Under the bill, which was introduced a week and a half ago, youths who complete high school or the equivalent would earn conditional legal status. They then would be given six years to earn a college degree, complete trade school training or join the military. After that, the immigrants' status would become permanent, clearing the way for them to seek U.S. citizenship, reports Kentucky based newspaper The Courier-Journal on Sunday.

About 50,000 undocumented (illegal) immigrants graduate from high schools annually, according to Senator Lugar

"However, without legal status, they cannot secure a job or afford to attend college," he said in a statement. "This measure will provide these young people with an incentive to move towards permanent residency while pursuing an education or other worthwhile service."

Post Sept 11, many South Asian children, with or without their parents have either gone back or moved to Canada, having taken political asylums or waiting to get their cases approved by Canadian authorities.

The bill, if passed, would particularly benefit undocumented desi  immigrant students in New York, California and few other states which allow their schooling.

Senators Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, and Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, are co-sponsors with Lugar of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. Lugar, 73 is Indiana's longest serving senator, is one of the most popular politicians in state history and  appears poised for a stroll to a sixth term, says one news report.


Pakistani-American activist picked up by FBI
Nov 26: A prominent activist of the Pakistani community in Texas was arrested this week apparently for not having proper legal status for staying in the United States.

Khalid Ali was talking to a group of friends outside the Shahnai restaurant in Houston, Texas, when some FBI officials approached him and asked him to accompany them.

“They told us that he is wanted for some investigation,” said Tariq Khan, one of the friends Mr Ali was talking to when taken into custody. “They gave no further information.”

Later, some friends learned that the FBI was investigating his status in the US. Although he was arrested on Tuesday night, his friends have not been able to get more information about the action, partly because of the long Thanksgiving holidays in the United States.



NRI is Asian 2005
London, Nov. 25: Social activist and fund-raiser Surina Narula followed in the footsteps of other NRIs like entrepreneurs Lord Swraj Paul and Sir Gulam Noon to be named the Asian of the Year 2005 at the annual Asian Who’s Who awards ceremony here on Thursday evening. Co-chairman and trustee of the Consortium of Street Children, a network of over 40 UK-based development agencies, the London-based campaigner was picked by the Who’s Who panel of NRI businessmen and politicians for her work with street children around the world, including the slums of India.

“I accept this award as a recognition of all the work achieved by the charities I am associated with and as a reminder of all that remains to be done,” Ms Narula said as she accepted the trophy. (Deccan Chronicle)


Canada sets $920 million for immigrants
Funding will go into language training, job counseling and helping Ontario recruit qualified immigrants for specific labor-market needs

NOV 25: Ottawa has pledged to quadruple immigration funding to Ontario in a $920-million (Canadian dollars) deal, announced Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Joe Volpe. The money will be spent over the next five years for a settlement program in the province of Ontario.

Of the thousands of new immigrants who come to Canada each year, more than half, or about 125,000, make their homes in Ontario. The Ontario government has long complained that it doesn’t get enough funding to help these new immigrants.

Ontario receives $800 for each immigrant while Quebec receives $3,800. With the new deal, Ontario’s funding per immigrant will increase to $3,400 over the next five years.

According to the 2001 census, about 27 percent of Ontario residents and 42 percent of people living in Toronto were born outside Canada. Toronto receives about 30 per cent of Canada's immigrants.

The $920m funding, part of the first-ever comprehensive agreement between the governments of Ontario and Canada, will help ease the transition for newcomers into Canadian society. Funding will go into programs such as language training and job counseling.

The agreement will formalize how the two levels of government work together on immigration. It will also see the development of the Ontario Provincial Nominee Program that will allow Ontario to recruit qualified immigrants for specific labor-market needs.

In a press conference, Volpe denied the funding announcement was an election promise and said that the deal is a “contractual obligation” that won’t change if there’s a change in federal government.

Halal Turkey
NOV 23: For most Americans, the Thanksgiving turkey hunt starts and ends by opening a supermarket freezer door and heaving a shrink-wrapped bird reminiscent of a cannonball into a shopping cart.

