Padma Vibhushan Awards 2012

Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Name	Field
Shri K G Subramanyan	Painting & Sculpture
Late Shri Mario De Miranda	Cartoonist
Late (Dr.)Bhupen Hazarika	Vocal Music
Dr. Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti	Orthopedics
Shri T V Rajeswar	Civil Service

Padma Shri Awards 2012

Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Name	Field
Shri Vanraj Bhatia	Music
Shri Zia Fariduddin Dagar	Music
Smt. Nameirakpam Ibemni Devi	Music
Shri Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani	Yakshagana dance drama
Shri Moti Lal Kemmu	Playwright
Shri Shahid Parvez Khan	Instrumental Music-Sitar
Shri Mohan Lal Kumhar	Terracotta
Shri Sakar Khan Manganiar	Rajasthani Folk Music
Smt. Joy Michael	Theatre
Dr. Minati Mishra	Indian Classical Dance-Odissi
Shri Natesan Muthuswamy	Theatre
Smt. R. Nagarathnamma	Theatre
Shri Kalamandalm Sivan Nambootiri	Indian Classical Dance- Kutiyattam
Smt. Yamunabai Waikar	Indian Folk Music-Lavani
Shri Satish Alekar	Playwright
Pandit Gopal Prasad Dubey	Chhau dance and choreography
Shri Ramakant Gundecha	Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Shri Umakant Gundecha	Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Shri Anup Jalota	Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Shri Soman Nair Priyadarsan	Cinema- Direction
Shri Sunil Janah	Photography
Ms. Laila Tyebji	Handicrafts
Shri Vijay Sharma	Painting
Smt. Shamshad Begum	Social Work
Smt. Reeta Devi	Social Work
Dr. P.K. Gopal	Social Work
Smt. Phoolbasan Bai Yadav	Social Work
Dr. G. Muniratnam	Social Work
Shri Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya	Social Work
Dr. Uma Tuli	Social Work
Shri Sat Paul Varma	Social Work
Smt.Binny Yanga	Social Work
Shri Yezdi Hirji Malegam	Public Affairs
Shri Pravin H. Parekh	Pubic Affairs
Dr. V. Adimurthy	Science and Engineering
Dr. Krishna Lal Chadha	Science and Engineering – Agriculture
Prof. Virander Singh Chauhan	Science and Engineering
Prof. Rameshwar Nath Koul Bamezai	Science and Engineering
Dr. Vijaypal Singh	Science and Engineering – Agricultural Research
Dr. Lokesh Kumar Singhal	Science and Engineering
Dr. Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan	Science and Engineering
Prof. Jagadish Shukla	Science and Engineering
Ms. Priya Paul	Trade and Industry
Shri Shoji Shiba	Trade and Industry
Shri Gopinath Pillai	Trade and Industry
Shri Arun Hastimal Firodia	Trade and Industry
Dr. Swati A. Piramal	Trade and Industry
Prof. Mahdi Hasan	Medicine-Anatomy
Dr. Viswanathan Mohan	Medicine – Diabetology
Dr. J. Hareendran Nair	Medicine – Ayurveda
Dr. Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan	Medicine – Geriatrics
Dr. Jitendra Kumar Singh	Medicine – Oncology
Dr. Shrinivas S. Vaishya	Medicine-Healthcare
Dr. Nitya Anand	Medicine – Drugs Research
Late Dr. Jugal Kishore	Medicine – Homoeopathy
Dr. Mukesh Batra	Medicine-Homeopathy
Dr. Eberhard Fischer	Literature and Education
Shri Kedar Gurung	Literature and Education
Shri Surjit Singh Patar	Literature and Education – Poetry
Shri Vijay Dutt Shridhar	Literature and Education – Journalism
Shri Irwin Allan Sealy	Literature and Education
Ms. Geeta Dharmarajan	Literature and Education
Prof. Sachchidanand Sahai	Literature and Education
Prof. Sachchidanand Sahai	Literature and Education
Smt. Pepita Seth	Literature and Education
Dr. Ralte L. Thanmawia	Literature and Education
Shri Ajeet Bajaj	Sports – Skiing
Smt. Jhulan Goswami	Sports – Women’s Cricket
Shri Zafar Iqbal	Sports-Hockey
Shri Devendra Jhajrija	Sports – Athletics- Paralympics
Shri Limba Ram	Sports – Archery
Shri Syed Mohammed Arif	Sports – Badminton
Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi	Sports- Commentary
Shri Prabhakar Vaidya	Sports-Physical Education
Shri T. Venkatapathi Reddiar	Others-Horticulture
Dr. K. (Kota) Ullas Karanth	Others-Wildlife Conservation and Environment Protection
Shri K Paddayya	Others-Archaeology
Shri Swapan Guha	Others-Ceramics
Dr. Kartikeya V. Sarabhai	Others – Environmental Education

