Free Republic

The plot to Brazil's political crisis has become so complicated that even makers of political drama 'House of Cards' joke they are now following events. There is even an online quiz where one has to guess: did it happen in Brazil or in House of Cards, or both? But this is no laughing matter in Brazil. This is the country's toughest political crisis since the early 1990s, when its first democratically-elected President in the modern era, Fernando Collor, was removed from power. On Wednesday night the crisis took a bizarre turn, as a judge revealed phone conversations between President Dilma...

Getting Rid of H-1B Visas: Easier Said Than Done Why the battle may be too big even for Trump. March 18, 2016 Ian Smith    During last week’s GOP debate at Miami University, front-runner Donald Trump answered a question about his position on the H-1B guest-worker program noting several times that it was unfair to American workers then concluding that “we should end it” entirely. While the sentiment’s appreciated, ending the H-1B program is easier said than done.  Under the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the US has certain obligations towards foreign nationals wishing to come...

Paris is beginning to acknowledge the possibility that India might not buy the Rafale fighter because of sharp differences over the price, and New Delhi’s insistence on enforceable guarantees regarding the fighter’s delivery, performance and availability. A senior French official with a close view of the on-going negotiations between New Delhi and Paris for 36 Rafale fighters told Business Standard on condition of anonymity: “If some people in the MoD do not want to allow the Rafale deal to go through, so be it. We are currently building it for Egypt and Qatar, and we could have another customer in...

Tilak Nagar police officials in Kalyan were shocked when they were informed that a 16-year-old class X failed boy easily got access to Medical Termination Pregnancy (MTP) kit and forcefully made his 17-year-old girlfriend consume it. After consuming the pills, the girl had severe blood loss and her health deteriorated. She was admitted to the hospital, leading to miscarriage. Radhe Singh, 16 (name withheld as minor), is a resident of Kalyan. He befriended his neighbour and indulged in sexual relation at various lodges in Titwala and Piswali in Kalyan. When the girl got pregnant, the accused gave her abortion pills....

An Indian student from the lowest Dalit caste was hacked to death and his wife critically injured in southern India in a suspected "honour killing" by relatives angered by their marriage, police said Monday. Three men armed with sickles and sharp weapons attacked the 22-year-old student and his wife, who is from a higher caste, on a crowded street in Tamil Nadu state on Sunday. Local police commissioner N Manjunatha said the 19-year-old woman's relatives were angered by the couple's marriage.

North Korea’s provocative nuclear rhetoric has gotten so bad even the Kremlin has come out against the hermit kingdom, warning continued nuclear threats could justify an invasion. The warning was issued in the form of a written statement from the Russian foreign ministry. It follows North Korea’s threat it would engage in a “preemptive and offensive nuclear strike” in reaction to the start of joint U.S.-South Korean war games Monday. “We consider it to be absolutely impermissible to make public statements containing threats to deliver some ‘preventive nuclear strikes’ against opponents,” said the statement, as translated by the Russian TASS...

In a strongly worded editorial on Monday, China's official media criticised the rise of Donald Trump in the race to the White House, warning of severe consequences if he is elected US president. 'The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora's box in US society,' says the editorial published by the People's Daily and the Global Times newspapers, two mouthpieces of the Communist Party of China. 'Instead of pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny, the US had better watch itself from becoming a source of destructive forces against world peace,' it says while underlining Trump's...

Modern Syrian Christians of Kerala (the majority Christian population here) believe that the Apostle Thomas—the one who so famously questioned Jesus—visited here in a.d. 52 and baptized their forefathers. Historians surmise that the diverse, rich trading center of Kerala may well have drawn this Palestinian Jew of the Roman Empire who wished to preach the Gospel. Thousands of churches today bear his name, their rituals and theology derived from Eastern Orthodox traditions in the liturgical language Syriac, a formation of Aramaic, the dialect Jesus—and Thomas—spoke. For decades now, the liturgical language of Kerala Christians has been Malayalam, the language of...

Sometimes the two parties just aren’t that far apart during campaign season, and in a populist moment such as the one we’re experiencing right now that axiom is being proven true on the subject of free trade and job outsourcing. Currently, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders seem to be in a battle to see which one of them can sound the most like Donald Trump when it comes to offshoring American jobs, but Clinton is being hit with yet another vignette from her long history of paid speeches. Fox News dredged up an old clip of her from 2005 speaking...

