Rajesh Shah opened a men’s clothing store in the city of Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat and named it after his father’s nickname: Hitler. Shah says his father got this nickname because he was “very strict” and that he didn’t know of anyone named Adolf Hitler. Now he is being roundly attacked, and […]

Like most undercover security officials, members of Nigeria’s secret service work hard to hide their personal information from the public. It came as a surprise, then, when information—including names, addresses and bank account details—belonging to more than sixty service members was leaked online for several days. Worse, this information came with a message attached: the terrorist […]

The port of Gwadar on Pakistan’s southwestern coast is strategically well-placed just outside the Straight of Hormuz (see map). It is a deepwater port capable of handling international shipping vessels and oil tankers. It was built with help from Chinese money and has been run by a Singaporean company—until now.The FT reports that China is about […]

Iran’s chairmanship of the (mostly meaningless) conference of the Non-Aligned Movement conference isn’t going exactly as planned. First, Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi deviated from the script, criticizing Iran’s allies in Syria and coming out in favor of the rebellion. Then UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon joined in, sharply denouncing Iran’s threats of destruction towards Israel […]

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a union with about 59,000 members, has been under Federal investigation for almost ten years. Trustees have been found charging hundreds of thousands of dollars of travel, restaurant, and other “expenses,” and leaders have made several irresponsible business choices based on family ties. The Kansas City Star has an exhaustive list of […]

Just months after Premier Wen Jiabao cited corruption as the biggest threat to Communist Party rule, the BBC reports that a former top city official in northeast China fled the country at the start of the year, taking millions of dollars with him. Wang Guoqiang, who was party secretary of Fengcheng city in Liaoning province, left for […]

The trial of Pussy Riot continues to pay dividends for the cynical Putin regime. Having managed to cast the young women’s protest as an act of vandalism against the Orthodox Church in many Russians’ eyes, he was given another leg up against his liberal opposition when a psychopath in Kazan murdered two women and scrawled “Free […]

Illinois taxpayers are facing huge liabilities for their state’s bloated, poorly managed, and underfunded pension system, and public sector workers face an uncertain future, as taxpayers are unlikely to cough up the huge sums required to make good on the debt.Now everything is getting worse: S&P has downgraded Illinois bonds, meaning that the interest rate […]

Given the extent of poverty throughout India, child labor has long been viewed as inevitable. Delhi is trying to change that, as the FT reports: India’s government has proposed a ban on the employment of children under 14, as it tries to push more pupils into school and address an issue that has sullied the […]

Venezuela’s state-owned energy company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA), has delayed re-opening the Amuay oil refinery following a massive explosion. Coming only months before the next election, this incident is shining a light on President Chávez’s weak record on infrastructure. The blast, which killed 50 people, is just one of several recent failures involving bridges, […]