China released its first industry standard for embodied artificial intelligence on Thursday, marking a key step toward standardizing evaluation and deployment of next-generation AI systems. Effective on June 1, the standard focuses on core AI technologies and evaluation methodologies, and defines system architectures and capability requirements, with a unified benchmarking and testing framework for embodied AI systems.

The joint China-Chile expedition to the Atacama Trench concluded on Thursday after more than 40 days in the Pacific Ocean. During the mission, the China-developed deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe completed 36 dives and collected over 3,500 biological samples.

China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly administered by the central government stepped up investment in R&D in 2025 as part of efforts to advance innovation-driven development, data from the country's state-asset regulator showed: - Their R&D spending reached 1.1 trillion yuan (about $158.51 billion) last year, marking the fourth consecutive year that annual investment exceeded the 1-trillion-yuan threshold. - R&D intensity, the percentage of revenue that is reinvested in R&D, stood at 2.86% last year. - These SOEs employed 1.44 million R&D personnel and had established 474 national-level R&D platforms.

As China celebrates the 2026 Spring Festival, the crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission aboard the Tiangong space station has received a remarkable gift, a thriving harvest of tomatoes grown in the "space vegetable garden", demonstrating the potential for sustained plant life beyond Earth's atmosphere. The device nurturing the plants is called an aeroponic cultivation system, which vaporises water into a fine mist and uses a specially designed LED light spectrum. Future plans for the Tiangong "space garden" include aeroponic cultivation trials of wheat, carrots and medicinal plant species, progressively expanding the diversity of crops that can be sustained in orbital environments.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, while presiding over a State Council group study session focused on AI development on Wednesday, called for a comprehensive push in the technological innovation, industrial growth and application of AI to foster new quality productive forces and promote high-quality development.

Japan's Niigata Prefecture on Monday approved the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest, more than a decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, local media reported. The prefectural assembly's consent means that Tokyo Electric Power Company will resume nuclear operations for the first time since the March 2011 core meltdowns at its tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant.

China will work with all parties to abide by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, achieve positive and balanced outcomes in the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30), and make new contributions to global climate governance, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Among the countries with the fastest decline in energy intensity, China has made carbon peak and carbon neutrality a national strategy, and established the most systematic and complete policy framework for carbon emissions reduction. The country also built the largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system in the world, providing 70% of wind power equipment and 80% of photovoltaic components worldwide, according to the spokesperson.

China successfully launched the Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship via a Long March-2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Friday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station on a six-month mission. The Shenzhou-21 crew members have entered the country's space station and met with another astronaut trio early Saturday morning, starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover.

The world has just experienced its third warmest September on record, the EU's climate monitoring network reported on Thursday. The global average surface temperature in September this year was 16.11 degrees Celsius, down by 0.27 degrees and 0.07 degrees from the same month in 2023 and 2024, respectively, but still 1.47 degrees above pre-industrial level.

The Chinese Navy hospital ship "Silk Road Ark," which is on "Mission Harmony-2025," successfully completed a seven-day friendly visit and humanitarian medical service to Fiji and set off for Tonga on Wednesday.

The water quality of the Yellow River's main stream has remained stable at Grade II in the country's five-tier water quality system for three consecutive years since 2022, marking a significant environmental milestone for the nation's second-longest river, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

A recent study led by Chinese scientists has identified a gene defect -- PLD4 deficiency -- that can cause systemic #lupus erythematosus, a chronic and complex autoimmune disease affecting millions of patients worldwide. The findings, published in Nature on Wednesday, provide crucial insights for future targeted therapies.

China ranked first worldwide in terms of the number of invention patent grants within the core industries of the digital economy in 2024, reaching 500,000 and recording a year-on-year increase of 23.1%, the country's top IP regulator said on Thursday.

Four Chinese sites have been added to the World Heritage Irrigation Structures list, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. They are Chishan Lake Irrigation System, Yuanyang Hani Terraces, Jianjiangyan Irrigation System, and Mentougou Ancient Canals of Yongding River.

Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, S China's Guangdong Province, has welcomed a new resident - a 15-month-old wedge-capped capuchin named Yutou. As an endangered species, Yutou adjusts to the new home well and is in good health.

Beijing city has unveiled a plan to accelerate the integration of 5G and industrial internet, targeting the construction of at least 20 5G factories by 2027.

The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in SW China's Guizhou Province, set to become the world's tallest bridge, had completed a key load test as of Monday, ahead of its scheduled opening in late September.

Chinese researchers on Wednesday said that they have confirmed the presence of a dugong -- one of the oldest marine mammals on Earth -- in waters off Yongshu Reef in the area of China's Nansha Islands, marking the first such sighting in the area and in the central South China Sea over the last three decades.

#LATEST: The Shenzhou-20 crew aboard China's orbiting space station completed their mission's third series of extravehicular activities on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

A recent study published in the journal Earth History and Biodiversity has unveiled the southernmost dinosaur tracks ever found in China, providing new insights into ecosystems across southern China in the Mesozoic era. The tracks, uncovered in 2021 in Dongxing, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, consist of 7 theropod footprints, indicating that some bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs had left these traces in this area.