Shawna Pandya clarifies: Not listed for NASA February 10, 2017 18:26
News were circulated about an Indian-origin woman, Shawna Pandya stating that she was shortlisted for NASA. But she denied all the reports that stated being shortlisted for NASA. In a Facebook post she clarified that "The Canadian Space Agencyastronaut selection is ongoing and will be finalized by the end of this year; Pandya said that she was not a part of the selection". She also clarified that she was not a neurosurgeon or an opera singer. Shawna Pandya on her Facebook Post she wrote: Thank you all for your recent well-wishes and support; it is really fantastic to see such enthusiasm for space and exploration. I am many messages behind, but will get to them all in the coming days. In light of the many many media reports and interviews over the past 24 hours, I would just like to make a few clarifications about my work and qualifications, as I have noticed more than a few misstatements. “There has been no new announcement, flight assignment or selection of missions with respect to my work as a citizen-scientist astronaut with Project Possum or The PHEnOM Project”. “I am no more or less likely to fly than any other member of than these projects than I was 24 hours ago”. “I remain, however, a steadfast, committed and dedicated teammate and crew member to the work of both projects”. My work is separate from the work of the Canadian Space Agency and that of NASA, and should not be represented as such. The Canadian Space Agency astronaut selection is ongoing and will be finalized this year; I am not a part of the selection. While I have previously interned at NASA-Johnson Space Center, I have no current affiliation with either organization, and would like to clarify that any reports or articles claiming as such are mistaken. Any articles stating that I am a neurosurgeon are mistaken. I previously trained in neurosurgery for a short period; however, my medical license is in general practice. I am not an opera singer; I have sung opera on stage once. It went well and I would do it again; however, just as boxing once does not a boxer make, neither does that one event makes me an opera singer. I look forward to continuing my work as a physician, speaker and citizen-scientist astronaut and aquanaut, and just as importantly, look forward to continuing my work with outreach and education about these projects.Dr Shawna Pandya is working as a citizen-scientist, astronaut with Project Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere and physiological, health, and environmental observations in Microgravity. Indian-origin doctor performs operation to save woman’s life AMandeep
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Missing Hyderabad NRI found dead in Falaknuma February 10, 2017 17:24
Syed Imran a 35-year-old NRI, who was working with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi had gone missing from Falaknuma, Hyderabad last week was found dead and his body buried at an under-construction house, police said today (February 10). Police on Friday got exhumed the body of Imran, who was employed as the Customer service Officer at National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Police said that he was murdered for having extra marital affair with a city-based woman. Imran’s mother lodged a missing complaint with Falaknuma police on February 4th. She said that her son had gone missing following which police registered a missing case. DCP of south zone V Satyanarayana said during the investigation, police found that Imran had met a lady at Rythu Bazzar (Vegetable Market) in Falaknuma and he left with her on a two-wheeler on 4th February. During the investigation, Saif Bin Sabeth Barabood said to police that the missing person was having an extra-marital affair with the wife of his elder brother Sayeed Bin Sabeth Barabood and also his elder sister. Sayeed Bin Sabeth Barabood was working as a servant in Qatar Army, when came back to Hyderabad. DCP explained that when Sayeed met his younger brother, he was informed about the extra-marital affair of Syed Imran with his wife and sister. Then Sayeed plotted a plan along with his brother Said Bin and his wife, they lured Imran through his wife to Rythu Bazaar from where they went to Jamalbanda, DCP said. "They later murdered Imran by cutting his throat with a knife after sprinkling chili powder in his eyes and caused his instantaneous death and buried his body," the senior police officer said. He further added that the investigation was in progress to bring-out the total facts and to unravel a conspiracy hatched by the accused persons. Indian-origin ordered to pay alimony to ex-wife AMandeep
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Indian-Origin Doctor Performs Operation to Save Woman’s Life February 10, 2017 10:35
An Indian-origin saved the life of a young mother with what is believed to be the world’s first radical procedure. Mellissa Benoit a 32-year-old was born with cystic fibrosis and had developed a rampaging lung infection that spread throughout her body. Dr. Shafique Kehavje is an Indian-origin athoracic surgeon; he has years of experience at the forefront of innovative research into lung transplantation. Dr. Kehavjee said, operation was the only option, he explained that for the first time ever they had a patient in their intensive care with no lungs. In fact, she was technically on an artificial lung, an artificial heart and an artificial kidney for six days. Dr. Keshavjee and his 13 member surgeons and specialist team kept Benoit alive by the state of the art technology that oxygenated and circulated her blood, until organs from donors became available. Benoit said “You really come from the brink of death to living at home." But she was just so grateful and happy to be home. In the latest issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery issued the medical team’s report. She also said "I never thought I would be able to walk. And here, I am walking." Indian-origin led Star-up launched overseas transaction AMandeep
