Day: November 11, 2025

A Chinese-led team of scientists says it has found a naturally formed mineral with rare earth elements in a fern, a world first that offers a “green circular model” for extracting high-value rare earths, according to an institution behind the study. Advertisement The researchers said the discovery of nanoscale monazite in a living plant “opens new possibilities for the direct recovery of functional rare earth element materials”. “To our knowledge, this is the earliest reported occurrence of rare earth elements crystallising into a mineral phase within a hyperaccumulator,” they said.…

China and the Cook Islands have wrapped up their first joint scientific expedition in the South Pacific, a region emerging as a focal point in the geopolitical race for rare earths. Advertisement The 4,000-tonne Chinese marine research vessel Da Yang Hao, one of the most advanced in China, docked at the Avatiu port near the capital Avarua on Saturday, about one month after a US research ship conducted a three-week survey in the region. Welcoming the Da Yang Hao to port, Sun Shuxian, the Chinese vice-minister of natural resources, said…

Volcano Engine, the cloud unit of TikTok owner ByteDance, has launched a new coding agent priced at just 9.9 yuan (US$1.30) for the first month of subscription – underscoring the fierce competition in China’s booming AI developer tools market. Advertisement The Doubao-Seed-Code model, released on Tuesday, carries a standard monthly fee of 40 yuan, according to a company statement. The company unveiled its discounted one-month promotion on November 11, China’s annual Singles’ Day shopping festival. ByteDance has been accelerating its artificial intelligence push, with usage of its Doubao chatbot doubling…

Hong Kong’s luxury residential rents are likely to climb another 3 to 5 per cent next year as growing numbers of returning Western expatriates and home-grown professionals drive demand for high-end accommodation, according to Savills. Advertisement Deals were expected to exceed the 660 last year, said Jack Tong, the property consultancy’s director of research. “The outlook remains cautiously positive,” he added. For next year, Savills expected “stable to gently rising luxury rents as the supply of prime units tightens due to ongoing renovations at top projects”, Tong said. “It is…

In 2003, a decade after the humiliation of the Yinhe incident – when a Chinese container ship was left stranded for weeks after the United States jammed its Global Positioning System (GPS) – Beijing set its sights on bypassing the American satellite network. Advertisement At first, it turned to the European Union, pledging €230 million (then US$260 million) to join the Galileo project, an independent satellite navigation system designed to reduce Europe’s reliance on GPS. But the partnership did not last. Four years later, China was marginalised from full participation…

In the aftermath of the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, many interpretations have emerged. However, one crucial dimension has been overlooked: the way in which Xi’s domestic priorities influence his foreign policy agenda. Advertisement In particular, recent agreements reached with the US act as a political insurance policy in the event of an unfavourable outcome for Russia in its war in Ukraine. In my view, Beijing perceives Moscow as a central pillar of balance in its relations with the West and as a…