National:

Naresh Fernandes wins Shakti Bhatt Prize Naresh Fernandes has won the 2012 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for 'Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombays Jazz Age' , which gives the reader an engaging account of the citys thriving music scene between the 1930s and 1960s. Mr. Fernandes is also the co-author of 'Bombay Then and Mumbai Now' , a historical narrative, and co-editor of 'Bombay Meri Jaan' . The prize will be presented at the British Council Auditorium in New Delhi on December 20. Jamil Ahmad was winner of 2011 for 'The Wandering Falcon'. The other shortlisted books are: Tamasha in Bandargaon by Navneet Jagannathan, The Purple Line by Priyamvada Purushottam, The King in Exile by Sudha Shah, The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam by Taj Hassan and Calcutta Exile by Bunny Suraiya. Bharti Foundation, NGO Pratham get WISE awards It was India shining at the fourth World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) organised by the Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar. Two prestigious prizes went to India. Madhav Chavan, co-founder and CEO of Pratham, was awarded the 2012 WISE Prize for Education. The award comprises U.S. $ 5,00,000 and a specially minted gold medal. Pratham is a non-governmental organisation providing basic literacy and numeracy for underprivileged children in India. The organisation, which works in 17 States. Prathams projects address pre-school education, learning support to both in-school and out-of-school children, computer literacy, vocational training and special programmes for vulnerable and working children. Hindustan Zinc to adopt 92 schools in Rajasthan Udaipur-based Hindustan Zinc has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rajasthan Government for adopting 92 Government schools in phases in Chittorgarh and Bhilwara districts. The group will improve facilities in these schools under the public-private partnership model. Hindustan Zinc plans to spend about Rs.3.35 crore on the project. While 72 Government schools will be adopted in Bhilwara for five years, 20 will be adopted in Chittorgarh for three years. According to a Hindustan Zinc, the project will provide basic infrastructure facilities such as construction of class-rooms, boundary walls of schools, installation of hand pumps, ceiling fans and coolers, construction of toilets and playgrounds and supply of furniture for students. PCI forms committee to check paid news in Gujarat polls The Press Council of India has formed a four-member committee to investigate the practice of paid news and keep a tab on any other attempt to affect the freedom of the press during the elections in Gujarat. The members of the committee are Rajeev Ranjan Nag (convener), Kalyan Baruah, Sandeep Shankar and Neeraj Bajpai. The convener of the committee is authorised to appoint sub-committees and distribute work among the members in any manner he deems fit. PCI chairperson Justice Markandey Katju said the Election Commission has detected a large number of cases of paid news in the recent Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. Paid news can result in cancellation of an election result, and the election result of one person declared elected in the UP Legislative Assembly elections was cancelled on this ground. Janamaithri scheme in 100 more police stations The Janamaithri Suraksha project, the community policing scheme of the Kerala police, will be extended to 100 more police stations, 50 of them tribal stations. The Kerala government has given administrative sanction now for its extension on a recommendation of the State Police Chief. A sum of Rs. 2 crore has been provided under the Plan scheme for 2012 for the scheme and financing its extension. As many as 148 stations have been implementing the scheme, launched at 20 stations in 2007 on a pilot basis. In phase two of the scheme, 21 more police stations started implementing it in 2009. Thereafter, following the good response, the other stations introduced it.

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International:
45,000 Indians to leave UAE for illegal stay under amnesty scheme About 45,000 Indians staying illegally in the United Arab Emirates have been permitted to leave the country by the UAE Government under the amnesty scheme without payment of any penalty. The amnesty period has been declared from December 4 to February 3. Once amnesty is declared, Indians staying illegally would report to the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi or Consulate in Dubai for taking Emergency Certificates (ECs) as most of them would not have their passports. The Overseas Affairs Ministry had created the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) and placed it at the disposal of Indian Mission but it would not be sufficient to meet the demand from large number of needy Indians. Earlier the UAE Government extended amnesty in 1996, 2003 and 2007. Time magazine picks top 2012 moments, India's Sachin Tendulkar, graft in list India's corruption woes, the Wisconsin Gurudwara shooting and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar's 100 centuries are among the top stories of 2012, according to a list compiled by Time magazine which chronicles the "highs and lows, the good and the bad" of the past year. Time condensed the "Top 10 Everything of 2012" in 55 wide-ranging lists on topics such arts and entertainment, pop culture, social media, science and space, sports, politics, business, technology and health. India's corruption woes make it to the top 10 international news of 2012. The Time lists include other news-worthy events like US President Barack Obama's re-election, Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, the scandal involving top CIA director David Petraeus and cyclist Lance Armstrong fall from grace in the wake of charges that the seven-time Tour de France winner used performance-enhancing drugs. Israel should open nuclear facilities: U.N. The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to quickly open its nuclear programme for inspection and backing a high-level conference to ban nuclear weapons from West Asia which was just cancelled. The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with six abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty without further delay and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting no were Israel, U.S., Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Resolutions adopted by the 193-member General Assembly are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight. Israel refuses to confirm or deny it has nuclear bombs though it is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal. It has refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, along with three nuclear weapon states India, Pakistan and North Korea. U.S. fines Chinese firm for re-sales to Pakistan nuclear plant The U.S. fined a Chinese state-owned company $3 million after it agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for exporting U.S.-made coatings to a Pakistan nuclear plant against U.S. Restrictions. China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Co. was charged with conspiring with the China subsidiary of the U.S. company PPG Industries to deliver high-performance epoxy coatings to the Pakistan nuclear power plant without obtaining permission. The Chashma II plant, under construction at the time the shipments were made, 2006-07, was on the U.S. Treasurys Entity List subjecting it to specific license requirements for exporting certain items to it. PPG and its China subsidiary, PPG Paints Trading (Shanghai) Co, were already fined $3.75 million two years ago in the case. The Chashma nuclear facility, in Punjab province, is controlled by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which was placed under U.S. export restrictions in 1998 after Pakistan successfully detonated a nuclear bomb for the first time.

