A rare earth mine in China, which this week announced that it would cut its annual export quota for rare earths in 2011. China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the last month, has now quietly halted some shipments of those materials to the United States and Europe, three industry officials said this week. The Chinese action, involving... 

20-year-old criminology student Marisol Valles became the bravest college girl in North America when she stepped up to be police chief of Guadalupe, Mexico’s second-most violent city after Juarez. Nobody else would accept the position. Guadalupe’s mayor was murdered in June; police beheadings are common. The current mayor said his hands were tied: Valles,... 

Lawmakers in at least 14 states announced Tuesday they are working on legislation to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, although they weren’t specific about how they plan to do it. Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce said he and the lawmakers have a working draft of their model legislation and have consulted constitutional scholars to change the... 

A pilot for ExpressJet Airlines refused to submit to a full-body scan in Memphis on Saturday, saying the technology amounts to “virtual strip searching.” Detained by airport security, he now may lose his job. Here’s his heroic first-hand account. Michael Roberts says he has been reporting for work in Memphis for 4 1/2 years without incident until Friday,... 

It may not be politically correct to say it, but most Americans think the country’s gotten too PC and see that as a problem. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Adults believe America today has become too politically correct, while just 23% say the country is not politically correct enough. Eleven percent (11%) say the balance is about... 

Man rescued after getting arm trapped down looUploaded by itnnews. – Up-to-the minute news videos. A man in Xixing City, China found himself engaged in a embarrassing moment after he dropped his mobile phone down a toilet. Rescue workers found the hapless gentleman hunched over the toilet with his arm trapped down the loo pipe. They had to break the bowl to free... 

French riot police and students fired tear gas and petrol bombs at each other while truckers blocked roads and almost 3,000 petrol stations ran dry, as nationwide protests intensified. Despite claims that it had petrol provision “under control”, the government said it had activated an emergency crisis cell charged with maintaining fuel supplies. The opposition Socialists... 

Valerie E. Caproni, the F.B.I.'s general counsel, has said the government is trying to prevent its existing surveillance power from eroding. Law enforcement and counterterrorism officials, citing lapses in compliance with surveillance orders, are pushing to overhaul a federal law that requires phone and broadband carriers to ensure that their networks can be wiretapped,... 

Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old computer salesman and community college student, took his car in for an oil change earlier this month and his mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage. The wire was attached to a strange magnetic device that puzzled Afifi and the mechanic. They freed it from the car and posted images of it online, asking for help in identifying... 

Microsoft is vastly expanding its efforts to prevent governments from using software piracy inquiries as a pretext to suppress dissent. It plans to provide free software licenses to more than 500,000 advocacy groups, independent media outlets and other nonprofit organizations in 12 countries with tightly controlled governments, including Russia and China. With the new... 

Brigitte Bardot has often been in the spotlight for her controversial views on immigration and homosexuality Brigitte Bardot, the Sixties sex symbol has announced she may run for president in France’s next elections as the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, “took me for an imbecile” over animal rights pledges. Miss Bardot, once a screen icon now an animal... 

Egypt announces it will allow aid convoy to dock at Al-Arish seaport on route to Gaza, will deny George Galloway entry into country. A flotilla of ships titled the “Viva Palestina” convoy, hailed by organizers as the largest convoy to break the Gaza embargo, is set to depart this weekend, organizers announced Thursday. The flotilla has been cleared to sail... 

Willem Ratte It has been eighteen days since Willem Ratte, Boer Republican, and ten others were imprisoned by the South African government without substantial evidence for their imprisonment. This questionable imprisonment has together with the continual victimization of Boers by the South African Government led Ratte on a hunger strike. The Boers is a minority in South... 

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is among the most rare production cars in the world, with perhaps only 40 manufactured. Dan Neil, automotive critic of the Wall Street Journal, is the first journalist to test drive the powerful machine that recently set the speed record for a production car at 268 mph. Neil, who won the Pulitzer Price for criticism in 2004, concludes... 

German chancellor Angela Merkel addresses young members of Christian Democratic Union party. Chancellor’s assertion that onus is on new arrivals to do more to integrate into German society stirs anti-immigration debate. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has courted growing anti-immigrant opinion in Germany by claiming the country’s attempts to create a...