Wilfred Ndifon

This is genuinely incredible: Huawei survived the most aggressive assault against a single company in modern history and is coming out the other side with the U.S. licensing its technology. And ironically in the exact domains - 5G, AI, compute, networking - that the U.S. tried to cut Huawei out of.

CHINA CONSIDERS RESTRICTING OVERSEAS ACCESS TO CUTTING-EDGE AI MODELS China’s Ministry of Commerce has led meetings over the past month with major AI companies, including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Z.ai, to discuss measures that would restrict overseas access to cutting-edge AI models, including models that have not yet been released. The discussions reportedly include not only closed-source models but also open-weight models. However, the scope of application is still under debate, and the rules may ultimately apply only to future frontier models. Officials have also discussed designating the leakage or theft of proprietary AI technologies as a national security crime, with stronger penalties, as well as restricting the types of foreign capital that can invest in Chinese AI startups. The backdrop is the U.S. move to strengthen export controls on AI models, along with national security concerns over cutting-edge models that could possess advanced cyberattack capabilities. Chinese authorities are reportedly concerned that advanced U.S. cybersecurity AI models could be used to exploit vulnerabilities in Chinese software. Since the beginning of this year, China has continued to tighten measures to prevent AI technology from being transferred overseas. Authorities have investigated whether Chinese AI startups that relocated abroad violated export control laws, while also strengthening oversight of overseas transactions involving Chinese investors, technology, data, and national security concerns. Future regulations could take the form of a tiered framework based on technological capability. Basic open-source AI models may be managed through a filing system, high-performance models may be subject to security reviews, and the most sensitive frontier models may be banned from public release or restricted to use within China.

CHW affiliate Simon Levin was interviewed by American Scientist about his research on how mathematical principles can describe complex systems. Read article: tinyurl.com/4c575keh

The Trump administration caused seismic disruptions to the world's premier scientific superpower in 2025 go.nature.com/3L8EiKQ

AI was supposed to be about developing intelligence, instead they're spending tens of billions of dollars to make it churn out cat videos so we're more dumbed down by social media. What an insane waste of resources, in all respects.

The Trump Administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement. This is a good thing. Why? Because the supreme aim for the UN isn’t helping Gazans. It’s maintaining control over the humanitarian system that keeps it relevant, of the machinery that funds and justifies its existence.

"The American empire is over," Richard D. Wolff, U.S. professor of international affairs, tells Al Jazeera. Already the biggest economic power on the planet is not the US and its allies, but China and the BRICS. But no U.S. politician dares to tell the people: "It's over."