http://www.gg2.net News | USA News | GG2.Net 2013-05-20 http://www.gg2.net en http://www.gg2.net/images/logo.png http://www.gg2.net
  US OFFICIALS opened an investigation on Saturday (May 18) into a rush-hour collision between two commuter trains that injured more than 70 passengers and severed a key rail link. Train service in the busy Northeast corridor from New York City to New Haven, Connecticut used by tens of thousands of commuters was suspended indefinitely and will likely be snarled for days as officials seek to determine the causes of the crash. Investigators from the National Transportation and ]]>
  TWO INDIAN teenagers have been conferred with the prestigious ‘20 Under 20’ Thiel Fellowship  2013, worth $100,000 (£65,591) each, which allows youngsters to pursue their own business idea. Indian resident Ritesh Agarwal and Pao-Alto based Diwank Singh Tomer will now be mentored by the likes of PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk as well as Facebook co-founder Sean Parker as they work on technical projects and l]]>
FOUR Indian Americans, including a physician and three co-owners of a health clinic from Chicago, have been charged with healthcare fraud estimated to be running into millions of dollars.   Federal law enforcement officials said three Indian Americans - Ankur Roy, Akash Patel and Dipen Desai - owned and operated Selectcare Health Inc that provided outpatient physical and respiratory therapy in Park Ridge and Skokie.   They have been cha]]>
  THE NEW York Times bureau chief in Pakistan was expelled from the country early on Sunday (May 12) after being ordered to leave for unspecified “undesirable activities”. Declan Walsh, who was hired by the newspaper last year after covering Pakistan for British newspaper The Guardian since 2004, was handed an expulsion order at his home at 12:30 am, according to the Times. “Here I go. Hard to believe this is happening,” the 39-year-old tweeted early o]]>
    INDIAN-AMERICAN Congressman Ami Bera has joined the recently formed American Sikh Congressional Caucus. Bera said he decided to join the Sikh Congressional Caucus to work on “civil rights” issues, ignoring the concerns  of several Indian-American groups and also that of the Indian embassy on the pro-Khalistan links of individuals supporting the Caucus.    “The memory of the tragedy at Oak Creek is still fresh]]>
  IN A SUSPECTED hate crime, an elderly Sikh man has been brutally assaulted with an iron rod  outside a Gurdwara in the US and was in a serious condition. Police have arrested a man in connection with the incident.   The incident happened outside a Gurdwara in Fresno, California, where the victim Piara Singh, 82, worked as a volunteer.   The individual arrested for the suspected hate crime has been identified as Gilbert Garcia, Fresno Polic]]>
  A NEW study by an eminent US think-tank has said that Indian techies create jobs in the country, challenging the assertion of several American lawmakers that H-1B visas grabbed by Indian IT professionals eat into their employment market.   The report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said contrary to the popular perception, India-based companies do not use up most of the yearly H-1B allotment.   Between fiscal 2006 ]]>
ANIMAL rights activists protested outside the Indian embassy in Washington on Thursday (May 2), accusing Air India of transporting live animals for use in scientific experiments.   People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says it was told in writing by the government-owned flag carrier in May 2012 that it did not, and would not, accept lab animals as cargo.   “Several months later, we got word that they were,” PETA’s director of lab invest]]>
EXPRESSING concern over the continuing buildup of nuclear weapons in South Asia, the US has asked India and Pakistan to restrain their atomic and missile programmes and play a positive role in the global non-proliferation community.   “The United States remains deeply concerned by the dangers posed by the continuing buildup of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in South Asia,” Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas ]]>
A PANEL on Tuesday (April 30) urged the US to maintain a ban on a visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi over anti-Muslim riots, even though he is a favorite to run for prime minister.   In a wide-ranging annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said that the Chief Minister should be “inadmissible to the United States” due to “severe violations of religious freedom.”   “There is significant evidence linki]]>
  RUSSIAN authorities secretly wire-tapped the mother of the Boston bombing suspects and recorded her discussing jihad in vague terms during a 2011 telephone conversation, CNN reported on Saturday (April 27). The Russians only turned over the information to their US counterparts in recent days, according to the report. A US official with knowledge of the investigation who confirmed the intercept to the US television network declined to confirm who was on the other line. A]]>
    THE BODY of a man found in a Rhode Island river may be an Indian student mistakenly identified as one of the Boston bombers, authorities said. Brown University student Sunil ­Tripathi, 22, has been missing since March. Members of the university rowing team found the body on Tuesday evening (April 23) and notified the authorities. The rowing team coach saw the body floating in the water behind the Wyndham Garden Providence Hotel around 6 pm, Providen]]>
