ATLANTA, GA: The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), through its Chairman Ashwin "Ash" Patel, Vice Chairman Tarun S. Patel, Secretary ChandraKant "C.K." Patel, attended an exclusive, invitation-only event with President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House May 1, along with approximately 250 of the most recognized Asian/Pacific American leaders in the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO: TiE Silicon Valley held its first entrepreneurial mixers at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company on Howard Street in San Francisco, California on March 11 and April 30.

LOS ANGELES: "Though choosing a dissertation for our prestigious award is not like picking the Oscars it certainly is more democratic," quipped Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam, who holds the Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian History at UCLA and is the chair of the Sardar Patel Dissertation Evaluation Committee.

TORONTO: "Live a righteous life." This was the message of the pioneering rocket scientist and former President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to the children and youth during a special welcome assembly held at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir and Canadian Museum of Cultural Heritage of Indo-Canadians in Toronto which Dr Kalam visited on Saturday, April 19.

WASHINGTON: Several ranking members of the US Congress and senior Bush administration officials gave a patient ear to President Dr Hemant Patel and members of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) on a variety of issues that affect not only Indian-American physicians but the medical fraternity as a whole.

NEW YORK: A bold initiative was announced April 25 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon brings together the many forces fighting malaria to focus on one goal: providing universal coverage of malaria-control measures in Africa, where 90 per cent of malaria cases occur, by the end of 2010.

NEW YORK: Ganesh Santhanakrishnan, 27, a former doctoral candidate who had become homeless and mentally unstable, committed suicide by jumping off the Tappan Zee Bridge, just north of New York City.

WASHINGTON: Dismissing speculation that he could be the Republican candidate for vice president, Bobby Jindal, the Indian-origin Governor of Louisiana, has said such rumors were "flattering" but he was happy with his current job and was keen to run for a second term.

BEIJING: China, under pressure from international community to open dialogue with the Dalai Lama, has said it will soon have a meeting with a "private representative" of Tibetan spiritual leader. "In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days," Xinhua news agency said quoting an unnamed official.

NEW YORK: The Congress Party of India dispatched its chief spokesperson, Dr Abhishek Singhvi, to the US to clarify for the American government and the foreign policy establishment here where the US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement stands currently.