18 February 2014 National: Hindi litterateur Amarkant dead Noted Hindi litterateur and Jnanpith award winner Amarkant died in Allahabad following a prolonged illness. He was 89. Born in 1925 in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, Amarkant took active part in the Quit India Movement of 1942, which caused him to abandon his studies for a few years. He received the Sahitya Akademi award in 2007 for his novel “ Inhin Hathiyaron Se ”, a voluminous work set against the backdrop of the Quit India Movement. The book also earned him the Vyas Samman in 2009, the year which saw him being conferred with the “Jnanpith Award” alongside reputed Hindi satirist Shree Lal Shukla of “ Raag Darbari ” fame. His other novels include “ Sukha Patta ”, “ Akash Pakshi ”, “ Kale-Ujle Din ” and “ Khudiram” . Supreme Court gets full strength of 31 judges The Supreme Court got its full strength of 31 judges, with the swearing-in of Justices Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana by Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam. Justice Agrawal, 60, was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. He will have tenure of five years. He will be the second judge to represent the Allahabad High Court, after Justice Chauhan (till July). Justice Ramana, who will have tenure of nine years, was the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He has the chance to become the Chief Justice of India in 2021, after the superannuation of Justice S.A. Bobde. R.K. Srikantan passes away The doyen of Carnatic music, vocalist R.K. Srikantan, 94, passed away in Bengaluru. Rudrapatna Krishna Sastry Srikantan was born on January 14 in 1920, at Rudrapatna village in the Hassan district of Karnataka. Srikantan, a Padmabhushan and widely referred to as the Semmangudi of Karnataka, is one of the few musicians from the State who was able to hold his own in Chennai, the bastion of Carnatic music. Dance guru Darogha dies Chhau dance guru Padma Shri Makar Dhwaja Darogha passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 81. Darogha was awarded Padma Shri in 2011 for his outstanding contribution for the promotion of Seraikela form of Chhau dance. Darogha had also won laurels with his impressive performances abroad, including at France, Belgium and Nepal. International: Abdul Basit, Pakistan envoy to India Abdul Basit has been appointed as the Pakistan High Commissioner to India. Mr. Basit joined the Foreign Service in 1982 and has held various assignments in Pakistan Missions abroad and at the Headquarters. Before his new appointment, he was the Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany since May 2012. He will replace Salman Bashir in India. Georgia sentences ex-Premier A court in Georgia has sentenced former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili to five-and-a-half years in prison for embezzlement in a case his lawyer and allies denounced as political persecution. The court found Mr. Merabishvili, who headed the government of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, guilty of giving fictitious jobs to activists who were involved in his party’s losing parliamentary election campaign in 2012. 18 February 2014 Renzi nominated Italy Premier lorence Mayor Matteo Renzi was nominated Italy’s youngest-ever Prime Minister after a daring power grab, kicking off a new era in a country thirsting for economic and political reform. Mr. Renzi (39), head of the leftist Democratic Party received the nomination to become the nation’s next Premier after ousting his predecessor Enrico Letta. His nomination by President Giorgio Napolitano has been welcomed by investors but left analysts wondering whether he has the political maturity to succeed. Business & Economy: Fiscal deficit will be contained at 4.6% of GDP The government said the fiscal deficit for the current financial year will be contained at 4.6% of GDP. The fiscal deficit, which is the gap between expenditure and revenue, was 4.9% of GDP in the previous financial year. Chidambaram had drawn up a financial consolidation road map to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.8% of GDP in 2013-14, 4.2% in 2014-15 and 3.6% in 2015-16. As per current indications, the fiscal deficit has come down mainly on account of expenditure compression and higher realisation from the 2G spectrum auction. The finance minister also said GDP growth has improved and will be 4.9% for the current financial year. Economic growth had slowed to a decade's low of 4.5% in 2012-13. Nirbhaya Fund gets Rs. 1,000 cr. More The government proposes to increase the grant to the Nirbhaya Fund by Rs. 1,000 crore and make it a permanent, non-lapsable fund. Announcing this in the interim budget, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government had approved two proposals that would receive support from the Nirbhaya Fund announced in the Budget for 2013-14. The proposals earmark Rs. 97,533 crore for gender budgeting and Rs. 81,024 crore for child budgeting. Sports: McCullum first NZ player to score Test triple-century Brendon McCullum became the first New Zealand batsman to score a Test match triple century during the fifth day of the second Test against India at the Basin Reserve. The 32-year-old McCullum had resumed on 281 and brought up the milestone with a late cut for his 32nd boundary to surpass the 299 that Martin Crowe scored against Sri Lanka on the same ground in 1991 and move to 302 with New Zealand on 625 for six. He was the 24th player to score a triple century in Tests and it was the 28th time someone had achieved the mark. World record holder Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Don Bradman all did it twice. Davis, White give USA first Olympic ice dance gold Two-time world champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White claimed a first Olympic figure skating ice dancing gold for the United States with new world record scores. Vancouver silver medallists Davis, 27, and White, 26, led all the way to take the title by 4.53 points on reigning Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. Russia's Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov won bronze after the free dance final at the Iceberg Skating Palace. Germany end Austrian dominance in team ski jump Germany ended Austria's dominance in the ski jumping team event, taking gold in a down-to-the-wire Olympic competition. The four-man German team collected 1041.1 points over two rounds and eight jumps, ahead of defending Olympic champions Austria and a delighted Japanese team. This ends Austria's nine-year dominance at the Olympics and world championships, where the small alpine country has won eight straight titles. Austria narrowly missed gold at 1038.4 points, with Japan in third with 1024.9 points. .