China’s economy showed further signs of weakness last month, with important data revealing factory output and consumption rising at their weakest pace for about a year.
The disappointing data adds pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus to fend off a sharp slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, which has struggled to fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a debt crisis denting its once-booming property sector and exports facing stronger headwinds.
Economists were split over whether policymakers should introduce more near-term fiscal support to hit their annual 5% growth target, with manufacturers awaiting more clarity on a US trade deal and domestic demand curbed by an uncertain job market and property crisis.
Industrial output grew by 5.2% year-on-year last month, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Monday, the lowest reading since August 2024 and below the 5.7% rise in July. Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, expanded 3.4%, the slowest pace since November 2024, and cooling from a 3.7% rise in the previous month.
“The activity data point to a further loss of momentum,” Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note. “While some of this reflects temporary weather-related disruptions, underlying growth is clearly sliding, raising pressure on policymakers to step in with additional support.”
Factory activity was hit by the hottest conditions since 1961 and the longest rainy season for the same period.
Authorities are leaning on manufacturers to find new markets to offset Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy and weak consumer spending.
Separate data this month showed factory owners have had some success diverting US-bound shipments to south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America, but the drag from the property crisis continues.
“Lynn Song, chief economist, Greater China at ING, suggested the weak data indicated “further stimulus support could be needed to ensure a strong finish to the year”.
She said: “While it is too early to gauge the impact of the consumer loan subsidies coming into effect in September, it is likely that more policy support is still needed, given the broader slowdown across the board.” Song said there was a “high possibility” of further interest rate cuts in coming weeks.
However, Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at ANZ, said that while the data showed momentum in the world’s second-largest economy was weakening, it was not yet bad enough to trigger a new round of stimulus.
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“Policies and measures to support service consumption are expected to offset the impact of aggregate demand this month,” he said, adding an official crackdown on firms aggressively cutting prices made domestic demand appear worse than it was.
Chinese households, which have seen their wealth shrink in the real estate downturn, have tightened their purse strings as business confidence falters, dampening the jobs market.
Unemployment edged up to a six-month high of 5.3% in August, from 5.2% a month prior and 5% in June.
Meanwhile, new home prices fell 0.3% last month from July and 2.5% on an annual basis, a different NBS dataset showed.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Neil Poulton succeeded in elevating the design of external drives two decades ago with the introduction of LaCie’s Rugged line, which features a bright orange bumper to protect data from drops. Today, Seagate announced an updated version of the LaCie Rugged Mini SSD with a few small design tweaks and a big boost to transfer speeds.
The drive is now called the LaCie Rugged SSD4 and is available starting today in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities (Seagate is dropping the 500MB option) for $134.99, $249.99, and $479.99, respectively.
The Rugged SSD4 is exactly the same size as its predecessor but now features a brushed aluminum finish and a centered USB-C port. It now supports transfer speeds up to 40Gbps with 4,000MB/s read speeds and 3,000MB/s write speeds. Seagate’s older Rugged Mini SSD had a USB-C port that was slightly off-center, a smoother aluminum finish, and read speeds that maxed out at 2,000MB/s.
The new drive isn’t quite as fast as the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 that was introduced earlier this year at CES with 6,700MB/s read and 5,300MB/s write speeds, but when it’s connected to a USB-C iPhone, the Rugged SSD4 is fast enough to capture ProRes 4K footage at 120fps.
As with the previous version, the new Rugged SSD4 has an IP54 rating against dust and water, but it’s definitely not waterproof so while splashes are okay, a complete dunking would not be. Its orange bumper also protects it from drops as high as nearly 10 feet, but that’s definitely not an invitation to casually toss it around.
A large portion of the global population with diabetes remains undiagnosed or is not receiving optimal care, according to a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a global network of collaborators conducted the analysis of the diabetes care cascade for all ages, both sexes, and 204 countries and territories from 2000 to 2023.
In 2023, an estimated 44% of people aged 15 and older with diabetes are unaware of their condition. Underdiagnosis was greatest among young adults — despite facing higher risks for long-term complications.
Among those who were diagnosed, 91% were on some form of pharmacological treatment. However, of those receiving treatment, only 42% had their blood sugar levels managed optimally. This translates to just 21% of all people with diabetes globally having their condition under optimal management.
Despite improvements over two decades, the research also found substantial regional diagnosis and treatment disparities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. High-income North America had the highest rates of diagnosis, while high-income Asia Pacific showed the highest rates of treatment among diagnosed individuals. Southern Latin America had the highest rates of optimal blood sugar management among those treated. In contrast, Central sub-Saharan Africa faced the largest gaps in diagnosis, with less than 20% of people with diabetes being aware of their condition.
