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China nationalizes eleven rare earth mines for environmental and strategic reasons

Most of our favorite gadgets are constructed with parts made of rare earth minerals, and as many of you already know, China produces the lion’s share of the stuff. So news that Hu Jintao and company recently took control of 11 rare earth mines in order to more tightly manage the mines’ production is of great interest to hi-tech companies and consumers the world over — and could mean your next hybrid , smartphone , or PC just got a bit more expensive. The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources indicates that nationalization of the facilities was prompted by illegal strip mining and dumping of toxic tailings in nearby waterways, but given China’s pledge to reduce rare earth exports by ten percent this year, it seems likely that the move isn’t entirely driven by environmental concerns. Consumers needn’t worry too much, however, as Japan and the US are currently searching for ways to break China’s monopoly on rare earths and keep us flush in affordable flat-screen TVs and hybrid cars for years to come. China nationalizes eleven rare earth mines for environmental and strategic reasons originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Woman Who Raised Kidnapped Baby Missing

The woman who raised a child kidnapped from a New York hospital 20 years ago has been declared a probation absconder, with North Carolina officials saying they believe she’s actively fleeing authorities. (Jan. 21)

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I understand this intellectually. I understand it strategically. But emotionally, it’s not playing well in the least. President Obama plans to appoint GE chief Jeffrey Immelt to head a new White House panel on job growth . President Barack Obama will announce Friday that Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric Co., will head a new White House board aimed at finding ways to foster private-sector job growth. The board will replace an existing panel called the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. The name of the new panel stresses competitiveness and job creation , which are expected to be themes of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union Address next week. It will be called the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Mr. Immelt also served on the previous panel. Mr. Volcker will not join the new council. Putting a prominent chief executive atop a panel is the latest gesture by the White House toward strengthening ties to business. So I put my logic and thinking cap on for a minute, and I think to myself, “well, it neutralizes Immelt’s past role as Obama administration slanderer, right? It would be pretty difficult to be the head of this panel and head off to pal around with his buddies and badmouth President Obama like he did last time, right?” And of course, jobs are the big issue for this year. Jobs, jobs, jobs. We need them yesterday. So I suppose having a corporate CEO with all those other corporate contacts is a good way to start pushing growth. All fine and well, as long as I keep my heart out of it. What bothers me, though, when I step out of the analytical and into my gut is this: Immelt might be able to create jobs, but it will be on Big Biz terms with little to no worker protection. The jobs will be filled because people are desperate for them, and we will all serve the bottom line, because that is what employees of public corporations serve — one bottom line to rule them all. These are not places with heart or a care for their employees, because they cannot be. They must be always mindful of and servant to the profit margin for the quarter. Fine. That doesn’t mean they still shouldn’t have a seat at the table. But where I get completely lost is here: Who is sitting at the table and speaking for us?

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First things first: The MTV teen drama Skins doesn’t dabble in child pornography, writes Jace Lacob in the Daily Beast. The scene in question featuring a teen boy’s naked butt isn’t even “remotely sexually suggestive,” he writes, and thus doesn’t meet the criteria for breaking indecency rules. (See for yourself—…

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‘Your lies killed my son…’ Blair fails to pacify critics in torrid inquiry session

Tony Blair finally expressed regret yesterday for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost during the Iraq invasion, only for his long-awaited words to be met with anger by the families of some of those who lost their lives. In emotional scenes at the Chilcot inquiry, the former Prime Minister was heckled as he said he regretted “deeply and profoundly the loss of life”. Calls of “Too late” broke out as Mr Blair spoke, with one woman turning her back on him. Two others left. Rose Gentle, whose son, Gordon, was killed in Basra in 2004, shouted as Mr Blair left the hearing: “Your lies killed my son. I hope you can live with it.” During his four and a half hours of evidence, Mr Blair shed new…

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Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video)

This isn’t the first time Kinect and Minecraft have crossed paths — scavenge the ‘nets and you’ll find plenty of user interface examples. What Nathan Viniconis has done, however, is different. What you’re looking at above is rendered instantly by way of using what the Kinect sees and constructing an in-world monument in real time. Not only that, but the project has now evolved into a sort of stop motion animation. It’s pretty impressive, even for those who have little to no idea what Minecraft is. All the nitty gritty details are available on the project page. The video, of course, is after the break. Continue reading Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video) Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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A private school in Knoxville, Tennessee, is adding an unusual requirement to students’ back-to-school gear starting next year: an iPad. The Webb School will mandate that all kids in grades 4 through 12 either buy or lease (from the school, for $200 a year) one of Apple’s tablets, notes Fast…

