NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The owner and manager of a children’s boarding school in western India have been arrested after five minors said they were raped, forced to watch pornographic films and act them out with one another, police and
(Reuters) – Chinese software companies such as Neusoft Corp and China National Software & Service Co Ltd (ChinaSoft) are picking up sales and expanding their marketing as China trades cyber spying accusations with the United States. For Neusoft, one of China’s biggest software solutions providers, that includes selling
China is going after “smartphone-based instant messaging services” to stop the “[spread] of rumors and what it calls the infiltration of hostile forces.” According to the AP, official state news outlet Xinhua said “the crackdown on people spreading rumors and
More than 50,000 marijuana plants, worth $201 million, were found growing in California’s Los Padres National Forest, reports the Los Angeles Times. Ventura County Sheriff’s Dept. Capt. Don Aguilar said in the report that “the operation is one of the largest
Mary Meeker, long a mainstay at Morgan Stanley, now a partner at the venture-capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is one of the most important Internet analysts in America today. Which is to say, she’s one of the
On May 19 Breitbart News reported Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) was using a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) assessment to target businesses listed as “high risk” – including firearms and ammunition sellers. Firearms and ammunition retailers were labeled “high risk” along
In yet another bid to expand its economic presence in South America, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) tells Reuters it is expecting to invest at least $2 billion in the economy of Perú over the next decade and potentially build
A California bill that would have banned fracking, pending a state-ordered study deeming the practice safe, was defeated in the state Senate on Wednesday by a narrow two-vote margin. SB 1132, authored by Democratic state senators Mark Leno and Holly
On Wednesday, the Venezuelan government unveiled widespread accusations of conspiracy to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, which implicated a number of high-profile leaders of the opposition, including ousted legislator María Corina Machado and the United States Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker.
Everything might be bigger in Texas, but that does not mean everything is more expensive. According to data from the Council for Community and Economic Research’s (C2ER) 2014 Cost of Living Index, three of the nation’s 10 cheapest cities are in the
On May 28 Thailand’s government blocked Facebook access for one hour in an effort to diffuse protests against a “coup carried out last week.” “A military junta was installed” on May 22, giving the Royal Thai Army control of the
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday followers of an Islamic cleric with whom he’s locked in a power struggle might leak a video about him and his family to smear him before an August presidential
(AFP) Egypt’s ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was headed on Thursday for an overwhelming victory in a presidential election touted as a plebiscite on his ouster of the elected Islamist leader last year. With almost 15 percent of polling stations
In another candid press briefing while on board a plane returning to Rome, this time from the Middle East, Pope Francis reportedly said he would not rule out retiring like his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. “I will do what the
On Wednesday, the California State Assembly unanimously passed AB 1839, a bill that would expand California’s existing film and TV tax credit and incentive program, although the Assembly did not settle on the exact dollar amount of the expanded credits,
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Refugees waved flags and held pictures of Bashar al-Assad as they crushed into Damascus’s embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday to join Syrians worldwide voting early in an election that looks certain to give him a third seven-year
On May 27 almost 40 people were killed after Al-Shabab militants raided “a village between Ethiopia and Somalia.” Al-Shabab is an “Al-Qaeda-linked” group of militants. According to Voice of America (VOA), the local Somali governor said “27 pro-government militiamen and
(Reuters) – Local officials in China‘s western Xinjiang region held a public rally for the mass sentencing of criminals on Tuesday, handing out judgements for 55 people and at least three death sentences for crimes such as “violent terrorism”, state media
Coal miners in Donetsk came out in support of the pro-Russian forces in charge of “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) at a rally led by self-proclaimed leader Denis Pushilin. Donetsk is in the Donbass region, which is the industrial area of
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told Xinhua Tuesday that if Vietnam wants to prevent another “maritime accident” like the sinking of a ship near a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea, it should “stop violating Chinese companies’
Brussels veterans are doing some eye-rolling at David Cameron’s claim he will be the one to stop the European Parliament’s favourite, Jean-Claude Juncker, from becoming the next president of the European Commission. Juncker may well be stopped – indeed, as
A Christian obstetrician practicing in Washington, D.C. says he once refused to perform abortions, but about ten years into his career, he changed his mind. Now, he is willing to perform late-term abortions, even at 24 weeks of pregnancy. Authors
On Wednesday, pro-life organization Live Action released an investigative report and video on Planned Parenthood Federation of America that details the activities within the abortion giant’s walls. The campaign began as copies of the report, entitled “Lies, Corruption, and Scandal:
HOUSTON, Texas–The Tea Party is alive and well and is firmly established as a dominant force in Texas Republican politics. Victories by Tea Party favorites nearly swept the statewide Republican runoff election. Establishment candidates like State Representative Dan Branch and
The Associated Press reports that roughly 4,000 California companies, farms, and other entities hold the majority of rights to rivers and streams and, as a result, receive free water during the severe drought now plaguing the state. These entities received
