NRIs Corner

A leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is in critical condition after being shot at by an unknown gunman outside his home in the town of Yong Peng in the Malaysian state of Johor.

B. Manikam, who is in his 50s, was chatting with a friend when an unknown gunman fired at him several times around 10 p.m. Thursday, the Malaysian Star reported Saturday.

His friend also sustained bullet injuries in his leg.

Both men were rushed to the Batu Pahat Hospital where Manikam is reported to be fighting for his life.

A 17-year-old Indian girl, on holiday here with her family, has gone missing and police have appealed for information about the teenager.

Emaan Shah was due to leave the country on the evening of June 10 at the end of the holiday with her family.

But in the afternoon she became separated from her mother whilst they were shopping on Oxford Street, one of the city’s busiest shopping districts, and has not been seen since.

“The disappearance is out of character and officers are keen to trace her as soon as possible,” the Metropolitan police said in its appeal.

Staff at an Irish hospital failed to adequately assess and monitor Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after suffering a miscarriage, a key report on her death said on Thursday and warned that such incidents could happen again in the absence of clarity on abortion law. A clinical inquiry into the death of Savita, which was published on Thursday, found that the most likely cause of her death was infection – with the risk of infection and sepsis increasing after her waters broke.

Staff at an Irish hospital failed to adequately assess and monitor Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after suffering a miscarriage, a key report on her death said on Thursday and warned that such incidents could happen again in the absence of clarity on abortion law.

A clinical inquiry into the death of Savita, which was published today, found that the most likely cause of her death was infection- with the risk of infection and sepsis increasing after her waters broke.

The family of an Indian man, who died mysteriously during the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain two years ago, has received 60,000 Bahraini dinars (about $159,000) as compensation.

Stephen Abraham, working as a security officer in the Almoayyed Group, was sitting in the canteen of Awal Dairy on Budaiya highway in the Gulf nation in March 2011 when he was shot in the chest. He was 40.

The Newspapers gave headlines that “after July 3 Nitaqat hit will have no place to hide” – One does not need to hide – for Indians in particular the time is still ripe to return to their homeland and live a life of dignity and comfort. This was the message given to a section of Indians gathered at a function organized by the Socio Reforms Society, Jeddah on Sunday 9th June addressed by Mr. Sajid Beig, Dr. Md. Haseebullah and Aleem Khan Falaki.

Reports that India is the fifth most tracked nation by the US intelligence system has invited strong reactions from youth, who consider it an intrusion into their privacy.

A recent revelation by the UK-based Guardian newspaper about the extensive spying operations of the United States National Security Agency has exposed the regular interception and monitoring of electronic communications between ordinary people across several countries, including India.

Saudi Arabia will resume the hiring of Indian female domestic workers but on less salaries than before, Xinhua reported Wednesday citing the Al Hayat newspaper.

This is part of an agreement recently signed by the two countries’ labour ministries, according to Ahmed Al Faheed, under secretary (International Affairs) at the Saudi labour ministry.

He said that the hiring of Indian maids will be resumed soon after it was halted due to conditions imposed by the Indian government.

Three Indian men in the UAE have been accused of raiding a house posing as police officers and then kidnapping two persons for a ransom.

A Dubai court has heard that three Indian men, identified only by their initials FK, 23, IB, 29, and WB, 29, raided a house in Hor Al Anz on December 11 last year, claiming they were looking for a man who had swindled them in a car sale.

Prosecutors said the men presented the house’s inhabitants cards identifying them as CID officers, The National reported.

Sydney,: A young Indian man was bashed and verbally abused by a group of thugs outside his Bridge Mall shop in Australian town of Ballarat in recent racist attack.

Mayor John Burt, speaking from the victim”s bedside at Ballarat Base Hospital, said he was disgusted by the act, which left 22-year-old Himanshu Goyal with multiple fractures to his jaw.

Burt also vowed to hunt down the heartless thugs who bashed the local Indian restaurant owner in the racist attack.

An Indian-origin artist in New Zealand has won the top award presented by a leading art gallery.

Prakash Patel of Wanganui in New Zealand’s North Island won the Sarjeant Gallery Open Award for his work, titled ‘Astronaut’

It is considered the top award in a series of Sarjeant Gallery Arts Review awards presented by the gallery in Wanganui.

The awards are open to any artist in the Wanganui district in the North Island of this south Pacific island nation and were presented June 7, the Wanganui Chronicle reported Tuesday.

A 25-year-old Indian-origin student has went missing in a national park in Australia nearly a month ago, prompting his family to announce a reward money to AusD 100,000 for any tip-off.

Prabhdeep Srawn, a Canadian-Indian, went missing on May 13 in the Kosciuszko National Park in the Australian state of New South Wales.

