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China's Humanoid Robots Generate More Soccer Excitement than their Human Counterparts

Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
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China's Humanoid Robots Generate More Soccer Excitement than their Human Counterparts

Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters

While China's men's soccer team hasn't generated much excitement in recent years, humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing based more on the AI technology involved than any athletic prowess shown.

Four teams of humanoid robots faced off in fully autonomous 3-on-3 soccer matches powered entirely by artificial intelligence on Saturday night in China's capital in what was touted as a first in China and a preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, set to take place in Beijing.

According to the organizers, a key aspect of the match was that all the participating robots operated fully autonomously using AI-driven strategies without any human intervention or supervision.

Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility

They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling. However, during the match several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff, adding to the realism of the experience.

China is stepping up efforts to develop AI-powered humanoid robots, using sports competitions like marathons, boxing, and football as a real-world proving ground.

Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the robot players, said sports competitions offer the ideal testing ground for humanoid robots, helping to accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-software systems.

He also emphasized safety as a core concern in the application of humanoid robots.

“In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe,” Cheng said. “For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn’t matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe.”

Booster Robotics provided the hardware for all four university teams, while each school’s research team developed and embedded their own algorithms for perception, decision-making, player formations, and passing strategies—including variables such as speed, force, and direction, according to Cheng.

In the final match, Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team with a score of 5–3 to win the championship.

Wu, a supporter of Tsinghua, celebrated their victory while also praising the competition.

“They (THU) did really well,” he said. “But the Mountain Sea team (of Agricultural University) was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises.”

China's men have made only one World Cup appearance and have already been knocked out of next years' competition in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

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NASA to Build $20 Bn Moon Base, Pause Orbital Lunar Station Plans

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during the rollout of NASA's next-generation moon rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during the rollout of NASA's next-generation moon rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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NASA to Build $20 Bn Moon Base, Pause Orbital Lunar Station Plans

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during the rollout of NASA's next-generation moon rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during the rollout of NASA's next-generation moon rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, January 17, 2026. (Reuters)

NASA's chief on Tuesday said the US space agency will invest $20 billion to develop a base on the Moon, while suspending its plans to create the lunar orbital space station known as Gateway.

"The agency intends to pause Gateway in its current form and shift focus to infrastructure that enables sustained surface operations," Jared Isaacman said in a statement given during a day-long event at NASA headquarters in Washington.

"Despite challenges with some existing hardware, the agency will repurpose applicable equipment and leverage international partner commitments to support these objectives," he said.

The European Space Agency among other international organizations were partners on the planned Gateway project.

It's the latest shake-up at NASA in the wake of changes to the Artemis program, which aims to send Americans back to the Moon and establish a long-term presence there, paving the way for eventual missions to Mars.

The Gateway orbital lunar station was meant to serve both as a point of transfer for astronauts headed to the Moon as well as a platform for research.

The suspension of the initiative isn't entirely surprising: some had criticized it as wasteful or a distraction from other lunar ambitions.

Isaacman said NASA now plans to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to construct the lunar base over dozens of missions, "working together with commercial and international partners towards a deliberate and achievable plan."

"There will be an evolutionary path to building humanity's first permanent surface outpost beyond Earth, and we will take the world along with us."

- Artemis 2 on deck -

Isaacman, who took the helm of NASA late last year, abruptly announced less than a month ago that it was reshuffling its Artemis program that has suffered multiple delays in recent years, as it aims to ensure Americans can return to the Moon's surface by 2028.

That goal remains unchanged, but the US space agency is shifting its flight lineup to include a test mission before an eventual lunar landing to improve launch "muscle memory," Isaacman said.

That strategic revision came amid repeated delays to the Artemis 2 mission, which was originally due to take off as early as February, but is now targeting early April. It is meant to see the first flyby of the Moon in more than half a century.

During his first term, President Donald Trump announced he wanted Americans to once again set foot on the lunar surface.

China is forging ahead with plans for its first crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 at the latest.

The US effort depends in part on the progress of NASA's private partners.

SpaceX and Blue Origin, the respective space companies of dueling billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are contracted to develop lunar landers used in the Artemis program.

