Free Republic

They are the T-shirts designed to make a political statement about women’s rights – but the female workers making them are paid just 62p an hour in an Indian Ocean ‘sweatshop’. Between shifts women making garments emblazoned with the slogan ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ sleep in spartan dormitories, 16 to a room.

If you want a reason to opt out of school, you’re not alone. And Angad Daryani might just be the inspiration you were looking for. Daryani, a 16-year-old Mumbaiker, quit school in the 9th grade, frustrated by rote learning. Soon after, he built India’s first 3D printer (and possibly the world’s cheapest 3D printer). In 2013, he developed an “eye-pad” for the blind with MIT. When he was younger, he set up a miniature solar-powered boat and created an automatic watering system for garden plants. He has a longer list of hobbies that you can see here. He calls himself...

NEW DELHI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Indian Border Security Force (BSF) troopers were put on high alert Sunday evening along the India- Pakistan international border after a massive blast left over 45 people dead and over 70 others injured at Wagah border check point in Pakistan, said local media. The Indo-Asian News Service quoted BSF officials at Attari border next to Wagah in Punjab as saying the blast, triggered by an alleged suicide bomber, was heard at a distance of nearly two km. The blast, according to information obtained by the BSF, occurred close to the place where the retreat...

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Mr Putin's annual state of the nation address to parliament was broadcast live on Russian television. He said the break-up of the USSR in 1991 was "a real drama" which left tens of millions of Russians outside the Russian Federation. He also said Russia must develop as a "free and democratic" country. But he stressed that Russia "will decide for itself the pace, terms and conditions of moving towards democracy". "We are a free nation and our place...

LONDON -- In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao stood together in the State Guest House in Beijing while their respective foreign secretaries signed an historic agreement defining the two countries' common 4,374-km border for the first time. The border was an issue over which several battles had been fought in the past. It took a while to close the deal because of disagreement over a few islands in the Amur, Ussuri and Argun rivers, which make up China's northwest border with Russia. Nobody spoiled the party by pointing out that this border is between Inner...

Furious over the alleged rape of his 14-year-old daughter by a 45-year-old married man, the father called the man to his house on Friday night, treated him to dinner and then tortured him to death, police said. He then went to the police station, surrendered himself and gave police a detailed account on how he tortured and murdered the man. The 36-year-old reportedly burned the man’s genitals using heated tongs and then strangled him to death. The incident was reported from Northeast Delhi’s Khajuri Khas area on Saturday. Based on the man’s statement, police said the deceased, a medicine supplier,...

It seems that Putin's visit to China at the end of May has brought the two countries closer. Russia will not only sell natural gas to China but provide certain military technology support. Meanwhile, China is going to invest in Russia Ironically, last autumn husbands of Chinese vegetable farmers were brutally expelled from southern Russia. Scholars pointed out that a series of anti-Chinese incidents that took place in Russia have reflected the real relationship between China and Russia. After Putin's visit to China, Russians seem very enthusiastic about China. The media keep tracking whether or not China will invest in...

This should be a wake-up call to Europe, long accustomed to living under the U.S. defense umbrella, to take more responsibility for its own defense. So far this year, NATO jets have had to scramble 100 times to intercept these airspace intruders just to show that the West's perimeters are still protected. That's three times as many as intercepted in 2013. It also coincides with a strange submarine incursion in Swedish waters, believed to have been Russian. There's no doubt about it, Russia wants its Cold War empire back, and a complacent, "Finlandized" Europe. Vladimir Putin continues in his quest...

Ever heard of Electronics for Imaging? We hadn't either until this morning, but it's apparently a multimillion dollar, multinational, public corporation based out of Fremont, California. And the United States Department of Labor just caught EFI red-handed in an investigation, which found that "about eight employees" were flown in from India to work 120-hour weeks for $1.21 per hour. EFI apparently thought it was okay to pay the employees the same wages they'd be paid in India (in Indian rupees). Here's the unbelievably crazy sounding quote EFI gave to NBC's Bay Area affiliate: "We unintentionally overlooked laws that require even...

There are more slaves now than at any point in history, and companies need to look closely at their supply chains to ensure their products or services aren’t coming from operations that force people to work with no pay, a U.S. writer and private-equity executive said during a recent financial and risk summit in Toronto hosted by media and information firm Thomson Reuters. […] People often think of slavery as a thing of the past, but today there are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide—most of them toiling for nothing more than a meager daily meal, (Benjamin) Skinner said. He...

