CPA will be providing important data for the 2010 election on Congressional districts across the country.  We are working on the project now at our Worldwide Conglomerate Headquarters (WCH for short).  But here is an interesting map on the CPA website where you can zoom in and out of Congressional districts from afar.

The following article by Michael Wines appeared in the NY Times here yesterday.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Behind an electrified fence, blast-resistant sandbags and 53 National Police outposts, the Afghan surge is well under way.

But the foot soldiers in a bowl-shaped valley about 20 miles southeast of Kabul are not fighting the Taliban, or even carrying guns. They are preparing to extract copper from one of the richest untapped deposits on earth. And they are Chinese, undertaking by far the largest foreign investment project in war-torn Afghanistan.

The following article appeared in the NY Times and can be found here. 

GUYUN VILLAGE, China — Some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. The world’s dependence on these substances is rising fast.

Just one problem: These elements come almost entirely from China, from some of the most environmentally damaging mines in the country, in an industry dominated by criminal gangs.

The following article appeared in Steel Market Intelligence, a publication of Michelle Applebaum Research Inc. 

Summary
 
Yesterday, the Indian Finance Ministry announced an increase in export taxes on iron ore. We believe that this move is a direct shot at Chinese steelmakers, who are bidding up spot ore prices to record levels and most probably accumulating inventories ahead of attempted price negotiations with the iron ore majors. This move is also another example of what we call “resource hoarding” – countries placing export restraints on key raw materials, which is trade distorting and illegal under WTO.