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  China controls the rare earths the world buys - can Trump's new deals change that? US President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of deals on his Asia visit to secure the supply of rare earths, a critical sector that China has long dominated. The deals with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia differ in size and substance and it's too early to assess their tangible impact. But they all include efforts to diversify access to the minerals that have become essential for advanced manufacturing, from electric vehicles to smartphones. The agreements, which aim to lock partners into trading with the US, are a clear bid to reduce dependence on China, ahead of a key meeting with its leader Xi Jinping. They could eventually challenge Beijing's stranglehold over rare earths, but experts say it will be a costly process that will take years. "Building new mines, refining facilities, and processing plants in regions such as Australia, the United States, and Europe comes ...
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 Friends reunited Trump and Kim Jong-Un's curious relationship will play out differently this time

The cameras struggled to get a steady shot as Donald Trump took his first historic steps into enemy territory with Kim Jong Un. It was 2019 and the then-45th president of the United States patted the arm of the North Korean leader, then on cue, Kim led him across the threshold that separates his country from South Korea - two countries officially still at war.

Behind them, within the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), it was chaos as TV crews jostled to get a clear view through a line of North Korean bodyguards who seemed surprised by the onslaught of US media.

At one point, a reporter asked for help and the White House press secretary had to pull them from behind a line of security to the Trump-Kim photo call.

This meeting had been hastily organised – and it showed.

The US president had organised the last-minute rendezvous on Twitter, as it was then known, just 30 hours earlier when he suggested meeting Chairman Kim at the DMZ "just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!"

The impromptu invitation created a third and last incredible TV moment between a showman president and a once reclusive dictator.

Now, it appears there could be more. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast last Thursday that he will once again "reach out" to Kim.

"I got along with him," Trump added. "He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy."

The BBC understands that there has been very little contact between the US and North Korea in the last four years during the Biden administration. Washington has sent messages but there has been no reply from Pyongyang.

The last meeting between the two nations, when Trump was last in office, did not advance a longed-for deal to get North Korea to give up its prized possession – its nuclear weapons.

Since then, Kim has advanced his missile programme and claims to have successfully tested a hypersonic missile, despite being subject to strict international sanctions.

It's a far cry from when Trump used to boast that the two "fell in love".

The question is, can the relationship be rekindled - or could it be a very different picture this time around?

Washington will, after all, be dealing with a very different Kim now. In the last four years his alliances and fortunes have shifted - and his relationship with another world leader appears to have strengthened too. So, could it mean that this has all changed his dynamic with Trump for good?

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