NRIs Corner

An Indian-origin medical student at King’s College here died when she was hit by a train soon after a row with a fellow student.

Anita Trivedi’s family fears she may have killed herself as a result of bullying at college.

A British Transport Police spokesperson said the death was not being treated as suspicious. An inquest into the death was opened on Wednesday and adjourned.

The 23-year-old student’s father, Kailash Trivedi, a general practitioner, said his daughter had seemed happy despite repeating a year after failing a set of examinations.

A recent Rutgers study has contradicted the public perception that the increasing number of children in immigrant families is a major obstacle to a strong United States economy.

The study titled, “How Much Does Change in the Proportion of Children Living in Immigrant Families Contribute to Change in the Poverty Rate Among Children?” has raised the question of whether federal policies affecting immigrants should be significantly altered or not over the reason that growing number of children was becoming the primary reason for children living in poverty.

An international trade body has said that along with Nepal, many migrant workers from India and Sri Lanka engaged for the preparations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup have also died and many more are facing squalid labour conditions and consular problems, which has been compared as akin to slaves.

With his hand on the Gita and watched by family friend Gursharan Kaur, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife, Chandigarh-born legal luminary Sri Srinivasan made history as he became the first Indian American to be sworn in as a judge of what is often called the second most powerful court in the US.

Srinivasan, 46, was sworn in an overflowing court room by retired Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor, in the presence of legal luminaries, friends and families as his mother Saroja Srinivasan held the Gita, the sacred book of Hinduism, before him.

India-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor has created the world’s first inflatable concert hall which will open on the disaster-hit northeastern coast of Japan.

The unusual ‘ Ark Nova’, a giant purple balloon made of a coated polyester material has been erected at a park in the town of Matsushima of Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Times reports.

The innovation was Kapoor’s joint venture with Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.

The structure reportedly measures about 18 metres high and 35 metres wide, when fully inflated, creating enough room for about 500 people.

An unemployed Indian man allegedly strangled to death a compatriot over an 8,500 dirhams loan and dumped the body in a carton, a media report said today.

According to the prosecution, the 28-year-old accused, identified only by the initials N S, strangled V K with a rope following a heated argument at his residence over repayment of the debt. The accused later paid four men to dispose off the box.

Unidentified gunmen ambushed and killed an Indian man when he was travelling in a car in the Philippines, media reported Wednesday.

Jaswinder Singh, 38, a resident of Batac City in Ilocos Norte province on the Philippines’ Luzon island was killed Tuesday when he was travelling on a national highway to the province of Ilocos Sur, the Philippines Star reported.

He was in a car with his cousin Amarinder Singh when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at him.

Singh was rushed to a hospital in Batac City with multiple bullet wounds on his body while his cousin escaped unhurt.

The U.S. business community is planning to give India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a harsh welcome when he visits the White House on Friday – ‘Stop the protectionism’.

President Barack Obama and Singh are expected to discuss ways to revive the economic relationship between the two countries, which is rife with complex and long-standing problems.

The two leaders lack clear solutions, especially under the stress of the global downturn.

Sikh Columbia professor Dr. Prabhjot Singh, who was brutally beaten up by a Harlem hate mob on Saturday, has said he wants to educate his attackers about the Sikh religion, which is different from Islam.

The 31-year-old physician said the young thugs acted out of ignorance and he would like to invite them to his worship place so that they understand who Sikhs were, and then share it with their friends, the New York Daily News reports.

Supporting India’s concerns on the immigration reform bill, an eminent Indian-American has asked US lawmakers to make the necessary changes in the pending legislation, which if passed, among other things would badly hit the global competitiveness of American companies.

The Oman police has rescued the Indian worker, who was kidnapped two days ago, and arrested three members of the gang. Royal Oman Police (ROP) special team freed Mohammed Haneefa, an expatriate from the south Indian state of Kerala, who was abducted from Sohar by a masked-men gang three days ago, in a raid.

Indian-origin surgeon Dr. Jayant Patel has been pleaded not guilty to a charge of inflicting potentially life-threatening injuries on a patient during surgery.

The former Bundaberg surgeon told the Brisbane District Court he was not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Ian Rodney Vowles in October 2004.

According to the Courier Mail, Judge Terry Martin has already excused four of the initial jury panel after telling them they would be expected to be completely fair and completely unbiased throughout the trial. The trial continues. (ANI)

A British Pakistani city broker has said he was subjected to years of racial abuse from colleagues, who called him a ‘filthy f**king Indian and a curry-muncher’ and made Nazi salutes at work.

Ozman Mirza has sued Tradition Securities and Futures S.A., one of the world’s largest Interdealer Broker, for race discrimination, constructive dismissal, victimisation and breach of contract, Metro reports.

Mirza claimed his boss Lee Davis stole his biggest clients and abused him in 2012, but he feared he would lose his job if he spoke against Davis.

