Dr M Khalid's global village blog

AP Indians bought residential properties in the U.S. estimated at $5.8 billion in value terms for the year ending March 31, 2014. File photo Indians spent an average of $459,028 (Rs.2.81 crore) to buy properties across cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas and New York. Indians bought residential properties in the U.S. estimated at $5.8 billion in value terms for the year ending March 31, 2014. A report by the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NRA), released in October, said the investment magnitude represented a growth of about 6 per cent over the previous year. The report further said that Indians spent an average of $459,028 (Rs.2.81 crore) to buy properties across cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas and New York. “This is definitely an interesting finding. Indian high net worth individuals (HNIs), who have obtained American citizenship and are settled there, have several reasons for investing in properties in the U.S.,’’ Anuj Pu...

Ryan Ackroyd fiddled nervously with the microphone clipped to his shirt as about 200 fellow students crowded into an auditorium at  Sheffield Hallam University . “This is the first lecture I’ve ever done,” he told them, after being introduced as a former computer hacker and current student. “I’ve done some very, very naughty things.” Ackroyd, 27, and three other members of the LulzSec hacking collective were jailed in 2013. The group’s members, who never met in person, disrupted the websites of  Sony Corp. (6758) ,  News Corp. (NWSA)  the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and  Arizona  police. They also targeted the U.S. Air Force and Britain’s  National Health Service . “Companies suffered serious financial and reputational damage,” said Andrew Hadik, a U.K. prosecutor, after the four were sentenced in May 2013. Ackroyd, who had pleaded guilty to the charges, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and served nine months. Released early in Febru...

Ann Clwyd: 'My husband died because people didn’t care’ Ann Clwyd, who shocked fellow MPs with a harrowing account of her husband’s treatment in hospital, talks about her crusade to restore compassion to the NHS Picture:  Ann Clwyd MP: 'As my husband lay dying, someone put the lights on and called: ''Anyone for breakfast?”' Ann Clwyd will is often jolted from her sleep by a familiar nightmare. “I wake in a cold sweat, always with the same image,” she says. In the scene that she cannot banish from her memory, her husband Owen is shivering in a hospital bed with his life ebbing away. Her story of how he died “like a battery hen”, crushed against the bars of his NHS bed with an ill-fitting oxygen mask cutting into his face, this week provoked horror at the “almost callous lack of care” in the hours before Owen Roberts, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, lost his life to hospital-induced pneumonia. The day after revealing her...

For pensioners who have been following a pioneering health regime for the last 35 years, an ascetic lifestyle appears to be the secret of a fit and happy old age. In 1979, 2,500 men were asked to follow five simple rules – eat well, work out, drink less, keep their weight down and never smoke. Nearly four decades on, just 25 pensioners have managed to stick to the plan 100%. But they are all far fitter and healthier than the volunteers who gave up. Those who stuck to the plan have dramatically cut their risk of cancer, diabetes, heart-attack, stroke and dementia.  Picture:  The volunteers from Caerphilly gave regular reports of physical activity, alcohol consumption, and diet Study leader Professor Peter Elwood, of Cardiff University, said: "As a nation, we must wake up to the preventive power of living a healthy life. "Thirty years ago, only 25 men in our study followed all five of our recommended healthy steps. "Following these steps did not ...

It is a well known fact that government companies work in the interest of the people as there is no cut throat pressure to be profitable unlike private companies. Privatization of sectors like Insurance and railways is bound to increase costs of healthcare, facilities and services for the common Indian. It is the responsibility of the government to provide affordable insurance, facilities and other services to citizens. this is the reason why we pay taxes. Name:  The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 Aim:  Among other things, the bill would allow foreign investors to own up to 49% in local insurance companies, up from 26% currently. It would also create rules that would allow foreign companies to invest in reinsurance companies, which are basically firms that insure insurance companies. Why it is important:  Companies in India’s nascent insurance industry are eager to get more foreign capital to grow their businesses. India has 24 life insurance companies,...

45% Indians will be on LTE ( Long Term Evolution)  by 2020: Ericsson Mobility Report Click on images to enlarge. With 18 million new mobile subscriptions, India was ahead of all other countries in Q3 2014.  (Reuters) Written by  Nandagopal Rajan  |  Posted: November 20, 2014 2:17 pm   | Updated: November 20, 2014 3:33 pm India is leading mobility growth globally and has the fastest growth for new mobile subscriptions with 18 million net additions in Q3 2014, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report. This is a substantial chunk of the 180 million connections added globally, just under rest of Asia (excluding China) and Africa as a whole, and largest for any country. However, the most interesting aspect of this growth will be that by 2020, 45 per cent of the country’s population will be covered by LTE. At present the number under LTE in India is insignificant. By then, more than 95 per cent of the Indian population wil...

