Why Some People Are Paying to Make Friends

New York Times - Oct 26, 2026

Apps that match personalities — for a price — have surged in popularity amid a loneliness epidemic.

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Could new US investment curbs complicate China’s biotech licensing surge?

Could new US investment curbs complicate China’s biotech licensing surge?

Oct 26, 2026

Chinese biotech firms face fresh headwinds in their global expansion as Washington’s proposed outbound investment restrictions threaten to disrupt deal structures, even though drug licensing agreements remain untouched for now, analysts say. The US Treasury Department’s draft rules released last week would “make it much harder for Chinese biotech firms to attract direct US investment or enter joint ventures”, according to David Zhang, an analyst at policy research firm Trivium China. US Treasury...

Chinese video AI models beat US rivals in visual quality, but lag on safeguards: HKU study

Chinese video AI models beat US rivals in visual quality, but lag on safeguards: HKU study

Oct 26, 2026

Chinese AI video-generation models have surpassed leading US rivals in visual quality, but several fall behind in safety safeguards, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong. ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 Pro took top spot in a ranking of 12 leading artificial intelligence video-generation models, scoring 3.84 out of 5 for visual quality. It outperformed Google DeepMind’s Veo 3.1, which scored 3.47, and OpenAI’s Sora 2 Pro, on 3.27, in a study led by Zhenhui Jack Jiang, professor of...

South Korea urged to guard chip profitability as China’s CXMT and YMTC gain market share

South Korea urged to guard chip profitability as China’s CXMT and YMTC gain market share

Oct 26, 2026

China’s expanding semiconductor industry is fuelling mounting anxiety in South Korea, where a new consultancy report has warned local chipmakers to defend profitability as Chinese rivals scale up production and strengthen market share. Samil PwC, the South Korean member firm of the global consultancy, said in a report made public on Monday that Chinese competition would likely heat up first in the areas of conventional memory, mature-node manufacturing, and packaging and testing. To stay ahead,...

Plans to create a wildflower meadow take shape

Plans to create a wildflower meadow take shape

Oct 26, 2026

Fairstead Recreation Ground is being planted with wildflowers to benefit insects and pollinators.

Fed-up driver builds AI litter tracker

Fed-up driver builds AI litter tracker

Oct 26, 2026

Robin Bennett says he created the app after getting frustrated by the amount of rubbish beside roads

The dump detectives on the trail of the fly-tippers

The dump detectives on the trail of the fly-tippers

Oct 26, 2026

The BBC joins environmental enforcement officers as they sift through illegally-dumped waste for clues.

What do we still need to know about the Tyne nurdle spill?

What do we still need to know about the Tyne nurdle spill?

Oct 26, 2026

The spill of 18 tonnes of plastic pellets happened in July but there is still a lot we do not know.

Fire-hit nature reserve 'will never be the same'

Fire-hit nature reserve 'will never be the same'

Oct 26, 2026

Three months on from a devastating wildfire, the RSPB says it will take 20 years to recover.

Grand Theft Auto VI launch: How is the highly anticipated game moving calendars as fever grips workforce

Grand Theft Auto VI launch: How is the highly anticipated game moving calendars as fever grips workforce

Oct 26, 2026

The survey found that among the 30% of gamers considering time off, about 35-36% admitted they would call in “sick” if they took the day off.

Two men killed by falling trees as Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 properties without power

Two men killed by falling trees as Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 properties without power

Oct 26, 2026

An amber wind warning has now expired after severe weather sweeps across the UK.

Alibaba Cloud founder on how AI can unlock human potential

Alibaba Cloud founder on how AI can unlock human potential

Oct 26, 2026

Long before artificial intelligence became the next big thing in the tech industry, Wang Jian was crafting the foundational infrastructure that would eventually power it. In 2008, he joined Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – as chief architect and founded Alibaba Cloud in 2009, convincing the company’s leadership to invest heavily in building a cloud computing infrastructure from scratch. Today, Wang’s purview has expanded considerably. As an academician at the...

What is the Budget and what could be in it?

What is the Budget and what could be in it?

Oct 26, 2026

Chancellor John Healey will set out his plans for UK taxes on 28 October.

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