TOKYO (Reuters) - When Harper meets Kirby, he is a grown man and she is a child. He gives her a toy pony, tells her he'll be back, then vanishes - into Chicago in the 1930s and a mysterious house that opens onto other times. Later, he tries to kill her.

"The Shining Girls", by South African Lauren Beukes, traces Harper's compulsion to murder the women he knows as "The Shining Girls" and Kirby's stubborn fight to unravel the mystery behind him and bring him down.

Beukes has also worked as a print journalist, written screenplays, developed animated TV shows, directed a documentary and written comics. She won the Arthur C. Clarke award for "Zoo City", her previous novel.

Beukes spoke with Reuters about her book and how she works.

Q: What got this going?

A: I was messing around on Twitter, and I said I should probably write a book about a time-traveling serial killer. One of the few times on Twitter that's paid off for me. As soon as I had the idea I knew I could do something really interesting with it. It wouldn't be Bill and Ted meets Jack the Ripper but that I could bring all this stuff that I'm interested in into it. I'm passionate about a lot of social issues - look at violence against women and how women's roles have changed in society and bring this all into the book. When I told people I wrote about a time-travelling serial killer they all said, 'Oh, I want to read that.' So it's kind of a way of getting people to read a fun book where I can also talk about all of those things I'm passionate about.

Q: How did you develop the idea from there?

A: Books develop on their own. I had the idea of opening with Harper walking across the grass to give Kirby a 'My Little Pony' which didn't exist yet. Then there's the attempt on her life and she survives ... I knew exactly what the ending would be and then it was just a matter of filling in the details and finding who the Shining Girls would be. Writing, to me, is like driving at night. I know where I'm leaving from and where I'm going, but the rest of the time I'm driving in the dark. I can see 20 feet ahead of me in the headlights.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of The House being the time travel vector?

A: A lot of this stuff is intuitive. It's when you let your consciousness off the leash to romp in the grass that you come up with the really interesting ideas. I knew it was going to be a house right away, I knew how Harper was going to find the key. I think you can read that in any number of ways, that he inhabits the place. I think in some ways we are haunted by history and in his case that became very literal.

Q: Were Harper and Kirby intuitive too?

A: Kirby was intuitive. As you write, you kind of start with one idea and then discover your own direction. But Harper? I didn't want him to be a Hannibal Lector type of hero killer. I did a lot of research into real serial killers and listened to a lot of true crime podcasts, especially on the treadmill. You don't need a personal trainer, you run faster when you're listening to serial killer podcasts. A lot of them are just vile, contemptible men, who have major impotence problems with real power in their lives and also sexual dysfunction ...

The only way I could deal with actually writing Harper, because he is so loathsome, was by hurting him at every possible opportunity, but then I had to keep track of the injuries. I know he's a construct, so as soon as I stepped away from my computer I could leave him behind. But I always had to come back to him and sit down and write him. I'd be quite angry writing his chapters. But I think it's also quite important to portray serial killers as what they really are, and not the sexy Hannibal Lector/Dexter types.

Q. You've said that adding elements of sci-fi and fantasy to your novels allows you to deal with issues you might not be able to otherwise.

A: Yes, it allows you to make a more interesting story, a more fun story. But it's also a way of getting over issue fatigue. It's a way of exploring big ideas and coming back to who we are, like putting a distorting mirror up that perversely allows you to see more clearly.

Q: Any advice for aspiring writers?

A: I messed around on my first book for four years, and the only reason I finished it was that the University of Capetown, where I was doing my MA, said if I didn't finish it they were going to kick me out. Then I finished it in three months, no problem. So my advice would be to set a reasonable deadline and finish the damn book. Stop second-guessing yourself, quiet the inner critic, and write to the end. Don't worry if it's a mess, it's supposed to be. It's a first draft. You only know what you have when you get to the end. Then you can go back and tinker with it all you like, but just get to the end.

It doesn't get any easier. It's still terrifying. I always know my endings, it's not that I don't know where I'm going, but you don't know what you have until the end. You have to write through. I know there are some writers who write detailed 40-page outlines and then stick to them, but I can't do that. To me it's more of a pirate map than a GPS. I know where I'm going but how I get there, that's where the magic comes in. You surprise yourself in writing, and that's the magic of writing. When you get to the end, that's when you know what you have. The book that you have in your head will never match reality, it's a Platonic ideal, it's imaginary. What's on the page is real, how it's come out is real. And it's often more interesting than the Platonic ideal you had in your head.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who use birth control pills are less likely to develop ovarian cancer later in life, a new analysis of past studies suggests.

