The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted overwhelmingly an annual resolution urging the United States to end its long-standing economic and trade embargo against Cuba.

The resolution garnered support from 187 states, with only the United States and Israel casting against it and Moldova abstaining.

The General Assembly reaffirmed the principles of the sovereign equality of states, non-intervention and non-interference in their internal affairs. It reiterated its call for all states to refrain from promulgating or applying restrictive laws and measures in line with their obligations under the UN Charter and international law.

Though non-binding, the result reflects the United States' isolation regarding its long-standing embargo policy, first imposed in 1960 following the revolution led by former leader Fidel Castro.

"How long will this go on?" Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla asked the assembly, condemning the blockade against his country as "commercial warfare" and "a crime of genocide."

Since 2019, the United States has adopted harsher economic measures designed to prevent the supply of fuel and spare parts needed to maintain Cuba's power plants and electric grid. "President Joe Biden's administration tends to claim that its policy is to help and support the Cuban people," Rodriguez said, asking "who would believe such an assertion?"

He said the blockade is "a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of our people" and "the most encompassing, comprehensive and longest-standing system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country."

Since 1992, the UN General Assembly has annually adopted a resolution demanding an end to unilateral U.S. restrictions on Cuba, with the document having the support of a majority of UN member states.

The high-level development of Russia-China ties will unleash more chances for cooperation at subnational levels between the two countries, Rustam Minnikhanov, head of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The 16th BRICS summit, which is being held in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, "presents Tatarstan with a chance to showcase its strengths, demonstrate its competitive advantages, and highlight its potential to contribute to Russia-China relations," said Minnikhanov.

According to Minnikhanov, Tatarstan is actively contributing to the advancement of Russia-China cooperation. The region has signed agreements with multiple Chinese provinces, and Kazan maintains sister-city relations with several Chinese cities.

Highlighting Tatarstan's growing trade with China, Minnikhanov said that by the end of last year, the trade turnover doubled to over 3 billion U.S. dollars, with around 60 percent of Tatarstan's imports coming from China.

"Of course, trade and economic relations are crucial ... Our growing trade and plans are primarily focused on Eastern countries, especially China," he said.

He also pointed out that several joint economic projects with Chinese companies are currently underway in Tatarstan, with ample opportunities for cooperation, particularly in the logistics sector.

As part of the Belt and Road Initiative and its integration with the Eurasian Economic Union, work is in progress to establish international transport and logistics corridors, he added.

At the end of last year, the M-12 Moscow-Kazan expressway was launched, becoming part of the Europe-China transport route. Furthermore, direct flights between Kazan and Shanghai commenced in late September, he noted.

Tatarstan is also committed to enhancing humanitarian, cultural, scientific, educational, and tourism exchanges with China, he said.

"I am confident that the BRICS summit in Kazan will be successful at a high level," Minnikhanov said.

Chinese and foreign scientists and entrepreneurs held lively discussions regarding technology trends in the development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry during the 2024 World Science and Technology Development Forum (WSTDF), which held from October 22 to 24 in Beijing. They called for international cooperation to take full advantage of benefits from the development of the AI industry while enhancing global governance on AI development.
Qiao Hong, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the State Key Laboratory of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence Systems, highlighted 10 trends in the AI industry at a thematic session titled AI Governance Innovation: Building an International Trust Foundation for Cultivating the Ecology of Science and Technology Governance (INTELLIGENCE), during the WSTDF on Wednesday.

AI has become an important driving force in today's technological revolution. It is changing our ways of living and working at an unprecedented speed. From smart manufacturing, smart cities, and healthcare, to financial services, the applications of AI are essentially ubiquitous, with a profound and extensive impact. The subsequent question we face is, in which direction will AI develop? Qiao said at the session.

The first trend outlined by Qiao is small data and high-quality data.

The importance of data to AI cannot be overstated. If the data is toxic, it will fail to lead to a stable result; if the data is too big, it will consume too much in terms of computing resources; not to mention the privacy leakage risk related to data, Qiao stressed.

"In this context, how can we reduce the use of data, ensure its quality, and minimize its impact on people's lives? These have all become very core issues," Qiao said.

Other trends and AI-related challenges Qiao mentioned include embodied AI and generative AI. "As a whole, the development of AI is advancing technological and social transformation at an unprecedented pace. We see limitless possibilities and potential in cutting-edge fields such as AI, large models, embodied intelligence, and generative AI. These advancements bring us greater convenience and a more efficient life, drive our innovation and development, and inspire us with bigger dreams. Let us look forward together to a future filled with opportunities and challenges," Qiao concluded.