  THE FAMILY of Sunil Tripathi, the Indian-American student whose body was recovered from the  Providence river, has said that the 22-year-old had shown signs of depression prior to his disappearance.   “He never was clinically diagnosed, but his close family and friends definitely knew that he was having some problems with his mood, and it kind of bound us together,” Sunil’s brother Ravi told CNN.   Tripathi was]]>
    MARATHON bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained in serious condition in a Boston hospital on Sunday (April 21) unable to answer questions on the devastating attack, officials said. Investigators released stunning images of Tsarnaev’s final moments of freedom, slumbering wounded in a boat in a suburban backyard. They are also stepping up inquiries into a trip to Muslim regions of Russia taken by his accomplice brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The ]]>
THE death of a Chinese student in the Boston bombings presents a potential image nightmare for US higher education, determined to counter perceptions that the United States is unsafe.   A Chinese woman studying for a master’s degree in statistics at Boston University was identified among the three dead in Monday (April 15)’s attack on the city’s famed marathon, which also wounded some 180 people.   Violence is hardly unique to the US and few expect ]]>
INDIAN-AMERICAN Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal will head a Republican fundraiser next month in New Hampshire, a move that has set the political circles abuzz about his possible 2016 White House bid.     Jindal, 41, will raise money for the campaign arm of the state Senate Republicans at an event in Manchester with ticket prices running from $100 to $5,000 (£65 to £3283).       “The state Senate Republicans are the backsto]]>
INDIAN hotelier and playboy Vikram Chatwal was arrested at a Florida airport this week after trying to board a flight with heroine, cocaine and other drugs, local media reported.   Chatwal, who owns Dream Hotels in South Beach Miami and New York, was stopped at the Fort Lauderdale Airport on Tuesday (April 2) after Transportation Security Administration agents found what turned out to be prescription pills rolling around loose in a carry-on bag.   A search turned up ]]>
MANHATTAN US Attorney Preet Bharara has proven adept with the media, landing on the cover of Time magazine and being named the latest “Sheriff of Wall Street’ by the financial press.   The chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York was back in the limelight on Tuesday (April 2), announcing charges against state Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, and five other politicians in a plot to buy his way onto the New York City mayoral ballot as a Republica]]>
      THE FESTIVAL of Holi is gaining popularity in the US, with a large number of people including non-Indians celebrating the festival of colours.   While most of the Holi celebrations have been planned for the coming weekend, the ones held this past weekend have attracted hundreds of people.   US lawmakers too are now greeting Indian-Americans on the occasion that has gained quite a following among youth]]>
US REPUBLICANS released a scathing report on Monday (March 18) on their disappointment in November’s presidential vote, urging their party to broaden its appeal to minority voters before the next election.   “Unless changes are made, it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future,” the 98-page document concluded, seeking to guide the party’s latest bout of soul-searching.   The report,]]>
THE Indian gang-rape victim whose brutal death shocked the nation and the world was among nine women honored by the US on Friday (March 8) for their courage.   The young student, who has become known simply as “Nirbhaya” or “fearless,” was awarded the US International Women of Courage award posthumously after she died of massive internal injuries following the rape and attack on a Delhi bus.   “Her bravery inspired millions of men and wo]]>
US FIRST lady Michelle Obama and secretary of state John Kerry will honour Nirbhaya (name given to victim by Indian media) with a posthumous “woman of courage” award on March 8 for her bravery in the face of a brutal sexual assault that awakened India to its appalling treatment of women.   “For millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family’s continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability]]>
INDIA’S biggest software outsourcer TCS has agreed to pay $30m (£19.85m) to settle a lawsuit filed by two former employees in the US relating to unpaid wages, media reports said on Wednesday (February 27).   The suit, filed in 2006 by former TCS staffers Gopi Vedachalam and Kangana Beri, alleged that the company did not pay them the salaries they were promised before arriving in the US, the Economic Times reported.   The workers also claimed TCS violated ]]>
    AN INDIAN-ORIGIN woman accused of lying extensively about her age and educational qualifications to get employment as a lawyerin New York and England was convicted of forgery and conspiracy in New York.  London resident Soma Sengupta, 52, faces up to seven years in prison.   Sengupta was found guilty following a six-week bench trial in New York State Supreme Court of all charges in the indictment including criminal possession ]]>
  INDIAN-AMERICAN celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has pleaded guilty in New York City to molesting a woman he baited with the promise of modelling work. Jon admitted to one count of criminal sexual act on Thursday (February 14). He was sentenced to five years in prison under a plea deal reached with federal prosecutors. He already was convicted in California of similar charges and was sentenced to 59 years to life. The Kerala-born designer was ]]>
