Day: November 24, 2025

China has launched a replacement ship that will travel to its space station as a substitute return vessel. Advertisement The uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft carrying 600kg (1,320 pounds) of goods, including food and equipment, was launched at 12.11pm on Tuesday and was expected to dock with the Tiangong space station autonomously. That meant it could not make a safe return to Earth, and the spacecraft will now remain in orbit where it will be used for research. Advertisement Any further mishap could pose a challenge to the current Tiangong crew’s safe…

Brief, controlled bouts of oxygen deprivation – essentially moments of safe suffocation – can alleviate severe depression as effectively as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and ketamine, two of the most powerful treatments known to psychiatry, Chinese scientists have concluded. Advertisement This radical new approach, called acute intermittent hypoxia, harnesses a natural mechanism triggered by a temporary drop in oxygen in the brain and activates a naturally occurring compound known as adenosine, which acts as a biochemical “master switch” that rapidly reverses depressive symptoms. The research team has developed a prototype device…

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed “the close cooperation” between Tokyo and Washington in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours after Trump spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Advertisement Takaichi said her conversation with Trump covered the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance along with the various challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Fuji News Network. The phone call came amid escalating tension between Beijing and Tokyo over Takaichi’s earlier remarks that suggested Tokyo could deploy its military forces in the…

Bitcoin mining is quietly staging a comeback in China despite being banned four years ago, as individual and corporate miners exploit cheap electricity and a data-centre boom in some energy-rich provinces, according to miners and industry data. After its global bitcoin mining market share slumped to zero as a result of the ban, China crept back to third place with a 14 per cent share at the end of October, according to Hashrate Index, which tracks bitcoin mining activities. Advertisement The resurgence in bitcoin mining, which has also been corroborated…

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit last week amid speculation that he could visit Beijing early next year and the country’s controversial embassy in London will be approved. Advertisement The two leaders are understood to have greeted each other only briefly during a “brush-by” rather than holding formal bilateral talks, after which a readout covering what was discussed would usually be expected from Starmer’s office. China was represented by Premier Li rather than President Xi Jinping at the meeting in the…