In a landmark shift that upends seven decades of postwar pacifist governance, Japan’s Cabinet led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave formal approval Tuesday to eliminate long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, clearing the last regulatory barriers for the country to expand its international arms trade.
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Elijah Hollands’ father pens emotional tribute after son admitted to hospital
AFL community has rallied around Carlton rising star Elijah Hollands after the young player’s recent hospital admission triggered widespread concern for his wellbeing, with his father Ben sharing a heartfelt public message of unconditional support and leading football figures offering messages of solidarity.
Elijah Hollands first experienced a troubling medical incident during Carlton’s match against Collingwood last Thursday, a struggle that quickly unfolded under the glare of public attention. On Monday night, Carlton Football Club issued an official statement confirming the young athlete had been admitted to hospital for care, intensifying worries across the league about his recovery.
In the wake of this difficult stretch for the Hollands family, Ben Hollands turned to Instagram to speak out publicly, sharing a moving portrait of his son alongside an inspiring message that extended beyond his own family to anyone navigating mental or physical healing. “This is my beautiful boy,” Ben wrote. “For anyone in the midst of healing … You are loved. You have a unique and defined purpose. You are seen whole. I know who my son is — and I will lift him up until he is restored in full.”
Beyond his support for Elijah, Ben also offered guidance to others standing beside loved ones facing hardship, urging: “For those supporting someone who is struggling: encourage them, affirm them, and love them. Go to them, remind them of who they truly are.”
Western Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge became one of the most prominent voices in the AFL to extend well wishes to Hollands this Thursday, while also opening up about the growing pressures that modern football players face from public criticism. Beveridge noted that the scrutiny modern athletes endure is far more intense than in previous eras, with contemporary commentary and speculation increasingly taking on personal, unkind tones that lack empathy.
“I have got no doubt what our players are exposed to, have to deal with and have to manage from a critique point of view is a lot more challenging than it ever has been,” Beveridge told reporters. “It seems to be some of the assessment and innuendos are a lot more personal than it ever has been. Everyone is trying to work out what that means, there seems to be no conscience in a lot of it.”
Beveridge added that it would be inappropriate for outsiders to speculate on the details of Hollands’ situation, emphasizing that no one outside the Carlton setup can fully understand the severity of what the club and the Hollands family are navigating. He extended empathy to every person connected to Carlton Football Club, not just the young injured player, noting that the incident has been traumatic and confronting for everyone involved.
“It’s just a hugely challenging situation and I feel for them, everyone feels for Elijah and his family. But I feel for everyone who’s involved in the Blues,” he said. “You talk about trauma and things that are confronting, and it’s been confronting. Everyone at that football club needs support to help them through it, definitely Elijah … hopefully he’s going to be OK but I just hope everyone who works at the Carlton Football Club are fine as well.”
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New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon survives party leadership vote months before election
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — In a dramatic move to end swirling speculation about his political future, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced Tuesday he has emerged victorious from a secret confidence vote held by his own National Party caucus. The leadership challenge was triggered by weeks of sliding poll ratings for the center-right party, which fueled widespread rumors that Luxon could be removed from his post months ahead of the country’s scheduled general election.
The confidence ballot was held during an extended meeting of National Party parliamentarians at Wellington’s Parliament House. Originally scheduled as a routine one-hour caucus gathering, the meeting stretched to two and a half hours as lawmakers debated Luxon’s leadership. Speaking to reporters after the closed-door session, Luxon confirmed he had personally called for the confidence vote to put an end to persistent media speculation about internal unrest within the party.
“The past week has been dominated by constant media speculation about my position as leader,” Luxon told reporters. “I called this vote to lay that speculation to rest once and for all.” The prime minister declined to release the exact breakdown of votes, nor would he confirm whether the result was unanimous, before leaving without taking questions from the press.
Luxon, a former airline chief executive who entered Parliament in 2020 and has led the National Party since 2021, has governed New Zealand as head of a right-wing coalition government since the 2023 general election. The country’s next national election is set for November 7 this year, putting the leadership vote roughly six months before voters head to the polls.
