Sarabjit Singh dies in Lahore hospital

Sarabjit Singh, the Indian who was attacked in a prison in Pakistan where he spent 22 years after being convicted of terrorism, died early this morning at a Lahore hospital after a cardiac arrest. The 49-year-old was admitted there on Friday with severe brain injuries after a group of inmates hit him on the head with bricks and pieces of tin. Doctors had warned from the start that his recovery was unlikely; he was comatose and on ventilator support. An autopsy will be conducted today at the Jinnah hospital where he died at 12.45 am. His family has requested that his body be given to them and that he be given "a martyr's funeral". Indian officials are in touch with Pakistan to get Sarabjit's body back to India for last rites. The Indian High Commissioner is expected to meet the Chief Minister of the Punjab Province in Pakistan soon

Tensions Of F-1 Visa Students In USA

There was a time when America was known as the land of dreams and true to its image, many people from all over the world came in with their dreams and most of them have been successful too. Interestingly, the major part of them comprised of us Indians and most importantly, the Telugus who have this big fascination for the dollar land. However, all that seems to be a thing of the past now as reality has struck in and this is called ‘Recession’. With the new government under president Obama coming up with tough stands on non American citizens, it has become a tough land to live in.

Now, reports have been flowing in that the worst hit are the Indian students who are on F-1 visas and are currently struggling to make their living. Apparently, the F-1 students tend to do a lot of part time jobs and research analyst jobs within the campus and earn their money so that the daily expenses can be met. But now, that situation is not happening anymore with no jobs around and now they have to rely on their parents in India for financial support. Also, there are those who go to the US in the garb of student visas with the sole purpose of making money and deferring their semesters but those people have now been struck badly.

It is now being said that they are now looking at motherland for openings and the situation is such that here it is better when compared to the American market, as per the experts. But then there is one drawback, due to the financial slowdown there is a heavy compromise on salaries that is happening and some of them may not really get the start they are looking for after having spent lakhs of rupees on their education. With so much happening, it is not just the H-1 or the long standing employees in the US who are facing the heat, atleast they are able to sustain since they have a bit of savings but the plight of the F-1 students seems to be in a rather bad shape and the American economy is said to be looking at another two years to come back to the regular speed so it could well be that the F-1 craze will come down till such time.


courtesy:www.greatandhra.com/

Paper uncovers massacre of 20,000 Tamils

More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final days of Sri Lanka’s military operation to eliminate the Tamil Tigers, The Times
newspaper reported on Friday.

Sri Lanka’s authorities say their forces stopped using heavy weapons on April 27 in a no-fire zone where an estimated 100,000 Tamil civilians were sheltered and blame civilian casualties on rebels hiding among the civilians, the London-based paper said. Citing confidential UN documents it acquired, the daily said the civilian death toll in the no-fire zone soared from late April, with around 1,000 civilians killed daily until May 19. That was the day after Vellupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was killed.

The final civilian death toll could be more than 20,000, said the paper. That figure is three times the official count. In fact, ‘‘higher’’, a UN source was quoted as saying by the Times. ‘‘Keep going.’’

Aerial photographs, official documents, witness accounts and expert testimony present clear evidence of an atrocity that comes close to matching Srebrenica, Darfur and other massacres of civilians, the daily said. The army, without the scrutiny of the world’s media and aid organizations which were kept away from the war zone, launched a fierce barrage that began at the end of April and lasted about three weeks, the investigative report said.

The figures concur with the estimate made to The Times by Father Amalraj, a Roman Catholic priest who escaped from the no-fire zone on May 16 and is now among the 200,000 other survivors in Manik Farm refugee camp, which is among the largest camp sites hosting internally displaced persons.

Independent defence experts, who analysed dozens of aerial photographs taken by the paper, said that the arrangement of the army and rebel barrage positions and the narrowness of the no-fire zone made it unlikely that LTTE’s mortar fire or artillery caused a significant number of deaths.

‘‘It looks more likely that the firing position has been located by the Sri Lankan Army and it has then been targeted with air-burst and ground-impact mortars,’’ Charles Heyman, editor of the magazine Armed Forces of the UK, was quoted as saying in the report by the British daily.

Sri Lanka has rejected the allegations. ‘‘Civilians have not been killed by government shelling at all. If civilians have been killed, then that is because of the actions of the LTTE rebels who were shooting and killing people when they tried to escape,’’ said a spokesman for the Lankan High Commission.

India may be tired, but still the team to beat

India's Twenty20 team headed off to England on Monday on their mission to recapture the crown they so dramatically won two years ago. With the talent at their disposal, it is no surprise that they are being branded as the team to beat.


But there were smiles on some noticeably tired faces. Under the arc lights is a familiar place for Dhoni and his men: now they head to the home of cricket with the spotlight harsher than ever before.

"Overall, I am quite happy with the kind of side I have got and the kind of potential we have," Dhoni said before India's departure. "Now we just have to play according to our potential. Let's hope for the best."

Shah Rukh Khan not acting in Dhoom 3

The grapevine has been abuzz with news that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will play the villain in Yash Raj Films' (YRF) action-adventure series “Dhoom 3” but a source from the production company has denied any such development.

"This story is completely untrue and baseless. We have no idea where this rubbish originated but like all wildfires has spread rapidly,” Rafiq Gangjee, vice president (marketing and communications) of YRF, told IANS over e-mail from Mumbai.

The rumours that Shah Rukh would soon follow in the footsteps of Hrithik Roshan by playing a villain opposite actor Abhishek Bachchan in the “Dhoom” series began when British news website femalefirst.co.uk first reported it.

According to the article which was published May 26, a source was quoted as saying: "Shah Rukh had been approached by the banner to play the main villain in the most successful franchise of Bollywood - the 'Dhoom' series - and he has immediately given the nod. Last few days there has been a lot of buzz that Saif Ali Khan has signed the dotted line for the same role but it seems they were just plain rumours.”

However, as per Gangjee, there is no truth in any part of the report.

India asks Australia to ensure security of its nationals

In the wake of attacks on its students, a concerned India today asked Australia to ensure safety of its nationals there and got an assurance that such incidents will not be allowed to recur.
The Ministry of External Affairs also summoned Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy to register its concern over a series of attacks on Indian students in that country.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna conveyed India's concerns to Australia when he received a phone call from his counterpart Stephen Smith who assured him that his government is taking steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

During the 10-minute conversation, Krishna asked Smith to see that security of Indian nationals in that country is ensured. He also pressed for strong action against those involved in the attacks on Indian students over the last few days.

Later, Krishna said he had told Smith to ensure that "the security of Indian students is adequately taken care of".

Smith "assured that no such incident will take place", the External Affairs Minister said.

"We are worried about the safety of Indian citizens, particularly the students," Krishna told reporters.

He said the Indian government is in constant touch with Australian authorities "with a view to addressing issues concerning the well-being and physical safety of our students." PTI