Capital of Zhejiang, a tech-forward Chinese city
Typhoon Bavi has made two landfalls in Zhejiang province and has weakened to a severe tropical storm while still carrying vast moisture. Authorities have evacuated more than 1.7 million people in Zhejiang and moved hundreds of thousands in neighbouring provinces; flights and train services have been cancelled and flooding, fallen trees and landslides have been reported.
The European Commission has fined AliExpress €1.2 billion for failing to stop the sale of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit goods on its platform. Regulators found weak staffing, bypassable checks, ineffective brand controls and recommendation systems that promoted flagged items. AliExpress says the penalty is disproportionate and will appeal; it must submit a compliance plan by 20 October 2026.
Alibaba has introduced its new Qwen3.8-Max, claiming leading benchmarks and capabilities across coding, research and visual intelligence. The model supports a context window of up to 1 million tokens and showcases autonomous long-horizon task handling, positioning Alibaba in a heated AI race with Moonshot AI and other rivals.
Typhoon Dolphin has weakened inland but continues to cause extreme rainfall and floods across Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian. Authorities have evacuated hundreds of thousands, canceled thousands of flights, and closed major attractions as the storm moves westward.
Dolphin has made landfall near Yuhuan, Zhejiang, bringing winds of 151 km/h and torrential rain. The storm has prompted mass evacuations, flight cancellations, and widespread transport disruptions as authorities warn of prolonged rainfall and flood risk across eastern China.
Multiple storms have triggered record rainfall across parts of South Korea, the Philippines and China, causing evacuations, power outages and injuries. Geoje and nearby areas have seen rescues and ongoing emergency responses as the deluge continues.
Unitree Robotics has priced its Shanghai Star Market IPO at 150.80-150.8 yuan per share, raising about $900 million and valuing the company around $9 billion. Demand from retail investors was exceptionally strong, underscoring appetite for humanoid robotics while questions linger on commercial viability and scale.
China’s humanoid robotics sector is expanding as World Robot Conference showcases domestic firms deploying robots in logistics and manufacturing, while overseas demand and investor interest drive IPOs and automation adoption across factories.
Chinese regulators have announced recalls affecting more than four million vehicles, largely driven by safety concerns over hidden, electronically operated door handles. Tesla has accounted for about 2.98 million cars; Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Xpeng and Geely are also recalling vehicles. Automakers will add warning labels and push software updates to improve emergency egress and driver monitoring.
China is accelerating its AI ambitions as Huawei and Alibaba unveil faster chips and new models ahead of Xi Jinping’s Washington visit. The moves illustrate Beijing’s push for self-reliance amid U.S. export restrictions, while analysts warn U.S. leaders to consider the competitive risk.
Alibaba has announced plans to establish cloud regions in Turkey, Finland and the Netherlands within 12 months and to train a new AI model at scale. The company also touts its Zhenwu V900 accelerator as a leap in performance, while signaling aggressive expansion of its data-centre capacity to meet rising AI demand.
Japan hosts a delayed, chaotic Asian Games with logistical issues shadowing standout performances. China leads in diving and tennis through young stars like Yu Zidi and Wang Xiyu; Japan and other nations show flashes of talent while organisers face criticism over accommodation and transport.
In a high-stakes Asia Games final in Nagoya, India has beaten Pakistan by 19 runs to claim the T20 gold, with Abhishek Sharma scoring 61 and Tilak Varma finishing 51 not out as India posts 211-6 before Pakistan is bowled out for 192.
West Indies chase 209-7 after India posts 223 all out in Indore; Hope leads with a quick hundred and Rutherford, Chase, and Powell contribute. India’s bowlers struggle as WI seal a six-wicket win in Ranchi to go 2-1 in the series.
Arena is expanding its lineup of AI benchmarking tools with an Alignment Index to measure how well models follow user objectives. The funding round led by Lightspeed and Khosla values the company at $1.7 billion, with fresh investments from Salesforce Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital and others. The move comes as the industry seeks neutral, third‑party safety and alignment assessments for increasingly capable AI models.