The world is changing fast, but you can learn it at a slower pace.
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Here is the news.
China has risen to the 10th position in the Global Innovation Rankings for 2025, up one spot from the previous year, marking its first entry into the top ten.
That is according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
The Global Innovation Index report released by the organisation evaluates the innovation performance of almost 140 economies using approximately 80 indicators, including research and development spending, venture capital deals, high-tech exports and intellectual property filings.
Switzerland tops the latest ranking, followed by Sweden, the United States, the Republic of Korea Singapore, as well as the United Kingdom Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and China.
The report also highlights that China maintains its lead among middle-income economies globally and shows continued strength in research and development spending, high-tech exports and innovation outputs.
For the third consecutive year, China hosts the highest number of top 100 global science and technology innovation clusters, with 24 clusters listed in the 2025 index.
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked first globally for the first time.
In the Global Innovation Index 2025, 17 low- and middle-income economies are performing above expectations for their level of development.
With India and Vietnam as the longest-running innovation over-performers.
Sub-Saharan Africa leads in the number of economies over-performing on innovation, led by South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda.
Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania remain a driving force in global innovation in 2025, with six economies ranked among the top 25.
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A team of Chinese scientists has developed a new soft and moveable implantable electrode that could overcome some of the biggest challenges holding back brain-computer interfaces.
The study led by researchers from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Donghua University was recently published in the journal Nature.
According to the study, most neural implants rely on rigid static electrodes that remain fixed once surgically placed.
This immobility severely limits their performance.
They can only capture signals from a single site, while neural and muscular activities often shift across time and space.
As a result, important information may be missed and the overall quality of monitoring gradually declines.
If researchers or clinicians wish to adjust an electrode's position to locate stronger or more relevant signals, Additional invasive surgery is usually required, which results in new risks and further burdens for patients.
These challenges have restricted both the adaptability and long-term use of brain-computer interfaces.
The new device developed by the Chinese team named NeuroWorm represents a radical shift, inspired by the flexible movement and segmented body of an earthworm.
It is a soft thread-like fibre roughly twice the width of a human hair.
Despite its tiny size, it can carry up to 60 individual sensors along its length.
A key innovation is its ability to move after being implanted.
A small magnetic tip attached to NeuroWorm allows researchers to wirelessly steer it through brain tissue or along muscles using external magnetic fields.
This means a single implant can actively explore different areas to find the best signals, instead of being stuck in one place.
In experiments, the team guided the device through a rat's leg muscle via a very small incision.
They used magnets to move it each day for a week and it successfully recorded clear and stable muscle signals from different locations.
In another test, A single neuroworm implanted in a rat for over 43 weeks continued to work perfectly, with minimal scar tissue formation compared to traditional rigid devices.
The team also steered the device deep into a rabbit's brain, capturing high-quality neural signals along the way.
Liu Zhiyuan, a professor at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, said that this breakthrough offers a path towards more dynamic and less invasive bio-electronic interfaces.
Liu added that the NeuroWorm platform could lead to smarter, longer-lasting and more effective applications in areas like advanced prosthetics, the mapping of brain activity for epilepsy and managing chronic neurological diseases.
This is Special English.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in South China's Guangdong province has recently reported a surge in numbers of passengers from ASEAN countries this year.
Data from local border authorities shows that by September 16th, The major air transport hub had handled approximately 15 million inbound and outbound travellers from ASEAN member states to date this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 426.
Tourists accounted for 705 of that total, which was a year-on-year rise of over 60 over the past two years.
China has gradually introduced mutual visa exemption agreements with three ASEAN countries Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and visa-free travel policies have boosted the people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN.
Somchai Chantawani, a Thai businessman, said that it only takes him three hours to fly from Bangkok to Guangzhou.
Therefore, since the implementation of the visa-free policy, he has come to China every to purchase electronic products, and customs clearance is extremely convenient.
This year, the airport has handled almost 500000 passengers from ASEAN member states under China's visa-free travel policies, a year-on-year increase of 613.
