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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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 Melania Trump launches her own cryptocurrency

Incoming first lady Melania Trump has launched a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband's inauguration as US president.

The announcement comes a day after President-elect Donald Trump launched the $Trump cryptocurrency. Both coins have risen but have seen volatile trade.

"The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now," she posted on the social platform X on Sunday.

The website for the "Official Melania Meme" says it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.

Disclaimers on the websites of both the $Trump and $Melania coins said they were "not intended to be, or the subject of" an investment opportunity or a security.

According to the CoinMarketCap website, $Trump has a total market valuation of about $12bn (£9.8bn), while $Melania's stands at around $1.7bn.

Trump had previously called crypto a "scam" but during the 2024 election campaign became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations.

On the campaign trail, Trump also said he would create a strategic bitcoin stockpile and appoint financial regulators that take a more positive stance towards digital assets.

That spurred expectations that he would strip back regulations on the crypto industry.

In the wake of Trump's victory, bitcoin jumped to a record high is currently trading at $140,000, according to crypto trading platform Coinbase.

On Friday, the incoming artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto tsar David Sacks held a "Crypto Ball" in Washington, DC.

Other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin - which has been promoted by high-profile Trump supporter Elon Musk - have also risen sharply this year.

Under President Joe Biden, regulators cited concerns about fraud and money laundering as they cracked down on crypto companies by suing exchanges.

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