United States

SOME 40,000 residents of Las Vegas have been told they may have risked their lives after visiting a facility co-owned by NRI physician Dr Dipak Desai, whose Endoscopy Centre of Southern Nevada was closed by health authorities for risk of exposure to possible hepatitis, B and C and HIV. At least six people have already been diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Health officials believe the virus was spread when clinic staff reused syringes and vials of anesthesia on more than one patient. Clinic staff told authorities that the practice was ordered by management. Five nurses from the clinic have surrendered their licenses for authorities to investigate. The FBI and the IRS have joined the investigation.

EMINENT PHILANTHROPIST and physician Dr Pallavi Patel has been inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame for advancing the role of women in the US and other parts of the world.
Based in Tampa, Florida, Dr Patel is the first Indian-American to be included in this prestigious hall of fame.
Patel and her husband have donated $5 million to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in 2004 to establish the Dr Pallavi Patel Performing Arts Conservatory, which enables thousands of young people in the State to pursue their dreams in music and the performing arts.


United Kingdom

THE SRI Swaminarayan temple in London has been named the top landmark for which residents are most proud in Britain. In a nation-wide poll, more than 2,300 residents voted for the Hindu temple in Neasden, north London, to win the inaugural Pride of Place award. 
It is one of the biggest traditional Hindu temples to be built in Europe. More than 1,500 craftsmen in India carved the 2,820 tonnes of Bulgarian limestone and 2,000 tonnes of Italian Carrara marble were used in its construction.

UAE

INDIAN AMERICAN Bala Rajasekharuni's unique movie for the blind, titled "Blind Ambition", received accolades at the 10th International Film Festival, held in Mumbai. 
Endorsed by the National Federation of the Blind, California, it’s Rajasekharuni's second movie after "Green Card Fever". It has won the Independent Spirit Award at the held International Family Film Festival, Hollywood. The film is about a young blind girl, Sapna, who aspires to run in a marathon as a tribute to the memory of her lost mother. Encouraged by her brother Surya and his friend Wild Bill, she finally takes part in a marathon, having been coached by a professional.

kANNADIGA DIASPORA

United States

PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh has sanctioned Rs 200,000 for the treatment of Manjunath Kalmani, a software engineer who was paralysed in an accident in the US six years ago and sent back to India last week.
Manjunath, 32, a software engineer working in an American company, met with an accident on May 1, 2002, when his car swung out of control and hit a tree. He was paralysed neck down and was undergoing treatment in Northside Hospital, Atlanta. He was sent back to India in March 2007 after his six-year visa expired. His family is based in Kopal, Karnataka.

United Kingdom

ENGLISH WILL fragment into "global dialects", forcing speakers routinely to learn two varieties of the language — one spoken in their home country and a new kind of Standard English with pronounced Indian characteristics, a leading expert on English has said. 
The new Standard English, which will be understood globally, would be necessary if the growing ranks of English-speakers around the world are to understand each other, said Professor David Crystal,one of the world's foremost experts and author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
"In language, numbers count. There are more people speaking English in India than in the rest of the native English-speaking world. Even now, if you ring a call centre, often it's an Indian voice you hear at the end of the phone. As the Indian economy grows, so might the influence of Indian English," he explained. 
Because Indians tend to "use the present continuous where we would use the present simple (with an Indian saying) 'I am thinking, I am feeling,I am seeing'rather than 'I think, I feel, I see'… this way of speaking could easily become sexy and part of global Standard English," said the professor, who has written over 100 books.

United States

A RECENT survey conducted by ‘The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’ indicate that Hindus in the US are the richest ethnic group in the country, besides being the most educated. 
The survey is based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans aged 18 and older. The ‘US Religious Landscape Survey’ says nearly half of the Hindus have obtained post graduated education. While 43 per cent of them earn more than $100,000 annually, 22% earn between $75,000 and $99,999. Only 9% earn less than $30,000.
Around 29 per cent live in the Northeast, 13 per cent in the Midwest and 32 per cent in the South and 26 per cent live in the West.

India

THE MINISTRY of Overseas Indian Affairs has introduced the Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, offering undergraduate courses in engineering, architecture, technology, humanities and liberal arts, commerce, husbandry, sciences, law etc.
It is open to applicants in the age group 17-21 as of October 2008, whose family income does not exceed an amount equivalent to $1,500 a month and is open to PIOs and NRIs from 40 countries.
Of the 100 scholarships on offer, half will be reserved for PIOs, but will be given to NRIs if the slots are unfilled.

United States

A TEAM of scientists led by Indian American Suresh Subramani says it has cracked a vital biological puzzle that may hold the key to everything from ageing to cancer.
The puzzle has to do with authphagy, or "self-eating" - the process by which nucleated (eukaryotic) cells keep themselves healthy. All eukaryotic cells dispose of bacteria, viruses, damaged organelles and other non-essential components through this self-eating process. 
Subramani, of the University of California, said the "key player" in this process is a protein known as Atg30, which controls the degradation of cells.
Findings of the study, published in the latest issue of the journal Developmental Cell, is important because it allows scientists to control some aspects of cellular autophagy.
This, in turn, could help illuminate its role in ageing, immunity, neuro-degeneration and even cancer.
Autophagy was first described about 40 years ago, but has only recently become a topic of interest in cell biology because it helps maintain the balance among synthesis, degradation and recycling. 
"For the first time, we can use a protein to control the (self-eating) process," Subramani said. "It's an important step in understanding the workings of cells."

THE INDIAN owner of an international electronics company has pleaded guilty to exporting sensitive technology to Indian companies part of India’s space programme and production of missiles and fighter jets.
Parthasarathy Sudarsan, 47, CEO of Cirrus Electronics, a resident of South Carolina, supplied microprocessors and other electronic components to agencies, including the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Bharat Dynamics, which is involved in development and production of ballistic missiles. He faces six years in jail and $250,000 in fines.

Malaysia

SAMY VELLU, Malaysia's long-serving Tamil Minister, was handed down a shock defeat in snap polls. Malaysian Indian Congress leader and the only Indian in the Badawi Cabinet, Samy Vellu, had a shocking defeat losing his parliamentary seat in Perak state after winning it for eight terms.
Ethnic Indians are represented by the Malaysian Indian Congress. The party headed by Vellu has faced the ire of Indians who accuse it of not doing enough for the community. Indians comprise 7.8 per cent of the population of 27 million people and are largely Hindus from Tamil Nadu.

C. SIVASANKARAN'S WinWinD Oy, the Finland-based wind turbine maker, has charted out a major expansion plan that envisages making Chennai its main hub and increase manufacturing capacity by over 20 times its current capability.
WinwinD has an installed manufacturing capacity to make 140 MW. WinwinD's Chennai capacity is slated to expand in a phased manner. Eventually the target is to ramp up capacity to 2,500 MW within five years, Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, said group CFO of Sterling Group. The land for the manufacturing site has been identified near Chennai, he said. 
Of late, the serial entrepreneur has betted aggressively on renewable energy and has been aggressively investing in ethanol and bio-diesel plants in the US. 
Siva, who’s Malaysian-born, has gradually upped his stake to 90 per cent in the Finnish company. 
Vaidyanathan said the plant will begin operations by December this year. The company may later set up 3 MW turbines in India.