Slumdog Millionaire wins four Golden Globe awards
Excerpts from:
http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/movie-guide/review.html?id=1166708
Jay Stone- Canwest News Service - Sunday, January 11, 2009

Wins:

• Best Drama - Slumdog Millionaire

• Best Director - Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

• Best Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

• Best Original Score - Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)

Photo from: www.mangalorean.com

The Golden Globes, once the raucous stepchild of the Academy Awards, put on their tuxedos and low-cut gowns Sunday night for a glittering but staid evening of honours that boosted the Oscar chances of the crowd-pleasing melodrama Slumdog Millionaire.

The film, about a teenager whose tough life on the streets of Mumbai prepares him to know all the answers to the Indian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?, was the biggest winner of the evening. Despite its foreign setting and little-known cast, it was named best drama, beating such high-profile Hollywood blockbusters as Revolutionary Road and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It also won awards for British director Danny Boyle -- who cut his teeth on such gritty fare as Trainspotting and 28 Days Later -- as well as for Simon Beaufoy's screenplay and for its musical score.

See also:
Mangalorean beauty Freida Pinto Shines at 2009 Critics' Choice Awards
http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=108324

Read Review
Slum Dog Millionaire : Bizarrely Plausible
By Newton D'Souza, USA [ Published Date: January 6, 2009 ]
'Your story is bizarrely plausible.'
http://mangalorean.com/browsearticles.php?arttype=Opinion&articleid=1421

Goan Literature In The Diaspora
By Ben Antao

As Goans continue to migrate and put down roots in various parts of the world, they hunger to read literature written by Goans with roots in Goa. This hunger reflects their quest for identity and their need to nurture and celebrate it.

Following the end of the Portuguese colonial rule over Goa in1961, a number of Goan writers have published novels and short stories, contributing to a growing body of Goan literature in English. I myself have published four novels ad several short fiction, in addition to a memoir Images of Goa, plus essays and articles bearing on Goa.

In a recent essay published in the souvenir of the 2008 International Goan Convention held in Toronto in July, Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, 83, wrote that Goan literature in the diaspora continues to flower and bear fruit. He singled out the novel O Signo da Ira by the late Orlando da Costa who wrote this pro-Goa book during the Salazar regime in Portugal.

Orlando is quoted as saying about O Signo da Ira: “My first novel was written, above all, for what might be called civic reasons, because it really was the call of Goa and its people that had the strongest and most decisive effect on me.”

Victor, who lives in the U.S. but spends at least four months a year in Goa, published his first novel Tivolem in 1998. The story taking place in a fictitious village called Tivolem in Goa is a love story set in the 30s with a theme of universal significance.  Nostalgia for Goa also runs through many other novels. In a Brown Mantle by Peter Nazareth of Iowa has Goan characters in his novel set in Uganda.

The late Lino Leitao of Montreal published a novel The Gift of the Holy Cross in 1999, which is set in Goa and deals with the caste system during the freedom struggle from the Portuguese rule. Lino taught in Uganda before immigrating to Canada in the late 60s.

My first novel BLOOD & Nemesis was published in 2005. It also deals with the freedom struggle in Goa covering the period 1946-62. Another novel of mine, The Tailor’s Daughter (2007) is about a young Goan woman from Nairobi and her dream and struggle to break out of the caste barrier through love and marriage. Most of the action takes place in Margao, Goa.

Also published in 2007 is Love and Samsara, a historical novel by Eusebio Rodrigues of Maryland, USA, now retired as professor emeritus of English literature from Georgetown University. This is an epic novel set in 16th century India and blends history, adventure, love and spirituality during the arrival of the Portuguese to India and Goa.

Books by Ben Antao

1. Images of Goa, 1990, a memoir covering the years 1943-64.

2. Goa A Rediscovery, a travelogue of Goa, 2004.

3. BLOOD & Nemesis, 2005

4. Penance, 2006, a novel about a love quadrangle set in Toronto.

5. TheTailor's Daughter, 2007

6. Living on the Market, 2008, a novel about a supply teacher of Toronto who is trying to support his family by playing the stock market.

7. The lands of Sicily/Le terre di Sicilia, 2008, a bilingual travelogue (Italian and English) about the author's visit to Sicily in October 2007.