A popular New York restaurant has unveiled in its menu a new dish Arvind mini knaidel, named after the 2013 National Spelling Bee winner Arvind Mahankali. Indian-American student Arvind won first place in Scripps National Spelling Bee competition by correctly spelling the word knaidel, the German derived Yiddish word for matzo ball, a small mass of leavened dough that’s a kosher delicacy.

INSAF organization appealed to people to participate in the dharna programme to be organized at Indira Park today to invite the attention of the Govt. of India for resolving the issues of NRI’s. Mr. Mir Ahmed Ali President of INSAF organization and others appealed to the Govt. of India to represent the cases of NRI’s with the Govt. of Middle East for resolving their problems. Mr. Syed Aziz Pasha former MP of CPI will address the gathering.

——Siasat News

A 33-year-old Indian worker in Saudi Arabia was arrested for allegedly attempting to cast a ‘magic spell’ on his employer.

The man has admitted to committing the crime and said he wanted to cast a magic spell on his employer in order to get rich quickly, police said.

The man, who was not identified, received an envelope from India containing “suspicious material” with which he allegedly wanted to cast a magic spell on his employer, but the envelope was seized before he could collect it, they said.

With an eye on India’s vast market, a leading US trade group has engaged two powerful firms to lobby for changes in the proposed comprehensive immigration reform bill to attract skilled technical professionals from India.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has retained top lobby firm Patton Boggs for lobbying at the scale of the US-India civil nuclear advocacy effort, augmented by a public relations campaign to be spearheaded by APCO Worldwide.

Two former US ambassadors to India, Frank Wisner and Tim Roemer, will lead the effort at Patton Boggs and APCO respectively.

A court in Bahrain has sentenced three Bahraini nationals to two years in jail for assaulting two Indian tailors in that country in a case dating back to 2011.

A lower criminal court Wednesday convicted the trio for attacking the Indians in August 2011 after anti-government riots had broken out Feb 14 the same year in that Gulf nation, the Gulf Daily News reported Thursday.

According to the victims, the five Bahrainis had entered their shop at Daih in north Bahrain and started attacking them.

An Indian-origin engineer has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly stealing trade secrets from his former employer. Ketankumar Maniar (36), a resident of Mahwah township in New Jersey allegedly stole trade secrets of products being developed by a global medical technology company named Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD).

In another incident of a racist bus rant, a young school-going boy of Asian descent was targeted by a reportedly drunk 50-year-old woman on a Sydney bus.

The woman hurled verbal abuse at the young male, who along with his friend, stood in the aisle of the bus for protecting ‘fragile equipment’ on the bus seats, when the agitated woman started claiming that the pair are blocking her view, News.com.au reports.

A 13-year-old Indian girl living in UK has scored a mindboggling 162 on a Mensa IQ test, which is the highest score possible for someone who is under 18 years of age.

According to British Mensa, the incredible score has put Neha Ramu in the top 1 per cent of brightest people in the country, the Gulf News reported.

Experts believe that the achievement means that Neha has intelligence higher than scientist Albert Einstein and physicist Stephen Hawking.

The high score has also made her a part of the Mensa society – an elite club for people having high IQs.

Wipro Ltd today announced it has been selected as a strategic IT partner by Majid Al Futtaim Ventures LLC, Dubai, one of the subsidiaries of the Majid Al Futtaim group of companies.

As a part of the five year engagement, Wipro will support the implementation of an ERP solution as well as provide
managed services, including infrastructure platforms and applications support for Majid Al Futtaim Ventures LLC, a
leading developer of some of the region’s most iconic leisure concepts and experiences, the company said in a statement.

Divorce among ethnic Indians in Malaysia is rapidly rising and if the trend continues, it is feared the community could be plagued with social problems.

The number of divorces within the minority Indian community has risen to about 5,000 a year currently.

Currently 5,000 divorce cases were being reported annually in the community compared to just 200 till a few years ago, S V Lingam, head of a Tamil social group said.

Sydney, India is the biggest single source of permanent migrants to Australia overtaking China. The number of permanent migrants from India was 29,018 in 2011/2012, up by 12.7 percent on the previous year. According to the Herald Sun, China was number two as visa places fell from 29,546 to 25,509 last year.

Kuala Lumpur, The number of divorce cases among Indians in Malaysia has risen to about 5,000 a year. Tamil Bell Club Malaysia national president S.V. Lingam said that if the trend continued, the community would be plagued with social problems.

The legendary dabbawalas (lunch-box carriers) in Mumbai, known for their management skills, will feature in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) conference to be held in Dubai on June 4 and 5.

Arvind Talekar, spokesperson of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Trust (NMTBST) said that he would represent the 5,000 dabbawalas in the metro at the two-day ‘Third GCC Government Organisations Third and Fourth Line Leaders’ Development Conference’.