The Great Learning Tree Pty Ltd

(Ramneek Madahar, RMA# 0428459)

For appointments, please call 02 9745 3106 or 0412 764 660 or email: enquiries@tglt.com.au

UNIT 6, 24-26 Marwick St., Strathfield, NSW 2135 (5 min. walk from Strathfield Station. Opp. Strathfield Recreational Club/fennis Courts)

* Provision of complimentary advice &/or assessment for our eligible students &/or their employers is at our sole discretion.

India declines Snowden's asylum request

India recently said ic has declined che asylwn request of fugitive former CIA agent Edward Snowden who b lew the whistle on US data 1nin.ing.

"I can confirm that on Jul y 2, Ollt embassy in Moscow did receive a communication dated June 30 from Mr Edward Snowden. That communication did contain a request for asylum," said India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in New Delhi.

"We have carefuUy examined tl1e request. Following that examination we have concluded t h.at we see no reason to accede co the request," he said

Snowden, who i s ho led up in i\.foscow airp ort has so ught asylum from 21 countries, including India. His US passport has been revoked.

The 30-year-old blew the whistle on massive data mini ng by America's Nationa l Security Agency (NSA), us ing its top- secret Prism programme.

India said earlier chat it would be " unacceptable" if it is revealed chat the cyber snooping has infringed o n the privacy laws of Indian citizens.

Snowden has reported ly sent asylum requests to 20 cotmrries, including Ausa·ia, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, lnd.ia, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Russia , Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Snowden has been crapped i n Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since Jw1e 23 after Aying in from Hong Kong, from where he leaked cop secret documents detailing NSA smveillance programmes

WikiLeaks recently posted a statement attributed co Snowden on its website, which be slams President Barack Obama for " using citizenship as a weapon".

"Al tl1ough I am convicted of nothin g , (tl1e US) has unilateralJy revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person," Snowden says in the statement. ''\Vith out any judicial order, tbe admini stratio n now seeks to stop me exercising a bas ic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek as ylum".

" Their purpose is co frighten, not me, but those who would come after me ," says the statement.

SpiceJet to be first to import aviation fuel: Ajit Singh

A yeat after aUowing domestic a irlines to directly im port aviation fuel co save o n co s ts, Civil Aviation J\finister Aj ic Singh has said that he expected budget carrier SpiceJet to be the firsr co opt for th.is.

"We have alJowed them (airlines) to directly import fue l by entering into tie-ups with other companies. I e.""'pecr SpiceJet to be the first to directly impo rt the fuel. When the y will stare is up to them," Ajit Singh said in an interview in New Delhi.

Spicejet was also tl1e first private carrier co get approval to directly import fuel.

The approval was granted by che Directo r General of Foreign Trade under tl1e ]\11.in istry of Commerce and Ind u stry, clearing the airline's applicati o n co source aviation curbi ne fuel directl y from overseas suppliers, a top company official said.

Last yea r, the company's chief executive officer Neil :Mills had said thac me carrier was negotiating with l eading oil marketing companies to start directly importing fuel. A ministerial gro up headed b y men

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had Feb 22, 2012, alJowed dome stic airlines to directly import fuel, which till time time can1e under the restricted import list and could o nly be imported by certain public sector uni ts

The mo\·e was said to enable airlines to cut operating costs b y about I0 - 15 percent.

Eve n the Airports Authority of India (1W) had said it wiU form a jo int ve ntures with ai.tli.nes, sta te-nm L1nits and Reliance Industries to provide cheaper fuel.

Currently, ATF sold in tbe country is nearl)' 50-60 percent costlier than in overseas markets like Bangkok , Singapore o r Dubai as an additional 4 -34 percent state sales tax hi kes tl1e prices.

Ajit Si ngh a lso said his ministr y was wo r king o n a mechanism to bring the sales cax to a uniform four percent, a move tl1e industry says wiU considerably bring down prices.

Fuel comprises about SO percent of the total operar.ing costs of a irlines in India.

High fuel prices have dented the Indian civil aviation sector as major airlines bleed under the high sales cax regime. Fa.res a.re also increased time- to- tin1e on the pt·etext of d1e soaring fuel prices.

