“Winning the Grammy would neither have made me richer nor improved my career, so it really meant nothing,” said the 36-year- old bachelor via e-mail from Germany.

This week, he performs with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, in the first of several engagements in Europe.In December, his recording of Humen 1839 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, was nominated for best orchestral performance in the music awards announced in Los Angeles on Monday (Tuesday Singapore time).

Humen 1839, the joint work of married contemporary Chinese- American composers Zhou Long and Chen Yi, lost to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow – Symphony No. 10, under the baton of Latvia’s Andris Nelsons.

Ang said the news came as no surprise. “That was the popular and predictable vote all along,” he wrote, adding that record label Naxos, which released Humen 1839 last year, warned him a month ago that the disc “would surely not win the Grammy”.

He added: “The council of voters is made up of representatives from the US music and entertainment industry and no outsiders are given the opportunity to vote. Who do you think they would vote for?

“Certainly their own and the Boston Symphony was so frequently on American news networks last year that it was obvious where the American voters would be placing their bets.”

The Asia-Pacific flavour of Humen 1839 was a contrast to the other contenders. These include veteran Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4; Uruguay-born Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony for Spirit Of The American Range and France’s Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony for Dutilleux: Metaboles; L’Arbre Des Songes; Symphony No. 2, Le Double.

Ang’s nomination made headlines here in December and put the conductor in the running for The Straits Times’ inaugural Singaporean of the Year Award (the prize went to good Samaritan Noriza A. Mansor, who cares for an unrelated elderly couple like her own family).

He is likely only the second Singaporean to receive a Grammy nod, after Arun Shenoy’s Spanish flamenco-inspired album, Rumba- doodle, was nominated for best pop instrumental album in 2012. That work lost out to American trumpeter Chris Botti.

Ang has been laidback about the nomination, telling The Straits Times that he would be performing elsewhere during the Grammy Awards ceremony, despite a wish to meet Taylor Swift in person.

Indeed, during the ceremony, he was on his way to Germany, having finished performances in Brisbane with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Ahead are concerts in Moscow and Ludwigshafen, near Frankfurt, and rehearsals in Berlin for an October performance.

He is also looking forward to music label Naxos releasing more of his work soon. He has recorded at least four more CDs since Humen 1839 and has another three planned this year.

“The nomination really was not on my mind at all and I never once thought about it. I’m happy the CD I made earned a nomination and that’s good enough for me,” he said.

The CMA Mental Arithmetic, in Ortigas, Pasig City, adopts abacus training to improve a child’s math skills via the concept of the two-hand, four-finger method in moving abacus beads.

“This system stimulates both sides of the brain. Utilising physical and virtual abacus, the child develops a photographic memory of the abacus from which he can answer arithmetic problems with considerable speed,” said Anthony R. Esguerra, the learning centre’s CEO, who was guest speaker in a recent general assembly of the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education (FUSE).

The school, Esguerra said, uses “image abacus” in teaching kids solve math problems. With the constant manipulation of abacus beads, a virtual abacus is imprinted in a child’s brain. With the use of fingers to mentally compute math problems, minors can quickly crunch numbers.

The school trains kids to accurately figure out the answer, through mental computation, to arithmetic problems- like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division- that adults may even find challenging. Under the CMA system, kids are taught the basics of abacus- physical, visual and mental.

“Filipino students can learn the abacus faster than their Asian counterparts because they are more playful and creative,” Esguerra said.

He added that CMA’s abacus-based learning system, which has 16 branches nationwide, removes the fear of numbers, boosts memory power and hones one’s analytical skills.

The after-school, twice-a-week programme also aims to train teachers for abacus classes.

Esquerra told the monthly FUSE gathering that plans are afoot to open a programme, which originated from Taiwan, for 55 years old and above.

The skills a child learns from the programme would greatly help the kid focus more on other subjects, Esguerra stressed,

“We aim to turn math studies into a game and fun-filled exercise, a method that will teach children and adults alike that math is not a

‘scary’ subject, after all.”

The Vietnamese official delivered a speech at the ongoing eighth Delhi Dialogue in New Delhi, India on Thursday to help enhance co-operation between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

He recommended four key areas for the two sides to work together on further integration of Aseancountries and India in regional value chains and production networks.