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Indian origin led startup launched overseas transaction platform February 09, 2017 17:16
A financial technology startup based in Singapore by an NRI today launched an online platform by which people can transfer funds to India cheaply. SingX Pte Ltd is planning to expand its services from Singapore to allow online money transfer to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia, where it holds licenses along with other countries. The app was launched in mid January 2017, using the service Singapore based consumers can transfer money to Indian consumers at fraction of charges. They claimed that it would be a fraction of what consumers typically pay money transfer through regular banking charges. SingX is backed by some of the country’s most experienced bankers, the foreign exchange platform can help consumers and small/medium sized enterprises save up to 90% of remittance charges. Atul Gard the SingX’s Principal Founder and CEO said that the company wants to create the Airbnb of global payments with the Country’s first peer-to-peer foreign exchange platform. Garg said that they their targets are consumers and SMEs, the segments they believe are undeserved and consumers are paying higher rates of remittance. SingX’s technology will provide them with a smarter way of moving their funds, swiftly, smoothly and cheaply. Consumers no longer have to stand in bank queue’s or fill up the forms. Sid is of Indian-origin in Singapore with over 25 years of baking and payment experience. According to a report in 2016 by the Boston Consulting Group commissioned by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, estimates cross border payments at USD 30 trillion and growing at 10 per cent. The estimated revenues from cross border payments are USD 300 billion. Indian-origin awarded UK’s top honour in Mathematics AMandeep
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Indian-origin awarded with UK’s top honour in Mathematics February 08, 2017 11:59
An Indian-origin has been elected ‘Fellows of the of Mathematics and its Applications in the United Kingdom on January 26th. The honour recognizes outstanding contribution to the advancement of mathematics. Bishnujee Singh is the CEO of Cayley Aerospace Inc, he is also a chartered mathematician of the same institute and also the first ever aeronautical engineer to be conferred as a chartered scientist with the United Kingdom’s Science Council. He was also awarded EUR ING Award from FEANI Brussels in 2011, Bishnujee became the first ever engineer from India to receive this award. NRI and team creates Guinness world record AMandeep
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Indian-origin ordered to pay alimony to ex-wife February 08, 2017 11:15
An Indian-origin banker Amit Goyal in the United Kingdom has been ordered to pay alimony to his ex-wife from his pension funds, which he had transferred out of India, in a high court ruling that has been described as a “landmark.” Justice Mostyn said in his ruling last month that “there were powerful reasons for making a supplementary periodical payments order in the favour of the wife. The Goyal vs Goyal case in the Family Division involves a long-running divorce battle between Amit 39-year-old and his ex-wife Ankita Goyal 35-year-old and also strikes a blow at attempts by divorcing spouses trying to conceal their assets overseas. Under the order, Ankita will receive new periodical payments of around 5,200 pounds every year, which is 100 pounds per week. Judge added that it was a very small sum of objectively, but will be a meaningful sum for her as she will attempt to rebuild her life and support their child. The order will end, if she remarries, which she hopes to do. According to the Britain law a pension may be divided between divorcing spouses by means of a pension sharing order pursuant to the Matrimonial Causes under the Act 1973. But a previous judgment court appeal in the case ruled that pension sharing pursuant to Section 24B did not apply to foreign pensions. Amit appealed in the court that it was not possible for the court to make a pension sharing order in respect of overseas pension. While his ex-wife Ankita failed to show that the pension sharing order would be enforceable in India. However, the latest court ruling decided that it was open to order the UK-based husband to make payments from the annuity to the wife as maintenance payments. Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors represented Ankita on a pro bono basis said that it was a landmark judgment in a long running financial remedy case which relates to a foreign pension which the husband had transferred out of the UK to India. Amit claimed that he had transferred his pension annuity to a friend in India to satisfy a debt. But the court disbelieved his claim and concluded the story was a barefaced lie. Amit and Ankita were married in 2004 before separating in 2011; they have a 9-year-old daughter. Previously a judge ordered Amit to hand over his remaining assets to his ex-wife Ankita. However, they have been locked in legal battles for years now, something the judge in the latest ruling expressed his regret about. NRI and team creates Guinness world record AMandeep
