rare

AN outdoor pool is the centrepiece of any self-respecting holiday resort.

Sunshine, sunloungers and kids trying to sink each other’s inflatables.

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But this was no ordinary swimming pool. This was a NATURAL pool — nestled in the Shropshire countryside.

No nasty chemicals in this water. It’s split into two zones — one side for swimming and the other filled with reeds and water lilies.

The swimming area has clean edges just like a regular pool, but the water is naturally filtered by sunlight and the plants next to it.

The normal electric-blue hue and chlorine pong we’ve swam in all our lives is gone.

This is just clear water, like swimming in a mountain stream.

Which was appropriate as we were staying at Love2Stay glamping resort, within sight of the River Severn.

It offers 36 glamping units, including safari lodges, and 120 camping pitches, all set on a gently sloping hillside just outside Shrewsbury.

Its Biotop natural pool is one of only a handful open to the public in the UK.

And there’s also a lake with paddleboarding and kayaking, archery lessons, arts and crafts, gym, assault course and a nature trail.

We stayed in one of the site’s glamping barns. Outside, each has a private hot tub, firepit with starter bag of logs, giant hammock and beanbags.

Inside there’s a well-equipped open-plan kitchen, double bedroom and upstairs mezzanine for the kids to sleep on.

We were treated to a luxury food hamper on arrival, which comes with breakfast and dinner included.

Victorian fair

And we’re talking proper full English with fresh local ingredients and giant field mushrooms for the veggies.

There’s no shop on site — Sainsbury’s is a five-minute drive away — but the cafe serves hearty breakfasts and wood-fired pizzas in the evening.

You could spend the whole weekend without leaving the park but that would mean missing out on Shrewsbury’s medieval lanes.

We boarded the Sabrina boat, a charming 45-minute cruise that loops the River Severn. With tea, coffee and a wonderful commentary, it’s the best way to see the town’s historic riverside.

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Bridges swoop overhead as you admire Charles Darwin’s alma mater Shrewsbury School.

While the naturalist is widely seen as Shrewsbury’s most famous son, don’t forget T-Pau’s Carol Decker, who lived above the nearby boathouse.

And the beautiful green spaces surrounding it were transformed by TV gardening legend Percy Thrower.

Just down the road lies the Ironbridge Gorge, which has been transformed into the Valley of Invention and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Here the Industrial Revolution was forged at the Coalbrookdale furnaces, and the gorge is now home to six museums.

The Iron Bridge, opened in 1781, still stands as a marvel of its time when it became the world’s first bridge made entirely of cast iron.

We took a circular walk up the side of the gorge, which gave us spectacular views of the valley.

Then we headed to Blists Hill Victorian Town. It’s a living film set, a cross between a Western and Great Expectations.

Enormous ironwork and industrial relics from its blast- furnace past sit alongside a lovingly recreated Victorian High Street.

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Staff in period clothing are working as they would have 150 years ago, making candles, baking bread and hammering iron at the blacksmith’s.

If you want your kids to know what life was really like before wifi, you can enrol them in the Victorian school. A stern Miss gives period lessons with a stick and hoop.

There’s a fish-and-chips shop wrapping cod in the village newspaper, and even a traditional Victorian boozer — complete with a sing-song knees-up in the afternoon.

And there’s a full Victorian fairground, with steam-powered rides, coconut shy and swingboats.

If you like your Victoriana with even more Clarkson’s Farm, Acton Scott Heritage Farm has reopened after a five-year break.

In its barns and yards, you can meet the wool-spinners and press Shropshire apples. The schoolroom is now a cafe serving local produce.

Back at Love2Stay, we cranked the firepit to industrial temperatures for marshmallows and mapped out our expeditions into the Shropshire Hills to see the ponies on Long Mynd.

It’s perfect for families who like a touch of luxury when they’re in the great outdoors.

Markets are hovering in positive territory today, and while they may end up down by the end of Tuesday’s trading session, there’s a strong likelihood that USA Rare Earth (USAR 9.92%) stock will end the day higher than where the rare earths stock began. And it doesn’t even relate to any company news. Instead, the stock’s spike stems from a development regarding a metals peer.

As of 12:14 a.m. ET, shares of USA Rare Earth are up 10%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Speculation of a notable partnership isn’t just running rampant — it’s full-on sprinting

Trilogy Metals (TMQ 241.63%) is the latest beneficiary of the U.S. government’s growing enthusiasm for investing in companies focused on critical mineral production. The company, focused on copper and cobalt production, announced today that the U.S. government intends to make a $17.8 million investment in the company, which would result in an approximate 10% equity stake.

While investor interest in rare earths has soared since President Trump issued executive orders in May to shore up the nation’s supply of these critical minerals, the administration’s interest in acquiring equity stakes in these mining companies to expedite their growth has also represented a powerful catalyst — one that has led investors to gobble up USA Rare Earth stock on the belief that it too will receive an equity investment from the U.S. government.

With shares rising, what are investors to do now?

Although it certainly seems with the realm of reason that the U.S. government would pursue an equity investment in USA Rare Earth, it’s speculative at this point to predicate an investment in the company solely on this notion. Instead, potential investors should monitor the company’s progress in developing its rare earth magnet production facility — something a lot more material to a sound investment.

Markets may be nudging slightly higher today, offering investors the hope of ending the week on a positive note, but the same can’t be said for rare earth stock USA Rare Earth (USAR -3.85%). While the company hasn’t reported anything negative, news related to a rare earth peer has USA Rare Earth investors heading for the exits.

As of 2:44 p.m. ET, shares of USA Rare Earth are down 3.5%, recovering from their earlier decline of 10%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Rare earth businesses in the U.S. are growing, and USA Rare Earth investors aren’t happy

Thanks to its holding in ReElement Technologies, American Resources (AREC) announced a 141% expansion of its critical mineral refining facility located in Indiana. With the expansion, the company now has near-term annual refining capacity of over 200 metric tons of ultrapure separated defense elements and rare earth oxides of 99.9% to 99.999% purity.

Nearing completion of its rare earth magnet production facility, USA Rare Earth has emerged as one of the key players among those involved in rare earth elements production. The company has drawn considerable interest from investors over the past year as President Trump has issued executive orders addressing a commitment to shoring up the domestic supply of rare earths.

Is now as good time to dig into USA Rare Earth stock?

Instead of digging deeply into the news from American Resources, investors in USA Rare Earth likely responded to the news with a knee-jerk reaction and trimmed their positions, surmising that the growth prospects of USA Rare Earth is now impeded. For USA Rare Earth shareholders, though, today’s announcement shouldn’t do much to sway them that the bull case is broken.

Of course, there are plenty of risks that remain for USA Rare Earth with the construction of its magnet production facility, and the company’s success is far from guaranteed. But if you were optimistic about the prospects of USA Rare Earth yesterday, nothing has changed. In fact, today’s pullback provides a great chance to build your position even further.

Two prominent Latino Democratic elected leaders are battling to become a new member of Congress. The race to represent a swath of Southern California that sweeps from southeastern Los Angeles cities to Long Beach will be among the state’s most contested intraparty battles, with the winner earning a perch that could become a springboard to higher office.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and state Assemblymember Cristina Garcia are running to represent the new 42nd Congressional District, a Latino majority district that was created in December by the state’s redistricting commission as California loses a congressional seat for the first time in its history.