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Frank Gaffney With More Fearmongering About Muslims Taking Over Conservative Movement

Click here to view this media Anderson Cooper brought on fearmonger Frank Gaffney — who, as Right Wing Watch reported , has been attacking the other guest during the segment, Suhail Kahn, as someone who has ties to “radical Islamists”. I’m not sure why he thinks Gaffney needs any more face time in the media, since he surely gets enough over at Fox. But to his credit, Cooper did call Gaffney out for how weak his claims are and allowed him to be confronted by Kahn. Cooper mentioned Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Peter King’s appearance on Gaffney’s radio show. Our friends at Think Progress have more on that, and the witch hunt we get to look forward to now that King has taken the gavel there. Rep. Peter King Says Muslims Aren’t ‘American’ When It Comes To War : Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, has promised to launch a series of investigations of Muslim Americans beginning in February. “I’ve made it clear that I’ll focus the committee on counterterrorism and hold hearings on a wide range of issues, including radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism,” he told Newsday. King has repeatedly said that he only wants to single out “ Islamic terrorism ” in his hearings on domestic security, and has even claimed that there are “ too many mosques in this country.” Joining anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney on Gaffney’s radio program last week, King doubled down on his promise to launch a witch-hunt against Muslims. He repeated a falsehood that he stated earlier — that American Muslims never cooperate to combat terrorism. But in addition to this claim, King made the extraordinary smear that American Muslims aren’t “American” when it comes to war. “[W]hen a war begins,” King said, every ethnic and religious group unites as “Americans.” “But in this case,” King continued, referring to Muslims, “this is not the situation. … Whether it’s cultural tradition, whatever, the fact is the Muslim community does not cooperate anywhere near to the extent that it should”. More there from Think Progress, so go read the rest. Here’s a portion of Right Wing Watch’s reporting on Gaffney, much of which Cooper mentioned in his opening. Right Wing Boycott Movement Links CPAC to the Muslim Brotherhood : Incensed over the participation of the conservative gay-rights group GOProud in the Conservative Political Action Conference , or CPAC, far-right activists are now trying to connect the major conservative event to the Muslim Brotherhood. The American Conservative Union (ACU), which hosts CPAC, has been the target of Religious Right groups and leaders over their handling of GOProud’s involvement, with Joseph Farah even calling for conservatives to “ purge ” the ACU from the movement. Already, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women For America, American Values, the American Principles Project, the Capital Research Center, the Center for Military Readiness, Liberty Counsel, Liberty University, and the National Organization for Marriage have announced their boycott of CPAC . Now, the conservative news site WorldNetDaily , a major cheerleader for the groups boycotting CPAC, is giving right wing activist Frank Gaffney a platform to charge the ACU with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist group. Gaffney is no stranger to conspiracy theories, as he previously claimed that the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell “amounts to a vote for reinstating the draft ,” maintained that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is tied to an “ominous campaign” to “ bring Shariah to America ,” and said that Barack Obama is “ America’s first Muslim president .” He is joined by WorldNetDaily’s Paul Sperry, who wrote a book asserting that radical Muslims were infiltrating the government through the congressional internship program . Gaffney outlines a theory that since the ACU is allowing the leader of an organization known as Muslims for America , a conservative group with ties to the GOP, to participate in CPAC, the ACU is supporting a “stealthy effort to bring Shariah” to America. He is also outraged that Grover Norquist , the head of the highly influential Americans for Tax Reform and a GOProud board member, is involved in CPAC as well. But mostly, Gaffney directs his vitriol at Suhail Khan , the chairman of the Conservative Inclusion Coalition. Both Khan and Norquist are ACU board members, and in 2009 Khan received the Young Conservatives Coalition’s Buckley Award at CPAC. But according to Gaffney , Khan has ties to radical Islamists and, along with Norquist, wants to promote a “seditious totalitarian political program” in the U.S.

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Former Players to Testify at Barry Bonds Trial

Some of Barry Bonds’ former teammates, along with other retired Major League Baseball players, will have to testify at the slugger’s upcoming perjury trial. But evidence from Bonds’ former trainer Greg Anderson likely will be excluded (Jan. 21)

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Former Players to Testify at Barry Bonds Trial

Some of Barry Bonds’ former teammates, along with other retired Major League Baseball players, will have to testify at the slugger’s upcoming perjury trial. But evidence from Bonds’ former trainer Greg Anderson likely will be excluded (Jan. 21)

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