As tensions in Asia continue to rise, China's President Xi Jinping made a rare trip to Fujian province, an outwardly facing province located across the Taiwan Strait only days after China executed a military blockade "drill" which surrounded and blocked off key ports in Taiwan.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, Xi made a visit to the province to push for modernization in the region which has become an important and robust private economy, slowly growing into a demonstration zone for integrated development within the Taiwan Strait.

"Fujian should continue to make greater progress in accelerating the development of a modern economic system," Xi said.

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Southeast Asian leaders were urged by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Thursday to come up with stricter code of conduct when dealing with the South China Sea, specifically, the increasing aggression from China.

The remarks came at the 27th annual ASEAN-China summit, which is the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, a union of 10 states in Asia including the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia.

Marcos accused Beijing of harassment and intimidation, and noted there would have to be significant progress between all parties if tensions are to be reduced, according to Reuters.

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Carmaker BMW's CEO called Tuesday for the European Union (EU) to walk back its ban on gas-engines in order to decrease dependence on China's battery supply chain, according to Reuters.

The EU passed a law in March 2023 requiring all new cars sold from 2035 have zero carbon emissions, effectively banning traditional combustion engines. Now, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse is calling for regulators to walk back the rule, arguing a policy shift would help European automakers combat Chinese competition and reduce reliance on the country's electric vehicle (EV) batteries, Reuters reported.

"A correction of the 100% BEV [battery electric vehicle] target for 2035 as part of a comprehensive CO2-reduction package would also afford European OEMs less reliance on China for batteries," Zipse said at the Paris Motor Show, according to Reuters. "To maintain the successful course, a strictly technology-agnostic path within the policy framework is essential."

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Major shifts have been taking place in the race to commercialize nuclear fusion, but one high-school senior has shaken the fusion world by building a nuclear fusion reactor as a high-school science project.

Cesare Mencarini, an Italian studying in the United Kingdom, taught himself to code and how to work with electrical systems. He searched YouTube and the Internet and built a custom-made reactor that was controlled and hosted from a Raspberry Pi system. His reactor achieved plasma, the fourth state of matter, a crucial step in the fusion process, by effectively using high voltage to heat atoms to the required temperatures.

His work has earned him a college scholarship, where he will be working on larger reactors. Mencarini explains that "I had to adapt the design to fit in with the budget and my aim is to encourage other young people to develop ideas and think about how we can improve our world and be innovative."

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