In a move to boost currency inflows and check the fall of the rupee the Reserve Bank of India now allows NRIs to send remittances more frequently. Now resident Indians can receive 30 remittances from NRI friends and relatives during a year as against just 12 earlier.

In the last few weeks the RBI has taken several initiatives to arrest the fall of the rupee against the dollar as the currency has been declining continuously since March to touch a historic low of 56.38 to a dollar in May and to its latest figure of 55.42 against the dollar,

The Money Transfer Service Scheme is said to be a quick and easy way of transferring personal remittances from abroad to beneficiaries in India which are permissible, as well as remittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India.

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Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers with links to organised crime in India.

The calls are part of a scam that targets struggling Americans who applied for payday loans online. The threatening callers claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action and they have managed to get millions of dollars from their victims.

Chairman Jon Leibowitz of the Federal Trade Commission called it a phantom debt collection scam that is pernicious and innovative new fraud. They estimate that through the call centres in India some $2.5 million has been sucked out of victims who continue to receive the phantom calls.

The FTC began tracking the calls and following the payments that led them to a California company run by NRI Kirit Patel.

Patel 69, refused to talk but one attorney said Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American company and had no idea what the call centres in India were doing as he is just an unwitting bit player in a larger scheme.

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Businessman Sanjay Jaiswal was on a trip to India where a Mumbai motorist Indrajit Sawant hit him on the head with a baseball bat, as Jaiswal was trying to stop Sawant from assaulting another motorist after their cars collided.

Jaiswal is now battling for life in hospital.

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The presence of NRI Harbinder Singh Rana 52, on the royal barge with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family during the pageant on the River Thames, has raised questions over security vetting of individuals after it was found Rana was previously convicted and jailed for sex offences in the 1980s.

Rana is the Honorary Director of the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail, a charity organisation. He reportedly also accompanied Prince Charles during a visit to India in 2006. In 2002 Rana was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault, 11 counts of causing bodily harm and one count of attempted assault in 1986.

The media highlighted his presence on the royal barge, questioning the Metropolitan Police about vetting guests and their proximity to the royal family. Prince Charles confirmed that he was not aware of Rana's convictions and only knew of him as a leading member of the Sikh community who has done a lot of charitable work.

Rana said he was happy to be invited and attended the event, and had never been vetted or asked to tell of his history of sex crimes before the event, a history he has turned off and moved on with his life.

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Benula Bensam 24, was in the spectator's gallery in the courtroom during the insider trading trial of ex-McKinsey head Rajat Gupta, when a US Marshal asked her to leave the room because she had sent the presiding judge three letters about her opinion and understanding of certain legal theories in the case.

US Marshals are responsible for the protection of court officers and the effective operation of the judiciary.

During a break in the proceedings Bensam was asked to go to the Judge's bench for a private conference, where the judge asked her not to send any letters to him as any communication may be perceived as an attempt by her to influence him on the outcome.

Bensam who is a student at New York's Benjamin Cardozo Law School said she wrote the letters innocently, without the intention of influencing him. She described her letters as contemplative and referred to various legalities.

Once Bensam was escorted out of the courtroom US Marshals questioned her and refused to return her cell phone saying she could get it back only after she answered all their questions. She refused and decided to leave. She returned a day later to get her phone, but had a hard time doing that till she said she would not send any more letters to the judge but would continue to attend the trial and described the episode as an education because she is interested in such cases.

Bensam's name appears in a list of students whose academic accomplishments placed them on the roster of the Dean's Honour Roll at New York University's Leonard Stern School of Business in 2007.

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