Canadian writer Alice Munro wins International Booker Prize

LONDON: Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has won this year's Man Booker International Prize worth USD 95,000, the judges said today.


The panel, which comprised writers Jane Smiley, Amit Chaudhuri and Andrey Kurkov, praised the 77-year-old for the originality and depth of her work.

"Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels," they said.

"To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before."

Munro, who was born and still lives in Canada, published her first collection of stories, "Dance of the Happy Shades", in 1968, which won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Award. A clutch of other gongs have followed.

The Man Booker International Prize is affiliated with the Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, but is unique as it can be won by an author of any nationality providing their work is available in English.

It is awarded every two years, and since its creation in 2005 has been given to Albania's Ismail Kadare and Nigeria's Chinua Achebe.

Munro will receive the prize at a ceremony in Dublin on June 25.

Soruce:TOI

11 killed in plane crash in northeastern Brazil

SAO PAULO: Brazilian officials and media are saying a twin-motor plane with 11 people on board has crashed just before landing near a northeastern Brazil resort area, killing eight passengers and three crew members.

A spokesman for Brazil's Air Force says the crash happened in a forested area near the resort area of Porto Seguro and that rescue workers are on the scene. The Web site of the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper says the eight passengers and three crew members died.

The air force spokesman said on Friday that he could not immediately confirm the deaths. He declined to provide his name, in keeping with Air Force policy.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, the spokesman said.

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Pak ready to phase out nuclear arms, if India does the same

WASHINGTON: Stating that Pakistan's nuclear weapon is a "deterrent" against India, the country's top diplomat to the US on Friday expressed willingness to enter into an agreement with New Delhi to phase out all atomic arms possessed by the two countries.

Appearing on the CNN to make a public appeal to the Americans to donate USD five each through cell phone for the refugees of Swat Valley, Pakistan Ambassador to the US Hussein Haqqani insisted that the nuclear weapons of his country are safe and there should be no concern about their security.

"Everybody in the US Government who knows anything about nuclear weapons knows that Pakistan has a very secure nuclear programme. It's a very limited nuclear programme to maintain deterrence vis-a-vis our neighbor," Haqqani told the CNN in an interview.

"At the same time, Pakistan is willing to engage with our neighbour for a comprehensive settlement in which the nuclear weapons can be phased out by both countries," He said.

"Pakistan's nuclear weapons are safe and Pakistan is not going to expand nuclear weapons capability to a point when it becomes a threat to any country in the world, including our neighbours," he said urging the US media not to divert attention from the real issue by raising the question of safety of nuclear weapons of Pakistan.

Haqqani said the United States should not be concerned about the nuclear weapons of Pakistan as this is not a threat to the US. "I don't think Pakistan's nuclear weapons are a threat to the United States. I think the threat to the United States right now comes from terrorists that might be in Afghanistan or in parts of Pakistan. And Pakistan is doing a great job fighting those terrorists right now," he said.

The Pak Ambassador said his country is unlikely to give specific details of its nuclear weapons to the US; despite the fact that it has assured top US leaders that its atomic weapons are secure and there is no need to be concerned about it. "I don't think any country knows or tells the location of all its nuclear weapons to any country in the world," he said.

Haqqani went ahead to link this sharing of information with that of India. "The Soviet Union never did it with the United States until an -- after comprehensive negotiations between the US and Soviet Union started. So whenever that starts between Pakistan and its eastern neighbour, we will move in that direction," Haqqani said.

Source:TOI

Nepal parliament set to elect PM, CPN-UML chief files papers

KATHMANDU: With Nepal's Parliament set to elect a new Prime Minister after weeks-long political impasse, veteran communist leader and CPN-UML chief Madhav Kumar Nepal, backed by a 22-party alliance, on Saturday filed his nomination for the coveted post from which Maoist supremo Prachanda resigned on May 4.

Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala proposed 56-year-old Nepal's name for the post and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal seconded it along with representatives from 22 different parties.

Prime Minister Prachanda had resigned early this month in the wake of serious differences with President Ram Baran Yadav on the issue of sacking of army chief Gen Rukmangad Katawal. Yadav had blocked Prachanda's move to fire Gen Katawal.

CPN-UML leader Nepal, backed by the second largest party Nepali Congress and key Madhesi group MPRF, filed his nomination for the post of Prime Minister this morning, party sources said.

The Parliament Secretariat had asked political parties to submit the names of their Prime Ministerial candidates from 10 am to 1 pm while the election will be held at 3 pm local time if nominations are filed by more than one person. However, so far nobody except Nepal filed the nominations.

In case nobody else files nomination, Nepal will be elected unopposed as Prime Minister.

Soruce:TOI

Bhutan to hold next SAARC Summit in April

KATHMANDU: Basking in limelight last year when it held its first general elections, followed by the crowning of a new king, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan will grab world attention once again in April when it hosts the 16th SAARC Summit.

It will be a triumphant first for Thimphu that in the past had to pass on the opportunity due to lack of infrastructure.

The SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu has begun consultations with the seen other member states, including the newly inducted Afghanistan, to finalise the dates mooted by the Bhutan government. Bhutanese Prime Minister L J Y Thinley has proposed April 28-29, which would have to be confirmed by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Nepal.

