Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • Daughter of former Uzbek president faces trial in Switzerland over money laundering

    Daughter of former Uzbek president faces trial in Switzerland over money laundering

    BELLINZONA, Switzerland — A high-stakes criminal trial has kicked off in southern Switzerland this week, with one of the most high-profile figures from Central Asian politics facing charges of coordinated bribery and large-scale money laundering, all while the defendant remains imprisoned thousands of miles away in her home country. Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of long-ruling former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, is being tried in absentia at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, with proceedings scheduled to continue through May 22. Currently, the 53-year-old is incarcerated at a women’s penal colony in Zangiota region, just outside the Uzbek capital Tashkent, where she was transferred early this year to serve an existing sentence, making her physical attendance at the Swiss court legally and practically impossible.

    Swiss federal prosecutors have laid out extensive allegations against Karimova, claiming she founded and led a sophisticated transnational criminal network codenamed “The Office” that involved more than 40 individuals and a web of front companies spanning multiple countries. According to the charging documents, Karimova is accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars in illicitly gained funds into Swiss financial institutions and offshore accounts, and arranging for secure storage of cash, high-value jewelry and other stolen assets in private safety deposit boxes. The charges date back to the period between 2005 and 2013, when Karimova’s father was still in power; he led Uzbekistan for 27 years until his death in 2016. At the time of the alleged offenses, Karimova was working at a United Nations post in Geneva, a role that granted her diplomatic immunity from prosecution at that time. Swiss authorities officially indicted Karimova three years ago, alongside a former senior executive at the Uzbek subsidiary of a major Russian telecommunications firm.

    Karimova’s defense team confirmed that Uzbek authorities have blocked her transfer to Switzerland to appear in court for the trial. “We will seek the full and complete acquittal of Gulnara Karimova,” Grégoire Mangeat, one of Karimova’s lead defense attorneys, stated in a written correspondence, confirming the team’s legal strategy for the proceedings. Local Uzbek media has echoed that Karimova’s presence in the Bellinzona courtroom is effectively out of the question given her ongoing custodial sentence in her home country. This is not Karimova’s first conviction: she was first found guilty of criminal charges in Uzbekistan eight years ago, and is currently serving a 13-year sentence on counts including running a criminal organization, extortion, and large-scale embezzlement, stemming from a series of domestic legal proceedings.

    The trial also casts a spotlight on the role of global private banking in facilitating alleged illicit financial activity. In late 2024, Swiss prosecutors expanded their investigation to indict major Swiss private bank Lombard Odier and one of its former employees, alleging the institution played a “decisive role in concealing the proceeds of the criminal activities of ‘The Office.’” In an official response, Lombard Odier clarified that prosecutors do not accuse the bank of knowingly or intentionally participating in money laundering. Instead, the bank said, the claims center on alleged gaps in the bank’s anti-money laundering prevention protocols, allegations the institution “firmly contests and will defend in court.”

    The case marks one of the most high-profile transnational corruption proceedings in recent European history, linking a ruling political dynasty in Central Asia to alleged financial wrongdoing within Switzerland’s legendary private banking system.

  • India and New Zealand sign a free trade agreement to deepen economic ties

    India and New Zealand sign a free trade agreement to deepen economic ties

    Against a backdrop of rising global trade fragmentation and economic volatility, India and New Zealand formalized a transformative free trade agreement (FTA) in New Delhi on Monday, a deal designed to boost bilateral economic integration and open new reciprocal market access for both nations. The signing ceremony brought together India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and New Zealand’s Minister of Trade and Investment Todd McClay, who was visiting the Indian capital for the event.

    After nine months of closed-door negotiations that concluded with a preliminary agreement in December, the deal delivers sweeping tariff changes: 95% of New Zealand’s goods exported to India will see tariffs cut or removed entirely, while every Indian product shipped to New Zealand will enter duty-free. In a supplementary commitment, New Zealand has pledged to channel $20 billion in investment into India over the coming 15 years.

