CANBERRA -- Australian rare-earth company Arafura is aiming to start construction on its first mine and refinery in September, announcing on Thursday its board had made a final investment decision to go ahead with the state-backed project to provide a further non-China source of the material vital for modern technology.

PALO ALTO, California -- Elon Musk's SpaceX filed for what could be the largest initial public offering in history on Wednesday, seeking to raise up to $80 billion at a $2 trillion valuation. But unlike Tesla -- a Musk-owned company that built its success on China -- SpaceX says it is excluding the world's second-largest economy as its market, now and in the future.

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vietnamese solar startup Stride said it raised $15 million from investors including an affiliate of United Overseas Bank (UOB), defying a funding winter as the country pushes solar power to cope with energy shocks linked to tensions in the Middle East.

HONG KONG -- At the closely-watched state dinner in Beijing last week that Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted for U.S. President Donald Trump, a "mystery woman" drew media attention by sitting in one of the event's most prestigious spots -- between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

PALO ALTO, California -- Elon Musk's SpaceX filed for what could be the largest initial public offering in history on Wednesday, seeking to raise up to $80 billion at a $2 trillion valuation. But unlike Tesla -- a Musk-owned company that built its success on China -- SpaceX says it is excluding the world's second-largest economy as its market, now and in the future.

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics' labor union suspended a planned general strike hours before it was set to begin after its leaders agreed with management over bonus payments, ending a standoff that threatened to disrupt production at the world's largest memory chip maker.

PALO ALTO, California -- Nvidia reported another record-breaking quarter of results on Wednesday, defying investor worries about an artificial intelligence bubble while excluding data center revenue from China in its outlook.

TOKYO -- Sumitomo Life Insurance and Daiichi Life Insurance are expanding investments in private credit, seeking to achieve higher returns as their asset rebalancing has run its course.

TOKYO -- Hitachi's cash reserves are piling up, essentially breaking the company free from debt for the first time in 36 years at the end of March, but investors are not impressed.