Though initially it was Maldives’ turn to host the 16th summit, the SAARC Council of Foreign Ministers, who met in Colombo in February, agreed to Bhutan’s request. The two-day summit will resurrect fresh outside world interest in the isolated Buddhist country and boost tourism. It would be the first time the summit is being held in Thimphu since the creation of SAARC in 1985.

However, the regional bloc and Nepal’s caretaker Maoist government seem to be at odds, by a quirk of fate. When the 15th summit was held in Colombo in August 2008, Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who took oath of office as Nepal’s first Maoist premier the same month, was unable to attend due to the delay in the formation of his government. Subsequently, caretaker premier Girija Prasad Koirala went to Colombo.

Next year too, Prachanda is unlikely to attend the Thimphu summit. Having resigned over a row about the sacking of the army chief, his caretaker government is now being asked to make way for a new coalition led by his former allies, the communists. Madhav Kumar Nepal, former chief of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, has been able to win the support of 23 of the 25 parliamentary parties and is poised to step into Prachanda’s shoes as soon as the former guerrillas lift their siege of parliament. It is therefore likely that Nepal will represent Nepal at the regional meet.

However, the communist leader faces a tough hurdle with the Maoists seeking their pound of flesh before they yield. They are now demanding that the house admit a debate on the constitutional propriety of the President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, reinstating the army chief they had sacked. They are also demanding a vote, hoping to be revenged on the president and have him removed though they failed with the chief of Nepal Army, Gen Rookmangud Katawal.

There is growing concern at the prolonged stalemate in Nepal. Even on Tuesday, the envoys of EU countries and the US met Prachanda to urge him not to create a political vacuum but to cooperate with the other parties.

In February 2005, after Nepal's King Gyanendra staged a bloodless coup, the SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Bangladesh had to be called off after India pulled out, citing the instability in Nepal and the security situation in Dhaka.

Source:TOI

Iraqis to go to polls on January 30 next year

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Iraq plans to hold legislative elections on January 30 next year, deputy speaker of parliament Khalid al-Attiya said on Monday, in what will be a key test of support for Premier Nuri al-Maliki.

"At the request of the speaker of parliament, the Supreme Court has fixed January 30, 2010 as the date for the next legislative elections," Attiya said.

The last parliamentary vote in Iraq took place on December 15, 2005, but it was largely boycotted by Sunni Arabs, resulting in an easy victory for Shiite parties, which formed a ruling coalition under the United Iraqi Alliance.

The decision to hold fresh parliamentary elections was not without controversy however, as some MPs demanded the legislative term be extended, a move which would have delayed the elections by several months, said Attiya.

Parliament chief speaker Iyad al-Samarrai was forced to ask the Supreme Court to intervene in order to resolve the issue.

The polls come after allies of the Shiite Maliki under the State of Law of Coalition swept to a resounding victory in a provincial vote held on January 31 this year that gave the premier a popular mandate.

Just over half of eligible voters cast their ballots in the largely trouble-free provincial elections, which were seen as a test of the country's progress since the US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein from power more than six years ago.

A steady legislative process is seen by the United States as crucial to the fledgling democracy's future as the American military prepares to withdraw troops from cities next month ahead of a complete withdrawal by 2011.

In his first visit to Iraq as US president, Barack Obama last month emphasized the need for Iraq to have strong institutions as well as the importance of parliamentary elections.

The provincial polls held in 14 of the country's 18 governorates elected councils members for a four-year term to manage local spending and elect provincial governors and their two deputies.

Maliki's State of Law list, with 126 seats won the highest tally for a single list from the 440 contested and appointed governors and provincial council leaders in Baghdad, and in Basra and Diwaniyah to the south.

His list also appointed governors in the mostly Shiite provinces of Karbala, Wasit, Muthanna and Maysan as well as the council leader in Najaf.

source:TOI

LTTE chief Prabhakaran killed: Lanka govt

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's state television station announced on Monday that Tamil Tiger rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has been killed, and the army commander said the last pockets of rebel resistance have been cleared from the north.

Prabhakaran's death would spell the end of a more than three-decade quest by the rebel leader for a separate state for minority Tamils across northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

Rupavahini television, the state broadcaster, broke into its regular programming Monday afternoon to announce Prabakharan's death. They gave no details of how he was killed.

The government information department also sent a text message to cell phones across the country announcing Prabhakaran was killed along with his top deputies, who were known as Soosai and Pottu Amman.

Sri Lanka's army chief, Lt. Gen. Sareth Fonseka, told television his troops routed the last rebels from the northern war zone Monday morning and were working to identify Prabhakaran's body from among the dead.

"We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism," he told state television.

Prabhakaran was in a small convoy of a van and ambulance along with several close aides which tried to drive out of the battle zone, but was attacked and killed, the senior defence ministry official said.

"He was killed with two others inside the vehicle. There will be a formal announcement later," the official said on condition he not be named.

"When the troops opened fire, the van tried to get away, but it was also hit," said another high-level source from the military. "The vehicle caught fire."