“By 2050, 1.3 billion people are expected to be living with diabetes, and if nearly half don’t know they have a serious and potentially deadly health condition, it could easily become a silent epidemic,” said Lauryn Stafford, first author and researcher at IHME.
Given the pace at which cases are rapidly rising, the research underscores the urgent need for investment in screening programs for younger populations and access to medications and glucose-monitoring tools, especially in underserved regions. In 2022, the WHO set a target to have 80% of people with diabetes clinically diagnosed by 2030.
The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The rise of private 5G networks, driven by enhanced capabilities like URLLC and mMTC, presents opportunities in sectors like manufacturing, mining, and public safety. With global deployment expanding and companies like Tesla and Hyundai showcasing efficiency and cost benefits, private 5G is poised for significant growth.
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Dublin, Sept. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Private 5G Network Deployment Tracker & Forecasts 2025-2030” database from SNS Telecom & IT has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.
Annual investments in private 5G networks for vertical industries will grow at a CAGR of approximately 41% between 2025 and 2028, eventually surpassing $5 billion by the end of 2028.
The “Private 5G Network Deployment Tracker & Forecasts: 2025-2030” datasheet includes an extensive database of over 8,300 global private cellular network engagements across 130 countries including more than 3,700 private 5G installations as of Q3’2025. In addition, it provides global and regional market size forecasts for private 5G network investments from 2025 to 2030. The forecasts cover three infrastructure submarkets, 16 vertical industries, and five regional markets.
Although much of this growth will initially be driven by highly localized 5G networks covering geographically limited areas for Industry 4.0 applications in manufacturing and process industries, sub-1 GHz wide area critical communications networks for public safety, utility, and railway communications are anticipated to accelerate their transition from LTE, GSM-R, and other legacy narrowband technologies to 5G towards the latter half of the forecast period.
Private LTE networks are a well-established market and have been around for more than a decade, albeit as a niche segment of the wider cellular infrastructure sector. However, private cellular networks or NPNs (Non-Public Networks) based on 3GPP-defined 5G specifications are just on the cusp of becoming a mainstream technology, with a market potential exceeding that of private LTE. Over the last 12 months, there has been a noticeable increase in production-grade deployments of private 5G networks by household names and industrial giants such as Airbus, Aker BP, Boliden, CIL (Coal India Limited), Equinor, Etihad, Ford, Hutchison Ports, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, John Deere, LG Electronics, Lufthansa, Newmont, POSCO, Tesla, Toyota, and Walmart, paving the way for Industry 4.0 and advanced application scenarios.
Compared to LTE technology, private 5G networks can address far more demanding performance requirements in terms of throughput, latency, reliability, availability, and connection density. In particular, 5G’s URLLC (Ultra-Reliable, Low-Latency Communications) and mMTC (Massive Machine-Type Communications) capabilities, along with a future-proof transition path to 6G networks in the 2030s, have positioned it as a viable alternative to physically wired connections for industrial-grade communications between machines, robots, and control systems. Furthermore, 5G’s wider coverage radius per radio node, scalability, determinism, security features, and mobility support have stirred strong interest in its potential as a replacement for interference-prone unlicensed wireless technologies in IIoT (Industrial IoT) environments, where the number of connected sensors and other endpoints is expected to increase significantly over the coming years.
As end user organizations in the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, and other countries ramp up their digitization and automation initiatives, private 5G installations have progressed to a stage where practical and tangible benefits particularly efficiency gains, cost savings, and worker safety are becoming increasingly evident.
For instance, Tesla, LG Electronics, and Hyundai have eliminated connection-related stoppages since migrating AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) and AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) communications from unlicensed Wi-Fi systems to private 5G networks at their production facilities in the United States and South Korea. The French city of Istres has reduced video surveillance camera installation costs from $34,000 to less than $6,000 per unit by replacing fiber-based connections with a private 5G network. Among other examples, China Huaneng Group relies on a tri-band (700 MHz, 2.6 GHz & 4.9 GHz) 5G-Advanced network to safely coordinate a fleet of 100 unmanned electric mining trucks at its Yimin open pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China.