Recent polling had made discussion of a leadership challenge unavoidable, even as ousting a sitting prime minister mid-term remains an extremely rare occurrence in New Zealand’s modern political history. The most recent 1News-Verian poll showed a notable slump in support for both Luxon personally and the National Party, projecting that if an election were held immediately, the right-wing bloc led by National would trail the left-wing opposition bloc headed by the Labour Party.
Luxon pinned the spread of rumors about internal party division on media coverage, saying he would not continue to engage with unsubstantiated speculation. “If the media want to keep focusing on speculation and rumor, I am not going to engage,” he said. New Zealand’s recent political history has seen two prime ministers — National’s John Key and Labour’s Jacinda Ardern — voluntarily step down from the role, but no sitting prime minister has been forced out by their own party in modern times.
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Formula One makes rule changes after drivers’ criticism
In a decisive move responding to weeks of fierce backlash from top drivers including four-time world champion Max Verstappen, Formula One governing bodies and team principals have unanimously agreed to targeted rule changes that will take effect as early as next month’s Miami Grand Prix. The 2025 season’s sweeping regulatory overhaul, which introduced a revised hybrid power unit system with strict battery management requirements, sparked unprecedented public criticism that even put Verstappen’s long-term future in the sport in question.
Under the original rules, drivers were forced to conserve battery charge throughout qualifying laps, forcing them to lift off the throttle and slow down artificially to manage energy reserves, while a manual boost button granted extra power for overtaking maneuvers. After the Chinese Grand Prix, Verstappen delivered a scathing rebuke of the new racing format, calling it “a joke” and hinting he would step away from F1 when his current contract ends in 2027 if meaningful adjustments were not made. The Red Bull driver’s criticism was echoed by multiple other competitors on the grid, while fans across the globe voiced frustration that the regulations had diluted the on-track spectacle that defines top-tier open-wheel racing.
Held via online call on Monday, the meeting brought together Formula One management, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), and all team principals to hash out adjustments. Stakeholders finalised a set of targeted tweaks that will roll out for the Miami Grand Prix scheduled for May 3. This race will mark the end of a five-week enforced break in the 2025 calendar, which came after the cancellation of the opening Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds due to ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East.
The most impactful changes center on the hybrid power system that drew the most driver complaints. Energy harvesting capacity, which controls how much kinetic energy drivers can recover to charge the on-board battery during a race, will be lowered from eight megajoules to seven megajoules. Meanwhile, the maximum power output of the hybrid power unit will be increased from 250 kilowatts to 350 kilowatts. The FIA says the combination of these two adjustments will allow drivers to push at full speed for longer stretches during qualifying sessions, eliminating the need for artificial slowing to save battery.
A second key change addresses safety concerns related to the boost button, which came under scrutiny after British rookie Ollie Bearman’s high-speed crash during the most recent round in Japan. Investigators partially attributed the incident to dangerous differences in closing speeds caused by drivers activating their boost buttons at different times. Going forward, the maximum power output from the boost button will be capped at 150 kilowatts, a change the FIA says will “limit sudden performance differentials” that create unsafe on-track conditions.
Not all stakeholders are pushing for dramatic, wholesale changes to the rulebook, however. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, whose drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have gotten off to a strong start to the 2025 season with Antonelli holding a nine-point lead over Russell in the driver standings after three completed races, advocated for incremental, careful adjustments rather than sweeping overhauls.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s vote, Wolff noted that ongoing discussions between drivers, the FIA, F1 management and team principals had remained constructive, with all parties aligned on the core goal of improving the racing product. “It’s how can we improve the product, make it out-and-out racing, and look at what can improve in terms of safety, but act with a scalpel and not with a baseball bat,” Wolff said. He added that the sport would benefit from testing small adjustments after just three completed races, rather than making rash, far-reaching changes that could create new unforeseen problems. “We are custodians of the sport and we have many hundreds of thousands of fans that love F1,” he said. “In order to protect this huge opportunity that the sport gives us, we shouldn’t badmouth in public our own sport.”
