Voice of asia june 28 2013

VOICE OF ASIA 1

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VOICE OF ASIA Commemorating 25 years of dedicated service to the community

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

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Vol. 26 No. 26 Friday, June 28, 2013 Published Weekly from Houston 713-774-5140 24 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: voiceasia@aol.com

CSI Vacation Bible School concludes

Visa, OCI, PIO and Renunciation Certificate support services are outsourced to BLS International from 1st July 2013 A press release from the Embassy of India in the USA stated that it has awarded new contract to BLS International Services Limited for providing Visa/OCI/PIO/Renunciation of Indian Citizenship Certificate application support services, to be operational from 1st July 2013. The current service provider, Travisa Outsourcing, will be closing its services on 28th June 2013 at all Embassy and Consulate locations. Applications in person will be accepted by Travisa Outsourcing only upto 27th June 2013. Only Emergency Visas will be entertained by Travisa Outsourcing on 28th June 2013.

All applications sent through mail will be accepted by Travisa Outsourcing upto 21 June 2013. Applicants, who propose to send their applications by mail thereafter, may send them so as to reach offices of the BLS International Services Limited at jurisdictional locations on 1st July 2013 or thereafter. It may also be noted that Banker’s checks accompanying these applications are drawn in favor of BLS International Services Limited.

Applicants, who already submitted their applications to Travisa, may check status of their applications from Travisa till June 28. Pending cases, thereafter, will be transferred to the BLS and can be tracked from their website for status and delivery.

Central Call Center details of the BLS International Services Limited are as follows:

Picture shows the students, volunteers and teachers at the event.

H

OUSTON - The St. Thomas C.S.I Church of Greater Houston conducted its Vacation Bible School from June 21 to June 23, 2013. Over 40 children enthusiastically attended

the classes. On Sunday, June 23, the school held a celebration upon its conclusion with various performances which the children had learned during the two day classes.

Fellowship hall was specially

decorated for the final event. Children and parents and volunteers expressed great joy in the participation of the program and enjoyed the celebration event at its conclusion.

PM opens India’s biggest rail tunnel in Kashmir visit

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ANIHA - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday opened the country’s longest railway tunnel during a rare visit to troubled Indian Kashmir, which has been marred by one of the deadliest militant attacks on soldiers in years.

“This morning Pakistani troops fired

8886837830

BLS - Washington/ New York/ Atlanta

8886837831

BLS - Chicago/Houston

8886837832

BLS - San Francisco

Website of BLS International Services Limited is http://www.visa.blsindia-usa.com. It will be operational on 25th June 2013.

Addresses of the BLS offices at different locations are as follows: Washington, DC: New York: 10001

220 Eye Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 13 East, 37th Street, Between 5th and Madison, NY

Chicago:

55 West, Van Buren, Chicago, IL 60607

Houston: Texas 77060

Suite 515, Level 5, 1235, North Loop West, Houston,

San Francisco:

4239 Geary Street, SFO CA - 94118

Atlanta: Ga 30328

5775, Glenridge Drive, Building B, Suite 380, Atlanta,

Consular jurisdiction of Consulate General of India, Houston over the following states would cover the full range of Passport, Visa, OCI, PIO, Surrender Certificates, Miscellaneous services and Consular outreach activities: Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Consulate General of India, Houston would provide Visa services outside its consular jurisdiction until 17th July 2013 for the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

“It took seven years to complete,” Singh said of this section of the project, during a speech in the town of Banihal, some 110 kilometres from the main city of Sriningar.

During Singh’s visit, Pakistani troops fired across the borders twice in an hour, an Indian army spokesman said, dubbing it a breach of a ceasefire pact between the estranged neighbours.

Jurisdictional BLS Offices

Due to some technical reasons, Visa services at Atlanta Consulate jurisdiction would begin from 18th July 2013. Visa applicants from the states under the Atlanta jurisdiction may continue to submit applications as per the current Visa jurisdictions until 17th July. However, OCI/PIO/Renunciation services would begin at Atlanta Consulate jurisdiction location from July 1.

Singh inaugurated a stretch of line that runs through the 11-kilometre (6.8 mile) long tunnel, part of an ambitious multi-year railway project in the region, as he wrapped up his first visit to the region in three years.

It is the first time the premier has visited the Indian-controlled part of the divided Himalayan territory -- which has been the scene of two wars with Pakistan -- since June 2010 and comes less than a year before India goes to the polls.

Toll Free Nos.

A train adorned with garlands at a platform in Banihal, on June 26, 2013 (AFP, Tauseef Mustafa) at out positions in the Poonch sector.

Our side retaliated with small arms (fire),” Colonel Rajesh Kalia told AFP. He added troops also engaged up to three heavily-armed cross-border militants in a firefight in Indian Kashmir’s frontier Rajouri district.

Also on Wednesday, suspected Muslim militants shot dead a man in the

Kashmiri town of Sopore, police said.

On of the eve of premier Singh’s trip Monday, militants ambushed a convoy of troops on the outskirts of Srinagar, killing eight soldiers and wounding 13 others. It was the deadliest such attack since July 2008 when a landmine killed nine soldiers on a bus, also on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Continued on Page 6

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OP-ED/OPIONS/VIEWS

VOICE OF ASIA 2

by Amartya Sen

Publisher: Koshy Thomas Associate Publisher: Sherly Philip Editor: Shobana Muratee Austin Correspondent: Sherine Thomas Marketing: Jacob David Production: AR Vadlamani Office Manager Priyan Mathew Voice of Asia Online Online Editor:

Shobana Muratee

All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the consent of the publisher.

Voice of Asia assumes no liability resulting from action taken based on the information included herein.

Published weekly by Free Press LLC, 8303 SW Freeway, Suite # 325, Houston, TX 77074. Tel: 713-7745140. Fax: 713-774-5143. Email for editorial submissions: voiceasia@aol.com; Email for advertising inquiries and submissions: advertisingvoa@aol.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, Thanks for your coverage of 2013 ASIE Gala in great detail.

The ASIE is to be complimented for taking the first step to recognize some of the immigrant engineers of the sixties and seventies whom I call “Gen-X engineers”.

Most of the Gen-X engineers came to America in the sixties and seventies with eight dollars in the pocket and have struggled hard to build careers and companies.

Gen-X engineers, noted for their hard work, character and integrity have enhanced the image of Indians in America.

There are many unsung Gen-X Indian engineers who are still making valuable contribution to Houston’s economy and quality of life, and I hope ASIE will continue to honor them as well.

With best regards, Krishna Vavilala 713-795-5169

Voice of Asia (USPS 010-215) (ISSN#10705058) is published every Friday (for a subscription rate of $30 per year) by Free Press LLC, 8303 SW Freeway, Suite # 325, Houston, TX 77074. Tel: 713-774-5140. Fax: 713-774-5143. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Voice of Asia, 8303 SW Freeway, Suite # 325, Houston, TX 77074

It is the policy of Voice of Asia to publish letters to the editor which evidence a variety of viewpoints. The opinions expressed in any particular letter to the editor are not necessarily those of the management. Voice of Asia welcomes letters in reply to issues raised in letters to editor. In as much letters to the editor are not articles written or researched by members of Voice of Asia, it is not the policy of the Voice of Asia to perform any investigation or confirmation of any facts or allegations contained in letters to the editor.

Moreover, Voice of Asia reserves the right to edit letters to the editor as necessary to correct errors of fact, punctuation, spelling and to comply with space constraints. - The Publisher

M

odern India is, in many ways, a success. Its claim to be the world’s largest democracy is not hollow. Its media is vibrant and free; Indians buy more newspapers every day than any other nation. Since independence in 1947, life expectancy at birth has more than doubled, to 66 years from 32, and per-capita income (adjusted for inflation) has grown fivefold. In recent decades, reforms pushed up the country’s once sluggish growth rate to around 8 percent per year, before it fell back a couple of percentage points over the last two years. For years, India’s economic growth rate ranked second among the world’s large economies, after China, which it has consistently trailed by at least one percentage point.

The hope that India might overtake China one

A

by Shashi Tharoor casual reader of India’s newspapers for the last several weeks would be forgiven for wondering whether the country was suddenly bereft of political controversy, sex scandals or official corruption – normally the standard headline fare in the country. The newspapers’ front pages have had space – under massive banner headlines – only for a topic normally reserved for the sports pages: cricket.

The cause is not some particularly exciting test match. Instead, the public has been outraged by lurid accusations concerning the Indian Premier League – bribes for bad play, owners betting on games and players seduced by starlets and call girls. The national team captain was revealed to have a conflict of interest, and the son-in-law of Indian cricket’s most powerful official was implicated in an illegal gambling operation that was run by a sinister network of bookies.

The police, whose phone taps led to a wave of arrests, have filed charges alleging involvement by well-known organized crime figures. They have even linked a player for India’s national team to the fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, who is widely suspected of being the architect of the 1993 bombings in the city of Bombay, and who has

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Why India Trails China day in economic growth now seems a distant one.

But that comparison is not what should worry Indians most. The far greater gap between India and China is in the provision of essential public services — a failing that depresses living standards and is a persistent drag on growth.

Inequality is high in both countries, but China has done far more than India to raise life expectancy, expand general education and secure health care for its people. India has elite schools of varying degrees of excellence for the privileged, but among all Indians 7 or older, nearly one in every five males and one in every three females are illiterate. And most schools are of low quality; less than half the children can divide 20 by 5, even after

four years of schooling.

India may be the world’s largest producer of generic medicine, but its health care system is an unregulated mess. The poor have to rely on low-quality — and sometimes exploitative — private medical care, because there isn’t enough decent public care.

While China devotes 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product to government spending on health care, India allots 1.2 percent.

India’s underperformance can be traced to a failure to learn from the examples of so-called Asian economic development, in which rapid expansion of human capability is both a goal in itself and an integral element in achieving rapid growth.

Japan pioneered that approach, starting after the Meiji Restoration in 1868,

when it resolved to achieve a fully literate society within a few decades. As Kido Takayoshi, a leader of that reform, explained: “Our people are no different from the Americans or Europeans of today; it is all a matter of education or lack of education.” Through investments in education and health care, Japan simultaneously enhanced living standards and labor productivity — the government collaborating with the market.

The case for combating debilitating inequality in India is not only a matter of social justice. Unlike India, China did not miss the huge lesson of Asian economic development, about the economic returns that come from bettering human lives, especially at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. India’s growth and its earnings

from exports have tended to depend narrowly on a few sectors, like information technology, pharmaceuticals and specialized auto parts, many of which rely on the role of highly trained personnel from the well-educated classes. For India to match China in its range of manufacturing capacity — its ability to produce gadgets of almost every kind, with increasing use of technology and better quality control — it needs a better-educated and healthier labor force at all levels of society.

What it needs most is more knowledge and public discussion about the nature and the huge extent of inequality and its damaging consequences, including for economic growth.

Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard. He is the author, with Jean Drèze, of “An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions.”

Corrupt cricket tells us about how India goes about its business since been hiding in Pakistan.

The Indian media have not had it this good in a long time. After years of corruption scandals, political dramas and protest marches, this was manna from heaven – a story combining cricket, the national obsession of Indians, with vice, the national weakness. India’s 300-plus television news channels have been no better than the print media, devoting almost all of their time to parsing every morsel of information leaked or announced by the police. A country that traditionally grinds to a halt during an exciting cricket match has now been ground into submission by its antithesis – the slow unraveling of illusions about a game that seizes Indians’ imagination like no other.

Five years ago, I wrote a column about the phenomenal appeal of the Indian Premier League and its transformation of cricket in a manner that was inspired by the televised razzledazzle of American sport.

India not only livened up a game that was originally invented in staid and decorous Victorian England; it also brought the game into the 21st century, complete with rampant commercialization.