    For both governments, the agreement comes as a strategic response to shifting global trade pressures. New Delhi has been actively pursuing alternative export markets to offset the economic strain of steep tariffs imposed by the United States on Indian goods, as well as growing disruptions to key shipping and energy routes linked to regional tensions. For New Zealand, the deal advances a long-running policy goal of reducing overreliance on China, its single largest trading partner, by diversifying its trade relationships across the Indo-Pacific.
    McClay framed the agreement as an unprecedented opportunity for long-term growth, noting that it comes at a moment of heightened global trade friction and policy uncertainty. Official trade data puts bilateral commerce between the two nations at $2.15 billion for the 12-month period ending June 2025, with India currently ranking as New Zealand’s 12th-largest export market. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deepen our economic ties at a time when the global order is shifting,” McClay said of the deal.
    Goyal echoed the significance of the moment, calling the FTA a “defining milestone” for both countries. “At a time when the world economy is being recast, India and New Zealand have chosen each other,” he stated, adding that the agreement establishes clear frameworks for cross-sector investment and regulatory cooperation that will benefit businesses on both sides.

    Key sectors set to gain expanded market access for Indian exporters include textiles and apparel, engineering goods, leather and footwear, and marine products. New Zealand exporters will see new openings for shipments of horticultural goods, timber, coal, wool and meat. To protect its large domestic farming community, India carved out exclusions for dairy products and a selection of other agricultural goods in the final text of the agreement.
    India’s export sector has faced mounting pressure since August last year, when the United States imposed steep new tariffs on a range of Indian goods, hitting labor-intensive sectors including textiles, auto components and metals particularly hard. New Delhi continues to hold separate bilateral trade negotiations with Washington even as it expands trade ties with other partners across the globe.

    In New Zealand, the FTA enjoys broad bipartisan support, a standard for the country’s major trade agreements. The deal now moves to parliamentary ratification, and it is widely expected to pass after the center-left opposition New Zealand Labour Party pledged its backing. The only notable opposition comes from New Zealand First, a small populist party that is part of the current governing coalition.
    Reporting for this story was contributed by Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand.

  • China blocks Meta from acquiring AI startup Manus

    China blocks Meta from acquiring AI startup Manus

    In a high-profile move that highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of cross-border artificial intelligence deals, China’s top economic planning body has formally blocked Meta Platforms’ planned purchase of Manus, a Singapore-headquartered AI startup with founding origins in China. The announcement, made public on Monday, marks one of the most prominent restrictions on a major U.S. technology company’s acquisition of an AI-linked firm with Chinese connections in recent years.

    The official order came from the Office of the Working Mechanism for Security Review of Foreign Investment under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s leading planning agency. In its brief public statement, the NDRC confirmed it was prohibiting the foreign takeover of Manus and mandating all parties involved unwind the transaction completely. Notably, the agency did not explicitly name Meta, the American parent company of major social platforms Facebook and Instagram, in its public notification.

    This formal ban follows a preliminary investigation launched by Chinese regulators earlier this year, after the deal was first unveiled to the public. The NDRC did not release any additional details or expand on the specific justifications for blocking the acquisition in its public statement.

    The proposed deal was unusual from its inception: it represented a rare instance of a large U.S. technology group acquiring an artificial intelligence firm with deep founding ties to China. Manus has gained recognition in global AI circles for developing a general-purpose AI agent capable of completing multi-step, complex work tasks without continuous human input. For Meta, the acquisition was expected to accelerate the company’s development of advanced AI capabilities to enhance product offerings across its entire ecosystem of social and digital platforms.

    Even before the formal investigation was launched, Meta sought to address early regulatory concerns by confirming that after the acquisition closed, there would be no remaining Chinese ownership stakes in Manus, and the startup would end all its services and operations within mainland China. Still, Chinese regulatory bodies announced in January that they would launch a formal review to assess whether the deal aligned with the country’s existing laws and regulations governing foreign investment.