A momentous week of US decisions impacting Indians

From the passage of a comprehensive Senate immigration bill to a series of US Supreme Court rulings on minority voting righ cs co gay marriages, tl1e bst week of June in \v'asbington was one o f momentous decisions with wide implications for Indians.

The Senate immigratio n bill passed w ith a 68-32 vote w ith 14 Republicans joining al1 rl1e 54 Dem ocrats, for one, is a mixed bag for India with 1T service companies like TCS, \X"fipro and Infosys and US companies doing business witl1 them complaining about h igher fees for HI B and L 1 visas for highly skilled workers.

Indian techies, o n the ocher hand, are happy over the prospect of wider oppornmities w ith the cap o n HlB visas being raised from 85,000 to 195,0U0.

Students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and maths), coo have been put on the fast track for green cards, though critics complain it would spur a brain drain from India.

But South Asian organisations led by South Asian Americans Lea.cling T ogetl1er (SAAL1) have branded it a "deeply flawed" bill as i t limits family- based immigration options for siblings and adult married cl1ildren and "creates nee dless barrie rs in tl1e patl1way to citizenship" for 11 million tmdocumented immigrant.~, including some 260,000 Indians.

With the Republican controlled House o f Representatives working o n its own vers ions of im migration reform, the US corporate lobby, Indian techies as also Soutl1 Asian organisations are hop ing co in Auence the final shape of the bill before ir lands on President Barack Obama's desk, if ever, after its passage by a deeply divided Congress.

South Asian organisations are also e lated over tl1e US Supreme Court decis io n co declare unconstitutional a key sec tion of the Clinton era Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) , which only recognised marriage betwe en man and woman for hu ndreds federal benefits

Desi gays are happy that same-sex couples will be ab le to petition for the in1migration o f their partners, despite me fact that those prov isions were not included in the Senate bill.

SAALT has also welcomed anothe r Supreme Court decision on Texas U ni vers ity, Austin's u se of race in irs ad.missions polic y for promoting diversi ty w ithin ed u cation.

D esp ite common mispercepti o ns to the contrary, Souch Asians support and benefit from holistic race-conscious admission polici es , SAALT said as "Soutl1 Asian students, along with aU ocher students, enjoy a richer learning environment when tl1ey are in.m1ersed in a diverse educational setting."

Howeve r, SAALT has condemned tbe Supreme Court decision to invalidate a key section of che historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 which required several Southern stares witl1 a history of racial discrimina tion to get any changes in voting laws cleared by tl1e US Department of Justice or a federal c ourt.

While the court recognised that racial discrimination continues to plague the ability of many co vote, it a sked tl1e Congress co update me criteria for a s tate to be covered by the special provision in the light of recent increased minori ty voter nrrnout.

Noting tl1ac South Asian and other vote rs of colour continue to encounter barriers at tile polls because of race, reli gion, and language abili ty and resrrictive vo ter identification proposals, SAALT said the community will not be immune from the court's "disappointing" ruling l n add ition co the current prohibition on profiling on the basi s of race, ethnicity, religion, and national o rigin , the ban would now include age, gender, ge nder identity or express ion, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability or housing status.

South As ian communities have also welcomed the passage of two bills by ew York City Council on community safety, which curb discriminatory policing practices and e.""'pand tl1e basi s for pro hibited profiling and discrimination.

Telecom Commission approves 100 percent FDI in sector

The Telec o m Co mmission recently approved JOO percent foreign direct invesnnent (FDI) in tl1e relecom sector.

A Department of Telecom (Do1) official said in New Delhi tb ac the department will se nd a detailed note co tl1e Department of Industrial P o licy and Promotion (DIPP), wbid1 will subsequently forward it to the cabinet for approval.

Raising the FDl li1nic from the cL1rrent 74 percent will help in Aushing fresh funds into t he sector. Of tl1e 74 percent FDI allowed at present in cbe sector, 49 per cent i s done through aucomatic route and the rest after approval from the F'oreign Investmen t Promotion Boa.rd (FlPB)

The Commission also d iscussed creation of Telecom Finance Co rporation (TFC) to address tl1e sector's funding chalJenges, and asked for a derailed project repo rt on this.