What are rare earths and why does everyone want them?
President Trump has signed a minerals deal with Ukraine, which will give the US access to some of Ukraine’s natural resources. The US president also said he’d like to take over Greenland and even Canada. Why? Well one reason may well be the rare earths and critical minerals found there. Critical minerals are vital for almost every industry from the manufacturing of computers to fighter jets. But in recent years the rise of green technologies has been fuelling demand for minerals used to make batteries for electric cars and other renewable infrastructure. One country dominates the minerals market - China - which has repercussions for the rest of the world, including the US. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss what and where these minerals are, why everyone wants them and how the rest of the world can compete with China. Guests:Ellie Saklatvala, Head of Nonferrous Metal Pricing, Argus, a provider of market intelligence for the global commodity markets.
Henry Sanderson, author of ‘Volt Rush, the Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green’ and Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
Sophia Kalantzakos, Global Distinguished Professor in Environmental Studies and Public Policy at New York University in Abu Dhabi and the author of 'China and the Geopolitics of Rare Earths'
Olivia Lazard, a senior fellow affiliated with the think tank, Carnegie Europe and Berggruen InstitutePresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Nathan Gower and Kirsteen Knight
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineer: David Crackles
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:02
Are India and Pakistan on the brink of war over Kashmir?
Tension is high in Indian administered Kashmir following the killing on 22nd April of 26 civilians almost all of whom were Hindu tourists. They were visiting Pahalgam - an area often described as the “Switzerland of India”. Militants opened fire on them and in the days since relations between India and Pakistan, which both claim Kashmir in full but only administer it in part, have deteriorated. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the militants and Islamabad rejects the allegations. This is the latest attack in a decades-long dispute over the region. David Aaronovitch and guests ask what happens next and what sort of a response we are likely to see from India and also Pakistan? Guests: Andrew Whitehead: Former BBC India correspondent and expert on Kashmir and its history, author of ‘A Mission in Kashmir’
Anbarasan Ethirajan: BBC South Asia Regional Editor
Husain Haqqani : Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC and former Pakistan ambassador to Sri Lanka and the US
Michael Kugelman - South Asia analyst based in Washington DC and author of Foreign Policy magazine’s South Asia Brief newsletter
Sumantra Bose: Professor of International and Comparative Politics at Krea University in India and author of Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century ConflictPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: Sarah Hockley and James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
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29:25
Can the UK become an AI superpower?
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer wants the UK to become “one of the great AI superpowers”. Earlier this year the government published a plan to use artificial intelligence in the private and public sectors to boost growth and deliver services more efficiently. Once mainly the preserve of the tech community, AI really entered public awareness with the release of ChatGPT, a so-called “chatbot” founded by the US company OpenAI at the end of 2022. It can write essays, scripts, poems and even write computer code …and millions of people are using it. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss whether the UK could become a successful AI hub, as the government hopes and asks if we'll be able to compete globally with the US and China, the home of huge tech companies?Guests:
Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton.
Eden Zoller, Chief Analyst in Applied AI, Omdia.
Professor Neil Lawrence, the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human
Jeremy Kahn, AI Editor at Fortune magazine and author of Mastering AI: A survival guide to our superpowered future. Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Nathan Gower
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:42
What cards does China hold?
President Trump’s fury with China shows no sign of abating. High tariffs - first imposed by the US but now on both sides - are giving way to a very real trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. China’s President Xi Jinping is refusing to blink - so far - and in the past week he's been on the road in South East Asia, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Where this goes now depends in large part on China's calculations about the capacity and determination of both sides to endure a trade war. So what cards does China hold ? And what are the implications for China's own economy and for the rest of us?Guests:
Damien Ma, Economist, Kellogg School of Management, Chicago
Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School
Isabel Hilton, visiting Professor at the Lau China Institute, King's College, London
David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy ProjectPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Lucy Pawle
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Max Deveson
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28:48
What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about?
Rarely has it been so difficult to see the wood for the trees. The trees being Donald Trump’s new tariffs announced on what he called Liberation Day and which took effect this week, plus the immediate responses to them. And the wood being the economic strategy that lies behind it all.
That strategy seems to evolve on a daily basis. Having vowed to ‘stay the course’ on tariffs earlier this week, yesterday saw Trump issue a change that ‘came from the heart’ - that change being a 90 day pause for everyone except China. It’s hard to keep up with the plot changes and in this programme we’re not going to try. Instead we’re going to step back and explore the origin’s of Trump’s love of tariffs, find out what history tells us about their effectiveness and we’ll ask whether Trump does actually have a grand plan.
If he does, what is it and can it succeed?Guests:Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
Meredith Crowley, Professor of Economics the University of Cambridge
Duncan Weldon, economist and author of "Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through"
Mehreen Khan, economics editor of The TimesPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Beth Ashmead Latham
Sound engineers: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Richard Vadon
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