Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 119

US concerned over damaged cables

The US Department of State has expressed concern over the recent severance of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and near Taiwan, urging all sides involved to collaborate with investigators. The US is closely following reports of undersea cables being damaged in multiple areas, including in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan, a US Department of State spokesperson said on Friday in response to

Who is China sending to Trump's inauguration?

China is sending Vice-President Han Zheng to US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday - the first time a senior Chinese leader will witness a US president being sworn in. Trump had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, among other leaders - a break with tradition given foreign leaders traditionally do not attend US presidential inaugurations.China has said it wants to work with

Trump’s Panama Canal threats leave country’s officials scrambling for answers

The new Panamanian ambassador was given strict instructions as he prepared to meet then-President Donald Trump one day in 2019: Do not engage him in any substantive discussion of critical issues. This was meant to be a carefully choreographed photo op, nothing more but a brief stop on the diplomatic conveyor belt as foreign ambassadors lined up in the West Wing to formalize their positions atop

A million-dollar challenge to crack the script of early Indians

Every week, Rajesh PN Rao, a computer scientist, gets emails from people claiming they've cracked an ancient script that has stumped scholars for generations. These self-proclaimed codebreakers - ranging from engineers and IT workers to retirees and tax officers - are mostly from India or of Indian origin living abroad. All of them are convinced they've deciphered the script of the Indus Valley

Three reasons Trump tariffs aren't China's only problem

China's economy rebounded in the last three months of last year, allowing the government to meet its growth target of 5% in 2024, Beijing announced on Friday. But it is one of the slowest rates of growth in decades as the world's second largest economy struggles to shake off a protracted property crisis, high local government debt and youth unemployment. The head of the country's statistics

Americans and Chinese share jokes on 'alternative TikTok' as US ban looms

A looming TikTok ban has connected Chinese and American citizens like never before, as they swap jokes and memes in what one user described as a "historic moment". It's all unfolding on a popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally translates as Little Red Book), which doesn't have the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world.It has

Tokyo drift: what happens when a city stops being the future?

The yen is low, and everybody is coming to Tokyo. If that sounds familiar, it’s not because I’m being coy or hedging my bets; it is the only information to be found in most English-language coverage of Japan’s capital in the aftermath of the pandemic. I can’t stop reading these accounts. After nine years in the country, you’d think I would have learned enough Japanese to liberate myself from the

Can News Survive the Rise of AI?

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) has given rise to a thorny legal dilemma: Who should own the rights to the news?There are basically two separate but related issues at stake. First, AI companies like OpenAI and Meta, which rely on vast quantities of data to train their models, view news articles as sources of high-quality writing and information. But

Can China’s College Grads Find Peace on the Factory Floor?

Once the reserve of blue-collar workers, the manufacturing industry has emerged as an increasingly appealing career option for educated young people in China, including those from top universities. Applications from fresh graduates for mechanical or manufacturing jobs surged by 104% in 2023 compared with 2021, while interest in roles related to IT, the internet, and gaming fell by almost 33%

TikTok ‘refugees’ flock to China’s RedNote

More than half a million users have piled onto the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, days ahead of a looming ban on TikTok in the United States, according to data from app stores and social media videos. Styling themselves “TikTok refugees,” many young Americans, seeking an alternative to TikTok, are flocking to join RedNote’s 300 million existing users -- who are