Database Details & Forecast Segmentation
The following details are included in the global database of private cellular network engagements:
Date
Region
Country
Vertical Industry
Customer/Project Name
Suppliers & Integrators
Air Interface Technology
Spectrum
Deployment Status
Summary
Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their subcategories:
Infrastructure Submarkets
5G NR RAN (Radio Access Network)
5GC (5G Core)
5G Transport (Fronthaul, Midhaul & Backhaul)
Fiber & Wireline
Microwave
Satellite Communications
Cell Sizes
Frequency Ranges
Sub-6 GHz
mmWave (Millimeter Wave)
End User Markets
Regional Markets
North America
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East & Africa
Latin & Central America
For more information about this database visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/bzknqs
About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world’s leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
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From 12 to 13 September 2025, 126 students representing 75 National University Sport Federations (NUSFs) and 3 Continental University Sport Federations (CUSFs) were officially trained to become the new FISU Student Ambassadors.
The event opened with a warm welcome from FISU President Leonz Eder, who reminded the participants of the importance of dreaming big. That message became a recurring theme throughout the training, followed by an insightful session with Joshua Miethke, who shared his journey from being a FISU Student Ambassador from Germany to working at FISU Headquarters in Lausanne as FISU Summer Games Summer Assistant.
The first day of training focused on equipping the new cohort with essential FISU knowledge: branding, communication, and an introduction to the full scope of FISU events. The day concluded with an engaging conversation with FISU Secretary General Matthias Remund, who highlighted the importance of combining professionalism with enjoyment along the way.
Day two shifted to the Ambassadors themselves, with sessions on opportunities within FISU, inspiration for action plans, and training on media and communication tools connected to the programme.
Testimonies from alumni
The theme of dreaming was further emphasised through the testimonies of alumni and current Ambassadors: Bruno Negyeliczky (HUN), Adebayo Olatunde Bolaji (NIG, current participant in the Dream Together Programme), Innocent Kanyala (ZAM), and Lara Chehayeb (LEB). They shared how they balance dual careers with their roles in university sport, ranging from volunteering at international events to attending FISU World Forums and conferences, working in organising committees in our events, FISU committees, and moderating official sessions!
To provide the best possible foundation for the new Ambassadors, eight Team Leaders were elected for this season, representing four continents and eight different countries. They will support the Ambassadors throughout the year, guiding and mentoring them as they shape their action plans and maximise their impact in 2025.
The two days of training ended with the official announcement of all 126 new Ambassadors’ names, marking the start of their journey and creating a strong sense of unity across the global network!
Sahar Waeen, a new Student Ambassador from Pakistan who will combine her ambassador role with her judo career, captured the spirit of the weekend:
“As both an international judoka and a student, I am eager to share my journey of balancing sport and education, and to encourage others to embrace the dual career pathway where academic excellence and athletic achievement support one another. Through this role, I also hope to proudly represent Pakistan on the global stage and highlight the talent and potential of our youth.”
This year also brings historic milestones: for the first time, Guinea is represented in the programme, while the Ivory Coast returns for the first time since 2017. Felix Nianzou from Ivory Coast expressed his excitement:
“I’m convinced that this adventure will be incredibly enriching. As a passionate fan of team sports, especially football, I will work to highlight this discipline, which is widely practiced at my university, and promote my country on an international scale. I’m also looking forward to meeting other people in person to discover their culture, lifestyle, and history, and thus enrich my knowledge and experiences.”
The FISU Student Ambassadors are now active across these platforms: Instagram (www.instagram.com/fisuambassadors), and new for this year, LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/fisu-student-ambassadors/). While Instagram remain space where students themselves create more creative content, ranging from behind-the-scenes moments at sports events to fun facts and alumni updates, LinkedIn will showcase their work to the professional world, all driven by the Ambassadors themselves!
Make sure to follow them along their journey as FISU Student Ambassadors, and allow yourself to be inspired by their hard work, creativity, and great vibe!
Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are highest in young people aged 15 to 24 years, with more than 350 diagnoses every day in this age group in 2024.
Students heading to university for Freshers Weeks are being urged to use condoms to protect themselves and others from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as the UK Health Security Agency’s latest quarterly STI data shows that gonorrhoea and syphilis remain very high in England.
The latest data show signs of an encouraging decline for infectious syphilis cases confirmed in England from January to March 2025, with cases decreasing to an estimated 2,030, down from 2,320 in the previous quarter (October to December 2024). Gonorrhoea diagnoses also dropped to 15,920 from 18,250. The declines are welcome, but health experts warn that cases are declining from a high level and students need to be aware of the risks of STIs.
STIs are most commonly diagnosed amongst those aged 15 to 24 years old, with more than 350 diagnoses every day in this age group in 2024. Common STI symptoms include an unusual discharge from the vagina, penis or anus; pain when peeing; and sores around your genitals or anus.
Although STIs are usually easily treated with antibiotics, many can cause serious health issues if left untreated. Chlamydia and gonorrhoea can cause infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), while syphilis can cause serious, irreversible and potentially life-threatening problems with the brain, heart, or nerves.
