Free Republic

Confusion and fear gripped H-1B visa holders over the weekend as a sudden US policy change forced some to choose between family commitments abroad and their careers in the United States. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, part of a broader immigration crackdown, sent shockwaves through the tech and finance sectors, prompting workers from India and China to abandon travel plans and rush back to the US. At San Francisco airport, an engineer whose wife was scheduled to fly to Dubai described the impossible decision he faced. “It is a situation where we...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are reintroducing bipartisan legislation to reform and close loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act targets fraud and abuse in our immigration system, provides protections for American workers and visa holders and enhances transparency in the foreign worker recruitment process. Grassley and Durbin have long partnered to improve the H-1B visa system and first introduced their bipartisan legislation in 2007. Last week, the senators sent letters to 10 major U.S. employers, including Amazon, Google and Meta, scrutinizing their heavy...

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Visa Cap Enforcement Act. This bill restricts the ability of universities, research institutions, and non-profits to hire an unlimited number of foreign workers. “Colleges and universities shouldn’t get special treatment for bringing in woke and anti-American professors from around the world. My bill closes these loopholes that universities have abused for far too long,” said Senator Cotton. Text of the bill can be found here. The Visa Cap Enforcement Act would: Eliminate four exemptions to the H-1B visa cap, including one for foreigners who hold a master’s degree or higher from a U.S....

After US President Donald Trump and Congress failed to reach a funding deal by Wednesday's deadline, the government shutdown began. As a result, hundreds of thousands of federal employees face furloughs, and many offices will be closed. H-1B visas will also face a pause until the shutdown ends, says immigration attorney Nicole Gunara. She said that H-1B visa filings will not be processed until the Congress can agree on federal funding allocations.

Apoorva arrived in New York in 2018 on an H-1B visa, fresh from one of India’s top graduate schools and brimming with hope of building a life in the United States. She soon joined an architecture firm, eager to contribute her skills and establish roots. But her dreams were quickly dashed — because Apoorva, like many other immigrants on an H-1B, soon experienced some visa-related issues. She recalled being stuck at her minimum wage architecture job for over three years. Changing jobs on an H-1B visa is famously difficult, and often means enduring months of bureaucratic limbo and steep United...

At a time when most people use keyboards to write, does handwriting really matter? Yes, say Indian courts, if the writer is a doctor. Jokes around the notoriously bad handwriting of many doctors that can only be deciphered by pharmacists are common in India, as around the world. But the latest order emphasising the importance of clear handwriting came recently from the Punjab and Haryana High Court which said that "legible medical prescription is a fundamental right" as it can make a difference between life and death. The court order came in a case that had nothing to do with...

Victim gutted as thief nicks bag of loot and vanishes mid-shiftA slick scammer posing as a food delivery rider cooked up a brazen heist at a humble curry stall in Pattaya, vanishing with a bag of cash after placing a fake order for nearly 30 meals. The early-morning con unfolded at 5.06am yesterday, July 21, when 30 year old Anirut Thiamtha was manning his family’s Chef Basil Curry Rice Shop on Jomtien Second Road. The smooth-talking suspect rolled in wearing a delivery uniform and ordered 28 takeaway boxes, offering to help pack them as Anirut whipped up the cheap...

Stephen Curry's wife, Ayesha, has been forced to shut down her store Sweet July in order to 'protect staff' after other companies have similarly fled the crime-riddled Oakland area. In an Instagram post on Saturday, the brand announced the 'difficult decision' to close the store to 'prioritize the safety' of customers and staff. 'We have loved being part of Oakland and are grateful for the community that has opened their arms and embraced us. It has been an honor to serve you,' the post said. 'While this chapter comes to a close, Sweet July has exciting new ventures on the...

Before you turn your nose up at the sweet and spicy combination, consider its roots in the country’s post-World War II food cultureIn Sweden, a popular pie is topped with bananas, cheese, curry and salty ham. Jessica Kelly I had no idea banana curry pizza even existed in Sweden until I saw a piece of pizza art from Cities by the Slice on Instagram. On the account, illustrator Dan Bransfield highlights the foods of different cities, and when I saw his pizza print featuring slices around the world, with a Swedish slice topped with bananas, I was intrigued. Weeks later,...

Team USA men’s basketball star Stephen Curry and head coach Steve Kerr backed Vice President Kamala Harris for president while talking to reporters on Thursday. President Biden announced Sunday he was withdrawing from his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Biden’s decision came after weeks of upheaval from top Democrats and donors following his disastrous debate with former President Trump. Curry and Kerr, who are with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA, made their comments days before the team begins its Olympics matchups. "Vice President Harris is primed to bring her energy to...

