WASHINGTON, June 13: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it has reached the cap on Congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B work visas, the most sought after by Indian professionals.
This is for the first time in several years, in particular during the recent economic crisis, that the cap on H-1B visas, for technology professionals, has been reached mid-year.
In the past few years, it either crossed over to next year or the cap was reached later in the year.
“USCIS announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2013. June 11 was the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2013,” an official statement said.
In a statement, USCIS said it will consider properly filed cases as received on the date that it physically received the petition; not the date that the petition was postmarked.
USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers if they arrive after June 11, 2012 and seek an employment start date in FY 2013, it said.
As of June 7, USCIS had already received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the “advanced degree” exemption.
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap, it said.
In addition, petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted toward the FY 2013 H-1B cap.
As such, USCIS will continue to accept and process these petitions to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the US; change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position. (PTI)

MCALLEN, TEXAS, June 13: US authorities said they arrested seven members of one of Mexico’s largest drug cartels and accused them of laundering money in the United States by buying, breeding and racing American racehorses.
The case points to the increasing corrupting influence in
the United States of the billion-dollar illegal drug trade across the border in Mexico, a US official said Yesterday.
The leader of Mexico’s brutal Zetas drug cartel, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, and 13 others, including his brothers,
used false businesses to conceal the true owners of the horses, according to charges in an indictment unsealed in US District Court in Austin yesterday.
Federal authorities arrested seven of the 14 defendants in California, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. They include one of the drug lord’s brothers, Jose Trevino Morales and his wife, Zulema Trevino, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, known as “Z-40,” and another brother, Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, known as “Z-42,” are believed to be at large in Mexico, authorities said.
(AGENCIES)

BEIJING, June 13: China has detained 23 people and broken up an international gun trafficking ring involving a US soldier which had smuggled weapons from the United States, the Ministry of Public Security said.
The ministry said it had seized firearms and ammunition in 16 different provinces and cities in a case that was jointly investigated by US authorities.
Last month, US federal prosecutors said a member of the US National Guard and two Chinese citizens had been charged with smuggling multiple shipments of firearms to China.
Private gun ownership is tightly restricted in China and
gun crime is unusual.
China’s public security ministry said the investigation started with the detention last August of a Chinese man at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport after a package was discovered with
weapons.
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(AGENCIES)

UNITED NATIONS, June 13: India has asked Iran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to restore confidence of the international community that its nuclear programme is peaceful in nature.
India’s acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations Manjeev Singh Puri yesterday said New Delhi has consistently supported the right of all nations to peaceful uses of nuclear energy in accordance with relevant international treaties to which they are a party.
“Iran should fully cooperate with the IAEA to restore the confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme,” Puri said at a Security Council briefing here on UN Resolution 1737, which had imposed sanctions against Tehran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment programme.
The Western nations suspect Iran, despite its repeated denials, of wanting to build a nuclear bomb under cover of its civilian atomic programme.
Puri expressed hope that the outstanding technical issues concerning the Iranian nuclear programme would be resolved peacefully through Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA.
He said India welcomes the recent exchanges between Iran and the IAEA, including the visit of the Director General of the agency to Tehran as well as the talks between the P5+1 and Iran held in Istanbul and Baghdad during the last two months.
“We think that these talks should continue and hope that the parties will be able to make progress in the next round scheduled for next week in Moscow,” Puri added.
He said India supports the full implementation of relevant resolutions of the Security Council concerning the Iranian nuclear issue.
However, while implementing these resolutions, it is necessary that all efforts should be made so that legitimate trade and economic activities do not suffer, he added. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, June 13: Noting that US President Barack Obama views India as one of his top foreign policy priorities, a senior White House official has said that the United States has enormous stake in New Delhi’s emergence as a global power.
“President Obama is committed to forging a long term truly global partnership with India, recognizing India’s increasing role as a 21st century power. President Obama views India as one of his top foreign policy priorities and one of the important bilateral relationships,” Michael Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor on international economic affairs, said in his address to the US India Business Council (USIBC).
“We have enormous stake in India’s emergence as a global power. India is of course world’s largest democracy and soon to be perhaps the most populous country. It’s economy is growing at a rate that envies the industrialised nations and has the potential to be a significant driver of global economic growth,” Froman said reflecting the views of the White House on India.
India’s participation, he said, is important for meeting increasing global challenges, be it the challenges facing now in the global economy, future of trade and climate, infrastructure or fighting the war against terrorism.
Commenting on the India-US economic relationship, Froman said in many ways the bilateral economic relationship was the driver of the political relationship.
While there has been significant improvement in the bilateral trade and economic relationship, there is much more that can be done, he said.
“As strategic partners, it is important that we be open and frank about how best to go about that,” Froman said. (PTI)

UNDATED, June 13: Virginia Republican George Allen easily won his primary race on Tuesday in the first step of his bid to reclaim the US Senate seat he narrowly lost in 2006, as voters in four states set the stage for hotly contested battles that could shift control of the Senate.
Allen, also a former Virginia governor, lost by barely 9,000 votes in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb, who is retiring at the end of his term next year. In the November. 6 elections, Allen will face another ex-governor, Tim Kaine, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Republicans need a net gain of four seats in November to take control of the US Senate.
Besides Virginia, voters in Maine, North Dakota and Nevada were picking Senate candidates in contested primaries yesterday.
Allen, once a rising star on the national political stage
who stumbled in his 2006 re-election bid on the issue of race,took 65 per cent of the vote. Jamie Radtke, the strongest of his three rivals, trailed with just over 23 per cent.
Allen and Kaine both enjoy significant fundraising capability, well-established campaign networks and national prominence. Allen weighed a presidential run four years ago. Kaine was an early backer of President Barack Obama and later
served as Democratic National Committee chairman.
Virginia is considered a tossup in the 2012 presidential election, ensuring the Allen-Kaine campaign will carry added significance.
In Maine, voters were picking candidates for the open US Senate seat being vacated by Republican Olympia Snowe, who is
retiring.
(AGENCIES)