PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) — Vikas Swarup was far from the poverty of Mumbai when he wrote “Slumdog Millionaire,” the book that has now become an award-winning movie and Academy Award nominee.

Vikas Swarup says he was inspired by the idea of an underdog coming out on top.

As a high-ranking Indian diplomat, his day job requires him to think about international relations, not the grit of survival in a teeming inner city.

But maybe his heart was in his homeland when he took his first stab at writing fiction with the story of an uneducated slum dweller who wins millions of rupees on a television quiz show.

He wrote the novel in 2003, while finishing an overseas posting before heading to New Delhi.

“My wife and children had already left for India. So I was two months alone in London,” Swarup said in an interview at the official residence of his current job as India’s Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa.

“There was no comfort, but more importantly there were no distractions. That’s why I wrote this book, almost in a frenzy. The idea was bubbling in my head.”

Swarup said he was inspired by the idea of an underdog coming out on top.

‘Slumdog’ author was inspired by opportunity, solitude – CNN.com.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to push for a “new trans-Atlantic agenda” during a meeting Tuesday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As part of a new start for US-German relations, Steinmeier is looking for progress on disarmament.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has high hopes for an improvement in US-German relations under the new administration of President Barack Obama. The chances of those hopes being fulfilled will become clearer over the next few days, after Steinmeier’s meeting Tuesday with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton and this weekend’s Munich security conference.

Steinmeier, who has been noticeably keener to engage the Obama administration than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was upbeat about trans-Atlantic relations as he prepared for his trip. “I am now finding dialogue partners for issues where they were previously hard to find,” he said Monday before leaving for the US. He told reporters during his flight to Washinton that he wants to push for a “new trans-Atlantic agenda,” which would include arms control, energy security and climate change.

Steinmeier will be the first member of Merkel’s cabinet to be received by the new US administration. As well as talking to Clinton, who was sworn in on Monday, Steinmeier will also meet with Obama’s national security adviser, James Jones. It is not clear if he will also meet with the president. Among other issues, Steinmeier and Clinton are expected to discuss the forthcoming NATO summit in April, the global financial crisis, climate change, the situation in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Disarmament is also an issue close to Steinmeier’s heart. In an article to be published in the Wednesday edition of the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Steinmeier expresses his hope that progress can be made on the issue “after a years-long blockade by President George W. Bush.” Specifically, Steinmeier would like to see action on producing a successor agreement to the START 1 treaty on strategic nuclear weapons, which expires in 2009, and also for the US Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. During her recent hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton said she would push for progress on both issues.

Steinmeier would also like to see the Obama administration roll back American plans for a controversial missile defense shield with installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. The missile shield, a brainchild of former President George W. Bush, has caused friction between the US and Russia. “I expect all the sides in the controversial question of the planned US missile shield in eastern Europe to get together to discuss the issue. My position remains: Where there is a common threat, common answers are also possible,” Steinmeier wrote in the article, which is timed to coincide with the Munich security conference. The closely watched conference starts Friday and will be attended by US Vice President Joe Biden and James Jones.

German Foreign Minister to Meet Clinton: Steinmeier Calls For ‘New Trans-Atlantic Agenda’ – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International.

Last year the champagne still flowed, but in 2009 angst will dominate the Berlin Film Festival. Cutbacks by studios, concerns about financing and a big-budget thriller about an evil bank — even the silver screen can’t ignore the world economic downturn.

Every movie gets the villains it deserves. Bandits attacking Indians? It’s a western. Hit men shooting police? A crime story. And when psychopaths try to achieve world domination, it’s either a terrorist drama or a film about Adolf Hitler. Those are the usual suspects.

Since the financial crisis, though, a range of unexpected villains has started parading across the screen. Werner Schulz, a politician from Germany’s Green Party, summed up the current mood a few days ago: “Now people are more afraid of their financial advisors than of al-Qaida.”

One German director seems to have anticipated this development. Tom Tykwer, known for his bank robbery fable “Run Lola Run,” will premiere his new thriller “The International” on Thursday, when it opens the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, or Berlinale. This time the bank itself is the villain.

The bank in the movie, in fact, is a criminal organization that commissions murder and homicide — a “bad bank” worse than anything from the current nightmares of the world’s finance ministers. The hero in “The International” is not a crusading protector of the public interest but British star Clive Owen (“Inside Man”).

The financial crisis will set the tone at this year’s Berlinale, the most important international film festival after Cannes. It will be the main topic of conversation at the parties and receptions, the festival’s speeches, press conferences and in the haggling over film rights and new productions.

Complete Article…

Worry Lines Through the Botox: Berlinale Reflects Leaner Times for Movie Business – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International.

Vatican’s Pardon of Bishop Is Decried

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Vatican should state that there can be no holocaust denial. (Adrian Moser – Bloomberg News) » Top 35 World Articles » Most Popular on washingtonpost.com

German Chancellor Censures Pope on Bishop’s Holocaust Denial – washingtonpost.com.