“It’s fair to say this is one of the more prominent Democrat-on-Democrat races” on the ballot, said Robb Korinke, a Democratic strategist who lives in Long Beach and is not aligned with either candidate. (Korinke was appointed by Robert Garcia to the city’s Technology and Innovation Commission in 2015.)

The new district combined pieces of the areas currently represented by Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Lucille Roybal-Allard to account for population loss in Los Angeles County without eliminating a district where Latinos could elect a candidate of their choice.

Roybal-Allard’s district, which included much of South Los Angeles, the Eastside and southeast L.A. County, was the most Latino in the nation. Lowenthal’s straddled Los Angeles and Orange counties. Both announced their retirements in December, creating a rare open seat to represent California in the U.S. House of Representatives. Robert Garcia and Cristina Garcia revealed their intentions to seek the seat soon after.

Cristina Garcia and Robert Garcia are both 44, the children of immigrants and the focus of national attention for their work. They are vying to be the most progressive in the heavily liberal district and will face off in a June 7 primary where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to compete in the November general election. No prominent Republican is running in the race; the filing deadline is in March.

Robert Garcia’s home is in Long Beach’s Belmont Heights neighborhood, a collection of Craftsmans and beach cottages in walking distance of Colorado Lagoon and the restaurants and boutiques of the city’s 2nd Street entertainment district.

About 14 miles north, Cristina Garcia lives in Bell Gardens — not far from where she grew up — on a working-class block of modest houses with security bars on the windows and a backyard rooster that rousts the neighborhood.

The communities they live in reflect the district’s disparate constituents: Along the coast, affluent residents are focused on issues such as climate change and solar tax credits, while inland, lower-income workers worry that their children suffer higher asthma rates because of their proximity to pollution-spewing industries. Other parts of the district include Downey and Bellflower, the post-World War II tract homes of Lakewood, and Long Beach’s Art Deco airport, Cal State campus and port.

More than half of the new district’s residents are Latino citizens of voting age, but redistricting experts warn that turnout, particularly during nonpresidential elections, might disadvantage that electorate. Though Latinos live throughout the district, they are more concentrated in the southeastern Los Angeles cities.

“The core of the voting base is not in the area that is most heavily Latino and where Voting Act protections lie,” said Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell, referring to the landmark federal legislation that prohibits the disenfranchisement of minority communities.

Voters most likely to turn out are those who live in Long Beach, Lakewood and Signal Hill in the southern part of the district, which Mitchell and other strategists who are not aligned with any candidate in the race say benefits Robert Garcia.

The Peruvian-born, gay Latino mayor of Long Beach is widely considered the front-runner.

He has been endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lowenthal and several unions. In the two weeks after he announced his campaign on Dec. 17, Garcia raised more than $323,000.

Additionally, at least two independent expenditure committees that can accept unlimited donations are supporting his bid — one funded by business and development interests and the other by LGBTQ activists and labor.

Garcia received national attention for his handling of the pandemic while grieving the loss of his parents to COVID-19. The New York Times called Long Beach “a Model for the Vaccine Rollout”; schools there reopened earlier than in much of California because the city, which has its own health department, prioritized vaccinating teachers early.

“I have proven that as mayor that I can lead a large complex organization and that it can be done in a way that has both common sense and is progressive,” said Garcia, who was among a handful of local officials given a prime-time speaking slot at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

He has been accused of being too beholden to powerful donors and criticized for registering as a Republican in 2002 — less than a decade after Proposition 187, the GOP-backed ballot measure that sought to deny taxpayer-funded services to those in the country illegally.

He was a California youth coordinator for George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign and founded the Long Beach Young Republicans in 2005. Garcia downplays his involvement in both, although media clips from the time quote him proudly playing a prominent role in the club. He also notes he was in high school during Proposition 187 and wasn’t involved in politics then.

Garcia said he followed his family’s lead in supporting the GOP because of their fondness for President Reagan, whose immigration policy provided the pathway for their citizenship.

He registered as a decline-to-state voter in 2007, two years before he won a City Council seat; and as a Democrat in 2010, four years before he successfully ran for mayor, according to the Los Angeles County voter registration database.

“People are allowed to grow and change,” and former Republicans shouldn’t be treated as “second-class Democrats,” Garcia said, pointing to his refusal to take corporate PAC money and support for single-payer healthcare. “What matters is your record.”

His rival, Cristina Garcia, says that his history concerns her.

“Everyone needs to run as a progressive these days. But is that what our record has shown?” she said. “How committed are you to all of this corridor, not just Long Beach?”

Garcia organized opposition to Proposition 187 while in high school. After college, she became a math teacher and moved away. Then her mother had a heart attack, prompting Garcia to return home.

She became involved in local politics, lost a City Council race in her hometown and became a vocal activist in the corruption scandal in neighboring Bell. That helped propel her to a 2012 victory in an Assembly race over a prominent fellow Democrat who vastly outspent her.

During her time in Sacramento, Garcia focused on environmental justice, notably the cleanup of the toxic lead-tainted soil near the shuttered Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in Vernon.

She was also dubbed the “tampon queen” or “period princess” — titles she embraced — because of her efforts such as making sure menstrual products are available for free at public schools in California.

The motivations that led her to run for the Legislature also made her decide to run for Congress, Garcia said.

“This region has been ignored for all my life. This is a front-line community,” she said, adding that elected officials give a lot of lip service to the concept of equity. “But how do we make sure we’re putting actions behind that?”

As the leader of the Assembly’s women’s caucus, Garcia was an outspoken advocate for victims when the #MeToo movement rocked the statehouse in 2017 and 2018. She was featured in a Time magazine photo collage of female leaders as part of its “Person of the Year” issue because of her work to hold lawmakers accountable for inappropriate sexual behavior.

Then she was accused of similar behavior. Two Assembly investigations found that, although she had violated the Assembly’s sexual harassment policy and was “overly familiar” with a staff member while intoxicated, her behavior was not sexual.

Garcia, while accepting blame for some allegations, noted that the more serious claims of groping were not substantiated.

In other controversies, she admitted to calling former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez a “homo,” though she said she didn’t mean it as a slur. (Perez has endorsed Robert Garcia.)

She was also accused by other Democrats of making a derogatory statement about Asian Americans during a debate about affirmative action. Cristina Garcia said her remark — reportedly, “This makes me feel like I want to punch the next Asian person I see in the face” — was taken out of context. She said she was trying to explain how the debate was creating unnecessary, “unhealthy” divisions among ethnic groups.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, whose Lakewood home is in the district, rebuked Garcia during her controversies. But he has endorsed her congressional run, as have Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Treasurer Fiona Ma, several state legislators and elected officials from southeast Los Angeles communities.

She did not begin fundraising until after the first of the year, so her campaign finances will not be known until spring.

“It’s not the first time I’ve been out-fundraised, and we have been successful,” she said, pointing to her 2012 Assembly race, in which she ran out of money two weeks before the election. Volunteers hand-delivered tens of thousands of fliers.

