A senior Iranian official told Refinitiv on Aug. 17 that Iran has set a deadline of several weeks for the US to fully implement a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and will not allow an indefinite US maritime blockade. The official said efforts to secure a permanent ceasefire have stalled and Iran has decided to shift its posture "from defensive to full offensive" — if diplomacy fails Tehran is prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East. Iran said its timel

Hunan provincial government office issued implementation opinions to accelerate the smart-robot industry, focusing on industrial robots, consumer service robots and special-operations robots and building an integrated chain covering key materials, core components, whole-machine R&D, pilot testing, smart manufacturing, application scenarios and data feedback. By 2028 the province seeks to push industry-chain revenue past 100 bln yuan, significantly raise capabilities in key materials, advanced manufacturing and core components, and cultivate around five chain-leading firms plus a cohort of specialized suppliers. By 2030 it seeks to exceed 200 bln yuan in revenue, establish a mature domestic supply system for precision transmission, high-precision sensing, motion control and lightweight alloys, cultivate roughly ten chain-leading firms and lift the sector into China’s national first tier.

Dario Amodei, CEO of ANTHROPIC, said on Saturday the best way to counter public skepticism about AI is to deliver on the technology’s promises, acknowledging widespread distrust and calling for concrete scientific breakthroughs. He said claims that AI will cure cancer have become clichés and are seen as misleading, and conceded the fairest critique of AI firms, including ANTHROPIC, is that they have not yet delivered on their grand promises — genuinely effective progress would be curing cancer. Amodei has previously warned about AI risks; some industry figures have criticized his tone. Demis Hassabis of DeepMind earlier urged peers to retract overly certain pessimistic predictions. With OpenAI and ANTHROPIC seen as potential IPO candidates, market sentiment has moved from pessimism toward optimism, though Amodei said he does not believe his warnings are the root cause of public distrust.