It was half-past 5 and we were at Savera hotel to meet Aadi Sai Vijaykaran, a 13-year-old from KC High, who created history by winning the Junior Debate Championship at the World Scholar’s Cup held at Yale University from November 16-21. Clad in a crisp blazer, holding his shining trophy, the class 8 student oozed confidence. This is the first time an individual from India has won the coveted title. “My wife and I noticed that Aadi had a flair for oration, even when he was very young. We picked that and worked on honing his skill,” said Aadi’s father, Vijay.

The curriculum for the World Scholar’s Cup competition is diverse and varies from pop culture to neuroscience to macroeconomics. “I took quite a bit of time to prepare for this year-long contest. But, it has been a very interesting process...from getting a deep understanding of the syllabus and topics, practising and improving my public speaking and writing skills to working on my body language, I did it all. Motivation from my mother Vanitha Venugopal and father Vijay helped to be steadfast and work all the way till the end. I also trained at A to Zee Creativity — to practice, train and refine my skills with other scholars,” shared Aadi.

Japan said on December 26 it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and will resume commercial whaling next year, in a move expected to spark international criticism.

The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling.

"We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering will be on a three-day visit of India from Thursday, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs said Monday.

This is Tshering’s first visit to the country since taking charge last month. The Bhutanese ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs and other senior officials will accompany him, MEA said in a statement.

During the December 27-29 visit, Tshering will deliberate on ways to step up ties between the two neighbours and also call on President Ram Nath Kovind.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other ministers will call on the Bhutanese PM, the statement said. The two sides are likely to discuss all aspects of bilateral relations, including high-level exchanges, people-to-people ties, and economic, development and hydropower cooperation, it said. Tshering’s visit comes a month after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s official trip to Bhutan.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Wednesday was inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame. The 44-year-old was recognised with a lap of honour during the third Test between India and Australia at MCG after the official announcement was made.

Ponting was named as the 25th Australian to be included in the prestigious list earlier this year but was officially recognised on Wednesday in front of the thousands of fans at MCG at the Tea break. He joins India’s Rahul Dravid and England’s Claire Taylor as the 2018 inductees in the list, bringing the total members to 87.

“I feel deeply honoured to be recognised by the ICC in this way. I loved every moment of my journey as a player and am so very proud of the team and personal achievements along the way,” the former batsman was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.

“These would not have been possible without the help of so many people including my teammates, coaches and support staff that played such an integral part in my playing career,” he added. “I would like to especially thank my family for their constant support and direction. Honours like this are just as much for them as it is for me.”

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday set up an expert committee, headed by its former governor Bimal Jalan, to suggest how the central bank should handle its reserves and whether it can transfer its surplus to the government.

The committee, which has been formed to review the existing economic capital framework (ECF), will have former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan as its vice chairman. Other members are RBI central board directors Bharat Doshi and Sudhir Mankad; deputy governor N.S. Vishwanathan; and economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. The panel will submit its report within 90 days of its first meeting.

The government has been insisting that the central bank hand over its surplus reserves amid a shortfall in revenue collections. Access to the funds will allow finance minister Arun Jaitley to meet deficit targets, infuse capital into weak banks to boost lending and fund welfare programmes. The Jalan panel will decide whether RBI is holding provisions, reserves and buffers in surplus of the required levels.

“[It would] propose a suitable profits distribution policy taking into account all the likely situations of the RBI, including the situations of holding more provisions than required and the RBI holding less provisions than required,” the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India is all set to release the new Rs 20 currency notes. The apex bank will introduce the new note with additional features, reported PTI citing RBI document. It may be noted that the bank has been introducing new look notes since demonetisation in 2016.

Despite the new look notes coming into circulation, the old Rs 20 notes will not be withdrawn. RBI has already issued new look currency notes in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100, and Rs 500. The bank also introduced two new denomination -Rs 200 and Rs 2,000 banknotes post-demonetisation.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Aadhar issuing body, has asked schools not to make Aadhar number mandatory for admission to schools. Asking for the 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar number a pre-condition for student admission will be against the recent order of the Supreme Court, UIDAI authorities said.

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI that he is aware of the reports that some schools are asking for Aadhaar cards for student admission. “This is not right. This is not as per the provisions of law…school admission and other facilities to children cannot be made conditional to production of Aadhaar,” Pandey said.

“Schools should admit children without Aadhaar and ensure that children are given Aadhaar once they are in schools by arranging special camps for them,” he added.

UIDAI has asked the school authorities and their management to ensure that no child is denied admission for lack of Aadhaar. Pandey added, doing so would be considered as “contempt of court”.

The Mohammed Rafi Award has been bestowed upon late music composer Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and playback singer Usha Timothy. The award was instituted by an NGO headed by Mumbai BJP Chief Ashish Shelar.

Kudalkar, of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, was given the Mohammed Rafi Lifetime Achievement Award consisting of 1 lakh rupees and a trophy. The award was received by his daughter.

Timothy was honoured with the award and 51,000 rupees at a programme held in suburban Bandra.

Kudalkar formed a successful and long partnership with Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma and as music composers they belted out hit tracks like 'Bindiya Chamkegi', 'Main Shayar Toh Nahin' and 'Hansta Hua Noorani Chehra' among others.

Timothy has sung 1,000 songs in multiple Indian languages such as Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Marathi, among others.

P V Bharathi has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer of the Corporation Bank, according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry on Monday.

Bharathi is at present Executive Director, Canara Bank.

She will take over the charge on or after February 1, 2019 and remain in the post till March 31, 2020 - the date of her superannuation, the order said.

In another order, the ministry said Birupaksha Mishra and Balakrishna Alse S has been appointed as executive director in the Corporation Bank and the Oriental Bank of Commerce, respectively.

Mishra is General Manager, Central Bank of India. Balakrishna is GM, Corporation Bank. K Ramachandran has been appointed as executive director of the Allahabad Bank. He is at present General Manager, Corporation Bank.

The first meeting of the Follow-up Committee for implementation of the Trilateral Chabahar Agreement between India, Afghanistan and Iran was held in the port city of Chabahar in Iran, yesterday.

India Ports Global Limited company opened its office and took over operations at the at Chabahar on this occasion. External Affairs Ministry said in a release that Positive and constructive discussions were held on full operationalization of the Trilateral Transit Agreement. 

They agreed on the routes for the trade and transit corridors between the three countries. It was agreed to finalise at the earliest the Protocol to harmonize transit, roads, customs, and consular matters.