Tollywood Celebrities !!

Strange are the ways of Telugu associations in the US. Most of them have already been divided on caste lines and now on regional lines and they have been organising Telugu conferences at their own will and chalking out their own programmes.

But, when these associations invite someone from the Telugu land, whether it is from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh, they have to respect the invitees.

Especially, the artistes who come all the way from India, expect that they are treated with respect. But the Telugu associations do not show the same kind of enthusiasm in putting up their own show on respecting the invitees.

It happened in the case of Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA and chairman of Telangana culture department Rasamayi Balakishan, who was invited to the American Telugu Association conference, He was called on to the stage to perform for an hour.

When Balakishan was ready to sing, one of the organisers said there was no need for any singing. Another person said since Balakishan was already on the dais, let him sing for five minutes. The first organiser said, no; he can take only one minute. Balakishan was prepared to sing even for a minute and as he took up the mike, somebody disconnected it and the poor Telangana artiste remained helpless.

A humiliated Rasamayi declared that there would be no Telangana song on the ATA dais hereafter.

NATA SAHA joined hands with American Diabetes Association (ADA) and participated in Tour de Cure and Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes on June 26, 2016 at Novo Nordisk, Princeton NJ.

Over 1500 people participated in the event along with NATA SAHA members who came in big numbers. This was more than just another fundraising event, it’s a day packed with excitement and energy where walkers and riders of all levels joined forces in the fight to Stop Diabetes® and raised over $300,000 during this event for diabetes research education and advocacy in support of the American Diabetes Association.

NATA-SAHA event is coordinated by the Rajeshwar Gangasani (President-Elect), Srinivas Ganagoni (Joint,Secretary), Anjan Karnati (Chair:Community Services) and Dr. Meena Murthy (SAHA-Advisor).

SAHA (South Asian Health Ambassadors) is formed by NATA at Dallas Convention 2016 by our top leaders to promote "Health and Wellness" Programs to educate and bring awareness to all our NATA Members and South Asian population.

It is important to highlight the serious problem of Diabetes, nearly 30 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes and the 86 million have pre-diabetes and in South Asians specifically Asian Indians knowing Hyderabad is the Diabetes capital of the world.

We as NATA SAHA team are committed to educate and help reversing the trend by engaging our community in such events and with many other awareness programs in the coming months.

NATA formed the following SAHA committee to take these initiatives forward and spread the message:

Advisors: Dr. Meena Murthy, Dr. Venkamma Reddy, Rajeshwar Gangasani, Dr. Raghavareddy Ghosala, Dr. Stanley Reddy and Srinivas Ganagoni.

Core Committee Members: Anjan Karnati, Sarath Veta, Ramesh Anthony, Hari Velkur, Anna Reddy, Dwarak Varanasi, Sarath Mandapati, Rami Reddy Alla, Satya Pathapait, Sudhakar Reddy, Surya Reddy, Srinath Palavala, Nageshwar Mukkamalla, Sreekanth Penumada, Siva Meka, Arun Sriramineni, Vamsi Koppuravuri, Krishna Siddhada, Naresh Chintalacheruvu and Venkat Sunkireddy.

About Diabetes:
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery. Both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles in the cause of type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes:
Results from the body's failure to produce insulin, the hormone that "unlocks" the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes:
Usually results from insulin resistance (a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin), combined with relative insulin deficiency. Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90-95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.

Symptoms of Diabetes:
Diabetes often goes undiagnosed because many of its symptoms may seem harmless. Recent studies indicate that the early detection of diabetes symptoms and treatment can decrease the chance of developing the complications of diabetes.

Some diabetes symptoms include: frequent urination, excessive thirst, extreme hunger, unusual weight loss, increased fatigue, irritability and blurry vision. If you have one or more of these diabetes symptoms, see your doctor right away.

Diabetes Complications:
1. Increased risk of heart disease and stroke
2. Leading cause of kidney failure
3. Nervous system disease and non-traumatic lower-limb amputations

London: Men are more willing to resort to unprotected sex when they find their partners hot, reveals a new scientific survey.

The study sought to better understand the relationship between perceived attractiveness and condom use intentions in a heterosexual male population between ages 18-69.

The researchers found that more attractive a woman was judged to be on average, the more likely participants would be willing to have sex with her and the less likely they were to intend to use a condom during sex.