“We don’t need dollar for dollar,” she said. “We need enough dollars.”

Taylor Swift’s first manager speaks out against her in new Channel 4 documentary charting superstar’s success amid multiples feuds along the way

Taylor Swift’s‘ former manager has slammed her for using fans to fight her battles in a new documentary to be broadcast on Channel 4. Taylor asked fans to let their feelings be known after her former record label boss Scott Borchetta sold her back catalogue to Scooter Braun for more than $300 million (£222m) in June 2019. It meant Taylor lost control over her musical legacy.

Taylor wrote on social media: “Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this. Scooter also manages several artists who I really believe care about other artists and their work. Please ask them for help with this – I’m hoping that maybe they can talk some sense into the men who are exercising tyrannical control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote.”

However, Scooter hit back, claiming his family received death threats. Now Channel 4’s new documentary sees her first manager Rick Barker slam her behaviour.

He says, “No one stole her music, no one made her sign a bad record deal, those were the types of record deals everyone signed at that time and Scooter Braun made a very good business decision. The decision Taylor made to turn the fans loose on Scott and Scooter with only half of the conversation…

“I was a little disappointed, death threats started happening, people started showing up at people’s houses and this was something that should have been discussed behind the scenes. They are called fans for a reason – it’s short for fanatics.”

The show also features interviews with songwriter Robert Ellis Orrall, who was one of the first to witness Taylor’s ability to turn out hit songs. He worked with her in 2003 when she was just 13 to record a demo featuring three tracks called Invisible, Just South Of Knowing Why and Need You Now.

Recalling their studio sessions, Robert tells the documentary, “Right from the get-go Taylor directed the session. We wrote three songs in the first two days that we were together and two of those are on the debut album, Taylor Swift. After we’d written a few songs, her dad said, ‘Here’s another 15 that she wrote.’”

Holding up a CD for the camera, Robert reveals he has another 16 songs written by Taylor that have never been heard by the public.

“I have tons of these from way back,” he says on the show, which features interviews with lots of Taylor’s early collaborators. “Here are 16 songs copyright 2003, the same year we started writing. None of those are anything you’ve ever heard.”

While Robert was co-writing with Taylor, he credits her with bringing all the creative ideas, saying she was a powerhouse even in her early teens. When he was working with Taylor, Robert quickly recognised the huge star she would become. Robert was one of the co-writers on her early track Place In This World and he was confident it would speak to fans. “Every kid feels that way and millions of kids could relate to that,” says Robert. “She had a plan and she wasn’t going to go off that plan. She was not going to be stopped. People were telling her ‘no’ left and right… She was having none of that.”

Robert helped Taylor get discovered, encouraging her to sing at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where he had a regular slot. On that stage she was spotted by Scott Borchetta who signed her to his new Big Machine Records label.

In the documentary, audio footage of Taylor talking about her big break is played. She says, “I’m looking out and seeing all these faces and there is one guy that is really getting it and has his eyes closed and I kept noticing him and after the show he said, ‘Hi, I’m Scott Borchetta.’ He goes, ‘The good news is that I want to set up my own record labels and I would like you to consider being one of my first artists.’” The pair worked together for 12 years and released six albums.

This year, Taylor, now 35, announced her engagement to American football star Travis Kelce. And even her former manager Rick is wishing her well. He tells the film crew, “I hope what comes next for Taylor is that she has found her person and that she gets to experience the things that most people get to experience and that some people give the girl a break.”

Taylor, Tuesday 30 September, 9.15pm, Channel 4

In what it claims is the first such attack in history, Ukraine has used drones to strike a pair of Russian Navy Be-12, a twin-turboprop amphibious aircraft that we have profiled in depth in the past. The raid appears to have targeted two of the extremely scarce seagoing planes, potentially halving the number of airframes available to Russia and leaving a question mark over the future service for the type.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense today published a video showing the attack on an airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea, which it says is “the first ever strike on a Be-12.” Seen from the perspective of the kamikaze drones, two of the amphibians are hit (one of them with the Bort number 08) and a Mi-8 helicopter is also struck. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims the destruction of all three aircraft, but that cannot currently be independently verified. The airbase is almost certainly Kacha, near the Black Sea Fleet’s major naval base at Sevastopol.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), the drone strike was carried out on September 21 by the “Ghost” special forces unit.

The Be-12, known as Tchaika, or Seagull, in Russian and codenamed Mail by NATO, was first flown in 1960 and which then served throughout the rest of the Cold War. It has played an unsung but important role since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most notably helping hunt for Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), or ‘drone boats,’ in the Black Sea.

What is clear, however, is that the number of these amphibians available to Russia was already strictly limited.

The U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank reports that, at the beginning of 2023, Russia had six Be-12s. All were said to be in the Be-12PS search-and-rescue configuration. Recent satellite imagery of Kacha airfield in Crimea shows seven or eight Be-12s, of which four or five were airworthy, according to the Ukrainian Channel 24.

Provided that the two aircraft struck by the GUR were airworthy, and both are now either destroyed or damaged beyond repair, then the Be-12 force available to the Russian Navy may well have been halved. On the other hand, the fact that one aircraft appears to lack a propeller on one of its engines suggests it might already have been withdrawn from use. It could still be a highly valued source for spare parts though.

Videos and photos showing Russian Be-12s operating over the coast of Crimea began to proliferate in summer 2022, and, since then, there have been multiple reports indicating that these aircraft are being used to spot USVs, and likely other Ukrainian activity, including by special forces teams, combat divers, and reconnaissance parties, in and around the peninsula.

During its Cold War heyday, the Be-12 was mainly an anti-submarine warfare platform, but, without any significant upgrades, the aircraft has long since ceased to have any real utility in this role.

Today’s aircraft can also be used for combat search and rescue, for example, dropping supplies to Russian airmen downed over the Black Sea. The Be-12PS can also carry 13 survivors, although, since there are very strict limits on landing on water, due to the age of the airframes, this is of little relevance.

The Be-12 can also be used in a transport capacity, if required.

In an uncontested environment, the Be-12 still offers useful reconnaissance capabilities. Its radar is able to provide a basic situational awareness picture of the coastline, as well as detect ships, in a sea-control role. More importantly, especially for USV detection, is the extensively glazed nose station, accommodating the navigator/observer.

US President Trump tells reporters that ‘great American patriots’ are planning to buy the social media app.

United States lawmakers are in China on a rare visit as the two countries tussle over trade, the ownership of the TikTok social media platform and military dynamics in the South China Sea.

According to a US media pool report, the members of the US House of Representatives met on Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and relayed that they hoped to “break the ice” as the superpowers try to make progress on stabilising ties.

The visit followed a call by the leaders of the two countries, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Friday. The two leaders spoke by phone, their first call in three months, but there was no announcement about the sale, ownership or algorithm of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social media app that has 170 million US users.

According to the White House on Saturday, an emerging deal would give US companies control over TikTok’s algorithm and US citizens would hold the majority of seats, six out of seven, on a board overseeing the app’s US operations.

The app’s algorithm controls what users see, and US officials have often warned that it is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.

