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☆ China's efforts to catch up in global electronic spying race
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Greg Torode | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Aside from monitoring capabilities, a large, permanent presence on Cuba "is an important symbol, getting right under the noses of the U.S. and reflecting China's global ambitions", he said. In 2019, Reuters reported that China's military was running a space monitoring station in Argentina. Regional diplomats say that as China builds a global military intelligence network, it lacks a U.S.-style system of alliances and partnerships that can help discreet surveillance efforts. China's defence ministry declined to comment. "This trend is only going to grow alongside China's global reach," said Singapore-based defence analyst Alexander Neill.

Persons: Diego Garcia, Carl Thayer, China's, Antony Blinken, Alexander Neill, Greg Torode, Kirsty Needham, Laurie Chen, Gerry Doyle Organizations: People's Liberation Army, Australian Defence Force Academy of, Australian National University, PLA, Reuters, Defence, South China, International Institute for Strategic Studies, China, Support Force, Pentagon, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, China, Cuba, Beijing, United States, U.S, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Guam, British, CUBA, Coast, Florida, Russia, Moscow, Argentina, CHINA, Hainan, South, Southeast Asia, London, Namibia, Pakistan, Kenya, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Angola, China's, Singapore, Sydney

☆ Billion-year-old rocks reveal traces of ancient life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

V. Diekamp/MARUM/University of BremenThe evidence of these ancient eukaryotes took the form of biological molecules that they produced. Advances in biochemical analyses have allowed scientists to identify ancient molecules preserved in the fossil record, particularly in old rocks that have been relatively undisturbed by geological processes. In the new Nature study, Nettersheim and his colleagues, including Brocks, a professor of geobiology at the Australian National University, examined rocks from Australia’s Barney Creek Formation. Previous studies established that the Barney Creek rocks, which are more than 1 billion years old, contain traces of ancient biomolecules. But “people never looked, really, for these primordial types of steroids in those kinds of rocks,” Nettersheim said.

Persons: Benjamin Nettersheim, ”, Nettersheim, “, Dr, ” Nettersheim, Jochen Brocks, Konrad Bloch, Bloch, Barney, Susannah Porter, Porter, Roger, ” “ Konrad Bloch, Brocks Organizations: CNN, MARUM Center, Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Australian National University, University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: Australia, Nature, geobiology, Germany, MARUM, Santa Barbara

☆ Molecular fossils open window on 'lost world' of primordial life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The researchers discovered that the molecular fossils indicating the presence of these primitive eukaryotes were commonplace in rocks spanning from about 1.6 billion years ago to 800 million years ago. "It is a lost world in the sense that we had not been able to see or detect them - although there was an entire world of them. It is a lost world also because these forms are now entirely extinct, Brocks added. The oldest of the rocks bearing these fossils were unearthed in the remote Outback of northern Australia, near Darwin. Scientists long were puzzled about the seeming absence of molecular fossils from this time span indicative of primitive eukaryotes.

Persons: Jochen Brocks, geobiologist Jochen Brocks, Benjamin Nettersheim, Brocks, sapiens, Konrad Block, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Australian National University, Handout, REUTERS, University of Bremen, Thomson Locations: Creek, Northern Australia, REUTERS WASHINGTON, Canberra, Germany, Australia, Darwin

☆ AI startup MindsDB aims to help every developer be a machine learning engineer. Here's the pitch deck it used to raise $25 million from investors like Mayfield Fund and Benchmark.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI startup MindsDB just raised a $25 million seed extension round led by Mayfield. The round comes less than three months after it raised a $16.5 million round led by Benchmark. The founders of MindsDB aims to help software developers worldwide perform the roles of machine-learning engineers. Founded in 2017, MindsDB is now gaining the interest of investors as AI has become the talk of the town in tech. In February, the startup announced $16.5 million in funding led by Benchmark.

Persons: Mayfield, MindsDB, Navin Chaddha, Chaddha, MindDB's cofounders Jorge Torres, Adam Carrigan, Torres, Chetan Puttagunta Organizations: Benchmark, Mayfield Fund, Ventures, Australian National University Locations: San Francisco, Europe

☆ Scientists updated the human genome to make it more inclusive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Scientists have pieced together a new draft of the human genome that better captures humanity’s genetic diversity. The scientists involved say it will improve our ability to diagnose disease, discover new drugs and understand the genetic variants that lead to ill health or a particular physical trait. The pangenome, a digital amalgamation of sequences that can be used to compare, construct and study other human genome sequences, is still a draft. The first draft of the human genome was released in 2001 and was only fully completed in 2022. The new pangenome reference is an amalgamation of different genomes from 47 people with ancestry from around the world.