But when it comes to buying the poultry Halal that would serve party of six or eight Thursday, many Muslim Americans and immigrants go to Morsy Farm, an unassuming, single-story building on the corner of 69th Street and South Central Avenue in South LA that looks more like a burger joint than a slaughterhouse.

At this slaughterhouse, customers get to pick the bird and watch it get killed, plucked and cleaned - all halal. Customers say they prize the freshness of the turkeys, and the reasonable prices. A family of six can be fed with a six-pound bird for less than ten dollars.

It is this loyal clientele that has kept owner Samy Morsy in business since he opened in 2002. Thanksgiving? Well, that's gravy. Business picks up during the holidays, but his core business is selling live and halal chickens and the occasional rabbit.

Morsy also is an immigrant. He came to the United States in 1994 from Egypt, where he was a police officer. His brother, who was in the abattoir business back home, opened a poultry shop on the corner of Alameda Street and Florence Avenue and taught Morsy the trade.

Today, Samy Morsy is so deft with his 12-inch chef knife that it seems that he could turn a turkey into a hood ornament if he were asked to.

With his rail-thin body and leathery face, the 50-year-old Morsy always seems to be clutching the next cigarette he's going to smoke. His visage instantly brightens when a customer, often with children, walks in.

Morsy spent $150,000 to outfit the building with equipment and cages. The plumbing system that funnels blood and waste to a tank cost $50,000. After the birds are killed with an eight-volt electric knife, they're placed into a tub of scalding water. The tub looks like a stainless steel Jacuzzi that appears to fill up with yellow soup and feathers as the day goes on. The animals are then tossed into what can be best described as a lidless spin dryer. Feathers go flying from holes cut out of the sides.

The waiting area by the entrance displays a spice rack, a refrigerator with soda and a freezer with ice-cream bars. Two windows provide a view of the birds in their cages. Chickens and turkeys sit behind glass and a free-standing cardboard advertisement for an ice-cream drumstick.

Two Muslim women walked in and went out back, carefully surveyed the white turkeys and chose two 13-pounders.

Morsy, who is trained in the preparation of halal meat, brought the birds inside and brandished his gleaming, 12-inch knife. Then he bent one of the turkey's necks backward. He slit its throat, saying a few Arabic words, "Allahu Akbar."

The women, who declined to give their names, said they were making a traditional American meal with stuffing and pumpkin pie.

As for Morsy, his Thanksgiving dinner will include a Middle Eastern spiced lasagna and mashed potatoes. But that's all the detail he had.

"I don't go into the kitchen," he said. "I don't know what goes on in there."

Though ethnic families have long adopted Thanksgiving as their own, they also have used the best of their own cuisines to solve the age-old conundrum of turkey — a bird oft-criticized for dryness and flavorlessness. (Credit Source: LA Times)



`Smarter R Us´
NOV 22: Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China experience what's called a "drain brain" when all their most intelligent and well-educated citizens leave for places like the United States to pursue better opportunities. What many anti-immigrant organizations in the west don't seem to agree on is that 'their loss is our gain.' For every engineer, doctor, nurse or researcher that a South Asian country loses to the States, America becomes that much more competitive in technology, medicine and other critical areas.

Data released recently by the US Census Bureau shows that immigrants who arrived over the past four years are better educated than those who arrived in the late nineties. Likewise, children of immigrants are doing better economically than their parents and they have higher professional skills. The government's survey conducted in March 2004 shows that over 34 million people in the U.S. were born outside this country. The bulk of immigrants since 2000 have come from Latin America (59 percent) and Asia (23 percent), about 6 million altogether.

The number of high school dropouts since 2000 compared to the number between 1995 and 2000 fell slightly, and the number of college graduates increased by about two percent since 2000 compared to the number between 1995 and 2000. Among Hispanic immigrants since 2000, about 13 percent had a bachelor's degree, compared to Asian immigrants whose number is almost 65 percent.



Quake "unites" US-based desis
Johns Hopkins students of Pakistani and Indian origin unite
to raise funds for Oct 8 earthquake affected.