But Trump told reporters on Saturday evening that “great American patriots” were planning to buy the app, which was supposed to be banned in the US in January. The president has signed repeated orders to allow the app to continue working while his administration tries to reach a deal with its owner, China’s ByteDance, to sell its US operations.

“And they’re [the buyers] very smart technologically, and they will not let anything bad happen to TikTok,” Trump said.

Among the expected buyers is Oracle, a tech firm owned by Larry Ellison, one of the world’s wealthiest people and a Trump supporter.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview on Saturday that the Trump administration was “100 percent confident that a deal is done”.

“[Trump] recognised the need to protect Americans’ privacy and data while also keeping this app open,” Leavitt said, adding: “TikTok is a vital part of our democratic process,” and she anticipated the deal to be finalised in “the coming days”.

US President Trump tells reporters that ‘great American patriots’ are planning to buy the social media app.

United States lawmakers are in China on a rare visit as the two countries tussle over trade, the ownership of the TikTok social media platform and military dynamics in the South China Sea.

According to a US media pool report, the members of the US House of Representatives met on Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and relayed that they hoped to “break the ice” as the superpowers try to make progress on stabilising ties.

The visit followed a call by the leaders of the two countries, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Friday. The two leaders spoke by phone, their first call in three months, but there was no announcement about the sale, ownership or algorithm of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social media app that has 170 million US users.

According to the White House on Saturday, an emerging deal would give US companies control over TikTok’s algorithm and US citizens would hold the majority of seats, six out of seven, on a board overseeing the app’s US operations.

The app’s algorithm controls what users see, and US officials have often warned that it is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.

But Trump told reporters on Saturday evening that “great American patriots” were planning to buy the app, which was supposed to be banned in the US in January. The president has signed repeated orders to allow the app to continue working while his administration tries to reach a deal with its owner, China’s ByteDance, to sell its US operations.

“And they’re [the buyers] very smart technologically, and they will not let anything bad happen to TikTok,” Trump said.

Among the expected buyers is Oracle, a tech firm owned by Larry Ellison, one of the world’s wealthiest people and a Trump supporter.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview on Saturday that the Trump administration was “100 percent confident that a deal is done”.

“[Trump] recognised the need to protect Americans’ privacy and data while also keeping this app open,” Leavitt said, adding: “TikTok is a vital part of our democratic process,” and she anticipated the deal to be finalised in “the coming days”.

Plane spotters in Fort Worth, Texas, caught a glimpse of something rare yesterday, one of the U.S. Air Force’s four E-4B Nightwatch jets flying completely stripped of paint and with much of its skin covered in a green zinc chromate coating. The Boeing 747-200-based E-4Bs are commonly called ‘doomsday planes’ as they serve as secure flying command posts for the president and other senior military officials so they can perform their duties, including directing nuclear strikes, even during the most serious crises.

Aviation photographer Tori Mae Fontana was kind enough to share pictures of the ‘naked’ E-4B with TWZ, which she captured as the aircraft left Meacham International Airport in Fort Worth yesterday. The jet used the callsign Spice 98 for the flight.

“So it was here at International Aerospace Coatings (IAC),” Fontana told TWZ. “They have painted E-4s before. I know they have previously had a Boeing contract. I am assuming it’s still current.”

Boeing, among others, uses green zinc chromate coatings to protect the skins of unpainted planes, typically before delivery. The standard paint scheme for the Nightwatch aircraft, also known as National Airborne Operations Centers (NAOC), is overall white with a blue cheat line on either side of the fuselage, as well as a blue section extending from the top of the nose to above the cockpit. Even without their normal paint job, the E-4Bs are readily identifiable by the large satellite communications (SATCOM) enclosure on top of the forward end of the fuselage, as well as other distinctive antennas on their dorsal spine and elsewhere along the fuselage. The jets also have an aerial refueling receptacle on the nose.

TWZ has reached out to the Air Force for more information, including whether there are any plans for a new paint scheme for this particular aircraft.

“I am also assuming it went back to San Antonio because Boeing has the contract for the E-4 maintenance,” Fontana added.

Online flight data shows that at least one E-4B, with the serial number 73-1676, has been at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, since September 2024. That aircraft was tracked flying on August 23 and again on August 28 using the Spice 98 callsign. Boeing performs depot maintenance on the Nightwatch jets, as well as the Air Force’s two Boeing 747-200-based VC-25A Air Force One aircraft, at Kelly Field, which sits adjacent to Lackland Air Force Base.

E-4B NAOC 73-1676 as Spice-98 is up on its second test flight following programmed depot maintenance at Lackland AFB, aka Kelly Field. It arrived in September of 2024 and the first flight was 5 days ago. pic.twitter.com/ss7S6RRwGh

— MeNMyRC (@MeNMyRC1) August 28, 2025

Ensuring the readiness of the E-4B fleet, as well as keeping their highly sensitive systems up to date, is extremely important given the critical role the jets play as part of the U.S. government’s broader continuity of government plans. Those mechanisms are in place to ensure that national-level authorities, including the ability to launch nuclear retaliatory strikes, remain functional in the face of any contingency, as you can read more about here.

At the same time, sustaining the heavily modified E-4Bs has become increasingly challenging, due in large part to the age of the underlying Boeing 747-200 airliners they were converted from. Three of the E-4Bs started their Air Force careers as E-4A Advanced Airborne Command Posts (AACP), which began entering service in the 1970s. Those aircraft were later upgraded to the NAOC configuration in the 1980s, and were eventually joined by the fourth aircraft. The very last 747-200 rolled off Boeing’s production line in 1987, and few are still flying in any configuration globally today. Boeing ended production of the 747 series entirely in 2022.

The Air Force is now in the process of acquiring E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) jets to replace the aging E-4Bs. The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is converting those aircraft from newer 747-8 airframes acquired secondhand from Korean Air. SNC is doing the SAOC work at a facility in Dayton, Ohio, and announced earlier this month that it had begun some degree of “early risk reduction flight testing” to help “ensure on-time delivery of new aircraft to the USAF.”

When the E-4Cs may begin entering operational service is unclear. Questions also remain about how big the SAOC fleet may be in the end. SNC has previously said it negotiated the purchase of five 747-8s from Korean Air, but past reports have indicated that the Air Force may want between eight and 10 of the jets in the end.

Part of this uncertainty is intertwined with the U.S. Navy’s plans to replace its E-6B Mercury aircraft, which are also ‘doomsday’ planes, but are not configured to act as much more than robust flying command centers like the E-4s. The E-6Bs currently serve as key airborne control nodes for the Navy and Air Force legs of America’s nuclear deterrence triad, mission sets referred to as Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) and Looking Glass, respectively. At present, the plan is for the E-130J Phoenix II aircraft that are set to replace the Mercury jets to be configured for the TACAMO mission only. This, in turn, has raised the possibility that the future SAOC fleet could take on the Looking Glass mission, at least to a degree.

Regardless, until the E-4Cs begin flying operationally, the E-4Bs will need to continue performing their essential role, and will need continued depot maintenance and other work to ensure they remain as ready and capable as possible.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Special thanks again to Tori Mae Fontana for sharing the images of the ‘naked’ E-4B with us.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Shares of USA Rare Earth (USAR 7.86%) spiked higher by as much as 15.6% in early trading today. The move comes after commentary on a JPMorgan podcast created optimism that the company could be the next in line for government investment following the landmark deal with MP Materials announced recently.

