Author: admin

Chinese fintech firm Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, has picked healthcare as a new artificial intelligence-driven business pillar, as it seeks growth in China’s rapidly ageing society, according to CEO Cyril Han Xinyi.The group, which owns and operates the payment service Alipay, has been struggling to find new areas for growth after Beijing imposed regulatory requirements on its consumer-credit businesses. Ant has also restructured to run independently from Alibaba, with chairman Jack Ma ceding his role as Ant’s actual controller. Alibaba owns the Post.“In the age of AI, Ant focuses on real-world applications and targets three major…

Humanoid robots, cyber dogs and robotic arms have made a strong impression at the eighth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, as a robotics boom has turned machines from the sector into showstoppers.Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics made its third appearance at the CIIE, where it displayed new models, including the lightweight, consumer-facing R1, a taller and more facially human-like H2, and an upgraded industrial-grade legged robot, the A2. At Unitree’s booth, crowds eagerly raised their phones to film robots boxing and dancing.“We’re seeing more and more technology-category products at the CIIE, like those related to the robotics industry,” said Huang…

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure has made data centers the fastest-growing source of electricity demand in North America. As grid operators and policymakers race to keep pace with this surge, energy providers face a historic opportunity to unlock new avenues of growth and revenue.   The First Challenge: Capacity Bottlenecks   Data center developers are working under tight timelines to secure power, while interconnection queues for new generation or transmission projects can stretch for years. To overcome these hurdles, some operators have begun building their own substations or developing on-site generation facilities to accelerate supply.   …

LONDON (AP) — A convicted sex offender who was mistakenly released early from a London prison was arrested Friday after more than a week of freedom, police said.Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was one of two men accidentally released from Wandsworth Prison in the past two weeks that has caused a political headache for the government and focused renewed attention on an overcrowded and overwhelmed prison system.The other inmate, Billy Smith, 35, who was sentenced to nearly four years for fraud, surrendered at the Victorian-era lockup Thursday. Cherif, 24, a registered sex offender due to a previous indecent exposure conviction, was serving time…

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian lawmakers on Friday passed a special law clearing the way for a proposed real estate project that would be financed by an investment company linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner despite widespread public opposition and legal hurdles. After days of a heated debate and street protests by opponents of the plan to revamp of a landmark former Yugoslav military complex in central Belgrade that was partially destroyed in a NATO bombing campaign in 1999, the bill was approved with a 130-40 vote in the 250-member parliament. Serbia’s government last year stripped the complex of…

Blackwell is Nvidia’s current flagship artificial intelligence chip that the Trump administration has so far prevented from being sold to the world’s second-largest economy, for fear it would aid the Chinese military and the domestic AI industry.While there was speculation last week that talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea could end with a deal to allow a scaled-down version of the Blackwell graphics processing unit to be sold in China, so far there have been no signs of an agreement.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang presents the Blackwell chip platform during the company’s GTC…

“China appreciates Iran’s recent reaffirmation that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons, and supports Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in a phone call on Wednesday.Wang warned there was currently a “deadlock” over the issue, which is “not in the common interests of the international community”.“[China] hopes that all parties will maintain dialogue and communication to bring the Iranian nuclear issue back onto the track of dialogue and negotiation,” he said.In September, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union activated a “snapback” mechanism to…

The British pound fell in European trading on Friday against a basket of major currencies, resuming losses after a two-day rebound from a seven-month low against the US dollar. The decline came as investors grew increasingly concerned about the upcoming UK budget, expected to be announced soon.   UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves signaled this week that broad-based tax increases are on the way to avoid a return to “austerity,” describing them as “difficult choices” aimed at protecting public spending and reducing Britain’s debt burden.   As expected, the Bank of England on Thursday left interest rates unchanged…

Remittance inflow since Jan 2024 Figures in USD Billion The inflow of overseas workers’ remittances into Pakistan stood at $3.4 billion in October 2025, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed on Friday. Remittances increased by nearly 12% year-on-year (YoY), compared to $3.1 billion recorded in the same month last year. On a monthly basis, remittances were up over 7%, compared to $3.2 billion in September. During the first four months of the fiscal year (4MFY26), remittance inflows stood at $12.9 billion, as compared to $11.9 billion in 4MFY25, a jump of 9.3%. Remittances play a significant role in…

At a meeting in Brussels last month, foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states sat down to discuss the bloc’s plans for the Indo-Pacific region. The conversation, according to several people familiar with it, lasted just seven minutes.It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that officials, diplomats and experts are groaning about the lack of coherence and foresight in the union’s China policy.At a time when European leaders are promising independence, credibility and resilience, the fleeting discussion suggests a union that is distracted, divided and increasingly peripheral – on China and arguably almost everything else.As its leaders make impassioned pleas…