Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 62

China holds all of the cards when it comes to rare earths, says mining CEO

Mark Smith, CEO of mineral development company NioCorp, says that the U.S. needs to find a way to get along with China for its supply of heavy rare earths while the former builds up its supply chain, and that stockpiling of critical minerals is unlikely to work as China is the only seller.Watch

Trump-Xi call restores trade truce. But the supply chain war has no end in sight

The fragile trade truce between the United States and China has, for now, been pulled back from the brink. US President Donald Trump finally got his long-anticipated phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the two agreed to resume trade talks that had stalled over accusations from each side that the other had reneged on previous promises.Thursday’s 90-minute conversation brought a

North Korea refloats destroyer that capsized during launch, surprising naval analysts

North Korea says it has successfully refloated a new destroyer that capsized upon launch last month, with state media reporting the damaged vessel will be moved to a dry dock in a different shipyard for repairs.“After restoring the balance of the destroyer early in June, the team moored it at the pier by safely conducting its end launching on Thursday afternoon,” a report from the state-run

POWERED BY AI, STRICT CENSORSHIP ON 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN MASSACRE

June 4, the date of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, is among the most sensitive dates on the Chinese political calendar. Any attempts to draw attention to the event are routinely censored on the Chinese internet. This year, as people in China, Hong Kong, and around the world commemorated the 36th anniversary of the massacre, censors were again hard at work, with the help of AI, trying to erase it

Trump suspends foreign student visas at Harvard

Donald Trump has suspended for an initial six months the entry of foreign students seeking to study or participate in exchange programmes at Harvard University. The US president issued the proclamation on Wednesday, citing "national security" concerns and declaring it "detrimental" to US interests to continue allowing foreign students at the institution.Harvard has responded by calling the order

EU sounds alarm to China over rare earth export controls

The European Union has urged China to ease restrictions on rare earth materials – critical for everything from cars to washing machines – after Beijing’s export controls disrupted supplies and triggered production turmoil across industries in Europe and America.Maros Sefcovic, the European Union’s trade commissioner, said the issue was a “priority” in his Tuesday meeting with Chinese commerce

Japan’s annual births fall to record low as population emergency deepens

The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to another record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday. The health ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a drop of 5.7% on the previous year and the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since records began in 1899. It’s the 16th

HONG KONG AGAIN STIFLES COMMEMORATION OF TIANANMEN MASSACRE

This Wednesday, June 4 marks the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. Hongkongers had for decades commemorated the date with a large-scale vigil at Victoria Park, until the 2020 National Security Law made such public demonstrations subject to harsh judicial punishment. In the lead-up to this year’s anniversary, much like last year, Hong Kong authorities continued to restrict

COLONIAL BOARDING SCHOOLS AND REINCARNATION POLICIES HELP CHINA CONTROL TIBET’S FUTURE

Tibet´s future remains imperiled by the Chinese government’s continued efforts to sever the generational links that sustain Tibetan culture. Recent reports have analyzed how this dynamic plays out in the realms of education and religion. Earlier this year, The New York Times published an investigation into Tibetan boarding schools, which “assimilate a generation of Tibetans into the

Torbjørn Færøvik: «Operation Yellowbird» and the Students Who Fled

Time flies so fast. Today marks 36 years since a popular uprising in Beijing was crushed with brutal force. Several hundred young Chinese—perhaps even thousands—were killed. But what happened to those who survived?Many were arrested and imprisoned; others were sent for re-education. But some—a minority—managed to evade the grip of the police and were eventually smuggled out of the country. Behind