What JPMorgan said

In the internal podcast, JPMorgan’s co-head of mid-cap mergers and acquisitions, Andrew Castaldo, discussed the recent MP Materials deal and said JPMorgan believes that “there’s a whole slew of different critical minerals” that “the administration is also focused on, that could potentially be ripe for this type of collaboration.” He also noted that “we’ve had no less than 100 calls with clients to talk about the MP transaction as well as what this means for other industries.”

What it could mean for USA Rare Earth

It’s natural for investors to hear this kind of commentary and conclude that USA Rare Earth could be next. After all, the company is on track to begin producing rare-earth magnets at its Stillwater, Oklahoma, facility in 2026.

That will help reduce America’s dependence on foreign-sourced rare-earth magnets. The company plans to use the near-term revenue and earnings from magnet production to ultimately develop the Round Top Mountain in Texas, which it controls the mining rights to, to provide its own supply of rare-earth materials for magnet production.

Image source: Getty Images.

Clearly, it will take time and likely a lot of capital to fulfill the plan. Given the strategic importance of securing a domestic supply of rare-earth materials and magnets, it’s perfectly feasible that the current administration could also consider providing some form of support to USA Rare Earth.

Rebecca Legon was born with a rare condition called PFFD, which stopped her leg from forming correctly during early fetal development. She has spoken about the issues she has encountered while travelling

A star of Britain’s Missing Next Top Model is ‘treated like a security risk’ at airports because she has a limb difference.

Rebecca Legon was born with a rare condition called PFFD, which stopped her leg from forming correctly during early foetal development. She had it partly amputated at the age of six, so she could wear a prosthesis and lead a more active life.

The East Sussex woman can’t run, but is pretty mobile with a walking stick and leads a full, happy life. “Because I was born like that, I grew up and adapted. In daily life, I kind of do pretty well,” she told the Mirror.

As is the case for many people with disabilities, travelling can be a huge source of anxiety and problems for Rebecca. Issues that may seem small to some people, such as a broken escalator, can become serious obstacles for her.

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“It’s the invisible barriers that make life extra tough. A few weeks back, I was coming home from my family holiday. The flight was delayed. I had my 10 and 7-year-olds with me. I had to make it to the connecting flight, with the kids in tow and hand luggage. I was worried we weren’t going to make it.

“As we exited the aircraft, an escalator was out of order. I made it up, but it was really difficult in an already challenging moment. As I sat on the flight, I thought, ‘It’s crazy this keeps happening.'”

Over the years, Rebecca has encountered many hurdles while travelling, including hotel bathrooms without accessible showers. “You have to crawl in,” the mum-of-two, who starred on the BBC Three show Britain’s Missing Top Model, explained.

Airport security is also a problem. “During the security checks, you get yourself worked up and anxious. It makes you feel like you’re guilty. You’re extra manhandled. The problem is that the laws vary. There is no one rule that fits all,” Rebecca said.

“On two occasions, I have had to take my prosthesis off completely. You have crazy thoughts at that point. You are quite vulnerable. Is anyone going to mess with it? They’re taking part of your body and putting it through a security scanner. Sometimes they make you take your trousers down. It is very invasive and not very comfortable.”

Most of the issues arise in countries where airport technology is less advanced. Rebecca believes if all airports had full-body scanners, then she would encounter far fewer difficulties when travelling.

“The second incident, which really shocked me, was at Dubai airport in 2023. Despite Dubai being known for such fantastic accessibility, I was pulled aside by the head of security who demanded a search in a private room and insisted I remove my prosthesis to be put through the security scanner,” she said.

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“It was a frightening experience, and I felt extremely vulnerable and disrespected. Thankfully, I was travelling with close friends, so I felt safer that I wasn’t alone. There seemed to be no legitimate reason for her request – it has left me a little anxious about returning to visit my best friend who lives there.”

Rebecca proudly represented England’s Lionesses amputee football team at the inaugural Women’s World Cup in Colombia in 2024 and is passionate about supporting the global rise of inclusive sport.

She is also a keen hiker and lover of physical challenges. She believes the mind is often stronger than the body. Through her advocacy, she inspires others to embrace resilience. With determination and a positive mindset, she believes that almost anything is possible.

Sadly, her experience is not unusual; recent research from MMGY, of more than 3,473 adults, revealed that 84% of individuals with accessibility needs have had a negative experience while travelling.

The top five issues included:

• Challenges with accessible transportation
• Difficulty boarding or disembarking
• Inaccessible or unclear travel information
• Costs associated with accessible travel
• Lack of staff training on how to assist passengers with mobility needs

Rebecca is a supporter of Ottobock’s Invisible Class campaign, which aims to raise awareness of issues and demonstrate the potential that arises from sharing knowledge, challenging established structures and making experiences visible. Ottobock has created a A Guide To Accessible Travel for individuals seeking to support the community and join the journey to make every journey possible.

OAKLAND — Mayor Jerry Brown, who has projected an unconventional, even enigmatic, persona during 3 1/2 decades of public life, took a traditional step in his private life Saturday, marrying his longtime companion and manager of his upcoming campaign for state attorney general.

In a formal and quasireligious civil ceremony orchestrated by Brown himself and attended by almost 600 guests, the 67-year-old former governor exchanged rings with former Gap Inc. executive Anne Gust. It was the first marriage for each, and came after 15 years together.

Elements of Brown’s past, present and future converged in the half-hour ceremony packed with much of the Bay Area’s Democratic political establishment. It was held in the rotunda of a renovated, historic Civic Center office building, the sort of project Brown has promoted as a pro-development mayor. The wedding was laced with biblical readings and Gregorian chants in Latin that Brown knew all too well as a former Roman Catholic seminarian.

“I wanted the sound to be traditional,” Brown said afterward. “Most [of it] is 800 years old and nothing is less than 500.”

It was not exactly the sort of wedding people had come to expect from a man who many years ago was dubbed Gov. Moonbeam for living in Spartan fashion, driving a state-issued Plymouth and dating singer Linda Ronstadt. Nor was it the wedding of a man who studied yoga, volunteered for Mother Teresa’s home for the poor people in Calcutta, or more recently lived in lofts in gritty parts of this city.

“This is more than traditional,” former San Francisco mayor and onetime Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said after the wedding. “It would have satisfied anything the Kennedy clan would have put together. It’s California [political] history for 40 years.”

The attendees were like signposts on the political road traveled by the son and namesake of the late Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.

Jerry Brown, who grew up in San Francisco and graduated from UC Berkeley and Yale Law School, served as secretary of state from 1970 to 1974 and governor from 1975 to 1983. He also ran for president and headed the state Democratic Party. He was elected mayor of Oakland in 1999, and is seeking the Democratic nomination for state attorney general in 2006.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a former San Francisco mayor, presided over the wedding in a pink dress. The 47-year-old bride, in an ivory Diane von Furstenberg dress, was presented by her father, Rockwell T. Gust Jr., who once ran for lieutenant governor of Michigan.

