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There is a high probability that the small battery in your smartphone contains lithium from Chilean deposits, Indonesian nickel, as well as cobalt mined in Congolese mines controlled by the Chinese and employing local children. Critical minerals and rare earth metals have today become the central point of geopolitical rivalry between powers, because whoever controls critical minerals controls the future. "You can't produce clean energy without dirty extractive industry." These words from the director of advanced magnet lab perfectly capture the paradox of our times. On one hand we talk about decarbonization and green transformation' on the other we need...

Two other Asian cities made the top 10 of the 2025 Happy City Index - Seoul ranked 6th and Taipei 8th.Singapore has been ranked the world's 3rd "happiest" city for 2025, behind Copenhagen and Zurich. Two other cities in Asia made the top 10 - with Seoul in 6th place and Taipei in 8th. That's according to the Institute for the Quality of Life's latest Happy City Index, which tracked 82 indicators across six major themes that "directly influence" the happiness of residents. The six categories are citizens, governance, environment, economy, health and mobility. Scoring a total of 979 points,...

The number of homeless people in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties is higher than ever, according to the latest numbers from the national biannual homelessness count. Known as the point-in-time count, the federally mandated census takes place every other year and is focused on creating a snapshot of who is homeless on one night in January. It is broadly understood to be an undercount, but officials still view the data as useful in identifying national trends and making comparisons between jurisdictions. Surveyors identified 12,034 homeless people in the tri-county region this January, with 87% of them residing in Multnomah County,...

The U.S. Federal Reserve just pulled off something stealthy — over four days last week, without fanfare, the Fed vacuumed up $43.6 billion in U.S. Treasurys. That’s $8.8 billion in long-dated 30-year bonds on May 8 alone, plus another $34.8 billion earlier in the week. Not exactly small change. Quietly returning to the quantitative-easing trough isn’t standard Fed housekeeping — it’s like a bank robber returning to the scene because he forgot his car keys. Let’s talk straight: This isn’t tightening. It’s stealth easing. It’s monetary policy on tiptoes. Some traders have begun to notice, and smart investors should too....

The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday (May 16) for an attack that also wounded a second man, the district attorney said. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death, an edict known as a fatwa. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the...

A really influential film, seen decades after its influence has percolated into dozens (if not hundreds) of films and redefined a whole genre, can elicit a feeling of déjà vu. Who knew that an ultra low budget horror b-movie would spawn a subgenre that persists to this day (Night of the Living Dead) or a gang picture originally imagined as a western, marketed to dopey teens (The Warriors) would be copied over and over with immensely larger budgets for decades. Then there were the films that looked like game changers from their opening weekend. Anybody leaving The Godfather in the...

Two of the WNBA's best young stars had to be separated during the second half of Saturday afternoon's season-opening contest between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky. Following a hard foul from Caitlin Clark on a layup that found Angel Reese on the ground, the Sky forward quickly jolted herself up off the floor and went after the Fever guard. She was held back by teammates—and a referee—as Clark walked away from the scuffle. Here's a look at both the play and the resulting drama: Clark was assessed a flagrant foul on the play, while both Reese and Clark's...

...while at the same time cutting interest rates for the private EU central bank owned by the same people as the Federal Reserve. Globalist Controlled Rating Agency, Moody’s, Just Downgraded The US Credit Rating In A Desperate Attempt To Stop Trump’s Success In Saving The US Economy And Launching The Golden Age

President Trump went there! Trump posted a video titled, “The Video Hillary Clinton Does Not Want You to See” that documented just some of the mysterious ‘suicides’ linked to the Clinton Crime family. The video touched on the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., DNC staffer Seth Rich, Clinton White House Counsel Vince Foster, Clinton White House intern Mary Mahoney, and others connected to the Clintons. In July 1999, Hillary Clinton’s senate rival and front-runner for NY senate seat John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a plane crash. Mary Mahoney was a Clinton White House intern who could have been...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the inaugural mass of newly elected Pope Leo on May 18, along with many other world leaders, the Vatican said. The mass in St Peter’s Square will formally install Pope Leo, who was born in Chicago but lived for many years in Peru, as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. US Vice-President J.D. Vance, who clashed fiercely with Mr Zelensky in the White House in February, will lead the US delegation, which also includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Democrats are not moved by former FBI Director James Comey’s beachcombing, social media post apparently calling for the assassination of President Trump. Try finding a Democrat condemning it. In fact, The Federalist specifically asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar if they planned to condemn Comey’s post. No response. Comey’s post was a photo of seashells in the sand set in the formation of numbers “86 47” captioned, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Of course, 47 is a nickname for President Donald Trump, the...