Further negotiations and reviews of the 2025 rules are scheduled to take place after the Miami Grand Prix as stakeholders continue to refine the regulations for future races.
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Gun battle traps more than 200 tourists at Rio viewpoint
On a bustling Monday morning at one of Rio de Janeiro’s most photographed scenic overlooks, a sudden outbreak of armed conflict between Brazilian law enforcement and a major criminal gang left more than 200 tourists stranded for hours, in an incident that has raised fresh concerns about safety for the city’s vital tourism industry.\n\nThe incident unfolded at Morro Dois Irmaos, a 533-meter (1,750-foot) hill that draws thousands of weekly visitors with its sweeping panoramic views of Rio’s world-famous Ipanema and Leblon beaches. As crowds of sightseers explored the hilltop, a gunfight erupted between police officers and members of Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil’s largest and most well-established drug trafficking organizations, on the lower slopes of the hill adjacent to the Vidigal favela.\n\nTour operator Renan Monteiro, whose company Favela Turismo organized many of the tours on the hill that morning, confirmed that more than 200 people were caught in the lockdown, with around 70% of those trapped being international visitors. For roughly two hours, visitors were confined to the hilltop as shooting raged in the area below, before police secured the zone and gave the all-clear for groups to descend safely.\n\nIn an official statement, police noted that officers came under immediate gunfire from drug traffickers when they entered the Vidigal favela as part of the operation. By the end of the security action, three suspects were taken into custody, and no injuries were reported among either tourists, officers, or local residents.\n\nThe incident comes at a time when Rio’s tourism sector is celebrating a major post-pandemic recovery milestone: official data shows the city welcomed more than 2.1 million international visitors in 2025, hitting an all-time record for inbound tourism. Monteiro, however, warned that high-profile incidents of gang-related violence close to major tourist attractions risk undermining that progress. “Incidents like this erode visitor confidence, and that damage can take years to reverse,” he said in comments to Agence France-Presse.
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Canadian tourist killed in Mexico archaeological site shooting
On a Monday at one of Mexico’s most visited cultural landmarks, the ancient Teotihuacan archaeological site, a deadly shooting left one Canadian woman dead and five other people wounded, according to official Mexican authorities. The gunman responsible for the attack took his own life immediately after opening fire at the pre-Aztecan pyramid complex, confirmed Cristobal Castañeda, security secretary for Mexico State, where the UNESCO-recognized site is located.
Unverified social media footage circulating after the incident shows the gunman firing repeated shots from a handgun from a position halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon, one of the site’s largest and most famous structures. In the footage, tourists can be seen scrambling for cover behind stone staircases or fleeing the area in panic, with one visitor’s voice captured shouting, “A person is opening fire on us, take care friends, send security.”
Responding state law enforcement secured the scene, seizing a pistol, a knife, and unused ammunition, before coordinating a full evacuation of all visitors from the archaeological park. Many tourists and vendors on site told reporters they did not immediately grasp the severity of the emergency. Anna Durmont, a 37-year-old American art historian on vacation, told AFP she was walking toward the pyramid when she encountered a wall of emergency vehicles and police officers. “It actually felt extremely calm,” Durmont said. “It was very measured. The park is full of souvenir sellers and they hadn’t left. It wasn’t clear to us until we got closer that there was a serious emergency.”
Mexico’s national health institute reported that seven people were ultimately transported to nearby hospitals for care. Four patients were treated for direct gunshot wounds, while others were admitted for anxiety attacks or injuries sustained while falling down the Pyramid of the Moon’s steep 47-step staircase during the chaotic evacuation. Among the injured are two Colombians, a second Canadian citizen, and one Russian national, including one minor, Castañeda confirmed.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quickly issued a public statement on her X social media account confirming that combined federal and state security forces had been deployed to the site, and that her administration had established communication with Canadian government officials to coordinate support. “What happened today in Teotihuacan hurts us deeply,” Sheinbaum wrote. “I express my sincerest solidarity to the people affected and their families.”
