Weekend Edition.

14 December 2025.

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1. China is leading research in nearly 90% of the crucial technologies that “significantly enhance, or pose risks to, a country’s national interests”, according to a technology tracker run by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) — an independent think-tank. The ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker evaluated research on 74 current and emerging technologies this year, up from the 64 technologies it analyzed last year. China is ranked number one for research on 66 of the technologies, including nuclear energy, synthetic biology, small satellites, while the United States topped the remaining 8, including quantum computing and geoengineering. The results reflect a drastic reversal. At the beginning of this century, the United States led more than 90% of the assessed technologies, whereas China led less than 5% of them, according to the 2024 edition of the tracker. (Sources: nature.com, aspistrategist.org.au, aspi.org)

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2. Volkswagen will stop manufacturing vehicles at its site in Dresden after Tuesday, marking the first time in the carmaker’s 88-year history that it will close production in Germany. The closure of the plant’s production line comes as Europe’s largest auto manufacturer is under cash flow pressure as a result of weak China sales and demand in Europe as well as US tariffs weighing on sales in America. Volkswagen has been wrestling with the allocation of its investment budget of about €160 billion over the coming five years, with a longer lifespan expected for petrol-engine cars. The rolling budget, which is updated annually, has been slashed over the recent years. For the period from 2023 to 2027 the equivalent figure was €180 billion. (Source: ft.com)

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