It was yet another feather in her cap for Pallavi Shah, an accomplished math teacher and coach in northern California, who has been honored twice by President George W Bush in the Oval Office when her students took first place and were the top individual scorers in the Mathcounts National Competition.
McDermott trade amendment to reinstate GSP benefits to India is approved by US House.
The defence secretary, however, said the US would not be looking to add significant numbers of US forces to run operations in Pakistan.
The World Bank, the United Nations and private sector partners recently launched a competitive development marketplace aimed at identifying and funding innovative approaches to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS in India and other South Asian countries. The initiative, called 'Tackling HIV and AIDS Stigma and Discrimination: From Insights to Action,' targets communities across India and the rest of the subcontinent.
Senior colleagues, long-time friends and the Indian-American community leaders had sprung to the defence of Maryland House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, the senior-most Indian American lawmaker, Kumar Barve, who was arrested on November 29 in Gaithersburg in Montgomery Country, which he represents, for drunken driving.
US Senator John F Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommitttee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs -- that has jurisdiction over policy pertaining to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan -- has called for the resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio, saying that the simmering problem is the rootcause of mistrust between Islamabad and New Delhi, that apparently causes Pakistan's paranoia over even New Delhi's relations with Kabul.
Bush said Musharaf's taking off his uniform and stepping down as Pakistan's army chief was a strong first step toward democracy in that country.
The president emeritus of Asia Society and former Kennedy administration official Phillips Talbot has said the nuclear agreement would benefit both countries as it would ensure strategic ties between Washington and New Delhi "for 20 or 30 years".
"The teachings of Guru Nanak provide strength and support to thousands of Sikhs in America and millions more around the world," the US president said.
The Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University, as part of its expanding set of programs, including those on China, Japan, and Korea, has launched an India Initiative to be headed by Professor Deepa Ollapally, associate director at the center.
New Delhi-born Sanjeev K Mehra, managing director and partner in the principal investment area of Goldman, Sachs & Co, where he leads the industrial private equity investing effort and is the key benefactor of the envisaged $4 million South Asia chair at Harvard University, says it is simply a case "of giving back".
The resolution may have been adopted a week after the festival of lights was celebrated, but it was nonetheless delightful news to the Indian American community that had lobbied for it, particularly the nascent Hindu American Foundation, comprising young professionals, who had earlier seen their efforts bear fruit in the US House of Representatives.
According to Harvard, its plans for expanded engagement with South Asia had been developed by senior scholars and administrators from across the university and leaders from the public and private sectors around the world. The plans came just a month after Drew Gilpin Faust was officially installed as the 28th president in Harvard's history, making this project the first region-wide international initiative of the Faust administration.
The total of Indian students coming to the US this year was up by 9.6 per cent from the previous year, when the number was 76,503, and India dominated with 14.4 per cent of the total of 582,984 international students enrolled in American colleges and universities in the US in 2006/2007, which also increased by 3 per cent over the previous academic year.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer from her home in Karachi, when asked if she feared that she was also about to be arrested among several other opposition figures in Pakistan, Benazir said, "I hope that Gen Musharraf won't take that stand, but I can't rule it out."
The New York lawmaker, who is the co-chair of the Friends of India Caucus in the US Senate, said in her missive conveying greetings that 'Diwali is an annual festival of lights signifying universal love, peace, giving and caring. The glitter and splendor of lights which illuminate the dark sky on this day symbolizes the brightness of the future.'
Ann Lata Kalayil, one of the founders of the Chicago-based Indo- American Democratic Organisation, and a close friend and supporter of United States Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama for several years, has been appointed co-chair of the newly minted Asian American and Pacific Islander National Leadership Council of the Obama for America campaign.
'I think the world is getting a little tired of the black and the brown and just wearing track suits and T-shirts,' she said.
The documentary Divided We Fall looks into the violence the Sikh community faced after 9/11.
Paulson has also taken a dig at China "for not being bold" despite the fact that Beijing is integrated into the global economy.