Gust, who is a lawyer, and Brown, in a black suit with white shirt and tie, exchanged rings and vows. Then Feinstein declared them husband and wife, and they embraced and kissed to applause as singers performed the final chant.

Brown’s sister, Kathleen, a former state treasurer and candidate for governor, was present. So were many other Democratic politicians, including Oakland’s top city officials, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Gov. Gray Davis.

Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, Brown’s designated successor as mayor, was there along with people from the early years of Brown’s career, such as Orville Schelle, dean of the journalism school at UC Berkeley, and PG&E; executive Dan Richard, who served on then Gov. Brown’s staff from 1979 to 1982.

“One person just said we should have buttons saying ‘I’m from the ‘70s,’ … ‘I’m from the ‘80s’ … ‘the ‘90s,’ ” Richard said.

After the civil ceremony in Oakland, another set of nuptials was to be held at the San Francisco church where Brown’s parents were married and he was baptized.

Then Brown said the newlyweds plan to spend a couple of days on the Russian River — then take a belated honeymoon in Italy in August — after the June primary.

“We have a little campaign in the meantime,” he said.

You Bet! host and TV favourite Stephen Mulhern has made a rare admission about his father following his death as he revealed how he gave him his start in magic

Stephen Mulhern has made a rare admission about his father following his death. The magician, 48, was left devastated in November last year when his father Christopher passed away at the age of 76.

In the weeks that followed, coupled with a reaction an anaesthetic, the former Dancing On Ice host collapsed in front of diners at Pizza Express in Sunningdale, Berkshire. It is believed Stephen had the bad reaction to some medication after having a few drinks with his meal. Earlier in the day, he underwent a procedure, for which he was administered the anaesthetic.

Since then, the TV star has remained relatively private about the tragedy, but during an appearance on Friday’s This Morning, he was able to open up about his father when host Dermot O’Leary sensitively reminded him about his dad, who was also a magician, played a major part in kickstarting his career.

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Dermot began: “There’s a lovely story, I remember we were eating dinner together and you were telling me about what a great man your dad was. He was almost responsible, wasn’t he?”

Stephen replied: “My dad loved magic and he was a brilliant magician. I started when I was 11 and he would teach me tricks.”

Dermot added: “Wasn’t one of the acts ill or something?” and Stephen, shocked at what the TV star could remember replied: “God, you’ve got a good memory!

“Yeah, so [at Butlin’s] one of the acts didn’t turn up and my dad said, ‘Well my son’s a magician and he’ll fill in for you.’ I got my spot on stage and I feel incredibly lucky.”

Just weeks after losing his father, Stephen was back on screens at the Royal Variety. He took to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall, performing a magic trick in front of His Majesty The King and millions of viewers at home.

Upon completion, the star dedicated the performance to his late father saying: “That was for you dad.”

Following his two-year stint as a Redcoat, Stephen joined The Magic Circle as its youngest-ever member at the age of just 17, and gained an appearance on Blue Peter off the back of this.

After appearing on The Big Big Talent Show with Jonathan Ross in the late 1990s, he was invited to perform at the Royal Variety before becoming a regular on CITV alongside Holly Willoughby.

In more recent years, he has hosted Britain’s Got More Talent and regularly fronts Catchphrase, but due back on the box with a new series of You Bet for ITV1, in which stars such Josie Gibson, Josh Widdecombe and Alesha Dixon bet on of members of the public and their ability to carry out certain tasks.

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IF you took a quick glance at this snail, you’d swear he was just like any other.

In fact, even if you stare at this creature you likely won’t spot his rare anatomical problem.

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However, this issue is said to be “ruining his love life” and condemning him to a “chaste and sterile” existence, according to scientists.

Officially dubbed Ned the snail, this little guy looks like a stereotypical snail, complete with two antennae and a brown shell.

But there is a prominent problem with his appearance, though most people won’t spot it.

Peel your eyes and examine this “shellebrity” closely – can you spot his off feature?

This common garden snail was discovered by New Zealand nature lover and author Giselle Clarkson.

Something off

She noticed that “something looked off” and said she even wondered if Ned was a different species.

So, have you spotted what it is that makes Ned so special?

If you’re still scratching your head, we recommend paying particular attention to his shell.

While Ned’s rare condition may not register to you, experts have launched an international campaign to find him an equally-rare mate.

You may even be able to help – but first, why not give it one last go to spot the odd feature?

Anyone who has ever seen a snail knows that it has a “whorl” – a pattern of spirals or concentric circles – on the side of its shell. 

However, nature lovers know that this feature can only be found on one side, usually the right.

Well you guessed it, Ned’s coils are on the wrong side of his shell.  

While a large majority of snails have the spiral on the right side, around one in 40,000 have the spiral on the left side.

Snails are asymmetrical, meaning they fit together like a jigsaw during “face-to-face” mating.

International attention

This means a typical right-coiled snail and left-coiled snail such as Ned, who is named after famous leftie Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, won’t quite fit together properly when facing.

Now New Zealand Geographic has launched the “Let’s find a mate for Ned” campaign.

The campaign is telling gardeners to “head out into the garden and have a rummage” for another left-coiled common garden snail.

If anyone finds a left-coiled one, they’re urged to contact [email protected].

More brainteasers

Another tricky brainteaser features a gnarled tree but only those with high IQ can spot a sleepy cat hiding on it.

If that’s still not hard enough for you, then have a go at spotting the hidden broom amongst the clothes in less than five seconds.

Or you can have a go at figuring out the hidden message in this band’s cover art that has confused fans for years.

Lastly, puzzle fanatics have been left scratching their heads trying to find the lost feather in just 12 seconds.

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Charity Dingle is fiercely protective over her children and grandchildren in Emmerdale. Emma Atkins can relate, but she reveals she has another concern for her son Albert.

Charity Dingle’s family is on the verge of implosion in Emmerdale – but Emma Atkins is more concerned about her son’s education.

Soap legend Emma Atkins admits that her own experience as a mother helped her bring depth to Charity Dingle’s antics in Emmerdale. Emma welcomed her son Albert, now 10, with long-term partner Tom in 2015.

“I’m fiercely loyal,” she says, “My love for Albert runs very deep but at the same time, I want him to be his own person. In that regard, Charity and I are similar.” For Emma, parenting is a balance between protecting her son while letting him learn to navigate the world by himself.

“I want him to stand on his own two feet and grow up knowing that I have given him that freedom to make decisions for himself, even at an early age,” Emma says.

“I don’t want to be telling him what to do all the time. I try not to be possessive over my own child. I’ll be there to steer him and encourage him in the right direction.”

Emma’s nurturing instinct extends beyond family. She has stayed close with many of her Emmerdale co-stars over the years, particularly Charley Webb, who played her daughter Debbie for nearly two decades. “If I’ve worked with them, you can bet your life that I’m still in touch with them,” she says.

She’s equally bonded with current cast members. “I’m very close to Katie Hill, we share a dressing room. We’re like sisters,” Emma says. Her friendship with Belle Dingle actress Eden Taylor-Draper is just as strong. “We’ve been friends for years,” she says.

And despite John Sugden being one of the most sinister villains in recent Emmerdale history, Emma only has praise for Oliver Farnworth, who plays the sinister surgery receptionist.

