Poisoned water and scarred hills
The price of the rare earth metals the world buys from China
When you stand on the edge of Bayan Obo, all you see is an expanse of scarred grey earth carved into the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China.
Dark dust clouds rise from deep craters where the earth’s crust has been sliced away over decades in search of a modern treasure.
Israeli plan for forced transfer of Gaza’s population ‘a blueprint for crimes against humanity’
Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ but experts call the plan an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza
Mon 7 Jul 2025 20.57 BST
Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.
Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists.
Russia's top independent election monitor Golos shuts down
Russia's main independent election observer, Golos, has announced its closure after more than two decades of monitoring an increasingly tightly controlled electoral system.
The group made the announcement less than two months after its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony.
ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of Afghan women
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the top brass of the Taliban in Afghanistan, accusing them of persecuting girls and women purely based on their gender, “depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.
ICC judges said in a statement there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani “have committed... the crime against humanity of persecution... on gender grounds”.
“While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” the court said.
Ishiba vows to continue talks despite Trump's reciprocal tariff
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 8, 2025 at 17:44 JST
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed regret over U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new reciprocal tariff of 25 percent on all Japanese goods imported to the United States.
“It is deeply regrettable that the U.S. government has not only imposed additional tariffs but has now also announced a further increase in tariff rates,” he said.
Ishiba expressed his intention for Japan to continue its negotiations with the United States in reconsidering the tariff measures.
Bayeux Tapestry to be loaned to England for first time
The tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is one of the most precious pieces of 11th-century heritage
The Bayeux Tapestry is set to be displayed in the British Museum for the first time, it can be revealed.
The announcement of the loan of the 70-metre-long, medieval tapestry, which chronicles the Norman Conquest of 1066, will be made to coincide with French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the UK.
It is believed the tapestry, one of the world's most famous pieces of medieval art, will be temporarily swapped for the Anglo-Saxon treasures of the Sutton Hoo ship burial.
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