Padma Bhushan Awards 2012

Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Name	Field
Smt. Shabana Azmi	Cinema
Shri Khaled Choudhury	Theatre
Shri Jatin Das	Painting
Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta	Instrumental Music – Sarod
Shri Dharmendra Singh Deol alias Dharmendra	Cinema
Dr. Trippunithwra Viswanathan Gopalkrishnan	Classical vocal and instrumental music
Ms. Mira Nair	Cinema
Shri M.S. Gopalakrishnan	Instrumental Music-Violin
Shri Anish Kapoor	Sculpture
Shri Satya Narayan Goenka	Social Work
Dr. (Judge) Patibandla Chandrasekhar Rao	Public Affairs
Shri George Yong-Boon Yeo	Public Affairs
Prof. Shashikumar Chitre	Science and Engineering
Dr. M S Raghunathan	Science and Engineering
Shri Subbiah Murugappa Vellayan	Trade and Industry
Shri Balasubramanian Muthuraman	Trade and Industry
Dr.Suresh H. Advani	Medicine – Oncology
Dr.Noshir H Wadia	Medicine-Neurology
Dr.Devi Prasad Shetty	Medicine-Cardiology
Prof.(Dr.)Shantaram Balwant Mujumdar	Literature and Education
Prof.Vidya Dehejia	Literature and Education
Prof.Arvind Panagariya	Literature and Education
Dr.Jose Pereira	Literature and Education
Dr.Homi K. Bhabha	Literature and Education
Shri N Vittal	Civil Service
Shri Mata Prasad	Civil Service
Shri Ronen Sen	Civil Service

World Current Affairs, December 2011(Part-2)

This time I am loading the current affairs of the world for the month of December 2011. I hope viewes may like it and express their feelings.
This is the second set of World Current Affairs, December 2011.

