Hay Festival founder is sure books’ future secure

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

HAY-ON-WYE, Wales (Reuters Life!) – For all the talk of a bleak future for books, the founder of one of Britain’s largest literary festivals held each year in a small town in Wales is confident the written word is secure.

Lifestyle

Peter Florence has turned the Hay Festival into a major cultural event, which this year features authors like Bill Bryson, Roddy Doyle, Philip Pullman and Tom Stoppard and speakers ranging from President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed to British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

About 100,000 people are expected to come to the festival in Hay-on-Wye, a town of 1,500 souls nestled in the Black Mountains of Wales which, with 42 book stores, has more per capita than anywhere else in the world.

“The first festival was held in the back of the British Legion in a room that had space for 40 people,” he said, sitting in the marquee tent Green Room, in a farmers field, where the likes of Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer and Booker award winners Ian McEwan and Roddy Doyle go to relax.

“Now we’re on this ludicrous 25-acre site.”

Florence started the festival, now in its 23rd year and running until June 6 this year, with money he won from a poker game, a loan from his mother and a love of good writing.

“It grew largely because of the great fortune of living in this place,” he said, adding that luck also played a role.

Poets Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke spoke at the first festival and Florence persuaded playwright Arthur Miller to come to Hay for the second festival.

“He (Miller) thought Hay-on-Wye was some kind of sandwich, and he wanted to see the town with so many bookshops,” Florence said. “Once he came in the second year, no one would say they wouldn’t come.”

And so over the years, everyone from former U.S. president Bill Clinton (in 2001) to Archbishop Desmond Tutu (in 2009) have made appearances. And the festival has grown beyond its Welsh borders to 10 other countries. This year the festival will launch in the Maldives, Mexico and India.

BOOKS ALIVE AND WELL

Asked about the future, Florence said he’s not sure where Hay will go next. But he is also not worried about doomsayers forecasting the demise of books.

Last year in the UK publishers sold about 763 million books, down nine percent from 2008, according to the Publishers Association. Book publishing and the way people read books is undergoing vast change.

“I don’t think the future of writing will be menaced by new technology,” said Florence, who has been using a Sony Reader for years. “I love the sharing of big ideas and stories,” he said.

And there’s a lot of that at Hay. People chat to each other in queues, mingle while browsing in the festival bookshop and they can even buy mini 20 pence books at the shuttle bus stop taking them from the festival to the picturesque town nearby.

“There’s a very special atmosphere here,” said Jasmin Mellor, of Staffordshire, who has been coming to Hay for eight years with friends in her book club.

“I always meet lots of people and have very good conversations,” she said, adding that seeing and hearing authors speak about their books is always stimulating.

This year she enjoyed hearing Kazuo Ishiguro speak about his latest book called “Five Stories of Music and Nightfall,” and the inspiration he gets from films and music.

“I like buying books here, because it’s special and you get to see the authors and get them signed,” she said.

Authors enjoy engaging with the public as well.

“It’s a great event, there’s a tremendous energy to it,” said Ahdaf Soueif, whose book “The Map of Love” was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999.

MIXED VIEWS ON TECHNOLOGY

While the National Trust is demonstrating its app on the recently launched iPad, Rachel Hazell is sitting at a wooden table offering to help people make books the old-fashioned way.

“Books are never going to die,” said Hazell. “The day I made my first book, I knew I’d be a book-binder for the rest of my life. I’m never going to sit by the fire reading a Kindle.”

Meanwhile, Tina Brown, formerly the editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, who is now the founder and editor in chief of The Daily Beast, a news website, was espousing the virtues of electronic media in another marquee.

“The iPad is very seductive,” she said. “I see people already carrying them around… I think it’s going to win.”

Her talk was so convincing Rupinder Nagra, of London, was ready to buy an iPad after hearing her speak. That said, he was thrilled to have three signed books he bought at the festival.

“I think the festival is great,” he said. “The fact that it’s expanding and that numbers are going up shows the future is bright. “There’s a commitment to literature and to technology and I think there’s a middle ground where the two can meet,” Nagra said. “But who’s going to sign your iPad?”

(Reporting by Sharon Lindores)

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‘Nuclear Iran poses greater danger to Russia than US’

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Considered to be the dean of diplomacy in the US, Nobel Laureate Henry Kissinger believes that a nuclear Iran, in the middle term, poses greater danger to Russia than America.

“I would say that in the middle term, a nuclear Iran is a greater danger to Russia than it is to the United States, because it is contiguous, and the restive populations of Russia, which are mostly Islamic, are joining Iran,” Kissinger told US lawmakers Tuesday.