NOV 21: Participants at a recent fundraiser at the World Bank, saw Pakistani American and Indian American students working together to plead the case of the Oct 8 quake affected. The two communities, it was noted, rarely agree on a single issue. The event was organized by the Committee for Global Relief (CGR), in collaboration with the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at John Hopkins University. Besides Pakistan Ambassador Jehangir Karamat, those attending were diplomats from Sri Lanka, India and Afghanistan; US State Department and World Bank officials, former diplomats Robin Rafel and Karl Inderfurth, Dr. Jessica Einhorn, dean, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and Dr. Walter Andersen, Director SAIS; former WB official Karl D. Jackson, and Theresa Rhodes, chief of CARE.

There have been other relief drives, "but this certainly was unique"
in that it was the first organized effort "to link" the Indian American
and Pakistani American community "for a project involving both India
and Pakistan," said Dr. Walter Andersen of SAIS.

The Committee, comprising very young and savvy professionals from the Indian American and Pakistani American communities has had in several areas to invent the wheel, but they have worked hard and there were early signs of success in this venture.  "They intend to be a continuing organization because the worst may be yet to come to Kashmir as winter descends on this region of high mountains, and because there is no other similar group to link the two communities in the US," Dr. Andersen added.

The fundraiser was unique in several ways. A moving 12-minute video titled: 'A Catastrophe of Unparalleled Proportions' with a message 'We are determined to rebuild'- was shown. It contained powerful glimpses of widespread destruction, mud sliding, emotions, instinct to live and distribution of relief goods in the far flung areas of the rugged terrain.

Pradeep, the visiting Sri Lankan 'sitar' artist, made the occasion
even more sober by playing 'song of separation', 'a song of heartbreak,' and, 'loss of a loved one-' all in a brief sitting. The ending of theraga on the strings was on a note of hope- as a tribute to the human spirit- which has the strength to overcome adversity and an instinct to survive.

Pradeep Ratnayake told APP later that the massive 7.6 earthquake
was Tsunami of the Himalayas."So, it was not an occasion to play mix
blend of Sri Lankan folk melodies with jazz or blues, which has been
my passion."

In her welcome address, Amina Khan of CGR said "our initiative is to do
something positive about human suffering- which has prompted
collaboration between the Pakistani American and the Indian American
communities." She termed this collaboration as "decidedly an American
experience."

Sanjit Shah also of CGR said, "today, we have come together Indian American and Pakistani American communities- working in cooperation towards a common cause. We had the lofty goal of raising 50,000 dollars- which we have surpassed already."

Sumnath also of CGR said the initiative has the acceptance and support of the academic community, legislators and officials of the WB. "The world class academic institution, like Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Science took on this opportunity to partner with us, because, they saw four committed professionals focused on one thought."

Pakistan Ambassador to USA Jehangir Karamat praised the remarkable representation at the event. This tragedy which has struck, he stated, "has seeds of something bigger- hopefully, for the betterment of South Asia. People of old age might not grasp it fully yet, though, the younger people do. "He expressed his support for the initiative.

Sri Lankan diplomat Ravinatha Aryasinha said "For us in Sri Lanka, when two people come together, that's a moment of celebration. And today, it is in that spirit that we are so glad to be here participating in this event of significance."  (APP)



Desi Cabbie Finds $350k in Diamonds, Returns Them to Owner
NOV 21: A pouch of diamonds left in a taxi could have gone a long way toward helping a Los Angeles cab driver achieve his dreams. But he didn't keep the diamonds. He contacted the passenger who left them. It turns out they belonged to a New York jeweler, and were worth 350-thousand dollars.

The cabbie, Haider Sediqi, discovered the pouch after dropping off a passenger at Los Angeles International Airport. When he opened it, he found about 100 diamonds, plus a cell phone bill. He called the number and arranged to meet the owner at the airport police station to return the diamonds.

The desi cabbie is an Afghan immigrant with two children and a pregnant wife. He says he never considered keeping the gems — even though his wife loves diamonds and he dreams of opening a restaurant. In his words, "God is up there. He always watches."