"Male perceptions of attractiveness influence their condom use intentions,” the study said.

"Such risk biases could profitably be discussed during sex education sessions and in condom use promotion interventions,” the researchers noted.

The research, led by Anastasia Eleftheriou, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Southampton in England, was published in the journal BMJ Open.

In the study, 51 men were asked to rate the attractiveness of 20 women on the basis of facial photographs, to estimate the likelihood that each woman had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and to indicate their willingness to have sex with or without a condom with each woman.

The more attractive a man considered a woman to be, the less likely it was that he would intend to use a condom during sex with her, even if he thought the woman had a sexually transmitted infection, the findings showed.

The researchers also found that when a man judged a woman to be less attractive, he was more willing to use a condom.

The risk of unprotected sex also goes up when a man considers himself to be attractive, the study suggests.

The more attractive a participant judged himself to be, the less likely he was to intend to use a condom, the results showed.

Sydney: Jasvinder Sidhu, a lecturer at a college in Melbourne, has helped expose a large visa scam involving Indians moving to Australia.

"Some of the fake visa-holders had gone on to be exploited, and in some cases raped, by their bosses," according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC.

Mr Sidhu was allegedly approached on Facebook by a local "visa fixer" who sought introductions to Indians looking to migrate to Australia. The fixer, who was then filmed on hidden camera, claimed that he could line up corrupt employers who would create fictitious jobs. The fixer wanted a fee of $50,000 per case.

Mr Sidhu, according to the report, was told he would be paid $5,000 for every "applicant" he was able to deliver from India. The fixer said he could organize student and IT visas.

His revelations are part of a large investigation that includes examining corruption among government officials.

The ABC reports: "Mr Sidhu said he had personally met at least 40 Indians who had paid for fake visas, only to be ripped off by fixers or exploited by unscrupulous bosses who were part of the corrupt schemes...we have seen girls being raped by their employers, we have seen people with other major injuries at work, and they don't complain."

WASHINGTON: A top American Senator has asked the Obama Administration to discontinue issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas to citizens from 23 countries, including India and China, while alleging them of being non-cooperative in taking back illegal immigrants from the US.

"Dangerous criminals, including murderers, are being released every day because their home countries will not cooperate in taking them back," Republican Senator Senate Chuck Grassley said in a letter to the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

In fiscal year 2015 alone, 2,166 individuals were released in the US because of this decision and the non-cooperation from recalcitrant countries; more than 6,100 were released in the preceding two years, Grassley, who is the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, said.

Currently, 23 countries are labelled by the US as uncooperative, with the top five most recalcitrant countries being Cuba, China, Somalia, India, and Ghana, Grassley said.

In addition, US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is monitoring another 62 nations where cooperation is strained, but which are not yet deemed recalcitrant.

In the letter to Johnson, Grassley reminded him that, Congress addressed this problem when it enacted section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

"Under section 243(d), the Secretary of State is required to discontinue granting immigrant or non-immigrant visas to a country upon receiving notice from you that the country has denied or is unreasonably delaying accepting a citizen, subject, national or resident of that country," he said.

"This tool has been used only once, in the case of Guyana in 2001, where it had an immediate effect, resulting in obtaining cooperation from Guyana within two months," Grassley said. (PTI)

HYDERABAD: India continues to get the "lion's share" of the H-1B visas from the US government despite the fee hike, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said.

"India continues to receive the lion's share of H-1B and L1 and even after the fee increase, they continue to get 70% of those H-1B visas," Verma said on the sidelines of 'The Future is Now: From COP21 to Reality' conference here.

"We understand the concern about the fee hike.

The US, under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, has imposed a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on L1 visas.

Almost all Indian IT companies would be paying between $8,000 and $10,000 per H-1B visa as per the hike. According to Nasscom , this is expected to have an impact of about $400 million annually on India's technology sector.

Earlier in his speech, Verma said the ongoing deforestation and poor land management is responsible for nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as each day, greenhouse gases emitted by human activities trap the same amount of heat energy as would be released by 400,000 atomic bombs.

"Climate change is not just an environmental challenge; it is a national security issue. Changes in climate could potentially damage critical infrastructure, create shortages of food and water, and lead to mass migrations and disease outbreaks.