Two-and-a-half minute “strategic timeouts” now interrupt the flow of the game, which allows advertisers to hawk their wares to hundreds of millions of enthralled viewers.

Understandably, the exposure of the Indian Premier League as a morass of deceit, discredited by “spot-fixing” episodes engineered by unscrupulous bookies and venal players,

has deflated such heady notions. Cricket continues to hold many Indians in thrall, but many others have forsaken it in the wake of the Indian Premier League revelations. The paroxysm of media flagellation will soon abate, but the excitement with which the public had followed the Indian Premier League will not return.

Weighty minds will probably see the Indian Premier League’s tawdry underside as emblematic of postliberalization India’s crony capitalism and business short-termism. But it is always dangerous to find in sports large metaphors for national decline, so the temptation to view the Indian Premier League as symptomatic of everything that is wrong with today’s India must be resisted.

Having initially been

seduced by the idea that the Indian Premier League showcased the alluring face of a brave new entrepreneurial India, I am reluctant to embrace the opposite view instantly. But there is no doubt that the flaws being exposed daily in the media – the quest for easy money, the turn to illegality and the lack of ethical standards at the highest levels – reveal dangerous streaks in India’s national character.

The call for reform in cricket is really a call for reform in the way India goes about its business. The character flaws laid bare in the Indian Premier League must be curbed if India is ever to fulfill its obvious promise and take its place at the front of the world stage in the 21st century.

Shashi Tharoor is India’s minister of state for human resource development.

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VOICE OF ASIA 4

The People’s Lawyer

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

OBITUARY

www.peopleslawyer.net Richard M. Alderman Interim Dean of the Law Center

We may love our dogs, but they still are just property

Q. I heard that if someone kills your dog all you can recover is what it will cost to replace that dog.

Our dog is just a “mutt” but he has been a member of the family for many years. Our children would be heart-broken if someone were to kill or injure our dog. Is it really true that we could not collect any damages for the mental pain and anguish we would suffer from the loss of our “best friend.”

A. The law has long held that although we love our dogs dearly, they are property in the eyes of the law and we cannot recover non-economic damages based on the sentimental value we place on our pets. The Texas Supreme Court recently reaffirmed this rule. It also is the rule for any property, four footed or otherwise. For example, you may have your grandfather’s lawn chair that was his favorite.

To you, it has substantial sentimental value and you would be very upset if anything happened to it.

If it were wrongfully destroyed, however, your damages would be based on how much a replacement would cost at Walmart. It is special to you, but not in the eyes of the law.

The bottom line is that dog owners can recover only the “value” of the dog, which includes replacement costs and any additional value it has because of special training. Sentimental value does not enter into the equation.

Q. My friend was late on her rent at an apartment complex. One day she came home and found a lien notice where her TV used to be. They took both of her TVs in the apartment. This makes no sense to me, and I have never heard of this. Where I come from, that’s stealing!!! Is this legal for them to do?

A. This is stealing if someone else were to do it, but probably not when it is the landlord. Under Texas law, a landlord may have a “landlord’s lien” on the tenant’s property, and may be able to take it if the rent is not paid. For such a lien to exist it must be written in the lease and be bold or underlined.

If there is no such provision in the lease, the landlord has no right to take the property. A landlord also may take only certain property. The list of protected property includes wearing apparel, food, some furniture, children’s toys and a car. Electronic equipment, such as a television is not protected and may be taken. Finally, if the landlord takes any property, he must leave a notice telling you what he took and what you must do to get it back. A landlord who violates this law is responsible for all the tenant’s damages, plus a penalty of $500 or one month’s rent, whichever is greater. To learn more about the landlord’s lien, look at the landlord tenant section on my website, www.peopleslawyer.net.

Q. My son purchased a vehicle, but did not have good credit. I had to sign as a co-signer. He has now been paying the note on time for over three years and has established good credit. I want to buy a house and it is hurting my credit to be a co-signer on his note. What can I do to have my name removed?

A. As I have said before, don’t co-sign unless you are willing to pay and willing to be obligated to pay until the note is paid-off. The only way you can have your name removed is for the creditor to agree to remove it, or for your son to refinance in his own name. The creditor is under no legal obligation to remove a co-signer, even if there is no longer any need for one. I suggest you talk with the creditor to see if it will agree to refinance the note in only your son’s name, or see if someone else will refinance the car for him. If his credit is good you should be able to work something out.

Q. My lease ended and I went month-to-month. My landlord says I still must give 60 days notice before I leave. Is this legal?

A. This has become a common question. As a general rule, when parties have a month-to-month tenancy, either party may end the relationship by giving thirty days notice. On the other hand, parties may always agree to extend or shorten this time period. My guess is that your lease has a clause saying that after the lease period ends you become a month-to-month tenant. It probably also says that even if you became a month-to-month tenant, you still had to give 60 days notice. In my opinion such clauses are unfair and deceptive, but unless you want to litigate the matter with no guarantee of success, you should give 60 days notice.

Want to know more about your legal rights? Visit my website, www.peopleslawyer.net

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ASIA

VOICE OF ASIA 6

Riots in China’s Xinjiang region kill 27: Xinhua

S. Asian community closely watches US Immigration Reform progress

by Tom Hancock

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EIJING, June 26, 2013 (AFP) - Riots in China’s ethnically divided Xinjiang region on Wednesday left 27 people dead, according to state media which said police opened fire on “knife-wielding mobs”.

by Kokab Farshori (Voice of America) WASHINGTON — As U.S. lawmakers debate how to reform the country’s immigration system, the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants are hoping for an agreement. Among them are undocumented people from South Asia.

It was the deadliest spasm of violence to hit the troubled western region since 2009.

Xinjiang is about twice the size of Turkey and is home to around 10 million members of the mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.

Police shot at “mobs” who had attacked police stations, a local government building and a construction site, the Xinhua news agency said, citing local officials.

“Seventeen people had been killed... before police opened fire and shot dead 10 rioters,” it said. The mobs were also “stabbing at people and setting fire to police cars”, the report said.

Nine police or security guards and eight civilians were killed before police opened fire, the report said, adding that three other people were taken to hospital with injuries.

The clashes occurred early Wednesday in the Lukqun township of Shanshan County, Xinhua said, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the desert city of Turpan and about 250 kilometres from the regional capital Urumqi.

The reason for the violence was not immediately clear, and police in Turpan refused to comment when contacted

by AFP. Residents of Shanshan County contacted by telephone said that police -- some armed with guns -- had been stationed at crossroads, and were blocking entrances to areas near where the clashes occurred.

“There are police on every road, every crossroad has been blocked,” a woman who answered the phone at a restaurant in the county said, without providing her name.

A market worker who identified herself as a member of the Uighur minority and gave her surname as Ta said police carrying tasers had been stationed outside government offices, police stations and courts in the county.

Many of Xinjiang’s Uighur community complain of religious and cultural repression

by Chinese authorities, and the region is regularly hit by

PM opens India’s biggest rail ....

Continued from Page 1 The tunnel and railway stretch have been added to a train line running through the valley, part of a 20-billion-rupee ($470million dollar) project that will eventually link Kashmir to the rest of India’s vast railway network.

Sections of the track have been drilled through the Himalayan mountains, and Singh said it was a “national dream” to link Kashmir with the network by 2018.

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

File picture shows Chinese paramilitary police in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang region (AFP/File, Peter Parks) unrest.

Chinese authorities have often blamed clashes in the region on “terrorists”, but initial state-media reports did not mention terrorism.

A verified Twitter account run by state-broadcaster CCTV called the violence a “riot”, saying it was correcting an earlier message which described it as an “insurgent attack”.

Dilshat Rexit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Con-

gress, an exile group branded

by Beijing as “separatist”, said “continued repression and provocation is the cause of conflict”. His comment came in a statement sent to AFP after news of the violence emerged.

China reported that 21 people died in clashes between police and locals in the region in April, which the government said were caused by “terrorists”, and a court in Xinjiang recently jailed nine people for “religious extremism”.

Sadia was the child of a diplomat and came to the United States 14 years ago. But she still is not a legal resident. She spoke to VOA but insisted her name be changed and her face blurred in our video footage.

“It’s really painful not to have paperwork because, first of all you cannot drive. You cannot work. And even if you find work, people who pay you know your situation and they try to take advantage of you,” she said.

Sadia, who works in the mortgage business, does not not fit the stereotype of immigrants who enter the country illegally and look for bluecollar work.

“We have people that come through an employment based system with science and technology and math degrees, skilled workers,” said Manar Waheed, who represents a group that advocates for South Asian immigrants.

Experts agree that it’s not possible to deport all undocumented immigrants. The immigration reform bill being considered in Congress proposes a process to bring everyone into the system. On Monday, the Senate approved an amendment to the bill that would strengthen security along the U.S.-Mexico border, a move aimed at increasing chances for congressional passage.

Demetrios Papademetriou of Washington’s Migration Policy Institute, supports registration of all the undocumented.

“You allow people to register and make the registration process reasonable enough so that vast, vast, vast majority of them can qualify in the initial stage,” he said.

Registration will also allow the authorities to determine

More than a dozen armed rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for the region’s independence or its merger with Pakistan and tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians have died in the fighting.

Armed violence had been declining steadily since the early 2000s but the region has been tense following the execution in February of a local man over a deadly 2001 attack on the national parliament in New Delhi.

Mohammed Afzal Guru’s execution, carried out in a New Delhi prison without first informing his family, triggered widespread protests in Kashmir where many doubted his guilt.

“I would say that if somebody who has criminal history or felony or they’re doing wrong things,” said Sadia. “I don’t think it would be fair to give them the authorization or green card to work here or live here. But the immigration process should be lenient towards those who have been good citizens.”

Papademetriou says the U.S. needs a better immigration system.

“You have to have a system that is flexible, that adjusts according to fluctuations and demands in the United States, that creates a clear, legal, safe and orderly pathway for people to come here, that has rules that everyone understands and those rules apply uniformly across the country,” he said.

All eyes are now on the U.S. lawmakers. The Senate could pass a bill in coming days, though the House of Representatives is not expected to vote on a measure until later this year.

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Singh faced protests when he arrived in Kashmir on Tuesday after the region’s three main separatist groups called a strike against his visit.

Shops and other businesses, along with schools, banks and offices were closed throughout Srinagar and security forces were deployed in strength.

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VOICE OF ASIA 7

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Two Indians find place in ‘Forty Forbes Middle East to honour Women to Watch over 40’ list top 100 Indian leaders in UAE

N

EW YORK: Two Indian origin women have been named in the list of ‘Forty Women to Watch over 40’ list that recognises women who made it clear that global citizenship and entrepreneurial innovation is not limited to the young.

Jalak Jobanputra and Shelly Kapoor Collins were the two Indian origin women on the list that commemorates the women, who are leaning in after the age of 40 and also creating momentum.

Jalak Jobanputra is the founding partner of FuturePerfect Ventures -- an early stage venture capital fund based in NYC with a global focus.

While, Shelly Kapoor Col-

lins is the Founder and CEO of Rootsquare, a social media based fund-raising and mobilisation platform for nonprofits and political campaigns.

variety of sectors from arts and sciences to politics and entertainment and include social entrepreneurs and corporate change-makers as well.

‘Forty Women to Watch over 40’ was created by Christina Vuleta and Whitney Johnson to bring awareness to the reality that innovation gets even better with age.

“I believe it is critically important to give younger women new role models,” says Christina Vuleta, founder of 40:20 Vision, a cross-generational mentoring resource.

The list celebrates women who are upending the perception that 40 is past your prime.

“They are reinventing, leaning in, and creating momentum that will be felt by those beyond their community and field,” it said.