  THE TOP 10 companies benefitting from H-1B visas are offshore outsourcers, a US publication reported on Tuesday (February 19), prompting an eminent American engineering organisation to seek a review of the ongoing immigration reform. An analysis of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data shows that the top H-1B users are offshore outsourcers and the major beneficiaries of the proposed increase in the cap would be pure offshore outsourcing firms, a report in IT maga]]>
      SILICON Valley’s long crusade to break open doors to America for foreigners with key technology skills hinges on a political battle in Washington over broader immigration reform. For more than a decade, the tech sector has been struggling to get more visas and green cards for immigrants with engineering, math or science skills. While Silicon Valley has been largely backing reform-minded Democratic candidates including President Barack Obama, Repu]]>
INDIAN-AMERICAN celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon, already serving a 59 years sentence in the US for sexually abusing aspiring models, was jailed for five years after pleading guilty on a similar charge in a court.   Jon admitted to one count of criminal sexual act in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday (February 14) and was sentenced to five years under a plea deal reached with federal prosecutors.   In turn, Manhattan prosecutors dropped almost their entire case]]>
SECOND-GENERATION immigrants in the US are far better off than their parents and almost as well-placed as the offspring of native-born Americans, a study found on Thursday (February 7).   The average annual household income for US-born children of immigrants stands at $58,100 (£37,077.54), significantly better than the $45,800 (£29,227.93) of adult immigrants not born in the US, and close to the $58,200 (£37,142.46) average for all US adults.   Acco]]>
  THE US northeast slowly dug out early on Sunday (February 10) from a mammoth blizzard that choked air, road and rail travel, left some 650,000 homes and businesses without power and caused at least seven deaths. The storm, which hit New York and other areas still scarred by Superstorm Sandy back in October, dumped as much as three feet of snow across New England, with hurricane-strength gusts helping to create massive drifts. By late Saturday (February 9), the system had mo]]>
  AN INDIAN-ORIGIN man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud. Baljit Singh, 47, of California used a call centre in India to defraud hundreds of individuals across the US. He will be sentenced on April 8 and faces 20 years in prison. Singh could also be slapped with a $500,000 (£318,046) fine, US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said.   According to Singh’s plea agreement, between 2010 and 2011, Singh and co-defen]]>
  FOUR members of a Sikh family, including two minor children, died in Atlanta in the US state of Georgia under mysterious circumstances with the police terming it as a ‘murder-suicide’. "While Sartaj (12) and Gurtej (5) died from homicide by sharp force injuries to the neck, their mother Damanjit Kaur Grover (47) died from homicide by blunt force trauma to the head. "The police also recovered the family head Shivinder Singh Grover’s (52) body, whi]]>
    AN INDIAN-AMERICAN pharmacist has been sentenced to 17 years in prison by a US court for a healthcare fraud worth millions.   ]]>
  US PRESIDENT Barack Obama presented the prestigious National Medal of Technology and  Innovation award to eminent Indian American Rangaswamy Srinivasan at a function held at the White House on Friday (February 2). Srinivasan received the award along with Samuel Blum and James Wynne, for the pioneering discovery of excimer laser ablative photodecomposition of human and animal tissue, laying the foundation for PRK and LASIK laser refractive surgi]]>
AN INDIA-BORN woman, a former Intel executive and a key government informant in hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and former Goldman director Rajat Gupta cases, has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined $1.5m (£9,48,086) on insider trading charges.   Roomy Khan, 54, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Thursday (January 31) by US District Judge Jed Rakoff to 12 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.   She was a]]>
BILLIONAIRE philanthropist Bill Gates on Wednesday (January 30) said India is becoming less dependent on aid and eventually would not need it.    “The good news on resources is that many developing countries have growing economies that allow them to devote more resources to helping their poorest people. India, for example, is less dependent on aid and will eventually not need it,” Gates said in his annual letter.   Gates, Co-Chair of Bill & Melin]]>
INDIA on Thursday (January 31) said it will  seek access to Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted  terrorist David Headley from the US and maintained that its demand for their extradition “continues to stand” to take  forward its legal processes in Mumbai terror strike cases.   Asserting that bringing to justice the perpetrators of 26/11 was work in progress which India intends to take to its logical conclusion, official spokesperson in the Ministry]]>
THOUGH Indian-Americans have the distinction of being the highest-per capita income group among ethnic communities, they lag far behind their European counterparts when it comes to owning a house in the US.   According to the ‘Homeownership Among the Foreign-Born Population: 2011’, released by the Census Bureau, 55 per cent of the Indian-Americans own a house of their own while 45 live in rented accommodation.   Foreign-born owned households with a househ]]>
