Author: Press Room

An aerial view of the MP Materials rare earth mine and processing facility in Mountain Pass, … More California.Image courtesy MP Materials The good news on rare earth elements is that in the past five years, numerous companies have been laboring to break China’s stranglehold on these vital minerals. The bad news is that the efforts have thus far been too few and far too slow. REEs are critical for applications using the high-powered magnets made from them, in sectors such as tech, defense, automotive, industrial and aerospace. China’s recent imposition of duties and export controls on them should have…

Joy Behar said she fears that Pope Francis will be replaced by “some conservative guy” on Tuesday’s episode of ABC’s The View, during which the show’s co-hosts used the pope’s death as an opportunity to complain about U.S. politics. After The View co-host Sunny Hostin said she hopes the late pope will be replaced by someone similar to him, Joy Behar replied, “I wonder, though, because there might be a backlash against how good he was, and how much humility he had compared to some of the leaders in this world right now.” Watch Below: “So, there might be a backlash to it,…

President Donald Trump said that the entire world wants to be a part of trade negotiations with the United States when asked about discussions with China on Wednesday. Trump’s comments came during an impromptu press gaggle after surveying the North Lawn of the White House for the best spot to stake a massive flag pole. “We’re going to have a fair deal with China. It’s going to be fair,” Trump said. Trump also told a reporter that the administration was “actively” talking with China. “Everything’s active. Everybody wants to be a part of what we’re doing,” Trump said. “They know…

A school district in dark blue California has voted to ban males from competing in girls’ sports. The Redlands Unified school board in Southern California’s San Bernardino County voted in favor of banning transgender athletes by a vote of 3-2. “I am just so grateful that this insanity had not entered into society when I was growing up,” said board member Candy Olson. “If people think there is no difference between men and women, they are denying science.” Redlands executive Trisha Keeling took sharp exception to the vote while saying there were no trans athletes in the district. She also accused…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called his country’s drone production for the war against Ukraine insufficient.”These combat tools are still lacking,” the Kremlin leader said during a meeting of the Military and Defence Commission in Moscow.Camera-controlled drones, in particular, are urgently needed at the front, as they are a crucial factor for success in the war, Putin said.At the same time, he expressed confidence that all plans to increase drone production would be fulfilled, noting that last year, the number of drones produced had been increased to 1.5 million. Of these, approximately 4,000 remote-controlled drones are being sent daily to…

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina trial judges threw out on Wednesday another Republican attempt to strip the governor of his authority to appoint State Board of Elections members, declaring that a law shifting the task to the state auditor is unconstitutional.One registered Republican judge and one Democratic judge on the three-member panel sided with Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who with his predecessor Roy Cooper sued over the law finalized by the GOP-dominated General Assembly in December. The third judge, a Republican, dissented.The governor picks the five board members, three of whom are traditionally members of the governor’s party. Appointments…

A 35-year-old year old man has been arrested for the death of a woman who was found stabbed last week in Tacoma.Officers were dispatched about 8:52 a.m. on April 18 to the 1200 block of North Pearl Street when a man reported his mother was dead in their apartment unit. Officers found the 65-year-year-old woman with an apparent stab wound when they arrived, according to a Tacoma Police Department news release.The woman was pronounced dead at the scene by Tacoma Fire, the release said. Detectives and forensic personnel began investigating and got a search warrant for the home.Detectives found probable…

While US negotiators trade smiles with Tehran, internal rifts and foreign pressure reveal just how fragile Washington’s position has become By Farhad Ibragimov – lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public AdministrationLast Saturday, the second round of US-Iran nuclear talks took place in Rome, following an initial meeting held a week before in Muscat, Oman. Both sides had described the talks as “constructive,” but that optimism quickly collided with a wave of conflicting signals from the Trump administration. Despite the encouraging tone, it…

screenshot While elderly Democrats are fleeing DC by the day, a certain one from the People’s Republic of San Francisco continues to soldier on despite her clearly declining faculties. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a press conference in San Francisco today with small business owners and community leaders as part of the House Democrats’ “Cost of Living Week of Action.” The purpose of the address was to whine about Trump’s tariffs and economic policies. But what should have been a relatively uneventful speech went viral after Pelosi had some further complications, which will only heighten the cries for her…

An ACEN solar farm in Zambales, north of Manila.Courtesy of ACEN ACEN—controlled by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family’s Ayala Corp—is raising up to 30 billion pesos ($530 million) to build new solar and wind farms and almost triple its renewable energy capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2030. To raise the fresh capital, the Manila-listed company plans to sell shares to existing shareholders at 2.30 pesos each, which is about an 18% discount from ACEN’s closing price on Tuesday, before the proposed share-sale was approved by the board. The shares dropped 7.9% to close at 2.58 pesos on…