Archaeologists have found remnants of eight spices on a sandstone slab from an archaeological site in Vietnam, showing the early adoption of ingredients and techniques from South Asia.Unearthed in an ancient village in southern Vietnam, the cookware—roughly the size and shape of an anvil—was likely used to grind the spice and other ingredients familiar in today’s curries...An analysis of 717 grains of starch recovered from the tools revealed the presence of eight different spices: turmeric, ginger, galangal, sand ginger, fingerroot, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Many of the grains also showed signs of deformation, indicating that they had been damaged during...

It’s worth taking a glance at the numerous figures, especially Democrats, who buddied up to the former crypto tycoon over the years. ... Not that long ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was on top of the world. Sporting a net worth of approximately $15.6 billion, Bankman-Fried was the CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform launched in 2019 that had accumulated more than a million consumers by 2022. At 30 years old, he was extremely successful — that is, until last week when he was exposed as a con artist. After a Nov. 2 article from the digital currency news site Coindesk...

Globally beloved but difficult to define, curry is a testament to the creativity and resilience of the human spirit, drawing its spices and aromatics from a worldwide pantry. By Published on "I paid a lot of bribes to learn, to be honest with you," Chintan Pandya, chef and partner of several excellent Indian restaurants in New York City, tells me with a look of bemusement. We're in the kitchen at Dhamaka, his restaurant of provincial cuisine dubbed "unapologetic Indian," which looks out on bustling Delancey Street in the Lower East Side. The chef drops a handful of curry leaves in...

Stephen Curry swished a deep three-pointer midway through the third quarter, backpedaled down the court and allowed himself a quick indulgence. As the Boston Celtics called a timeout to gather themselves, the Golden State Warriors star turned to the sideline and pointed at his right ring finger. There were 18 minutes left, but Curry was sure his fourth championship was already in hand. The Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics, ­103-90, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, completing an exhilarating comeback from a 2-1 series deficit to complete a 16-6 run through the playoffs to win their...

A recent study published in the journal Computers in Biology and Medicine demonstrated that the phytochemical curcumin is a potent therapeutic prospect against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant. The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused over 508 million SARS-CoV-2 cases and six million deaths to date globally. As of now, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant is the dominant strain worldwide. Omicron was designated a variant of concern (VOC) since it can evade vaccine- and infection-induced immunity due to several mutations in its spike (S) protein, including 15 amino acid substitutions across the receptor-binding...

As 2021 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on our most popular stories of the year. The following article was one of our most read this year. Come back to movieguide.org in 2022 for more inspirational content!Actress and former AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL winner Adrienne Curry recently apologized to Kirk Cameron for hating him due to his Christianity and belief in God.“I sneered at the mention of his name because my agnostic beliefs set me above all others in my infinite godless greatness,” Curry confessed on her Facebook. “When I really ask myself why I did so, my only truthful...

The Washington Post has published a correction after one of its writers was accused of racism for jokingly claiming in an article that Indians use only one spice in their cuisine. Humor columnist Gene Weingarten criticized Indian food last Thursday in an article titled ‘You can’t make me eat these foods’ where he claimed it’s “the only ethnic cuisine in the world insanely based entirely on one spice.” “If you like Indian curries, yay, you like Indian food!” Weingarten wrote, before adding, “If you think Indian curries taste like something that could knock a vulture off a meat wagon, you...

A recipe for vegetable soup has been shared by Sri Lankan Facebook users alongside a claim it will "cure" Covid-19 infection within three days. The claim is false: medical professionals said there is no evidence the purported remedy can cure Covid-19. SNIP The text in the post reads: "This Soup recipe was taught by Wickramaarachchi indigenous medicine doctor. I gave this soup to all the neighbouring children when they tested positive and they were all cured. "Radish, carrots, cabbages, pumpkins, beets - take them all in equal amounts and add 12 peppercorns. "Its okay to mix in curry leaves. Do...

A California vlogger cooked up an Indian food controversy with a call to cancel the word “curry” – blaming its widespread usage on British colonialism. A viral April Instagram post from Chaheti Bansal on her Rooted in Spice page sparked a debate over the word’s usage to describe dishes of different tastes from various regions of South Asia and has been widely recirculated in recent media reports. “I’m not even gonna bother with the recipe in this voiceover cause I have more important things to discuss like canceling the word ‘curry,’ ” she says in the post, accompanying a video...

Curry toast is just the beginning…the delicious, delicious beginning. Usually, when you buy curry at a grocery store in Japan, it comes in one of two forms: a solid block of roux that you melt down in a pot to cook, or a pure liquid in a vacuum pouch that you heat up in the microwave. But Japanese specialty grocer Caldi has introduced a new kind of curry, one that you spread on a slice of bread with a knife like you would with peanut butter or jam. Called the Nutte Yaitara Curry Pan, or “Spread It, Bake It, and...