“He’s such a gorgeous human being and so different to John,” she says, “Whenever we’re on set together we spend our time talking about animals because he’s a big animal lover and so am I.”

Over the years, Emma’s portrayal of Charity has won her a loyal following and recognition from critics and fans alike. She has been nominated for multiple TV awards and eventually scooped Best Soap Actress at the TV Choice Awards as well as Best Actress at the Inside Soap Awards.

But Emma insists the real secret to her success is knowing how to separate her on-screen havoc from her off-screen serenity. “I’ve learned to keep it simple,” she says, “But Charity’s world is too chaotic for me.”

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Things are about to take yet another drastic turn. The Woolpack landlady faces another storm as she desperately tries to keep her clandestine fling with Ross Barton (Mike Parr).

The tryst is threatening to blow apart her entire family as Charity once vowed to act as a surrogate for her granddaughter Sarah and her boyfriend Jacob – but the baby Charity is now carrying may not even be theirs.

If that wasn’t enough, she’s also reeling from the apparent loss of her husband Mackenzie, who was seemingly bludgeoned to death by John Sugden in a recent and chilling instalment – until it was revealed the hunk was alive and kept hostage in a mystery bunker.

For Emma, who has played Charity for more than 20 years, Mackenzie’s return was never in doubt, despite ITV viewers predicting the worst.

“I had no doubt that Mackenzie would be okay because he’s so good, Lawrence is incredible,” she says. “I knew it would be very exciting for the audience to wonder what his fate would be.

They built a special set for the bunker. We were both very excited.” She adds: “This storyline is proving to be my favourite at the moment. But how will Charity find out Mackenzie is in danger?

Away from the chaos of the Dales, Emma leads a far more peaceful life. She’s even got an unexpected passion – and a special interest for trees. “I’ve always loved taking pictures,” she says.

“I had a Canon 5D and the shutter broke so I turned to my iPhone and decided to take photos of wherever I’d go in nature. It was a good therapy tool.”

That escape to the outdoors is key for Emma, who spends much of her screen life in the middle of brawls, fiery arguments and messy romances.

“I spend most of my time walking the dog out in nature,” she says, “That’s the best way to decompress, it’s what I love doing the most.Trees are beautiful in all seasons. The older and taller, the better.”

On-screen, Charity is defined by her fiery personality and protectiveness, especially when it comes to her children and grandchildren. But her determination to keep them out of trouble sometimes triggers more hassle and harm than intended.

Now, with affairs, betrayals and deadly secrets, Charity Dingle is facing one of the most dramatic times of her life in Emmerdale. Will she come out of it unscathed?

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit recorded video of a stunning red aurora from aboard the International Space Station. The colour is rare because of the high altitude needed for it occur, about 240 kilometres above Earth.

TV STAR Jimmy Fallon, 50, has given fans an insight into his family life and shared a rare photo with wife Nancy Juvonen, 58, and their daughters.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon host posted the adorable picture on social media alongside his wife and their girls Winnie, 12, and Frances, 10.

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The family-of-four can be seen enjoying a lakeside getaway in the fun snap on their holiday wearing casual summer gear.

Comedian Fallon and his loved ones threw their arms in the air and struck some comedy poses in the playful shot.

His partner Juvonen flashed a peace sign and wrapped an arm around her daughter, wearing a pastel cross-over stripped dress.

“This is before my sister-in-law said, ‘a little less,’” Fallon joked in his caption.

Famous friends commented on the cute photo with a string of heart emojis, including Camila Cabello, Paris Hilton, while Ellen DeGeneres liked the snap.

Fans praised: “Beautiful family.”

A second added: “Awesome family post!”

A third agreed: “Such a joy to see a happy and loved Jimmy’s family.”

When Fallon is not in the studio, he can often be found at home, spending time with his wife, Nancy and Frances and Winnie.

The stand-up comedian, television host, actor, writer, and singer was born on September 19, 1974, in Bay Ridge, New York.

He first gained recognition as a cast member on Saturday Night Live but later became a household name in 2014 after taking over The Tonight Show following Jay Leno’s departure.

Fallon’s extensive career in the entertainment industry has helped him amass a $70 million fortune, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

He has also written several books and two comedy albums.

In 1998, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live and remained there until 2004.

Jimmy’s big break came in 2009 when he landed his own talk show, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

In May last year The Tonight Show aired a special two-hour program to celebrate Fallon’s 10th anniversary on the show.

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Resource competition has intensified between the two great powers, the US and China, due to trade and tariff wars. Recently, both the countries have made major policy shifts in the strategically significant rare earth sector.

China discreetly issued 2025 rare earth mining and smelting quotas to its state-owned enterprises, exhibiting deepening securitization of this sector. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) previously used to make the announcement public on their website.

The Pentagon became the largest shareholder in MP Materials after buying $400 million worth of stocks. It indicates expanding involvement of the US government in the domestic rare earth industry since MP Materials operates the sole mining facility in the US. This move faces severe backlash, with critics comparing it with China’s approach to market intervention.

Consequently, China has intensified its efforts to maintain overarching dominance over the global rare earth market, and the US strives to claw back its control over strategically important raw materials.

Quick guide to rare earth complexities

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen metallic elements. Their requirement in high-tech applications in medicine, the military, and green technologies is indispensable. The REEs are not so rare, as the name suggests. Yet the real limitation lies in locating them in clusters for economic viability. All the more difficult is smelting, separating, and processing these elements.

China is the net importer of REEs, mining 70%, with the rest being extracted by Myanmar, Australia, and the United States. However, China enjoys a near-monopoly in processing 90% of the rare earths globally.

Over the years, China has built self-sustaining rare earth supply chains domestically. That implies managing upstream extraction to midstream processing and, to a greater extent, even downstream manufacturing.

Just as access to oil shaped global geopolitics during the last century, access to rare earths is shaping current geopolitics in this great power competition. And China is weaponizing its preeminence over REE supply chains by tightening its control to offset the US.

China’s control over rare earths came with a huge brunt.

China discovered the strategic value of REEs in the formative years of building the country’s economic base. China has been investing heavily in the R&D since the discovery of rare earth deposits in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, in 1927. Today, it holds the rank of largest known deposit of REEs and constitutes over 90% of China’s entire reserves.

Deng Xiaoping’s signature policy of 1978 is credited for kick-starting the opening up of the Chinese economy and integrating China into the global market. As a cherry on top for Chinese authorities came the “environmental decade” in the 1970s in the United States, marked by dozens of environmental legislations.

Rare earth extraction and processing have severe environmental repercussions. Certainly, US private firms were in search of a scapegoat to outsource environmental costs and exploit cheap labor.

Chinese authorities were willing to face the brunt of ecological damage for speedy economic growth. It turned out that the short-term economic interests overshadowed the long-term strategic interests of America. 

What exacerbated the matter was illegal and unregulated mining of rare earths. The parallel economy flourished as global consumption for rare earth multiplied year on year. Chinese authorities have taken cognizance but struggle to put a stop to these activities.

China has doubled down on its efforts to curb unlicensed extraction and harden the compliance systems facing immense pressure from Trump’s tariff war.

