The vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, over 5,000 nautical miles across, protects the West Coast of the United States against Chinese naval forces in the event of a war. The appearance of new extra-extra-large underwater drones (XXLUUVs) changes this, providing China with low-risk options to directly threaten West Coast ports. For decades American strategy in East Asia, focused on a potential conflict with China, have viewed the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean as both a challenge and an advantage. While the distances involved make logistics harder (known as…
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The Scots may well have codified golf as we know it – including, after a few false starts, making it a game of 18 holes. But the jury’s still out on who first came up with the idea of an open-air game that involves using a stick to hit a ball towards a target. The Romans played a game called paganica, in which a ball stuffed with feathers and wool was hit with a bent stick, while the Dutch played a stick-and-ball game called colf as early as the 13th…
Weeks after a jewel heist raised concerns about security at the Paris museum, the Louvre was once again in the spotlight as the museum said on Sunday that a water leak in late November damaged several hundred works in its Egyptian department, AFP reported. “Between 300 and 400 works” were affected by the leak discovered on November 26, the museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, was quoted by AFP as saying, describing them as “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation” used by researchers. The damaged items dated from the late 19th and…
China’s foreign trade edged up in the first 11 months of 2025, with total imports and exports of goods reaching 41.21 trillion yuan ($5.83 trillion), a year-on-year rise of 3.6 percent, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Monday. The exports reached 24.46 trillion yuan, up 6.2 percent year-on-year, while imports grew 0.2 percent year-on-year to 16.75 trillion yuan, the administration said. In November alone, the total value of China’s foreign trade reached 3.9 trillion yuan ($551.5 billion), marking a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent, customs…
China’s State-owned defense contractors are known for their expertise in ultrafast weapons such as the DF-17 and the YJ-21. Now, a private sector firm has stepped into this cutting-edge sector, developing a system that can launch a missile with a top speed of Mach 7. Lingkong Tianxing Technology, a Beijing-based aerospace company, announced earlier this week that it has developed a hypersonic missile system — the YKJ-1000. According to the company, the YKJ-1000 missile consists of two parts — a booster rocket and a hypersonic glide vehicle, which is equipped…
Four people were killed and 10 others were injured during a shooting at a family event in Stockon, Calif., officials said Saturday. The incident, which was likely targeted, occurred shortly before 6 p.m. local time, per a statement from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. The shooter is still a large, District Attorney Ron Freitas said at a Saturday evening press conference. Victims, according to The Associated Press, include adults and children. Stockton’s Vice Mayor Jason Lee said the shooting took place at a child’s birthday party near the 1900…
RAMALLAH — Palestinian and Chinese officials gathered on Wednesday to mark the completion of two China-funded infrastructure projects in the West Bank city of Ramallah. At a ceremony in the city, Zeng Jixin, head of the Chinese office in Palestine, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa jointly unveiled plaques for the newly completed China-Palestine Friendship Square and the extension of Beijing Road. Speaking at the event, Zeng said that the China-Palestine Friendship Square and Beijing Road represent a significant measure in implementing the consensus reached by the leaders of the…
“China is going to win the AI race,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has told an AI summit in London. The Taiwanese-born boss of the chipmaker, the world’s most valuable public company, believes the Chinese are already just “nanoseconds” behind the Americans and well placed to overtake them. He pointed to China’s energy superiority and AI research talent, as well as the risk that the Trump administration’s ban on selling China the most advanced chips will just galvanise Beijing to close that technological gap. Huang did soften his stance later to…
The Shenzhou XX mission crew returned to Earth on Friday afternoon, nine days later than their scheduled landing, ending an extended stay aboard the Tiangong space station after a suspected debris hit left their spaceship with a cracked window. A re-entry capsule carrying the three astronauts – mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong and crew members Colonel Chen Zhongrui and Colonel Wang Jie – touched down on the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region at 4:40 pm, after flying more than five hours on the Earth-bound journey.…
China’s first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, CNS Sichuan, sets sail from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a major shipyard in Shanghai, at around 9 am on Friday to conduct its maiden navigation test mission. ZHANG LIANG/XINHUA CNS Sichuan, China’s largest and most advanced amphibious assault ship, set sail from Shanghai on its maiden sea trial on Friday, said the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The PLA Navy announced in a news release that the massive vessel left Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a Shanghai-based shipyard of China State Shipbuilding Corp, around 9 am on Friday. Engineers…