Pope Leo XIV affirmed Friday that the family is founded on the “stable union between a man and a woman,” and that the unborn and elderly enjoy dignity as God’s creatures, articulating clear Catholic teaching on marriage and abortion at the start of his pontificate. ...Leo, a member of the Augustinian religious order, has emphasized peace as a priority of his pontificate, from the first words he uttered on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election, “Peace be with you all.” In his remarks, he said the search for peace was one of the pillars of the papacy....

Firefighters are responding to a powerful explosion at a building in Palm Springs that rocked the area late Saturday morning—and investigators are not ruling out terrorism. The blast occurred shortly before 11 a.m. at the American Reproductive Centers on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, and was felt up to two miles away. 'Everything is in question—whether this is an act of terrorism,' Lt. William Hutchinson told The Desert Sun from the scene. Multiple witnesses reported hearing a loud boom, and dramatic videos shared on social media show the explosion shattered windows of a nearby liquor store. Authorities...

Vivek Ramaswamy is cruising toward the Ohio GOP gubernatorial nomination after the Ohio attorney general dropped out of the race. "Columbus needs re-engineering, not demolition," Dave Yost wrote in a letter to supporters on Friday. "Sherrod Brown and the risky progressive ideas of his party will unwind all of the good that the last 15 years of Republican leadership has brought. This is a time to protect Ohio, not a time for a family squabble." Ramaswamy released a statement about Yost dropping out. "Congratulations to Dave on running a thoughtful campaign," Ramaswamy said in a statement. "He has served Ohio...

The ordinary Republicans who supported President Donald Trump in 2024 are just plain “rotten,” according to the editor of TheBulwark.com, a Substack for the NeverTrump activists who were hurled headlong from the GOP when they rebelled against Trump’s coalition. “What if American society is rotten?” wrote Jonathan Last, the Bulwark’s editor, who tracks the dismal situation that surrounds his vanquished crew of anti-Trump rebels: This happens. Just as a matter of history, we have seen societies fall apart, or tear themselves apart, because the people were no longer capable of sustaining them. All empires fall, eventually. Why would American society...

I’ve been an air traffic controller since I was 18, and as a flier, I would avoid Newark. Lately, I’ve been flying out of JFK or LaGuardia, because it’s safer, and there’ve been some crazy-ass delays at Newark. I started telling family and friends last summer to avoid Newark like the plague, because we knew it was going to be bad, we just didn’t think it was going to be this bad with all of the technological issues. This is a busy area, with the three major airports and all these satellite airports — it’s like a bee’s nest. Back...

Customers rejected Smartmatic for reasons unrelated to Fox. For example, the filing said, Smartmatic’s equipment was not certified.. Both Fox News and Smartmatic, the voting software company, filed lengthy briefs Thursday arguing about Smartmatic’s past and predicted financial health. Fox’s filing reveals how Smartmatic was massively losing business long before Fox began reporting on it in 2020. Smartmatic’s filing, which includes many fully redacted pages, says that before the 2020 election, Smartmatic’s CEO believed the company to be “strategically positioned for multi-billion-dollar growth, given its global footprint, its track record,” and its breaking into the U.S. market with a contract...

17 May 2025 Saturday of the 4th week of Eastertide Church Of Santa Restituta, Lakko Ameno, ItalyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 13:44-52Since you have rejected the word of God, we must turn to the pagansThe next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy...

Minnesota Democrats are doubling down on their radical agenda, pledging to “fight until the very end” to provide free health care to illegal immigrants, on the backs of hardworking taxpayers. As everyday Minnesotans struggle with rising premiums, longer wait times, and an overstretched health care system, progressive lawmakers are prioritizing illegal immigrants over legal residents. Dozens of Democrats from Minnesota’s Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) rallied outside the state House chamber on Friday to oppose a new policy that would end free health care for undocumented adult immigrants by year’s end, while still allowing coverage for children to continue. Protesters held signs...

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