China has confirmed that its January export ban on dual-use rare earth products for Japanese military use remains in force, despite a reported US request to resume sales over technology supply chain concerns. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said rare earths stay classified as “dual-use materials” under Chinese law and linked the move to containing Japanese remilitarisation and nuclear ambitions, even as customs data show overall Chinese rare earth exports hitting a four‑month high in May but still below last year. Japan is responding by building alternative supply, including a A$1.6 billion rare earths deal with Australia and a “trilateral buyers” club with France and Canada.

Wales’ new deputy transport minister has written to Great British Railways Transition Team chair Heidi Alexander calling HS2 a “long-standing symbol of unfair rail funding” because the high-speed scheme is classified as an “England and Wales” project despite no HS2 track being built in Wales. He argues this designation blocks Barnett consequentials that could otherwise support upgrades on core Welsh routes such as the South Wales Main Line and the Valleys network. The row intensifies pressure over how multi‑billion‑pound rail megaprojects are accounted for in UK transport budgets.

Charities in the Better Planning Coalition, including the RSPB, Woodland Trust and CPRE, have urged the Prime Minister to reset planning reforms ahead of this summer’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) decisions. Their letter backs measures on compulsory purchase, curbing “hope value”, expanding public bodies’ land assembly powers and enforcing build‑out of consented schemes, alongside extra funding for social and affordable homes. They warn that repeated weakening of planning policy is driving speculative, poor‑quality development in unsuitable locations while major housebuilders cut output amid higher costs and weak demand.