Testing for STIs and HIV is free and confidential and can be carried out at your nearest sexual health service, details for which are on the NHS website.
Dr Hamish Mohammed, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said:
Starting university is an exciting time – don’t let getting an STI ruin the fun. Rates of STIs remain high among young people, but there are simple steps you can take to protect yourself.
Using condoms is one of the most effective ways to reduce your risk. If you’ve had condomless sex with a new or casual partner and are experiencing any STI symptoms, it’s important to get tested. Testing is free and confidential and gives you peace of mind as you start the new academic year.
Laura Domegan, Head of Nursing at Brook, said:
We know from speaking with students in our clinics that one of the biggest barriers to using condoms can be communication. Young people often tell us they feel awkward or uncertain about how to raise the subject of condoms, particularly with new sexual partners.
However, no one should be embarrassed or ashamed for wanting to take care of their sexual health, and we want students starting a new university to be feel confident discussing condoms with the people they are having sex with. We recommend talking with your partner about condoms before you start having sex. It may feel tricky bringing it up at first, but discussing condoms ahead of time means you’re much more likely to use them once you are in the moment.
Speaking with your friends on campus can also be a good way to feel more comfortable discussing condoms. Having relaxed, casual conversations with friends can help normalise condom use and support more students to feel confident in taking control of their sexual health and wellbeing.
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and at risk of becoming untreatable in the future, making it vital that people with symptoms get tested and treated.
Many sexual health services in England now offer free STI self-sampling kits for people who aren’t showing symptoms and would prefer a routine check-up in the comfort and privacy of their own home. If you notice any unusual symptoms, make sure to contact your local sexual health service and get tested.
UKHSA is also reminding all university students – freshers and returning students – to make sure they are up to date with all of their free NHS vaccines, including those against human papillomavirus (HPV), meningitis (MenACWY vaccine) and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) before starting the new academic year.
HPV vaccination is routinely offered to those in school year 8. The vaccine provides excellent protection against most cervical cancers and some other cancers that affect both boys and girls. All girls who missed their HPV vaccination at school can still receive it for free until their 25th birthday through their GP surgery. This also applies to boys born after 1 September 2006.
The MenACWY vaccine is routinely offered to those in school years 9 and 10, but anyone who has missed out can still get a free jab with their GP until their 25th birthday. While the MenACWY vaccine offers protection against 4 kinds of meningococcal disease, it does not protect against all forms, like MenB, which is why it’s important to know how to spot the symptoms of Meningitis and septicaemia as early detection and treatment can prove lifesaving. Students should tell a health professional if they or their friends feel unwell and should know how to seek medical advice if they become concerned about their own or someone else’s health.
There are other vaccinations that protect against some STIs. These vaccinations are offered to eligible people when they attend sexual health services for STI testing or their routine care. These include vaccinations to protect against gonorrhoea and mpox, which are primarily offered to groups at higher risk of infection, such as gay and bisexual men reporting multiple recent partners. Hepatitis A and B vaccines are also available through sexual health services for all gay and bisexual men, as these infections can be transmitted sexually.
Today’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives is my third attempt to use my limited comedy fame to foist the non-idiomatic music-making of the Sheffield-born guitarist Derek Bailey on an unsuspecting public. In 2009, I chose Derek as my specialist subject on Celebrity Mastermind, beating the comedian John Thomson, who chose James Bond villains. To be fair, I would also have won if I had done his round. I was getting questions like, “Which Japanese duo collaborated with Derek Bailey on the 1995 album Saisoro?” and John was getting, “What colour was Blofeld’s cat?”
Musical minds immeasurably superior to mine have grappled more succinctly with the enigma of Derek, who died in 2005 at the age of 75. Writing in the Quietus four years ago, Jennifer Lucy Allan explained: “Derek Bailey is one antidote for anyone who thinks they’ll never understand improvised music. His guitar playing is that which requires a surrendering to your own ears. It is what it is, and that’s exactly what he intended it to be.” I, in turn, listen to Derek and think: “This, whatever it is, is resolutely and implacably this.” And that is what I, as a comedian, have tried to steal from it.
I think I first saw Derek play at the ICA in the early 90s, as I started scouring pub attic evenings and Labour club Sunday afternoons for free improvised music, after I came to London to try standup in the winter of 1989. Voraciously curious about the capital’s concealed subcultures, I nonetheless rarely understood who or what it was I was watching. Seeing the band Morphogenesis burst a balloon and amplify pot plants as a lone cat crept audibly around them, upstairs in a squatted Hackney pub named after a Captain Beefheart song, I’m not sure I was aware that these musicians even made records. And there was no Google to tell me.
