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Japan will conduct test mining of rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed off Minamitori Island, some 1,900 kilometres (1,180 miles) southeast of Tokyo, from January 11 to February 14, the head of the government-backed project said.The operation will mark the world's first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth mud from a depth of around 6,000 meters on to a vessel.Tokyo, like its Western allies, is seeking to secure stable supplies of critical minerals as China, the dominant supplier of rare earths, tightens export controls.

The FPSO P-78 can produce up to 180,000 barrels per day and will increase the gas supply.Petrobras began oil production from the P-78 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the Búzios field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, this Wednesday, December 31, 2025. Búzios 6 (P-78) has the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of oil and 7.2 million m³ of gas per day. The FPSO will increase the field's installed production capacity to approximately 1.15 million barrels of oil per day. Furthermore, this project will allow for the export of gas to the mainland via interconnection with the ROTA 3 gas pipeline, expanding Brazil's gas supply by up to 3 million m³ per day.

Taiwan remained on high alert on Wednesday after China staged massive military drills around the island the previous day, keeping its emergency maritime response centre running as it monitored Chinese naval manoeuvres, the coast guard said.The exercises named "Justice Mission 2025" saw China fire dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deploy a large number of warships and aircraft near the island, in a show of force that drew concern from allies in the region and the west.Beijing announced late on Wednesday the completion of the drills, saying its military would remain on high alert and continue to strengthen their combat-readiness.

Finnish police said on Friday they had made progress in a criminal investigation into damage caused to an undersea telecommunications cable owned by operator Elisa.Police seized the cargo vessel "Fitburg" on Wednesday while it was en route from Russia to Israel on suspicion that it had sabotaged the telecoms cable running across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki to Estonia.Investigators said on Thursday they had arrested two of the 14 crew members, imposed a travel ban on two others and had begun questioning them. The 14 crew members were nationals of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Empire Offshore Wind LLC (Empire) filed a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today, January 2, 2026, challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s order directing a suspension to the Empire Wind project. As part of that case, Empire plans to seek a preliminary injunction and allow construction to continue while the litigation proceeds.  While Empire continues to work closely with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the other relevant authorities to find a prompt resolution to the matter, the order is in Equinor’s view unlawful and threatens the progress of ongoing work with significant implications for the project.