New Delhi, Oct.18 (ANI): Indirectly expressing his country's surprise over the Indian Government and its defence establishment's decision to go ahead with its reported plan to buy 126 Rafale combat aircraft from France, Russia's Ambassador to India, Alexander M. Kadakin, said the Dassault Aviation-manufactured fighter aircraft could be shot down like a mosquito by a Chinese-manufactured or produced Sukhoi jet should there ever be a conflict in the neighbourhood. Ambassador Kadakin, who was attending an interaction between Russian and Indian journalists in the national capital yesterday, said, "We (Russia) are still very surprised that Rafale is being bought, because if...

Investors are losing interest in Brazil's oil industry as the country's energy policies raise costs, reduce efficiency and increase risk, Brazil's oil industry association, the IBP, said on Monday. Without changes Brazil will likely lose out to places such as Mexico, Iran, Iraq and Algeria where policies are becoming more open to private sector investment. "I went to the three largest oil conventions in the world this year and you hardly heard Brazil's name mentioned," Milton Costa Filho, Executive Secretary of the IBP told reporters at an industry event in Rio de Janeiro. "Brazil is falling off the world oil...

Brazil and South Africa may merge their defence research bases to jointly conquer world markets. In Brazil to attend the III IDB-Brazil Show, Trevor Raman, the Director-General of the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), a public company linked to the Department of Defense of South Africa, recalled the partnership between the two countries in the development of technology for creating the A-Darter air-to-air missile. In his opinion, even before the success of the venture, the next step is to strengthen cooperation and seek to manufacture products that are competitive on the world market. "This project was challenging for both...

NEW DELHI – Which countries, beyond those in West Africa, are most susceptible to the Ebola epidemic? Most epidemiologists do not fear much for the developed world, with its effective quarantine measures and tracking procedures, or even for sparsely populated developing countries. An outbreak could easily be contained in both groups of countries. But large, densely populated areas, lacking the proper containment mechanisms are highly vulnerable. India, with its large emigrant population (the second largest in the world), high urban density, and inadequate public health-care infrastructure, potentially has the most to lose if the Ebola virus spreads. Links to West...

California law enforcement agents have seized 1,200 firearms from people who cannot legally own them because of mental illness or restraining orders. However, Attorney General Kamala Harris said Thursday that more than 34,000 handguns and nearly 1,600 assault weapons are still believed to be held statewide by people who should not have them. Most people bought the weapons legally but were later prohibited from owning guns. But 12 people were arrested on suspicion of illegally owning assault weapons or grenades during a six-week sweep by the state Department of Justice in April and May. Harris said 90 percent of the...

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning that proponents of Proposition 8 — the voter initiative in 2008 that amended the state constitution to say “only marriage between a man and a woman” is valid in California — have legal standing to defend the measure in court. That means the matter can proceed to the Ninth District Court of Appeals for a ruling on the merits of the measure. The legal question before the Supreme Court was procedural and unrelated to the substantive question of the constitutional validity of Prop. 8. It only assessed whether proponents of the measure can...

Anaheim is literally pulling the plug on pot shops that keep popping up despite a law forbidding the businesses. Officials have used its operation of utilities to cut off water and power to dispensaries in the city that’s home to Disneyland, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday. …

Practically everyone expects California Attorney General Kamala Harris to win re-election handily in November. The Democrat won 53 percent of the vote in a crowded June primary. A rising star expected to ascend someday to the governorship, perhaps a U.S. Senate seat, Harris has won the endorsement of major newspapers in the state. She's such an attractive candidate that even though it was true, President Barack Obama had to apologize last year for calling her "by far the best-looking attorney general in the country." Yet Harris faces two unusual obstacles in the November runoff. One is Ron Gold, a never-elected...

The Supreme Court is allowing California to continue enforcing a law that bans the sale of foie gras. The justices on Tuesday rejected a challenge to the law from producers of the delicacy in New York and Canada. …

I’ve learned how the game works, from my perch here at Breitling Energy. For one, we advertise and broadcast Powering America Radio on The Patriot, KEIB 1150 AM in Los Angeles, the USAs 2nd largest media market. It also happens to be the transplanted LA home of the Rush Limbaugh show. On occasion, Chris Faulkner’s “Oil and Gas Today” reports fall within the Limbaugh program (it’s called run-of-schedule in broadcasting….where commercials air randomly through the day).. When they hit his show, here come the emails. People “informing” us of Rush’s bigoted bias and “encouraging” us to not support any station...