Researchers pooled data from 24 studies and found Pill users had a 27 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And longer use seemed to be tied to more protection.

"It reinforces that there is a positive relationship between the use of oral contraceptives and ovarian cancer prevention in the general public," said Dr. Laura Havrilesky, who led the study at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

"I think it adds some scientific weight to that relationship."

However, the review paper can't prove that using oral contraception lowers a woman's risk of disease - because there could have been other, unmeasured differences between women who took the Pill and those who didn't, researchers noted.

About one in 72 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer during her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

The disease is often caught at an advanced stage, and the majority of women who are diagnosed will die from ovarian cancer. So researchers are eager to find ways to lower a woman's chance of developing it in the first place.

Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a normal weight may be one way to do that. Some studies have suggested that using birth control pills - which contain the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin only - may also lower a woman's risk over the long run.

To clear up that picture, Havrilesky and her colleagues combined data from 24 studies that compared thousands of women who took the Pill for various lengths of time, at a range of ages, with those who didn't use oral contraception.

Any use of the Pill was linked to a lower risk of ovarian cancer, they found. Women who were on birth control pills for 10 years or longer were half as likely to develop the disease as those who didn't use them at all, the study team reported Wednesday in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

If the Pill itself was responsible for that reduced risk, the researchers calculated that 185 women would have to use it for five years to prevent one case of ovarian cancer.

But, because none of the studies randomly assigned women to take the Pill or not - each woman made the decision with her own doctor - it's not clear that the contraceptives, themselves, explain the whole cancer difference.

USE CAUTION

The researchers said there hasn't been enough time to study how the specific hormone formulations in contemporary birth control pills affect ovarian cancer risk decades down the line.

Because of that and other limitations, women should use "considerable caution" when figuring the new findings into their own personal decisions about the Pill, they wrote.

What's more, other research suggests women who take the Pill are at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer, said Eduardo Franco, head of cancer epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"It is the sort of thing that requires a frank conversation between a woman and healthcare provider," Franco, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.

He said the findings are not surprising and that many doctors are convinced birth control pills do lower ovarian cancer risk.

"I don't think there's a question of the link," Franco said. What's important, he added, is "understanding the caveats that come with the reduced risk of ovarian cancer."

"What we've got right now may be the best evidence that we ever are able to have. I don't necessarily think that it is enough to tell a physician to have their patients use oral contraceptives solely for the purpose of preventing ovarian cancer," Havrilesky told Reuters Health.

"But I think it's enough to say this is a possible advantage in women who are considering use of oral contraceptives" for birth control or other medical reasons, she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/s3TyE Obstetrics & Gynecology, online June 6, 2013.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee to be U.S. trade representative on Thursday appeared headed for Senate approval after promising to work with Congress on major trade legislation needed by the White House to win approval of trade deals.

"If confirmed, I will engage with you to renew Trade Promotion Authority. TPA is a critical tool. I look forward to working with you to craft a bill that achieves our shared goals," Mike Froman, now the White House international economic affairs adviser, said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.

Froman pledged strong enforcement of existing trade agreements and said he would press China to allow its currency to rise faster in value to eliminate what many U.S. lawmakers believe is an unfair trade advantage.

However, he stopped short of promising to push for new rules against currency manipulation in trade agreements, as more than half of the members of the House of Representatives demanded in a letter to Obama.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said Froman already has a "mastery of trade policy development and implementation" after four years of working on the issues at the White House.

"He understands the small details and he sees the big picture ... We should confirm his nomination and we should do so quickly," Baucus said.

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the panel's senior Republican, said he intended to vote for Froman, but chided him for the roughly $500,000 he has invested in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands.

"Mr. Froman is, in fact, the third Cabinet-level nominee this year to have made use of offshore investments and structures, despite the president's unequivocal condemnation of these types of activities during the campaign," Hatch said.

No senator at the hearing expressed concern about Froman's qualifications or indicated they intended to oppose him.

However, Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said he had more questions for Froman about his investments "in offshore accounts (that) the president (has) criticized."

"The White House and the nominee should help Congress and the public understand the president's double standard," Grassley said in a statement.

If confirmed for the USTR position, Froman has promised to divest the offshore account, which dates back to his days as an executive at Citigroup. He was not required by White House ethics officials to do that in his current job.

"FAST TRACK" LEGISLATION

Trade promotion authority, also known as "fast track" trade legislation, allows the White House to submit trade deals to Congress for straight up-or-down votes without any amendments. It was last passed by Congress in 2002 and expired in 2007.

The White House is already negotiating one of biggest trade deals in history with 11 other countries, including Japan, in the Asia Pacific region and plans to start talks in July on an another huge deal with the European Union.