At the thematic session on AI, Wang Haifeng, Chief Technology Officer of Baidu and head of the National Engineering Research Center of Deep Learning Technology and Application, also shared his insights into the trends and developments of AI technologies and industry.

Wang believes that large models bring hope for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in terms of the generality of AI technology and the comprehensiveness of AI capabilities.

In terms of generality, large models are becoming increasingly effective at addressing various tasks, languages, modalities, and scenarios. In terms of comprehensiveness, understanding, generating, reasoning, and memory are the four foundational capabilities of AI. The stronger these four abilities are, the closer we get to achieving AGI, Wang told the Global Times.

According to Wang, Baidu's generative AI product ERNIE Bot (also known as Wenxin Yiyan) has accumulated more than 300 million users with daily usage hitting 700 million and an average daily processing of over one trillion text tokens.

The recent announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prizes marked a historic moment, as both awards in Physics and Chemistry went to achievements related to AI, heralding the dawn of an AI-driven era in scientific discovery.

Wang predicts that, as AI continues to engage with and empower various industries, future Nobel Prizes will increasingly recognize contributions related to AI. "This prestigious acknowledgment will draw greater attention and resources to the field, further accelerating the rapid advancement of AI technology. Ultimately, this progress will yield more sophisticated technologies that enhance human life and promote societal advancement," he said.

Wang also highlighted China's distinct advantage in possessing a vast industrial system that offers a wealth of application scenarios for the deployment of AI.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the scale of China's core AI industry was an estimated 600 billion yuan ($84 billion) by the end of 2023, supported by over 4,500 enterprises.

This positions China as having the largest application market and the most diverse range of application scenarios in the world, along with unique strengths in AI applications and business models, Wang noted.

While hailing the benefits brought about by AI, Chinese and foreign experts also emphasized the need for the world to cooperate to promote global management of AI-related risks and challenges.

"The most important thing is that AI should not be utilized in the wrong manner. We can draw parallels to the time when nuclear physics was first discovered; initially, there was great excitement. However, the development of nuclear weapons led to devastating consequences, such as the Holocaust, which left a bitter legacy worldwide. Therefore, we must approach AI with caution and adhere to ethical guidelines to prevent similar outcomes," Ashok Kumar Basa, Executive Vice President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, told the Global Times.

"The power of AI is immense," said Huang Tiejun, Chairman of Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Professor of the School of Computer Science, Peking University. Echoing Basa, Huang also stressed that "If AI is not jointly mastered by all of humanity, it will exacerbate the wealth gap and inequality issues. On the other hand, there is currently a possibility that AI could surpass human intelligence. It is essential for the international community to collaboratively explore governance solutions for artificial intelligence and to research technical means for its regulation."

Thus the WSTDF 2024 serves as a valuable opportunity to promote international exchange and cooperation.

"Through open communication, barriers will gradually be broken down, and more and more consensus will be formed," Huang said. "We need to join hands to address risks and challenges, as this concerns the common interests of all humanity."

China’s major e-commerce platform JD.com on Wednesday refuted defamatory rumors about the personal lives of its founder Liu Qiangdong and his wife Zhang Zetian. The couple have filed a police report, and the case is currently under investigation, according to a statement released by the company’s official Weibo account on Wednesday.

The statement refuted the rumor about Zhang’s alleged involvement with the “Illuminati,” saying that a number of organized accounts have been actively spreading these false claims and fabricating tens of thousands of fake information online in a short period.

The conspiracy theory about the “Illuminati” has been spreading around the world for over years, claiming it to be a secret society made up of powerful individuals.

The controversy came after Zhang was seen wearing an eye-shaped brooch during an art exhibition for Tsinghua University alumni in London.

Zhou Junwu, a lawyer, released a statement via Sina Weibo on Wednesday, stating that he has been entrusted by Liu and Zhang to handle the legal issues surrounding the recent online rumors. 

After verifying with Zhang, the brooch Zhang wore at the exhibition was purely chosen to complement the event and her overall attire. The brooch’s design, origin, and other elements are entirely unrelated to any organization, the lawyer statement noted. 

Zhang’s stylist has also publicly refuted the rumor, according to the statement.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday expressed his opposition to tariff conflicts while delivering a statement to the press in Brussels.

Scholz stressed that such conflicts lead nowhere and emphasized the importance of using the World Trade Organization to resolve trade disputes.

