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National:

Oriya novelist is Jnanpith award winnerLeading Oriya novelist and academician Pratibha Ray, who got Padma Shri in 2007, has 20 novels, 24 shortstories, 10 travelogues, two poetry collections and a number of essays to her credit, was named for theprestigious Jnanpith Award for the year 2011. At a meeting chaired by writer and Jnanpith award winnerSitakant Mahapatra, it was decided that Ray, 69, will be the winner of the 2011 Janapith Award. The award

carries a cash prize of Rs. 7 lakh, a citation and a public felicitation. Ray will be the 47th author to bebestowed with the honour.

Ravivarma Puraskaram for Yousuf ArackalPainter Yousuf Arackal has been chosen for this years Raja Ravivarma Puraskaram. The highest award forpainters and sculptors instituted by the Kerala government is given annually. The award carries a cash prizeof Rs. 1,50,000, a citation and a plaque. Yousuf Arackal was chosen for the award by a panel comprisingKerala Lalitha Kala Akademi chairman K.A. Francis, Kattoor Narayana Pillai, P.S. Karunakaran, O. Sundarand Sajan Peter, Principal Secretary, Culture.

UK honour for cricketer BobjeeM.V. Narasimha Rao is the first Indian cricketer ever to be conferred with the prestigious Member of BritishEmpire (MBE) medallion for his contribution to promoting the sport and also for community service throughcricket during the testing times faced by the ethnic community in Northern Ireland. 58-year-old Bobjee, as he

is popularly known in cricketing circles, who played for India in four Tests in 1979 under Sunil Gavaskarscaptaincy feels that he has every reason to look back at his stay in Ireland since 1989 with a sense of prideand immense satisfaction.

Tiger population in India increases significantlyTiger population in India has significantly increased in the wild, thanks to protection of additional habitat ofthe big cat and stringent anti-poaching patrols, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said. Insouthwestern India, where WCS research and conservation efforts began 25 years ago, a major rebound oftigers in the Western Ghats region of Karnataka has taken place. In Nagarahole and Bandipur NationalParks, tigers have actually reached saturation levels, with surplus young tigers spilling out into forest-reserves and dispersing using secured forest corridors through a landscape that holds over a million humanbeings.

William Dalrymple, Salman Rushdie top authors' reading list in 2012

When leading authors like Aravind Adiga, Jeet Thayil and Amit Chaudhuri were not writing in 2012, they werereading a lot - be it works of Naresh Fernandes, William Dalrymple or Anjali Joseph. Mumbai-based journalistFernandes' book "Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age" topped the reading list of both 2008Booker Prize winner Adiga and this year's Booker-nominated writer Thayil. According to Adiga, Two otherbooks he liked were Mustansir Dalvi's new translation of the poetry of Iqbal - "Taking Issue and Allah'sAnswer" and Gopalakrishna Pai's Kannada novel "Swapna Saraswata" Asked about his top reads during theyear, Thayil's list went thus: "Taj Mahal Foxtrot", "Righteous Republic" by Ananya Vajpeyi, "Return of a King"by Dalrymple, "Dom Moraes: Selected Poems" (edited by Ranjit Hoskote), "The Wildings" by Nilanjana Roy,and "Drifting House" by Krys Lee. Chaudhuri named Joseph's "Another Country", Palash Mehrotra's "TheButterfly Generation" and Anand Thakore's "Elephant Bathing" as his top reads.

Nirbhaya first private citizen treated abroad at state expenseNirbhaya has already set a record - she has become the first Indian private citizen to have been takenabroad for medical care at the expense of the state. Former prime ministers Chandrashekhar and V P Singhhad been treated abroad at government expense. Besides, veteran leader Jay Prakash Narayan was airliftedfor treatment within the country (from Patna to Mumbai) at government's expense. Narayan was privateindividual as he did not hold any public post at that time, but was a national political figure.

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International:

Tulsi Gabbard fails to make it to US SenateAmericas first Hindu Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, has failed in her bid for nomination to the US Senatefrom her native Hawaii in what turned out to be a fierce competition with as many as 14 aspirants throwingtheir hats into the ring.Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie has chosen his deputy, Lt. Governor Brian Schatz,

for the lone seat that fell vacant with the recent death of long-time Senator Daniel K Inouye.

Technology:

Scientists decode why universe is dominated by matterScientists have solved the puzzle of the universe being dominated by matter rather than its close relativeanti-matter. Physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made a precise measurement of elusive,nearly massless particles, and obtained a crucial hint as to why the universe is dominated by matter. Theparticles, called anti-neutrinos, were detected at the underground Daya Bay experiment, located near anuclear reactor in China. Anti-particles are almost identical twins of sub-atomic particles (electrons, protonsand neutrons) that make up our world. When an electron encounters an anti-electron, for example, both areannihilated in a burst of energy. Failure to see these bursts in the universe tells physicists that anti-matter is

vanishingly rare, and that matter rules the roost in today's universe.

Business & Economy:

Former SEBI whole-time member Sahoo appointed ICSI SecretaryFormer whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) M.S. Sahoo has beenappointed as Secretary of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). Sahoo will assume charge asICSI Secretary on January 1.

Kerala most searched travel destinationKerala has edged out Taj Mahal, one of the Wonders of the World and a World Heritage Site, to become thenumber-one travel destination in Googles search trends for India for 2012. The famed hill station of Munnar

is also on the list of the top-10 Indian destinations on Googles Zeitgeist site showing search trends fromaround the world. Taj Mahal at number two was followed by the Wagah Border, Vaishno Devi and Amarnath.Kashmir came in at number six. Munnar was at number nine followed by the Gateway of India. GooglesZeitgeist, which covers all search categories, answers the question of what the world searched for in aparticular year.

Bristol-Myers sues DRL over patent rowU.S.-based drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Company has filed a patent infringement case against Dr.Reddys Laboratories (DRL) over cancer drug Ixempra. Bristol-Myers in its petition filed in the United StatesDistrict Court of New Jersey alleged that the Indian drug maker had infringed the patents of its drug on threecounts. DRL notified Bristol-Myers that the Indian drug major had submitted Abbreviated New DrugApplication (ANDA) concerning its proposed drug product of Ixabepilone for injection, as required by the FDArules.

Plan panel for 8% growth in 12th planCountrys apex planning body Planning Commission has projected 8 per cent economic growth for the 12thPlan (2012-17). It also cautioned that policy logjam could slow the expansion to even as low as 5-5.5 percent during the next five year period.

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Proposed RBI norms may put a dent in NBFCs profitabilityThe proposed guidelines by the Reserve Bank for the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are likely toimpact the profitability of these entities by 15-20 basis points (0.15-0.20%) in medium-term, according to aresearch report by the rating agency ICRA.As per the proposed guidelines, the NBFCs have to recognise aloan as NPA if it is not serviced for 90 days from the present 180 days. It also proposes to implement 10 percent capital adequacy ratio (CAR) norm for most of the NBFCs.

Sport:

Mahavir wins his maiden standard pistol goldMahavir Singh of Rajasthan won his maiden gold in standard pistol in the Sahara 56th National shootingchampionship. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist in centre fire pistol in 2002, Mahavir Singh hadrounds of 193, 192 and 184 in the 150-second, 20-second and 10-second series respectively, as he pippedPemba Tamang of the Army by two points for the gold. The Olympics silver medallist, Vijay Kumar, was fifthwith 560, two points behind Harpreet Singh of Navy, while Omkar Singh (559) and Gurpreet Singh (558)followed.