“Research shows that women today don’t look ahead to older women for inspiration. But I see from my work that it is more a lack of visibility. Older women are out there quietly changing the world, but they are not the usual suspects for media selection and corporations do too little to celebrate them,” she added.

The winners were selected from over 1,000 nominees around the world, spanning a

DUBAI: Forbes Middle East will honor the top 100 Indian leaders in the UAE for the first time, recognizing their contribution in public life, society, communities and especially in business.

Applauding the success of these exceptional Indian personalities who have consistently delivered excellence and raised benchmarks in the business world in the Arab region, Forbes Middle East will honor them on June 25.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and Ambassador of India to the UAE MK Lokesh will be the principal guests for this special evening.

The audience will include some of India’s and the Middle East’s leading figures from the

private, corporate, public and government spheres.

Among the myriad economic developments in the GCC and MENA regions over the last couple of years, Indian leaders have provided unstinting support and made major contributions to the thriving economies.

The Forbes Middle East ranking of the top 100 Indian leaders in the UAE is based on in-depth research and analysis on some of the most influential Indian business owners residing or operating in the region, as well as top C-level executives shaping and driving their companies’ success.

“It is a moment of pride for me to see Indian talent and contributions being recognized in their true essence in the UAE

by Forbes Middle East. It is our constant endeavor to achieve mutual success in all spheres of our ecosystem in India and the Emirates. Long established strong bonds have enabled significant business and cultural integration between both countries. The results are evident.

I extend my best wishes to all leaders on their accomplishments and envision a grand future for both economies,” Ambassador MK Lokesh said.

Forbes Middle East’s Editorin-Chief Khuloud Al Omian said the Indian community is adding value to the business landscape with its skills and talents, developing multiple sectors including retail, media, healthcare, financial services, education, advertising, and real estate to mention a few.

Tania Chopra honored as Outstanding 50 Asian NRCC appoints IndianAmericans in Business American to foster ties

N

EW YORK - Tania Chopra was recently honored at a gala award ceremony at Ciprianni’s restaurant in NYC as one of the Honorees of the Outstanding 50 Asians in Business. The Key note speech was delivered by Indra Nooyi CEO of Pepsico and Raj Dhanda Co-Head of Equities at Morgan Stanley. Tania Chopra has worked for several prestigious organizations including SunTrust Bank, Bank of America and currently at Credit Suisse based in New York. Formerly, she was a news anchor on Jus Punjabi TV. The Ambassadors of In-

her privilege to be part of a community where business owners and corporate professionals are helping America thrive. We are contributing to every sector of our economy and every corner of our society. What is most rewarding is that in America with hardwork and determination the impossible is possible.”

Tania Chopra dia, China, Pakistan, Korea, Indonesia, Burma, Japan

Five Indians among 18 charged in global $200 million credit card scam New York: At least five Indian-origin men are among 18 others charged here for running a whopping 200 million dollar global credit card fraud under which they used thousands of fake identities to dupe businesses and financial firms and wired millions of dollars to Pakistan and India.

In one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the US Department of Justice, the men fabricated identities to obtain credits cards and doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards.

They would then borrow or spend as much as they could based on their fraudulently obtained credit history and not repay the debts, looting businesses and financial institutions of more than 200 million dollars in confirmed losses, US Attorney Paul Fishman said.

Law enforcement officers from the FBI arrested 13 men and searched locations in New

Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Among those charged with bank fraud are Babar Quereshi, Ijaz Butt, Raghbir Singh, Mohammad Khan, Sat Verma, Vijay Verma, Tarsem Lal and Vinod Dadlani.

Each faces a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a million dollar fine.

“The criminal activity highlights an extensive, sophisticated, organised scheme, executed against US financial institutions, which, in turn, affects every citizen of the US,” Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez said.

“This elaborate network utilised thousands of false identities, fraudulent bank accounts, fake companies and collusive merchants to defraud financial institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars in order to facilitate extravagant lifestyles they could otherwise not afford,” he said. (PTI)

‘High-risk’ Indians to give visa bonds: British official NEW DELHI, June 24, 2013 (AFP) - Britain confirmed Monday that Indian visitors deemed to pose a “high risk” of overstaying their visas would need to provide a cash bond, but stressed the new scheme would only involve a small number of people.

An official from the British High Commission in New Delhi said the pilot scheme would begin in November, confirming a report in a London newspaper.

The scheme “will specifically target a small number of applicants who pose a high risk of absconding, of staying on illegally in the UK”, British High Commission spokesman Marcus Winsley told AFP. “The overwhelming majority of Indian visitors will not be affected by the scheme. We issue hundreds of thousands of visas to Indians every year, this scheme will apply to less than 1,000 people,” Winsley said.

The Indian visitors targeted by the scheme would be required to deposit £3,000 ($4,600) for a six-month visit visa, before entering the country and will forfeit the money

if they remain in Britain after their visa has expired.

“We don’t know how long the scheme will run, it’s a test to see if the bond will deter people from absconding and breaking the terms of their visas,” Winsley added.

“If the scheme is successful, it could be extended to cover more visitors.”

A report in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper over the weekend said the scheme would also apply to visitors from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana.

The weekly paper said the move by Home Secretary Theresa May is designed to show that Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party is serious about cutting immigration and abuses of the system.

Cameron wants annual net migration down below 100,000 by 2015.

Last year 296,000 people granted six-month visas were from India, 101,000 from Nigeria, 53,000 from Pakistan and 14,000 each from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

where all in attendance.

Ms. Chopra said, “ it is

Ms. Chopra was previously one of the “Top 20 WOW Woman” by Atlanta Woman Magazine; one of the “Power 30 Under 30” by Apex Society and recipient of the “40 under 40 Up and Comers Award”, by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

with community

WASHINGTON: An IndianAmerican has been appointed by a Republican Congressional panel to strengthen ties between the Republican party and the community.

The Indian American Executive Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) would be headed by Shalli Kumar of Chicago, who early this year had taken a Congressional delegation to Gujarat, which had met Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

According to a press state-

ment, Kumar and the Indian American Executive Council shall help facilitate communications between National Republican Congressional Committee and the Indian-American community.

In this capacity, Kumar will play an integral role in fostering relations between the NRCC and the Indian-American community.

The NRCC will seek his input regarding how to increase Republican outreach efforts in the coming elections and identify potential candidates, the media statement said.

VOICE OF ASIA 8

Taliban bombs kill 12, wound Pakistan judge: officials KARACHI, June 26, 2013 (AFP) - Taliban bombs in Pakistan on Wednesday killed 12 people and wounded 14 others, including a senior judge seriously injured in the business capital Karachi, officials said.

Judge Maqbool Baqir, who has worked on a series of terrorism cases, was targeted by a bomb that killed at least nine people on a busy street during the morning rush hour.

Baqir is a member of Pakistan’s minority Shiite Muslim community and had been threatened by militants, including hardline Sunni Muslim sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has claimed a series of devastating bomb attacks on Shiites.

The bomb, planted on a motorbike, exploded as Baqir drove past with his security detail in Burns Road in the centre of the city.

At least nine people, including eight members of the judge’s security detail, were killed and 14 other people wounded.

“The dead include six police officers, two (paramilitary) Rangers and the judge’s driver,” police official Ameer Sheikh told AFP. Baqir was taken to hospital with critical injuries, but was said to be out of danger by early evening.

“He received threats from the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Other militants had also threatened him,” Sheikh said.

Baqir has worked on several cases involving militants, serving as a judge in special anti-terrorism courts set up in Pakistan to hand down quick judgements in terror cases.

Police said six kilogrammes of explosives were used to detonate the bomb, planted on a motorcycle.

Sheila Varadan, South Asia legal advisor for the International Commission of Jurists, said that such attacks signalled

a “renewed challenge to the ability of the Pakistani judiciary to function as an independent institution”.

Karachi, a city of 18 million people, contributes 42 percent of Pakistan’s GDP but is rife with murder and kidnappings and has been plagued for years by ethnic, sectarian and political violence.

Last year around 2,000 people were killed in violence linked to ethnic and political tensions, its deadliest toll in two decades.

In the northwest, another bomb attack killed the head of a pro-government tribal militia, along with his brother and nephew in Jani Khel, Bannu district, officials said.

Security officials told AFP that Malik Hashim Khan supported an army operation in the area, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan, in 2007-08.

“It was a powerful bomb which destroyed the vehicle completely. Malik Hashim, his brother and nephew died on the spot,” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

SOUTH ASIA

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Fears of disease in flood-hit northern India

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U D R A P R AYA G , India, - Indian officials stepped up efforts on Tuesday to prevent an outbreak of disease in the northern Himalayan region devastated by landslides and flash floods, as rains hampered the rescue of thousands still stranded.

Workers sprayed disinfectant amid concerns about disease from the bodies of hundreds of people who perished when floods hit the state of Uttarakhand, known as the “Land of the Gods” for its revered Hindu shrines.

“We are spraying disinfectant in the flood-affected areas to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases,” state medical officer K.D. Sharma said.

The move came as fresh rains and landslides hampered efforts by the military to evacuate some 6,000 pilgrims and tourists still stranded throughout the state since the floods hit on June 15.

Raging rivers swept away houses, buildings and even entire villages in the state, which was packed with trav-

Indian army medical staff attend to an elderly pilgrim at Guptkashi on June 24, 2013, after his rescue from the flood damaged area of Gauri Kund. (Photograph released by The Indian Ministry of Defence on June 24, 2013) ellers in what is a peak tourist season. More than 1,000 bridges have been damaged along with roads, cutting off hard-hit villages and towns.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was saddened by the disaster, which has killed some 1,000 people.

“The secretary-general is

saddened by the loss of life, and the damage to homes and infrastructure in India as a result of the torrential floods in the northern state of Uttarakhand over the last week,” a statement from his spokesperson said.

Officials have stepped up preparations for a mass

A second official said the dead bodies were destroyed beyond recognition.

H

Amer Mohammed Jamal, a software engineer with an IT firm in Madhapur, was arrested on Sunday along with his friend Subhamsh Netha alias Sunny, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) G Sudheer Babu told reporters.

Amer’s wife, Shaguftha Shereen, a homemaker, was found murdered in her house in Panjagutta on June 21 with cash and gold ornaments missing. Police had initially booked a case of murder for gain.

During investigation, it was found that Amer made a plan to kill his wife, with whom he was having problems, and sought the help of his friend Sunny and paid him Rs. 30,000 as advance to execute the plan and further instructed to take cash of Rs. 2.7 lakh and gold ornaments from the house to

Hyderabad boy tops IIT entrance test

Hyderabad boy Pallerla Sai Sandeep Reddy bagged the all India first rank in the Joint Entrance Examination JEE (Advanced) conducted for entry into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Sandeep was also the topper in the Engineering stream of the EAMCET in the State. He is the son Lakshminarasaiah, a teacher working in a Social Welfare school in Prakasam district. Sandeep was confident that he would get a rank in the top 10 in JEE-Advanced. He secured 986 marks in Intermediate and 563 marks in his 10th class.

Speaking to The Hindu during the EAMCET results, he revealed that his dream was to pursue Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay and specialise in Robotics. He secured 311 out of 360 in the JEE Main. He also secured 418 out of 460 in the BITS Pilani entrance test.

A police official in charge of organising the cremations said belongings and documents recovered from bodies will be used to help with identification while DNA samples will also be collected.

“Under no circumstances can we allow an outbreak of an epidemic,” senior disaster management official K.N. Pandey told AFP.

Pakistan has for years been fighting homegrown Taliban insurgents in its border areas with Afghanistan.

“We have reports that many stranded people are suffering from diarrhoea and other ailments and have decided to cremate the corpses near the Kedarnath shrine,” he said.

