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Xiaomi has open-sourced a new foundation model that integrates autonomous driving and embodied artificial intelligence, as the Chinese smartphone and electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer seeks to enhance its AI capabilities.MiMo-Embodied, which comes after Xiaomi’s first large language model MiMo launched in April, was described as the “first open-source vision-language model” that combined autonomous driving and embodied AI tasks. Technical reports and project files are available on platforms such as Hugging Face and GitHub.The cross-embodied model achieved state-of-the-art performance in both domains, according to Xiaomi It demonstrated “superior” results in task planning, affordance prediction and spatial understanding for embodied AI, while excelling…

More than 103,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that K-pop girl group Aespa be banned from taking part in a New Year music event in Japan over an image posted by one of its singers that protesters claim depicts the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The petition, on Change.org, points out that the singer posted a picture of an “atomic bomb model light” on a social media site with the message, “I bought a cute light! What do you think?”Even though the post was in May 2022, the petition says it is inappropriate for Aespa to be invited…

Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to the European Union (EU) Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme during talks with the Netherlands, while simultaneously flagging key trade grievances that continue to challenge market access. During a meeting between Federal Minister for Commerce and Secretary Commerce with Ambassador of the Netherlands, H.E. Robert-Jan Siegert’s on Saturday, Pakistan raised concerns over the withdrawal of ethanol concessions and the ongoing dispute over the geographical indication (GI) of Basmati rice with India, read a statement. Secretary of Commerce Jawad Paul explained that the EU has just one scheme of interaction with Pakistan, that is GSP+.…

Chinese investment is still being actively welcomed in Ireland, the head of a major business organisation said, even as the wider European Union adopts a more cautious attitude and Dublin walks a tightrope to maintain ties with both the US and China amid a wide-ranging rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.“We’re firmly open for business within the EU rules, that is an unambiguous position,” Mary Rose Burke, CEO of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, told the Post in an interview last week.“When we already have successful investors into Ireland, when we have Irish businesses investing in China, I don’t…

China’s ambassador to the United Nations has doubled down on his criticism of Japan, calling Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi’s earlier comments on Taiwan “highly dangerous” and damaging to the post-war international order.According to state broadcaster CCTV, Fu Cong said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday that Japan was “unrepentant” for the “blatantly provocative” remarks of its prime minister.He said Takaichi’s comments marked the first time a Japanese leader had “expressed its ambition for armed intervention on the Taiwan issue and the first time [Japan] has issued a military threat against China, openly challenging China’s core…

When Japan’s then incoming leader Sanae Takaichi was scrambling in October for a new coalition partner so the Liberal Democratic Party could remain in power, she seemed open to requests put forth by the Japan Innovation Party in return for its support.One of the key demands of the JIP was that Osaka should be officially elevated in status to the nation’s “second capital”, with additional infrastructure for the city to enable it to become the seat of government in the event of a natural disaster crippling Tokyo.Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka prefecture since 2019 and head of the JIP for…

Taiwan’s military plans to allocate more than NT$1 billion (US$32 million) for drone technology integration as the island scales up its uncrewed platforms and bolsters asymmetric warfare capabilities amid growing pressure from Beijing.According to a budget document recently submitted to Taiwan’s legislature, the Armaments Bureau will spend more than NT$1.01 billion from 2026 to 2028 on a “forward-looking multi-integration development project” for uncrewed platforms, with NT$507 million to be executed in the first year.The initiative aims to develop core technologies that would allow drones to operate without Global Positioning System (GPS) support, resist jamming and use high-density batteries – capabilities…

For Gu Chuan and his wife, relocating from China to Japan appeared to be a logical choice.Last year, when China’s economy slowed and optimism about job prospects dimmed, the Beijing-based tech worker did not want his family to put all its eggs in one basket.The couple considered several options. Hong Kong was ruled out as too far from home, and so was the United States because of its myriad disputes with Beijing. They finally decided that Gu’s wife would go to Japan to study for an MBA and he would follow when the time was right.If opportunity allowed, they would…

South Korea is watching with mounting alarm as tensions between China and Japan escalate over the Taiwan Strait, a development that threatens to test Seoul’s pragmatic diplomacy and its balancing act between Beijing and Washington, observers warn.The dispute is unfolding just as Seoul has worked to stabilise long-strained relations with both regional powers, raising fears that renewed rivalry could force South Korea into unwelcome geopolitical crossfire, they add.Analysts say the flare-up is particularly troubling because it comes at a moment when the United States is pressing Seoul to play a greater supporting role in any Taiwan-related contingency, including projecting the…

In a spacious three-storey village house in Sai Kung on a recent sunny Saturday, Chen Wei and his family were unpacking the final boxes after their move from Shenyang, the capital of China’s northeast Liaoning province. Having come with his wife and two sons under Hong Kong’s Top Talent Pass Scheme, Chen, an e-commerce expert, represents a new force recalibrating the city’s future.“The job opportunity was the first draw, but the final decision was for them,” Chen said, gesturing to his two 10-year-old boys, who were busy arranging schoolbooks from their new international academy. “Knowing how stressful the path can…