    At the time of that announcement, China’s Ministry of Commerce emphasized that all companies engaging in outward investment, technology transfers, cross-border data flows, and cross-border acquisition transactions are required to comply fully with all relevant Chinese legal requirements. Meta has repeatedly noted that the vast majority of Manus’ employees are based in Singapore, the startup’s official registered headquarters.

    In a written response to Monday’s ruling, Meta maintained that the proposed transaction had complied fully with all applicable laws. “We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry,” the California-headquartered company said in its statement, giving no further indication of what steps it might take moving forward. Industry analysts say the ruling underscores the increasing regulatory attention around the world to national security risks tied to AI and cross-border technology acquisitions, as global powers race to advance their own domestic artificial innovation ecosystems.

  • Wushu event fosters international fellowship

    Wushu event fosters international fellowship

    Fresh off the closing ceremony of the 10th World Youth Wushu Championships in Tianjin, an impromptu, unplanned game unfolded on a nearby outdoor basketball court. With no official equipment to hand, a ragtag group of teenage athletes drawn from four continents chased after nothing more than an empty plastic water bottle, laughing and competing with none of the formality of the tournament they had just exited.

    Just hours before, these same young competitors had stood opposite one another on the competition mat, locked in focused, disciplined combat for championship placement. Now, all tournament rivalry had melted away. This casual, joyful scene perfectly encapsulated the core philosophical paradox at the heart of wushu: it is a martial art that teaches practitioners how to strike, first and foremost to build the self-discipline to avoid unnecessary conflict.

    For 20-something Swiss competitor Leandro Gia-Hy Luong, who inherited his love of wushu from his father, the most valuable lesson the sport has taught him is not a powerful high kick or a lightning-quick palm strike. It is a simple two-word rule drilled into him by his coach: “Don’t fight.” For Luong, wushu is first and foremost an exercise in intentional self-restraint. It is defined as the art of “stopping conflict” — a philosophy that is even written into the etymology of the Chinese character for “martial” (wu), which combines the character radicals for “stop” and “spear”.

    Anthony Sims, a veteran American referee with more than two decades of experience officiating wushu competitions, echoed this perspective. “In almost every sanda match I officiate, I see the exact same pattern,” he shared. “After an intensely competitive bout on the platform, competitors walk off the mat and immediately embrace, or exchange warm shoulder pats to encourage one another.”

    When asked to sum up wushu in just three words, Sims did not select common descriptors of martial skill like “strength”, “speed” or “agility”. Instead, he chose “perseverance”, “humility” and “growth”. After 20 years on the job, Sims says he has seen firsthand that wushu delivers far more than physical fitness. It builds mental fortitude and instills core values such as self-restraint, regular self-reflection, and lifelong personal growth — and that mental development, he says, matters far more than any competition medal. For the hundreds of young international athletes who gathered in Tianjin for this year’s youth championships, the event proved less a fight for placement and more a gathering that built cross-cultural connections and life-changing personal lessons that will outlast any tournament result.