• Syrian troops reportedly open fire on anti-government protesters following Friday prayers.(16th December)
• Human Rights Watch calls on Bahrain to release political prisoners from the 2011 Bahraini uprising.(16th December)
• Russia joins the World Trade Organization.(16th December)
• Moody's Investors Service downgrades Belgium's credit rating two notches to Aa3.(16th December)
• Japan declares the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in cold shutdown.(16th December)
• The death toll from an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in Vietnam reaches 156 with 96,000 people having been sick with the disease as at the end of November 2011.(16th December)
• The United States and North Korea are expected to hold diplomatic talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program. The talks are the first meeting after the six-party talks stalled in 2008.(16th December)
• Russian customs seize radioactive material bound for Iran.(16th December)
• Hollywood actor Christian Bale is prevented from visiting Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng by police.(16th December)
• Thailand reissues a passport for Thaksin Shinawatra, saying he is no longer a "threat".(16th December)
• Flash floods triggered by Tropical Storm Washi kill at least 400 people in the Philippines with hundreds more missing.(17th December)
• A boat carrying 380 asylum seekers en route from Indonesia to Australia sinks off the coast of Java with hundreds of people missing.(17th December)
• The Arab League threatens to take Syria to the United Nations within two weeks if the country does not accept its proposals to end the crackdown on the uprising. (Xinhua)Clashes continue in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a third day between the Egyptian Army and protesters.(18th December)
• Nine people die following an explosion in a coal mine in Binzhou City in China's Hunan Province.(18th December)
• The Philippines Red Cross estimates that the death toll from the floods caused by Tropical Storm Washi has risen to 521.(18th December)
• Václav Havel, former President of Czechoslovakia and President of the Czech Republic, dies.(18th December)
• Spain's FC Barcelona win the final of the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, beating Brazil's Santos 4-0 in Yokohama, Japan. Barcelona win the Cup for the second time in three years.(18th December)
• Syria agrees to an Arab League plan to allow monitors into the country amid the uprising.(19th December)
• Samsung Electronics announces it has filed new claims of patent infringement against Apple in Germany, raising the stakes in an ongoing worldwide patent war.(19th December)
• The death of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il on December 17 is announced by Korean Central Television.(19th December)
• Kim Jong-un is proclaimed the expected successor to his father.(19th December)
• Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari returns to Pakistan after undergoing treatment in Dubai.(19th December)
• Diplomats from the European Union, Non-aligned Movement and the Arab States Group on the UN Security Council criticise Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.(20th December)
• Joseph Kabila is sworn in as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the presidency being contested by opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.(20th December)
• Two Earth-sized planets, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20d, are found orbiting a star 950 light-years away from Earth.(20th December)
• Health authorities in Hong Kong start slaughtering 17,000 chickens after a carcass infected with bird flu H5N1 is found at a poultry market.(21st December)
• North Korea closes its border with China ahead of the funeral of former leader Kim Jong-il.(21st December)
• Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay agree to close their ports to ships flying the flag of the Falkland Islands at a Mercosur meeting; Argentina and the United Kingdom both claim the islands.(21st December)
• Soyuz TMA-03M, launched from Baikonur, carries a crew of three men to the International Space Station.(21st December)
• At least 72 people are killed and 169 wounded in a series of 16 bombing attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, shortly after the final withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. (22nd December)
• The United States admits it was significantly responsible for an airstrike last month that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.(22nd December)
• Human Rights Watch alleges that security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been responsible for the deaths of 24 people since the re-election of Joseph Kabila as President.(22nd December)
• Egypt's military-appointed Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri calls for national dialogue after weeks of deadly protests against the military regime.(22nd December)
• Police in Brazil seek to press charges for environmental crimes committed by the United States oil company Chevron and drilling firm Transocean in relation to last month's Campos Basin oil spill.(22nd December)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposes political reforms at his final state-of-the-nation address.(22nd December)
• The Large Hadron Collider makes its first clear observation of a new particle since opening in 2009, the boson Chib 3P.(22nd December)
• North Korea says it will accept all South Korean delegations wishing to pay respects to the late leader Kim Jong-il.(23rd December)
• World leaders attend the funeral of former Czech President and dissident Václav Havel.(23rd December)
• Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi registers her National League for Democracy party, and visits Burma's parliament for the first time.(23rd December)
• Gun battles in Nigeria between government troops and Islamist Boko Haram militants kill 68 people.(24th December)
• The Buddha Memorial Center of Fo Guang Shan in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, housing a tooth relic of Gautama Buddha, is consecrated.(24th December)
• Dutch actor and singer Johannes Heesters, the world's oldest performer, dies at the age of 108.(24th December)
• A former official of the central bank of the People's Republic of China states that the People's Bank of China could lower the country's reserve requirements in 2012.(24th December)
• Cuba announces that it will release 2,900 prisoners – including some political prisoners – in the next few days.(24th December)
• Libya celebrates its independence for the first time in 42 years; independence celebrations were banned under the regime of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.(24th December)
