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Xi Jinping, widely expected to be the next president of China and currently serving as the country’s vice president, visited Des Moines, Iowa earlier this week, receiving a warm welcome from the state with a large agricultural economy. Xi also visited Washington, DC, of course, and spoke of various issues, from international issues to agricultural trade with the U.S. that favors Iowa. Prior to leaving Washington, Xi noted that he was seeking greater cooperation with the U.S. on issues of trade and security, specifically mentioning Iran and North Korea in the process. He also urged Washington to pay close attention to what he called Chinese “core interests,” including the issue of Tibet.

Xi’s visit to Iowa had him attending a state dinner with Governor Terry Branstad and sitting down to a meal that included pork tenderloin, Angus beef and a soybean and corn salad, all products that are near and dear to the hearts of Iowans. Iowa is the largest producer of corn, soybeans and pork in the U.S. and China has increasingly been purchasing those agricultural products from the U.S.

While Xi stressed both friendship between the two countries, as well as some advice, and he spoke in generally broad terms, noting, “The world is currently undergoing profound changes, and China and the United States face shared challenges and shoulder shared responsibilities in international affairs. We should further use bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to enhance coordination between China and the United States on hotspots, including developments on the Korean peninsula and the Iran nuclear issue.”

A dozen media companies have just unveiled applications with open graph actions, to appear in the right-hand column of timeline.

Facebook’s Director of Media Partnerships, Justin Osofsky, announced the 12 in a blog post. They are:

• Buzzfeed
• CBS Local: Los Angeles and New York
• CMT
• The Daily Show
• GetGlue
• Huffington Post
• Mashable
• MSNBC.com
• MTV News
• Pixable
• Sporting News (launching in March)
• TODAY Show

As was the case with the 60 applications unveiled a few weeks ago, most of the apps in today’s announcement are really upgrades rather than completely new.

Speaking of apps that have already existed, today’s blog post contains some performance statistics on media applications that had upgraded to social platforms in the fall:

• Yahoo News: Over the past three months, more than 25 million people have opted in to Social Bar, and two million people are using it every day. Younger users, aged 18 to 34, are the most active.
• Rockmelt: Rockmelt users are adding 14 new articles every day through the social browser, driving 20 percent new traffic and new users to the site.
• The Guardian U.K.: Since launching at f8, the app has been installed over 5 million times. Over half of the app’s users are 24 and under, bringing the Guardian to a traditionally hard to reach audience.
• Digg: Since Digg Social Reader launched, its page views are up 35 percent. The publication has seen a twofold increase in the number of monthly active users of their app, a fourfold increase in weekly active users, and a threefold increase in daily active users.

For a brief lesson in modern U.S. politics, one need look no further than the flip-flop by the president on the issue of private political spending. In 2010, President Obama noted that a Supreme Court ruling that would allow private organizations, corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on political ads and other forms of “speech” was, in essence, a “threat to our democracy.” A couple of years later, the Obama campaign has noted that – with the president’s approval – the campaign will support a super PAC that is in favor of Obama.

Noted one senior campaign official, “We made a decision, announced last night, that we’re not going to allow for two sets of rules this election. A half billion dollars spent against the president’s re-election by Republican super PACs is not something that we take lightly, and it ultimately led to our decision that we’re not going to unilaterally disarm in this fight. Our message remains the same in terms of the type of things we’re fighting for.” In other words, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The official added, “The president did sign off on this decision.”

A statement that came out late on Monday night by Jim Messina noted that the president still opposes the Supreme Court finding but that the Obama campaign must “face the reality of the law as it currently stands.” Messina added, “With so much at stake, we can’t allow for two sets of rules in this election, whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm.”

Early reports are sketchy as to the details of the abduction, but it appears that the two American women were traveling in a minivan with their Egyptian guide when they were kidnapped. The Egyptian guide was also abducted, but at least three other tourists were not taken. The nationality of the remaining tourists has not been released. The group was traveling south from Saint Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai to the Red Sea resort, Sharm el-Sheikh when the abduction took place.

Kidnappings have been on the rise in Egypt as officials struggle to bring the nation to order following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. 25 Chinese workers were kidnapped from a nearby area earlier in the week, but they were all released the following day without incident. It is believed that the American women were targeted by the kidnappers in the hopes that they would bring a ransom for their safe return. But with so little information about who may have taken them – or why – it is simply too soon to make those sorts of assumptions.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo has yet to release a statement about the situation, but it’s safe to say that U.S. officials will be monitoring the situation very closely. Incidents like these will continue to erode the dwindling Egyptian tourism industry, which has seen a nearly 30% decline in 2011 tourism numbers from those achieved in 2010.

The kidnappings occurred against the backdrop of rising violence across Egypt, which is still reeling from the deaths of 74 fans in the aftermath of a recent soccer match. Citizens are blaming the deaths on a lack of security and have taken to the streets in protest. At least 4 additional deaths have occurred since, as protesters clash with police and military personnel.