Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump for the high appreciation and friendly words 🫶❤️🇦🇲🇺🇸🫶
— Nikol Pashinyan (@NikolPashinyan) May 28, 2026
Day: May 27, 2026
Most governments around the world are still figuring out how to talk about AI and jobs. China has decided to skip the conversation and go straight to enforcement.
Chinese authorities are constructing an increasingly explicit policy framework: companies should adopt artificial intelligence aggressively, but firing workers to do it is not acceptable. Courts are backing that position with real rulings, state media is amplifying the message, and regulators are drafting new rules to make it stick.
The legal scaffolding
Two court cases have established early precedent for how China plans to handle the collision between AI and employment law. In Beijing, an arbitration authority ruled in December 2025 that terminating employees solely because their roles were automated does not constitute valid grounds for dismissal under China’s Labor Contract Law. The employer in that case was ordered to pay 791,815 yuan in compensation.
A separate case out of the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court involved a tech worker whose job was partially automated. The company responded by slashing the employee’s pay by 40% and eventually terminating them. The court found the termination unlawful.
The legal reasoning in both cases is worth paying attention to. Beijing’s arbitration authority categorized AI adoption as a “voluntary business decision” rather than an economic necessity. In plain terms: if a company chooses to bring in AI, that’s the company’s prerogative, but the consequences of that choice cannot be offloaded onto workers without first exploring alternatives like retraining.
The political pressure
The courtroom activity is only one piece of a broader campaign. Vice Premier He Lifeng has been directly engaging with employers on the subject, and the conversations have apparently included some sobering math. A full rollout of AI across Chinese enterprises could eliminate up to 30% of existing roles, according to discussions He Lifeng has had with business leaders.
Beijing’s answer is not to slow down AI adoption. It is to insist that companies channel automation toward creating new positions rather than simply eliminating old ones. State news agency Xinhua published commentary in March 2026 arguing that equating AI with job cuts undermines both a company’s competitiveness and its employees’ trust.
China’s Ministry of Human Resources followed up in January 2026 with new policies specifically designed to address AI’s employment effects, with a focus on key industries most exposed to automation.
How this contrasts with the West
The timing of China’s approach is notable because it runs directly counter to what is happening in Western markets. Major US and European companies have been relatively open about using AI to reduce headcount. Tech firms, financial institutions, and media companies have announced layoffs explicitly linked to automation capabilities, often framing the cuts as efficiency gains for shareholders.
For investors watching Chinese tech and industrial firms, the regulatory environment creates a specific set of considerations. Companies that can demonstrate genuine AI-driven productivity gains while maintaining headcount will likely receive favorable treatment from regulators, courts, and state media. Conversely, firms that attempt to quietly reduce staff under the cover of AI adoption face real legal exposure. The Beijing and Hangzhou rulings suggest that Chinese courts are prepared to impose significant financial penalties on employers who cut corners.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The post Beijing warns companies to embrace AI without job cuts appeared first on azeritimes.com.
But inside the country, the company is obsessed over catching up to DeepSeek on its development of AI models, and catching up to Huawei on the chips that power them, News.az reports, citing Reuters.
***
When Alibaba’s chip design unit T-Head unveiled its latest AI chip, the Zhenwu M890, last week, it also outlined a multi-year chip roadmap showing how the M890’s future successors would deliver massive performance gains in the next few years. Less than a year ago, Huawei had laid out a similar timeline that ran until 2028.
Unlike Huawei, Alibaba has not been targeted by U.S. sanctions, nor has it made its AI chip push as explicitly about beating Nvidia as the Shenzhen-based conglomerate has. But its decision to chase Huawei highlights the huge business opportunity presented by Beijing’s push to replace Nvidia.
IDC data reviewed by Reuters last month point to a Chinese AI chip market benefiting from Nvidia’s retreat, but where Huawei’s dominance is far from secure. Nvidia shipped 2.2 million AI accelerators to China in 2025, a 55% market share that rebuts Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s talking point that this figure was zero after U.S. export controls wiped out a near-monopoly held by the California-based chipmaker.
Whatever the real size of the void left by Nvidia, Alibaba and other domestic companies are not ready to hand it over to Huawei. Of the 1.65 million chips shipped by Chinese vendors in 2025, 812,000 came from Huawei, while Alibaba claimed second place, shipping around 265,000. Several other tech giants and startups are eyeing Huawei’s half of the pie.