“Based on my own conversations with Russian leaders, I’m convinced that they are very concerned about Iran,” the former US Secretary of State said in response to a question during a Congressional hearing on the New START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty convened by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Inked between the US and Russian Presidents, the New START treaty proposes to reduce the nuclear stockpile of the two countries by one third.

Kissinger said despite being well aware of the dangers of a nuclear Iran, the Russians are reluctant to be drawn into a conflict in which they might bear the brunt while the US begins to ease out of it.

“Secondly, their economy creates temptations to benefit from sales to Iran, even while they recognize the long-term dangers. But if present trends continue and if Iran continues to build its nuclear establishment, I don’t see how Russia can avoid facing some of the consequences,” he said.

Kissinger said the New START treaty is an evolution of treaties that have been made by a series of American and Russian administrations.

“An unconstrained nuclear arms race has appeared too dangerous to leaders of both American political parties and almost every incarnation of Russian leaders over the last 30 years,” he said.

Noting that one should not look at this treaty as a means by which Russia can achieve a great advantage over the US, Kissinger said: “The best you can say in that respect is that Russia is trying to mitigate the decline of its global role by a measure of parity with the United States.”

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Cuba celebrates 50th anniversary of Hemingway-Castro meet

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Havana, May 15 (IANS/EFE) Cuban citizens at a small coastal village near the capital city of Havana are celebrating the 50th anniversary of a meeting between former president Fidel Castro and Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway.

American author Hemingway (1899-1961) had met Castro May 15, 1960, in Cojimar village, where fans of both the icons gathered this week to pay homage. The celebrations will conclude Saturday at the Hemingway Marina, the place where Castro and the novelist had met during a fishing tournament.

Cojimar was the setting for Hemingway’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. A Hemingway statue was erected here in 1962.

That was the only ‘known meeting’ between Castro and Hemingway. Later, the former Cuban president was quoted in a book of interviews – ‘Cien horas con Fidel’ (100 Hours with Fidel) – as saying that he had met the author on another occasion, though he did not reveal the location, said Ada Rosa Alfonso, director of the Hemingway Museum in Cuba.

‘Fidel was not exactly a fisherman’ and so his participation in the tournament was ‘a way of showing Hemingway his goodwill’ and telling him that he was welcome in Cuba following the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power, Alfonso said.

‘They were two great men who admired each other,’ she said, adding that details about the relationship between Castro and the 1954 Nobel Prize winner have still not been clarified.

Hemingway left Finca Vigia, the home near Havana where he had lived since 1939, and went to New York July 25, 1960. The house has since been turned into a museum where more than 22,000 of Hemingway’s books, photos, hunting trophies, weapons and other personal objects are preserved.

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi appeals sentence again

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has lodged an appeal with Myanmar’s top court, seeking to overturn a guilty verdict for her breach of a draconian security law last year, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Her legal team submitted the appeal on Monday to a special three-judge panel of the Supreme Court and hopes to have the 18-month extension to her house arrest term scrapped on the grounds that the Aug. 11 verdict was unlawful.

“This is our last opportunity to appeal,” lawyer Nyann Win told reporters. “She’s innocent. We may not get the verdict we want, but it’s important that we maintain the focus of the international community.”

Lawyers for Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention because of her fight for democracy in the army-ruled country, say the law protecting the country against “subversive elements” is obsolete.

The legislation formed part of the 1974 constitution but was omitted from the latest charter, promulgated in 2008.

The ruling enraged the international community, which accused the ruling generals of using trumped-up charges to sideline Suu Kyi, the sole symbol of Myanmar’s democratic struggle, from this year’s elections.

The court ruled Suu Kyi breached her house arrest conditions by harbouring American intruder John Yettaw for two days after he swam to her lakeside home to tell her he had been sent by god to protect her from “terrorists”.

Yettaw was sentenced to seven years’ hard labour but was deported five days later after a visit by U.S. Senator Jim Webb, one of the few Westerners who have successfully engaged with the reclusive generals.

Even if the court agrees to hear her appeal, it is unlikely Suu Kyi will be freed because of her popularity and mesmerising influence on the Burmese people.

Regardless of the appeal, Suu Kyi is unable to run in the election. Her National League for Democracy party is boycotting the vote and even if she were to sign up to a new party, her criminal record and marriage to a foreigner prevent her from running.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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People of Siliguri celebrate Nobel laureate Tagore”s birthday

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Siliguri, May 8 (ANI): People in Siliguri celebrated the 150th birthday of the Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, by organising a painting exhibition.

A group of local painters on Friday got together and named the exhibition, ”Creation”.

The main aim of the exhibition was to refresh the memories of Tagore and involve the common people with it.

“We, on the occasion of 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore”s birthday, organised this art exhibition named ”Creation”. The motive is to attract and involve the common people passing along the road, so that they feel him close to their hearts,” said Debabrata Nath, who is the Convener of “Creation”.

