However, one younger Indian-American activist pointed out that 'this is the first time, a sitting president is actually going to be there at the Diwali observance.'
Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who last week stood side-by-side with Qureshi and declared there are no conditions attached to the aid and that the bill in no way impinges on Pakistan's sovereignty, reiterated these assertions and also out a lengthy fact sheet which he said, separates "myth from fact on the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009."
Congressman Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat, and a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who last week slammed the Congressional passage of the massive economic and military largesse to Pakistan to the tune of $1.5 billion annually over five years, as the House dutifully fell in line with the Kerry-Lugar bill passed by the Senate last week tripling the aid to Islamabad, has denounced the Pakistani military's hostility to this aid because it contains some cond
Al Gore warns that black carbon from India's use of biomass fuels that contribute to global warming can adversely impact India's great rivers, the life-blood of the country's agriculture.
'The teachings of Gandhi, the philosophy of passive resistance and nonviolence, and also taught by Martin Luther King Jr, inspired hundreds and thousands and millions of citizens in America, and helped to free and liberate not just a people, but a nation,' says US Congressman John Lewis, a close friend of Dr King.
In yet another trailblazing first, Iowa State Senator Swati Dandekar has been elected to serve in leadership for the nation's oldest organization addressing the needs of elected women at all levels of government. Dandekar, a Democrat, is the new president-elect of the National Order of Women Legislatorsthe membership arm of the National Foundation for Women Legislatorsand she will be formally installed at NFWL's next annual meeting.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has predicted that the issue of climate change is likely to figure on the agenda when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Washington, DC on November 24, on a State Visit. "The whole area of green technologies is an area in which Indian business, instead of being passive recipients of technology from the world, can in fact emerge as active suppliers of technology to the rest of the world," he said.
In a glittering ceremony, former president Bill Clinton Thursday evening presented six individuals, including New Delhi-based Ruchira Gupta -- journalist, activist and policymaker, who for the past 25 years has worked relentlessly for women's and girl's rights, especially the ending of their sex trafficking -- with the 2009 Clinton Global Citizen Awards.
Ruchira Gupta, journalist, activist and policymaker, has for the past 25 years worked relentlessly for women's and girl's rights -- especially the ending of their sex trafficking
Shrugging aside the recent reports of Pakistan illegally modifying the United States-supplied harpoon missiles to target India and former President Pervez Musharraf's revelations that he diverted the massive American military aid provided to Pakistan to fight the war on terror to the eastern border to bolster his country's defenses for a potential convention conflict with India, the US Senate passed a massive $7.5 billion economic and military largesse to Pakistan.
Dr Siddiqui is currently the vice president, Science and Regulatory Affairs at the Washington, DC-based CropLife America, where he is responsible for regulatory and international trade issues related to crop protection chemicals.
"If 5,000 of these folk (some have estimated the strength of the LeT upwards of 150,000) decide to come out tomorrow in defense, there would be no police -- nowhere in sight. They could take over the city."
He asserted, "If America wants Pakistan to cooperate and find solutions within Pakistan on terrorism, on domestic violence, on the economy, then we need peace on our borders. We can't have peace on our borders if the first thought that comes to India is, if there is another Mumbai."
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.
The senior administration officials present at the swearing in included US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick F Kennedy, Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Council, Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Pradeep Ramamurthy, Senior Director for Global Engagement at the National Security Council.
In the days since September 14, have you heard of one 'common man' or common woman even, getting his or her truss in a knot over Tharoor's remark? No, because the common man/woman/person has much larger issues to worry about -- unlike some of our elected representatives, says Prem Panicker.
Though the Indian caucus in the Obama administration is concerned over the recent reports concerning Pakistan's funds being used against India, it may be unable to bring any changes in the Kerry-Lugar bill that has assured Pakistan of USD 1.5 billion on an annual basis for five years.
Amidst growing concern that India and the United States are on a collision course over reduction of carbon emissions in the run-up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen later this year, India's Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar said that for a country like India with a severe energy shortage, absolute reductions of emissions is extremely challenging and well nigh impossible.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar has said it is not India but the US that has to respond to the recent revelations by former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf that American military aid provided to Pakistan for its war against terror during his tenure, had been diverted to strengthen its defenses against India.
There is no denying that Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's three-day trip to the United States will advance the further institutionalisation of India-US counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing cooperation.