Beijing is planning to revise its rules controlling global access to battery manufacturing technologies in a tit-for-tat move after major Western economies including the European Union and the United States decided to impose punitive tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. Chinese companies would have to obtain a government permit to export technologies used to produce lithium-phosphate-iron (LFP) cathode materials, a key component in iron-based, affordable lithium-ion batteries, according to an annual export control catalogue updated by the Ministry of Commcerce on Jan. 2. The Chinese government is also looking to place new constraints on local companies’ ability to sell technologies used in extracting lithium from hard rock spodumene ore. The proposed measures are open to public review until Feb. 1. [South China Morning Post]
Source Behind Hegseth Claims Is Disgruntled Former Employee– freebeacon.com
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A former Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) employee is privately helping Senate Democrats solicit hostile testimony about her former boss, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the country’s next defense secretary.
The former employee, Kat Dugan, worked at CVA for eight months while Hegseth served as CEO of the organization, and has sent messages to former CVA colleagues urging them to contact the Senate Armed Services Committee and assuring them they can do so anonymously. She has also provided closed-door testimony to the committee, according to correspondence obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Dugan, formerly Kathleen Volandt, received a poor performance review in 2014 when she was serving as CVA’s North Carolina state director. Shortly thereafter, she filed for short-term disability, then long-term disability, and ultimately tendered her resignation in December 2014. Shawn Pattison, who served as CVA’s national field director at the time, told the Free Beacon that Dugan “consistently fell short of performance expectations.” A copy of her performance review reviewed by the Free Beacon substantiates that assessment.