While Mexico has long faced persistent challenges with organized crime and drug-related violence, large-scale indiscriminate attacks on public tourist sites remain relatively rare, especially when compared to gun violence rates in the neighboring United States. After the shooting, local journalists shared footage of a cordoned-off crime scene, where forensic investigators in protective suits worked atop the empty pyramid to collect evidence.
Teotihuacan, a 2,000-year-old abandoned pyramid city, is counted among Mexico’s most significant archaeological treasures and draws millions of international visitors annually, with tourism officials reporting more than 1.8 million visits to the site in 2025. The attack comes at a sensitive time for Mexico’s tourism sector: the country is preparing to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside the United States and Canada this June, with officials projecting more than 5.5 million international visitors will travel to Mexico for the global tournament.
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Israel PM vows ‘harsh action’ against soldier vandalising Jesus statue in Lebanon
A fresh controversy has erupted amid the fragile recent ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after an image of an Israeli soldier destroying a Christian statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon spread widely across social media. The incident, which has drawn sharp condemnation from religious leaders and top Israeli officials alike, has inflamed religious tensions in an already war-torn region.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly addressed the incident, vowing that the soldier responsible would face stiff consequences. The verified image shows a uniformed IDF soldier using a sledgehammer to repeatedly strike the decapitated head of a crucified Jesus statue, which stood in the majority-Christian border village of Debl in southern Lebanon. Both the Israeli military and independent verification by Agence France-Presse (AFP) have confirmed the photograph’s authenticity, though multiple edited versions of the image have circulated online. Local municipal officials in Debl confirmed the statue was located in their village, but have not been able to fully assess the extent of damage due to restricted access to the area, which remains under Israeli military presence following the recent escalation of conflict.
In a post to the social platform X, Netanyahu stated, “I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon. I condemn the act in the strongest terms. Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.”
The context of this incident is rooted in the latest round of the decades-long Israeli-Lebanese conflict. On March 2, Hezbollah entered the broader ongoing Middle East war in support of its primary backer Iran, launching cross-border attacks that prompted massive Israeli retaliation: widespread airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Before a ceasefire took effect last week, the fighting had killed nearly 2,300 people across Lebanon, displaced more than 1 million Lebanese civilians, and claimed the lives of 15 Israeli soldiers. Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israeli troops still maintain a presence in large swathes of southern Lebanon.
Following the spread of the image, the IDF released an official statement echoing Netanyahu’s condemnation, noting that the incident was viewed with “great severity” and that the soldier’s actions are “wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops.” The military confirmed that it would take unspecified “appropriate measures” against those involved, and added that it is collaborating with local Christian communities to restore the damaged statue to its original location.
Christian religious authorities have issued scathing condemnation of the act. The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, in a statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, expressed “its profound indignation and unreserved condemnation.” The group emphasized that this act is not an isolated incident, noting that it “constitutes a grave affront to the Christian faith and adds to other reported incidents of desecration of Christian symbols by IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon.” The Assembly called for immediate, decisive disciplinary action, formal accountability for the incident, and guarantees that such vandalism will not occur again. It also used the moment to renew its urgent call for an end to the war that has devastated the region for months.
Top Israeli political figures have joined in condemning the soldier’s actions. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar labeled the conduct “shameful and disgraceful” in his own X post, writing, “I am confident that necessary severe measures will be taken against whoever committed this ugly act. We apologise for this incident and to every Christian whose feelings were hurt.”
This controversy comes just one month after Netanyahu was already engulfed in a separate public row over religious commentary, when he drew widespread backlash for claiming that Jesus Christ held “no advantage” over Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan, forcing him to defend his remarks amid global outcry from Christian leaders.