8. Images of the USA, 2009, a travelogue about the author’s experiences as a journalist in the U.S. in 1966/67.

Other Goan books

• Novels:
  1. The Gift of the Holy Cross by Lino Leitao
  2. The Sixth Night by Silviano Barbosa
   

• Poetry:
  1. Last Bus to Vasco by Brian Mendonca
  2. Dance of the Peacock by Cheryl Antao-Xavier
  3. Heart Beat by Marinella Proenca
  4. Eve’s Revenge by Ethel Da Costa
   

• Memoir:
  1. Domnic's Goa by Domnic Fernandes
  2. Goencho Saib By Rajan Narayan
   

• Non-fiction:
  1. In Black and White, ed. Frederick Noronha (Essays on the Media in Goa)
  2. Goa --Sweet land of Mine by Goa Foundation
  3. Picture-Postcard Poverty by Kalanand Mani and Frederick Noronha
  4. The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic (1922) by Antonio de Noronha (Portuguese); English translation by Ave Cleto Afonso (2008) Bilingual.
   

• Cartoons:
  1. Goa..Goan...Goaing...Gone? by Alexyz Fernandes

All of the above books are available from me in Toronto. Email: ben.antao@rogers.com 

US develops tiny flying robots
Excerpt from:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/21/business/NA-TEC-US-Bug-Sized-Spies.php 
.
If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons?

That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. US military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.

'The way we envision it is, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm,' said Greg Parker, who helps lead the research project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. 'If we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill that void.' In essence, the research seeks to miniaturise the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance and reconnaissance.

The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists. By identifying and assaulting adversaries more precisely, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties, the military says. Parker and his colleagues plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030.

The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable intelligence about enemies. 'If we could get inside the buildings and inside the rooms where their activities are unfolding, we would be able to get the kind of intelligence we need to shut them down,' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

Last Woolworths stores turn out lights in Britain
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090106/business/britain_woolworths
By The Associated Press

It’s business as usual for Deacons Kenya
Business Daily Africa, Kenya - 15 Dec 2008

December 16, 2008: The local franchise holder for Woolworths, an international high-end clothes and shoes brands, has moved to assure its customers that it’s business as usual in Nairobi

LONDON - Bankrupt department store chain Woolworths, a stalwart of British retailing for 100 years, turned out the lights at the final 200 of its 807 shops on Tuesday. Debt-laden Woolworths filed for bankruptcy protection in November. Administrator Deloitte held a huge liquidation sale - even selling off fixtures and fittings - and announced last month it would close all Woolworths stores after attempts to find a buyer for the faltering chain failed. About 27,000 jobs are being lost.

The stores had been due to close by Monday, but Deloitte allowed an extra day so stores could sell their remaining stock.

The first British Woolworths store opened in Liverpool, northern England, in 1909 under the FW Woolworths brand - a subsidiary of the U.S. company. The British retail company has outlasted its original U.S. parent, which closed its final Woolworths stores in 1997.

Woolworths, which sold everything from candy and children's toys to household appliances and DVDs, has struggled for years to remain relevant as supermarket chains expanded aggressively into its traditional business. But it remains a sentimental favourite with many Britons.

"It's a family thing," said John Kerr, 51, shopping for last-minute bargains at a Woolworths in Brixton, south London. "Yes, you can buy the same things in other stores but there isn't anywhere where you can buy anything from videos to toys to sweets all under one roof. It covers all generations." Deloitte has held talks with other retailers to take on the leases of around 300 Woolworths stores and hopes to sell off the firm's Ladybird children's clothes and Chad Valley toys brands.

The company is not related to Sydney, Australia-based Woolworths Ltd. or South Africa's Woolworths Holdings Ltd.

Ford, Magna team up on electric car
January 12, 2009
The Canadian Press
http://thespec.com/Business%20News/article/494837

TORONTO — Canadian auto parts giant Magna International is teaming up with Ford Motor Company to produce a fully electric car that will be in showrooms in 2011. The car, based on the Ford Focus platform, will drive up to 160 kilometres on a single charge. It will run on a zero-emission lithium-ion battery, without using any gasoline.

Magna spokesman Ted Robertson says what a ride — you call roll down the windows in the spring, summer and fall and hear birds singing and people talking.

He calls it a fun car to drive. Robertson says jobs will be created at Magna but he doesn’t know yet how many or where they will be located. That all depends on where Ford decides to build the electric car. He says Magna would build its parts close to the Ford assembly plant that’s chosen because it costs quite a bit to ship long distances.