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Rescuers Try to Refloat Stranded Humpback Whale in Germany’s Baltic Sea

23 March 2026, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Timmendorf: Experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) and firefighters free a whale stranded on the Baltic Sea coast off Niendorf. Photo: Ulrich Perrey/dpa
23 March 2026, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Timmendorf: Experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) and firefighters free a whale stranded on the Baltic Sea coast off Niendorf. Photo: Ulrich Perrey/dpa
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Rescuers Try to Refloat Stranded Humpback Whale in Germany’s Baltic Sea

23 March 2026, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Timmendorf: Experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) and firefighters free a whale stranded on the Baltic Sea coast off Niendorf. Photo: Ulrich Perrey/dpa
23 March 2026, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Timmendorf: Experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) and firefighters free a whale stranded on the Baltic Sea coast off Niendorf. Photo: Ulrich Perrey/dpa

Rescue teams in northern Germany are working to refloat a humpback whale stranded in shallow water in the Baltic Sea.

Experts gathered Tuesday morning on the Timmendorfer Strand beach to find a way to pull the 10-meter-long (30-feet-long) mammal off the ground after the high tide around midnight was not sufficient for the animal to swim free under its own power, German news agency dpa reported.

Earlier rescue efforts on Monday afternoon with police boats, inflatable boats and the help of firefighter drones guiding the rescue efforts were also unsuccessful.

The animal is still alive, it breathes, makes sounds and occasionally lifts its head, Carsten Mannheimer of the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd told dpa.

Experts assume that the whale is a young male, as males, unlike females, tend to migrate. It also seems to be the same whale that has been spotted several times in the port of Wismar in eastern Germany in recent weeks.

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Pakistan Ranked Most Polluted Country in 2025, Data Shows

Commuters make their way amid smog in Lahore on November 2, 2024. (AFP)
Commuters make their way amid smog in Lahore on November 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Pakistan Ranked Most Polluted Country in 2025, Data Shows

Commuters make their way amid smog in Lahore on November 2, 2024. (AFP)
Commuters make their way amid smog in Lahore on November 2, 2024. (AFP)

Pakistan was ranked the world's smoggiest ‌country in 2025, with concentrations of hazardous small particles known as PM2.5 up to 13 times higher than the recommended World Health Organization level, research showed on Tuesday.

Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir said in its annual report that 13 countries and territories kept average PM2.5 levels at the WHO standard of less than 5 micrograms per cubic meter last year, up from seven in 2024.

In total, 130 out of 143 monitored countries and territories failed to meet the WHO guideline.

Bangladesh ‌and Tajikistan were ‌second and third on the most polluted list.

Chad, ⁠statistically the smoggiest ⁠country of 2024, ranked fourth in 2025, but the decline in PM2.5 concentrations last year is likely to be the result of data gaps.

Last March, the United States shut down a global monitoring program that compiled pollution data collected from its embassy and consulate buildings, citing budget constraints.

"The loss of the data in March made it ⁠appear there was a significant drop in PM2.5 levels (in ‌Chad), but the fact of ‌the matter is that we don't know," said Christi Chester Schroeder, lead author of ‌the IQAir report.

The US decision eliminated a primary data ‌source for many smog-prone countries, and Burundi, Turkmenistan and Togo were excluded from the 2025 report because of information gaps.

India's Loni was the world's most polluted city in 2025, with average PM2.5 levels of 112.5 micrograms, ‌followed by Hotan in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang at 109.6 micrograms.

The world's top 25 most ⁠polluted cities ⁠were all in India, Pakistan and China.

Only 14% of the world's cities met the WHO standard in 2025, down from 17% a year earlier, with Canadian wildfires driving up PM2.5 across the United States and as far as Europe.

Among the countries that met the standard in 2025 were Australia, Iceland, Estonia and Panama.

Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia all reported significant PM2.5 reductions compared to the previous year, thanks mainly to wetter and windier La Nina weather. Mongolia saw average concentrations fall 31% to 17.8 micrograms per cubic meter.

In all, 75 countries reported lower PM2.5 levels in 2025 compared to a year earlier, with 54 recording higher average concentrations, IQAir said.