The United States and China are preparing to open a new channel on artificial intelligence safety at a moment when the technology is becoming a national security issue as much as an economic one. The proposed discussions, expected around mid-September, would be the first official bilateral talks focused exclusively on AI safety since Donald Trump…
China’s manufacturing sector improved in August, but the recovery remained too weak to pull factory activity back into expansion. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 49.8 from 49.2 in July, beating market expectations but remaining below the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction. The result marked a second consecutive month of contraction…
The trade conflict between the United States and Canada is moving beyond a dispute over individual tariffs and into a broader test of one of the world’s most integrated economic relationships. Washington’s latest 50 percent duties on a range of Canadian goods have prompted Ottawa to respond with matching tariffs, while companies on both sides…
France is emerging as one of the clearest examples of how high public debt, weak growth and political fragmentation can reinforce one another in a major developed economy. Government borrowing costs have risen sharply, with the 10 year French government bond yield reaching around 4.1% in late August, while investors are becoming increasingly focused on…
The disruption of energy supplies caused by the war involving Iran is giving governments in Europe and Asia a stronger economic reason to accelerate renewable energy investment. The immediate concern is not climate policy but energy security: dependence on imported oil and natural gas has exposed major economies to sharp price increases and supply risks…
Iran and Oman are still negotiating the details of a proposed arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz, exposing the gap between political declarations of progress and the practical conditions required to restore normal shipping. A senior Iranian source has said that no final agreement has been reached, despite the Revolutionary Guards previously claiming that Tehran…
The European Central Bank is moving toward another interest rate increase not because the euro zone economy is overheating, but because a prolonged energy shock is threatening to keep inflation above target for longer than policymakers had expected. According to economists surveyed in recent reporting, the ECB is widely expected to raise its deposit rate…
India is preparing for a broader overhaul of health insurance as rapidly rising medical costs put pressure on households, insurers and hospitals. The proposed reforms are expected to focus on standard treatment prices, clearer coverage rules and faster claims processing, according to people familiar with the discussions. The central objective is not simply to expand…
Artificial intelligence model distillation has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the growing technology rivalry between the United States and China, transforming a long-established machine learning technique into a debate over intellectual property, commercial rights and national security. The dispute is not centred on whether model distillation itself is technically legitimate. Instead,…
The Indian government’s decision to summon Meta’s senior executives for a second time over the brief restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post has evolved beyond a dispute over one social media error. Instead, it has reopened a wider debate over who ultimately controls political speech in India’s digital public square and whether social…