Speaking on the sidelines of the European Council meeting, Scholz reiterated his stance against escalating tariff tensions with China, a point he also made in a speech to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, the previous day.

He noted that major German carmakers, along with 17 EU countries, oppose the imposition of tariffs on China.

While highlighting the need for Germany to boost its competitiveness in the electric vehicle market, Scholz emphasized that this should not be achieved through tariffs. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said here Friday that China stands ready to work with Singapore to jointly advance their respective modernization process.

Li made the remarks during his meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on the sidelines of the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation held in Vientiane.

Li said that for a long time, China and Singapore have maintained close and good high-level exchanges, the leaders of the two countries have exchanged in-depth views on strategic issues related to the long-term interests of both sides and discussed development plans.

"This is a unique advantage and important guarantee for China and Singapore to promote the development of bilateral relations," Li said, noting China is willing to continue this fine tradition with the Singaporean side, strengthen strategic communication and coordination, firmly support each other in safeguarding core interests, continue to build a solid foundation of political mutual trust, and grasp the correct direction of bilateral relations.

Noting that both countries are at a critical stage of development and next year will mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Li said China is willing to take this opportunity with Singapore to enhance synergy in development, give full play to complementary advantages, and join Singapore to guide their all-round cooperation in a high-quality fashion and with foresight.

The two sides should strengthen economic and trade ties, actively explore more converging interests and growth areas of cooperation, expand cooperation in cutting-edge areas such as advanced manufacturing, digital economy and artificial intelligence, deepen exchanges and cooperation in education, culture and tourism, youth and at sub-national levels to better promote common development, said Li.

China is ready to strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation with Singapore, adhere to openness and inclusiveness, firmly promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, accelerate regional economic integration, and jointly safeguard peace and stability of Asia, he said.

Wong said that the current development momentum of Singapore-China relations is sound, and cooperation in various fields has made considerable progress, which is highly in line with the positioning of Singapore-China all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership.

Singapore firmly pursues the one-China policy, opposes "Taiwan independence" and will not be used by any "Taiwan independence" forces, Wong said, noting that Singapore is willing to keep close high-level exchanges with China, continuously enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation in economy and trade, digital economy, third-party market and other fields, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.

Singapore supports China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), and stands ready to maintain communication and coordination with China on international multilateral affairs, jointly oppose protectionism and make greater contributions to promoting regional peace, stability and prosperity, Wong said.

The State Council Taiwan Affairs Office on Monday announced the imposition of punishment measures on Shen Pao-yang and Robert Hsing-cheng Tsao, two key secessionist figures from island of Taiwan; along with Kuma Academy, an organization that propagates secessionist ideas and serves as a base for "Taiwan independence" separatist activities.

After careful verification of the clues submitted by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits regarding the die-hard "Taiwan independence" separatists, the Taiwan Affairs Office decided to impose punishment measures on Shen, Tsao and the Kuma academy, said office spokesperson Chen Binhua.

Chen said that with backing from Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities and external forces, the Kuma Academy has openly fostered violent "Taiwan independence" individuals under the guise of training and outdoor activities. He added that the academy has actively engaged in separatist activities, making it a clear stronghold for "Taiwan independence" elements.

Shen, the head of the academy, has been actively and systematically organizing activities promoting "Taiwan independence." He has also deliberately promoted "Taiwan independence" and "anti-China" ideologies, particularly targeting the young people in Taiwan.

Tsao, a businessman from the island, has provided substantial financial support to the academy, supporting its activities to divide the country by spreading harmful ideologies of "opposing China and seeking independence" through various means.

"The two individuals have openly pursued efforts to divide the country and fuel discord, seriously threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and causing significant harm to the common interests of people across the Strait, as well as the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation," Chen said.

Chen said that the mainland has decided to include Shen and Tsao in the list of die-hard "Taiwan independence" separatists, and impose sanctions on the Kuma Academy, as well as Shen and Tsao. 

These measures include prohibiting Shen, Tsao, and their family members from entering the mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions; restricting the Kuma Academy and the associated institutions of Shen and Tsao from cooperating with relevant organizations and individuals in the mainland, while prohibiting their affiliated enterprises and financial backers from profiting within the mainland. 

Furthermore, necessary punitive measures will be taken in accordance with guidelines on imposing criminal punishments on die-hard "Taiwan independence" separatists for conducting or inciting secession, and they will be held accountable for life according to the law.

