Venezuela raises earthquake death toll to 6,125 Trump calls talks Iran's 'last chance' as Tehran denies negotiating with Washington Truce mediators condemn Israeli strikes as Gaza death toll rises Yen rebounds after joint US-Japan currency intervention Board of Peace says Israeli withdrawal only after full Hamas disarmament EU interior ministers meet after mass crossing into Ceuta Tankers reroute around Hormuz as Iran says Oman deal alone will not reopen strait At least 35 killed in drone strike on court in North Darfur Alibaba releases largest Qwen model with open weights Ship hit off Oman as Iran strikes US base in Kuwait Oil slides and shares hit records after US calls off Iran strikes 25 US states sue Trump administration over new tariff round Death toll rises to 11 after Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian Black Sea coast and Crimea Record-low Danube and Rhine strain power supply and freight AstraZeneca shares slide on Bristol Myers merger reports Spokane fires still uncontained after 60,000 people evacuated Pentagon signs $3bn missile deals as Iran war drains stockpiles Apple challenges UK order for access to encrypted iCloud data FBI warns of cyberattacks on US municipal water systems China displays hypersonic missiles and AI strike planning Russian expert claims capture of 600 square kilometres in July China holds coast guard drills at disputed shoal as Manila hardens tone AI chip build-out drives debt and rising valuations China and India resume border trade at Nathu La White House gathers AI firms on voluntary security testing China targets half of power from non-fossil sources by 2030 Moscow restaurant blast appears to have targeted Russian general Death toll rises to 17 after peace rally bombing in Pakistan Erlangen clinicians report remissions with CAR-T therapy Poor countries adjust HIV programmes after US funding cuts Israel blows up tunnels in south Lebanon during negotiations Coldcard wallet flaw used to steal more than 1,300 bitcoin Barzani meets Syria's president on first Damascus visit since Assad's fall Ukrainian strikes deepen damage to Russian retail and oil trade Survivors reach port after deadly Indonesian ferry fire Japan's prime minister tours Kumamoto as heat slows recovery China tightens protection of chip designs Belgium relied entirely on Russian LNG in July US escalates Cuba restrictions, citing security threat Cartel members burn Michoacán town after leader's arrest Amazon crosses $3 trillion in market value Two die in US cyclospora outbreak linked to imported lettuce No deal yet on Patriot production in Ukraine, US envoy says US manufacturing expands at fastest pace since 2022 Palestinian Americans report surge in settler attacks in Turmus Ayya Drone strike hits Turkish cargo ship in Black Sea US to close five foreign missions, including in Canada and Japan Man dies at New Jersey ICE centre in 22nd custody death India's education minister resigns after NEET protests US adds 43 Chinese firms to forced-labour blacklist Venezuela raises earthquake death toll to 6,125 Trump calls talks Iran's 'last chance' as Tehran denies negotiating with Washington Truce mediators condemn Israeli strikes as Gaza death toll rises Yen rebounds after joint US-Japan currency intervention Board of Peace says Israeli withdrawal only after full Hamas disarmament EU interior ministers meet after mass crossing into Ceuta Tankers reroute around Hormuz as Iran says Oman deal alone will not reopen strait At least 35 killed in drone strike on court in North Darfur Alibaba releases largest Qwen model with open weights Ship hit off Oman as Iran strikes US base in Kuwait Oil slides and shares hit records after US calls off Iran strikes 25 US states sue Trump administration over new tariff round Death toll rises to 11 after Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian Black Sea coast and Crimea Record-low Danube and Rhine strain power supply and freight AstraZeneca shares slide on Bristol Myers merger reports Spokane fires still uncontained after 60,000 people evacuated Pentagon signs $3bn missile deals as Iran war drains stockpiles Apple challenges UK order for access to encrypted iCloud data FBI warns of cyberattacks on US municipal water systems China displays hypersonic missiles and AI strike planning Russian expert claims capture of 600 square kilometres in July China holds coast guard drills at disputed shoal as Manila hardens tone AI chip build-out drives debt and rising valuations China and India resume border trade at Nathu La White House gathers AI firms on voluntary security testing China targets half of power from non-fossil sources by 2030 Moscow restaurant blast appears to have targeted Russian general Death toll rises to 17 after peace rally bombing in Pakistan Erlangen clinicians report remissions with CAR-T therapy Poor countries adjust HIV programmes after US funding cuts Israel blows up tunnels in south Lebanon during negotiations Coldcard wallet flaw used to steal more than 1,300 bitcoin Barzani meets Syria's president on first Damascus visit since Assad's fall Ukrainian strikes deepen damage to Russian retail and oil trade Survivors reach port after deadly Indonesian ferry fire Japan's prime minister tours Kumamoto as heat slows recovery China tightens protection of chip designs Belgium relied entirely on Russian LNG in July US escalates Cuba restrictions, citing security threat Cartel members burn Michoacán town after leader's arrest Amazon crosses $3 trillion in market value Two die in US cyclospora outbreak linked to imported lettuce No deal yet on Patriot production in Ukraine, US envoy says US manufacturing expands at fastest pace since 2022 Palestinian Americans report surge in settler attacks in Turmus Ayya Drone strike hits Turkish cargo ship in Black Sea US to close five foreign missions, including in Canada and Japan Man dies at New Jersey ICE centre in 22nd custody death India's education minister resigns after NEET protests US adds 43 Chinese firms to forced-labour blacklist

Symbolic image: Alibaba releases largest Qwen model with open weights

Symbolic image

Alibaba releases largest Qwen model with open weights

3 sources

Alibaba unveiled Qwen3.8-Max, its most capable AI model to date, on Monday and made its weights downloadable. A research firm put DeepSeek's new V4-Flash at more than 100 times cheaper than Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.

What happened

Qwen3.8-Max has 2.4 trillion parameters, behind Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, launched last month with 2.8 trillion.
Alibaba shares rose 7% in Hong Kong trade after the launch on Monday, 3 August.
On Arena.AI it became the highest-ranking Chinese text model, behind Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and three Opus variants.
On Arena.AI's leaderboard for visual material, Qwen3.8-Max ranked second globally, behind a Claude Fable 5 variant.
Qwen3.8-Max and Kimi K3 process text, images and video, up to 1 million tokens at once.

The view from outside

Daily Sabah, carrying the Reuters wire from outside the US-China rivalry, foregrounds Omdia analyst Lian Jye Su's argument that most business workflows do not need the industry's best model, only one that is affordable, transparent and accessible.

What could happen next

Open whether downloadable weights convert into sustained developer adoption abroad or remain leaderboard placements.
Global Times reports MiniMax will also open-source new models; the sources give no specifications or release date.
Anthropic's closed models still lead Arena.AI's text ranking, leaving the gap to Chinese systems unresolved.
Pricing comparison for DeepSeek's V4-Flash comes from one research firm and is not independently confirmed.

How the camps see it

China: State media present the open-sourcing by Alibaba and MiniMax as lowering costs for developers and users worldwide.
United States: US business media frame the launch as another Chinese AI breakthrough, while American labs OpenAI, Anthropic and Google keep their models closed-source.