Rare earths dispute

China has further tightened its grip on the rare earths market, raising taxes on the minerals vital to high-tech industry and banning new projects to produce the metals via separation.

13 dead in China mine accidents

Thirteen people were killed in two coal mine accidents in China at the weekend, state media said Monday — the latest fatal incidents to strike the nation’s notoriously dangerous collieries.

US ‘would repeat Bin Laden raid’

US President Barack Obama has said he would order a similar operation to that which killed Osama Bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.

HP: ‘Touchpad will be better than number one’ tablet

HP will emulate its PC market success in the tablet world when it launches the Touchpad over the summer, the company’s European head Eric Cador has claimed.

Tracey Emin: Love Is What You Want, Hayward Gallery, review

With almost daily bulletins in the press recording her every passing thought, Tracey Emin is so overexposed that when I heard she was having a full-scale retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, I couldn’t imagine what she could possibly show or write or say in it that I hadn’t already seen or read or heard. She’s told the whole world the story of her progress from small-town slag to notoriety on television, media celebrity, a Turner Prize nomination, financial success and critical acclaim.

Home-made za’atar recipe

Za’atar the herb has long green leaves and a thyme-like flavour. It is sometimes called wild thyme in English, and it grows along the slopes of the Syrian-Lebanese mountains. Za’atar is also the name of a dried-herb blend and this is my signature recipe. I use it in my dish of roasted apricots served with ricotta and spiced filo.

Lady Gaga: icon or just eye-candy?

Her outlandish fashion sense has helped make Lady Gaga the pop phenomenon of the digital age – but does the 25-year-old New Yorker have the musical talent to lift her to the ranks of all-time greatness?

Spanish Luxury Market Courting Chinese Tourist-Shoppers

Major Brands Hiring Mandarin-Speaking Sales Staff, Increasing Chinese Signage

“One In Four Bentleys Is Now Sold In China”: Bentley Breaks China Sales Record, Outsells UK

Company Sold 396 Sedans In Q1 2011, A 66 Percent Leap Over Same Period Last Year

Mandarin Study Goals

Still as my teachers keep telling me “yi bu yi bu lai” 一步一步来 which means “step by step”. So if I keep learning and practising everyday, who knows how fast I will improve over the next few months.