  • China’s cross-border e-commerce offers opportunities

    China’s cross-border e-commerce offers opportunities

    At a 2026 Shanghai Forum sub-forum focused on digital economic connectivity across the Global South, industry experts and policy researchers have highlighted that China’s cross-border e-commerce sector has stepped into a new era of high-quality growth, creating wide-ranging, mutually beneficial collaborative opportunities for emerging economies across the Global South. Today, China’s cross-border e-commerce ecosystem is defined by three key transformative trends: diversified consumer and marketing traffic channels, end-to-end integrated trade operations, and access to an expanding network of diverse global markets. As Chinese domestic sellers actively pursue new market frontiers and expand their product portfolios, Global South partner nations are positioned to gain substantial long-term advantages from these shifting dynamics.\n\nLi Mingtao, chief e-commerce expert at the China International Electronic Commerce Center, explained that Global South countries can capitalize on China’s decades of refined e-commerce operational expertise to accelerate the launch of their unique, high-quality local goods into global consumer markets. Beyond exporting their own products, Li noted that Global South enterprises can also collaborate with Chinese firms on secondary product development, leveraging China’s open cross-border e-commerce import channels to tap into the massive, evolving demand of China’s domestic consumer base.\n\nTo maximize these shared benefits, experts have proposed advancing the development of a large interconnected e-commerce market under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. This collaborative framework would prioritize upgrading digital infrastructure in partner nations, while fostering greater operational synergy between Global South economies and China’s robust production and supply chains. Qi Xin, director of the Belt and Road Initiative Economic and Trade Cooperation Research Institute at the Ministry of Commerce’s Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, added that China has a key role to play in shaping inclusive global digital governance. She emphasized that China should work to advance the creation of a mutually beneficial, open, and transparent international rules-based system for the digital economy, while deepening strategic partnerships with core Global South regions to lift cross-border e-commerce cooperation to new levels.\n\nA growing number of Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises have already laid the groundwork for this collaboration by building out localized service networks across Global South countries. One standout example is Kilimall, a Chinese-founded e-commerce platform launched in Kenya that has built localized operational hubs across multiple African nations. To date, the platform has created more than 10,000 local jobs across logistics, customer service, and retail sales, delivering tangible improvements to local employment and quality of life.\n\nShanghai, China’s frontier of reform and opening-up, has emerged as a key national hub for bridging China and Global South economies through digital trade empowerment. Zhou Lan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, outlined the city’s ongoing efforts to facilitate these connections, pointing to Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Coffee Harbor as a successful model. The hub hosts roughly 100 online and offline enterprises, curates coffee products from 60 countries across the globe, and maintains a complete end-to-end industrial ecosystem that spans every stage from raw coffee bean production to retail consumer sales. Twenty-five Belt and Road partner countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Vietnam, and Peru supply coffee beans to the harbor, and a growing volume of products from these regions enter China through Shanghai’s Silk Road e-commerce channels before being distributed across the country.\n\nGlobal South partners have already reported tangible economic gains from existing cross-border e-commerce collaborations with Chinese enterprises. Eldor Tulyakov, executive director of the Development Strategy Center of Uzbekistan, noted that his country’s ongoing digital transformation has delivered clear commercial progress in recent years, with partnerships with Chinese platforms including Alibaba laying the foundation for Uzbekistan’s modern online retail ecosystem and opening access to hundreds of millions of global consumers. Last year, an Alibaba capacity-building initiative gave 100 local Uzbek small and medium-sized enterprises direct access to the global e-commerce market, integrating these local businesses into global value chains for the first time. Tulyakov added that Uzbekistan has recently produced its first domestic technology unicorn, valued at more than $2 billion, which now serves more than half of the country’s population and stands as a successful benchmark for inclusive digital transformation.\n\nWhile the opportunities are significant, stakeholders have noted that realizing inclusive, mutually beneficial cross-border e-commerce growth requires deeper, more balanced collaborative partnerships between China and Global South nations. Siwage Dharma Negara, a senior fellow with the Indonesia Studies Programme at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, explained that Indonesia is working to strike a careful balance between short-term market regulation and long-term development targets. Over the long term, the country aims to strengthen its overall economic resilience while protecting consumer interests enabled by expanded digital trade, he said.

  • Need for speed fuels mini-car race craze

    Need for speed fuels mini-car race craze

    For generations of Chinese people born between the 1980s and 1990s, mini four-wheel-drive (4WD) toy cars hold far more than nostalgic value. Far from being just simple playthings, these tiny speed machines were childhood portals to adventure, sparking boundless imagination and forging lasting friendships between like-minded hobbyists. Now, decades after their first boom in popularity, that long-dormant childhood passion is roaring back to life across the country, driven by a retro hobby craze centered on the thrill of speed.