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Indian artist's photograph picked up as UAE event logo Forty one years after he captured the historic event, a 75-year-old Indian has been propelled to stardom with his photo becoming the logo for UAE National Day celebrations. Ramesh Shukla happened to be the man at the right place at the right time as he captured the UAE rulers jointly hoisting the flag after signing the union agreement in 1971 which brought the seven Emirates into a union. According to the Arabic language newspaper Emarat Al-Youm (UAE Today) his rare photograph has now been picked up as iconic theme for the event being commemorated as part of UAE National Day celebrations. Shukla has been a UAE resident since 1956.

Business & Economy:

BoJ in currency swap pact with RBI Japan and India, has signed a Bilateral Swap Agreement (BSA) which enables both countries to swap their local currencies, that is, either Japanese yen or Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar for an amount up to $15 billion. The Bank of Japan (BOJ), acting as the agent for the Minister of Finance of Japan, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) concluded a Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) between Japan and India. The BSA would be effective for a three-year period. The BSA was signed by Governor Masaaki Shirakawa of the BOJ and Governor D. Subbarao of the RBI and become effective as of December 4, 2012. In the past, both countries had a similar arrangement for an amount up to $3 billion for three years from June 2008 to June 2011. Supervisory college for SBI, ICICI Bank set up The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a supervisory college for State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank. The move is aimed to deal with supervisory issues revolving around these banks, and establish a cooperation mechanism for cross-border supervision. Supervisory colleges have evolved the world over as an important component of effective supervisory oversight of an international banking group. This mechanism was developed with the aim of reducing supervisory overlap, and filling in supervisory gaps for better supervisory co-operation enunciated in Basel II framework, said the RBI. For SBI, there are nine host country supervisors, while ICICI Bank has seven. Two nominees of RBI on LVB board The Reserve Bank of India has appointed two of its senior officials on the board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB), apparently to safeguard the interest of depositors. The RBI has appointed R. Ravi Kumar and Ashok Narain, general managers in the central bank, as additional directors of the private bank as per Section 36AB(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the bank said in a filing to the BSE. In the past, LVB had RBIappointed directors on its board. Section 36AB(1) states that if the RBI is of the opinion that in the interest of the banking policy or in the public interest or in the interests of the banking company or its depositors, it is necessary so to do, it may, from time to time appoint one or more persons to hold office as additional directors of the banking company. Google brings 'Cyber Monday' to India, partners e-commerce sites Google India said it has partnered with a host of e-commerce players including Flipkart, Snapdeal, Homeshop18, and makemytrip to bring to India its own version of 'Cyber Monday' on December 12. Internet users can log on to 'www.gosf.in' and get deals for 24 hours on this day from over 50 partners across ecommerce, local and classified, online travel sites and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) industries.

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ArcelorMittal gets nod for multi-billion Arctic iron-ore venture Facing hurdles in France, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal has got green light from Canada for its multibillion dollar project to develop one of the worlds largest iron-ore mines in the Baffin Island in the Arctic. ArcelorMittal will hold seventy per cent stake in the Arctic venture with the rest to be shared by Australias Iron Ore Holdings LP. The 17,000-hectare mine and associated infrastructure, including a port and railway, is expected to cost between Canadian dollars 4-5 billion, with first production about five years after construction starts. This will be the first iron-ore mine inside the Arctic circle where temperatures plunge to as low as -50 degree Celsius and to overcome this, ArcelorMittal is earmarking a staggering $2 billion for building a 140kilometre railroad connecting the mines to a port.

Sport:
Rory McIlroy wins PGA Player of the Year award Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy was named as the PGA Tour Player of the Year, capping an outstanding season for the world number one. As expected, the 23-year-old was the popular choice for the annual Jack Nicklaus Award, decided by a vote from eligible tour players, becoming the youngest recipient since Tiger Woods in 1998. McIlroy won four PGA Tour titles in 2012, including the PGA Championship by a record eight strokes. Nicklaus held the previous record margin for the last major on the golfing calendar, winning the 1980 PGA Championship by seven shots. IOC suspends Indian Olympic Association the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) because of government interference, a development which puts a bar on the country's Olympic participation. Suspension meant that the IOA will stop receiving IOC funding and its officials will be banned from attending Olympic meetings and events. India's athletes will be barred from competing in Olympic events under their national flag, but they can participate under the IOC banner. The IOC had repeatedly told the IOA not follow the government's sports code for the elections on the ground that it would be a violation of the Olympic Charter and compromise autonomy. But the IOA went ahead saying they were bound by the Delhi High Court order.

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