Scores of Indian American politicians, administration officials, media personalities and activists were among the 320 guests at the first state dinner of the Barack Obama presidency in honour of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Mrs Gurcharan Kaur

The Gates Foundation also announced on Wednesday grants to nine foundations totalling $120 million illustrating the range of efforts necessary to empower millions of small farmers to grow enough to build better, healthier lives.

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.

Liberalization and telecom reforms are known to be necessary to hasten growth in tele-density.

A strident bill concerning US work visas for non-US citizens has been re-introduced before the US Senate. A look at the bill.

The new Grassley-Durbin bill would weaken the economy. Here's how to let the H-1B visa program strengthen the US instead.

A federal lawsuit in Iowa alleges that two men orchestrated a scheme to underpay workers who came into the country on H-1B visas

Hyderabad-based game development company 7Seas Technologies Limited has developed five free online political games that enable you to make politician do all kinds of things -- virtually.

As federal officers raid alleged abusers, tech employers worry they'll run short of skilled foreign workers, especially in stimulus sectors.

An ongoing federal probe into H-1B visa fraud leads to 11 arrests and the indictment of IT services firm Vision Systems Group

The American Immigration Lawyers Association, which had earlier opposed the measure, described it on Friday as 'disappointing'. It argued that this would prove to be counterproductive as it prevents the US companies to hire the best available global talent. The H-1B has mostly benefitted Indian techies.

US federal authorities have claimed to have unearthed a major H-1B visa racket with the arrest of at least 11 persons, most of them suspected to be of Indian origin.

Indian IT companies can take a breather as the US Senate vote for imposing stringent conditions on the hiring of H-1B visa workers.

In what could be seen as a setback to Indian IT professionals, the US Senate has voted for imposing strict conditions on hiring of people with H-1B visas by American companies receiving federal bailout money.

In what could be a cause of worry for Indian IT professionals, two US Senators have introduced amendments to the economic stimulus bill, which if passed would prevent US companies receiving the federal bailout money, from hiring H-1B visa holders.

Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal has been invited to deliver a key-note address to the national fundraising of the Republican Party.Jindal, 37, is now considered a rising star of the Republican Party, which is desperately looking for a dynamic and charismatic personality to lead the party in the 2012 presidential elections. The US media speculated that the party is gearing to project Jindal as the nominee for the 2012 presidential elections.

Atul Nakhasi is among several students from Iowa University attending Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States. "Iowa had a special place in the election as the first state to conduct the caucus. When Obama appeared on the campaign scene there, he was virtually unknown compared to Senator John Edwards or Senator Hillary Clinton," Nakhasi, who was called the 'campus king maker' during the election cycle, said.

For two weeks, the Asian American Action Fund debated its choice for Person of the Year 2008, from among men and women of Pacific Asian origin who had impacted on the political arena. The eight-year-old Democratic organisation finally settled on Swati Dandekar, the Iowa assemblywoman who in the 2008 election cycle won to the state senate.

Around 300 non-resident Indians from the United States will attend a solidarity rally in Mumbai January 10 to pay homage to those who lost their lives in the 26/11 terrorist strikes on Mumbai. The January 10 date was fixed so that NRIs who are attending the seventh annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at Chennai, which ends January 9, can travel to Mumbai for the event and still make it for the January 12 inauguration of the Vibrant Gujarat event.

Recessions can inspire great entrepreneurial achievement. Here are some examples from the last 200 years.

United Way, an alliance of MNCs and social agents, works on a belief that philanthropy finds new ways of giving in times of economic distress, says Sreelatha Menon.

Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama, by flipping Virginia, Ohio, Iowa and New Mexico from red states in the 2004 elections to blue in this year's contest, took a commanding lead in the 2008 US Presidential Election, causing CNN to project him the winner and the 44th President of the United States of America

Want to get rich quick? Have a fabulously wealthy family.

Theresa Thanjan, the New York Coordinator of South Asians for Obama, says she joined the campaign out of conviction and support for all that Obama stands for. She plans to return to the media world once the elections are over, and says she did not join the campaign expecting to springboard into political office later.

Biden, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has foreign policy experience in spades, making him an appealing candidate.

Senator Obama has the ability to unite our nation as no one has done in my lifetime. Perhaps you need more proof, and in the coming weeks I'm sure he and his talented team of campaign staffers will show us.

"There is growing worldwide concern that economic slowdown could lead to a parallel slowdown in environmental progress, with governments less willing to advocate hard steps essential for reducing greenhouse emission," Pachauri, head of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel said, in an article published in the Guardian.

Hari Sevugan, an Indian-American attorney, has been co-opted by the Barack Obama presidential campaign as a senior spokesperson to augment the already massive media operation of the campaign of the Democratic candidate. Sevugan has considerable experience in communication and policy work with statewide political campaigns.Sevugan had served as the Communications Director for presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd, before the latter threw in the towel in January.

US Democrat Senator on Saturday night formally bowed out of the race for the US presidential elections.

V V Ganeshananthan discusses her first book Love Marriage, a novel set in Sri Lanka, with Arthur J Pais.

The BJP should have, by rights, won a thumping majority. The fact that it did not is food for thought.

From a dark horse in the Democrat race to the first black US presidential candidate from a major party, Barack Obama has had a meteoric rise from political obscurity to be at a sniffing distance of the White House.

Despite Hillary Clinton's 'consolation' win in Kentucky, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has won a majority of pledged delegates, according to a CNN report. Though Clinton won Kentucky by an impressive margin of over 30 points, Obama managed to pick up 51 delegates from the state, which gave him the desired majority for the Democratic nomination. The Kentucky primary will give Obama 1,627 of the 3,253 pledged delegates, in all the of primaries and caucuses.

According to a new research, nearly one-third of newlyweds are physically aggressive. Read on to learn more!

The victorious Clinton reminded her supporters and the party leadership that she is not giving up the challenge to the party nomination and that she does not subscribe to the notion that the voters of Michigan and Florida -- who have been disqualified -- can be left out.

With visas set to max out quickly again, tech companies want more. Amid rising joblessness, does America need more skilled foreign workers?

Two influential US Senators have renewed the campaign against the biggest users of H-1B visa workers in the US, including Indian heavyweights Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services. They fired off a missive to these companies asking how they employed professional and skilled workers, majority of whom hail from India.

The number of Americans who believe that the country is ready for a black president has risen to 76 per cent, up 14 percentage points since December last year. Obama, who is bidding to be the first African-American to be elected to the Oval Office, is leading against Clinton, who is also attempting to script history by becoming the first woman President. Optimism about the country's acceptance of a black president is higher among black men than among black women.

Professors Padma Desai and Jagdish Bhagwati were conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr Renu Khator, President and Chancellor of the University of Houston, was given the Publisher's Special Award for Excellence. The Youth Achiever 2007 Award was given to 24-year-old Somdev Dev Burman, the first Indian to win the US collegiate tennis title. The Community Service Award went to Dr Navin Shah, while Dr Joy Cherian received the Lifetime Award for Service to the Community

The Microsoft founder told lawmakers that the immigration system would have to be revamped in such a fashion so as to allow more number of people to get into America on H-1B visas and it did not make sense for a bright foreign student to be educated using American tax-payers money and then sent home on some immigration requirement. "It makes no sense to educate people in our universities, often subsidised by US taxpayers, and then insist they return home," Gates said.