The organisers also motivated people to paint the portraits of Tagore. Locals were delighted by the initiative.

“I am very happy to see that something like this is happening. I was just passing by and I saw this. Even I contributed a little to this. Being a local, I am very delighted by such a step,” said Depratim Sarkar, a local.

”Creation” came out with paintings by professional artists.

Tagore was an Indian poet, novelist, storywriter, educationist and a philosopher and also won a Nobel Prize in Literature. (ANI)

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ANALYSIS – Parties aplenty, but can any challenge Myanmar’s junta?

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Although dismissed by many as a sham to entrench five decades of military rule, Myanmar’s upcoming election is being taken seriously at home, with dozens of political parties queuing up to take part.

But what remains to be seen is whether any real force will emerge to challenge the iron-fisted rule of a military that seems determined to cling on to power.

The party seen as Myanmar’s only real hope for a democratic future was effectively disbanded as of Friday when Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) opted not to register for what it said were “unjust” polls — a move that angered many of its supporters.

A breakaway NLD faction announced just hours after the deadline that it would enter the election under a new political entity called the National Democratic Force (NDF) — assuming the army-appointed Election Commission agrees to allow it.

But if the NDF or any other pro-democracy parties emerge, their leaders will have big shoes to fill now the charismatic, long-detained Suu Kyi, the icon of Myanmar’s democracy struggle, has clearly stated her opposition to the long-awaited polls.

The NLD won the last election, in 1990, by a landslide but was denied the chance to rule by a junta that used unexplained constitutional technicalities to keep the NLD out of office.

Many experts and people on the ground believe the window of opportunity for an opposing force to win the support of Myanmar’s people and replicate the NLD’s 1990 feat is fast closing.

OPPOSING OPPOSITION?

The break-up of the NLD could lead to a fractious and divisive opposition, with those intending to challenge the military and its proxies more likely to face off with each other.

“We’ll have to wait and see how well the real, genuine pro-democracy parties can work together,” said Aung Naing Oo, a Harvard-educated Burmese academic based in Thailand.

“The problem is the NLD wasn’t strategically deconstructed. The hardliners and moderates who have been through thick and thin might undermine each other. Some may go underground and that’s a recipe for confrontation.”

The prospect of a clumsily-formed and bickering opposition plays right into the hands of the generals, who unlike 1990, appear to have hatched a clever plan to retain control of the country at all levels.

The armed forces drafted a constitution in 2008 and ensured it passed a referendum, granting its commander-in-chief more power than an elected president and allocating control of key ministries, like justice, defence and interior, to the military.

And it looks as if it will get its hands on the “civilian” side of the new democratic Myanmar too.

At least 20 ministers from the junta, including Prime Minister Thein Sein, resigned from the military last week to become civilian politicians, although as is typical with Myanmar, their parties remain a mystery.

A party known as the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) has attracted wide attention on state-controlled television, prompting accusations the junta has hijacked a social development organisation to use as its vehicle for parliamentary politics.

The USDA appears to be modelled on Indonesia’s powerful Golkar Party and claims to have 24 million members — about half of Myanmar’s population.

PARLIAMENTARY SIDESHOW

A total of 30 groups have applied to become political parties and more may join before the June 6 deadline for new parties to register for the election, a date for which has yet to be set.

Only four of 10 existing parties have applied to run, three, including the National Unity Party (NUP) — the runner-up to the NLD in 1990 — comprise former members of the Socialist Programme Party, the political arm of the military junta that seized power in a 1962 coup before its dissolution in 1998.

Regardless of who wins, most analysts believe parliamentary politics will be a sideshow given the military’s ministerial and budgetary powers and its allocation of 25 percent of the national assembly and a third of senate seats to serving generals.

“The generals don’t want a repeat of the 1990 election and its clear they won’t share power with anyone,” said Aung Zaw, editor of the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine.

“Any idea that this election can change the political landscape is wishful thinking. Members of parliament won’t have the power or numbers to go against these military dinosaurs.”

(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Naypyitaw; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Pearson, Coetzee make literary award shortlist

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has announced the shortlist of writers vying for this year’s Premier’s Literary Awards.

A total of 46 writers are competing across six categories for a total prize pool of over $300,000.

Among those nominated are Indigenous leader Noel Pearson and Nobel laureate J M Coetzee as well as script writers Jane Campion and Warwick Thornton.

Kathy Charles’ book “Hollywood Ending” has been shortlisted for two of the six categories.

She says the nomination has given her the confidence to pursue her dream of a writing career.

“When you’re a debut novelist you’re bright and shiny and sexy and people think there’s so much potential,” she said.

“But keeping that momentum going and actually creating a career out of writing is very different to just getting a novel published.

