Fourteen-year-old Deepika Kurup of Indian origin won ‘America’s Young Scientist’ title on Tuesday.

Kurup, who lives in Nashua, Boston, won the prestigious award along with a cash prize of $25,000 for designing an affordable water purifier that runs on solar power.

She intends to use a part of her award to deploy her prototype in countries facing shortage of potable water such as India. Kurup’s parents hail from Trivandrum in Kerala.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-19/us-canada-news/34583351_1_indian-origin-solar-power-zinc-oxide

Nila Madhab Panda’s ‘Jalpari’ is going places. After winning the MIP Junior Kids Jury Award at Cannes and receiving the Audience Choice Award in Minsk International Film Festival in Belarus, the film has now been submitted as a direct entry to the Oscars.

The movie based on the various predicaments that a girl child encounters in rural India, also addresses the divide between rural and urban India. “About 17 Indian films are competing for India’s official entry in the foreign film category, but unfortunately, only one film can go. Jalpari’s original story and concept are the USP of the film. It has a blazing subject combined with powerful performances which makes it worthy of a direct entry for the Academy Awards,” said Sushil Kumar Agrawal, producer of the film.

Hollywood actress Kristen Stewart has expressed a desire to work in a Bollywood film with Hrithik Roshan.

“If someone offers me a good script, I would love to work in a Bollywood film. I would love to work with Hrithik Roshan. He is such a wonderful actor and so good-looking,” Stewart said in a statement here.

“In fact, if I have a boy, I would want him to look like Hrithik Roshan, but with Rob’s (her real-life boyfriend and on-screen husband) eyes,” she said.

There was a buzz in B-town some two years back that filmmaker Shekhar Kapur wanted to cast ‘Twilight’ in his ambitious project ‘Paani’ opposite Hrithik.

Kristen, who shot to fame playing Bella Swan in Twilight and its sequel ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’, ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’, ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is looking forward to the release of ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2’.

“Bella as a character has received a lot of criticism for being a throwback heroine, because she sacrifices so much for her man. I strongly disagree. In fact, you have someone who is stronger than the guy she is with, emotionally,” she said.

On playing an 18-year-old mother to a six-year-old child in ‘The Twilight Saga’, she said, “That is something I’m going to miss the most. I did not realise I had such a strong maternal instinct until I played mother to Mackenzie (Renesme). It was surreal.”

Ask her when she realised that ‘Twilight’ series has changed her life, Kristen says, “‘Twilight’ changed my daily life instantly. I was no one (before the film released). I was a kid. I had just turned 18. The day the movie came out in the tabloids, the next day there were images of me.”

Directed by Bill Condon ‘Breaking Dawn 2’ stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in the lead roles. The film releases on November 23.

AMRITSAR: Sikh NGO, United Sikhs has asked the FBI to declare Wisconcin Gurdwara tragedy as an act of hate and take constructive action to prevent future similar acts. Staff Attorney, International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy, United Sikhs, Manmeet Singh informed TOI on Thursday that “unless this fact is acknowledged, measures cannot be taken to address it.” He informed that Teresa Carlson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Milwaukee office, announced on November 20 that the agency had finished its probe into the Oak Creek,Wisconsin shooting on August 5, this year, that killed six Sikh worshppers and injured four individuals. He informed that the FBI concluded that the shooter, Wade Michael Page, acted alone. They found no evidence that he had help or was carrying out any orders from any white supremacist group.
He said, Teresa also stated that nothing in this attack suggests any ongoing threat to the Sikh community and the events that transpired on August 5 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin serve as a stark reminder that despite having coexisted in US for more than a century, the Sikh identity was not accepted. “And it is this fact that should concern everyone,” he said.

“The shooting that occurred in Wisconsin shows us that we have allowed individuals such as Wade Michael Page, a “frustrated neo-nazi”, who led a white supremacist music group, to steer the direction of US. He used his privilege as a white supremacist member of society to show US that diversity must be counteracted with violence, hate, and ethnic cleansing”, he said, adding that this was not the message that they wanted to send to the world, or to our children.

