A glacial lake outburst flood struck the Nepal-China border region this week, triggering one of the year's deadliest natural disasters with hundreds reported dead or missing. Chinese and Nepali rescue teams are searching the affected areas while humanitarian organizations work to set up shelters, deliver medical aid, and distribute essential supplies to survivors.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-08-28
Scientists in China developed lab-grown muscle tissue, called myografts, that can be injected subcutaneously and form vascularized structures that continuously contract on their own. In mouse studies published in Nature Aging, the grafts improved overall muscle mass, metabolic function and regenerative outcomes in aging and obese animals.
futurism.com
· 2026-08-28
X's Global Government Affairs team says it identified roughly 200,000 accounts tied to a Chinese bot network, with about 200 of them dedicated to spreading posts critical of AI data centers. The posts claimed the facilities were raising household electricity bills and straining power grids, echoing similar findings OpenAI reported in June about ChatGPT users seeking ways to sway American opinion on data centers.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-28
DeepSeek, the AI lab founded by Liang Wenfeng, has relied on his hedge fund High-Flyer Quant for early funding and computing power, but is now courting outside investors as its needs expand. Meanwhile, High-Flyer's affiliates have taken sizable pre-IPO stakes in Chinese hard-tech firms like memory chipmaker CXMT and robotics company Unitree, even as volatility in AI and chip stocks has hit the fund's returns.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-28
WIRED's Uncanny Valley podcast reports that despite the US-China AI rivalry over chips and model performance, researchers from both countries are beginning informal cooperation on AI safety. Senior writer Will Knight, who recently traveled to China, discusses growing concern over increasingly capable AI agents that can autonomously act, including hacking systems, and why that risk may push rival nations toward collaboration.
wired.com
· 2026-08-27
Security researchers discovered that routers manufactured by Chinese firm ZBT and sold worldwide under various third-party brand names contain undisclosed backdoor implants built in by the manufacturer. Because these devices are rebranded and resold by numerous companies, the exact number of affected units in circulation is unknown.
darkreading.com
· 2026-08-27
Meta has settled child-safety-related claims for $18 billion, according to a roundup of risk and compliance news. The same briefing notes Florida's governor voicing concern over Flock surveillance cameras and the FBI dismantling a large China-linked hacking network.
wsj.com
· 2026-08-27
Apple confirmed its September event with the English tagline 'Surprise and shine,' widely seen as hinting at a foldable iPhone reveal. A Twitter user noticed that Google Translate's rendering of the Chinese-language version of Apple's event teaser reads 'A new chapter unfolds, dazzling and brilliant,' which some fans see as an intentional nod to a folding device.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-26
The Justice Department announced it has seized domains used by a Chinese state-linked botnet known as QTFY, run by Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Tech, disrupting its command-and-control infrastructure. The botnet reportedly enabled hackers tied to China's Ministry of State Security to infiltrate U.S. government and private-sector networks, including NASA, the Federal Reserve, several federal departments, and, as recently as this year, the Senate. Lumen, a network provider that assisted the FBI, said it had tracked the group profiling government, defense, and aerospace targets for roughly a year before the takedown.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-26
A massive landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains and possibly an earthquake-induced glacier collapse struck the Gyirong Port border crossing between China and Nepal, engulfing a six-story building in seconds. Security camera footage shows people fleeing as mud swallowed the structure and destroyed nearby roads, communication towers and power infrastructure. At least 95 people have died and hundreds remain unaccounted for as authorities declared a national emergency.
futurism.com
· 2026-08-26
New tracking data shows gas-fired power capacity under development in the United States has surged past China's, reaching roughly three times the amount, driven largely by data center demand. The volume of U.S. gas power projects tied to data centers nearly doubled in just the first half of 2026.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-08-26
Bill Gates said in an interview that the AI industry has already crossed safety thresholds that companies had previously agreed would trigger action, yet no binding restrictions have followed. He argued the US and China should openly state their intentions on AI safety measures, such as monitoring AI models capable of designing dangerous molecules, even without formal agreements in place.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-08-26