CNN —The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies stressed their solidarity against Russia’s assault on Ukraine, and called on China to “abstain from threats,” in a communique Tuesday following talks in Japan. The G7 foreign ministers said, however, that they “recognized the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China” and working together with Beijing on global challenges, according to the statement. He pointed to the language referring to “one China policies” or agreements by which governments have established diplomatic relations with Beijing and not Taipei. The communique was released as the foreign ministers wrapped up three days of talks in the central Japanese town of Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture. The minister also urged fighting parties in the recent outbreak of violence in Sudan to “end hostilities immediately,” and return to negotiations.

☆ China firm wins Solomon Islands port project as Australia watches on
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Solomon Islands and China have consistently denied that their security pact would allow a naval base. The Solomon Islands Infrastructure Development Ministry has said that there will be no expansion of the port for dual use," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday evening. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the Solomon Islands government said in a statement. "It is not about bases it is about access," Connolly, a former military officer, said, referring to the security pact between Honiara and Beijing.

☆ China firm wins tender to redevelop Solomon Islands port
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces," Qaqara said. The Solomon Islands and China have denied the security pact would allow a naval base, however. Delegations from China and the United States are visiting Honiara this week, competing for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands nation. "This will see the rehabilitation of the old Honiara international port and construction of the Honiara domestic port and two provincial ports," the government said in a statement. Writing in the Australian Foreign Affairs this month, Connolly noted that ADB infrastructure contracts in the Pacific islands had been dominated by Chinese state companies who offered the lowest bids.

☆ 'Climate time bomb ticking', emissions must urgently be cut, UN chief says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the "climate time bomb is ticking" as he urged rich nations on Monday to slash emissions sooner after a new assessment from scientists said there was little time to lose in tackling climate change. "The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2,000 years," he said. The synthesis report summarised findings from three expert assessments published between 2021 and 2022 that looked at the physical science, impacts, and mitigation of climate change. The summary report is designed to provide clarity for policymakers as they consider further action to slash emissions. The document will also serve as a guide for a global climate change "stocktake" set to take place this year, in which countries will assess progress.

☆ Nuclear submarine construction to generate thousands of jobs in Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

China has objected to the transfer of nuclear propulsion technology to Australia. read moreThe 2021 announcement that the U.S. and Britain would share nuclear submarine technology with Australia came as a surprise to many Southeast Asian governments, said Perth USAsia Centre chief executive Gordon Flake. Government modelling showed 20,000 jobs, including 8,500 in submarine construction, would be created in Australia over 30 years, local newspapers reported on Monday. "This is about jobs, including jobs and manufacturing and Adelaide in particular will be a big beneficiary of this announcement, as well as Western Australia," he told reporters on Saturday. Flake said Albanese was correct to focus on the longer-term economic impact of servicing the nuclear submarine fleet.

☆ Factbox: What is China's new government restructuring plan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Laurie Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The restructured ministry will be overseen by a newly created Communist Party body, the Central Science and Technology Commission, strengthening party oversight of science and technology policy. A new national data bureau will be responsible for coordinating the sharing and development of data resources, as well as planning the digital economy and promoting initiatives. Since taking power in 2012, Xi has established several new central party committees overseeing multiple ministries, which report directly to him. Analysts expect the party reforms to be revealed soon after the NPC concludes its meetings on Monday. A top-level party financial watchdog, the Central Financial Work Commission, is likely to be resurrected after the NPC, sources earlier told Reuters.

[1/4] A worker walks across a construction site in the Central Business District, ahead of the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, February 28, 2023. Nearly 3,000 delegates will gather in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square for the first National People's Congress (NPC) of the post-zero-COVID era, although some precautions remain including testing and quarantine for journalists. It will also discuss Xi's plans for an "intensive" and "wide-ranging" re-organisation of state and Communist Party entities, state media reported on Tuesday, after a three-day meeting of the party's central committee. China's economy grew just 3% last year, one of its worst showings in nearly half a century. "We will strive to spur growth and have policy tools to do that, mainly by channelling money into big projects," Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy commission at the state-backed China Association of Policy Science, told Reuters.

