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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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Search for missing continues as Texas floods kill 51, including 15 children


Hundreds of rescuers have been deployed to search for people missing in central Texas, after flash floods killed 51 people, including 15 children.

The worst affected area is Kerr County where 43 people have died and where 27 children remain missing from a Christian youth camp located along the River Guadalupe.

"The work continues, and will continue, until everyone is found," promised Larry Leitha, the sheriff of Kerr County.

People have also been confirmed dead in other parts of the state, including Travis County and Tom Green County.Multiple flash flood warnings remain in place over the weekend in central Texas.

About 850 people have been rescued so far.At a news conference on Saturday afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he had signed an expanded disaster declaration to boost search efforts.

He said officials would be relentless in ensuring they locate "every single person who's been a victim of this event", adding that "we will stop when the job is completed".

Much of the rescue has focused on a large all-girls' Christian summer camp called Camp Mystic, located along the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Pictures from the camp show it in disarray, with blankets, mattresses, teddy bears and other belongings caked in mud.

Many were asleep when the river rose more than 26ft (8m) in less than an hour in the early hours of Friday.

In an email to parents of the roughly 750 campers, Camp Mystic said that if they had not been contacted directly, their child had been accounted for.

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