    On April 12, one of the largest recent amateur mini 4WD events brought nearly 300 enthusiasts from across China to Beijing’s Wenyuhe Park, where a purpose-built track has become an unlikely hub for the resurgent hobby. The action-packed day of competition kicked off in the morning with 60 teams going head-to-head in a timed group challenge that tested both assembly speed and on-track performance. In the afternoon, the tournament shifted to a high-stakes one-on-one knockout format, featuring 160 individual racers vying for the top title.

    The Wenyuhe Park track, which first opened in 2022, was originally conceived as a public art installation designed around China’s traditional xiangyun (auspicious cloud) pattern. Planners later made subtle modifications to the layout to meet the strict dimensional requirements of official mini 4WD racing courses, but the space remained relatively unknown to the broader hobby community until late 2025, when it went viral across Chinese social media platforms. Today, the 88-meter track — which includes a complex overpass section — is open to the public completely free of charge, and has grown into a thriving social gathering spot for retro culture lovers, drawing hobbyists from every profession and age group.

    For many enthusiasts, the Wenyuhe track has already achieved near-legendary status. Among the participants at the April 12 event was 33-year-old Zou Chenyang, who traveled more than 1,000 kilometers from his home in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, to join the race. A full-time livestreamer and professional custom mini 4WD builder, Zou describes the park as a “pilgrimage site” for anyone passionate about the hobby. “I came here just to race and have fun,” he explained. “The atmosphere is incredible, there are so many kids and parents here enjoying the day. I really hope more families will give it a try and join the community.”

    The winner of the inaugural one-on-one ultimate battle, An Ruifeng, a middle-aged working professional, downplayed his victory, attributing his win to good fortune rather than raw skill. An first fell in love with mini 4WD cars when he was just 8 or 9 years old, and took up the hobby again as an adult to decompress from the stress of his daily work. Before the event, he even turned down his family’s offer to come cheer him on, worried he would be embarrassed if he crashed out early. “My only real goal was to pass the pre-race technical inspection and finish just one lap,” he said. “That would have made me happy enough. Getting all the way to the win is unbelievable… I just love these cars.” Holding the winner’s flag, he shared advice for future participants: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. This is just for fun — don’t let it get in the way of your work, family or daily life. As long as you cross the finish line, we’re all champions.”

    All competing cars are required to meet strict technical regulations to keep competition fair and accessible. Liu Han, one of the event’s technical inspection judges, outlined key rules for the afternoon knockout race, including a 40,000 revolution per minute limit on motors and a ban on metal chassis. “As a long-time mini 4WD enthusiast, I didn’t get to compete this time around, but volunteering as a judge let me stay involved with the community while making sure all racers follow the rules,” Liu explained.

    The mini 4WD craze is not limited to Beijing, with new tracks opening and hobby communities growing across the entire country. Earlier this month, Shanghai’s Jiabei Country Park launched trial operations for a new 228-meter professional-grade track, which offers greater challenges for experienced racers with a layout that includes long straightaways, sharp curves and gentle sloped sections. Like the Wenyuhe Park venue, the Shanghai track is free for public use, and also offers dedicated spaces for car maintenance and customization, plus on-site sales of starter cars for new enthusiasts looking to join the hobby.

  • Jilin’s chill no challenge for cherry tomato crop

    Jilin’s chill no challenge for cherry tomato crop

    Even as lingering cold snaps still grip Northeast China’s Jilin province in mid-April, a cutting-edge smart agricultural facility in Changchun is bucking traditional seasonal constraints to produce bountiful, high-quality cherry tomatoes year-round.

    Located within the Changchun National Agricultural High-Tech Industry Demonstration Zone, the 77,000-square-meter intelligent greenhouse operated by Hengtong Ecological Agriculture Technology Development Co is a showcase of modern, data-driven agriculture. Unlike open-field farms that rely on natural weather conditions, every element of cherry tomato growth here is fine-tuned by a connected digital system: sensors woven through rows of climbing tomato vines continuously collect real-time data on plant development, feeding insights to a centralized big data platform that automatically adjusts water, fertilizer, light, temperature, air flow and heat. Every management task, from drip irrigation to environmental regulation, can be completed remotely with a single click.