As China nudges its AI industry to a post-Nvidia era, Huawei will face more competition. Besides Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent have the resources to mount a serious challenge. DeepSeek’s unquestionable lead among Chinese AI models lasted less than a year. Huawei might only have a few more.
In this week’s issue, we look at how Chinese chipmakers are trying to displace Nvidia from their country while searching for alternative chipmaking processes and theories to neutralise U.S. sanctions.
The post Huawei looks beyond Moore’s Law appeared first on azeritimes.com.
The mixed martial arts arena is being assembled on a stretch of the grounds used for presidents’ Marine One departures and annual Easter egg rolls and picnics, alongside tennis and basketball courts, a horseshoe pit and a garden honoring presidents’ children and grandchildren, News.az reports, citing Reuters.
***
UFC, the professional mixed martial arts league run by Trump ally Dana White, will stage a night of bouts at the executive mansion on June 14 as part of the country’s independence celebrations. The event will coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday.
Four pieces of giant metal scaffolding now rise in front of the White House, looming over the Truman Balcony, a columned terrace overlooking the South Lawn. Video screens will be suspended from them.
“The octagon,” the eight-sided metal cage in which combatants punch, kick, elbow and grapple, will sit inside, ringed with a chain-link fence. White has dubbed the arena “The Claw,” he said in an interview with the New Yorker magazine.
More than 4,000 spectators will watch the fight from the arena, Trump and White have said, with many tickets going to military personnel. Officials are also planning viewing areas on the Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House, with aims to accommodate an additional 100,000. Weigh-ins will be held at the Lincoln Memorial.
Trump, who plans to watch the bouts ringside, was an early backer of UFC when White took over the professional circuit in 2001. Trump allowed White to use his casino properties to host events when the fights were largely unregulated and, in some quarters, seen as seedy and unethical.
The late Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, a U.S. war hero and amateur boxer, derided the contests as “human cockfighting.”
His opposition, amplified by his influence in Congress, pushed UFC to seek state regulatory approval and build broader legitimacy in the early 2000s. In August 2025, it signed a $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount (PSKY.O), opens new tab.
The White House complex is already home to another major construction project: Trump’s $400 million state ballroom that opponents have criticized as a vanity project but which the president says is needed for national security.
The MMA arena and the new ballroom are just two of the projects Trump has launched since returning to the White House in January 2025.
He has also ordered the renovation of Lafayette Square, a public park on the north side of the White House, and repainting the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. He is also planning to build what he calls Independence Arch, reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, except much bigger.
The post Construction of cage-fighting arena transforms White House grounds appeared first on azeritimes.com.
Rescuers have supplied food and drinking water to the trapped individuals to help them regain strength. Meanwhile, a medical team remains on standby at the cave entrance, and all seven people are expected to be safely evacuated by Thursday, News.az reports, citing Xinhua.
***
According to a Lao News Agency report, the incident occurred on May 20, when seven villagers from Phanxay village in Xaysomboun province entered a deep and narrow cave in search of food. Continuous rainfall caused water levels inside the cave to rise, trapping the group inside. The cave’s complex geological structure, combined with an underground river flowing through it, makes the area highly vulnerable to flooding and other natural hazards during the rainy season.
Local authorities have continued rescue operations since the incident, with support from a Thai rescue team assisting in the search and evacuation efforts. The rescue operation is still underway.
The post All 7 trapped in Laos cave found alive appeared first on azeritimes.com.
The survey showed that inflation and weaker purchasing power are pushing many households to opt for shorter and cheaper vacations, while half of respondents said they do not plan to take a summer holiday at all this year, News.az reports, citing Xinhua.
***
Among those who do want to travel, most said they are planning brief or limited trips, with only a small share expecting to travel as usual or take longer holidays.
Many respondents said they are cutting holiday spending and choosing lower-cost accommodation options, including holiday homes and stays with relatives or friends. Only a smaller share is choosing hotels.
Despite cautious domestic spending, Greece’s tourism sector remained strong, with international arrivals up 38.3 percent year on year to 3.4 million and tourism revenues rising 64.3 percent to 1.96 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2026.
The post Greeks choose budget travel as summer holiday costs climb appeared first on azeritimes.com.