Tag Archives: China

Communications

From Lanzhou to BC: Bots Overwhelming Cortes Currents

Editor’s note updated Feb 13 2026 – China now leads the world in terms of internet users – 1,1 billion, as compared to 806 million users in India and 302 million in the United States. This comes at a time when bots have replaced humans as the #1 source of traffic on the web. In 2025, Cortes Currents received 32,969 visits from Lanzhou, China. The first ‘visitor’ arrived on October 3 and the worst day was December 23 – when 4,105 came. The average bot visit lasts for a fraction of a second, during which they each make numerous requests of the website – sometimes overwhelming the server.

Posted Nov 19, 2025 – There have been numerous reports of cyberattacks, bots, and hackers this month. On November 13, the Wallstreet Journal reported what is reputedly the world’s first cyberespionage operation largely carried out using AI. The makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude subsequently revealed that they detected this operation in September. The attacks were carried out by Chinese hackers targeting large tech companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and government agencies.

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Forests, Politics

BC won’t run anti-tariff ads, Eby says after emergency summit

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

BC Premier David Eby is putting his anti-tariff ads on ice after an emergency summit with federal ministers on Monday morning.

“We’ve committed to the federal government that when the time comes to be speaking directly to Americans, we’ll do it in partnership with them,” Eby told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver immediately after the emergency softwood lumber summit.

“We will not be running the ads by ourselves.” 

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Animals

New Virus Associated With (But Not Causing) Mass Oyster Die-Offs

UBC researchers found a new virus in farmed Pacific Oysters that perished during a mass die-off in 2020. 

During the die-off, researchers collected 33 dead oysters as well as 26 wild oysters from neighbouring sites. Pacific Oyster Nidovirus 1 (PONV1) was only found in 20 of the dead or dying farmed oysters.

Dr Kevin Xu Zhong, a research associate in the UBC department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS), explained this does not mean the virus was the cause of death.

“We found this new virus. There is no indication it is causing the mortality mentioned in the database, the study, or the reporting.”

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Cost of Climate Change

International Court of Justice Issues Landmark Climate Opinion

“The Court hopes that its conclusions will allow the law to inform and guide social and political action to address the ongoing climate crisis.” – ICJ Advisory Opinion, para. 456

In a historic and unanimous ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued its Advisory Opinion on the legal responsibilities of nation states to address climate change. This decision, requested by the United Nations General Assembly in 2023, clarifies for the first time what international law demands of countries and what legal consequences may follow if they fail to act.

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Finances, History

The Quadra Project: Globalization – Part 1

Peter Zeihan, in his 2022 book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, offers an insightful and credible explanation for the globalization process that affects us all, and is becoming increasingly relevant because of global economic, political and environmental factors. Although his book might exaggerate the importance of America, his ideas deserve our attention because they provide a framework for illuminating other related subjects.

At the end of World War II, in 1945, the world was in a political and economic mess. Although Germany and Japan had been defeated, most of the rest of the world had been heavily damaged by the conflict. In the East, an imperial Japan was in ruin, as was China after the Japanese invasion of its northern territories. In Europe, Germany, too, was in ruin. Great Britain, Italy, France, Russia and their many adjacent countries had been heavily damaged.

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