Xue Feng tried to buy a database of info on China's oil industry
                                
                                
                                    (Newser) -
                                    Thumbing its nose at a direct appeal from President Obama, a Chinese court today sentenced an American geologist to eight years in prison for trying to buy a commercially available database of information about the Chinese oil industry on the behalf of his employer. Xue Feng, 44, who was detained...