74th Golden Globe Awards

The 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony was organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US). The Golden Globe Awards are the annual awards that honour the best in Motion Pictures and American Television for the previous year. This year, La La Land, a romantic musical comedy-drama film won in all the seven categories including the top award of best musical or comedy at the ceremony in Los Angeles. Veteran actress Meryl Streep was bestowed with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Winners of various awards are as follows:

Best Motion Picture Drama: Moonlight. 

Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: La La Land. Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Damien Chazelle for La La Land. 

Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea. 

Best Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Isabelle Huppert for Elle. 

Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy: Ryan Gosling for La La Land. 

Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Emma Stone for La La Land. 

Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Nocturnal Animals. 

Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Viola Davis for Fences. 

Best Original Score Motion Picture: Justin Hurwitz for the La La Land. 

Best Original Song: “City of Stars” (Justin Hurwitz, Pasek & Paul) for the La La Land. 

Best Animated Feature Film: Zootopia. Best Foreign Language Film: Elle (France).

Sania wins Brisbane women's doubles title but loses No.1 rank

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza picked up her first title of the season, combining with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to lift the Brisbane International women's doubles title. The top-seeded Indo-American duo triumphed 6-2 6-3 against the second-seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final. 

The trophy, however, ended Sania's 91-week reign as the world No.1 doubles player in the WTA rankings. That position was taken over by her partner Bethanie.

Donald Trump names Dan Coats as new national intelligence director

US President-elect Donald Trump has named Dan Coats as his National Intelligence Director. The Indiana ex-senator formerly served on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mr Coats would provide unwavering leadership and spearhead his administration's ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do them harm. 

The appointment comes a day after an intelligence report accused Russia's President of ordering a campaign aimed at helping Mr Trump to victory. Mr Coats will need the Senate to confirm his appointment, replacing James Clapper.

UN declares 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has declared the year 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The declaration recalls the potential of tourism sector to advance the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key Facts 

The International Year aims to support a change in business practices, policies and consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute effectively to achieve targets of the SDGs. It will promote tourism sector’s role in five key areas: (i) Inclusive and sustainable economic growth (ii) Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction (iii) Cultural values, diversity and heritage (iv) Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change (v) Mutual understanding, peace and security. Tourism is under three targets of the SDGs: They are (i) Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. (ii) Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and (iii) Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The tourism sector accounts for 7% of worldwide exports, 10% of the world’s GDP and one in eleven jobs. If managed well, it can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusiveness and protection of natural and cultural assets.

Veteran actor Om Puri passes away

Veteran actor Om Puri passed away following massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was 66. His acting credits include appearances in commercial Indian, British, and Hollywood, independent films and art films. He was credited for being part of parallel, new-wave cinema along with Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil that brought change in the film industry back in the 1980s. 

About Om Puri 

He was born on October 18, 1950 in Ambala, Haryana. He was one of the prominent names of parallel cinema that changed Indian cinema in the 1980s. He made his debut in films in a marathi film Ghashiram Kotwal in 1972. He had studied acting in India’s two of the most prestigious acting schools of the country- National School of Drama (NSD) and Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). He is remembered for his strong performances in films like Bhavni Bhavai (1980), Sadgati (1981), Ardh Satya (1982), Mirch Masala (1986) and Dharavi (1992). His last appearance was in a Pakistani comedy film, Actor in Law, which had released in September 2016. He also had lent his voice for the character of Bagheera in The Jungle Book. He had won two time National Award winner for his roles in Arohan and Ardh Sathya. He was honoured with Padmashri, the fourth highest civilian award of India in 1990.

Google launches My Business and Digital Unlocked tool for small and medium businesses

Internet giant Google launched two new initiatives My Business and Digital Unlocked to train and help small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India capitalise on the digitisation wave faster. These initiatives were launched by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in New Delhi in presence of Union IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi. 

Key Facts 

My Business Websites: Under it, Google will provide free websites and web tools to small businesses in order to bolster their digital presence. This will help SMBs create a free, mobile optimised website. 

Digital Unlocked: It is a training programme launched in association with industry body FICCI. It will provide Indian SMBs essential digital skills to enable them to get online and connect to customers in different parts of the country. The trainings will be certified by Google, Indian School of Business and FICCI. In addition, Google also launched Primer, a free mobile application designed to teach digital marketing skills in a quick, easy and interactive way. It also works offline and is currently available in English and Hindi languages.

January 4: World Braille Day

The World Braille Day is observed very year across the world on 4 January to mark the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, inventor of Braille script or Braille code. Observance of the day helps people to spread the importance of Braille language and also help people to produce works in this language to allow visually impaired people to read the works. To commemorate this day several NGOs as well as other organizations come together to raise awareness about the apathy towards blind people and to help them be equal among rest of the people. 

About Louis Braille 

Louis Braille is credited for inventing the Braille script or Braille code which helps the visually impaired people to read as well as write. Braille was born in France on 4 January 1809 and became blind after an accident at the age of three. 

Braille script 

Braille script is a language based on the patterns of raised dots on paper that could be felt and one can read anything that is unable to see. For writing in Braille script, people use slates and stylus and the writing technique remains the same as writing in print on paper. Presently, almost every of language including Computer languages has Braille versions.