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Gandhi's Blood, Hitler's Christmas Cards Up For Sale In Same Auction

TIMES OF INDIA, INDIA WEST, DNA (India), REUTERS

Worldcrunch

LONDON – Two drops of Gandhi’s blood are being auctioned Tuesday in London. The two microscope slides are expected to be sold for between £10,000 and £15,000 ($15,200-$22,800), Reuters reports.

The “fragments of Gandhi's blood” were donated by the father of the Indian Independence movement in 1924. At the time, Gandhi was recovering from an appendectomy and gave his blood as a gift to the family he was staying with, writes the Times of India.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, a historical documents expert at the Mullock’s auctioning house, told Reuters that "to Gandhi devotees, it has the same status as a sacred relic to a Christian.”

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The auction has raised strong criticism among disciples of Mahatma Gandhi. Noted Gandhian Giriraj Kishore told India-West he was “enraged” about the upcoming auction. “Gandhi is being sold bit-by-bit on the chopping block every three to four months. It is very objectionable to me.”

The blood slides will be go under the hammer along with 50 other objects belonging to Gandhi: among them, his trademark leather sandals, his favourite shawl, made from linen thread he wove himself, his bed sheet, his personal bowl with fork and spoon, and a drinking cup, says the Times of India.

Meanwhile, during the same sale, items belonging to Adolf Hitler -- including a 1943 Christmas card and a chunk of marble from his bunker -- will also be put up for auction, DNA reports.

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Economy

Globalization Takes A New Turn, Away From China

China is still a manufacturing juggernaut and a growing power, but companies are looking for alternatives as Chinese labor costs continue to rise — as do geopolitical tensions with Beijing.

Photo of a woman working at a motorbike factory in China's Yunnan Province.

A woman works at a motorbike factory in China's Yunnan Province.

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — What were the representatives of dozens of large American companies doing in Vietnam these past few days?

A few days earlier, a delegation of foreign company chiefs currently based in China were being welcomed by business and government leaders in Mexico.

Then there was Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese subcontractor, which signed an investment deal in the Indian state of Telangana, enabling the creation of 100,000 jobs. You read that right: 100,000 jobs.

What these three examples have in common is the frantic search for production sites — other than China!

For the past quarter century, China has borne the crown of the "world's factory," manufacturing the parts and products that the rest of the planet needs. Billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba.com platform is based on this principle: if you are a manufacturer and you are looking for cheap ball bearings, or if you are looking for the cheapest way to produce socks or computers, Alibaba will provide you with a solution among the jungle of factories in Shenzhen or Dongguan, in southern China.

All of this is still not over, but the ebb is well underway.

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