A spokesman for Pakistan’s umbrella Taliban movement, Tehreek-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

“We claim responsibility for the attack on the judge because he used to give verdicts against Islam and Muslims,” Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP from an undisclosed location.

A senior official warned that the death toll of 1,000 could rise dramatically as the grim task of collecting the bodies from rivers and from under flattened villages and other debris continues.

“Taliban also attacked the head of the pro-government militia in Bannu because he joined hands with the government against the mujahideen,” he added.

“From the feedback we are getting from people on the ground, people working in scavenging bodies, our estimate is the toll could be anything between 4,000 and 5,000,” a senior disaster management official who did not want to be named told AFP.

Software engineer arrested for wife’s murder YDERABAD, India - A software engineer allegedly got his 28-year-old wife murdered by a friend in Panjagutta area in Hyderabad, police said on Monday.

cremation of victims in the hard-hit holy town of Kedarnath, amid health concerns, with tonnes of wood flown by helicopter into the area. The cremation had been expected to go ahead on Tuesday but has now been delayed by the downpours, an official said.

Helicopters and soldiers have evacuated tens of thousands of people from the floods, while tonnes of food and other emergency supplies have been dropped to those still stranded. Unmanned drones have also been deployed to scan the thick jungles to find those still awaiting rescue, officials said.

create a scene that the murder was committed for money, the DCP said.

Accordingly, on June 21, Amer gave tea laced with sleeping pills to his wife and she fell asleep as he went to office after locking the flat.

Sunny, as per the plan was given another key and he entered the flat and attacked Shereen with a knife, resulting in her death, the DCP said.

Thousands of soldiers along with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been evacuating people by foot, using harnesses and erecting rope bridges across flooded rivers to help them to safety.

Before fleeing, Sunny also made away with Rs. 2.7 lakh in cash and gold ornaments from the house.

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VOICE OF ASIA 10

WORLD/US

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Jolie calls on UN Security Council Mandela on life support, Zuma cancels foreign trip to act on war rapes

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OHANNESBURG, June 26, 2013 (AFP) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is on life support, unable to breathe on his own, an elder in the South African icon’s clan said Wednesday, all but extinguishing hopes for his recovery.

“Yes, he is using machines to breathe,” Napilisi Mandela told AFP after visiting the much-loved 94 year old’s bedside.

“It is bad, but what can we do.”

Just how bad becomes clearer by the hour. President Jacob Zuma late Wednesday abruptly cancelled a visit planned to neighbouring Mozambique after visting Mandela’s Pretoria hospital.

It is the first time Zuma has scrapped an engagement since Mandela was hospitalised nearly three weeks ago.

Zuma cancelled the trip scheduled for Thursday after he “found him to be still in a critical condition”, a statement from the presidency said.

A handout picture made available by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) shows US actress Angelina Jolie (R) listening to Syrian refugees in a Jordanian military camp based the the Jordan-Syria border on June 18, 2013. — AFP Photo UNITED NATIONS, (AFP) - Screen star Angelina Jolie on Monday criticized UN Security Council powers for their lack of action over wartime rapes, invoking Syria and other conflicts in a surprise speech to the body.

again after undergoing a double mastectomy operation, appeared before the council after visiting refugee camps for Syrians in Jordan last week. Her presence was only announced just before the meeting.

is the sad, upsetting and indeed shameful reality.”

Ambassadors from Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain -- bitterly divided over the Syria war -listened as Jolie said they should “show the determination” to defend the hundreds of thousands of victims of sexual attacks in conflict.

She told she met a woman in Jordan who had been raped in Syria but was afraid to give her name because she feared she would be killed for speaking out.

“The UN Security Council must step in and provide leadership and assistance,” she said.

“The world has yet to take up war zone rape as a serious priority,” the actress said at a meeting organized by Britain as president of the council for June.

Jolie, getting into top gear lobbying

Ami Bera asks Kerry to strengthen Indo-US ties WASHINGTON: The only Indian-American lawmaker in the Congress Ami Bera has asked Secretary of State John Kerry to focus on strengthening the partnership between India and the US, especially as it draws down its troops in Afghanistan.

“As the world’s largest democracy, India has a crucial role to play in the security and economic development of South Asia,” said the letter to Kerry sent yesterday by Bera and Congresswoman, Ileana RosLehtinen, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

“It is important that our nation help engage and expand India’s role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan’s infrastructure, training of the Afghanistan Security Forces (ASF), and the development of Afghanistan’s post-war economy,” said the two lawmakers who recently went on a trip to Afghanistan.

The letter explains some of the things Bera and Ros-Lehtinen learned and observed on their trip, and the economic and strategic ties between US and India.

“Overall, India is capable of making a significant contribution to international efforts to maintain the democratic gains that the United States and our coalition partners have achieved, and helping to anchor regional stability,” the letter reads.

“The economic linkages between India and Afghanistan are especially critical as Afghanistan struggles to move to a goods and trade based economy,” it said.

Noting that the economic linkages between India and Afghanistan are especially critical as Afghanistan struggles to move to a goods and trade based economy, the letter said robust trade in legitimate goods with regional partners, including India, will help avoid the erosion of the rule of law associated with the opium trade.

“The administration’s much heralded “Pivot to Asia” called for a greater involvement with America’s partners in that region.

“India and the US share an increasingly important common interest in promoting regional peace and international security,” the two lawmakers said.

“As you prepare for the upcoming series of bilateral negotiations, we urge you to put

Jolie also told how on another trip she had met the mother of a five yearold girl raped outside a police station in Goma in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Both were “victims of a culture of impunity” because there have been only a “handful” of prosecutions. “That

“I understand that there are many difficult things for the Security Council to agree on, but sexual violence in conflict should not be one of them,” Jolie said.

“These crimes happen not because they are inherent to war but because the global community allows it.”

The council adopted a resolution which condemned the use of sexual violence in conflict. Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would be organizing a new meeting on the topic at the UN General Assembly in September.

“President Zuma was briefed by the doctors who are still doing everything they can to ensure his well-being.”

Zuma had been expected to attend a regional investment conference.

Another Mandela family member who asked not to be named, also confirmed the former political prisoner, who was hospitalised on June 8 with a stubborn lung problem, was on life support.

Emotional crowds gathered outside the Pretoria hospital where he is being treated as relatives and clan elders made preparations for the revered former South African leader’s final journey.

Supporters sang hymns for the father of South African democracy and architect of remarkable transition from almost half a century of white minority rule to landmark multiracial elections.

A candlelight vigil was held and on Tuesday a prayer read out by a South African archbishop to wish the Nobel Peace laureate a “peaceful, perfect,

Nelson Mandela end”.

“We have been so united -- blacks and whites together. That’s the thought of Mandela in us,” said Lerato Boulares, 35.

With his life seemingly slipping away, messages of support for the antiapartheid hero blanketed a wall outside the hospital, including a poster bearing one of his most memorable quotes: “It only seems impossible until it’s done”.

Mandela’s lung troubles date from his 27 years locked up on the notorious Robben Island and in other apartheid prisons.

Elders from Mandela’s Thembu clan visited the country’s first black president as his “Rainbow Nation” comes to terms with the increasing frailty of the man fondly known by his clan name Madiba.

A traditional chief, who is also distant nephew of the former statesman, chief Mfundo Mtirara, confirmed to AFP he visited Mandela on Wednesday, but refused to give details.

The elders want to “discuss what should be done,” an unnamed local chief told local daily The Times, alluding to disagreement among family members over his burial site.

VOICE OF ASIA 11

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

VOICE OF ASIA 12

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

VOICE OF ASIA 13

LIFESTYLE

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Vol. 26

No. 26

by Miwa Suzuki

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OKYO - As a schoolboy, Akihiro Matsumura spent hundreds of hours learning the intricate Chinese characters that make up a part of written Japanese. Now, the graduate student can rely on his smartphone, tablet and laptop to remember them for him.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

In Asia, ancient writing collides with the digital age

“Sometimes I don’t even bother to take notes in seminars. I just take out my tablet to shoot pictures of what instructors write on blackboards,” he told AFP.

But, says Matsumura, times change and the spread of technology gives people opportunities to develop their language capability in other ways, for example allowing some to read more.

Naoko Matsumoto, a professor of law who heads international legal studies at the prestigious Sophia University near Tokyo, said the students in her classes now write more fluently than their predecessors.

“I’m one of them. I used to listen to music blankly on trains, but I now read news and other things,” he said.

Guardians of the characters say there is no evidence of any drop-off in enthusiasm.

“I’m in my 40s and compared with my generation, they have more and more opportunities to write using Twitter” and other social networking services, she said.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, a Kyoto-based organisation, says the number of people who take its exam every year is holding steady at around two million.

“I think they are actually better at writing” because they write in a simple and easy-to-understand way, she said.

Kanji developed in China as a mixture of pictographs -- characters that represent a thing, like “mountain” -- and ideographs -- those that depict an abstract concept, like “think”.

Greater China uses only these characters -- a simplified version on the mainland and the traditional form in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Japan imported kanji some time during the first millennium to use as a writing system, despite there being no linguistic link between Japanese and Chinese.

Traditionalists fear that forgetting kanji means the irrevocable loss of a fundamental part of culture.

“We cannot rely too much on computers, we should be able to write... (and) we should be able to write neatly, it’s a basic thing about being Chinese,” she said.

While some bemoan what they see as the loss of history and culture, others say the shift frees up brainpower for more useful things, like foreign languages, and even improves writing as a whole.

“The skill of handwriting kanji (Chinese characters) perfectly is becoming less necessary compared with earlier times,” the professor said.

“I sometimes can’t recall kanji on the spot while a customer is watching me,” he said. “I remember their rough shapes but can’t remember exact strokes... It’s foggy.”

In Hong Kong, Rebecca Ko said her 11-year-old daughter uses the computer more and more, but she insists the child learn traditional characters, and sends her to a Chinese calligraphy class.

Like millions of people across East Asia, 23-year-old Matsumura is forgetting the pictographs and ideographs that have been used in Japan and greater China for centuries.

Priorities are changing with more emphasis placed on building logical thinking strategies -- a case of content becoming more important than form.

Tel: 713-774-5140

Matsumura spent hundreds of hours learning the intricate Chinese characters that make up a part of written Japanese.

He can rely on his smartphone, tablet and laptop to remember them for him. Computers and smartphones have relieved youngsters of the need to remember how to write the thousands of Chinese characters or kanji in use across East Asia.

(AFP Photos / Yoshikazu TSUNO) By around the 8th-9th centuries, it developed a syllabary -- a system of consonant/vowel blends -- called “hiragana”.

Where kanji contain a meaning, but no inherent sound, each hiragana character represents a sound, but has no inherent meaning -- like a letter in the Latin alphabet. Unlike the alphabet, however, each syllable only ever has one sound.

A second syllabary, called “katakana”, also developed. Modern-day written Japanese is a mixture of kanji, hiragana and katakana, with an increasing amount of Western script also thrown in (known

as “romaji” or Roman letters).

In both Chinese and Japanese, computer and smartphone users need only to type the pronunciation of the kanji from the constituent sounds using either the syllabary or the alphabet. They then choose one of several options offered by the device.

Very different meanings can come from the same sounds. For example, in Japanese, “shigaisen” produces “street fighting” and “ultra-violet rays”.

-- Forgetting, and remembering --

“It’s easy to forget even the easiest of characters,” said Zhang Wentong, an assistant at a calligraphy centre in Beijing.

“Sometimes you’ve got to think for ages. Occasionally I’ll repeatedly type the character out phonetically in my phone” until the right one pops up.

Graduate student Matsumura said his reliance on devices leaves him adrift when faced with filling in forms for repairs at the electronics shop where he works part-time.