    First launched for construction in 2024, the facility’s 36,000-square-meter planting center is already fully operational, turning out consistent yields that outperform traditional cultivation by a wide margin. “We hit an annual output of more than 300 metric tons, with a steady daily harvest of one ton,” explained Xu Lihui, chairman of Hengtong. “On the same plot of land, our total yield is three times higher than open-field growing. Where traditional cherry tomato harvests only last around four months a year, we harvest 12 months out of the year—even during Jilin’s frigid deep winters, our vines stay heavy with ripe, plump fruit.”

    The intensive, technology-driven design of the plant factory maximizes land productivity while cutting down on agricultural inputs. Growing cherry tomatoes in a sterile, soilless environment, paired with AI-powered precision control of growth conditions, has drastically reduced the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Automated transport robots and guided vehicles navigate the greenhouse by scanning ground QR codes, handling logistics tasks assigned by the central system to cut down on labor needs and reduce human error.

    This focus on optimized, controlled growing translates directly to premium product quality. Ripened from flowering to maturity under consistently perfect conditions, the greenhouse-grown cherry tomatoes boast thin, crisp skin, rich juiciness and a naturally sweet flavor that has resonated with upscale buyers across China’s major cities. Today, the company’s output is in high demand at high-end supermarkets, membership-based fresh food chains and corporate bulk buyers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

    To meet growing market demand, Hengtong is already expanding its operations. By the end of 2026, the company will complete construction of a second 42,000-square-meter plant factory dedicated to cultivating high-quality seedlings for vegetables, flowers and medicinal herbs, as well as scaling up production of new specialty varieties of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries for both domestic and international markets. A 24,000-square-meter agricultural science center will also open to the public as an educational and outreach hub.

    Once the expansion is fully completed, the project is expected to deliver far-reaching benefits beyond its own production output. It will create roughly 300 local jobs for residents in surrounding communities, while driving coordinated growth in supporting local industries including logistics, agritourism and catering, unlocking simultaneous improvements to the region’s economic output, ecological sustainability and social well-being.

  • Rising maritime threats test global trade lifeline

    Rising maritime threats test global trade lifeline

    Against a backdrop of accelerating global interconnectedness and shifting geopolitical dynamics, rising traditional and non-traditional threats to maritime security have emerged as an urgent collective challenge for the international community. Global industry experts and academic analysts have emphasized that coordinated negotiation, mutual respect, and unified governance mechanisms are critical to protecting maritime shipping, the undisputed backbone of the global economy and international stability.

    This consensus was forged by hundreds of global participants at a high-level international forum hosted by Shanghai Maritime University on Thursday, which centered on advancing shared maritime security and inclusive blue economic prosperity.

    Zhang Feng, professor and dean of the School of Marxism at Shanghai Maritime University, outlined the outsized importance of maritime shipping to global commerce, noting that more than 80 percent of all global trade by volume and over 95 percent of China’s foreign trade cargo – much of it originating from China’s role as the world’s manufacturing hub – moves across ocean shipping lanes. Even minor disruptions to these shipping operations can ripple through global import and export markets, Zhang warned, posing cascading risks to global economic activity, food security, and energy stability.

    “Shipping connects every corner of the globe and binds our shared future together; it is the irreplaceable economic lifeline of the modern world,” Zhang said. “As the world navigates major changes unseen in a century, maritime security has become a central arena for major power competition. Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea have underscored just how critical this domain is to global welfare.”

    Kazem Agamy, dean of the Arab Research Institute for Sustainable Blue Economy at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, used a recent high-profile disruption to illustrate the fragility of global maritime security. Two years ago, widespread insecurity in the Red Sea forced the world’s largest container carriers to divert their fleets on the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, sending global freight costs soaring. The centuries-old supply chain connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe via the Suez Canal was severed almost overnight. The canal, which normally carries roughly 12 percent of all global trade and generates over $10 billion in annual revenue at peak activity, saw its annual earnings plummet by nearly half.