According to local border authorities, personnel exchanges between China and Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are the most frequent reasons for travel among these passengers.
As economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN deepens and as demand for travel to China grows thanks to the country's updated visa policies, The number of routes from the Baiyun Airport to ASEAN destinations has increased.
Currently, there are over 100 stable weekly passenger routes linking Guangzhou to ASEAN cities.
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Through the new international land-sea trade corridor, ASEAN products from Vietnamese and Indonesian rubber to Cambodian rice and Thai coconuts are steadily making their way into China.
Meanwhile, Chinese products like chemical, new materials and automobile parts are being shipped overseas via the rail-sea intermodal transport along the corridor.
The range of goods covers dozens of categories, including electronic products, complete vehicles and parts, machinery and food.
The new international land-sea trade corridor, a key logistics network connecting China's western regions to global markets, has transported over 1020-foot equivalent units of cargo so far this year.
This milestone underscores the corridor's transformative role in enhancing regional connectivity and trade efficiency.
Over the years, the corridor has witnessed the continuous expansion of China's opening up in its western region.
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has held the position of China's largest trading partner for five straight years.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in the first eight months of this year, the total trade value between China and ASEAN reached 4.9 trillion yuan .
The trade corridor's efficiency has made it the preferred route for businesses.
According to Lin Zheng, logistics manager of Chongqing Wankai New Material Technology Company, shipping through Qingzhou Port in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region via the corridor reduces transport time by around 10 days compared with eastern ports, significantly enhancing satisfaction among their international clients.
The company exported 93000 tons of goods in the first half of this year, a 24 increase year on year.
This is Special English.
China has expanded its rare disease catalogue to 207 conditions and included almost 100 rare disease drugs in its medical insurance scheme.
That is according to information released at the 2025 China Conference on Rare Diseases, which was recently held in Beijing.
Due to their low incidence, small patient populations and high research and development costs, rare diseases have received limited attention in the healthcare field.
Through coordinated inter-agency efforts, China has accelerated the development of of a system for the prevention and treatment of such diseases, making drugs more accessible and affordable for the patients.
In 2024, China's medical insurance fund allocated 86 billion yuan around US12 billion to include rare disease drugs in its coverage, accounting for about 77 of total payments.
Beyond expanding insurance coverage for such drugs, China has also advanced its National Rare Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Collaboration Network, which now includes 419 medical institutions.
The country has further established a rare disease reporting system covering 115 billion people, with 16 million cases registered to date.
Zheng Shuyang, President of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that, while rare disease diagnosis and treatment may seem like a niche need, it is actually a critical measure of medical and social progress.
Zhang, also a rare disease expert, added that such a move not only upholds the dignity of individual lives, but also drives medical and social progress toward greater precision and equity.
That is the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read one of the news items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong province has recently reported a surge in numbers of passengers from ASEAN countries this year.
Data from local border authorities shows that by September 16th, the major air transport hub had handled approximately 15 million inbound and outbound travellers from ASEAN member states to date this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 426.
Tourists accounted for 70.5% of that total, which was a year-on-year rise of over 60%.
Over the past two years, China has gradually introduced mutual visa exemption agreements with three ASEAN countries Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and visa-free travel policies have boosted the people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN.
Somchai Chantawani, a Thai businessman, said that it only takes him three hours to fly from Bangkok to Guangzhou.
Therefore, since the implementation of the visa-free policy, he came to China every month to purchase electronic products, and customs clearance is extremely convenient.
This year, the airport has handled almost 500000 passengers from ASEAN member states under China's visa-free travel policies, a year-on-year increase of 613.
According to local border authorities, personnel exchanges between China and Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are the most frequent reasons for travel among these passengers.
As economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN deepens and as demand for travel to China grows thanks to the country's updated visa policies, The number of routes from the Baiyun Airport to ASEAN destinations has increased.
Currently, there are over 100 stable weekly passenger routes linking Guangzhou to ASEAN cities.
That is the end of today's programme.
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