• At least 39 people are killed and many injured in a series of attacks against churches in Nigeria during Christmas prayers. The Islamic group Boko Haram claims responsibility.(25th December)
• Pope Benedict XVI delivers the annual Christmas message at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City.(25th December)
• At least 38 migrants from Haiti are found dead after their boat sank off the east coast of Cuba.(25th December)
• Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President of Iran Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, stands trial on charges of making anti-regime propaganda.(25th December)
• Brazil surpasses the United Kingdom to become the world's sixth-largest economy.(26th December)
• The government of China sentences activist Chen Xi to ten years imprisonment for "inciting subversion".(26th December)
• Helen Frankenthaler, who developed Color Field painting, dies at age 83.(27th December)
• Over $30 billion was spent on holiday online shopping in the United States, a 15% increase from last year, according to comScore.(27th December)
• The government of Argentina announces that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has cancer in her thyroid gland, and will have an operation on 4 January and step aside as president for 20 days until 24 January.(27th December)
• The Washington-based organisation Human Rights Watch accuses Syria of hiding hundreds of political detainees during a visit by Arab League monitors.(28th December)
• A Russian court rejects an attempt to ban Bhagavad Gita As It Is, a Russian translation of the Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita.(28th December)
• Stones reportedly fall from the Colisseum, one of Rome's most famous landmarks.(28th December)
• The Silence of the Lambs, a 1991 thriller film starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, is to be preserved by the United States Library of Congress as part of its National Film Registry.(28th December)
• 31 people are injured following the crash-landing of a passenger jet at Osh Airport in southern Kyrgyzstan.(28th December)
• Four people are killed and 1,000 others flee their homes amid lahars from the Mount Gamalama volcano in Indonesia.(28th December)
• Iran threatens to close down the key oil route of the Strait of Hormuz if more sanctions are imposed on it by Western nations.(28th December)
• In China, 54 government officials and the Ministry of Railways are punished over a fatal high-speed rail crash in July.(28th December)
• An Egyptian court bans forced virginity tests on female detainees in military prisons.(28th December)
• The corruption trial of the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, resumes in Cairo.(28th December)
• North Korea begins two days of funeral services for former leader Kim Jong-Il, who died on December 17 of a heart attack, aged 69.(28th December)
• China's Compass satellite navigation system, a rival to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), becomes operational, offering navigation services on the Chinese mainland. The system is expected to become available worldwide by 2020.(28th December)
• Turkish warplanes launch airstrikes aimed at Kurdish militants, accidentally killing 35 smugglers that were suspected as guerillas.(29th December)
• The United States sells 84 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.(29th December)
• Mount Cleveland, a volcano in the U.S. state of Alaska, erupts, causing an air traffic alert to be issued.(29th December)
• A Russian nuclear submarine, the K-84 Ekaterinburg, is forced to partially submerge itself at a shipyard in Murmansk to douse a blaze on its hull. No radiation leaks are reported.(29th December)
• The Pacific Island nations of Samoa and Tokelau move from east to west of the International Date Line in order to align their time zone better with their main trading partners, meaning that they will not mark December 30 this year.(29th December)
• Kim Jong-un is acknowledged as the Supreme Leader of North Korea at the conclusion of a state funeral for his father.(29th December)
• Around 500 people protest in the Russian capital Moscow against the detention of opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov.(29th December)
• Poland announces an amnesty for illegal immigrants from January 1, 2012.(29th December)
• The stock for McDonald's rose 31 percent in 2011, the largest gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while Bank of America fell 59 percent, the largest loss in the Dow Jones.(30th December)
• Cyclone Thane makes landfall near the southern Union Territory of Pondicherry on India's southern coast.(30th December)
• North Korea says that "foolish politicians around the world" should not expect any change in the country's policies.(30th December)
• Tens of thousands of Yemenis protest against an immunity deal for former President Ali Abdullah Saleh demanding he face trial for deaths in the 2011 Yemeni uprising.(30th December)
• The party of Democratic Republic of the Congo politician Étienne Tshisekedi says he has been placed under house arrest in Kinshasa since he claimed to have won the presidential election earlier this year.(30th December)
• Ethiopian forces capture the central Somali town of Beledweyne from al-Shabaab Islamist militants.(3st December)
• The President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir urges members of the Darfur based Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to seek peace following the recent death of rebel leader Ibrahim Khalil.(31st December)
• The President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan declares a state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe, Niger and Plateau due to violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.(3st December)
• More than 200 people are injured by illegally huge firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the Philippines.(31st December)
• The President of the United States Barack Obama signs a law providing for new sanctions against Iran.(31st December)
• United States President Barack Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act into law allowing the indefinite imprisonment of any United States citizen under suspect of terrorism without need of trial.(31st December)
• Kim Jong-un is named as the Supreme Commander of North Korea's armed forces following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il.(31st December)
• NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the moon.(31st December)
• In motor sports, WilliamsF1 co-founder Patrick Head resigns as a director of the team after 34 years in Formula One.(31st December)