He went on to add that no one was oblivious of the fact that the massacre was fueled by hate. “We want FBI to acknowledge this fact, akin to the statement issued by attorney general Eric Holder on August 10 where he called the attack a “hate crime”.

Washington, Nov 21 (IANS) Autar Kaw, an India−born professor of mechanical engineering at the University of South Florida, is among the four recipients of the 2012 US Professor of the Year award.
The sponsors US Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching declared Kaw, a USF professor for 25 years, Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor.
This annual prestigious award recognises exceptional professors for their ability to engage and influence students, according to a media release from the Tampa Florida based university.
Kaw, an early adopter of new technologies and social media to teach complex mathematical calculations, is one of four professors − selected from more than 300 nominees − to receive the award that is considered the nation’s highest honour for undergraduate teaching.
Kaw is known to tens of thousands of engineering students around the world as the “Numerical Methods Guy” through his Holistic Numerical Methods Institute website, his blog and YouTube video lectures.
He has dedicated his career to eliminating one of the most significant obstacles to engineering students being successful by providing students everywhere free access to supplemental lessons, the release said.
“Dr Kaw’s selection reaffirms what the University of South Florida and his students have long known about this exceptional professor and outstanding individual: his commitment to education and his dedication to his students knows no bounds,” said USF President Judy Genshaft.
Kaw is a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the American Society of Engineering Education.
In 2011, he was awarded the National Outstanding Teaching Medal from the American Society for Engineering Education. A prolific writer, he has authored four text books and scores of academic articles.
Born in India, Kaw received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India, and his master’s and PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Clemson University.
Kaw said his use of technology stems from a basic concern for student learning: he saw students struggling with the same concepts semester after semester. If that was happening in his classroom, it was probably happening elsewhere, he surmised

London, Nov 17 : Mining firm Anglo American and cement maker Lafarge have sold one of the UK’s biggest concrete plants to Indian business tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
The Indian-origin steel tycoon purchased Lafarge, and AA’s assets for 272 million pounds.
According to the Daily Express, among other assets the deal includes Anglo-owned Tarmac’s 50 per cent stake in Midland Quarry Products, one of the country’s biggest hard rock suppliers.
The sale was a condition by the Competition Commission to allow Tarmac and Lafarge to combine their building materials activities in a joint venture.
According to the report, Mittal said the business deal reflected his confidence in UK growth.

Washington, Nov 19 (IANS) Indian−American astronaut Sunita Williams has returned to earth after 127 days in space with a new record under her belt − the most spacewalking time by a female at 50 hours and 40 minutes over seven career excursions.
Williams, who was commander of Expedition 33 on the International Space Station returned home with two space−going colleagues aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule that landed at 8:56 p.m. Sunday night northeast of Arkalyk in the steppes of Kazakhstan, according to US space agency NASA.

Williams has logged 322 days during two space flights making her second on the list of most experienced US female astronauts. She also holds the record of longest spaceflight (195 days) for female space travellers.
Daughter of an Indian−American father from Gujarat and a Slovenian mother, Williams is the second woman of Indian origin to have been selected by NASA for a space mission after Kalpana Chawla and the second astronaut of Slovenian heritage after Ronald M. Sega.
Williams, Aki Hoshide of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko spent 125 of their 127 days in space circling Earth onboard the ISS. The trio blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15.
While on the outpost, they welcomed SpaceX’s Dragon capsule making its first official cargo delivery, which included fresh apples and chocolate−vanilla swirl ice cream.
Williams and Hoshide also carried out two spacewalks.
Kevin Ford, the new ISS commander and his crewmates−Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin−will run the outpost as they await the arrival of three more crew members, including American Tom Marshburn, in December

London, Nov 21 (IANS) The University of Cambridge is inviting applications from Indian students for three Manmohan Singh Scholarships to study for PhD and MPhil courses starting in the autumn of 2013.
The scholarship was launched in 2007 in the name of India’s prime minister, who studied and achieved a First in Economics at St John’s College in the late 1950s. Three scholarships are awarded every year, each worth 35,000 pounds.
University sources said that the three holders of the scholarship in the current academic year are Parama Ghoshall (studying for a PhD in chemical engineering) and Nishit Srivastava and Sudhir Rama Murthy, both researching in the field of engineering.
The closing date for applications for 2013 scholarships is Dec 31, 2012.
The Manmohan Singh Scholarship is exclusively for Indian students based in India when they apply for PhD and MPhil degrees at St John’s College in areas such as science and technology, economics and social sciences.
The main sponsor for the scholarship for this year is the BP Foundation. Sponsors in previous years included Rolls Royce India and Tata and Sons. The scholarship programme is administered by the British Council in New Delhi.

