Equipment Shortages

Fear of a shortage of rare-earth metals used in high-tech military and industrial products has spawned global efforts to reopen abandoned mines, including the formidable Mountain Pass Mine in California's Mojave Desert. Discovered in the 1940s by uranium prospectors, Mountain Pass contains an array of rare earths, including cerium and lanthanum, in concentrations almost double those found at the world's biggest rare-earth mine, China's Bayan Obo. "You're looking at the greatest rare-earth deposit in the world," says operations manager John Benfield as he ushers a visitor around the 2,200-acre site 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

The abrupt shutdown of two aging nuclear reactors that produce a radioisotope widely used in medical imaging has forced physicians in the U.S. and abroad into a crisis, requiring them to postpone or cancel necessary scans for heart disease and cancer, or turn to alternative tests that are not as accurate, take longer and expose patients to higher doses of radiation. Because of limits on testing produced by the shortage, some patients will undergo heart or cancer surgeries that could have been prevented by imaging, and others will miss needed surgeries because of the lack of testing, said Dr. Michael Graham of the University of Iowa, president of SNM, formerly the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Dell Inc. said Tuesday that the computer industry was experiencing a shortage of batteries for laptop models in part because of a recent fire at a major supplier. The computer maker said it was working with other suppliers to limit any price increases. Dell, the world's second-largest PC maker after Hewlett-Packard Co.

The Pentagon, bearing the brunt of criticism for shortfalls in National Guard supplies after last week's devastating tornado in Kansas, acknowledged Wednesday that Army National Guard units had only 56% of their required equipment. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a Senate hearing that equipment levels were the lowest since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Kuda Shumba goes at one speed: fast. He prides himself on being able to get hold of almost anything, and he's open for business day or night. That's what it takes to be one of Zimbabwe's black-market cowboys. Shumba spends his days on a motorbike sniffing out almost- impossible-to-find items such as sugar, cooking oil, bread, margarine or cellphone SIM cards, risking years in a dank prison if caught. His markup: 500%-plus. His cellphone is his lifeline.

Two rainy summers followed by drought have produced a shortage of some Christmas tree varieties in New York, especially Fraser firs, one of the most popular choices, according to growers. "We've had it three years in a row now. Two with excess rain and now a drought. Mother Nature can't seem to get it right," said Robert Norris, a tree farmer and executive secretary of the Christmas Tree Farmers Assn. of New York Inc.

Wii're all sold out. Legions of shoppers are getting the message nearly everywhere they look for Nintendo Co.'s video game console. Even though it ramped up production capacity twice this year, Nintendo isn't meeting demand for the Wii, which has been on the market for more than a year and is, somehow, this season's hottest hard-to-find gift. Nintendo executives said the Japanese company had thought its production schedule -- about 1.8 million consoles a month -- would be sufficient.

Gripping the controller of the coveted Xbox 360, Jesus Sanchez watched as the Raiders clashed with the Broncos on a high-definition flat-screen TV. The details in the "Madden NFL 06" video game looked so sharp that it was almost like seeing an actual football game. Sanchez was mesmerized, but unfortunately for him the 360 wasn't his. He was playing a demo machine at a Best Buy store in Atwater Village because, like countless other frustrated gamers, he hasn't been able to get one of his own.

More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat-ready, mostly because of equipment shortages that will cost up to $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum spoke to reporters after Army officials, analysts and members of Congress disclosed that two-thirds of the Army's active brigades also are not ready for war.

Dollar signs danced in the head of business student Julian Perry, 25, when he learned that the much-anticipated PlayStation 3 would go on sale Friday -- in limited quantities. As demand outstripped supply, Perry knew the video game console's price would rocket past Sony's $599 list price -- on EBay. So Perry hired seven people to get in line with him. It would be a long wait. They arrived Monday afternoon at the Circuit City in Torrance, where 100 machines were to go on sale at 12:01 a.m.