But, the envoy acknowledged that there are infrastructure sectors which pose tremendous challenges where enormous amount of work, needed to happen.

Somdev Devvarman registered the biggest win of his fledgling career when the wiry Indian upstaged sixth seeded Marin Cilic in straight sets in the second round of the USD 1.4 million Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.

A young Congress leader from West Bengal says while the Trinamool Congress-Congress party alliance in recent parliamentary election was able to dislodge the Left's stranglehold, the same result could have been achieved even earlier, had the opposition remained united in the state.

United States lawmakers, who attended the annual Sikh American Heritage Dinner on Capitol Hill organized by the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, pledged to support the community's efforts to serve in the armed forces without compromising their religious principles.

India's new envoy to the United States, Meera Shankar, has said that the results of the recent elections in India "are a vote for continuity, stability and inclusive development." To sustained applause, Shankar also lauded the catalytic role played by the Indian American community in taking Indo-US relations in recent years to unprecedented levels."Of course, our relations with the US have undergone a very significant transformation," she said.

In her fourth appearance at the annual spelling marathon, a supremely-confident Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, breezed through to win the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee competition.

35 qualify for Scripps National Spelling Bee

Maulana Fazlullah of the Taliban in Swat was referred to as 'FM Mullah' because of his effective use of the radio 'to preach to the local people about Shariah.'

While Chopra's appointment does not need any confirmation by the US Senate, Shah's nomination does, but is expected to be a formality, considering his impeccable track record at the Gates Foundation and his previous experience, expertise and tremendous qualifications which includes both an MD and a Masters degree in health economics.

Exactly a week after President Barack Obama formally nominated him as the White House Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, 34, has gone on indefinite leave after his former Office of the Chief Technology Officer of the District of Columbia was raided by the FBI in a sting operation that involved alleged bribery, fraud, and money laundering and resulted in the arrest of two individuals, including an Indian entrepreneur.

On March 5, President Obama named Kundra the Federal Chief Information Officer at the White House.The Federal CIO directs the policy and strategic planning of federal information technology investments and is responsible for the supervision of federal technology spending. The Federal CIO establishes and oversees enterprise architecture to ensure system interoperability and information sharing and to ensure information security and privacy across the federal government.

James Otis, who owns the personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi including the iconic round glasses that are being put on auction on Thursday, has said that he is prepared to reach a financial settlement with the Indian government and take the items off the auction block. "But if the (Indian) government announces some major scheme for the poor, I will even donate these items," he added.

Stop moaning--it's time for action.

The IPO offerings to Bank officials were "the least of the Bank's problems. At the end of the day, whatever they may have gotten with stock options or whatever, I think is nothing compared to the rampant corruption that is being practiced on the Bank's lending operations," says former Bank official Steve Berkman.

If Pakistan continues to dilly-dally in bringing the perpetrators to justice and closing down the terrorist camps that operate within its borders, influential US lawmaker Ed Royce says he will lead the fight in the United States Congress to cut the massive military and security assistance to Pakistan.

Paula Samore, an American citizen who was at the Taj hotel, recounts two extraordinary days.

A skinny African-American man, with goofy ears and Hussein as a middle name is going to become our 44th president. It is a win for all of us-- African-Americans, whites, Latinos, Asians, men, women and children, old and young, straight and gays. We should rejoice at this historic moment.

The Cricket Council of the United States is planning to hold a Twenty20 tournament, pitting club teams from North America and countries like India and Pakistan against each other from April 4 to 12 next year. The USD 100,000 tournament would be held in South Florida and will be contested by 48 teams.

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

Congressman Mike Honda of California, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and the chairman of the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus, believes the ability of the Indian-American community to mobilize is an increasingly potent indication of its clout, and that it can translate into an effective weapon in the coming presidential elections.

A coalition of community organisations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area accorded a rousing farewell to the deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy, Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, who will now take charge as India's new ambassador to Turkey.

A new study has shown that a good many Asian Americans are supporting Senator Barack Obama in the November 4 showdown but at the same time a sizeable population is undecided leading to the conclusion that the large voter group is under scrutiny of the two campaigns.

Berman's bill -- which is in all respects similar to the Senate Committee's Bill that the government of India has found objectionable and offensive -- contains the additional proviso that in the event of a nuclear test by India, which leads to the automatic termination of the deal, the presidential waiver of this termination could be limited.

August 7 marks a month since the Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked. Aziz Haniffa mourns the death of Venkat Rao, a star of the Indian Foreign Service, in that attack.

Among the other recipients of South Asian origin this year were Dr Shaheen Lakhan of Arleta, California; Shetty Shohan of North Palm Beach, Florida; Amoha Bajaj of Montgomery, New Jersey; Shabnum Gulati of Edison, New Jersey; and Sheel Tyle of Pittsford, New York.

Over half of the American Whites consider presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a "risky" choice for the White House, whereas two-thirds believe McCain as a "safe" pick, a new survey has revealed.

In a bid to put up a united front, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had a closely wrapped meeting with his vanquished rival Hillary Clinton hours after she announced her decision to bow out of the race following a 17-month acrimonious campaign.

Though the Iraq war and the economic downturn have affected the popularity of the Republican Party, Harmeet Dhillon, candidate for the 13th Assembly District in California, is not unduly worried. "I am running for a local election, not for the United States Congress. International or national issues are not relevant," Dhillon, who is unopposed in the Republican Primary scheduled for June 3, said.

Immediately following his election, DeBenedittis closed down the day-labour centre that had been sustained by public funds and was located in a residential neighbourhood. In this, he had the backing of most members of the Town Council.

A district court in the United States has sentenced a former schoolteacher for the second time to 15 years in prison after an appeals court directed it to reconsider the original conviction, for providing material aid to terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. The former school teacher was found guilty of acting as an assistant to LeT leader Mohammed Ajmal Khan, during his visits to the US in 2002 and 2003, and helping Khan transfer 50,000 paintball pellets to Pakistan.

The high profile visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the US is noted for the involvement of several Indian Americans as well as a protest in New York. People belonging to different faiths, excluding the Sikhs, will meet with him in an interfaith dialogue at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington DC, on Thursday evening. Several Indians are also invited to the White House reception to the Pope.

The agreement includes "financial compensation, health benefits and non-monetary assistance for surviving family members and victims of the April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech," according to a statement released by lawyers representing some of the families. The finer details have not been released because the agreement has not been finalised.

Factors to consider while shortlisting foreign universities to which to apply.

The United States must henceforth adopt policies that treat Al Qaeda and the Taliban as a hostile state, says scholar Harold Gould.

"The world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy are natural partners, sharing important interests and fundamental democratic values," Obama said.

Kazmierczak shot dead five students, mostly women, and injured 23 others in Northern Illinois University before turning the weapon on himself on the Valentine's Day, but no Indian casualty has been reported. A senior Indian Embassy official told PTI that both the Mission in Washington and the Consulate in Chicago were following the tragic incident closely. "At this time, there have been no reports of any Indian students killed or seriously injured," the official said.

As the one-time frontrunner for the Democratic Party nomination Hillary Clinton fumbles through the primaries, there are clear indications that the showdown she hoped to have with dark horse Barack Obama at the Denver Convention in August may turn out to be a damp squib.

Obama's eighth successive victory over rival New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race to the White House has narrowed the gap between the two Democrats in terms of delegates

The win capped an amazing weekend for the first-time senator.

Obama, aiming to become the first black US president in history, garnered roughly twice the votes received by Hillary in Nebraska and Washington, which have 24 and 78 delegates respectively who will go to the Democratic National Convention to elect the party's nominee for the presidential election.