“So I think this kind of nomination will allow me to actually get the right doors open, to continue writing, which is what I would like to do.”

The winners will be announced next month during the Sydney Writer’s Festival.

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Suu Kyi’s party says won’t stand in Myanmar poll

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mon, Mar 29 05:17 PM

Myanmar’s biggest opposition party said Monday it would not register for this year’s election, meaning the party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed any role in the military-led political process.

“After a vote of the committee of members, the NLD party has decided not to register as a political party because the election laws are unjust,” National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win told reporters.

The NLD, which won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to rule, is outraged by what it says is a constitution that offers little real power to elected civilians.

Divisions had emerged in the party between advocates of a boycott and modernizers worried the NLD would be a spent force if it didn’t run.
Reuters

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Detained Suu Kyi says would snub Myanmar polls

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday she “would not dream” of registering her party for this year’s elections, but added the decision was not for her to make, according to her lawyer.

Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 15 of the last 21 years, would refuse to sign her party up for the polls because of “unjust” election laws, but insisted the comment was not an order or an instruction to other members.

“Personally, I would not dream of registering the NLD under such an unjust and one-sidedly drawn-up state constitution,” her lawyer and National League for Democracy (NLD) party member, Nyan Win, quoted Suu Kyi as saying after meeting the Nobel laureate.

The charismatic Suu Kyi is unable to run in the much-derided election because of her marriage to a foreigner, British citizenship of her children and her criminal record.

Critics say the military government is fearful of her huge popularity and international appeal and has sought to keep her under lock and key to minimise her influence.

The NLD party, which won the last polls in 1990 by a landslide but was never allowed to rule, has yet to make a decision on whether it will take part in this year’s election, a date for which has yet to be announced.

There is disagreement among the NLD’s 128 committee members on whether to take part in the elections.

Some say the constitution is a farce and are in favour of a boycott, which other members believe such a decision would make the country’s biggest opposition party a spent political force.

“There are some who would like to go ahead but most are against it,” Nyan Win said, adding that the party would make its decision on March 29.

Myanmar’s military, which has ruled the former British colony for almost five decades, recently annulled the result of the 1990 vote, stating in official media that it did not comply with new rules passed this month.

“MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY”

The laws also say parties that register for the elections must exclude members serving prison terms, a rule the United States said made a mockery of democracy. Parties that fail to register could be dissolved by the junta.

Many senior NLD members are among more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, where the regime denies detaining anyone because of their political views.

Nyan Win said the NLD had filed a lawsuit against the regime regarding the new laws, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Separately, two new political parties registered with the newly formed election commission on Tuesday, party sources told Reuters.

They were the 88 Generation Students of the Union of Myanmar (GSUM) and the Union of Myanmar National Political Force (UMNPF) parties.

Both are regarded as being close to the military, which will automatically be given 25 percent of seats in parliament.

Analysts say the junta, which will retain full control of key ministries, will likely field proxy parties so it can dominate the lower house and restrict the powers of elected opponents.

Critics say the election, which is the final part of the junta’s drawn out “road map” to democracy, will be a sham aimed at creating a facade of civilian rule with the military still calling the shots.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Oz authors protest China visa refusal

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

More than 90 Australian authors have signed a letter protesting against China’s refusal to grant a visa to one of the country’s most celebrated novelists because he is HIV-positive.

Robert Dessaix, whose 1996 novel Night Letters dealt with the European travels of a man diagnosed with an incurable disease, was refused permission by Chinese authorities to attend the International Literary Festival in Shanghai on health grounds.

Writers including Nobel laureate JM Coetzee and Booker winner Thomas Keneally have rallied to Dessaix’s support, demanding a public apology from the Chinese government.

“We would like to express our support for Robert and to protest a decision founded on ignorance and prejudice,” the letter said.

The Australian Society of Authors also released an open letter condemning China’s decision.

“Mr Dessaix – an internationally published and acclaimed author – has been unjustly left out of the Australian Government supported writers’ tour currently underway in China,” the letter said.

“This was an act of discrimination that appears to be founded in fear or ignorance and is behaviour unworthy of any nation that desires to be seen as enlightened and civilised.

“We ask the Chinese government to explain its decision as a matter of urgency and to offer Mr Dessaix the public apology to which he is entitled.”

Dessaix, 65, is the author of the poetic Night Letters and Corfu. The former was based around letters written home from a Venice hotel room, pondering Italian history, philosophy and questions of human fate.

His autobiography, A Mother’s Disgrace, was published in 1994.

“I am not a threat. I don’t write on political issues,” Dessaix told The Age.

“I feel I’ve been spat on.

“I live in Australia and I can come home to a civilised place where people care.”