    “This incident laid bare a harsh fundamental truth,” Agamy explained. “While more than 80 percent of global trade travels by sea, the governance frameworks that underpin maritime security remain deeply fragmented. Shipping lanes are inherently global, but the institutional mechanisms designed to protect them are not. This gap is the single most pressing challenge we face on this issue.”

    Norman Martinez Gutierrez, director of the International Maritime Law Institute at the International Maritime Organization, added that while maritime security is most often linked to traditional threats such as terrorism, piracy, and armed robbery at sea, its actual scope is far broader. Modern maritime security also encompasses reliable safe navigation, protection of critical offshore and port infrastructure, environmental protection of marine ecosystems, and consistent compliance with established international legal standards.

    “Without robust, widespread maritime security, there can be no predictability in global maritime transport, no stability in cross-border supply chains, and no confidence in the international legal rules that govern global shipping,” Gutierrez said.

    Mao Ruipeng, a senior researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, highlighted China’s active role in advancing collective global maritime security. He noted that China was among the first group of nations to sign the ambitious agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea focused on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, widely known as the BBNJ Agreement.

    “China is a steadfast defender of the established international maritime order,” Mao said. “It has proposed and implemented the Global Governance Initiative, consistently upholds multilateral cooperation, and works to safeguard the international maritime order rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

  • Scientists deploy tech in cancer radiation therapy

    Scientists deploy tech in cancer radiation therapy

    A decade-long research project led by scientists at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou has yielded an artificial intelligence-powered innovation that is set to reshape radiation therapy for cancer, particularly nasopharyngeal carcinoma, by drastically improving precision and cutting down on clinician workload.

    Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which forms in the upper throat behind the nose, is primarily treated with radiation therapy. The stakes of this treatment are extraordinarily high: an undersized radiation field leaves sections of the tumor untreated, raising the likelihood of cancer recurrence, while an overly broad field can inflict irreversible damage to critical nearby structures including the brainstem, temporal lobe, middle ear, and optic nerve. Such collateral damage often triggers life-altering complications ranging from chronic headaches and memory loss to permanent hearing and vision impairment, severely diminishing a patient’s post-treatment quality of life.

    To avoid these outcomes, clinicians must complete a meticulous pre-treatment step called target volume delineation, where they manually identify and trace the boundaries of both the tumor and surrounding healthy organs on medical scans to define the exact radiation field. Before this new technology was introduced, this demanding task required clinicians to maintain intense focus for three to six hours per patient, according to Sun Ying, a professor at the cancer center.

    The complexity of the process is further compounded by changes in patient anatomy over the course of treatment. A full course of radiotherapy typically spans six to seven weeks and requires more than 30 separate treatment sessions. During this period, tumors often shrink and patients may experience weight loss that shifts the exact position of the remaining cancer. This means initial scans taken at the start of treatment quickly become outdated, leaving clinicians to update delineations repeatedly to avoid misaligned radiation delivery.

    To solve these longstanding challenges, the research team led by the center’s vice-president Ma Jun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Sun spent more than 10 years developing their proprietary AI-powered “digital dissection” technique. The system is trained on large datasets that map how nasopharyngeal tumors grow and shift over the course of treatment, allowing it to automatically generate highly precise outline of target radiation areas in real time as a patient’s condition changes. Clinicians then only need to review and make minor adjustments to the AI-generated outline before finalizing an adaptive radiotherapy plan, which adjusts to current patient anatomy during each session.

    In a recent demonstration at the center, the entire process — from integrated CT imaging to completed adaptive radiation delivery — was finished in under 30 minutes for a nasopharyngeal carcinoma patient.