Miss America Nina Davuluri, who was slammed on Twitter by people thinking she was from Middle East, said that she’s grown up with so many stereotypes about her culture that she just knew that it was something that she needed to advocate for.

The 24-year-old, who chose the platform three years ago as a Miss New York contender, said that a lot of the remarks weren’t meant to be malicious, but just due to the fact of ignorance, the Washington Post reported.

A 32-year-old man, working as a casual worker in Oman, abducted allegedly by some Pakistani nationals recently, was rescued by that country’s police today, his relatives here said.

Muhammed Haneefa, who hails from Kannambra here, was abducted on September 18 night from his work place in Sohar city.

Oman Police rescued him in the wee hours today and Haneefa spoke to his relatives over phone after his rescue, his relatives said.

Haneefa’s family had received phone calls on September 19 from Oman demanding ransom for his release.

Two Indian nationals were among 39 people killed in the Kenyan mall carnage Saturday. While one of the victims, 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan, was working with a pharma firm, an eight-year-old boy Paramshu Jain, another victim, was the son of a manager of the local branch of an Indian bank, a spokesperson in the Indian External Affairs Ministry said.

Two Indians were among at least 59 people killed and nearly 200 injured as Somali Islamist militants, holding unspecified number of hostages at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, continued fierce fight with Kenyan soldiers for the second consecutive day today.

Four Indians, including two women and a girl, were injured in the attack.

There were conflicting reports about the number of militants with a minister saying there were 10 to 15 heavily armed men while some of the witnesses said they had seen four men in black, their heads covered in scarves.

The family of Indian victim Sridhar Natarajan has pleaded for privacy, in the wake of his death at an upmarket Nairobi mall in Kenya, that was attacked by terrorists on Saturday.

Natarajan’s wife Manjula is also in critical condition at a Nairobi hosiptal.

Sridhar’s family said that they were in touch with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials in the wake of the horrific incident and pleaded for privacy at this difficult time.

An Indian-origin owner of a convenience store in Britain, who was caught selling alcohol to a child, has been slapped a $560 fine after pleading guilty.

Gurmeet Singh Arora, 29, owner of the Quality Supermarket store in Leicester was caught selling booze to an undercover child volunteer during an operation, reported The Rugby & Lutterworth Observer, a local weekly newspaper.

The operation was carried out by the Trading Standards, the departments of British government which investigates commercial organisations trading outside the law or in unethical ways.

The Indian embassy here will Sep 23 launch a series of events under the theme ‘Weave of Friendship’ to celebrate the centenary year of Indian cinema.

The celebrations will be held Sep 23-27. The five-day gala will have a Ramayana cultural show, fashion show depicting Ikat tradition, film poster exhibition, film seminar, screening of iconic films and a musical performance by famous Bollywood trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

The entry to most of the events is free.

The long-awaited commercial and entertainment complex meant for expatriate workers in Qatar’s capital Doha is set to open in the first week of October.

The complex is built for workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines. The facility would be fully operational by mid-2014, The Peninsula newspaper reported Saturday.

The industrial city called ‘West End Park’ in Doha is being built on an area of 671,000 square metres with sporting, recreational, entertainment and commercial facilities.

It will have parking space for 3,200 vehicles.

Nina Davuluri, who was recently crowned as Miss America, said that she has always considered the holder of the coveted pageant to be like a girl next door.

Davuluri, who is of Indian descent, told CNN that the girl next door is evolving with the ever-evolving diversity of America.

The 24-year-old pageant winner said that the girl is not necessarily the one who she was 10-years ago, or who she is going to be after 10 years.

Davuluri, who received online backlash after winning the pageant, considers the pageant a celebration of diversity through cultural competence.

President Barack Obama has nominated yet another Indian American, Manish S Shah, to the key post of US District Court judge for the Northern District of his home state of Illinois.

Announcing Shah’s nomination along with seven other judiciary posts, Obama said in a White House statement: “These men and women have had distinguished legal careers and I am honoured to ask them to continue their work as judges on the federal bench.”

“They will serve the American people with integrity and an unwavering commitment to justice,” he added.

The academic future of some 1,400 students has been thrown into jeopardy after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities ordered the closure of an Indian School.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has ordered the closure of the Indian Islahi Islamic School in Abu Dhabi, effective April 1, 2014, as part of its clampdown on villa schools or schools run on designated residential plots.

The ADEC started the clampdown for avowed safety reasons in 2008 when there were 72 such schools.

A report by Australia’s media watchdog on the death of India-born nurse Jacintha Saldanha here, following a prank call from two radio jockeys, has found the radio station guilty of acting illegally, a leading British daily reported Thursday.

The findings of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) interim report was revealed to a Sydney court hearing the case, The Telegraph reported.

The report found the radio station, 2Day FM, of acting illegally by recording and broadcasting a conversation without the consent of the hospital where Saldanha worked.