World Current Affairs, December 2011(Part-1)

This time I am loading the current affairs of the world for the month of December 2011. I hope viewes may like it and express their feelings.
This is the first set of World Current Affairs, December 2011.

• One person dies and 16 others are injured in three separate chain-reaction crashes involving 176 cars in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.(1st December)
• The 2010–2011 Belgian government formation draws to a close as six parties come to an agreement which will see PS leader Elio di Rupo become Prime Minister.(1st December)
• Muslim rioters attack liquor stores and massage parlours in Zakho in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq after Friday prayers. The attacks later extended to include Christian owned shops and businesses in other cities including Dohuk and Simele.(2nd December)
• United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pre-eminent pro-democracy activist, to promote democratic reforms.(2nd December)
• The United Nations Human Rights Council denounces the crimes against humanity during the 2011 Syrian uprising which killed over 4,000 people since the uprising started in March.(2nd December)
• Indian cinema actor, director and producer Dev Anand dies of a heart attack in London.(3rd December)
• At least eight children have died in the past few weeks in Ecuador's Amazon basin after being bitten by rabid bats.(3rd December)
• The governing Australian Labor Party changes its platform in support of gay marriage at its conference in Sydney, paving the way for legislation.(3rd December)
• Herman Cain announces that he will suspend his campaign for Republican nomination in the United States presidential election following a series of sexual harassment and other misconduct allegations.(3rd December)
• 45,000 citizens of Koblenz, Germany, are allowed to return home after bomb squads defused World War II bombs that were hidden under the Rhine River for almost 65 years.(4th December)
• Australia approves exports of uranium to India.(4th December)
• Transparency International releases the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, declaring North Korea and Somalia the most corrupt nations in the world, and New Zealand the least corrupt.(4th December)
• Independent exit polls suggest the governing United Russia party failed to get a majority in the Duma, amid accusations of massive voter harassment and DDoS attacks targeting blogs.(4th December)
• The President of Peru Ollanta Humala declares a state of emergency in the Cajamarca region to stop anti-mining protests.(4th December)
• Former Brazilian football captain Sócrates dies in hospital in Sao Paulo from complications of food poisoning.(4th December)
• In lawn tennis, Spain wins the 2011 Davis Cup.(4th December)
• Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, and Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, call for a new European Union Treaty to help prevent future Eurozone crises.(5th December)
• There are widespread reports that credit ratings agency Standard & Poors will put 15 nations in the Eurozone under review for a possible downgrade, including France and Germany.(5th December)
• Former Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo appears before the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity.(5th December)
• Julian Assange is allowed a final appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom against his extradition to Sweden to answer questions over sexual assault allegations.(5th December)
• Preliminary results are released from the Russian legislative election showing the ruling United Russia winning 50 percent of the vote, well down on its 2008 vote.(5th December)
• A suicide attack attacks a Shiite shrine in the Afghan capital Kabul during the festival of Ashura, resulting in at least 50 people killed and hundreds injured. Hours later another attack takes place at Mazar-i-Sharif, killing at least 4.(6th December)
• The Reserve Bank of Australia cuts interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent due to continuing global economic concern.(6th December)
• Australia announces more sanctions against Iran amidst growing concerns about its nuclear and missile programs.(6th December)
• A journalist, Luz Marina Paz, is killed in Honduras becoming the 17th journalist shot in the past two years.(6th December)
• After 541 days of negotiations, the longest in history, the new federal government of Belgium is sworn in, with Elio di Rupo as Prime Minister, making him the first Walloon to reach this position in 38 years and the second openly gay head of government in the world.(6th December)
• Thousands of people take to the streets of Moscow in protests against the conduct and outcome of the Russian legislative election with dozens of opposition supporters being arrested as the demonstrations turn violent.(6th December)
• The Parliament of Greece approves an austerity budget.(6th December)
• The United States commemorates the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i.(7th December)
• The board of Japan's Olympus Corporation announces its plans to resign early next year due to its accounting scandal.(7th December)
• The former President of Israel Moshe Katsav is due to arrive at a prison outside Tel Aviv to start a seven year term for rape.(7th December)
• Former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev says that the Russian authorities must acknowledge the recent street protests, annul the results of Sunday’s parliamentary election and hold a new poll.(7th December)
• The Russian Federal Space Agency officially gives up attempting to rescue Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1, and expects them to fall back to Earth in January 2012.(7th December)
• An investigation by the Associated Press and German media uncovers a secret prison suspected of having been operated by the CIA in Bucharest, Romania.(8th December)
• Hundreds of workers continue a strike in southern China for a fifth day amid a labour dispute.(8th December)
• Former CEO of MF Global, Jon Corzine, testified to a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that he doesn't know what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars of customers' money, supposedly in segregated accounts, that appears to be missing.(8th December)
• A storm causes damage, flooding and power cuts across the north of the British Isles, particularly Scotland with winds up to 165 mph (264 km/h).(8th December)
• Philippines officials claim that the People's Republic of China has executed a Filipino man for drug trafficking despite a plea for clemency from the President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III on humanitarian grounds.(8th December)
• Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accuses the United States of sponsoring the opposition in the country, following protests over the outcome of the recent elections.(8th December)
• Iranian state television shows footage of a United States Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel drone that its forces claim to have shot down.(8th December)
• The Government of Japan apologizes to Canada over the treatment of Canadian POWs during World War II.(8th December)
• Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe calls for elections in 2012 to replace the power-sharing government in place since 2008.(8th December)
• Credit rating agency Moody's downgrades the ratings of France's three biggest banks, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Société Générale.(9th December)
• Stock prices rise at stock exchanges around the world, and some analysts see this as a reaction to a fiscal agreement among the leaders of the eurozone.(9th December)
• David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, refuses to join a European Union financial crisis accord after negotiations in Brussels.(9th December)
• David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, refuses to join a European Union financial crisis accord after negotiations in Brussels.(9th December)
• Incumbent President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila is declared the winner of the Congolese general election but lead opposition candidate Étienne Tshisekedi disputes the outcome.(9th December)
• The Pakistani Taliban confirms that it is holding peace talks with the government.(10th December)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wins the game of the year at the Spike Video Game Awards.(10th December)
• A light cargo plane crashes into an elementary school building in the Philippines city of Paranaque with 13 people dead.(10th December)
• A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits the Mexican state of Guerrero. It causes three deaths and is felt across several central states.(10th December)
• A day of protests begins in cities across Russia against alleged election fraud by Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party, with fifty thousand people marching in Moscow and 25 people arrested in Khabarovsk.(10th December)
• Restrictions on Russian media covering the protests are lifted.(10th December)
• At least six people are killed in clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the aftermath of disputed general elections in which Joseph Kabila was named President.(10th December)
• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is sworn as President of Argentina in a second consecutive mandate.(10th December)
• Oscar Valdés is named as the new Prime Minister of Peru, after Salomón Lerner Ghitis resigned.(10th December)
• NASA clears SpaceX to launch Dragon COTS Demo Flight 2 toward the International Space Station in a window opening on February 7, 2012.(10th December)
• Hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrate in Yemen calling for the trial of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.(11th December)
• North Korea warns of "unexpected consequences" if South Korea lights a Christmas tree near their mutual border.(11th December)
• The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference finishes in Durban in South Africa with an agreement to begin negotiations on a new treaty.(11th December)
• Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega is extradited home from France and the United States where he has been serving jail sentences for the past 22 years to serve more time for his role in the murder of political opponents.(11th December)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev orders an inquiry into the disputed results of the parliamentary elections.(11th December)
• Around 1,000 people protest in Taipei, demanding that the government make a weekly day off a legal right for Taiwan's 200,000 foreign live-in caregivers.(11th December)
• United States President Barack Obama has asked Iran for the RQ-170 Sentinel that was captured near Kashmar on December 4.(12th December)
• A Chinese fishing boat captain allegedly stabs a Republic of Korea Coast Guard officer, killing him, after his boat is stopped for illegally fishing in South Korean waters.(12th December)
• Canada announces that it will withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, because the country would face large penalties because of treaty violations.(12th December)
• Pakistan police rescues 50 boys from a dungeon in Karachi, Pakistan. Police reports say that the dungeon was equipped with shackles and hooks.(13th December)
• At least 5,000 people are now estimated to have been killed in Syria's uprising, amid continuing violence.(13th December)
• Three Thai soldiers are killed by a land mine near the border with Cambodia.(13th December)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 becomes the fastest selling entertainment product of all time passing $1bn in sales in 16 days.(13th December)
• Iran has turned down the United States request to return a RQ-170 that was captured recently by Iranian forces after it crash landed in the country. Iranian officials report that they are extracting data from the aircraft. Iranian officials stated the drone was brought down by a cyber attack.(13th December)
• According to researchers, in two separate experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, indications of the Higgs boson may have been detected.(13th December)
• The governments of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands protest the start of Japan's whaling season off the coast of Antarctica.(14th December)
• The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament and ally of Vladimir Putin, Boris Gryzlov, resigns.(14th December)
• The United States flag is lowered in Baghdad marking the end of U.S. military operations in Iraq after nearly nine years of the Iraq War.(15th December)
• The United Nations calls for the protection of LGBT rights worldwide, in its first report on the issue.(15th December)
• Former President of France Jacques Chirac is found guilty of embezzlement and violating trust due to his hiring members of his party to fill non-existent jobs while Mayor of Paris.(15th December)
• The US National Institutes of Health places a temporary moratorium on new studies using chimpanzees in response to a report that claims nearly all medical research on the animals is scientifically unjustified.(15th December)