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NRI and Team Creates Guinness World Record February 07, 2017 10:17
Suneet Jain a 24-year-old mechanical engineer, joined Chrysalis Entrepreneur from India in Koh Tao, Thailand to break the ‘Guinness world record for the longest human chain underwater with an amazing 182 scuba divers. Previously the record was held by 173 divers from Italy. The attempt to create a record was planned with Absolute Scuba in India and took place at Coral Grand Resort, Sairee Beach, Koh Tao. 140 meters were the total length of the human chain. From an age group of 8-year-old to 58-year-old participated in the chain, more than 30 people were non-swimmers and several in the team were first-time scuba divers. The team overcame several challenges, which included recruiting and training more than 200 people, scouting a perfect location and organizing a large scuba diving in a foreign country. However, after six months of planning the team failed in their practice attempt Because of many divers were not familiar with salt water. Overnight the team replaced several divers created a winning dive plan to set this spectacular record, demonstrating their belief and proved to the world that ‘nothing is impossible’. The goal of this world record attempt was to inspire ordinary people to extraordinary accomplishments Suneet now plans to use his engineering skills for his next Guinness world record. He has a few ideas and is already working out their feasibility. Indian-American boy may change the world with his new invention AMandeep
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Indian-American boy may change the world with his new invention February 06, 2017 09:53
Chaitanya Karamchedu an Indian-American boy from Portland, Oregon found a cheap and easy way to convert clean water from salt water. Karamchedu is studying in Jesuit High School/Portland State University, he used a desalination technique based on hydrogel and used saponified starch grafted polyacrylamide’s hydrophilic properties to harvest fresh water. The following process does not require thermal or electrical energy filtered water has comparable conductivity of 306.32 µS/cm which is comparable to the conductivity of distilled water at 200 µS/cm. The revolutionary process has negligible pre-treatment and post-treatment cost makes it available on a small scale, especially for the area which is prone to a lack of fresh water. While testing it was found that the water had a total dissolved solids concentration of 513 mg/L which is within the standards of World Health Organisation (WHO) at less than 600 mg/L, compared to 35,000 mg/L for sea water. According to the details obtained from analysis the water contained 25.8 mg/L of sodium and 36 mg/L of chloride. The relevant EPA secondary concentration levels (aesthetic standards) for sodium is 20 mg/L and for chloride is 250 mg/L. The process yielded over 70% of fresh water and also produced a commercially useful fertilizer, CaSO4, as a byproduct. The sea water contains 19,000 mg/L chloride and 10,500 mg/L sodium Karamchedu stated that one in every eight people does not have access to clean water, it is an issue which is very important to be addressed. He said the best access to water was from the sea, the planet is covered with 70 percent of the ocean, scientist have looked at desalination, but it is too much costly to be implemented on a large scale and was also not accessible to all the places. Karamchedu’s biology teacher Dr. Lara Shamieh said People are concentrated on that 10 percent of water, which is bonded with salt and no one looks at the 90 percent that is free. Karamchedu just looked at the problem and said why to focus on the 10 percent if only 10 percent is bonded and 90 percent is free, let's ignore it and focus on 90. Karamchedu work does not end with cleaning salt water, he also has interests in other fields too such as in curing cancer. Karamchedu is currently working with his teachers on the same subject. Suppermassive black hole 660 million times larger than Sun AMandeep
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Indian-origin pleaded guilty to money laundering February 03, 2017 09:55
An Indian-origin businessman in the United States was sentenced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money for a marijuana dealer. 39 years old Krishen Sauble Iyer is the owner of the insurance company “Health Shield”, knew the dealer identified only as SV, a marijuana trafficker when he decided to work with him, US Attorney Phillip A Talbert said. According to the court documents, they both made a deal that SV would transfer the drug proceeds to his insurance company, and those funds would then be paid back to SV to make the drug proceeds appear to be legitimate salary payments. Talbert was quoted as saying by the Fresno Bee that Iyer issued two Form 1099s to SV, which claimed that the business paid him $111,952 in 2013 and $164,000 in 2014. This deal gave the illusion of legitimate salary payments, for which Iyer received commission for transferring the money Krishen Sauble Iyer is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 this year, in which he can face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000. Indian National Charged with smuggling drugs into US AMandeep
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Indian national charged with smuggling drugs into US February 02, 2017 10:35