- ABC/Reuters

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Nobel laureate Ramakrishnan is India Abroad Person of the Year

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NEW YORK: Indian-American Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has been named the India Abroad Person of the Year 2009 by the ethnic weekly newspaper.

A total of nine awards were presented in seven categories at the seventh annual India Abroad Person of the Year Awards gala Friday. The Who’s Who of the Indian-American community attended the event, held at the National Museum of the American Indian in the magnificent Alexander Hamilton US Customs House here.

The first to be honoured was the India Abroad Young Achiever 2009, Kavya Shivashankar, winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2009.

The India Abroad Gopal Raju Award for Community Service 2009 went to the South Asian Council for Social Services and its Executive Director Sudha Acharya for the decade-old SACSS’s support and empowerment of South Asian immigrants in America.

Priyamvada Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, was named the India Abroad Face of the Future 2009, an award which recognizes the promise of glittering future achievement.

Mathematician Manjul Bhargava, the youngest full professor at Princeton University, and the inaugural India Abroad Face of the Future 2008, was also present.

Investment banker, community leader and philanthropist Sreedhar Menon was awarded the India Abroad Award for Lifetime Service to the Community 2009.

The India Abroad Publisher’s Special Awards for Excellence were presented to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition Executive Producer Madhulika Sikka, Washington Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti, and Otterbein College professor Abhijat Joshi, best known as the co-writer of Bollywood blockbusters “3 Idiots” and “Lage Raho Munnabhai”.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri’s publisher Ajai Singh ‘Sonny’ Mehta, the editor-in-chief of Alfred A Knopf, was given the India Abroad Award for Lifetime Achievement 2009.

Via a video-address, former US President Bill Clinton congratulated India Abroad on 40 years of publishing and congratulated Sonny Mehta, who published Clinton’s bestselling memoir, “My Life”, and all the other winners.

The awardees at a glance:

* India Abroad Person of the Year 2009: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.

* India Abroad Award for Lifetime Achievement 2009: Sonny Mehta.

* India Abroad Publisher’s Special Awards for Excellence: Madhulika Sikka, Raju Narisetti, Abhijat Joshi.

* India Abroad Award for Lifetime Service to the Community 2009: Sreedhar Menon.

* India Abroad Face of the Future 2009: Priyamvada Natarajan.

* India Abroad Gopal Raju Award for Community Service 2009: South Asian Council for Social Services, Sudha Acharya.

* India Abroad Young Achiever 2009: Kavya Shivashankar.

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President Patil condoles passing away of Dr. Norman Boralaug

September 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep.13 (ANI): President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday condoled the passing away of Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug.

“With the passing away of Dr. Norman Borlaug, an era has ended, in which he spearheaded a scientific revolution in agriculture. At a time in the sixties when the country was facing the spectre of severe food shortages, the introduction of Dr. Borlaug’s high yielding varieties of seeds set in motion a technological revolution in Indian agriculture that led eventually to the country achieving self-sufficiency in food grains_ The Green Revolution lifted the spirits of the Indian people and gave them new hope and confidence in their ability to tackle the country’s daunting economic challenges,” said President Patil in her condolence message on Monday.

“Dr. Borlaug’s impact on India ‘s science and economy went much beyond the Green Revolution. A science-based approach to the problems of agriculture was a fundamental tenet of his thinking and the success of the Green Revolution spawned other successful interventions in areas such as animal husbandry, dairying and agriculture. Dr. Norman Borlaug’s life and achievements are testimony to the far reaching contribution that one man’s towering intellect, persistence and scientific vision can make to human peace and progress,” the message stated.

“One of Dr. Borlaug’s favourite quotations was to ‘reach for the stars’. In doing so, Dr. Borlaug helped millions of people escape from a life of hunger and deprivation,” the message further added. (ANI)

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Computer may help dictate best play to call in any game situation in football

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 12 (ANI): Researchers have developed a new computer model for football that would be able to take the play-calling load off of the coach and, through fast, real-time analysis of all the offensive and defensive possibilities, dictate the best play to call in any game situation.

Operations researcher Sharif Melouk and applied statistician Marcus Perry, both from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, collaborated with a graduate student to apply techniques often used to allocate resources in contexts like business and antiterrorist protection efforts to football play calling.

The program takes the human element out of play calling and instead uses mathematical and statistical techniques.

The new model analyzes what the opposing team is likely to do and chooses the play that will best counter it in a given game situation.

“The offense knows all the different sorts of plays they could call for a particular situation, and they’re also going to know what all the different types of defenses that the defense could throw at them,” said Melouk.

“The end result of the procedure is that you come out with some reward or some value to that particular play,” he added.

If coaches can enter accurate data into the model, then it will be effective.

The better the data, the better the performance of the model will be.

