Flagship

Iran doesn’t ‘want the war to widen’

Houthi authorities ordered U.S. and British humanitarian workers to leave Yemen while American forces carried out another round of strikes on the Iran-backed militant group. The U.S. has repeatedly pushed China to take a more active role in stopping Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, ostensibly by exerting influence on Iran, the Financial Times reported, but there is little evidence Beijing has taken heed: China has issued statements supporting de-escalation along the crucial transportation corridor, but analysts said Beijing may not take more concrete steps unless the economic costs heighten. Iran’s foreign minister, meanwhile, insisted in an interview with Al-Monitor that Tehran did not “want the war to widen.”

No breakthrough in hostage talks

Hostage talks between Israel and Hamas were reportedly held up over disagreements about how to permanently end the war. U.S. involvement in the negotiations failed to yield much progress, and as Israel intensified its attacks on southern Gaza, family members of Israeli hostages declared a nationwide “day of rage” with protests calling for their loved ones’ return. Hard-right Israeli politicians, meanwhile, bristled at the idea of a ceasefire. The hostage talks are “bounded by deep mistrust and internal political divisions,” The Washington Post’s David Ignatius wrote. “But officials who were bleak about progress a week ago are more hopeful now.”

Crash kills 65 Ukrainian POWs

A Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed Wednesday, Moscow said, killing everyone on board. Russia accused Ukraine of shooting down the aircraft as it was headed to a Russian border region to conduct a prisoner swap. Ukraine has yet to comment on the incident directly, but it released statements saying it targets Russian military transport planes and was unaware the prisoners would be switched that day. POW exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, which had been on hold for months until the start of this year, are a sensitive political issue, and other nations like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have participated in the negotiations.

Non-English chatbots take off

Non-English-language chatbots could mark the latest evolution in the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence models. Companies across Asia, including in Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan, are working on AI models customized to speak in their countries’ languages, Nikkei reported. Automated translation services have become highly advanced, but AI systems trained mostly on English data, like ChatGPT, have less knowledge about some cultural nuances that may only be available through local sources. A Vietnamese chatbot called ViGPT is able to correct a user’s intonation, while officials in Japan said it’s an advantage to have a bot that understands local business practices as it crafts emails.

Tesla goes low, BYD goes high

Electric automakers BYD and Tesla are trying to steal core market segments away from one another as their rivalry heats up. BYD — a Chinese automaker typically known for budget-friendly EVs — has unveiled a Lamborghini-like car as well as an SUV that can rotate 360 degrees while in place and float in water. Tesla, meanwhile, wants to roll out a cheaper, mass-market vehicle, Reuters reported. The pair are responding to different pressures: The European Union is probing whether Chinese state subsidies allowed BYD to undercut the market, while Tesla is losing ground in China to cheaper competitors, forcing it to slash prices repeatedly.

Chatbot usage linked to loneliness

A study of students who talked to certain AI chatbots found they helped halt feelings of suicide for 3% of users. Research on the relationship between new, conversational AI tools and mental health is still in its infancy, but the report from Stanford University found many students used the platform Replika “in multiple, overlapping ways — as a friend, a therapist, and an intellectual mirror.” About 90% of the users surveyed were lonely, higher than the average in student populations. More people have turned to chatbots for mental health purposes, and some AI startups have even made therapy their main focus, though some experts have warned against the practice.

Data center energy usage balloons

Energy usage from data centers that power global internet and artificial intelligence systems could double by 2026, using as much energy as Japan uses today. A new International Energy Agency report argues for more energy efficiency regulation for the data centers, which are also used to mine Bitcoin. AI and cryptocurrency energy consumption has come under fire before, and the IEA said more renewable energy growth is needed to offset the impact of the data centers. Ireland specifically is likely to see a large boom, with 54 facilities currently in the pipeline. They could make up a third of the country’s overall electricity demand by 2026.

US counters China in Angola

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken touted American investments on a four-country tour of Africa, where Washington is battling China’s influence. The trip came on the heels of a similar tour of the continent by his Chinese counterpart this month, and was part of efforts to “reassure everyone that the U.S. is still all in when it comes to Africa,” the Baobab newsletter wrote: Angola, the final country on Blinken’s trip, was the largest recipient of Chinese infrastructure loans to Africa from 2000 to 2020, but Beijing pulled back its borrowing as its domestic economy slumped. The U.S. then stepped in with increased investment, including a $250 million loan to complete a major railway project, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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MrBeast goes to China

MrBeast, the most popular YouTuber in the U.S. with 234 million subscribers, began posting on the Chinese video platform Bilibili this week. The move will test whether Beijing is willing to tolerate the arrival of a provocative American internet star — and whether his U.S. audience can accept MrBeast potentially censoring himself to stay there. Known for over-the-top videos like “I Spent 7 Days In Solitary Confinement,” MrBeast’s Chinese debut was a 90-second mashup of his greatest hits. He also plans to join Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, as well as the Twitter-like platform Weibo, Bloomberg reported. “I’m just super curious to see what everyone over here in China thinks of the videos I make,” MrBeast said in the clip.

Booze coming to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is set to open its first liquor store — but it will only be available to diplomats who aren’t Muslim. Alcohol was banned in the conservative theocracy over 70 years ago for religious reasons, and the new store is in line with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s desire to turn Saudi Arabia into a bigger tourist and entertainment hub, helping reduce its economic reliance on oil exports, Al-Monitor’s business correspondent wrote. Countries elsewhere in the Gulf are also loosening their approach to alcohol: The first brewery in the United Arab Emirates, started by a group of expats, is set to open next month.

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• Sri Lanka celebrates Duruthu Poya, honoring the Budda’s first arrival to the country during the full moon in January.
• Nepal holds National Assembly elections.
• Central banks in Turkey and South Africa set interest rates.

The average number of monthly searches in the U.S. related to learning Japanese. According to an analysis by LTL Language School, Japanese is the top Asian language Americans want to learn, followed by Korean and Mandarin. The popularity of Japanese can be attributed to the influence of anime and manga, which are becoming mainstream in the U.S., the analysis said.

A new Chinese TV series that mixes a nostalgic depiction of 1990s Shanghai with a unique storytelling approach has become one of China’s buzziest dramas in years. Blossoms Shanghai, directed by Wong Kar-wai, tells the story of a young businessman in a changing city, and it feels like “a highlight reel of reform-era Shanghai,” with the rise of the stock market and return of luxury brands to the city’s shopping district, Sixth Tone wrote. The show’s main draw, though, was Wong’s decision to hire Shanghai natives and hide his camera from them, hoping they would be guided by their local memories and behave more naturally.

• More Democrats criticized Netanyahu for rejecting a Palestinian state.
• Latin America eases its crackdown on drugs.
• China races to buy chip-making equipment as the US curbs exports.