New Delhi, Nov.20 (ANI): South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and the University of Adelaide launched a new scholarship for outstanding Indian teachers on 19 November at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi.
“This scholarship offers to Indian teachers the potentially life-changing experience in the form of an international scholarship,” Mr Weatherill said.
“South Australia is home to nearly 20,000 people of Indian origin and we host nearly 5000 Indian students so it is an increasingly important market for us,” added Mr Weatherill.
Speaking at the launch, Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner, Dr Lachlan Strahan said “education and knowledge are front and centre of the Australia-India relationship.”
“This new scholarship, made possible through the generosity of Professor Ashok Kurana, will assist in building the knowledge partnership between our two countries by allowing one dedicated Indian teacher to undertake a Master of Education in Australia each year before returning to India to share their experience with others.”
University of Adelaide Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic) Professor Pascale Quester said the Ashok Khurana Scholarship would not only benefit the successful teachers, but enhance the already strong education ties between Australia and India.
The scholarship will support the postgraduate education of a practising and tertiary qualified school teacher working in the Indian education system.
One scholarship will be awarded to an Indian national undertaking a Master of Education at the University of Adelaide, valued at AUD$38,500 for one year.
The scholarship is named after Professor Ashok Khurana, a former University of Adelaide staff member. He generously established the scholarship so that he could give back to the Indian education system from which he benefitted.
“My life was changed by a scholarship. As a young man in India I received a scholarship to study at the University of Adelaide, which lead to 39 years in Australia,” Professor Khurana says.
“After a successful career as an engineer in the petroleum industry, I reflected on the benefits that my family and I received as a result of studying in Australia.
“I felt a great debt to the Indian education and to the Australian nation for welcoming me as an immigrant and giving me every opportunity in life.”
Professor Pascale Quester says: “This scholarship is a great example of Australia giving back to India, of the strength of the Indian community in Adelaide, and of the Indian diaspora retaining connections with the mother country.” (ANI)

London/Leicester, Nov 20 (IANS) At least 20 Indian citizens have been arrested for immigration−related offences during raids conducted by Britain’s border officials in the last week in London and the east Midlands town of Leicester, which has a large minority of Indian origin.
Official sources Tuesday said 12 Indians were among 15 arrested during a raid on a textile company in Leicester. Checks revealed that they had overstayed their visas or had been refused asylum.
The company that employed the arrested individuals now faces a fine of 10,000 pounds per illegal worker, the UK Border Agency said.
Of the 15 arrested, ten were detained pending removal from the UK while the remaining five were released on immigration bail while the UKBA takes action to remove them from the country.
Raids on several houses in parts of London led to arrests of Indian and other foreign nationals who had mainly overstayed their visas. Two Indian men aged 26 and 36 were arrested in Northgate when checks revealed that they had submitted false documents with their previous visa applications.
In Bewmush, an Indian woman aged 28 was arrested for overstaying her visa, UKBA said.
A 57−year−old Indian who had overstayed his visa was found in Langley Green, but he voluntarily left the country on Nov 12.
During raids in Romford and Canary Wharf, four Indian men aged between 21 and 50 were arrested. They were found working illegally in a food manufacturing company. Three of them −− aged 22, 40 and 50 −− had over−stayed visas while a 21−year−old was found to have entered the country illegally.
Steve Fisher of the UK Border Agency said: “We regularly carry out operations like this in London, and where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them. Illegal working has a serious impact on communities, undermining legitimate businesses and taking jobs from those who are genuinely allowed to work.”
He added: “More visits like this are being planned for London and whilst we’re happy to work with businesses to let them know what checks need to be done on staff, those who do break the law should know that we are out there looking for them and they will face heavy fines.”