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‘I don’t know how many more years I’ve got’: Kurt Mann keen to sign new Bulldogs deal
As the Canterbury Bulldogs enter a critical off-season period that will force the club’s leadership to make several high-stakes decisions about player contracts, 33-year-old utility Kurt Mann has left no ambiguity about his next goal: he wants to extend his tenure at the Belmore-based club beyond the 2026 NRL season. A well-traveled veteran closing out a 13-year top-flight career that has included stints at the Melbourne Storm, St George Illawarra Dragons, and Newcastle Knights before joining the Bulldogs, Mann has established a reputation as one of the league’s most versatile and reliable role players — a trait that has already drawn quiet interest from other Sydney-based clubs should a new deal with the Bulldogs not come to fruition. A move to a Western Australian franchise has been ruled out as a potential option for the experienced playmaker. Mann’s current contract, a one-year extension signed in March 2025, is set to expire at the end of the upcoming season, leaving his playing future after that point still unconfirmed. In a recent press interview, the veteran opened up about his approach to contract talks and his desire to remain in blue and white. “I haven’t really looked into it too much,” Mann said. “I’m 33 this year, so I’m sort of just playing it by ear and really focusing on how I’m playing at the moment. The rest of that will take care of itself. I’d love to stay at the Dogs, or if that doesn’t eventuate then I don’t know how many more years I’ve got left in me at the moment. I’m really enjoying playing footy at the moment and I’m still loving it. I’m still competing, so I’m still really enjoying it.” Mann’s on-field form this season has backed up his claim that he still has plenty to offer at the top level, with a recent standout play against the Parramatta Eels — where he outran young Eels fullback Joash Papalii to secure a kick — serving as proof he can still match the pace of the league’s younger generation. Now, Mann and the Bulldogs are looking to rebound from an unexpected upset loss to the Eels this weekend, when they face off against an injury-depleted Brisbane Broncos squad on Friday night. Beyond his club commitments, Mann is also quietly gunning for a second call-up to Queensland’s State of Origin side, after a dream debut run in 2024 helped the Maroons pull off a stunning series comeback from a 1-0 deficit to claim the Origin shield. Mann came off the interchange bench in games two and three of last year’s series, and the introduction of new expanded six-man benches for 2025 makes his versatility as a utility an even more ideal fit for the Maroons’ game plan. He already met with Queensland head coach Billy Slater earlier this year at a Maroons training camp, and remains a leading contender to retain his spot in the squad when selections are announced. “He keeps his cards pretty close to his chest until it gets pretty close to selection time, so you never hear too much from him until then,” Mann said of Slater. “Any time you get the chance to pull on the Maroons jersey, you grab it with both hands. It’s something you dream of as a little kid and you get to represent your family, your community where you’re from, and everyone in Queensland. It’s a lifetime memory I’ll have now. I thought all that sort of stuff was past me at my age, and to get the call-up was definitely a dream come true.”
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‘Every parent’s nightmare’ – What we learned from the charges against D4vd
The brutal, unthinkable tragedy that has shaken communities across Southern California unfolded in a Los Angeles courtroom this week, when emerging independent singer David Burke, professionally known as D4vd, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of first-degree murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The case has sent shockwaves through both the local community and the global music industry, as it confronts the public with every parent’s worst nightmare: the violent, premature death of a young person with their entire life ahead of them.
BBC correspondent Shaimaa Khalil reported live from the Los Angeles courthouse, where brief arraignment proceedings played out before a packed gallery of supporters from both sides. According to court documents filed ahead of the hearing, Burke stands accused of killing Hernandez in an incident that occurred earlier this year, though specific details surrounding the alleged crime, including motive and the circumstances of the teenager’s death, have not been released to the public due to ongoing investigative proceedings and the minor status of the victim.
For the local community where both Burke and Hernandez lived, the case has been a devastating blow. Neighbors and classmates of Hernandez have described her as a bright, energetic teen who was active in her school’s art program and dreamed of becoming a wildlife biologist. Vigils have been held across the city in her honor, with hundreds of community members gathering to leave flowers, candles, and handwritten notes at memorial sites outside her school and the park where she was last seen alive.
Meanwhile, fans of D4vd, who built a massive grassroots following on social media platforms like TikTok in the early 2020s before releasing his debut EP, have expressed widespread shock and disbelief at the charges. The young singer had been on the cusp of a major mainstream breakthrough, with multiple tracks charting on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay rankings and a national tour scheduled to kick off next month. That tour has since been canceled, and his label has paused all upcoming promotional activities in light of the legal proceedings.