FEW people can boast such impeccable credentials to represent America as its top diplomat as John Kerry.   He has met most of the world’s top movers and shakers, from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to Afghanistan’s leader Hamid Karzai, to the politicians steering Europe through the euro-zone crisis.   Now the veteran senator, 69, has landed his dream job after his confirmation as the next secretary of state by his Senate colleagues on Tuesday (January ]]>
LOUISIANA governor Bobby Jindal sharply criticised his own party on Thursday (January 24) for its narrow focus on Washington-based budget battles and said Republicans need to revamp their message if they hope to recover from November’s painful election losses.       In a blunt speech certain to bolster speculation about his 2016 presidential ambitions, Jindal told Republican leaders they must “stop being the stupid party” and broaden their effo]]>
AN AMERICAN man who admitted to scouting targets ahead of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and then cooperated with US authorities to avoid execution was sentenced on Thursday (January 24) to 35 years in prison.   David Coleman Headley, 52, pleaded guilty in 2010 to 12 charges related to the carnage in Mumbai and a second plot to attack a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage over its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.   He convinced US federal prosecutor]]>
NEXT time you receive a post parcel from the US, don’t be surprised to see a colourful display of Diwali on it as some American lawmakers have introduced a resolution seeking issuance of a postage stamp on the popular Indian festival.   Congresswomen Carolyn B Maloney and Grace Meng, besides Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera, have introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives, urging the United States Postal Service (USPS) to create a stamp as per the Diwali ]]>
AN INDIAN-ORIGIN investment adviser from California has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of more than $2.3m (£1.46m), and now faces the prospect of 20 years in jail along with a hefty fine.   Janamjot Singh Sodhi, 35 pleaded guilty to four counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 29, when he faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 (£159,154.97) fine, US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said.   Acco]]>
US PROSECUTORS on Tuesday (January 22) urged a judge to be lenient this week when he sentences an American who admitted to scouting out Mumbai ahead of the deadly 2008 siege because of his “significant” cooperation.   David Coleman Headley, 52, pleaded guilty in 2010 to 12 charges related to the carnage in Mumbai and a second plot to attack a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage over its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.   He faces up to l]]>
AROUND half of Asian Americans relied on ethnic media for news during the last election in which the growing community voted overwhelmingly for President Barack Obama, a study said on Thursday (January 17).   Massive support by minorities played a vital role in Obama’s re-election on November 6. Asian Americans made up 3.4 per cent of the electorate and could play a greater future role as they form the fastest expanding racial group.   The Asian American Legal ]]>
  FOR MORE than 300 years, Yale University has prided itself on training top students to question and analyze, to challenge and critique. Now, Yale is seeking to export those values by establishing the first foreign campus to bear its name, a liberal arts college in Singapore that is set to open this summer. The ambitious, multimillion-dollar project thrills many in the Yale community who say it will help the university maintain its prestige and build global influence. But it]]>
  EMPLOYERS in California and Illinois will be prohibited from demanding access to workers’ password-protected social networking accounts and teachers in Oregon will be required to report suspected student bullies thanks to new laws taking effect in 2013. In all, more than 400 measures were enacted at the state level during 2012 and will become law in the new year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Some of the statutes, which deal with e]]>
  AFTER BITTER New Year brinksmanship, the US Congress finally backed a deal to avert a ‘fiscal cliff’ of tax hikes and massive spending cuts that had threatened to unleash economic calamity. The House of Representatives late on Tuesday (January 1) passed a deal between the White House and Republicans to raise taxes on the rich and put off automatic $109bn (£67bn) budget cuts for two months, lifting the clouds of immediate crisis. The deal’s fate had h]]>
  PRESIDENT Barack Obama has signed into law a $633bn (£389bn) US defense spending bill that funds the war in Afghanistan and boosts security at US missions worldwide. "I have approved this annual defense authorization legislation, as I have in previous years, because it authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the]]>
  DAYS AFTER its inauguration, one of the biggest Hindu temples in the US built at a colossal cost of $100m (£61m) has become a major draw for its grandeur and architecture. The 68th Swaminarayan temple built near the Hollywood city in Los Angeles has been carved out of traditional stone and marble and cutting edge technology to protect it from earthquakes. It has been designed to last a 1,000 years. "The temple is a beautiful testament to the hard work of your con]]>