Chinese market manipulation tricks came in handy.

By the 1990s, bifurcating prices of rare earths for the Chinese domestic market and international market had compelled many US businesses to shut down.

China carried out price manipulation in two tiers. First, it made sure to service its domestic needs by selling at cheaper rates than the products that were being exported. Second, pricing it underneath the other global firms in the international market but higher than the domestic price levels.

In the beginning, this created incentive for international companies to establish their manufacturing units in China. But eventually almost all firms went bankrupt, losing their competitive edge against Chinese SOEs.

In addition, China has been consolidating its rare earth assets to raise its global competitiveness and pricing power. In Dec 2021, three mega SOEs were merged to form a megafirm, China Rare Earth Group. Today, only two mega conglomerates are operating: China Rare Earth Group and China Northern Rare Earth Group. In fact, export quotas are entrusted to only these two mega firms.

Export quotas introduced in 1999 have expanded and tightened over the years. Though year-wise mining and smelting quotas have increased, the annual growth rates see a downturn. This time not disclosing the quotas publicly for ‘security reasons’ will exacerbate uncertainties in the international market. It seems like a calculated strategy of Chinese authorities to maintain their stronghold over the global market of rare earths but making sure to provide enough to maintain dominance.

Some scholars do articulate China’s policies to clamp down on its rare earth industry from a different lens, essentially, to address domestic interests. The Chinese authoritarian state is caught up in securing control and increasing production efficiency.

Trump responding vigorously to counterbalance Chinese dominance

The Pentagon becoming the largest stakeholder of MP Materials to cushion a strategic sector is nothing unusual. The US government and its agencies have a history of getting involved in sectors of national and economic significance. This underscores the fact that great powers have historically used market distortions as a tool to uphold their supremacy.

Establishing a cutting-edge supply chain with like-minded states would take over a decade and cost well over a trillion dollars in that period. Americans have to catch up on the long road ahead that the Chinese took decades to build. Therefore, Trump initiated the first-of-their-kind policy measures to hasten up the catching-up process. These policy initiatives are aimed at enhancing collaboration for clean energy technologies, building resilient supply chains, and reducing dependencies.

On April 30, 2025, the US and Ukraine signed a long-awaited minerals deal. Trump’s ambition to gain control over Greenland, a strategically located island in the Arctic, to the extent of using military force wasn’t just about national security. Rather driven by desire to control rich untapped resources, including rare earth minerals, copper, gold, uranium, iron, oil, etc.

Trump’s efforts will take years to bear fruit. Prior to that, the US must build an investment-friendly environment. A report by consultancy S&P Global found that on average it takes nearly 29 years to build a new mine for the critical minerals in the US, the second-longest in the world. The process to obtain a mining permit is lengthy and confusing, which harms efforts to counterbalance China’s near-dominant positioning.

world of weaponized interdependence

Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman argue cold war animosity was replaced by a new world of networks that accentuated harmonious relationships. They suggest countries are more entwined than ever, but rather than easing hostilities, interdependence is used by states against their adversaries.

Great power competition is being increasingly impacted by what they called “weaponized interdependence.” China’s dominance over the supply lines of rare earths gives it the edge to fight this battle for long.

A WOMAN has believed that she suffers with a rare condition that’s so bad, cruel trolls have told her she needs to call an “exorcist.”

Rachel, 20, revealed that her condition is so bad, she barely leaves the house and struggles to even order food at a restaurant.

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The content creator suffers with Tourette’s, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary sounds or movements, known as tics.

Her body often twitches in an uncontrollable manner, and she makes lots of “random” noises such as whistling.

However, the worst part about Rachel’s condition is that she has something called coprolalia, which is a form of Tourette’s that causes sufferers to shout obscene and inappropriate phrases.

Only between 10 and 30% of Tourettes sufferers have coprolalia and it can cause those who have it to become extremely embarrassed and stressed.

“It does become frustrating that I can’t stop my tics or control them”, she told Love Don’t Judge.

Rachel had minor tics throughout her childhood, but they were so small that they were hardly noticeable.

However, when she was 15 her condition suddenly worsened very rapidly.

“It was very scary”, Rachel’s dad said.

“The person we knew was literally gone.”

After receiving an official diagnosis from her doctor, Rachel said the whole world crashed around her.

“I absolutely refused to go anywhere”, she said.

She stopped attending school so had to be homeschooled and hardly ever met up with friends.

“It was incredibly isolating for a very long time”, she said.

“I remember feeling like my entire life was over.”

Thankfully, Rachel’s saviour came when she posted a video to TikTok, showing her ticking, and it quickly blew up.

The post was flooded with people asking comments about her condition, or revealing that they experienced the same thing.

“They were happy to see it in the media”, she said.

“I thought, oh my gosh, I can do something positive.”

Rachel is now a content creator, and makes videos to raise awareness about Tourette’s.

However, she receives a lot of hate comments, from people who don’t believe it’s real.

“When people say I’m faking my Tourette’s Syndrome, I feel invalidated”, she said.

“It’s a core part of who I am.”

Rachel added that she has also had trolls claiming she needs “an exorcist”, and has been “taken over by a parasite.”

Despite finding these comments hurtful, Rachel sees them as all the more reason to raise awareness about her condition.

She said: “All I have to say to those who have judged me because of my condition is I hope that they learn to not judge others so quickly when they see something or someone that they don’t quite understand.

“I believe that we should all embrace our differences. And I think that we should all be committed to being so beautifully and uniquely and truly ourselves.”

Giving back all of its 5.7% gain from last week, shares of USA Rare Earth (USAR 2.24%) have been in free fall this week. Several news events out of the rare-earth-mining industry have investors feeling less than bullish on the stock’s prospects.

According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares of the metals stock have plunged 18% from the end of last Friday’s trading session through 12:25 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Image source: Getty Images.

News from around the world has investors feeling woeful

The week began on an inauspicious note when investors learned that rare-earth exports out of China have ramped up this summer. According to Bloomberg, the export volume of Chinese rare-earth products rose 69% from June to July. With rare earth products at the core of trade tensions between the U.S. and China, investors are hyperfocused on news that the world’s leading rare-earth producer has escalated its exports of the prized critical minerals.

Tuesday didn’t provide much relief. Reuters reported that Vulcan Elements, a producer of rare-earth magnets, recently signed a supply deal with ReElement for rare-earth oxides. USA Rare Earth recognizes the commencement of operations next year at its rare-earth-magnet production facility as a major catalyst. Investors are likely fretful about the company’s prospects if peers are inking rare-earth-magnet deals while USA Rare Earth isn’t enjoying the same interest.

Yet another factor behind the stock’s tumble this week is news from rare-earth peer Critical Metals (CRML -3.28%), which reported favorable drilling results from a project in Greenland. Besides magnet production, USA Rare Earth is also focused on mining at its resource in Texas. With the promising results that Critical Metals reported for its Greenland asset, investors may be finding USA Rare Earth less appealing.

What’s an investor to do now?

Because USA Rare Earth is a highly speculative investment, the volatility this week is unsurprising. Current shareholders should simply sit tight at this point, since nothing materially has changed for the company.