Removing the human element from play calling may improve the team’s performance, or at least provide a basis from which to compare and analyze play calling.

One interesting feature of the model is that it can reveal what both teams should do, which is called the Nash equilibrium, after the Nobel laureate John Nash.

“Basically, player two (the defense) is looking to minimize the maximum gain of player one (the offense), and player one is looking to maximize the minimum gain of player two,” said Melouk.

“There’s one point that tells you each of these players should do this one thing and they shouldn’t deviate from this particular strategy,” he added.

When there are two players in a game where both are attempting to stop the other one, sometimes it’s best to seek guaranteed modest gains instead of doing something risky.

“If we knew what play, however, that the opponent was going to choose, then we could maximize our gain,” said Perry.

“But we might be able to choose a play … such that, hey, it doesn’t matter what they choose. We’re still going to get this particular level of gain regardless,” he added. (ANI)

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Mother Teresa remembered on her death anniversary

September 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Sep 5 (ANI): Special prayers were held at the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata today to mark Mother Teresa’s eleventh death anniversary.

Prayers and floral tributes were offered at the grave of the Mother.

Hundreds of people from all walks of life and of all faiths joined the nuns of the Charity for a special morning mass.

“We are very happy to celebrate this day as Mother’s Day in the Heaven. She has gone to God but she is still with us in spirit,” said Sister Nicole, Missionaries of Charity.

After the beatification of Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic Church had declared September 5, the day Mother left her earthly abode, as Feast Day – a day for joy and celebration.

A lbanian born Mother Teresa made Kolkata her home and dedicated her life to the service of poor and destitute children. The Pope beatified the Nobel laureate in October 2003, paving the way for her canonisation, or being declared a saint.

She qualified for beatification after Vatican officials acknowledged that she was responsible for a miracle in which an Indian woman was cured of stomach cancer through her intervention. Mother Teresa, who died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87, was popularly known as the “Saint of the Gutter” for her extraordinary love and dedication to the poor, the homeless and the diseased.

She came to India in 1929 at the age of 18 and took up teaching and became an Indian citizen in 1948.

She started working in slums and later set up her Missionaries of Charity, which was approved by the Vatican in 1950.

The organisation now runs over 500 charity homes in over 100 countries. Mother Teresa received several national and international awards for social service during her lifetime. They include the Magsaysay Award in 1962, the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, the John F. Kennedy International Award in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. (ANI)

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Celebrations planned for Dalai Lama’s 74th birthday

July 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Dharamsala, July 4 (IANS) Thousands of Tibetan exiles are expected to assemble in this Himachal Pradesh town Monday for celebrations to mark the 74th birthday of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

“Exiles, monks and well-wishers will join the birthday celebrations of His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) Monday. They will pray for the well-being and long life of their icon of peace and wisdom,” Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama’s office, told IANS.

Special prayers have been planned at the hilltop Tsuglagkhang temple close to the official palace of the Dalai Lama at McLeodganj near here.

“Representatives of the Tibetan parliament and the Tibetan cabinet will also attend the celebrations. Visiting Australian parliamentarians will be the chief guests on the occasion,” said Taklha.

A delegation of six Australian parliamentarians comprising Labour MPs Michael Danby and Melissa Parke, Liberal MP Peter Slipper, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, and Greens Senators Scott Ludlam and Sarah Hanson-Young are on a weeklong visit here.

However, the Dalai Lama won’t be present here Monday and will attend celebrations in New Delhi.

“The spiritual guru will attend the celebrations organised by the Himalayan Buddhist Association in Delhi. It is for expressing gratitude to their spiritual leader for completing 50 years of his stay in India,” said Taklha.

Last year, the Nobel laureate’s birthday celebrations were largely subdued due to unrest in Tibet.

Born on July 6, 1935 at Taktser hamlet in northeastern Tibet, the Dalai Lama was recognised at the age of two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso. He fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, basing his Tibetan government-in-exile here.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his non-violent campaign for democracy and freedom in his homeland. Ever since he fled to India, he has spent his time in exile pushing for autonomy for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has been following a “middle-path” policy that seeks “greater autonomy” for Tibetans rather than complete independence.

The Dalai Lama has increasingly voiced his frustration with the situation and has said that he has now given up trying to win concessions from Beijing.

“Things are not going well… I have to accept failure… my trust with the Chinese leadership (is) now thinner, thinner, thinner,” the Tibetan leader has said.

Though he looks healthy, the deteriorating health of the elderly monk in recent months is a matter of concern for the community in exile.

He was admitted to Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi in October 2008, where he underwent a gall bladder surgery. Earlier, he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai twice with abdominal discomfort. Subsequently, he had also cancelled his visits to Europe, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

But he has returned to his gruelling schedule, travelling around the globe to speak on Buddhism and human rights.

