National:

Vinod Rai gets second term as UN audit panel chief He might be facing criticism at home but the United Nations has given comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai a second term as chairman of the global body's panel of external auditors. The panel decides the course and subject of audit of various UN organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN panel of external auditors for 2013 has apex auditors of Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Pakistan, Philippines, Switzerland, Tanzania and the UK as members. Amyas Morse, CAG of the UK, has been reelected vice-chairman. Get TB drugs at shops free, govt to pay up In a move to curb multi-drug resistant tuberculosis cases caused mostly because of irregular medication, the government has decided that relevant medicines will be available for free at all chemist shops and corporate hospitals. The scheme will be rolled out across the country by March 2013. A patient, confirmed positive for TB by a qualified doctor, simply needs to register with the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP). The patient will then be issued a unique ID which will have all information on medicines prescribed and the dosage. The government presently spends about Rs 250 crore on providing free medicines to TB patients. The new scheme will cost about Rs 100 crore more. Pandit Ravi Shankar to receive lifetime achievement Grammy award Legendary sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar would receive the lifetime achievement Grammy award, organisers of the top music award announced. Shankar would receive the award posthumously on February 10 at the 55th Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, said the Recording Academy, which gives the prestigious Grammy Awards. The sitar maestro, who popularised Indian classical music in the West and had a major influence on The Beatles' George Harrison and Yehudi Menuhin, died at the age of 92. Other recipients of this year's lifetime achievement Grammy awards are Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, Lightnin' Hopkins, Carole King, Patti Page and the Temptations. Uttarakhands first CM Nityanand Swami passes away First Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Nityanand Swami (84) died, after a prolonged illness. The cremation took place with state honours at Lakhibagh in Dehradun. Born on December 27, 1927 at Narnaul in Haryana. His father served in the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. He was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly from Dehradun as a Jan Sangh candidate in 1969. In 1984, he was elected to the Legislative Council from Kumaon and Garhwal, which he represented for three terms. On November 9, 2000 Mr. Swami became the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, which was carved out of U.P. Delhi to host film-makers from South Asian region To give a fillip to the cultural ties between India and Pakistan, the first edition of Delhi International Film Festival, to be held from December 21 to 27. Bollywood actor Sharmila Tagore will be honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award at the festival. Kashmiri film-maker Suresh Goswami's film 'Ziyarat' on the displacement of Kashmiri Pandit families from the Valley will be screened at the festival. Interestingly, the festival to commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema will be presenting centenarian stage actor Zohra Sehgal, with the 'Minar e Dilli award'. While Polish film '80 Million' will be the opening film, Pakistani production 'Lamha' will be screened as the closing film. In all, 178 films from 32 countries would be screened.

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International:
Microbiologist Khaleel Chisti can go home Microbiologist Khaleel Chisti, involved in a 1992 case of murder in Ajmer, was freed by the Supreme Court and allowed to go back to Pakistan. A Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi, however, convicted him under Section 324 of the IPC (causing simple injuries). For this offence, the sentence of one year and four months, already served by Dr. Chisti, sufficed. Justice Sathasivam said the evidence suggested that the accused were, to some extent, victims of armed aggression by the deceased and his companions. N Korea defies world, launches rocket North Korea has launched a long-range rocket, intensifying the threat posed by the nuclear-armed state and provoking global condemnation. The launch triggered plans for an emergency session of the UN Security Council, which has imposed round after round of sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, to little avail.

Business & Economy:

Saral Money debit cards launched Saral Money, an innovative payment product which ensures that everyone with an Aadhar number automatically has an Aadhar-linked instant account in a bank, was launched by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in Delhi. People would be able to purchase the Saral Money debit card across the counter from grocery shops and bank branches. It would facilitate instant account opening, simplified documentation and accessibility and reach. The project has been launched in a collaboration by the UIDAI and five banks - Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI, Indian Overseas Bank and the State Bank of India and Visa Card. Under the scheme, an Aadhar number holder can purchase a card for a nominal fee to operate the account. NBFCs may need prior RBI nod for ownership change Non-banking financial companies (NBFC) would need RBIs prior approval before making changes in their ownership control, a draft guideline of the central bank said. The draft guidelines, based on the Usha Thorat Committee report, also seek to make mandatory for all deposit-taking NBFCs to obtain credit rating. Appointment of CEOs of NBFCs with asset size of Rs.1,000 crore and above would require the RBI approval. Regarding non-performing assets (NPAs), the RBI has proposed that asset classification and provisioning norms should be made similar to that of banks for all registered NBFCs irrespective of the size. At present, the period for classifying loans into NPAs in case of NBFCs is higher at 180/360 days compared to 90 days for banks. Reserve Bank tightens norms for issue of debit cards The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stipulated that debit cards would be issued to customers having Savings Bank and Current Accounts but not to cash credit or loan account holders. Banks may issue only online debit cards, including co-branded debit cards where there is an immediate debit to the customers account, and where straight through processing is involved. India, U.S. collaborate on solar energy India and the United States have started an initiative to develop solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) projects and concentrated solar power (CSP), also known as solar thermal. Titled SERIIUS (Solar Energy Research Initiative of India and the United States), the $50 million project would be conducted by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science and the Washington-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Unlike traditional solar panels, CSP projects concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a small area of contained liquid. The liquid heats up, emits steam, and a generator converts the steam into electricity.

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SBI unveils plans for visually challenged customers The State Bank of India (SBI) is in the process of upgrading nearly 530 ATMs in the Andhra Pradesh to voice-guided machines by March 2013 for the benefit of customers with visual impairment. Such persons can operate ATMs with the help of earphones and plug-in points. Cash deposit machines (CDM) are being set up in select branches to help customers deposit Rs 49,900 per transaction through ATM-cum-debit cards and SME Insta Deposit Cards. Funds (transaction limit of Rs 5,000 and monthly cap of Rs 25,000) could be remitted by swiping the GRC which are given free of cost without the need to submit pay-in slips or fill withdrawal forms. Savings account holders can avail of Personal Accident Insurance Policies with maximum risk coverage of Rs 4 lakh on an annual premium of just Rs 100. Corporate and retail net banking and mobile banking have become instant hits with the customers

Technology
Summer star 'Vega' 200 million years older than thought Vega, a star used by astronomers as a touchstone to measure other stars' brightness for thousands of years, may be more than 200 million years older than previously thought. Astronomers also found the mass of the star to be just over two times the Sun's. Vega, a summer star in the Northern Hemisphere is just visible toward the west at sunset. It's the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. At 25 light years away, Vega is close on cosmic scales. Researchers from the University of Michigan estimated Vega's age by precisely measuring its spin speed with a tool called the Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC). MIRC collects the light gathered by six telescopes to make it appear to be coming through one that's 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope.

Sport:
Unstoppable China claims a double China underscored its position as super power sans pareil at the Volkswagen World junior table tennis championships in Andhra Pradesh. For its girls, it was a perfect 10, having won every edition of the global event to date, while it was the ninth for the boys. For the record, Chinas girls conquered Japan 3-0, while the boys got the better of the same opponent 3-1. The sole spectre of resistance came from Asuka Sakai, who vanquished Chenhao Xu in a contest that went the distance, while Miyu Maeda and Yuto Muramatsu managed to wrest a game each. In the fourth and deciding rubber, Fan Zhendong slammed the brakes on his otherwise staccato style. For, his adversary was no ordinary one world no. 2 Yuto Muramatsu, the tournaments top gun too.

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