Chen emphasized that the mainland will not tolerate or show leniency for die-hard 'Taiwan independence' separatists or bases with malicious "independence" rhetoric and rampant "independence" activities. They will be dealt with heavy blow and harsh penalties. Public, especially the Taiwan compatriots, are welcome to continue providing new clues regarding criminal activities related to conducting or inciting secession by the Kuma Academy, Shen, and Tsao.

Chen stated that facing the historical trend of national rejuvenation and reunification, "Taiwan independence" separatists will inevitably face painful price for their actions. "Taiwan independence" and peace across the Straits are as incompatible as fire and water.

Chen hopes that the vast number of Taiwan compatriots will become aware, recognize the extreme danger and harm of "Taiwan independence," actively distance themselves from the Kuma Academy and die-hard" Taiwan independence" separatists like Shen and Tsao, resolutely oppose the separatist actions of "Taiwan independence," and join hands with their mainland compatriots to promote cross-Straits exchanges, cooperation, and integrated development, safeguarding the common homeland of the Chinese nation and bringing enduring benefits to both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

China welcomed an initial shipment of 22 tons of avocados imported from South Africa on Tuesday in Shanghai, Chinanews.com reported on Thursday.

The first shipment of imported South African avocados will also be displayed at this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November, according to cnstock.com.

South Africa has become the third African country after Kenya and Tanzania to gain access for exporting fresh avocadoes to China, according to the report from Chinanews.com.

Agricultural products remain one of the most important exports from Africa to China. Strengthening cooperation in popular items such as avocados will not only boost bilateral trade but also introduce more high-quality and affordable commodities to meet the growing demand in China, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Agriculture was a focal point at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September in Beijing, where multiple cooperation agreements were signed, further strengthening collaboration.

For instance, China will grant duty-free treatment to 100 percent of the tariff lines of products from least developed countries in Africa with diplomatic ties with China; sign framework agreements on economic partnership for shared development with interested African countries; and strengthen cooperation on inspection and quarantine and standards, and expand access for agricultural exports from Africa, according to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027).

Various measures to support agricultural exports from Africa to China are conducive to streamlining trade with optimized procedures, which will help ensure the freshness of agricultural products like avocados with shortening customs clearance time, Song noted.

More Chinese consumers will be able to learn about African products with their advantages as the products have opportunities to be displayed at expos such as CIIE, according to Song.

In the first eight months of the year, China imported 28.47 billion yuan ($4.02 billion) worth of agricultural products from Africa, a 4.8 percent year-on-year increase.

Border control authorities on the Chinese mainland recorded about 13.57 million inbound and outbound trips during the National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

They also recorded 606,000 vehicles crossing the border during the seven days, one of the longest public holidays on the mainland, according to a statement released by the ministry on Monday.

The number of criminal cases and public security incidents reported on the mainland during the holiday decreased by 5.7 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year, according to the statement.

A daily average of 580,000 police and auxiliary police officers worked to protect tourists from public security threats during the holiday, it added.

In his nearly four years in office, US President Joe Biden will finally set foot on the African continent ahead of the November presidential election as his presidency approaches its conclusion. While the White House is keen to portray Biden's trip to Angola as fulfillment of "a commitment" to go to Africa, analysts view it as symbolic, saying that it once again exposes US' lack of regard for the continent's call for development and it is merely focused on vying for US influence against China. 

Biden will travel to Luanda, Angola, from October 13 to 15 after spending three days in Germany. This will mark his first trip to an African country as president and the first visit to the continent by a sitting US president since 2015, according to media reports. 

On Monday, while answering a question why Biden's trip to Angola needs to be in October, not in December or January before he leaves office, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that "there's not a lot of time… the president had made a commitment and a promise to go to Africa, to continue to show his commitment to that relationship." In December 2022, Biden held a summit with African leaders in Washington, DC and promised to visit the continent. 

Biden has chosen to visit Angola less than a month before the US presidential election to address criticism about his lack of attention to Africa during his presidency, aiming to bolster support for the Democratic Party. Moreover, the US values Angola's geopolitical significance, regional influence and its rich oil and mineral resources, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Biden's trip to Angola has garnered media attention, with some Western outlets reporting that it aims to strengthen ties with Africa and counter the growing influence of China and Russia in the continent.

Song said that as Biden approaches the end of his presidency, he is finally acknowledging his "commitment" to Africa, yet this last-ditch visit cannot change US' consistent arrogance toward the continent. 

"The trip is more symbolic than it is capable of bringing any concrete benefits to Africa's development," Song said, noting that African countries are well aware that their core development needs are rarely a priority for the US, which only offers empty promises when vying for influence against Russia and China.