People are “increasingly using text messages rather than making phone calls”, which means they need to know which characters to use, said a spokeswoman.

And kanji characters are not falling out of favour with all younger people.

Yusuke Kinouchi, a 24-year-old graduate student at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, thought children should keep learning the characters in the way they have done for hundreds of years.

Kanji provide a certain economy, he said, where one character can stand in for the sounds made by several letters in a language such as English -- something particularly useful on Twitter, for example, with its 140-character limit.

But beyond the economy, there is one other good reason to keep them alive, he said.

“They are beautiful.”

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VOICE OF ASIA 14

Young Life

Friday, June 28, 2013

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

US Supreme Court sends back affirmative action case

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Tel: 713-774-5140

India to implement US concept of community colleges

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EW DELHI: Faced with the task of skilling 500 million youth, India on Tuesday said it was implementing the US concept of community colleges to make sure that its workforce is trained to meet newer challenges.

Visualising skill development to be an integral part of the country’s education system, HRD Minister Pallam Raju said based on the US’ experience of community colleges, India has embarked to develop community colleges.

Talking to reporters after the IndiaUS Higher Education Dialogue here, he, however, said, “We are only borrowing the concept and not going to replicate what is happening there in the US” as the economic condition of the two nations are different.

People wait to enter the US Supreme Court on June 24, 2013 (Getty Images/AFP, Mark Wilson)

People wait to enter the US Supreme Court on June 24, 2013 (Getty Images/AFP, Mark Wilson)

by Chantal Valery WASHINGTON, June 25, 2013 (AFP) - The US Supreme Court elected not to rule on the constitutionality of using race and ethnicity in university admissions on Monday, instructing a lower court to look at the question again.

Its decision left unchanged the principle of “affirmative action,” an enduring legacy of the 1960s civil rights movement originally meant to give African-Americans a leg up in applying for jobs and education.

The policy however was never given an end date; and in ever more highly diverse America, in some states -such as California -- whites are now are a minority.

For some Americans in a country which now has its first African-American president, as well as a lasting legacy of slavery, it is increasingly less clear whom should be given special consideration, or when fair is maybe something other than absolute equality.

In the case before the court, Abigail Fisher, a white student denied admission to the University of Texas, alleged its use of race in deciding admissions violated her constitutional right to equal justice under the law.

Writing the nearly unanimous decision laced with legal technicalities, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Texas “must assess whether the university’s favor was appropriate.”

“There must still be a further judicial determination that the admissions process meets strict scrutiny in its implementation,” he added.

The Court of Appeal had previously ruled in favor of the prestigious state university, declaring that Fisher had not suffered discrimination as a result of an admission policy that favored racial minorities.

Seven of the nine Supreme Court justices agreed to refer the case back to the Court of Appeal. One disagreed, while Justice Elena Kagan excused herself because of her prior support of affirmative action as US solicitor general.

Attorney General Eric Holder said, “I am pleased that the Supreme Court has followed longstanding precedent that recognizes the compelling governmental interest in ensuring diversity in higher education.

“The educational benefits of diversity are critically important to the future of this nation. As the Court has repeatedly recognized, diverse student enrollment promotes understanding,

helps to break down racial stereotypes, enables students to better understand people of different races, and prepares all students to succeed in, and eventually lead, an increasingly diverse workforce and society,” said Holder, who is African-American.

The Supreme Court last took up the controversial issue of affirmative action in 2003, reaffirming a 1978 decision that race-based quotas did not violate the Constitution.

“This is a win for the principles of opportunity, diversity, and equality,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a major civil rights organization, said Monday.

“suffered an injury that falls squarely within the language and spirit of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.”

It alleged that the university’s admission program “favors two groups, African-Americans and Hispanics, in one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States.”

Some 70 motions were filed with the Supreme Court in support of the University of Texas from colleges, human rights groups and businesses as well as by the US government, attesting to the case’s importance.

“It is a relevant model. Over 100 years, the US has fine tuned that model. It has become much more than impacting skills,” Raju said about the skill development through community colleges. It will work closely with industry and business from the area to develop skill sets that are required from the local areas.

Meanwhile, the US stressed on jointly working towards increasing skills of students to face future challenges and said this can be done through exchange programmes and partnerships between India and the US. “We need to make sure that next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs have the skills and training,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

Those who work in government and private sectors need to join together in order to focus and meet the challenges in education, he said. Raju and Kerry co-chaired the India-US Higher Education Dialogue. The collaboration includes promoting institution to institution ties, deepening co-operation

This initiative strengthens collaboration and builds partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education in priority fields, US officials said.

Each project will receive an award of approximately USD 250,000 that can be utilised over a three-year period, with the objectives of cultivating educational reform, fostering economic growth, generating shared knowledge to address global challenges, and developing junior faculty at Indian and American institutions of higher learning.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama announced the Obama-Singh Initiative in November 2009 as an affirmation of their commitment to building an enhanced India-US partnership in education. Each government pledged USD 5 million for this endeavour, for a total of USD 10 millions.

Both the sides also signed four agreements -- IIT-Delhi and University of Nebraska on the Cyber Systems, IIT-Bombay and edX on MOOCs, AICTE and American Association of Community Colleges and ITM group with Montgomery Colleges. Raju had visited the US last month for forging linkages and collaborations in the field of higher education. (PTI)

“The Court sent the case back to the lower court to determine whether the University of Texas admissions policy meets this standard.”

When she applied to attend the university, Fisher -- whose father and sister were among alumni there -- was not among the top 10 percent of Texas high school graduates who are guaranteed places.

Her legal team argued that she was denied second-tier admission in favor of other applicants with lower test scores and grades, who were accepted on the basis of racial preference for under-represented minorities.

The university’s argument was that race was just one of many factors it considers when selecting new students.

Fisher, who ultimately graduated from Louisiana State University, claimed in her court filing that she

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AN FRANCISCO, June 24, 2013 (AFP) - Microsoft said Monday it would offer an advertising-free version of its Bing search engine for schools, which also includes extra privacy and filtering of adult content.

ondary) students by removing all advertisements from search results, enhancing privacy protections and the filtering of adult content, and adding specialized learning features to enhance digital literacy,” Microsoft’s Matt Wallaert said in a blog post.

“Bing For Schools will offer schools in the US the option to tailor the Bing experience for (elementary and sec-

“The program is completely voluntary: schools have the choice of participating or keeping the normal Bing

experience. For those that opt-in, Bing will enable the experience across all searches from within the school’s network on Bing.com, without any need for special software.”

Wallaert said Bing already offers the ability to filter out adult content but the new services “will automatically default to the strict setting and remove kids ability to change it.”

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The blue print also includes promoting a two-way student exchange, skill development and give thrust to on-line education such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In continuation of the educational partnership between the two nations, the US State Department announced eight institutional partnership projects for the second round of Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative awards.

“However, the Court added a wrinkle by sharpening the standard that universities must meet, requiring colleges to show there were no ‘available, workable race-neutral’ alternatives available to them,” it added.

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VOICE OF ASIA 16

BOLLYWOOD MASALA

Friday, June 28, 2013

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Tel: 713-774-5140

Raanjhanaa: You still need big Coming soon: Zinda money for a big hit in Bollywood Bhaag

Naseeruddin Shah helped conduct a small acting class for the film’s actors to help them get into the role.

The term “revival of Pakistani cinema” is as clichéd as it is relevant for the survival of Pakistani industry, especially when independent-minded, young-blood filmmakers are facing off against an over-abundance of international releases, limited screens and a lack of marketing support. Although, a true revival did look bleak a few years back, today, the term is literally “owned” by people who may become this industry’s “new wave”.

Dhanush’s debut Bollywood role in Raanjhanaa

by Piyasree Dasgupta (FirstPost)

S

o we’re in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. Where boys drink beer, sing down-withAmerica songs by night and throw socialist theories and cuss words at each other by day. Here, girls go to sleep wearing dangerous amounts of kohl, have the most enviable collection of nose rings and do street plays. Everyone wears kurtas, everyone shouts slogans, everyone knows how to run a country. Sinewy old politicians watch TV in air conditioned cubicles and shudder at thought of these Fab India ninjas bringing the government down. And no, this is not the most unreal or confusing bit of Anand L Rai’s Raanjhanaa.

The biggest problem with Raanjhanaa isn’t the fact that Sonam Kapoor’s evolution as an actress means she now has a sum total of three expressions. Neither is it that according to Rai’s worldview, JNU and common sense are mutually exclusive. Raanjhanaa is a confusing watch because it takes every cliche out of the ’80s’ Bollywood Bible and tries to fit them within a contemporary context. So there’s poor-boy-meets-rich-girl, wrist slitting, angry fathers slapping daughters who profess their love for someone unsuitable, Indian gods, runaway lovers, temple bells, Hindu-Muslim strife and Holi songs. And all this is stuffed into what seems like a silver screen adaption of the rise of AAP where Arvind Kejriwal is a tall, broad-shouldered kurta-stud with heartbreaking dimples like Abhay Deol’s. (Only, one hopes Kejriwal fares better in real life than Abhay does in Raanjhanaa.)

Unlike the promise in the trailer, Raanjhanaa is not a melt-in-your mouth love story though it does start on those lines.

Kundan is a precocious ten-year-old in Varanasi. He is the son of a Hindu priest and one day, he’s sent to collect donations for a Ram Leela show. He shows up at a Muslim college professor’s house and spots a little girl doing namaaz. In the tradition of vintage Bollywood, Kundan falls in love with the little girl, named Zoya. Sonam Kapoor as Zoya grows up to do what girls and women do best in Bollywood: smile at friends, boys, pillars, trees and everything at which one can smile. Kundan, now an adorably scruffy Dhanush, falls head over heels

Case in point: the people behind Zinda Bhaag, an indie drama with an overlaid layer of comedy whose theatrical trailer and hand-painted poster was unveiled at a ceremony in Cinepax, Karachi last week.

The film, as it happens, will be released by Footprint Entertainment, whose chief imports include Hollywood blockbusters by Universal and Paramount (Battleship, Iron Man, Star Trek), and whose last Pakistani release was the horror film Siyaah.

A still from Raanjhanaa: Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor. for her. In what is probably the best part of the film, he follows her around, drools, stares and Zoya, like most teenage girls, leads him on. All that is believable if you ignore how Sonam Kapoor looks too outsized for a 14-year-old.

Zoya and Kundan eventually fall in love, but her parents are horrified at the thought of their daughter having a Hindu boyfriend and send her off to study in Aligarh.

Eight years later she returns, and Kundan is still in love with her but she has fallen in love with her JNU buddy played

by Abhay Deol. What follows is pretty mind-numbing but the reason to bear it is Dhanush’s acting. The Southern superstar makes a lot of big Hindi film stars look like they need to go back to acting classes in his Bollywood debut.

Discussing the glaring loopholes in logic in the film would require us to give away spoilers. So all we’ll say is that Raanjhanaa‘s plot is riddled with inconsistencies. For example, Kundan and Zoya take a train, then a bus, a shared van, a tractor, and all sorts of conveyance known to Indians to reach Jalandhar in order to get in touch with Abhay Deol. A phone call would have been an easier option, but opting for the pragmatic choice, one song and thirteen exquisite profile shots of Kapoor would have to be sac-

rificed. In the Bollywood scheme of priorities, that must amount to blasphemy.

Several such Bollywood inanities botch the film which wasn’t entirely without promise. The best of AR Rahman’s score is spent in the first half of the film so unfortunately there is nothing to distract you from the dragging, illogical second half.

It’s spectacular how Dhanush perfects a naive, smitten, small town teenager’s body language right to the wide-eyed, silly smile. The fact that he is far from being conventionally good looking works to his advantage.

