charges after a 2022 altercation in which she made racist comments and attempted to hit the women.

US prosecutors on Tuesday touted a major breakthrough in a crackdown against Chinese money laundering networks they say are working with Mexican drug cartels, announcing charges against 24 people for ...

Swimmers like to focus on things they control, but two things will be out of their control in Paris: A Chinese doping scandal and the lightning-quick Australians.

Report finds ‘alarming’ rise in extremism, with Islamist groups and cyber-attacks also posing dangers
A surge in far-right violence, Islamist extremism and cyber-attacks from Russia and China are putting German democracy under “significant” threat, the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said as she presented a government report on domestic and foreign adversaries.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are having strong ripple effects on German security, driving radicalism and attacks, the by the office for the protection of the constitution (BfV) found.

The criminal network allegedly includes an array of Chinese, Mexican and American men who allegedly worked as couriers, money brokers and traffickers in an elaborate scheme to pick up big amounts of ...