Trump wants rare earth resources from Ukraine in exchange for aid

Us President Donald Trump has proposed a deal with Ukraine in which the us would provide military aid for the war against Russian President Vladimir Putin in exchange for access to Ukraine's valuable mineral rights.

The deal would guarantee supplies of rare earth resources critical elements used in electronics in exchange for US military aid. Rare Earths refer to a group of 17 elements prized for their unique magnetic and electrochemical properties.

Ukraine WELCOMES such a deal, as “part of the victory plan that [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelensky presented to President Trump in the fall”. The plan would give "strategic partners" of Ukraine to have access to uranium, titatium, lithium, and other resources.

However, Ukrainian media reported that the idea may have originated in Kyiv as an incentive to keep weapon shipments flowing into the country.

Reference Sources

1. politico - Russia to Trump: Back off Ukraine’s rare earths
2. theguardian - Trump wants rare earth resources from Ukraine in exchange for aid
3. nbc - Trump says he will continue funding Ukraine's war effort — but he wants something rare in retur
4. i24news - US to continue Ukraine military assistance – for rare earth resources

DeepSeek's breakthrough emboldens open-source AI models like Meta's Llama

(Source: Shutterstock)

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek has released an Open-Source reasoning model called R1, which claims to rival the performance of OpenAI's O1 model using a cheaper, less energy-intensive process. The development caused market values of Nvidia and other chipmakers to plummet on fears that it could lead to reduced spending on high-performance computing infrastructure.

DeepSeek’s powerful new artificial intelligence model isn’t just a win for China — it’s a victory for open-source versions of the tech from the likes of Meta, Databricks, Mistral and Hugging Face, according to industry experts who spoke with CNBC.

The US government is investigating whether DeepSeek has been using us chips that are barred from being shipped to China, including from third parties in Singapore.

Taiwan has banned government departments from using DeepSeek's AI service as it was a security risk, toughening language from last week which said it should not be used.

Reference Sources

1. nytimesen - Opinion | DeepSeek Serves as a Warning About Big Tech
2. cnbc - DeepSeek's breakthrough emboldens open-source AI models like Meta's Llama
3. thediplomat - Is China’s DeepSeek Using Smuggled AI Chips From Singapore?
4. usnews - Taiwan Bans Government Departments From Using DeepSeek AI
5. justsecurity - What DeepSeek Really Changes About AI Competition

Gold prices hold near record highs as US tariff concerns linger

(Source: Shutterstock)

Gold prices firmed on Tuesday, holding near a record peak hit in the previous session, as lingering us tariff and inflation concerns boosted safe-haven demand, while focus was also on key jobs data due this week.

Spot gold was up 0.3% to $2,820.69 per ounce by 0252 GMT, after hitting a record high of $2,830.49 in the last session. US gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,852.70.

China imposed tariffs on US imports in a swift response to new US duties, escalating the trade war between the world's top two economies.

The 25% tariffs imposed by Trump on Canadian and Mexican imports from Tuesday, along with a 10% charge on Chinese goods, fueled fears of a trade war that could slow global growth and feed inflation.

Reference Sources

1. thestarmy - Gold prices hold near record highs as US tariff concerns linger
2. aawsat - Gold Steadies after Record Rally as Tariff Concerns Loom Large
3. aawsat - Gold Pares Losses as Trump Tariffs Drive Safe-haven Interest
4. bussinesstimes - Gold holds steady near all-time high amid US tariff concerns - The Business Times
5. markets - Gold ETFs Fail to Shine but More Trump Tariffs Could Spark Safe Haven Hike

The CommonWealth English daily news digest is a service curated by CommonWealth English team with the help of AI tools.

Have you read?

• Daily News Digest: Deepseek Gives Europe’s Tech Firms a Chance To Catch Up in Global AI Race
• Daily News Digest: DeepSeek Shakes Up AI
• Daily News Digest: DeepSeek Proved Open Source Outpaces Proprietary Models, Meta's AI Chief Says
• From Chip War to Cloud War in the Age of AI: Chris Miller on the US-China Tech Rivalry Under Trump 2.0

Uploaded by Ian Huang