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1. Krishna Tribunal grants highest share of waters to A.P. The Krishna Water Disputes
Tribunal-II allocated the highest share of Krishna river waters to Andhra Pradesh but
distributed the surplus waters, which was hitherto flowing into the State. The shares of other
basin States Karnataka and Maharashtra were also raised. The three-member tribunal,
headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar, permitted Karnataka to raise the storage level in the Almatti
dam to 524.256 metres from 519.6 metres, a measure seen by Andhra Pradesh as depriving
its lower Krishna delta region of water supply. The tribunal, however, directed Karnataka to
make regulated releases of 8 to 10 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) from the dam to Andhra
Pradesh in June and July. The tribunal asked the Centre to set up a Krishna Water Decision-
Implementation Board with representation from all the three States.

2. Coins below 50 paise will lose currency from June 30 Come June 30, 2011, 50 paise
will be the minimum coin accepted in the markets as all denominations below it will cease to
be legal currency, the Finance Ministry said. The entries in books of accounts, pricing of
products, services and taxes should be rounded off to 50 paise or whole rupee from that date.
The procedure for call in shall be notified separately by the Reserve Bank of India.

3. BlackBerry denies India e-mail access deal BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM)
has hit back at reports, which said that it was ready to allow the Indian authorities have access
to customers highly-secure corporate e-mails. RIM said only an account holder had the
necessary key to decrypt the messages. But it confirmed that security authorities and mobile
operators would be granted lawful access to the popular BlackBerry Messenger chats.

4. Man behind Rs 400-cr Citi scam arrested Citibank fraud accused held Shivraj Puri, the
alleged mastermind behind the multi-crore fraud in the Citibank branch, was arrested. Top
police officers, however, declined to give details including where exactly he was arrested. He is
likely to be produced before a court. The size of the fraud could be about Rs.300 crore. It
involved alleged siphoning of funds taken as investments from high networth individuals into a
personal account of the prime suspect Puri and three of his accomplices

5. India Inc gets Govt rocket on jobs for SC/ST Taking India Inc by surprise, the
government has dusted off a two-year-old proposal and asked leading industry chambers why
they have not appointed ombudsmen to track employment of applicants from Scheduled
Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). In a December 8 letter, the Ministry of Commerce
and Industry asked the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Associated Chambers of
Commerce to take necessary action and inform the Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP).

6. Srikrishna Committee submits Telangana statehood report The 5-member Justice
Srikrishna Committee submitted its report on the separate Telangana state demand to Home
Minister P Chidambaram, who said government will consult all political parties before taking an
appropriate decision on the issue. The two-volume report, prepared by the Committee after
extensive discussions with political parties and other organisations in the state over the past
11 months, was submitted a day before the Committees term was to expire.

7. Technical institutes have to reserve up to 5 pct seats for the poor From now,
technical institutes approved by AICTE have to reserve up to five per cent of their seats for
students from economically backward sections of the society. Unveiling the revised AICTE
norms , Union HRD Minister, Kapil sibal said the technical institutes can from now on can
increase the intake capacity per programme from 40 to 60 seats. Opening up the doors to the
corporate sector, he said companies can also set up technical institutes provided they set up
entities registered as a non-profit entity under section 25 of the Companys Act to run such
institutes.







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8. Ex-Israeli prez convicted of rape Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav was convicted of
two counts of rape by a Tel Aviv court, capping a four-year spectacle that began with
accusations of sexual misconduct against him while he was still in office.The court convicted
Katsav of raping an employee while he was minister of tourism, a post he held from 1996 until
1999. The court also convicted him of sexually abusing a woman and harassing another while
he was president.

9. Pope to issue new bank norms amid laundering probe The Vatican planned to issue
new rules designed to make its financial transactions more transparent after a money
laundering probe resulted in the seizure of USD 30.21 million from a Vatican account. The rules
are expected to create a compliance authority to oversee all Vatican finances, as required by
EU and other international organisations involved in the fight against money laundering and
terror financing.

10. Indian physician gets top medical award A Tuticorin-based Indian physician taking a
Masters programme offered by the Woolf Institute in conjunction with the University of
Cambridge has won the 2010 JCI (TOYP) Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award
for Medical Innovation. Dr Gifty Immanuel, who lives and works in India, is pursuing the
Master of Studies in the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations programme via e-learning. He was
among recipients of the 2010 Junior Chamber International (JCI) Award.

11. Govt clears Rs 1200 cr equity infusion in Air India Government approved the infusion
of the second tranche of equity of Rs 1,200 crore to ailing Air India with the condition that its
management should rationalise the wage structure of over 25,000 employees. Announcing the
decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for further equity infusion, Civil Aviation
Minister Praful Patel said, This will not only help restructuring the airline, but will also shore
up its finances.

12. Govt approves Rs 1,400 cr to settle banks claims The government approved Rs 1,400
crore for settlement of claims towards the interest subsidy scheme being operated by banks
for the benefit of exporters. The measure will mitigate the effects of global melt down across
labour intensive export sectors and help them to be internationally competitive and achieve
their export targets.

13. US Navy introduces smoking ban on submarines Giving up smoking may be a New
Years resolution for some, but all US sailors will now have to follow suit, as the US Navy
moves to ban its crews from smoking aboard submarines. In a country where fights against
Big Tobacco are common, troops deprived of fresh air and natural light for months were
surprisingly allowed to smoke in submerged submarines. But no more, after a Pentagon study
found the risks of second-hand smoke were severe in those highly confined spaces.

14. Visa-on-arrival facility for 4 Asean countries The government extended the visa-on-
arrival (VOA) facility to four Asean countries, including Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines and
Cambodia. The VOA facility will be applicable from January 1, 2011. It will allow travellers
single entry facility with a validity of 30 days. Initially, it will be introduced at Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai and Kolkata airports.

15. Boney Ms Bobby Farrell dead Singer Bobby Farrell of the 1970s European chart-
topping group Boney M was found dead in his hotel bed while on tour in Russia. He was 61. Mr.
Farrell, who lived in Amsterdam, was more a dancer and showman than singer when he
headlined Boney M in the 1970s. The group, based in Germany, broke into the charts with
Daddy Cool in 1978. That year their version of By the Rivers of Babylon sold nearly two
million records in Britain alone, keeping it No. 1 for five weeks.







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16. Pakistan crushes New Zealand Pakistan crushed New Zealand in the third Twenty20
international in Christchurch as the Black Caps slumped to their lowest ever total in the ultra-
short form of the game. New Zealand collapsed spectacularly chasing Pakistans six for 183,
with the top four batsmen all dismissed for ducks as the tourists shrugged off the form slump
that saw them lose the first two matches of the three-match series