Sonam Kapoor looks great and deserves an applause for having agreed to appear in the same frame as a brilliant Dhanush in the film’s climax, because it’s a scene that demands expressions that don’t feature in her textbook of acting. As for Deol, ladies, he makes khadi kurtas look gorgeous.

The supporting cast, which includes a compelling performance by Swara Bhaskar as Kundan’s childhood friend, Bindiya, is superb.

Raanjhanaa is no Yuva, and it’s definitely not a Rang De Basanti. What it possibly could be is a list of what not to do for Kejriwal if he wants to survive politics.

Zinda Bhaag is the directorial debut of filmmakers Meenu and Farjad, and headlines Naseeruddin Shah with fashion model Amna Ilyas, Khurram Patras, Salman Ahmad Khan, Zohaib and Manzar Sehbai. The film features music by Sahir Ali Bagga, with playback by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Arif Lohar, Abrar ul Haq and Amanat Ali (the music used actual instruments, rather than midis and synths we were told).

While the songs were predominantly — and intentionally — missing at the theatrical trailer launch (it would be separate event, we were told), the film, from its first look, had a strange vibrancy to itself.

resulting, crisp on-screen presentation glowed with the look of “feature film” and not a telefilm (the cinematography is

by Satya Rai Nagpaul, a cinematographer from India). Humour and drama went side by side — a few clips of kaleidoscopic background and intentionally badly choreographed dance moves, helped with the idiosyncratic attitude of the filmmakers.

And Shah’s presence didn’t overrun the trailer or the film’s cast (even though he was the narrator of the trailer).

However, there is a small hiccup in the overall design of the film: the film’s chief language is Punjabi. The filmmakers insist that the film speaks Punjabi “slang”, and a few characters do speak Urdu, but for people in the metropolis (like me), who aren’t prone to decipher the language at a breakneck speed, Zinda Bhaag could prove to be a challenge when released Pakistan-wide.

The trailer was shown twice during the event, and Meenu, Farjad and producer Mazhar Zaidi were hospitable to even the most disdainful of questions during the post screening Q&A. At one point, someone from the audience questioned the logic of casting Naseeruddin Shah in the film, to which the filmmakers genially reminded them of the actor’s role in Khuda Kay Liye — supposedly the first of the “revivalists” — and that our singers are consistently staring in Bollywood albums.

Focusing on lower middle class locals who dream of going abroad, Zinda Bhaag is shot digitally on Red Epics (and maybe a shot or two on Red One). The

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VOICE OF ASIA 17

ENTERTAINMENT

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Gaza joy as Palestinian singer Science fiction fans to honor novelist Richard Matheson wins Arab Idol contest

L

OS ANGELES, June 25, 2013 (AFP) - Science fiction legend Richard Matheson is to be honored in Los Angeles on Wednesday for his life work following his death Sunday at the age of 87.

A prolific novelist and screenwriter, Matheson saw many of his writings become major motion pictures, including “I Am Legend” starring Will Smith in 2007. He also penned 14 episodes of the classic TV series “The Twilight Zone.”

“Richard was a genius whose visions helped bring legitimacy and critical acclaim to science fiction and fantasy,” said the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film in an email to AFP on Tuesday.

Mohammed Assaf receives his trophy as the winner of ‘Arab Idol’, modelled on the Western Pop Idol contest, ‘American Idol’

G

AZA CITY, June 23, 2013 (AFP) - Jubilant Palestinians took to the streets in their thousands early Sunday after singer Mohammed Assaf won a pan-Arab singing contest that has had millions of viewers fixed to their TV screens since March.

Saturday’s televised victory was the first such success for a Palestinian entertainer and sparked an unprecedented response in the occupied territories.

Assaf, winner of the Arab Idol contest in Beirut, dedicated the win to “the Palestinian people, who have been suffering for more than 60 years from (Israeli) occupation”.

“Mohammed Assaf is the Arab Idol!” called out the presenter of the show, modelled on the Western Pop Idol contest, as coloured confetti rained down on the cheering audience.

Immediately after his win, Assaf was named Youth Ambassador for UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees and named Palestinian goodwill ambassador by president Mahmud Abbas.

The handsome, tuxedo-clad Assaf, 23, won after weeks of anticipation from his army of followers, who had been glued to big screens in cafes and restaurants across Gaza and the occupied West Bank, listening as his powerful voice propelled him through the competition every weekend.

His mother, wearing a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, wept as she wrapped the Palestinian black, green, white and red flag around her shoulders.

Spontaneous

celebrations

broke out in Gaza, Assaf’s home, and in the West Bank, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets.

Huge posters of the Gazan singer have festooned the streets, the singer becoming a source of pride for Palestinians everywhere in recent months.

Each edition of the twiceweekly show, aired by the pan-Arab MBC channel in Beirut, has been followed with increasing anticipation, with social networks mobilising to boost the number of votes for their favoured candidate.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah the celebrations after the final results were announced spread to the tomb of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“The mood is undescribable.

Everyone is celebrating. Thank you, Mohammed Assaf, for bringing joy to our hearts. We haven’t felt this joy in a long time,” Gaza resident Mohammad Dahman told AFP via the Internet.

In Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, celebrations turned sour as young Palestinians clashed with Israeli police. Several people were arrested.

In northern Lebanon, Palestinian refugees in the Beddawi camp fired gunshots into the air and took to the streets, honking their car horns to celebrate Assaf’s win.

Across the southern city of Sidon, there were celebrations too, said an AFP journalist.

Born in Misrata, Libya, Assaf grew up in the overcrowded Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s poorest and most densely-populated places where Israel se-

verely restricts the movement of people, goods and financial aid.

The Islamist Hamas movement, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, disapproves of what it considers un-Islamic shows, such as Arab Idol, but has not officially clamped down on support for Arab Idol or Assaf.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas phoned Assaf during the contest to offer him encouragement, the official Wafa agency said.

In a previous episode of the programme, popular Lebanese singer and jury member Ragheb Alama had described Assaf as “the best rocket” to have come out of Gaza, and as “a rocket of peace, not war”.

Announcing Assaf’s nomination as regional ambassador for youth minutes after his win, the agency’s chief Filippo Grandi said: “All Palestinians share in his success. Mohammed’s music is a universal language and speaks to all of us. How fantastic that a Palestine refugee from Gaza should bring us all together in this way.”

On the Israeli side, army spokesman Avichai Adraee congratulated the young Palestinian singer in a tweet in Arabic.

Its president Robert Holguin said the 39th Saturn awards, where Matheson was to have been presented with the acad-

Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend” starring Will Smith (2007). emy’s Visionary Award, would be dedicated to his memory instead.

Matheson wrote more than 25 novels and nearly 100 short stories in a career that began when he published his first short story “Born of Man and Woman” at the age of 24.

Prominent among Matheson’s

fans was film director Steven Spielberg, whose second feature film “Duel” in 1971 was based on one of the author’s short stories.

“Richard Matheson’s ironic and iconic imagination created seminal science-fiction stories and gave me my first break,” said Spielberg in a statement.

Gandolfini body back in US, funeral Thursday

N

EW YORK, June 24, 2013 (AFP) - The body of actor James Gandolfini has been returned to the United States and funeral services for the celebrated star of “The Sopranos” will be held on Thursday, his family and TV network HBO said.

Gandolfini, 51, died of a heart attack during a trip to Italy last week, his sudden

demise triggering a wave of tributes from across the entertainment world.

“Jim is back home. Finally.

We landed last night at Newark,” family spokesman Michael Kobold wrote in a post on Facebook on Monday.

A funeral service for the Italian-American actor, best known for his role as mafia boss Tony Soprano in

the hugely influential cable television series, has been scheduled for 10:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday at Saint John The Divine Cathedral in New York, an HBO spokesman said.

Flags flew at half-mast in New Jersey on Monday in a mark of respect to Gandolfini, a native of the northeastern US state.

www.voiceofasiatvnews.com View on your Ipad, Laptop, Computer and Iphones

Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza in 2006 after militants there seized an Israeli soldier.

Ladakh International Film Festival postponed

It was further tightened in mid-2007 when the Islamist Hamas movement took control of Gaza, then eased somewhat following the international outcry after Israel’s botched raid on a humanitarian flotilla bound the enclave.

UMBAI: The Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF), to be held in Leh next month, has been postponed due to the tragedy unfolding in Uttarakhand, organisers said.

and more than 60,000 people are stranded.... We stand in solidarity with the victims and their family in period of grief and mourning,” Festival Director Melwyn Chirayath said in a statement here.

which is also a part of the Himalayan region, has been largely unaffected by the inclement weather. As a precautionary measure we will be postponing LIFF till September,” Chirayath said.

The festival was to be held from July 5 to 7. “Hundreds of people have lost their lives

“It seems grossly inappropriate to go ahead with LIFF under such tragic circumstances. Leh,

New dates would be announced after consultation with the local government.

M

HEALTHY LIVING HEALTH

VOICE OF ASIA 18

Friday, June 28, 2013

Section 2

Medicare prescription drug coverage

Avoid Medicare Part D Late Enrollment Penalty by: Sudhir Mathuria What is the Part D late enrollment penalty?

The late enrollment penalty is an amount that is added to a person’s Part D premium. A person enrolled in a Medicare drug plan may owe a late enrollment penalty if one of the following is true: • He or she didn’t join a Medicare drug plan when first eligible for Medicare Part A and/or Part B, and he or she didn’t have other creditable prescription drug coverage that met Medicare’s minimum standards.

• He or she had a break in Medicare prescription drug coverage or other creditable coverage of at least 63 days in a row.

The late enrollment penalty (also called the “LEP” or “penalty”) is added to the person’s monthly Part D premium for as long as he or she has Medicare prescription drug coverage. This penalty is required by law and is designed to encourage people to join a Medicare drug plan when they’re first eligible or to keep other creditable prescription drug coverage. The late enrollment penalty amount changes each year. The person will have to pay it each month as long as he or she has Medicare prescription drug coverage, even if the person changes his or her Medicare drug plan.

What is creditable prescription drug coverage?

Creditable prescription drug coverage (also called “creditable coverage”) is coverage that meets Medicare’s minimum standards

since it’s expected to pay, on average, at least as much as Medicare’s standard prescription drug coverage. Most plans that offer prescription drug coverage, like plans from employers or unions, must send their members an annual notice explaining how their prescription drug coverage compares to Medicare prescription drug coverage and if it’s creditable coverage. If a person with Medicare doesn’t get a separate written notice, the person’s plan may provide this information in its benefits handbook. If the person doesn’t know if the prescription drug coverage he or she has is creditable, the person should contact the plan.

To understand your enrollment options and choose the right Medicare plan contact:: Sudhir Mathuria

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

Tel: 713-774-5140

US urges hepatitis C test for all baby boomers

U

S authorities on Tuesday urged all adults born between 1945 and 1965 to get tested for hepatitis C, saying millions of Americans are unaware that they are infected with the liver disease.

The so-called baby boom generation accounts for three out of four people with hepatitis C, according to Albert Siu, co-chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force.

“Many people in this age group contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion or unknown or unreported high-risk behaviors,” he said.

“Even though they may have no symptoms yet, the evidence is convincing that one-time screening will help find millions of Americans with the infection before they develop a serious liver disease.”

The US task force also recommends hepatitis C screening

Curcumin:

for adults at risk of infection, including people who currently use injection drugs or have in the past, as well as people who received a blood transfusion before 1992.

About 1.5 percent of the US population is infected with hepatitis C, making it one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the United States today, according to the US National Library of Medicine.