Asean and India should adopt specific measures that facilitate bilateral trade, investment and identify areas of comparative advantages, he said.

In her opening remarks at the session, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said 2015 had witnessed several important developments in the Asean-India relationship.

This dialogue provides policy makers, business executives and academics from both sides a multi-dimensional platform to tackle today’s challenges, the minister noted.

Swaraj hailed Asean’s achievements over the last five years and its increased importance in Asia-Pacific. “The establishment of the Asean Community last December is a commendable leap forward”, she added.

The Asean Community had opened up new opportunities for shared socio-economic development and India hoped to be part of this growth, she said.

Peace and stability are essential for progress and development, the official noted, highlighting the significance of ensuring maritime security.

The Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister met with his Indian counterpart Swaraj after the session to discuss bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

Earlier the same day, he had a meeting with Anil Wadhwa, Indian Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry.

The elephant, named “Zhusunya” by locals, left a nature reserve last Friday and damaged more than a dozen cars parked along the road.

Another nine cars were damaged during a rampage on Monday.

Local workers say the elephant was probably angry after losing a fight for a mate.

Local police officers have been busy checking the damaged cars and trying to evacuate people from the area.

Tang Zhouxing, a local police officer, says the elephant crushed some vehicles under its massive weight. “This elephant sat its body on the car, and the whole car was shaking and was damaged badly. Now we can see the rear-view mirror of the car was destroyed and can’t see the rear part. We will have a look after the elephant leaves. Now the elephant is coming up, so be careful.”

A forest police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, has said that along with losing the fight over its mate, the animal may also have been provoked by the increased presence of humans in its habitat around the Spring Festival holiday.

One witness said she saw the elephant walking towards a tourist coach and all people on the coach were frightened by it.

An unnamed tourist from Jilin province recalled the moment when their bus was attacked.

“The elephant came from this road, and walked along the road, hitting several cars then rushed towards our coach. At that moment all of us were sitting in the coach and were very scared. The elephant then focused on our coach and hit the front door of our coach. The elephant crashed the door with its forehead, and bumped the left rear-view mirror near the driver, it’s about 90 degrees crooked,”

Dozens of tourists and locals were seen near the site, watching the apparently ’jilted’ elephant showing its frustrations.

The local government has bought Public Liability Insurance for any damages caused by wild animals in the nature reserve.

Insurance companies are investigating the conditions of the cars and will offer compensation soon.

Shen Qingzhong a senior engineer with Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve, says wild elephants are frequently seen in the area.

“He’s familiar with the environment of the ’wild life valley’ and the tourists there. He knew that people wouldn’t hurt him. Judging from his age, he’s around 15-year-old and is reaching sexual maturity. He’s like a young lad in his adolescence. He played with people and their cars on his way of finding a spouse. He didn’t attack the cars on purpose but played with the cars. ’” Wild Asian elephants are a level-one nationally protected species in China, with less than 300 in the country.

Chen Mingyong, a professor with the Yunnan University, says the number of wild Asian elephants has doubled compared to that of 1980s. Yet the species is still endangered due to habitat loss and a shortage of food.

“Asian elephants have a wide range of food sources. But they are big eaters and the overall storage of food is not enough. Also, with development in tropical areas, many forests have been turned into rubber plantations and tea bushes. ”

To ease the conflict between elephants and human beings, the expert stresses that the most important thing is to enhance efforts to protect forest ecosystems and strike a balance between protection and development.

He made the remarks in reply to reporters’ queries on China’s construction of a military helicopter base on Quang Hoa Island and its deployment of HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles on Phu Lam Island of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa Archipelago.

” Vietnam is deeply concerned over China’s aforementioned activities, which seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty of the archipelago and threaten peace and stability in the region, as well as navigation and aviation security, safety and freedom in the East Sea,” he said. ” Vietnam demands China immediately end these wrongdoings.”

The same day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to protest against China’s infringements on Vietnam’s sovereignty on Hoang Sa Archipelago.

Vietnam’s permanent mission to the UN also sent a diplomatic note to the UN Secretary-General proposing the official circulation of the Vietnamese foreign ministry’s diplomatic note.