Free Republic

Prior to that, they spent an hour late in the afternoon touring a center for Islamic art and culture in Honolulu. The center is in Shangri La — the former mansion of the heiress Doris Duke that overlooks the Pacific Ocean near Diamond Head. The president’s brother-in-law, Konrad Ng, is the director of Shangri La. Ng is married to Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and the couple and their family live in Honolulu.

HONOLULU (AP) - The Latest on President Barack Obama family vacation in Hawaii (all times local): 8 p.m. The Obama family along with friends spent an hour late Wednesday afternoon touring a center for Islamic art and culture in Honolulu. The center is in Shangri La - the former mansion of the heiress Doris Duke that overlooks the Pacific Ocean near Diamond Head. The president's brother-in-law, Konrad Ng, is the director of Shangri La. Ng is married to Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and the couple and their family live in Honolulu....

President-elect Barack Obama gathered with family and friends on Tuesday for a private memorial service for the beloved grandmother who helped raise him. Madelyn Payne Dunham, known to her friends as “Toot”, died Nov. 2, two days before Obama won election to become the nation’s first African-American president. She was 86. Obama did not speak to reporters at the small home that had been converted into the First Unitarian Church in Nuuanu. Aides said Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, also were present. Following the ceremony, Obama drove to the Lanai Lookout. He and about 20 members...