But I do remember the first time I met Derek. In 1996, I visited his humble Hackney home to interview him for a Sunday newspaper about his new album Guitar, Drums ’n’ Bass, which Derek, then in his late 60s, had created by jamming along to pirate radio broadcasts of the brutal new dance music phenomenon, which had forced their way into his frequencies from concealed aerials on nearby tower blocks.
I remember the room he practised in being sparse and white, empty and monastic, and that he affected a comical bemusement at the idea that anyone would buy his records: “Do you just sit still and listen to them, or do you potter about and make cups of tea while they’re on?” For Derek, music lived in the moment, perhaps as a reaction to the decades he spent as a successful session musician for hire – did he really play on Petula Clark’s Downtown? – before his Damascene conversion to the absolute abandonment of tyrannical composition.
Derek sent me away with his seminal book, Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music, and a cassette of the Scottish music hall comedian Chic Murray, both of which influenced me enormously. Fresh from the encounter, I wrote: “Bailey comes over like a cross between Clegg from Last of the Summer Wine and a harsh-but-fair science teacher, who illuminates the Genesis myths of improvised music without being remotely patronising.”
For the next decade, Derek supplied me with CDs of outtakes and postcards he inscribed with inspiring mantras, my favourite reading simply: “The struggle continues.” Derek died on Christmas Day 2005, Jesus Christ in reverse. At his funeral, I performed a Chic Murray routine, while the wake afterwards, upstairs in a Hackney pub, saw the veteran American jazz hoofer Will Gaines, then 78, sit in a chair and tap out a fond and furious farewell. I wish this had been preserved for posterity, but its undocumented passing is quintessentially Derek.
I visited Derek’s Hackney Downs house for the fifth and final time earlier this year, ostensibly to hold a ladder for the archivist Tim Fletcher, as he scoured the dark attic for illuminating items before the property was sold. Shafts of sunlight shone through the lean-to extension Derek had improvised freely long ago, in simpler times, when marginal artists could still afford to live and create magic in the city’s neglected nether regions.
The presenter of Great Lives, the former Tory MP Matthew Parris, had clearly arrived for the programme having prepared little, relying on notes supplied to him, and was taken by surprise by Derek’s music, which he described as sounding “like a chimpanzee”. A fractious exchange followed of which I am not entirely proud, mediated by the improv expert Ian Greaves. I’m surprised the producer left it in. But I suspect Derek would have enjoyed it. The struggle continues.
Stewart Lee comperes a two-day celebration of Derek Bailey at London’s Cafe Oto December 15/16. Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf tours until the end of 2026
Derek ‘The Chimpanzee’ Bailey v Matthew Parris: a primer by Stewart Lee
The definitive streamable Derek Bailey playlist doesn’t exist, as so much of his music is off limits, though Honest Jon’s records offer luxurious vinyl reissues. Nonetheless here’s half an hour of an exploded jazz standard, some graffitied drum’n’bass, the dubby space-funk of Arcana and a final recording routing Derek’s debilitating motor neurone disease into plangent and emotive improvisation.
WhatsApp to roll out threaded message replies for some Android beta testers
WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new feature for its Android beta testers through version 2.25.25.7 that will introduce message replies into structured threads.
The prime motive of this feature is to make conversations more intuitive and organized, especially in busy groups where it can be difficult to follow replies.
Primarily this new feature creates a thread under the original message with all replies directly linked to it.
The feature was previously in development phase on iOS and is now being introduced on Android as well and is currently being beta tested.
People who are on the beta but don’t have it yet will receive it in the coming weeks.
How can I use the WhatsApp threaded message option?
Users can tap a new reply to indicator that appears underneath a message bubble to open the thread view and see all associated responses.
The indicator displays the number of replies in a thread to give more context.
Users can now add new replies which will be linked to the latest incoming message from the thread.
Lastly, replying to another reply may be marked as a “Follow-up reply” to help users track what’s happening.
The threaded approach assists users to maintain quality by visually separating two distinct conversation topics.
It also helps users to focus on topics that matter without being distracted by irrelevant messages.
The new structure helps users maintain clarity and follow a specific conversation without having to scroll through the entire chat history.
This logical and chronological ordering also helps stragglers quickly catch up on a conversation.
At present this feature is available to some beta testers who install the latest updates of WhatsApp beta for Android from the Google Play Store.
The application will automatically organize new responses into threads regardless of whether the recipients have the feature active.