    Zhou Guanqun, a chief physician at the center, noted that the new system already outperforms 50% of specialist physicians in terms of delineation accuracy. Beyond accuracy gains, the technology has cut the variation in outline work between different clinicians by 50% and boosted workflow efficiency by more than five times, bringing total treatment time for each case down to roughly 30 minutes from the multiple hours previously required for manual delineation alone.

    The innovation marks a significant step forward in making precision radiotherapy more accessible and consistent, addressing a critical gap in cancer care that has long depended on individual clinician skill and experience.

  • Remembering Raghu Rai: The photographer who showed India to itself

    Remembering Raghu Rai: The photographer who showed India to itself

    The global photography community and audiences across India are continuing to pay heartfelt tribute to Raghu Rai, the nation’s most iconic and influential photojournalist, who passed away at 83. Over a more than 50-year career, Rai built an unmatched body of work that did not merely capture moments in Indian history — it reshaped how the nation understood its own defining events, and cemented his status as the father of modern Indian photojournalism.

    Rai launched his professional journey in 1966 at Kolkata-based daily *The Statesman*, before moving on to hold key roles as photo editor at leading Indian publications *India Today* and *Sunday* magazine. A major milestone of his career came in 1977, when he was accepted into the prestigious international photography cooperative Magnum Photos, an achievement widely considered one of the highest honors in the field. His acceptance was supported by legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose candid, human-centered approach to street photography left a permanent mark on Rai’s own artistic philosophy.

    Throughout his career, Rai’s lens turned to every corner of Indian public and private life, ranging from corridors of political power to quiet moments of ordinary daily life, always rendered with a striking, intimate clarity. His most enduring works include an extensive catalog of photographs of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, shot across decades: from raucous, high-stakes election campaigns to confidential closed-door Congress Party meetings, and even her diplomatic visits to meet world leaders like UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. These images remain the definitive visual record of one of modern India’s most consequential political figures.

    Beyond politics, Rai created unforgettable portraits of many of India’s most celebrated cultural icons, from legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray and iconic playback singer Lata Mangeshkar to celebrated painter MF Hussain and global Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan. Each portrait captured the quiet, unspoken connection between creator and their craft, revealing layers of personality rarely visible to the public.

    Two of Rai’s most impactful bodies of work documented some of the darkest and most consequential chapters of late 20th century India: the devastating 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, and the violent period of Sikh militancy in Punjab that claimed thousands of lives in the 1980s. His tense, unflinching portrait of Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale remains one of the most striking visual artifacts of that turbulent era. Rather than distancing himself from the suffering and upheaval he documented, Rai embedded himself in these moments, creating work that forced the nation to confront its own truths.

    For Rai, photography was never just a technical craft or a journalistic task — it was a deeply spiritual practice. In one of his final interviews, he framed the art as a form of connection to the divine, explaining, “I meet my god through my camera. Once I pick up my camera, I am driven by the ever-changing energy of life and nature. When you have invested mentally, physically, and spiritually in situations and take pictures constantly, it is like investing in a bank of life in which the returns keep getting bigger and the energy keeps you going.”

    He emphasized that powerful photography required consistent, disciplined practice rather than fleeting, trendy experimental techniques. When asked about his favorite portrait subject, he named the Dalai Lama, citing the leader’s unique “intensity and spiritual energy” that translated so powerfully on camera. Even when photographing subjects he admired deeply, Rai argued that a great portrait must prioritize raw authenticity over flattery, capturing “the moment, the experience of the person, the energy of the person” exactly as it existed in front of the lens.

    Peers across the industry have long described Rai’s work as a seamless bridge between hard-nosed news reportage and fine art, balancing the urgent immediacy of breaking news with intentional, thoughtful composition that elevates every image. Today, his massive archive stands not just as a collection of photographs, but as a decades-long act of intentional witnessing: a deeply human portrait of a nation, its people, and its many contradictions, that will continue to influence and inspire generations of photographers for decades to come.