Emily Thomas

The International Energy Agency has warned that increasing demand for rare earth minerals, essential in many modern technologies, is putting energy security at risk. Global demand for these minerals is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, creating pressure on supply chains. Now more than 50 countries are gathering at a conference in Washington to discuss the matter.

Alex Ritson asked our business correspondent Jonathan Josephs what role China, which controls many of these resources, had to play in all this. China controls so many of these critical minerals, things like rare earths, but also has a lot of influence when it comes to things like copper and lithium. So I asked Tae-yoon Kim, who is the head of the critical minerals division at the International Energy Agency, I asked him what the risks were.

So what the fear here is that China, because it's dominating the production and refining of these elements, these minerals, it potentially can hold the rest of the world over a barrel. Well, that's not just a potential fear, Alex. That's something that actually happened last year when China renounced export controls on rare earths. And that was at the heart of the US-China trade war.

China has a really strong bargaining chip when it comes to its trade negotiations with America, with Europe, with all parts of the global economy. If they do things that China doesn't like, it can hold back some of these supplies. Because if we look at rare earths as an example, China has about 70% of mining capacity in the world.

But even more importantly, it has about 90% of refining capacity, because it's quite a dirty process to extract these minerals and turn them into usable substances, which you might find in a smartphone, you might find them in a jet engine, you might find them in a wind turbine. And to do all of that, China is prepared to accept those risks, and that's given it a lot of leverage in the global economy. So now other countries are trying to lessen their dependence, and Mr. Kim says that

They need to invest more in doing so, that they need to expand their own mining and refining capacities to do that. And there's a huge meeting in Washington to look at this. That's right. There's this gathering happening in Washington. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, is hosting. They're all coming together to try and

Work out how they can diversify their own supply chains for critical minerals and move away from this dependence on China. Now it's going to be a long term game to achieve any of that and how far they will get in this one meeting remains to be seen. But America has already been talking about this in recent days. President Trump announced on Monday a 12 billion dollar strategic mineral reserve. The EU is also trying to put money into it and China has responded well.

Jonathan Josephs. For more on this story, you can go on YouTube, search for BBC News, click on the logo, then choose podcasts and global news podcast.

Next, Walmart surpassed a market valuation of $1 trillion on Tuesday, becoming the first so-called traditional firm to hit the milestone. In doing so, the US retail giant joins a small club mostly made up of tech giants like Apple and Microsoft. It marks a significant moment for America's largest retailer, known for its large stores and low prices. Pete Ross has more.

The share price has been rising for the last year or so, going up by around about 26%. So analysts have expected that it would pass this milestone. This has been achieved by a traditional retailer. When you think of some of the world's biggest companies, and indeed the world's biggest companies are populated by the big tech giants, Google, Meta, those sorts of companies, not a traditional bricks and mortar retailer known for its vast stores.

todella suuria tuotteita, vähäisiä piirteitä, jotka traditiivisesti sijoittavat vähäis- ja puolustusalueita. Se on siis suosittanut asiakkaan suunnitelmaa merkittävästi. Kuten me kaikki tunnemme, pysyvät piirteet. Pohjoisalueiden asiakkaat ovat aloittaneet ostamaan siellä.

Like most of us, they're looking for value, for convenience, at a time when all households are feeling the pinch. They're facing a number of financial strains, factors such as inflation, particularly in the US as well, a cooling job market. The company's been able to take advantage of that challenging consumer environment, and it's broadened its appeal, reaching out to, as I said, those customers that traditionally look elsewhere, while retaining its lower income shoppers. They're still going there.

Digital sales have driven it as well. It's been a major driver of growth. It's grown the number of items online. Apparently, according to one report that I read, there's over a half a billion items available to shop online now. It's making basically a direct challenge at one of its main competitors, Amazon Prime. Also critically, Walmart went big early on AI technology, and that's helped it across the business.

by pouring billions of dollars into supply chain automation. It allows it to restock more quickly, and that means it can offer more products and it can increase its profit margins. Another thing that it's done, it's also tried to appeal to tech workers. So it's built a new headquarters or a new campus, a 350-acre campus in Bentonville, Arkansas. It's sort of something that resembles more of those kind of headquarters you would expect to see something like Google or Meta.

So it's got childcare facilities, there's a vast food hall, amphitheatre, basically trying to bring in new tech workers to help it with this push, with its AI push. Pete Ross, water shortages are worsening in parts of South Africa.

The latest casualty is the coastal town of Gneisner, whose residents are fearing the prospect of municipal taps running dry, so-called Day Zero. Dams are critically low, and water restrictions have been imposed to slow down the decline. Authorities have even declared a local state of disaster amid concern over dwindling supplies. The BBC's Pumsa Filani has been to Gneisner.

Naisna, kaupungin perhe, jossa on kylmä ja hyvää vettä, on popularitsevaa kansainvälisille katsojille. Se on myös viettäminen perhe, jossa on suurempia paikkoja. Mutta kaupungin veneerin ympärillä on kylmä veneeri.

Olemme Akurklöfissä, joka on yksi kaupungin suurimmista rauhoitukseista. Täällä oli todella vähäisiä vettä, jotka sopivat panikkoa ja huomioita päiväkohdasta. Tällä kohdalla katsotaan vähemmän kuin 20 päivää vettä. Tämä on kriisi, joka on tuotettu luonnon kautta lokalisella rauhalla sekä vuosien pahalla käsittämisellä kaupungin kestävällä infrastruktuurilla.

Naisna viettää noin 56 prosenttia kestävää vettä pyypeistä, jotka eivät ole uudistaneet yli 30 vuotta. Ambel Ridge Care, rauhallinen puolustusvillaisuus, oli viime vuosina kokeilemassa, mitä puolueen ilman vettä näyttäisi, kun puolueen ilman vettä lähti kestävät eläimet ilman kestävää vettä 10 päivää.

He spent around $16,000 on three large water tanks and specialized pumps to feed that water into some of the facility's main buildings. This latest crisis has led to a scramble for funds from the national government and promises of solutions by its latest mayor, Tando Matika. He has been in the role for 11 months. I ask him what his council is doing now to save Naisnas water.