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Though pleased that the White House would be celebrating Diwali this year, the United States India League has said the celebrations should reflect the festival's status as Hinduism's most important one. The League, a representative body of Indians in the US, has also urged President George W Bush to attend the function, noting that his presence would send the 'right signals to his friends in India and the Indian American community'. According to the League's executive director, Don Feder, merely 'going through the motions of having a pro forma Diwali celebration' would not be enough. "Diwali is Hinduism's most importance...

VINOD Gupta, a high- living CEO pal and fundraiser to the Clintons, is being accused of looting his company's coffers and using shareholder money to fund his lavish lifestyle. Gupta, the CEO of InfoUSA, an Omaha, Neb.-based database company, is coming under fire from investors, including Cardinal Capital, the Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund whose last target was newspaper baron Conrad Black, for a variety of alleged offenses, including funneling InfoUSA funds through private companies he controls to pay for things such as jet travel, a fancy yacht and a skybox at University of Nebraska football games. Gupta did not...

A simple philosophy guides the Indian-American community in Houston, Texas, USA: every little helps. Thus, 11-year-old Shruti Desai, who was among those who gathered to help, spent five hours making up Ziploc plastic packages -- containing toothpaste, moist towels, shampoos, soaps and other everyday needs -- for the evacuees displaced by Katrina. Also engaged in the task of making up such bags was Premal Desai. Having recently fractured her leg, she could not go to the Houston's Reliant Astrodome, where nearly 17,000 evacuees have received shelter, for relief work, so she decided to do what she could where she was....

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of grieving Muslims on Sunday attended the funeral of an Indian-born U.S. soldier killed in a rocket attack in Iraq last month. The body of 23-year-old Hatim Kathiria was flown to Dahod in Gujarat on Sunday, accompanied by U.S. officials and his wife, Lissy Jean-Pierre. "He was my only son. His ambitions took him to the U.S. and then to Iraq. We lost him, but he died a martyr's death," said a grief-stricken Shirin, Kathiria's mother. More than 2,000 people thronged the streets of the Muslim-dominated town, south of the state capital, Gandhinagar, shouting "long...

AHMEDABAD, India, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of grieving Indian Muslims on Sunday attended the funeral of an Indian-born U.S. soldier killed in a rocket attack in Iraq last month. The body of 23-year-old Hatim Kathiria was flown to Dahod in the western state of Gujarat on Sunday, accompanied by U.S. officials and his wife, Lissy Jean-Pierre. "He was my only son. His ambitions took him to the U.S. and then to Iraq. We lost him, but he died a martyr's death," said a grief-stricken Shirin, Kathiria's mother. More than 2,000 people thronged the streets of the Muslim-dominated town, some...

WASHINGTON: Hatim Kathiria’s dreams of becoming a software sultan and a U.S citizen brought him from Dahod, Gujarat to Dallas, Texas in 2003. Like some recent immigrants, he took the shortcut to success and citizenship, joining the U.S Army in 2004 in the hope that a stint in the forces would fund a college scholarship and the American dream on his return. Last Monday, 23-year old Hatim’s hopes ended in the battle zone of Baghdad. He was killed in a rocket attack, the U.S Department of Defence announced, making him the second U.S soldier of Indian origin to die in...

ROVE-LESS?: Guest List of White House State Dinner... But Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 'in' Mon Jul 18 2005 20:27:18 ET Guests and menua at the White House dinner given by President and Mrs. Bush for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Gursharan Kaur, as released by the White House: Chilled Asparagus Soup Lemon Creme Chappellet Chardonnay Napa Valley 2003 Pan-roasted Halibut Ginger-Carrot Butter Basmati Rice with Pistachios and Currants Herbed Summer Vegetables Trio of Celery Hearts, Leaves and Roots Hartford Court Pinot Noir Arrendell 2002 Salad of Bibb Lettuces Citrus Vinaigrette Lotus Blossom Mango, Chocolate-Cardamom and...

04 July 2005 -- American policy makers in the Bush administration believe that they finally have new improved grand strategy toward South Asia, thanks to an Indian-American at the prestigious think-tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.   Mumbaikar Ashley Tellis, one of America’s foremost policy experts, has outlined the grand strategy in a forthcoming report entitled “India as a New Global Power: An Action Agenda for the United States” and scheduled for release July 14, four days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington. As Tellis testified last month in the House of Representatives: "The record thus far amply...

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, who's taken some heat for his hot rhetoric, kept it cool in a visit to Houston on Friday, quietly pressing the Democratic case to a group of Indian-American physicians. "We are reaching out to groups all over the country like this one," Dean said, adding that he plans to travel to India next winter. "This party is a party that believes in diversity." Dean also is scheduled to headline fund-raisers in Austin, Corpus Christi and Dallas during his Texas visit. "Unlike previously, we are actually going to spend money in Texas," Dean said after his...

U.S. National Spelling Bee Champion Was Born in India but His Experience is All American By Oksana Dragan Washington, D.C. 13 June 2005 Anurag Kashyap with the winner's cup at the 2005 U.S. National Spelling Bee The National Spelling Bee is a peculiarly American institution, where school children aged 9 to 14 take turns spelling aloud English words of increasing and sometimes ludicrous difficulty. Yet the champion of this year's competition, held earlier this month in Washington, was Anurag Kashyap, an exuberant 13-year-old whose parents are immigrants from India. In this edition of New American Voices Mr. And Mrs....

