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Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday cast Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order, using China’s premier tech conference to promote open-source technology and challenge US influence over the rules governing the fast-moving sector.In a speech to the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Xi urged countries to seize the “historic opportunity” of open-source AI, and pledged to help developing nations build AI capabilities, warning against the emergence of “new historical injustices” from unequal access to the technology.The remarks amounted to Xi’s clearest articulation yet of China’s ambition to shape global AI governance, framing its open-source models as a global public good and positioning Beijing as an alternative to Washington at a pivotal moment in the race for technological leadership.Comparing AI’s significance to the invention of the steam engine and electricity, Xi outlined a vision in which China shares AI technology and expertise with countries across the Global South, while leading global efforts to create standards governing the emerging technology.The speech pitched China’s AI coalition as a rival to the US-led “Pax Silica” international initiative to secure global AI and critical mineral supply chains, though Xi avoided naming Washington.Chinese state media has increasingly portrayed Beijing’s AI strategy as a response to what it calls a US-led attempt to erect an “AI Iron Curtain”.In a commentary published on Thursday, Yuyuan Tantian, a prominent social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, said China was seeking to build “another order” by “pooling the strength of all humanity and all countries to build an open-source, all-factor AI ecosystem”.The WAIC conference underlined the shifting AI landscape, with Chinese open-weight AI models making rapid gains against proprietary systems from US companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI yesterday unveiled Kimi K3, which it described as the world’s largest open AI model by parameter count, a month after the US government abruptly pulled Anthropic’s frontier-class AI models due to security concerns.Reuters reported earlier this month that Beijing is weighing restrictions on overseas access to some of China’s leading AI models, highlighting the growing tension between its promotion of open-source AI and an increasingly stringent national security agenda.Xi also called for AI systems to remain under human control and urged countries to establish early-warning and emergency-response mechanisms to manage AI risks, in his clearest remarks to date on AI safety.He further urged measures to guard against loss-of-control scenarios, warning of the dangers posed by autonomous AI systems that could evade human oversight and control.China will provide AI training and develop AI cooperation centres with Brics, Asean, Latin American and African Union countries, Xi said, aligning its AI diplomacy with major Global South blocs where Beijing already carries significant influence.The remarks came a day after the launch of the China-created World AI Co-operation Organisation, or WAICO, which signed up 29 member countries. Xi called the organisation a “milestone in the history of world AI development” and said it responded to demands from Global South nations for greater participation in AI governance.Analysts said the timing turned what might have been a routine policy speech into a statement linking China’s technological advances to a formal diplomatic platform.”You’ve got the leader of the second most powerful country in the world, a country that’s still posting real technological gains despite everything going on with the US, standing up and laying out China’s view on AI,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, managing director at Ankura China Advisors.That institutional push reflects a broader Chinese effort to avoid being cast as a rule-taker in a sector increasingly shaped by US companies, US export controls and Washington-led technology partnerships, according to analysts.”Xi’s message is clear: China is not going to follow anyone on both AI technology and standards. Instead, China is going to lead the world in both aspects,” said George Chen, chair in digital practice at The Asia Group, a consultancy.The July 17-20 gathering comes as Washington and Beijing prepare for their first government-level AI talks under US President Donald Trump’s administration.The two powers laid out competing visions at a UN AI dialogue last week, where US officials argued excessive regulation could hinder innovation, while China promoted its low-cost, open-source models as a tool for narrowing global disparities in AI access.Washington has brought together 35 countries behind its AI Opportunity Statement, compared with 29 countries signed up to the China-led WAICO.Kazakhstan is the only country listed as joining both initiatives, a person familiar with the US position said, arguing the limited overlap showed most countries aligned with Washington’s framework had not endorsed Beijing’s competing initiative.Alongside China’s leading technology companies, attendees at WAIC include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. 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Ferrari’s British driver Lewis Hamilton gets ready to take the start during the second practice session at the…