Millennials are stuck between having a financially responsible mindset and having the resources and discipline to pull off long-term results, finds a USA TODAY/ Bank of America  survey on Millennial money habits. The survey of 1,001 people ages 18-34 reveals a disconnect between the way Millennials think about their finances and what they're actually able to achieve. They say they have good financial habits, though the majority still worry about their financial situations. They think they'll be at least as well off, if not more, than their parents — yet more than a third still receive financial support from family. They say they're good at living within their means, but many are living paycheck to paycheck. And while this age group has prioritized reducing debt, many are unable to put away emergency savings simultaneously. When asked what represents having financially "made it," 70% of Millennials said that being able to afford anything, like travel and tr...

We are in the midst of an entrepreneurial revolution that is spreading to nearly every nook and cranny on the planet. Even countries plagued with political strife or in the midst of a deep recession are seeing a surge in start-up activity. The phenomenon is indicative of a premise that Endeavor's co-founder Linda Rottenberg really believes in: When economies turn down, entrepreneurs turn up. AgeSafe Brea, California, USA Echo Chang AgeSafe hopes to revolutionize the personal emergency response system (PERS) industry. Current prevalent PERS devices provide a false sense of safety for seniors living alone. Airstoc Sheffield, England Giles Moore Airstoc is a dedicated marketplace for the professional drone-filming industry, one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. Atikus Insurance New York, USA Katherine Woska Atikus aims to spur commercial lending to small- and medium-sized businesses by providing comprehensive credit insurance. BreezoMeter Haifa, Israel Ziv Lautman Breez...

What does product design mean when products are no longer just physical goods? That’s the difficult question facing designers today. When machines are both connected and intelligent , they become a hybrid of products and services. Examples include pumps that anticipate when they will stop working, elevator banks that cut wait times by knowing where riders want to go before they get on, and truck transmissions that anticipate road gradients when shifting gears. Hybrid product designers can no longer simply focus on the tangible. They must also look upstream and downstream at the river of data streaming through these products: that is, how their products will obtain the data they need to operate and how the data their products create will be used for other product-service hybrids. And they have to create products where the revenue will come from service-based business models and usage- or results-based payment. Successful hybrid designers will also be service designers. Just as w...

Obama uses word 'Rohingya,' dismissing Burma's campaign to deny recognition to the community. He also made an statement acknowledging their opression and indicating US displeasure Displeasing Myanmar Hosts . Myanmar's government views the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya - living in dire, segregated conditions in western Rakhine state - not as citizens, but as illegal migrants from Bangladesh encroaching on scarce land. For that reason, they say the Rohingya ethnicity does not exist. In a bid to draw attention to the issue, the U.S. advocacy group United to End Genocide launched a social media campaign titled #JustSayTheirName, and thousands of people have signed an online petition and tweeted photos of themselves holding placards with the slogan on social media. .http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/group-obama-rohingya-myanmar-visit-26904145

Fund flow will depend on economic reforms, says Yasutoshi Nishimura Striking a note of caution about India’s “environment for investment,” a Minister in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office said the government must roll out economic reforms, build up infrastructure and cut red tape if the $35 billion promised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan were to be actualised. “So long as there is a step-by-step forward movement, I think the expectations can be reached,” said State Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in an exclusive interview to  The Hindu . “Japanese companies will move forward with investment, but only if there is a visibility with regard to these reforms.” He clarified that the $35 billion or 3.5 trillion yen committed was a combination of government outlay for Indian transport infrastructure and the projected expectation from private companies. Much of the public investment will be in the $100 billion Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, metro tra...

Hyderabad:  The Panjagutta police of West Zone nabbed two persons including a techie belonging to a Mumbai-based gang that was involved in ATM card cloning and skimming. The gang used to affix a replica of the ATM slot (a black metal panel equipped with battery and card reader) in the ATM slot and a spy camera on the ceiling above the machine, at unmanned centres. They clone the cards, collect PIN details and withdraw cash later. Those arrested were identified as Hyder Ali Sarang alias Ajju, 37, a welder and Avith Ashok Shetty, 29, a former employee of Wipro, both Mumbai residents. Police said the kingpin Faizan Farook Chatriwala, 30, a techie, is absconding. Police said they are also on the hunt for the other gang members Hussain Han-eef Hakam, 25, Ashish Mawadi alias Red and White, 25, Nazire Alam, 22, Akhil Adil Bowranya, 30, all residents of Mumbai and  Zaffer Hafiz Khan, 40, a travel agent from Hyderabad, who sheltered the accused. According to A Venkateshwara Rao, DCP...

The New York City of the 1970s looked very different from the gentrified metropolis we know today. The Bowery, now lined with luxury apartments, housed much of the city's illicit activities, while drug dealers and prostitutes worked openly from Park Slope to Times Square. Industrial decline, economic stagnation, and white flight led to the dramatic downturn for America's largest city. Gotham had an  unprecedented fiscal crisis  in 1975, and two years later the city  descended into chaos  after the power went out for 25 hours. New York City saw  1,814 homicides  in 1980 — three times what we have today — while the population declined to  just over 7 million  from  nearly 8 million  a decade before. At the same time, crack and heroin infested the city, driving the crime rate even highe watch photos: http://www.businessinsider.in/New-York-City-Used-To-Be-A-Terrifying-Place-PHOTOS/In-1976-2383-arrests-were-made-for-prostitution-...