I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
The Chinese state-owned aluminum corporation, Chinalco, announced on Friday that it will spend $14 billion for 12 percent of the global mining company Rio Tinto.
Chinalco called the move the largest ever Chinese foreign investment.
Rio Tinto — which is pursuing controversial nickel mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula through its subsidiary, Kennecott Minerals Co. — is the world’s second largest mining company and is the target of a hostile takeover attempt by BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world.
Observers say the 12 percent share will give China a blocking stake to use against BHP Billiton.
Industry analysts note that China, which has a rapidly expanding industrial economy and is the top consumer of iron and nickel, is concerned that a BHP-Rio Tinto merger would create a single, enormous, global mining company and lead to higher prices.
While both concerns have offices in the United Kingdom and Australia, BHP Billiton also has operations bases in South Africa and the United States.
China recently created a sovereign wealth fund called the China Investment Corporation, which has enough money to buy Rio Tinto outright, but observers say a Chinese buyout of Rio Tinto would be opposed in mineral-rich Australia as an attempt to annex Australian resources.
In 2005, the Chinese national oil company proposed buying the U.S.-based oil company Unocal in a deal that fell apart because of fears about Chinese acquisition of strategic resources.
Photo: C A Boulter
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