Legal experts note that the case will likely move through the California court system over the next 12 to 18 months, as both prosecution and defense teams collect evidence, interview witnesses, and prepare for trial. Burke has been remanded in custody without bail ahead of his next court hearing, scheduled for three weeks from now. As the investigation continues, the core question hanging over the case remains: what led to the violent death of a 14-year-old girl, and will justice be served for her and her family?
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First National Reading Week launched
China’s journey to cultivate a national reading culture reached a new milestone this week, as the fifth National Conference on Reading opened in Nanchang, the capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province, on Monday. The three-day gathering also formally inaugurates the country’s first-ever National Reading Week, a nationwide initiative designed to embed regular reading into public life and strengthen cultural development across the nation.
Attendees of the conference emphasized that reading forms the foundational bedrock of cultural advancement, and called for scaled-up efforts to popularize reading and build a society that values literary engagement. They underlined that expanding nationwide reading programs is a critical component of China’s broader push to build itself into a leading cultural power. Li Shulei, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote address.
The establishment of National Reading Week follows a national regulation released by the State Council that entered into force on February 1 this year, which formalized the designation of the fourth week of April annually as the national event. The regulation’s core goals are to lift the intellectual, moral, scientific, and cultural standards of the Chinese public, and to boost overall social civility. The inaugural week will feature hundreds of localized events across the country aimed at sparking public enthusiasm for reading.
To align with the launch of National Reading Week, the Nanchang conference has organized a diverse lineup of targeted forums tailored to different demographic groups and sectors, covering topics including youth reading, family and parent-child reading, public library services, rural reading expansion, reading for senior citizens, reading rights protection, and the fast-growing digital reading sector.
One of the standout attractions of this year’s conference is a comprehensive showcase of Jiangxi’s deep-rooted traditional cultural heritage. A major exhibition focused on ancient Chinese academy culture offers visitors an immersive experience, recreating the lively scholarly atmosphere of iconic Jiangxi institutions such as the centuries-old Bailudong Academy, one of the most famous centers of learning in imperial China. Other special cultural activities include an exhibition of classical works from the Jiangxi School of Poetry and the Tengwang Pavilion Book Fair, held at the city’s iconic historic landmark. Ahead of the conference, students dressed in traditional Chinese costumes gathered in front of Tengwang Pavilion to recite *Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng*, the celebrated 7th-century literary classic by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Bo.
Two key industry reports released at the conference reveal encouraging trends in Chinese reading habits. The 23rd National Reading Survey found that 82.3 percent of Chinese adults reported reading regularly in 2025. On average, each adult read 8.39 combined paper and digital books last year, representing a steady increase from 2024 figures. Among minors aged 0 to 17, 86.7 percent engaged in book reading, and 75.9 percent participated in digital reading — both metrics also saw year-on-year growth.
The separate National Digital Reading Report added further context to the sector’s rapid expansion. By the end of 2025, the total number of digital reading works available in China hit 70.5592 million, an 11.87 percent increase from 2024, pointing to a robust and growing supply of digital content. Exports of Chinese digital content also saw strong growth, with the total number of digital works released overseas — including translated Chinese works, original foreign-language content from Chinese creators, and exported e-books — reaching 949,200, a 17.42 percent rise year-on-year. The total number of digital reading users in China reached 689 million in 2025, marking a 2.95 percent annual increase.
The conference also brought together prominent figures from across the cultural and literary sectors to share their perspectives on reading. At a special event focused on “red classic” literature organized by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, veteran pingshu (Chinese traditional storytelling) performing artist Liu Lanfang, who has 67 years of experience in the art form, shared her lifelong love of reading. Even now, Liu spends several hours daily reading on her mobile device, and noted, “One should always read. Reading expands knowledge, and that’s how people can keep improving.”
At a separate children’s book sharing event held alongside the conference, popular children’s storyteller Wang Kai, widely known as Uncle Kai, highlighted the unique importance of reading for young people growing up in the age of artificial intelligence. “In the AI era, we need a broader perspective on reading,” Wang said. “Children need a solid foundation of common knowledge, and the best way to gain that is through reading.”