A US security official announced that an officer was injured by a bullet that struck his protective vest during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.Another official from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that the suspect had fired at a member of the Secret Service, adding that the agent was unharmed.In the same context, the head of the White House Correspondents’ Association said that everyone was safe following the shooting and confirmed that the event would be rescheduled.The shooting took place at a hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, attended by Donald Trump.Secret Service agents quickly escorted Trump and the First Lady out of the event hall on Saturday night after gunfire was heard.About an hour after being removed from the event, Donald Trump said on the Truth Social platform that the gunman had been arrested. He added that it had been an eventful night in Washington and that the Secret Service and law enforcement had done an excellent job.The US president went on to say that the shooter had been apprehended and that he had suggested allowing matters to proceed as they were, but that he would fully adhere to law enforcement guidance, which would soon determine the next steps.He added that regardless of that decision, the evening would be very different from what had been planned and would have to be reorganized.In a later post, he noted that law enforcement had asked them to leave the building in accordance with standard procedures and that he would comply immediately.He also said that the First Lady, the Vice President, and all cabinet members were in good health, adding that they would address the public shortly.He concluded by saying that he had spoken with all officials responsible for the event and that it would be rescheduled within 30 days.In the same context, the United States Secret Service confirmed that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were safe after the shooting during the dinner they were attending. Source link
A Palestinian was injured on Sunday after being shot by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem.The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that its crews responded to a man who had been shot in the thigh with live ammunition near the apartheid wall in Al-Ram, noting that he was transferred to hospital for treatment.The incident comes amid a continued escalation of incursions and attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers across cities, towns, and camps in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, including raids, confrontations, arrests, and the use of live and rubber bullets, as well as tear gas, against Palestinians, in addition to assaults on property. Source link
Nearly two months after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively sealed by regional conflict, the world is confronting the largest single disruption to energy supplies in modern history.Nearly one-fifth of the planet’s seaborne oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas have been cut off from global markets, according to detailed assessments by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). Before the closure in late February, roughly 20.9mn barrels per day of crude oil, condensate and petroleum products flowed through the narrow waterway — about 20% of all oil traded by sea and 25 percent of global petroleum liquids consumption — the EIA reported for the first half of 2025. An additional 20% of the world’s LNG trade, almost entirely from Qatar, passed through the same chokepoint.The result has been a net daily loss to world markets of between 16.7mn and 18.2mn barrels of oil equivalent, even after accounting for limited pipeline bypasses, the agencies’ data show. Only 3.5mn to 5.5mn barrels per day of oil can be rerouted via Saudi Arabia’s Petroline and the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline. LNG, which has no meaningful alternative export route in the short term, remains almost entirely stranded.Converting the lost natural gas volumes to oil-equivalent terms adds another 1.7mn barrels of oil equivalent daily to the shortfall. Taken together, the gross daily disruption before any mitigation reached approximately 21.7mn barrels of oil equivalent. In energy terms, the net loss equates to 37–40 exajoules per year — roughly 5.5% to 6% of total global primary energy consumption.Minister of State for Energy Affairs, president and CEO of QatarEnergy HE Saad Sherida al-Kaabi delivered some of the starkest warnings in the early days of the crisis. In a Financial Times interview published in early March, he cautioned that the conflict could “bring down the economies of the world.”He predicted that if the situation persisted, “all exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure,” warning that prolonged fighting would hit global GDP growth, drive energy prices sharply higher, and trigger shortages and factory shutdowns. On the ground, those warnings have materialised. Gulf oil production was shut in by 7.5mn to 9.1mn barrels per day in March and April, according to the IEA’s monthly Oil Market Report. Global oil supply fell by 10.1mon barrels per day in March alone, with cumulative losses now exceeding 360mn to 440mn barrels. Qatar declared force majeure on LNG cargoes after Iranian strikes damaged facilities responsible for about 17% of the country’s LNG export capacity — equivalent to roughly 12.8mn tonnes per year and potentially offline for three to five years.The disruption dwarfs every previous oil shock. Markets have responded with volatility. Strategic stockpiles in IEA member countries and coordinated releases have cushioned the immediate blow, but analysts warn that sustained losses of this magnitude will force deep demand destruction through higher prices.Independent economic modeling cited by the IEA projects global GDP losses ranging from $330bn in a short conflict to as much as $2.2tn if the strait remains closed for an extended period.For now, the world is adapting through higher fuel costs, conservation measures and frantic searches for alternative supplies. Yet with 80% of Hormuz-bound oil traditionally destined for Asia, the pain is being felt most acutely in import-dependent economies from Japan to India.Energy experts, including al-Kaabi, caution that the full economic and geopolitical fallout is still unfolding. The closure has exposed the fragility of global energy trade in ways few imagined possible in the 21st century.As one veteran oil-market analyst put it: “We have just witnessed the largest forced reordering of world energy flows since the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 — except this time the stakes are measured in millions of barrels every single day.”The coming weeks will determine whether the world can absorb the shock or whether the energy crisis of 2026 becomes the defining economic event of the decade. Related Story Source link
During World Immunization Week, which runs from 24 to 30 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners are…
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