"Receding ice sheets in the Arctic and the opening of new sea passages raise concerns about maritime security and freedom of navigation," he said. 

At least 25 Indian students in their first semester of computer sciences programme at Western Kentucky University have been asked to return to India or find placement in other schools, because they did not meet the admission standards of the varsity, The New York Times said on Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a US visit.

Some 60 Indian students were enrolled for the programme in January this year and the university was said to have used international recruiters to enrol them.

James Gary, the chairman of Western Kentucky's computer science programme, told the Times that "almost 40" of the students did not meet the requirements of their admissions, even though they were offered remedial help by the university.

This means that 35 students may be allowed to continue while 25 "must leave", the newspaper said.

Gary said permitting the students to continue in the programme would "be throwing good money after bad" because they were unable to write computer programmes, a necessary part of the curriculum and a skill that US schools teach to undergraduates.

"If they come out of here without the ability to write programmes, that's embarrassing to my department," Gary said, explaining why the university could not permit them to continue.

The students had been admitted after a recruitment campaign in India where the recruiters had run advertisements offering "spot admission" to the university, as well as tuition discounts.

The university Senate has now endorsed a resolution expressing concern about the recruitment campaign which was part of the university's efforts to lift enrolment and revenue in the face of deep state budget cuts, the newspaper said.

The university in a statement said it had altered its international recruitment efforts in India. The school will also send members of the computer science faculty to India to meet with students before offers of admission are made in the future.

The chairman of the Indian Student Association at Western Kentucky University, Aditya Sharma, has expressed concern for the students who have been asked to leave.

"I definitely feel badly for these students," said Sharma, a graduate student in public health administration. "They've come so far. They've invested money into it."

But he admitted that some of the students had adopted what he called a "casual" approach to their studies. "They could not meet their GPA (grade point average), so the university had to take this decision."

Prime Minister Modi is on a three-day visit to the US, where he will hold bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama and also give an address to the US Congress.

USA: Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugu (APNRT) Society is a government of Andhra Pradesh initiative to unite the Telugu Diaspora worldwide and provide them the right platform to engage with their motherland in ways and means which are symbiotic in nature.  

Dr. Ravikumar Vemuru, CEO & President of APNRT was invited to be part of Inaugural at NATA Convention 2016 held in Dallas from May 27th-29th.

Dr. Ravi Kumar Vemuru has presented the objectives of the APNRT Society and gave details of the extra ordinary work APNRTS has done so far in terms of the Smart Village adoptions, Temple Visits and the support to about 57 Industries to move to Andhra Pradesh.

Nearly 300 enthusiastic crowd attended the gathering which contained NRTs from all across India and USA. Attendees appreciated the efforts of APNRT society and made several suggestions to speed-up the development activities in the state of A.P.

Significant interest was shown towards opportunities for investments in Agricultural and medical research, and creation of premium office space for business organizations to move into A.P.

Dr. Ravi Kumar Vemuru delivered Hon. Chief Minister's message to NATA members at the inaugural session attended by 5000 attendees at the Dallas convention center.

To avail all the "Core" services offered by APNRT, All Non Resident Telugus (NRTs) canCLICK HERE to register.

A separate meeting was held with ITServe USA team which has appreciated Hon. Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu Garu's effort to support their needs for office space in the state and granting the same.

Kanuri Seshu Babu, Director of Investments for APNRT, presented the opportunity of APNRT Society's first investment project of NRT Icon which received tremendous response. A total of 150 units were so far subscribed by NRTs of USA, constituting 25% of the total space available.

NRT Icon creates 2000 high paying jobs in Amaravati, besides being a monumental structure for the Non Resident Telugus' contribution to the wealth, culture and prosperity of Andhra Pradesh.

To know more details about NRT iCON, Click link: icon.apnrt.com.

About APNRT:
APNRT is a division initiated by State Government of Andhra Pradesh to serve Non Resident Telugu people’s needs.  As per Hon’ble Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu garu, Non Resident Telugus are a natural extension and integral part of Telugu Community. They have unique needs and capabilities. State of Andhra Pradesh is responsible for welfare, growth and empowerment of NRTs as much as any other group domiciled within Andhra Pradesh. This division will liaison with all departments and provide concierge services in areas like Temple Travel, Lost Documents, Investment Advice, Parental Assistance etc.

Visit www.apnrt.com for additional details and free registration.