Lone Chinese teen beats AI-assisted teams in global math contest

Hello and good morning! It’s Tuesday, June 25. Here’s the news you need to know today:

The “ever-ending war”: On this day in 1950, North Korean forces launched a surprise invasion of South Korea across the 38th parallel, the dividing line between the two Koreas. The North Korean People's Army aimed to unify Korea under communist rule, prompting a swift response from the U.S. and the UN. The war, which resulted in millions of casualties, ultimately settled into a stalemate, with an armistice signed July 27, 1953, leaving Korea divided to this day.

Education

Lone Chinese teen beats AI-assisted teams in global math contest

Seventeen-year-old Chinese fashion design student Jiang Ping secured a spot in the finals of the Alibaba Global Math Competition by outperforming top students and AI-assisted teams on Saturday. Ping is the only finalist from a vocational school and the only competitor to surpass the AI teams. 

• Ping, who is the only girl among the top 30 finalists, earned 93 points and ranked 12th in the qualifying round. "I lean toward subjects such as advanced math, as they spark my desire to explore," she shared after becoming a finalist. "I enjoy the step-by-step process of mathematical deductions, and reaching the desired result brings me great joy."

• Ping now joins the competition's 800 finalists who hail from prestigious institutions around the world, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, MIT and Princeton University. The winners of the final competition, to be announced in August, will share prizes of over $500,000.

Environment

Hawaii settles in teens’ “groundbreaking” climate change lawsuit

On Thursday, 13 children and teens in Hawaii successfully settled their 2022 lawsuit with the state government, compelling Hawaii to decarbonize its transportation system by 2045. Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation claimed that the state's focus on highway construction and fossil fuel use violated the youth's constitutional rights by contributing to climate change. The youth cited specific harms such as reduced crop yields and rising sea levels affecting a plaintiff's family's farming heritage. 

• The settlement mandates establishing a greenhouse gas reduction plan within a year, investing in clean transportation infrastructure, expanding public electric vehicle charging networks and creating a volunteer youth council to advise the Department of Transportation. This marks a significant legal recognition of youth-led climate activism as it is believed to be the first settlement between a state government and youth plaintiffs on constitutional issues related to climate change. 

• Democratic Governor Josh Green described the lawsuit as “groundbreaking.” “We’re addressing the impacts of climate change today, and needless to say, this is a priority because we know now that climate change is here. It is not something that we're considering in an abstract way in the future,” he said. 

Science

UCSF launches first-ever long-term cancer research on Asian Americans

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has launched the first-ever national, long-term cancer research study for Asian Americans after receiving a $12.45 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. 

• The study is looking to recruit 20,000 men and women between 40 and 75 years old who have not been diagnosed with cancer from different Asian American ethnic groups, with the hope of increasing the number to at least 50,000. “Over time, we'll be able to look at how many develop cancer,” Iona Cheng, a UCSF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics who is one of the study’s co-principal investigators, told LAist. “And it allows us to look at multiple cancers: lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer.” Those in L.A. County who want to participate in the study can reach Cedars-Sinai at [email protected] while those in Orange County can contact UCI professor of public health Sora Tanjasiri.

• Cancer is reportedly among the leading causes of death for Asian Americans, with lung, liver and colorectal cancers being most common for men and breast, lung and colorectal cancers for women. “There are unique cancer burdens in these groups, and the patterns and trends get lost when Asian American data are aggregated into one single statistic,” said Cheng. “We don’t have cohort studies that can tell us what

Crime

Oakland teen’s body dumped on side of road

Nathan Chanthavong, a 16-year-old Lao American high school student in Oakland, California, was fatally shot around 1:30 a.m. on June 10, with his body found on Filbert Street in West Oakland. Chanthavong, one of three teens killed in separate shootings in the city that day, had snuck out of his aunt’s house on the night of the incident. Described by his mother Vicky as a “really good kid” who enjoyed hiking and spending time with family, the teen had plans to find a job at the time of his murder. 

• No arrests have been made in Chanthavong’s case, and investigations are ongoing. His grieving family is calling for his killer to come forward. A GoFundMe campaign for the family has raised over $21,000. “Nathan's absence leaves a void that can never be filled but knowing that we have the love and support of our community gives us strength to carry on… Hold your family close, treasure every laugh, every hug, every shared moment, for tomorrow is never promised,” Vicky wrote.