Trade tensions between India and the United States intensified on Friday as New Delhi filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over steep fee increases for U.S. non-immigrant temporary work visas. The WTO said in a statement that India has disputed the doubling of the fees for H-1B and L-1 work visas and limits on their numbers. The visas are typically used by thousands of Indian nationals hired by information technology services firms operating in the United States. The complaint comes just days after the United States won a WTO ruling in favor of its challenge to India's domestic...

The Indian Air Force has advised its three women trainees, who are in line to become India’s first female fighter pilots, to put off motherhood for at least four years after they get commissioned into the IAF in June. IAF vice chief Air Marshal BS Dhanoa told HT on Thursday that an advisory to avoid pregnancy was issued to the women training at an IAF facility near Hyderabad so that their training schedule was not disrupted. The women are preparing to head for the last leg of their combat training in June, a watershed in the IAF’s 83-year history. “Undisturbed...

I have given you My words and shared my heart, I have shown you the beginning is where to start, Yet even in your valleys you return To me, For I am your first fruit and Majesty, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_24IdbJ0Tw Lead me to the cross Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Two Mites 21 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these...

It is as my children seek comfort in earthly things that these pacifiers draw them away from the True comforter My very Spirit and so it is as these sheep are drawn away in pursuit of the flesh their eyes are blinded and their ears begin to fail them as to the truth of My Spirit and WORD. As in the days of Noah many shall fall away drowning in their fleshly desires. So come away from them my children for My Spirit has called you and you have followed after My heart and not your own. Fast the Earth...

A 14-year-old girl in Maharashtra, India, was whipped 10 times in public for the crime of “not resisting” when her own father raped her repeatedly, Tamil dailies reported. The man had reportedly been raping the victim repeatedly over four months but the crime only came to light when the girl became pregnant. When the other villagers found out about the rape, the panchayat or village tribunal sentenced the man to a fine and 10 lashes in public as punishment. In a move described as Taliban-esque by women’s rights campaigners, the tribunal blamed the girl for not resisting the rapes and...

After spate of cheating scandals in Bihar, army reportedly takes radical step to ‘save time on frisking so many people’Candidates at an Indian army recruitment day in Bihar were made to take a written exam in their underwear to prevent them from cheating, according to reports, after a spate of exam cheating scandals in the eastern state. Images in the Indian Express showed dozens of men sitting cross-legged in a field wearing only underpants, with many resting their test papers on their thighs, while a uniformed supervisor stood guard. The paper quoted an army source as saying they took the...

When Barbara Araujo and Allan Alves got married three years ago, they had big plans: open a business, buy a house and start a family. But with Brazil plunging into its worst recession in over two decades -- hopes for a brighter future are fading. The Brazilian economy shrank 3.8% in 2015, according to government data published Thursday. That's the biggest annual drop since 1990 and the country is in its longest recession since the 1930s.

MANILA, Philippines – The Chinese have taken over another traditional Filipino fishing ground near Palawan where they have stationed up to five ships to keep local fishermen at bay, sources said. Now effectively under Chinese control is Quirino or Jackson Atoll, which has been a rich source of catch for a long time for fishermen from Palawan, Southern Luzon, Western Visayas and even Manila. Gray and white Chinese vessels have not left the atoll, which Filipino fishermen also call Jackson Five, because of the existence of five lagoons in the area. The Chinese are claiming almost the entire South China...

The Trump Blog Ideas & opinions from Donald Trump and the TrumpU faculty The Real Estate Investor Training Program Outsourcing Creates Jobs in the Long Run by Donald J. Trump Chairman, Trump University We hear terrible things about outsourcing jobs--how sending work outside of our companies is contributing to the demise of American businesses. But in this instance I have to take the unpopular stance that it is not always a terrible thing. I understand that outsourcing means that employees lose jobs. Because work is often outsourced to other countries, it means Americans lose jobs. In other cases, nonunion employees...

The design of the nuclear aircraft carrier project 23000E "Storm" could form the base to build a ship of a similar class for the Indian Navy. This decision will be made during a forthcoming tender process in Delhi. The Indian Navy seeks to get an aircraft carrier with a displacement of 65 thousand tons, one that is 300 m in length, and 70 m wide, equipped with a nuclear power plant. And although the United States and France are participating in the technology race, according to "Izvestia", the Russian proposal is leading the race. The Project USS 23000E aircraft carrier...

My WORD to you is meant to be used and adhered to as the mighty men of David that willingly supported their king by leading in the battle no matter the numbers for they walked in My wisdom and their obedience came from actively pursuing the command of their king that walked in My understanding without fear. So it must be with you my children do not be like the sloth and bury the talents I have so graciously bestowed upon you for as you do it shall be multiplied onto you yet in this same manner I shall send...