Image
  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 ...
Post a Comment

Young men were getting a haircut ahead of a festival - then they were shot dead


Ahead of Sweden's Walpurgis festival to mark the start of spring, young people were busy selecting outfits or getting their hair done. Not all of them made it there alive.

At a hair salon in Uppsala, a city north of Stockholm, three young men who police say were aged between 15 and 20 were shot dead on Tuesday before the celebrations started.

The horror left many shaken in the build-up to the festival, known as Valborg in Swedish, which is typically a convivial affair each 30 April on the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga. Celebrated nationwide, Uppsala hosts the country's largest and most high-profile Walpurgis events, popular with students.

The partying did go ahead in full swing, but a subtle heaviness hung over the Swedish blue and yellow flags which fluttered around the city.

And now, with the festival finished, it's only police tape - not flags - fluttering outside the basement barber shop where the shooting took place close to Vaksala Square.

Outside the hair salon in Uppsala, 20-year-old Yamen says he has never been involved in gang crime but knows plenty of others who have.

"Many times in my school, there was gang violence, and in the streets - dealers," he says. "But my personality was to work, study, and now I am in college."

As he leaves to meet friends, a steady stream of young people continue to stop at the street corner next to the hairdressers, some bringing bouquets of flowers. Several appear visibly shaken and have tears in their eyes.

"I knew him very well," says Elias, a 16-year-old who says he was friends with one of the victims, and has asked the BBC not to share his surname. "It feels unreal, you know. It doesn't feel like I've truly accepted the situation."

Comments

Post a Comment