• The shooting coincides with the approval of a recall vote against Sheng Thao, Oakland's first Hmong American mayor. Thao faces criticism for her crime management, missing a state crime grant and controversial decisions like firing the police chief. Additionally, she is under pressure to resign following an FBI raid on her home on Thursday as part of a political corruption investigation.

Asia

Taiwan president says autocracy “the real evil” amid China’s threats

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te sharply condemned autocratic forms of government after Beijing threatened to impose the death penalty on staunch Taiwan independence advocates in its latest legal directives issued on Friday. Lai's remarks came during a press conference in Taipei on Monday.

• "I want to stress: democracy is not a crime; it's autocracy that is the real evil,” Lai said. “China has absolutely no right to sanction Taiwan's people just because of the positions they hold. What's more, China has no right to go after Taiwan people's rights across borders." He then thanked the U.S. for the recent arms sale and expressed hope that it will continue to help “maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

• China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has ramped up its pressure on Taiwan since Lai's inauguration. Taiwan has reported a sharp increase in Chinese military flights as Beijing conducted a "joint combat readiness patrol" near the island. Between Thursday and Sunday, Taiwan detected 115 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby, with some approaching as close as 31 nautical miles from the southern tip of the island.

Entertainment

American goes viral for wholesome interaction with Japanese kids

Coleman Geiger, an American UI/UX designer and web developer based in Sydney, Australia, recently went viral for his heartwarming interaction with two Japanese students while visiting Nara Park in Japan. Coleman told NextShark in an exclusive interview the adorable moment was filmed on June 6.

• Coleman said he was sitting down and resting his legs when he saw the boys walking around. He forgot that English was not their first language during the interview, noting how the two boys were “so confident with their answers I assumed they knew what I was saying, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t understand anything, which made it even more whimsical.”

• Commenting about the viral video, Coleman shared that he had “no clue the video would blow up like it has,” with over 26 million views on YouTube. He also wants to find a way to get in touch with the two boys as he would like to give them a gift like how they gifted him two origami artworks – a samurai hat and a dragon – as can be seen at the end of his video.

More Asian News

• 61-year-old film legend is aware of the rumors: Jet Li jokingly told Chinese influencer Jiaziai that he does not need help going down the stairs during a trip to Lhasa, Tibet, this month. “If you continue holding onto me and [a video of] this gets out, I'm done for,” Li quipped, referencing the negative health rumors that have plagued him for years. Li took to his Instagram on June 15 to share a few pictures of his Tibet retreat, where he was accompanied by his wife Nina and their youngest daughter, Jada.

• Indiana's new “intellectual diversity” mandate sparks faculty lawsuit: The Senate Bill 202, requires state-funded universities to implement “intellectual diversity” programming, mandating faculty to teach diverse political and ideological perspectives. The law, effective July 1, has sparked debates over academic autonomy and compliance across Indiana's public universities. Purdue University Fort Wayne faces faculty concerns and a lawsuit over the law's ambiguous language, filed by the ACLU of Indiana on May 7. Tenured professors David Schuster and Steven Carr argue the mandate could compel teachings of controversial viewpoints, such as Holocaust denial, compromising academic integrity.

• Surgeon general wants social media warnings for teens: U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is lobbying the government to put a warning label on social media platforms for its association with mental health harm to teens. “That’s why I call on the congress to take a number of measures to protect kids from harmful content (violence and sexual content), bullying and harassment online, but also to protect them from features that would seek to manipulate their developing brains into excessive use,” Murthy told MSNBC last week.

• Tokyo governor turns herself into AI: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has turned to generative AI to communicate policy and office goals, including the elimination of income restrictions, in her debut video for “AI Yuriko News,” uploaded to her official X account on June 13. Yuriko’s AI counterpart also posted a video discussing the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s rapid digitalization and sharing the governor’s efforts to change perceptions on childcare leave. On June 12, Yuriko declared her intention to run for a third term in the upcoming Tokyo gubernatorial election on July 4.

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