July 7 — Alipay said it has launched its AI open platform and opened invited testing to enterprise developers and third-party development service providers. The platform lets merchants and institutions AI-enable service capabilities, integrate the Abao assistant to deliver intelligent services to about 1 billion users, and support cross-device connectivity — linking smartphones, vehicle head units, AI glasses, IoT devices and large-model platforms to enable one-time integration, multi-end distri

Beijing has launched the "Beijing Key Laboratory for Quantum-Resistant Cryptography", approved by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee. The lab is hosted by Xingtang Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and jointly established by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), Nankai University and China Automotive Research Institute Software Testing (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. CAICT said it will use the lab to advance standards development, testing and industry ecosystem work for post-quantum cryptography, drive core technology R&D, build industry standard systems and accelerate deployment in key scenarios to support national cybersecurity and Digital China initiatives.

Capital Economics economist Andrew Kenningham says strong retail prints last week and a 0.9% MoM rise in May industrial production indicate Germany may have weathered the Iran war shock and could post Q2 GDP expansion. He cautions the industrial gain is chiefly auto production‑led and, given sector headwinds, that momentum is unlikely to persist; manufacturing’s share of the economy is likely to decline over the medium term.