Putin agrees in Trump call to pause Ukraine energy attacks but no full ceasefire

Although US President Donald Trump was keen to get a 30-day cease fire, Russia President Vladimir Putin has rejected an immediate and full ceasefire in Ukraine, agreeing only to halt attacks on energy infrastructure, following a call with Trump.

The Russian leader declined to sign up to the comprehensive month-long ceasefire that Trump's team recently worked out with Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.

He said a comprehensive truce could only work if foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine came to an end. Ukraine's European allies have previously rejected such conditions.

In the grinding three-year war, Russia has recently been taking back territory in its Kursk region that was occupied by a Ukrainian incursion six months ago.

The results of Tuesday's Trump-Putin call amount to a retreat in the US position from where it stood a week ago, although the two leaders did agree that further peace talks would take place immediately in the Middle East.

When a US delegation met Ukrainian counterparts in Jeddah last Tuesday, they convinced Kyiv to agree to their proposal for an "immediate" 30-day ceasefire, across land, air and sea.

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd65pz1p7d9o
2. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-putin-updates-us-russian-leaders-discuss-plans-ukraine-ceasefire-2025-03-18/
3. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-18/putin-is-said-to-want-all-arms-to-ukraine-halted-for-trump-truce

Airbus and others call for sovereign infrastructure fund, buy European

(Source: Reuters)

Over 90 smaller European technology companies and lobby groups, including Airbus and Dassault Systemes, have called on the European Commission to create a sovereign infrastructure fund to boost public investment and bolster the region's autonomy in the Tech sector.

In a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and executive vice president Henna Virkkunen, the signatories stressed the need for Europe's technological self-reliance as it confronts a "stark reality" following "developments in U.S./Eu relations." The letter stressed that Europe is now in a "laggard position" in the digital space, having been significantly outpaced by the U.S. and China, and will have a near-complete reliance on non-European Technologies in less than three years at the current rate. Signatories want "buy European" requirements for governments to increase demand for homegrown tech and a "sovereign infrastructure fund" to support investments in more Capital-Intensive industries like microchips and quantum technology. Rapidly deteriorating Eu-U.S. relations means Europe's industrial base is exposed to growing risks links to U.S. technology in its supply chains, the letter warns, citing U.S. vice president JD Vance's speech at the Munich security conference as proof.

Reference Sources

1. cna - Airbus and others call for sovereign infrastructure fund, buy European
2. cnbc - 'Buy European': Airbus and others call for sovereign fund and higher Europe tech autonomy
3. politico - Defense giants want von der Leyen to boost made-in-Europe tech

Baidu shares jump 10% following release of new open-source AI models

(Source: Getty Images)

Chinese Tech giant Baidu has released two new artificial intelligence (AI) models over the weekend, including the latest version of its Foundational "Ernie" model and a new reasoning model that it said rivaled Deepseek's R1 model.

A reasoning model is a large language model designed to process complex problems in a similar way to humans, breaking prompts down into smaller pieces and considering multiple approaches before generating responses.

Baidu said its new Ernie X1 reasoning model "delivers performance on par with Deepseek R1 at only half the price," and has "stronger understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution capabilities," according to a report from Reuters.

Baidu's stock jump is likely a "delayed reaction" to the new models as it vies to regain a leading position in China's ai space.

Baidu's Ernie Bot, one of China's earliest versions of a Chatgpt-Like Chatbot, struggles to gain widespread adoption.

Baidu's future competitiveness could hinge on whether its new models deliver on the promised performance and cost advantages.

Reference Sources

1. cnbc - Baidu shares jump 10% following release of new open-source AI models
2. cnbc - Baidu, once China’s generative AI leader, is battling to regain its position

Shanghai-based robotics firm releases open-source humanoid robot dataset in a bid to advance AI robot training

(Source: Xinhua)

Shanghai-based robotics firm Fourier intelligence has released its Open-Source full-size humanoid robot dataset, Fourier Actionnet, along with the world's first full-process Tool-Chain.

The move aims to enhance ai robot training and offer a comprehensive solution for developers and research institutions worldwide, fostering innovation and collaboration among the global robotics community.

The initial Dataset includes over 30,000 high-quality Real-Machine training entries, covering Dexterous hand movements and specialized imitation learning data for Hand-Related tasks, covering application scenarios such as picking up and laying down tools, performing household tasks as well as other actions. embodied ai integrates ai into physical bodies such as robots to enable them to perceive, learn and dynamically interact with the environment like humans. relying on computation and logical reasoning, it can continuously learn, adapt and complete tasks by perception, action and environmental feedback, thus improving autonomy and practical application in real world.

In addition to Humanoid robots, other hardware with interactive capabilities, such as autonomous driving vehicles and Wearable devices, can also serve as bodies of embodied ai.

Many cities in China are now funding projects that advance embodied intelligence systems, allowing ai to physically interact with the world.

Reference Sources

1. globaltimes - Shanghai-based robotics firm releases open-source humanoid robot dataset in a bid to advance AI robot training
2. xinhua - Embodied AI development advances across China

The CommonWealth English daily news digest is a service curated by CommonWealth English team with the help of AI tools.

Have you read?

• China Boosts Domestic Consumption 
• Taiwan Takes a Tough Stance on China
• Under Economic Pressure, China to Drive Up Debt

Uploaded by Ian Huang