☆ Analysis: China's role as Ukraine peacemaker raises doubt as it 'deepens' Russia ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A year after Russia invaded its southwestern neighbour, its "no limits" partner China is offering to broker peace. It says it will issue a "position paper" on Ukraine and President Xi Jinping is expected to give a "peace speech" this week, Italy's foreign minister said. "At the moment China’s peace effort will stay at the rhetorical level," said Li Mingjiang, associate professor of international relations at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Still, China is unlikely to provide Russia with military aid any time soon, at least not overtly, experts and diplomats said. "China still sees Russia as a central element of its overarching strategy to weaken U.S. power and influence and build a multipolar world," he said.

☆ Scientists unlock secrets of Earth's wickedly hot innermost realm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The planet's internal structure comprises four layers: a rocky crust on the outside, then a rocky mantle, an outer core made of magma and a solid inner core. This metallic inner core, about 1,500 miles (2,440) wide, was discovered in the 1930s, also based on seismic waves traveling through Earth. Scientists in 2002 proposed that lurking within this inner core was an innermost section separate from the rest, akin to a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll. The researchers were able to differentiate the two regions because the seismic waves acted differently between them. "The latent heat released from solidifying the Earth's inner core drives the convection in the liquid outer core, generating Earth's geomagnetic field," Pham said.

JAKARTA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia's new criminal code has grabbed headlines for making sex outside marriage illegal but Islamic parties wanted even harsher punishment for moral crimes in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, accounts of behind-the-scenes negotiations reveal. "We found a middle ground, not only between nationalists and religious parties but also between progressive liberals and conservatives," he said. In forming the laws, a team of legal professors had turned to Indonesia's official dictionary, which defines adultery as any sex outside marriage, not just extramarital sex. The compromise reached in the final version carries a maximum one-year sentence for sex outside marriage and six months for cohabitation. "The Islamic parties benefit from the morality agenda ... while the other parties will benefit from strengthening of authoritarianism," he said.

☆ World’s ‘oldest meal’ discovered in 550-million-year-old fossil
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Toyin Owoseje | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —An international team of scientists say they have new insight into how the very earliest animals survived after traces of what they described as the world’s oldest meal were found in a 550 million-year-old fossil. Some of the oldest life on Earth is referred to as the Ediacaran biota. This group is based on the earliest fossils ever discovered, providing evidence of complex, multicellular organisms. Nearly all fossils that came before the Ediacaran biota were single-celled and microscopic in size,” Brocks said, according to a press release. Dr. Bobrovskiy said the findings are helping scientists track the evolution of the earliest animals, and how they relate to their descendants today.

☆ China says U.S. must 'take responsibility' for breakdown in climate ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Climate change diplomacy between China and the United States cannot be separated from broader political tensions between the two sides, and Washington must take responsibility for the breakdown in talks, China's foreign ministry said. "China and the United States previously developed good cooperation in the area of climate change, working together to get the Paris Agreement reached and brought into effect," a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement late on Thursday. "At the same time, China-U.S. climate cooperation cannot be separated from the broad climate of bilateral ties," the spokesperson added, noting that Pelosi's "serious breach of Chinese sovereignty" in Taiwan had left China with no choice but to suspend the talks. "The United States side must take responsibility for this." China has not suspended cooperation with other countries, and would continue to support the multilateral climate negotiation process, the spokesperson said, adding that China was "willing to communicate and coordinate with all parties" to ensure COP27 was successful.

☆ What happened to former Chinese leader Hu Jintao?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Analysis Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

China's former leader Hu Jintao is lifted from his chair by a young aide at the closing of the Communist Party Congress on Saturday. Neither has the incident been reported in Chinese language media, or discussed on Chinese social media, where conversations around senior leaders are highly restricted. Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao is taken by the arm and escorted out. “For whatever reasons, Xi ordered Hu to be escorted out when he must have thought that Hu might not behave exactly as Xi would have wanted,” he said. Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao pats the shoulder of his protege, Premier Li Keqiang.