After India allowed the Dalai Lama to settle here, Dharamsala became an attraction for Westerners in search of Tibetan culture and spiritual sustenance. Hollywood stars such as Richard Gere are frequent visitors here.

A total of 140,000 Tibetans now live in exile, over 100,000 of them in different parts of India. Over six million Tibetans live in Tibet.

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Sibal joins Lindau Nobel laureate club

June 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 29 (ANI): Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has been inducted into the Honorary Senate of the Foundation Lindau Nobelprizewinners at Lake Constance.

Sibal was inducted along with Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, during the opening ceremony of the 59th Lindau meeting of Nobel Laureates, in Lindau, Germany on Sunday.

The laudation read out on the occasion described Sibal as an ardent advocate for technology interventions, especially in the field of education and health.

It also said that he holds that technology can provide affordable solutions to the problems of the common man.

While giving his acceptance speech, Sibal underlined the issue of equity vis-à-vis science and technology.

He said, “science and technology has brought prosperity to the world, but it has not been uniform in its impact. The scourge of poverty persists. Our movement forward needs a course correction. I believe in the adage that “poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere”.

“In the 21st century we need to abate and not exacerbate existing disparities. We need to demolish existing boundaries through fresh scientific thinking and new technology interventions. The solutions however, must be both accessable and affordable, he added.

Sibal exhorted the scientists as global citizens to rise above narrow, divisive considerations.

Stating that science and technology is value neutral, he said scientific solutions and technological breakthroughs would help us emerge successful in our struggle for survival.

He also said that he believed the 21st century would be one of co-operation, collaboration and inclusiveness because the challenges we face are common, formidable and unprecedented. Solutions to these problems lie not in smart negotiations, stealthy strategies or stricter laws, but in science and technology pursued collaboratively.

The Foundation’s Honorary Senate includes German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, former German President, Professor Dr. Roman Herzog, Dr. h.c. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Joachim Milberg (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG ), the Secretary General of the European Research Council, Prof. Dr. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker.

More than 200 Nobel Laureates are members of the Founders Assembly.. (ANI)

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Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday celebrated in New Delhi

June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 19 (ANI): Activists in New Delhi gathered outside the Myanmar embassy to celebrate the 64th birthday of Myanmar’s jailed opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday.

The activists, who had brought a birthday cake with a ’64′ candles on top, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the tune of a guitar.

Denouncing the Nobel laureate’s ongoing trial, the activists chanted slogans of ‘Long Live Aung San Suu Kyi’ and demanded her release.

“The reason we have organised the birthday in front of the embassy is that, she has been in detention for more than 13 years and 235 days and she spent most of her birthdays under house arrest. So we have come here to inform them, that the embassy also should conduct something in India, in Delhi,” said Kim, an activist.

Myanmar’s junta had started a trial against Suu Kyi for allegedly violating the terms of her long-standing house arrest.

Suu Kyi faces three to five years in prison if found guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest by letting an American intruder stay for two days after he swam to her home in May.

Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 13 of the last 19 years.

Myanmar’s military government had refused to recognise a 1990 landslide election victory by the NLD. (ANI)

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Nobel laureate Richard Roberts calls for more research in personalized medicine

June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bangalore, June 19 (ANI/Business Wire India): Starting as a small company without taking the help of any investor but still doing focused research to generate revenue is a good approach for start-ups in Biotechnology, according to Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard.

J. Roberts. Delivering the highlight lecture on the second day of the ninth edition of Bangalore Bio, India’s premier Biotechnology event organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Co., he shared the experience of his own company New England Biolabs, which started as a small research firm in a basement and today has become the world’s largest source for recombinant and native enzymes for DNA technology.

Dr. Robert’s discovery, that we can split genes revolutionized the thinking and led to therapies with recombinant drugs. Dr. Roberts precisely discussed on topics within the broad purview of Biotechnology.

On recession in general and research in Biotechnology in particular, Dr. Roberts said, “We still know very little about the biology and how mechanisms of life work. So this provides us a huge opportunity to focus on the areas that humanity needs most. In fact, recession provides an opportunity to plan and consolidate better. But there is a lot to do in the area of personalized medicine.”

Key thrust areas according to the Nobel Laureate are – GM Foods, Bio-energy, Stem Cell Research, Synthetic Biology and Personalized Medicine. He lamented at politics and politicians agitating against GM foods. He questioned the basis of their view. When a plant breeder introduces hundreds of genes, about which we do not know, to produce hybrids, we accept. But when a scientist works with just one gene, about which he knows fully, politicians oppose it. He called for a need to change this attitude.

