Day: October 25, 2025

Semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia’s homebase in Nijmegen – the biggest city in Gelderland, the Netherlands’ largest province – offers few clues that it sits in the eye of a storm that threatens to disrupt the global car industry’s supply chain. Advertisement Dutch daily newspaper De Gelderlander, for example, featured more local stories including an explosion at a neighbourhood cannabis store, referred to as “coffeeshop”. “I know that it’s happening … but I don’t think it’s the talk of the town,” said a local resident by the name of Lisa in Nijmegen,…

The choice of an outspoken former legislator as chairwoman of Taiwan’s biggest opposition party may address the growing internal fatigue with the Kuomintang’s (KMT) old guard, but analysts warn it is far from certain that what appealed to members will win over mainstream voters. Advertisement Cheng Li-wun, a 55-year-old with roots in street activism and an early career inside the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), defeated 73-year-old heavyweight Hau Lung-bin in last weekend’s election to pick the KMT’s new party chair. Her unexpected victory was seen as a sign of…

At the newly opened Laopu Gold store in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall, it was quiet on a weekday afternoon. The barriers at the entrance, the spacious lounge and private rooms inside all exude the luxury image the brand aspires to project. Advertisement A few days ago, long queues were seen before the shop’s opening, with some arriving hours earlier to secure a chance to buy gold jewellery at a discount as part of its inaugural promotion. The Beijing-based jeweller has defied China’s sluggish consumption trend, in which luxury spending has…

The International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed) was inaugurated at its headquarters in Wan Chai on Monday, bringing the new China-led mechanism into operation to fill the void in dispute resolution. With 37 signatories, the organisation is attracting Western interest, particularly from Switzerland. Advertisement The IOMed is just one among several bodies announced by or established in China this year. They include the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation, Unesco’s International Institute for STEM Education, the UN Development Programme’s Global Centre for Sustainable Development and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) development bank.…

Creating a new diamond used to be a process spanning millions or even billions of years. Now, it takes about a week. Advertisement Inside specialised factories, hulking 50-tonne machines simulate the crushing pressure and extreme temperatures inside the Earth’s crust, transforming seed crystals into flawless, glittering stones in just a few days. Zhongjing Diamond, a company based in China’s central province of Hubei, has nearly 300 of the machines humming around the clock, which together mint some 600,000 carats of crude diamonds every year. China has pioneered the production of…

Few outside China might know that e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com host the country’s largest online platforms for distressed property sales. On any given day, their auction websites offer a front-row view of China’s housing downturn where properties are foreclosed and liquidated under court orders, often at market-shaking discounts. Advertisement A month ago, 66 flat units in a Shanghai project owned by indebted developer Sunac were put up for auction after being seized by courts. Buyers were found but at steep discounts. The average price was nearly 40 per cent…

Digital currency is emerging as a powerful, disruptive tool in global geopolitics, fundamentally reshaping the financial battlefield in times of conflict, according to a commentary in a key Communist Party publication. Advertisement Nations are increasingly leveraging digital assets to bypass international sanctions, mobilise vital resources and maintain economic stability during regional conflicts, according to the author of an article published on Monday in Study Times, the official newspaper of the Central Party School. Digital currencies are issued by central banks and pegged to real-world assets such as fiat currencies or…

Advertisement In a lengthy article on Saturday detailing some of the build-up to the Communist Party’s fourth plenum this week, state news agency Xinhua and party mouthpiece People’s Daily said Xi “personally headed” the team that drafted the outline for the next five-year plan. “[He] oversaw and guided the formulation of the proposal for the 15th five-year plan, poured a great deal of heart and blood into it, playing a decisive role,” the outlets reported, citing an anonymous drafter of the document. The framework adopted at the gathering sets the…