☆ Hu's dramatic China congress exit fuels speculation, official silence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

During the once-in-five-years congress, Xi solidified his grip on power by appointing a Standing Committee made up entirely of loyalists - and excluding the three most senior members of Hu's once-powerful Communist Youth League faction. State TV's Saturday night news broadcasts included images of Hu at the congress, before his exit. Chinese politics, always opaque, have become even more secretive under Xi's decade-long tenure. "Despite the plausibility of a mundane explanation of ill-health, the CCP's secretiveness vis-à-vis senior Chinese leaders and elite Chinese politics lends itself to many more salacious explanations," he said. On China's Twitter-like Weibo, a few social media users alluded to the incident by commenting on old posts featuring Hu.

HONG KONG — Xi Jinping secured a historic third term as leader of China on Sunday, cementing his status as the country’s most powerful figure in decades and extending his authoritarian rule over the world’s second-largest economy. The Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the limit in 1982 to prevent a return to a Mao-style cult of personality. The Chinese leader reiterated the goal of peaceful “reunification,” without renouncing the possible use of force. “Xi still promises no specific timeline on unification.”But the Chinese leader did put greater emphasis on warning “external forces” to stay out of the Taiwan issue. A telecast of Chinese President Xi Jinping plays on a screen in Hong Kong on Monday.

☆ Netball Australia: Gina Rinehart pulls sponsorship in dispute over father's racist comments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —When Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart threw a financial lifeline to Netball Australia, she triggered a debate about sponsorships and the role of social and political issues in the sporting sphere. Donnell Wallam of the Firebirds is a rising star in Australian netball. On Monday, Kathryn Harby-Williams, CEO of the Australian Netball Players’ Association told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Wallam had asked for an exemption not to wear the logo and was refused. Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan told Nine News the loss of Hancock sponsorship was “disappointing” but a “strong balance” needs to be struck between social issues and funding. “When done well, sport sponsorship is brand transforming for both the sport and sponsor.”

☆ The big reveal: Xi set to introduce China's next standing committee
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Tony Munroe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File PhotoBEIJING, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Xi Jinping, poised to clinch a third five-year term as China's leader, will on Sunday preside over the most dramatic moment of the Communist Party's twice-a-decade congress and reveal the members of its elite Politburo Standing Committee. Xi's break with precedent to rule beyond a decade was set in motion when he abandoned presidential term limits in 2018. His norm-busting as China's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong has made it even harder to predict who will join him on the standing committee. At least two of the seven current Standing Committee members are expected to retire due to age norms. Reports this week in the Wall Street Journal and South China Morning Post suggest there could be as many as four openings, with Premier Li, 67, possibly among those stepping down.

U.S. forces would defend Taiwan if China invaded, President Joe Biden said Sunday, his clearest statement yet on the issue and one that is likely to infuriate Beijing. In a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on CBS, Biden was asked whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan against an attack from Beijing, which claims the self-ruling island democracy as its territory. It is at least the fourth time since last year that Biden has made comments that appear to alter longtime U.S. policy on Taiwan. “The president has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year,” the spokesperson said, referring to comments Biden made in May. “He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed.

☆ Australia is asking its people one question and it's not whether to keep the King
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But in Australia, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's pro-republic views, there's no concerted push in that direction. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends the Proclamation of King Charles III, on the forecourt of Parliament House on September 11, 2022 in Canberra, Australia. Today, Yu says views within the Australia's Indigenous community on the Queen are mixed -- as they are in most communities. He said after the Voice to Parliament passes, Australia may be ready to consider life after the monarchy. However Yu, from ANU, said the issue of Australia's Indigenous people must be addressed before any talk of a republic.

☆ These animals went extinct in the wild. Scientists brought them back
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-16 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

All of them went extinct in the wild – and all of them came back, thanks to reintroduction programs. One of the most iconic reintroduction success stories, Przewalski's horse went extinct in the wild in the 1960s, but were returned to the Mongolian steppe in 1992. “The less time that has passed, the more likely that environment is the same as when the species went extinct,” she says. “But you still need to address the reason why it went extinct in that environment to begin with.”Read more: This palm tree nearly went extinct. Without these projects, species such as Przewalski’s horse and the Guam rail would almost certainly be extinct in the wild.

Persons: Natasha Robinson, Sergei Bobylev, Robinson, ” Read, Karim Sahib Organizations: CNN, Conservation, Australian National University, United, United Arab Emirates, Getty Locations: Israel, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab, AFP, Guam

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