Commenting on Pharma industry in general, he said, “They are not really interested in curing the diseases, fearing they lose their future income. Instead, they offer only amelioration, in which case the patient needs to keep on buying medicines. Personalized medicine works differently. But he advised Pharma companies to take up specific drugs to phenotypes as this market also are huge and the possibility of making profits is high.”

Dr. Roberts said, “Small is beautiful in the area of Bio-Energy. A small bio-fuel cell can produce electricity enough to charge a laptop, mobile or a light in a remote African hut.”

On stem cell research, he said, “We can cure diabetes, kidney failure, and many lifestyle diseases and can even grow organs using the cells of the patients. In such case there will not be any possibility of rejection.”

Delivering the second Highlight Lecture, Dr. V M Katoch, Secretary, Department of Health Research, Government of India, and Director General, Indian Council for Medical Research, said, “Proactive bureaucracy and committed political will made Bangalore a Bio-tech hub of India. He called upon Bio-tech companies to work on antiviral drugs and accelerate inventing tools to detect viruses and infections. Though there is lot of research going on in inventing and producing drugs, there is lot to do from the patients perspective to know which drug works better for him.”

Dr. Katoch said, “Classification of diagnosis and diseases among Indian population will address this issue. Though this process is very costly today, bio-tech companies should do research to bring this cost down. When this is done, we can move ahead with personalized medicine. Government of India will encourage bio-tech companies to work in this area.”

Chairing the session, Dr. Sharat Chandra, Director, Center for Human Genetics, said, “In India, two types of biomedical research is going on. One is in the pharma industry that leads to produce drugs. The other is by clinicians to know the outcomes and responses to treatments in patients. The second one is too small as on today, a lot more is needed to be done.” (ANI)

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi says trial politically motivated: Lawyer

June 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

YANGON: Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi believes her trial by the ruling junta is “politically motivated”, her lawyer said today, as he lodged an appeal over a ban on two witnesses.

The opposition leader met with her legal team in prison on Wednesday to discuss her defence against charges that she broke the rules of her house arrest when an American man swam to her lakeside property in May.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday when we met that the trial is politically motivated,” Nyan Win, one of her three lawyers and the spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), said.

The 63-year-old Nobel laureate faces between three and five years in jail if convicted, which would keep her locked up far beyond controversial elections which the military regime has promised to hold next year.

Critics have dismissed the planned polls as a sham designed to entrench the military’s hold on power as Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing.

Her legal team submitted a high court application on Thursday seeking an appeal to allow testimony from two defence witnesses who were banned by judges at the trial, being held behind closed doors at Yangon’s Insein Prison.

“The high court will hold a hearing for admission on the coming 17th (June),” Nyan Win said.

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Politicians, rights activists demand Suu Kyi’s release

May 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Political leaders, rights activists and filmmakers from Indian and Myanmar Wednesday condemned the house arrest of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and demanded her immediate and unconditional release.

The pioneer of the democratic movement, Suu Kyi was under house arrest for almost two decades in Myanmar and to be released Wednesday but is being now tried for violating the terms of her detention. She faces up to five years in jail, if convicted.

The leaders (including ex-MPs) and activists accused India of being a dormant neighbour for not playing a proactive role in the matter.

“The Indian government is silent and indifferent to the needs of Burmese people,” said Tint Swe, a ex-MP of Myanmar, at a conference here.

Emphasising the importance of public opinion in a democracy, Swe demanded strong response from the people and support for the immediate and unconditional release of Suu Kyi.

Thin Thin Aung, of the Women League of Burma, urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to press the Myanmar military regime to release Suu Kyi.

“She is the saviour of the people and without her Myanmar will not see an all inclusive political process and democratic progression,” said Aung, expressing herself disheartened at the “passivity” of the Indian government.

“The Indian government is not exercising its moral obligations and it is extremely sad that that they are engaging in trade with the ruthless junta,” she said.

Calling Suu Kyi’s trial illegal and unethical, an ex-MP Surendra Mohan said the generals of Myanmar junta “sit above the law”.

Even though the international community is clamouring to support the Burmese movement and vociferously demanding Suu Kyi’s release, the Indian government has conspicuously maintained silence, he said, adding it had “abandoned that role in order to maintain commercial and trade relations with the energy rich Myanmar”.

Samata party’s former chief, Jaya Jaitly called upon all Nobel laureates to stand for Suu Kyi.

“It is high time that people, instead of organising discussions and meetings, start to act. The Nobel laureates from all across the world should speak out against the travesty of justice in Myanmar,” she said.

Former defence minister George Fernandes also called for immediate action in the matter.

“If we are not to make a mockery of our beliefs, we must immediately put diplomatic and public pressure to release her,” said Fernandes, a long time supporter of the Burmese cause, in a statement.

Bollywood actress and social activist Nandita Das was also present at the conference to show her solidarity and demand freedom of Suu Kyi.

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