TED, whose slogan is ideas worth spreading, began as a conference in 1984 that brought together people from the three disciplines in its acronym (Technology, Entertainment, Design), offering the best 15-to-18-minute talks and performances by experts in their profession or field of interest. Soon it grew to include a free website (www.ted.com), which now has more than 1,100 talks available on everything from science and philosophy to global issues and humor. These presentations are intended to inspire, educate and entertain, and have been seen by millions of people.

After several years of discussions and attempts in the community to launch a Jewish TED, the Avi Chai Foundation has jumped in, getting the effort started last January with six presentations presented and filmed before a group of 200 attendees at the North American Jewish Day School conference in Atlanta.

The project, dubbed ELI talks (for Engagement, Literacy, Identity), comes to New York on May 14, with five 10- to 12-minute talks presented at the JCC Manhattan by Etta Abramson, a Jewish educator, actor and singer; David Bryfman of the Jewish Education Project and an expert of Jewish adolescent identity; Daniel Libenson, head of a new Jewish think tank with an expertise in innovation; Nessa Rapoport, a writer and foundation officer who speaks frequently about Jewish culture and imagination; and Rabbi Ethan Tucker, co-founder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar.

* Iraqi envoy says his government has announced 100 scholarships for NUML students

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Iraq Rushdi M Rasheed and Ambassador of Tunisia Mourad Bourehla on Tuesday observed that there was a vast room for cooperation in the education sector between their countries and Pakistan.

The ambassadors separately visited the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) and discussed the matters relating to cooperation between NUML and the universities of Iraq and Tunisia with Languages Dean Dr Syed Ali Anwar, Dr Lubna Farah and Director General Brig Azam Jamal. Rasheed told the director general that there was a vast room for improving cooperation in education sectors and Pakistan and NUML offered a very suitable option to the students of Islamic countries.

He said that Iraqi universities were renowned the world over for Arabic language teaching and his government had announced 100 scholarships for NUML students. Besides, he said that the Iraqi students could come to NUML for English language learning and study other disciplines, including engineering, information technology and social sciences. He also told the director general that there was a need to have a formal Memorandum of Understanding with NUML to facilitate student-teacher exchanges between both the countries.

In a separate meeting with the NUML director general, the ambassador of Tunisia to Pakistan said that Pakistan and Tunisia had deep cultural, religious and social ties and both nations had a common dream of progress, development and prosperity through development of democratic norms in the societies.

The post-revolution Tunisia is witnessing high economic growth, literacy rate and development. Therefore, NUML offers a very suitable destination for Tunisian students to learn modern disciplines and languages of the world here. Tunisian and Pakistani governments have an agreement under which Tunisian government offers three scholarships for Pakistani students. The ambassador said he would direct the embassy that next year NUML students be preferred for these scholarships, he added.

Moreover, Bourehla said that the Tunisian embassy would send books of Tunisian writers and other written material for a separate corner of Tunisian literature in the NUML Library so that Pakistani students could know more about the brotherly country.

Brig Azam Jamal, during the meeting, lauded the efforts being made by the ambassadors of respective countries for strengthening the fraternal relations with Pakistan. He said that relations between Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia were historical and there was a great potential for enhanced cooperation with the two countries in a number of fields, especially in academic sector. Moreover, the director general told the visiting guests that the NUML offers a unique platform to many countries of the world to promote and introduce their culture in Pakistan and know more about Pakistani culture, norms and traditions as more than 26 languages of the world are taught at the university. At the end, the director general presented the university shields to the visiting guests. The two ambassadors also visited different departments, including Arabic Department and library where Languages Dean Dr Syed Ali Anwar and Director Library briefed them on various disciplines.

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ALBANY Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway, the largest contributor in the New York State Lottery system, saw its year-over-year net win increase by $14.7 million. At Monticello Casino and Raceway, year-over-year net win increased $4.6 million, an almost eight percent increase.

Since the electronic gaming casinos are under the aegis of the state Lottery, their fiscal years run concurrent with the states from April 1 to March 31.

At Monticello, the dollars spent on video gaming machines from April 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012 totaled $75 million with winnings of $69.2 million. Empire Resorts, the company that owns the facility, took home $2.4 million with $2.2 million going to fund state education.

At Empire City Casino, the total spent by players was $613.8 million with $564.3 million in winnings. The owners of the facility took home $14.7 million with $22.4 million going to state education.

All of the nine video gaming facilities saw gains in the last fiscal year and the Lottery said that is due largely to a full year of extended hours, the effective implementation of a new free play program and strong results from new electronic table games.