An Indian national, who was extradited to the United States from Kenya, has been charged for his participation in a major narcotics importation scheme from suppliers in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami 55-year-old along with Baktash Akasha 40-year-old, Ibrahim Akasha 28-year-old and a Pakistani citizen Gulam Hussein 61-year-old, were charged for their participation in a narcotics importation conspiracy and were brought to the United States from Kenya. Following a request from the United States they four were charged with four counts of conspiring to import drugs and methamphetamine into the US. Each count carries a minimum prison sentence for 10 year and a maximum sentence of life in prison. They four were arrested in Mombasa, Kenya on 2014 November. They were charged in a superseding indictment with narcotics importation offenses based on their delivery of 99kg of heroin and two kilograms of methamphetamine in Kenya, which they intended would be imported into the US. Bharara said the four ran a drug trafficking organization in Kenya with their global ambitions to distribute tons of narcotics - heroin and methamphetamine - around the globe, including to the United States. From March 2014 through the date of their arrested, it is conspired that the four men have imported a large quantities of drugs into the United States. Baktash Akasha is the leader of an organized crime in Kenya, which responsible for the production and distribution of large quantities of drugs within Kenya and throughout the African continent. It is alleged that Goswami managed the whole drug business of Akasha along with the production and distribution of methamphetamine and the procurement and distribution of heroin. Hussein was a long-time associate of Goswami, who headed a transportation network that distributes massive quantities of drugs throughout the Middle East and Africa, and also has acknowledged the responsibility for transporting tons of kilograms of drugs by sea. For several months the defendants supplied multi-kilograms of drugs to individuals they thought were the representatives of a South American drug-trafficking organization, but in fact they were working confidentially under the supervision of the Drug enforcement Administration. They negotiated on behalf of the Akasha Organization and agreed to procure and distribute hundreds of kilos of drugs from their suppliers in Afghanistan and Pakistan and also to produce and distribute hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine, which they thought would be imported into the United States Indian-origin woman humiliated at Frankfurt AMandeep
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Indian-origin charged for impersonating US tax official February 02, 2017 09:44
An Indian-origin and another person were charged for allegedly impersonating US tax officials and falsely representing victims from the department to send payments to their bank accounts and debit cards. Abhijeetsinh Jadeja 29 years of Miami, Florida and Rachel Jean Roragen a 41 years old of Miami Beach were charged for 12 count indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices and aggravated identity on 27th January, Wifredo A Ferrer a Southern Florida federal prosecutor said on Tuesday (31st Jan). To allegations contained in the indictment, between the year January 2014 and March 2016, Jadeja and Roragen's co-conspirators impersonated officials from the IRS in the United States and other agencies. During the telephone calls Jadeja and Roragen falsely represented to individual victims that they owed money to the IRS or fees on loans or grants. To satisfy their alleged debts, victims were fraudulently induced to send payments to bank accounts and debit cards that were under the control of Jadeja, Roragen and their conspirators. Assistant US Attorney Daya Nathan is prosecuting the case. Indian-origin woman 6th victim to die in Australia car rampage AMandeep
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Indian-origin woman 6th victim to die in Australia car rampage February 01, 2017 18:08
An Indian-origin woman in Australia has become the 6th victim of an intentional Australia road rampage. Bhavita Patel a 33 year old died in hospital on Monday night (Jan 30) after she was critically injured in an accident on a busy street in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city. Bhavita Patel worked as a director at a global accounting firm in Melbourne. Media reports said doctors tried to save Patel, but as her condition did not improve, she lay unresponsive in hospital. Patel was walking to her office, when she was hit by a car, which rammed into several people on the Bourke Street, killing 5 people, including 2 children on the spot and injuring 31 others. Graham Ashton, chief commissioner of Victoria confirmed that vehicle driver was on a bail and had a drug related history, he intentionally plowed into pedestrians. Patel’s brother said that he and his parents were left broken, but they appreciate the love receiving from people. Patel attended the Australian National University in Canberra and worked as an accountant and adviser for the federal government before she moved to Melbourne to work with Deloitte. Deloitte Australia chief executive Cindy Hook paid his tributes to Patel as an "outstanding" member of the company's national advisory teams Hook said that they were deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague, Bhavita Patel. The police said, nine patients still remain in hospital and one is still in critical condition. 26 years old Dimitrious Gargasoulas the accused driver was charged with five counts of murder. Gargasoulas is being remanded in custody and ordered to face court via video link in August. Indian-origin Kal Penn raised funds after mocked on Social media AMandeep
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