The disease can cause cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more Americans died in 2007 from hepatitis C than from the virus that causes AIDS. More than 15,000 people died of hepatitis C infections in 2007, compared to 12,734 who died from HIV-related causes, said the data published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Silver can make antibiotics more effective: Study Sudhir Mathuria

Licensed Professional Health Life 360 6650 Southwest Freeway Houston TX 77074 713-771-2900 www.MyMedicarePlanning. com

ISLAMABAD: A research has suggested that adding silver to antibiotics can help make them 10 to 1,000 times more effective at fighting infections.

Though, silver has been used as an antimicrobial for centuries little has been known about its working.

According to the new research led by Jose Ruben

Morones-Ramirez of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Boston University, adding silver to the current antibiotics could help counteract the drugresistant microbes’ rise, the BBC reported.

Silver acts against Gramnegative bacteria, which is one of the two main types of bacteria that are particularly difficult pathogens to treat.

Doctor claims breakthrough in race for spinal ‘cure’

H

ONG KONG - A leading researcher into severe spinal cord injuries on Wednesday said trials for stem-cell therapy showed groundbreaking results in giving immobile patients the ability to walk again.

After progress in a second round of tests using stem cells to regrow nerve fibres, the China Spinal Cord Injury Network (ChinaSCINet) has applied for regulatory approval in China for a third and final phase, which it hopes to start in the autumn.

“This will convince the doctors of the world that

they do not need to tell patients ‘you will never walk again’,” US-based doctor Wise Young, chief executive officer of ChinaSCINet, told AFP.

jecting umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells into patients’ damaged spines to help regenerate nerves, while lithium is used to promote the growth of the nerve fibres.

ChinaSCINet, a non-profit organisation that calls itself the world’s largest clinical trial network for spinal cord therapies, was established in Hong Kong in 2005.

He said that 15 out of 20 patients in the Chinese city of Kunming, who received umbilical cord blood cell transplants and intensive walking therapy, were on average able to walk with minimal assistance seven years after complete spinal cord injury.

Each component of the combination therapy will be tested in the third phase, which Young said would involve 120 patients in China and another 120 across India, Norway and the United States.

“Hong Kong is going to be way ahead of all the other countries if the spinal cord injury trial turns out to be positive,” Young said. “That means Hong Kong will be the centre for stem-cell therapies.”

“If the phase three trial is successful, we should have achieved worldwide regulatory approval by the beginning to the middle of 2015,” he said.

Young also said China is investing heavily into stemcell research, while the technology remains highly controversial in the United States because of the antiabortion camp’s concerns about cells derived from human embryos

“It’s the first time in human history that we can see the regeneration of the spinal cord,” Young said.

The treatment involves in-

North Houston Internal Medicine

C

urcumin is a compound which is present in the spice, turmeric.

Curcumin gives turmeric it’s yellow color. It’s been used in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine for centuries.

There is mounting evidence in the medical literature of it’s use in the prevention and treatment of many diseases.

Curcumin alone is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, but when mixed with oil or pepper, the absorption improves a great deal. It is well tolerated and virtually free of side effects. It can be used liberally in food preparation or may be taken as a capsule, starting at 500mg a day.

In countries like India where turmeric has been traditionally used as a spice, there is a low incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Some of the many effects of Curcumin are:

Breast implant scare: One in four found flawed

P

ARIS - Doctors in France have removed PIP breast implants from more than 16,000 women and found a quarter of the scandal-tainted products had signs of splitting or leakage, a watchdog said on Tuesday.

A total of 16,426 women have had the implants removed since investigators found the devices were twice as likely to rupture as rival brands, and that French manufacturer PIP used industrial silicone to fill them, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) said.

Of the 28,276 implants that have been removed, 7,186, or 25.4 percent, were defective, it said.

Of these, 4,406 showed signs of splitting in the implants’ outer skin, and in 1,976 others, illegal gel was “sweating” through it, the agency said.

The ANSM’s figures apply only to France. An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have received the implants; some 30,000 of them in France.

News of the faulty implants in 2011 sparked fears worldwide, but health officials in various countries have said the prosthetics were not toxic and did not increase the risk of breast cancer.

The ANSM said on Tuesday that it had found 70 cases of breast cancer among women with PIP implants, “but the detected tumours are not associated” with the devices.

PIP founder Jean-Claude Mas, 73, has been charged with manslaughter and fraud.

PIP’s implants have been banned and the company, located near Marseille, southern France, has been wound up.

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BUSINESS

VOICE OF ASIA 20

Friday, June 28, 2013

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

How 12 disruptive technologies could bring $20 trillion innovation opportunity for India

by Hari Pulakkat

A

s global growth slows down, people look towards technology innovation to put it back on track. Over the last two centuries, technology innovation has provided the major impetus for economic growth, but now some economists question whether sustained innovation is possible at such scale, putting long-term global growth into doubt.

Three weeks ago, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) published a report on 12 disruptive technologies that could have a combined economic impact of $20-30 trillion a year by 2025.

“It is not a perfect picture of the future,” says Michael Chui, MGI partner, “but similar technologies have resulted in a lot of economic growth in the past.”

Not all technologies in the list affect India, but some are already making significant impact on the economy, and some others will cause tremendous disruption by 2025. A few others would have begun to make their impact felt within a decade, and then cause big change for a decade or two after that.

We give our pick of those relevant to India, and describe how they will impact the country over the next decade and a half. Says Anu Madgavkar, MGI senior fellow and head in

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Tel: 713-774-5140

IACCGH helps clear the ‘Cloud’ for Small Business

India: “Technological change could have a bigger role in driving India’s GDP impact than in advanced economies, as it can stimulate demand and achieve productivity gains in a variety of low-productivity sectors.”

Immediate Impact Technologies - Mobile Internet - Cloud technology - Knowledge work automation - Internet of things India’s rapidly rising middle class with increased spending power will drive the rapid adoption of many technologies, although India will still not be a leader in technology innovation by global standards. This adoption will drive tremendous change across some sectors. Mobile connectivity and advancing healthcare tech will lead to hospitals monitoring and treating patients continuously, rather than just during hospital visits.

Banking and retail will switch to mobile in a big way. Tablets and digital technology will change how education is delivered in schools and universities. Connected sensors will proliferate, improving agriculture and factory productivity, improving traffic safety, reducing water wastage, and so on.

Automation will disrupt many

L - R: Pankaj Dhume, Pankaj Malani, Gaurav Khandelwal, Dr. Arun pasrija, Suniul Shenoy, Jagdip Ahluwalia. Photo by Bijay Dixit.

business models, particularly outsourcing.

In all these areas, India will remain an adopter rather than an innovator. The share of domestic innovation will of course continue to increase, but the economic impact of technology adoption will be felt more significantly than of innovation over the next decade. Domestic innovation over the decade will be an important factor though, as it will keep the technology gap between India and the innovators to the minimum. (The Economic Times)

T

he Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH) conducted the first in a series of seminars in 2013 based on the topic of Cloud technologies and how small businesses and individuals can benefit from it.

The seminar was held on June 20, 2013 at START Houston and was a big success as it was attended by a capacity-full crowd. IACCGH took this initiative of conducting the seminar based on the feedback from their members and prior survey topics that were sent out.

Needless to say, it is a topic that everyone is currently interested in due to its ubiquitous nature

and rapid rate of adoption. The panelists for the seminar comprised of Dr. Arun Pasrija, President of CHR Solutions; Mr. Gaurav Khandelwal, CEO of ChaiONE; Mr. Pankaj Malani, VP of Unique group of Industries; and was moderated by Mr. Sunil G. Shenoy, Technical Partner Manager from Dell, Inc. After a brief introduction of the IACCGH Charter by Mr. Pankaj Dhume, President and Mr. Jagdip Ahluwalia, Executive Director; Ms. Leah Mayo from START Houston provided a quick background on the concept of START Houston, which provides an incubator environment for entrepreneur individuals in the IT field. The panelists and moderator who

are all from relevant industries then commenced the seminar and provided insights into the various aspects of Cloud including the basic definitions, characteristics, types of clouds and what makes the Cloud so powerful and useful. They then covered the different Cloud applications that small businesses can leverage from a cost savings and revenue generation perspective. Relevant facts about Cloud adoption as well as actual business cases were also discussed. It was a very lively and interesting seminar with continuous interaction from the attendees. A copy of the seminar presentation can be found on the IACCGH website at www.iaccgh.com.

70 per cent Americans unhappy at work Flagship Indian retailer

W

ASHINGTON: A vast majority of US workers - 70 per cent - do not feel engaged or inspired by their jobs, which is costing the country between USD 450-550 billion per year, a new has found.

Researchers in the Gallup study found that only 30 per cent Americans are able to reach their full potential.

Widespread disinterest and unhappiness at the workplace is not only affecting the company performance, but is also costing the US a whopping USD 450 billion to USD 550 billion a year, the 2013 State of the American Workplace Report estimated.

Gallup determined whether America’s 100 million full-

time workers were “engaged,” “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at their jobs, CBS News reported.

Employees who were “engaged” said they are passionate about their work and feel a connection to their company - they are responsible for the most innovation within their organisation.

Workers who were “not en-

gaged” a c t “checked out”, although they put time and effort into their work, t h e y d o n ’ t have energy or passion.

While 30 per cent Americans said they were engaged, about half of them (52 per cent) fall into the latter category.

Those who are “actively disengaged” aren’t just unhappy they act out their unhappiness by undermining what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

As many as 18 per cent of Americans feel this way about

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their job, Gallup study found.

Researchers also found that organisations that are hiring have nearly four times more satisfied employees than companies that are letting go of workers.

The Gallup report concluded that the mood at the office comes from the top down. If managers focused on their employees strengths more, they could double the average of US workers who have strong performance.

“Here’s something they’ll probably never teach you in business school: The single biggest decision you make in your job - bigger than all of the rest - is who you name manager,” said Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton.

(PTI)

opens in Pakistan

KARACHI: Raymond, an Indian suiting and fabrics conglomerate, will on Friday formally open its first shop in Pakistan, where business leaders welcomed it as a step towards closer trade ties between the two countries.

where fashion is a key driver of business.

NexSource Pakistan, which acquired the rights to sell Raymond suiting in Clifton, one of the most upscale neighbourhoods in business capital Karachi, said it was a major acquisition.

NexSource executive Saqib said he believed the enormous Indian market represented massive business opportunities for Pakistan.

“They wanted to bring Raymond to Pakistan and we offered to be their partner,” said one of its directors, Najmus Saqib.

Nexsource say they expect to reap good business after an aggressive advertising campaign in a city whose wealthier residents are sartorially obsessed and

“People are crazy about clothing and dressing, and they already know Raymond,” Saqib said. “We just have to let them know that it is here.”

“We expect a good response (through Raymond) but we believe it is a futuristic investment as we can explore a market 10 times bigger than ours,” said Saqib.

Pakistani business leaders welcome the arrival of the Indian brand, which was founded in 1925 and whose Karachi shop is to be inaugurated formally later on Friday.

FEATURE

VOICE OF ASIA 21

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

Your Horoscope (For week beginning Friday, June 28, 2013)

Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950

As per Indian Vedic Astrology the Moon sign is considered, in which every Rashi has control over certain letters, which are initials of your name. Whereas in Western system of Sun Sign, all the people born in one month belong to the same sign. For example, every year approximately around 21 of March to 20th April, the Sun is moving in the Aries Constellation. So all the people born in that month belong to the Sign of Aries. If you were born in between those two dates then you are a Aries born.

Aries (A,L,E) 21st. March to 20 April Find you reflecting that a recent social activity may have seemed more like work than pleasure. Break the dull cycle and find yourself some emotional excitement. Learn to delegate a little more. As much as you enjoy managing things, someone who reaches out to guide you could prove to be invaluable. Many tasks, errands and several demands upon your time and resources may fill, but appear to go well. There is a ‘threat’ of quarrels within the family, especially with siblings but may more likely take place with/over family members. An enjoyable weekend is indicated but spending does appear to rise sharply starting and ‘adding bit more each day’!