Anurag Kashyap Wins National Spelling Bee Thursday, June 02, 2005 WASHINGTON — Bursting into tears, eighth-grader Anurag Kashyap (search) of California became the U.S. spelling champ Thursday, beating out 272 other spellers in a tough two days of competition. He said he felt "just pure happiness." Anurag, 13, of Poway, clinched "appoggiatura," a melodic tone, to take home some $30,000 in prizes. He won in the 19th round of the 78th Annual National Scripps Spelling Bee. Also among 27 spellers remaining at the end of the sixth round Thursday afternoon were a half dozen home-schoolers. Home-schooled students have won twice,...

Pepsi president likens U.S. to middle finger Food giant now doing damage control in wake of speech to Columbia grads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 20, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Food giant PepsiCo is now fizzing in damage-control mode after the company's president likened the U.S. to a middle finger. The remarks by Indra Nooyi, an India-born woman who also serves as PepsiCo's chief financial officer, came during a speech Sunday to graduates at Columbia Business School in New York, some of whom took offense as an anti-American attack.

Eighteen Indian Americans are among 60 high school seniors named to the prestigious 2005 All-USA High School Academic teams Thursday by USA Today, the nation's top-selling newspaper. Four out of the 18 students?-- Nikhil Gupta, Sagar Mehta (from New York), Megan L Srinivas (Iowa) and Lekha R Tummalapalli (Pennsylvania) -- have made it to the First Academic team of 20 of the brightest students. 10 Indians in US Presidential Scholars list Each of the students will receive a trophy and $2,500 cash award. "We are pleased to be able to honour these remarkable students who have demonstrated both impressive scholarship...

Chicago, May 12 : Chirinjeev Kathuria, the irrepressible Indian American serial entrepreneur from Chicago, is returning to his first love - commercial space travel. Kathuria, who some years ago, co-founded MirCorps, a Russian partnered company that sent American businessman Dennis Tito to space April 4, 2000, is partnering with Canadian Arrow to form a new Canadian corporation called PLANETSPACE.

Matthews of 'Hardball' Retreats from Speech After Muslim Protest BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun March 10, 2005 A prominent talk show host has canceled a speech to a conference of Indian-American hoteliers after coming under pressure from Muslim organizations and human-rights groups, who said another speaker invited to the meeting has a record of condoning anti-Muslim violence. The host of MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews, announced yesterday that he would not appear as planned on March 24 at the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Due to a scheduling conflict, Chris Matthews has canceled...

Indian American Nial Patel, 25, caught the political bug in school and hasn''t let go. Today he takes care of Rep. Bobby Jindal's home base. Patel says he absolutely "loves" public service. He looks after Metairie township in the 1st District of Louisiana for Jindal, making sure the freshman congressman maintains his links with the people who sent him to the House of Representatives. "I represent Bobby to his constituents in the First District of Louisiana. I act as a liaison between constituents and various federal agencies. I love public service and I cannot think of anything more pleasing than...

Washington, Jan 30 (IANS) Congressman Bobby Jindal has said he would do whatever he can to strengthen bilateral relations between India and the US. "I will do everything I can to strengthen the relationship," Jindal, Republican from Louisiana, told IANS in an interview. "I have personally asked the president to visit India and I believe he has said he will be going some time this year. "I think it should become routine for a president to visit India, whether it is a Republican or a Democratic president, just as every president goes to Europe." The 33-year-old Congressman said the economies...

WASHINGTON: Indians are the best-educated and highest-earning people among all major ethnic groups in the United States, including native-born Americans. They are also the youngest and most likely to be white collar professionals. These are among the bragging rights conferred in a new study "We The People: Asian Americans in the United States" released on Wednesday by the US Census Bureau. Based on the year 2000 census, the report provides a handsome snapshot of the fastest growing immigrant community in the United States. According to the study, Asian Indians (so termed to distinguish them from American Indians) numbered 1.65 million...

NEW DELHI: For Indians settled in the US who are serious about doing something for the country they left behind, but are clueless about how to go about it, there is finally a solution at hand -- the CII Council of Indian Americans. The brainchild of tech visionary Sam Pitroda, the council formed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was launched in New Delhi on Monday. This initiative has been designed "to institutionalise the Indian US-based diaspora's engagement with India," said Pitroda, who was known as the "telecom czar" during the regime of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. "It...

George Joseph in New York | November 03, 2004 08:52 IST Last Updated: November 03, 2004 12:29 IST Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal romped to victory from the 1st District of Louisiana – becoming the first Indian American to win a Congressional seat in 46 years. The only other member of the community to win an election to Congress was Dilip Singh Saund. When 494 of the 499 precincts were counted, he had got 209,652 votes (78 per cent). His nearest opponent, Roy Armstrong, a Democrat, got 18,032. Votes polled by other candidates -- M V 'Vinny' Mendoza, D, 11,857; 'Mike' Rogers,...