Piara Singh was walking down the road just after 7 am at Gurdwara in Fresno when he was approached by a young man who was riding a bicycle and armed with a steel rod. Without saying a word, the attacker beat Singh in the head and body.

Police have identified the man as Gilbert Garcia, 29, who has a record of arrests in Fresno and was arrested a half a mile away. As he was being detained Garcia uttered a threat in an outburst.

Officials said the attack was not a robbery and that Singh had never seen the man before. If the attack is a hate crime, federal charges could be filed. That could be in addition to any state charges filed against Garcia.

Piara Singh is in hospital with head wounds, broken ribs and lung lacerations.

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The three month grace period allowed by the Saudi Arabian government for the implementation of its Nitaqat law comes to an end shortly. This could result in large scale reverse migration given that over 2 million Indians currently work in that country.

The Nitaqat law was implemented to cut unemployment in the country mandating that one Saudi national be employed for every 10 expatriate workers. There has been widespread perception the new policy will lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there.

Over 18,000 Indians have approached the Indian embassy in Riyadh seeking emergency certificates to leave Saudi Arabia because of concerns about possible job losses, and they want to leave the country as their passports were held by the sponsors.

Saudi authorities made it clear that the drive affects not only illegal workers from India, but also from all countries where immigrant workers have come to Saudi Arabia.

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Afzul Rehman the Mayor of Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal province alleged that the officer in the town's Road Transport Inspectorate called him a 'Gupta', a racially intended slur that referred to a recent controversial wedding in an Indian origin family who go by the surname Gupta.

Mayor Rehman also said the officer told him to return to India if he was offended.

The wedding saga concerns the influential politically connected Gupta family who were thrust in a controversy after a chartered plane carrying their guests from India landed at an air force base near Pretoria without the required formal permissions. Apart from that faux pas, the guests were escorted in a cavalcade of cars and the hosts specified they wanted only white staff to attend to the guests. The insult made to the Mayor was repeatedly said when the RTI officer called him a Gupta several times, meaning it as an insult.

Rehman after some discussion with local authorities decided to take up the matter and filed a charge of crimen injuria in a local police station and said he would refer the matter to the equality court and human rights commission. He also intends to speak to an attorney to take the matter to the high court.

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The Reserve Bank of India announced that it will soon introduce plastic currency notes as they have a longer shelf-life and are therefore also environment friendly.

Speaking during an interactive session with students of the Business School of Kashmir University in Srinigar, Governor D Subbarao said they are trying to introduce plastic currency on a trial basis, and if that succeeds it will be replicated in the entire country.

In the first phase a billion pieces of Rs.10 polymer/plastic notes will be introduced on a trial basis in Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Shimla.

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The Indian government has cautioned the Obama administration and US lawmakers against the role of pro-Khalistan elements in the launch of a Sikh Congressional Caucus, reminding them that this could help revive what was a violent separatist movement that has largely faded away.

India's effort to sensitize US lawmakers to its concerns began before the launch of the caucus, but to India's dismay, pro Khalistani Sikhs succeeded in getting the caucus launched, while in the process they sidelined mainstream nationalist Sikhs.

Some 30 US lawmakers, many of them first time legislators were unaware of the violent history and background of the Khalistan issue. The signatories to the Sikh Caucus include veteran lawmakers such as Frank Pallone, a New Jersey democrat who has been a long-time friend of India and a leading member of the India Caucus.

Alarm bells rang when it was discovered that a principal mover of the Sikh caucus is an associate of Khalid Sawan, a Pakistan-Canadian who was convicted for providing material support and resources to the Khalistan Commando Forces.

The Indian alert has had at least one salutary effect in the case of lawmaker Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera who has backed out of joining the caucus.

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