Taurus

(B,V,U) 21 April to 21 May

You realizing that you might need to accept less help than you had hoped. Your longrange plans and ambitions should become clearer as you focus on your career. Your fine sense of talent and beauty will bring you closer to artistic souls. Your sensitivity will help you to weed out impostors in business. Cooperation is good but your day may get somewhat ‘derailed’, especially IF youth, behavior, discipline, with co-members are involved.

Gemini

(K,CHH,GH) 22 May to 21 June

Causes you to use your sense of humor to help take a more objective look at yourself.

You’ll feel more like yourself in the midst of a rapidly changing world. Creative ideas flow that make it easier than usual to express your thoughts. You’ll be negotiating and communicating of all kinds of deals. Cooperation may be poor but progress appears very good and then energies ‘change quickly’ and you may be ‘stonewalled’ for two days but it loosens up again and while ‘a lot of work for a big project’ is indicated, you appear to be successful.

Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 July You will need to use positive ideas to strengthen your social status. Career opportunities will find you through your business network. Put a positive spin on the current mood.

Focusing on deep emotions may tend to turn into negative feelings. Break away from your usual reaction.

Most news for members tends to be good this week, especially in finance, moves, income and employment but be careful how or when you ‘celebrate’ unless ALL members are ‘in a good space’ as there could be those who feel left out or even jealous.

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Find that you’ll disregard superficial answers to your questions. You’ll feel encouraged to probe until you get to the bottom of the situation. You have something in your life that you are passionate about. Now is the time to act on that dream. Stay clear on your purpose and you’ll go far. Your stars show a great deal is ‘brought to you’ and much is expected, if not ‘demanded’ of you, your time, effort and especially ‘cash flow’ particularly in solving ‘need’ and providing repairs, replacements and upgrades. This can be a productive and profitable week but it will NOT be so without a LOT of ‘very hard work’ long hours, high risk and hefty investments.

Virgo (P) 24 August to - 23 September The chance of a misunderstanding if others do not clearly communicate their needs to you. Your ego may require a bit more nurturing and support. There may be manipulation and secrecy in the air. You are in a very suspicious mood that doesn’t make you feel very trusting of others. Cooperation is very good and promises to be ‘even better’ as we go, especially with youth and with members ‘getting what they want’. You are being ‘gifted’, by the cosmos with a ‘wish granted’ and you MAY want to burn it on a member if you don’t use it for yourself; wishing for employment, moves, success and good health are most likely to be granted.

Libra

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(R,T) 24 Sept. to 23 Oct.

Scenario finds you realizing that your past experiences will help you to locate your inner sense of being. Make plans to take a field trip or to travel for business or pleasure. You’ll be bored with the old philosophies and feel the need to search for your own truth. You’ll learn much through your direct experiences. Your week appears filled with emotional discussions, hefty management issues and several errands and expenses. Very enjoyable gatherings and creative, inexpensive enjoyment time is indicated. Food, fun and reunions are likely.

Scorpio (N,Y) 24 Oct. to 23 Nov. Current partnerships or helping, may improve your corporate visibility. They also may be able to provide you with some very sound advice and guidance. You may tend to expose too much of yourself or voice your opinion too openly. Allowing others to see your true self may help your cause. Emotions can go from cozy and easy to confrontational and problematic for a reasonable cross section of yourself, especially with, over or because of other members. Soft peddle response and issues the & things will be ‘neatly back in order’.

Sagittarius

(BH,F,DH,TH) 23. Nov. to 21 Dec.

You are feeling a need to make yourself and your world more attractive. Your keen eye and dramatic flair of style will present an amazing image. Someone close to you may seem to be eager to do battle with you. You’ll learn a great deal about aggression by revealing your true feelings. Your stars show an excellent week with wonderful ‘emotional flow’ and good communications and particularly with youth, in-laws, spouse and siblings. Discussions tend to be long but fruitful and health issues may be essential to address, especially those of elders.

Capricorn

(KH,J) 22 Dec. to 20 Jan.

The change of scenery being be positive for you. You will soon realize is that if you are not happy in some aspect of your life, you’ll need to make some significant changes. You’ll feel an urgency to eliminate negative influences from both your home and workplace. You’ll need to show your reliability and willingness to perform your duties and obligations. A ‘split decision’ or several of them, are likely this week and could lead to long discussions and some ‘change ups or change backs’.

Aquarius (G,S,SH) 21st Jan. to 18th Feb. Needs to be patient and understanding with others and you’ll be able to unravel a mystery. Be very discreet and try not to tell everything you know unless you are sure that it is appropriate. Your steady hard work will reap you greater rewards than you thought. Positive energy will flow into strong alliances that instill peace and serenity into your personal relations. It is essential to give ‘equal time’ to the needs, comments, complaints and issues of each individual member and to ‘see it from their point of view’.

Pisces

(D,CH,Z) 19th Feb. to 20th March

Time will be a positive one for you especially if you are involved in academic work. Your appreciation for the warmth and assurance of a mentor will provide them with much pride. The way words are used can be very important to you. You see deeply below the surface and are aware of nuances that others may try to use information that could be harmful to you. Your week may ‘fly by’ in a haze of errands, emotions and fast ‘flair ups’, with quarrels or clashes, and while this one is FAR more likely to unfold in your career life with coworkers, it doubles IF you run a family business or work with members.

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VOICE OF ASIA 22

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES & ORGANIZATIONS OF HOUSTON - call Voice of Asia 713-774-5140 Shiv Yog Prog: HH Avdhoot Baba Shivanandji, will be conducting a 7-day workshop at Unity Church, 2929 Unity Drive Houston, Texas-77057, beginning June, 26th 2013 to July 3rd 2013.

Website: www.shivyog.com or www.shivyogus.com Weekly meditations of Shiv Yog are conducted in Sugar Land. Call 1-609-474-4808.

Chinmaya Mission Prog: Jnana Yagna from July 6th -July 13th, 2013 with HH Swami Tejomayanada.

Location:10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX77498.

Phone: 832.541.0059.

Website:www.chinmayahouston.org.

Hare Krishna Dham (ISKCON) Prog: Jagannath Ratha-yatra or “Festival of Chariots, will be celebrated at Discovery Green on Saturday, July 13th 2013 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Everyday, 7 Aratis and bhoga offerings daily. Sunday Festival: 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Location: 1320 West 34th St, Houston, TX 77018.

Contact:281-433-1635/E-mail harekrishnadham@gmail.com Website: www.iskconhouston.org

VSNA, Houston Prog: Monthly Mahamane event. Puja, Vachana Sahithya discourses, Aarthi and Prasad Contact: vsnahouston@gmail. com/832-545-1185 (Jyoti Biradar) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VSNA.HOUSTON Website: https://sites.google. com/site/bsusorg/home

IHA 16th National Hindi Adhiveshan is going to be conducted in Houston From Friday August 30 & Saturday Aug. 31 to Sunday September 1, 2013. For information call 281-88-9759 or 281-3820348

QR

Indo-American Charity Foundation (IACF) Prog: Silver Jubilee Celebrations at Hilton Americas on Sept 21st, 2013 . For more information, call Gala Chair Ramesh Cherivirala at 713875-4336.

BAPS Prog: Location: 1150 Brand Rd. Stafford, TX. Contact: 281-765-2277 Web:

Sri Meenakshi Temple Prog: Location: 17130 McLean Road Pearland, TX 77584 Contact: (281) 489-0358

Arsha Vidya Bharati Prog.:Sanskrit classes and special worship sessions for all ages Location: 2918 Renoir, Sugar Land, TX 77479 Contact: 281-606-5607 or AVB. Houston@gmail.com Web-site: https://sites.google. com/site/avbtexas/classes

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Baitus Samee Mosque Prog: Friday Prayer - 1:30 PM Children’s Classes | Interfaith meeting | Location: 1333 Spears Rd, Houston, TX 77067 Imam - Mohammed Zafarullah Contact : Work: 281-875-3400 | Cell: 713-874-4363 Zafarullah_Hanjra@hotmail. com www.Alislam.org

Ashirwad - A Blessing Temple Prog: Regular prog :Sloka Classes for kids and teens.

Location: Katy, Hwy 249 & Sugar Land.

Contact: 281.995.0930/ 281.808.2159

Vedanta Society of Greater Houston Prog: Vedanta teachings Sundays at 10:30 AM Location: at 14809 Lindita Dr. Houston, TX -77083.

Website: www.vedantahouston. org

Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya Temple Temple Hrs: 9 am to noon and 5 to 9 pm.

Sri Astalaksmi puja: 7 pm.

Sri Laksmi Archana will be performed on request all day.

Location:10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX77498.

Phone: 832.541.0059.

Website: www.saumyakasi.org;

ISSO Prog: Darshan daily from 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.; Aarti daily from 7.45 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Location: 10080 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX 77478 Phone: 281-530-2565 Web:

VPSS Houston Prog: Location VPSS Vallabh Hall, 11715 Belfort Village Dr. Houston 77031.

Contact:713-530-2900 Website:www.vpsshaveli.org

Shri Satyanarayan Sai Puja Darshan Prog: Daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Every Thursday Abhishek Location: 16338 Kensington Dr, Ste 110, Sugar Land 77479.

Phone: 713-933-8821 / 9359.

Shri Radha Krishna Temple

Location:14811 Lindita Drive, Houston, TX 77083 Phone: 281-498-5200 Website: www.gurdwaraswh. com

Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple Prog: Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra Parayanam: daily 6.30 p.m. Location:10098 Synott Road. Sugar Land, TX 77478 Phone: 281- 498-2344 Website: www.ashtalakshmi.org

Hindu Worship Society Prog: Open all days except Thursdays (by appt). Regular Puja and Prasad. Sunday Service 11:30 AM to 1:30 Location: 2223 Wirtcrest Lane Houston TX 77055.

Barsana Dham Houston Chapter

Lakshmi Narayan Mandir

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Prog: Location: Chinmaya Prabha, 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land -TX 77498.

Contact: 281.568.1690 Website: www.saumyakasi.org

Sri Guruvayurappan Temple Prog: Bhajans: Sat.7:00 -8:00 p.m.; Sundays 9:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m.Location: 1620 Ormandy Street, Houston, TX 77035 Contact: 713-729-8994

Govindaji Gaudiya Math Prog:Satsang every Sunday evening from 5 - 7 p.m. Vedic heritage classes for kids 5-14.

Location: 16628 Kieth Harrow blvd. Houston, TX 77084 Contact: 281-499-3347/281491-4114.

Sathya Sai Baba Centers Prog: Sundays from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at two locations Locations: Contact: (North) 832-418-3842 or (South) 281-788-4786.

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Prog: Sundays Satsang, BalSanskar Shala, from 11am to 1pm.

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Prog: Sandhya Arati at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday: 9:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m.

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Prog: Annual Family Camp “Understanding Joy & Sorrow” on March 29 - 31, 2013 (Good Friday Weekend) Bellville, TX. Location: 14102 Schiller Road, Houston TX 77082 Phone: 281.596.9642 Website: www.jvbhouston.org

Durga Bari Society

Prog: Every Friday Satsangh from 7:30 pm to 9 pm. Bhajans and Devi Puja, Discourses.

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NARESH SETLUR, CPA Visit our website www.karanika.net

JVB Preksha Meditation Center

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Prog: Location:3845 West Bellfort, St., Sugar Land, TX 77498 Website: www.babamandir.org

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Prog: Free Yoga Classes every Sat/Sun from 8 am to 9:30 am Location: Arya Samaj @Schiller Road.

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VOICE OF ASIA 24

FRIDAY, June 28, 2013