The defence ministry said the rebels' leadership was decimated, heralding an end to their decades-old battle to carve out an independent ethnic homeland in the north of the island.

Troops also found the bodies of Prabhakaran's 24-year-old son Charles Anthony, the group's political wing leader B. Nadesan, and the head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Peace Secretariat, S Pulideevan.

Also reportedly found dead were the LTTE's police chief Ilango, its eastern leader, S Ramesh, and deputy intelligence chief Kapil Amman.

In a dramatic announcement, the guerrillas acknowledged Sunday that their decades-old battle for an independent ethnic homeland had reached its "bitter end" -- signalling Asia's longest running civil war was all but over.

The separatist rebels were once one of the world's most feared guerrilla armies, and ran a de facto mini-state spanning a third of the island before the government began a major offensive two years ago.

"We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer," Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers' chief of international relations, said in a statement.

But his appeals for peace talks -- rather than a surrender -- were flatly rejected by the government, and the defence ministry said soldiers were being sent in to crush the diehard remnants and recapture "every inch of land."

Sri Lanka's hawkish president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, will open a new session of parliament on Tuesday with an address that will officially mark the ending of the war.

The conflict has left more than 70,000 dead from pitched battles, suicide attacks, bomb strikes and assassinations. The LTTE emerged in the 1970s, with all-out war breaking out in the early 1980s.

The capital Colombo, which has been frequently hit by Tiger suicide attacks over the past quarter century, saw street celebrations which lasted well into Sunday night.

Authorities have been determined to capture, kill or recover Prabhakaran's body amid fears his escape may lead to an attempt to rebuild the LTTE and usher in a new cycle of violence.

The Sri Lankan government's moment of triumph has also come at the cost of thousands of innocent lives lost in indiscriminate shelling, according to the United Nations. The UN's rights body now wants a war crimes probe.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only neutral organisation that has been allowed to work in the war zone, has for its part described "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe."

But Sri Lanka has shrugged off the international pressure.

"There was no bloodbath as some people feared," human rights minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters. "Everybody has come out safely and they are being looked after by the government."

Source:TOI

Walcott withdraws from Oxford University contest

LONDON: Nobel literature laureate Derek Walcott has withdrawn from the contest for a prestigious position at Oxford University after anonymous letters criticizing him were sent to professors.

Oxford University confirmed the 79-year-old Walcott withdrew from the contest to appoint a Professor of Poetry.

British newspapers reported that the letters made reference to an allegation of sexual harassment made against the St. Lucia-born poet by a former student in the 1980s.

The anonymous letters included references from the book ``The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus,'' by Billie Wright Dziech and Linda Weiner, which details the allegation made by a Harvard student, according to the London Evening Standard newspaper.

Walcott said in an interview published in the newspaper on Tuesday that he would not comment on the sexual harassment claims.

``What happened 20 years ago, I have never commented upon and have never given my side of what happened. That will continue to be the case,'' he said.

The poet added that he was disappointed ``low tactics'' had been used in the election.

Walcott's rivals for the five-year post were Ruth Padel and Arvind Mehrotra. A vote by academics and graduates is expected on Saturday.

TOI

Obama unveils anti-outsourcing policy, Indian BPOs to be hit

Washington, May 5 (PTI) In a move that will hit some 10 lakh Indian IT professionals and a sizable chunk of the country's BPO industry, President Barack Obama has unveiled new proposals to end tax breaks for American companies that shipped jobs overseas to countries like India.

Meeting one of his major election promises, Obama said he will end the tax incentives to those US companies which created jobs overseas in places like Bangalore. Instead, the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the US.

"For years, we've talked about ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and giving tax breaks to companies that create jobs here in America. That's what our budget will finally do," Obama said yesterday at the White House announcing the international tax policy reform.

"We will stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses when they do not pay any American taxes on their profits," he said.

Obama said his administration will use the savings to give tax cuts to companies that are investing in research and development in the country to jump start job creation, foster innovation, and enhance America's competitiveness. PTI

Nepal PM Prachanda resigns

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamla Dahal Prachanda has resigned following a major row over the sacking of the army chief on Sunday. Prachanda, Nepal's first Maoist prime minister, announced his resignation in a televised address to the nation, blaming Nepal's political parties and foreign powers for hindering his government.

On Sunday, Prachanda had sacked army chief General Katawal accusing him of defying the government's orders by reinstating eight Generals retired by the Maoist administration, the president told the army chief to remain in the post.

The crisis follows months of tussle between the prime minister and the army chief over the induction of former Maoist rebels into the army.

A nearly two-month battle between the Maoists and army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal had come to a head Sunday with the ruling party announcing the dismissal of Katawal.

But the announcement triggered widespread protests with two of the government's own partners, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) and Sadbhavana Party deciding to quit.

A second blow came from President Ram Baran Yadav who in a late Sunday night order to the beleaguered army chief asked him to continue with his job.

Yadav, who is the constitutional head of the government as well as the supreme commander of the Nepal Army, called the dismissal order "unconstitutional, illegal and without consensus".

Source:TOI