Trade promotion authority would also allow lawmakers to set negotiating objectives for those two agreements, although the White House is pushing to finish talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership talks by the end of the year.

Obama did not ask for renewal of TPA during his first four years in office. Froman, under questioning from Baucus, clarified that Obama was asking for renewal now, which Hatch and a number of panel Republicans said was a welcome step.

Baucus said he hoped to win congressional approval of a bill combining trade promotion authority with Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) in coming months.

TAA provides retraining assistance for workers that have lost jobs because of imports or factories moving overseas.

"With so many trade initiatives moving to completion and getting off the ground, we need TPA now to guide and support USTR. And we need TAA to ensure that our workforce remains ready to compete with anyone, anywhere in the world," Baucus said.

Froman fielded a number of complaints from senators about Indian government policies that they said unfairly restrict imports of U.S. goods and have invalidated patent protections for U.S. pharmaceuticals.

"We're very concerned about the innovation and the investment environment in India at the moment," Froman told the panel, saying the administration was consulting with industry about how best to the respond to the actions.

One option could be filing a case at the World Trade Organization, Froman said.

Some senators suggested that Congress should remove India from the Generalized System of Preferences program, which waives U.S. import duties on goods from developing countries.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Christopher Wilson)

BRISBANE (Reuters) - British and Irish Lions prop Cian Healy was cleared of biting a Western Force player on Friday but the Irishman's tour was later brought to an end by an ankle injury sustained in the same match.

In another blow to the tourists, Wales prop Gethin Jenkins was forced out of Saturday's match against the Queensland Reds by the recurrence of a calf injury which has kept him out of action for the first two matches of his third Lions tour.

Mako Vunipola replaces Jenkins in the starting side with his England team mate Dan Coles moving up to the bench, while Ryan Grant will join the Lions squad from Scotland's tour of South Africa.

"Firstly, our thoughts are with Cian," Lions coach Warren Gatland said in a news release.

"It has been a day of mixed emotions for him after quite rightly being cleared of foul play but then the scan revealing the extent of the damage to his ankle.

"He has made a big contribution on and off the field in the last two weeks and we wish him well in his recovery."

The Lions had already called up prop Alex Corbisiero from England's tour of South America for Healy but the injury to Jenkins has further depleted stocks in the front row.

"Gethin has trained all week but he felt some tightness in his calf today so it's right not to play him," Gatland added.

"We will assess him over the next 24-48 hours but Mako has done well in the last two games and this is another chance for him to step up.

"Given Cian's injury we have decided to bring Ryan in. He has played well in the RaboDirect Pro 12 this season and for Scotland in the Six Nations and we look forward to him and Alex Corbisiero arriving tomorrow."

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

Loosehead Healy will return to Ireland after a scan revealed "significant ligament damage" to his ankle.

Healy had faced a disciplinary hearing in Brisbane on Friday after being cited in the wake of Force scrumhalf Brett Sheehan's complaint that he had been bitten in the first half of the Lions' 69-17 victory in Perth on Wednesday.

Judicial officer Nigel Hampton found insufficient evidence to support the allegations, the Australian Rugby Union said in a statement.

"I cannot find proven on the balance of probabilities that there was a deliberate bite here, and the citing complaint is not upheld," Hampton said.

Healy was relieved at the verdict but unhappy he had been forced to go through the disciplinary procedure.

"I am very relieved that the hearing has cleared me of such an allegation. I was naturally very disappointed that there was a citing in the first place," he said in a Lions statement.

"I always maintained that nothing happened and that I had done nothing illegal. The opposition player's arm hit me. It is as simple as that."

The Lions face the Wallabies in the first of three tests back in Brisbane on June 22.

LONDON (Reuters) - The new strain of bird flu that has killed 17 people in China has been circulating widely "under the radar" and has acquired significant genetic diversity that makes it more of a threat, scientists said on Friday.

Dutch and Chinese researchers who analyzed genetic data from seven samples of the new H7N9 strain say it has already acquired similar levels of genetic diversity as much larger outbreaks of other H7 strains of flu seen previously in birds.

"The diversity we see in these first few samples from China is as great as the diversity we have seen with a large outbreak in the Netherlands several years ago and one in Italy," said Marion Koopmans, head of virology at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who worked on the study as part of a nine-member team.

"This means it (the H7N9 strain in China) has been spreading quite a bit and it's important to understand where exactly that is going on."

Its genetic diversity shows the virus has an ability to mutate repeatedly and is likely to continue doing so, raising the risk that it may become transmissible among humans.

Koopmans, whose research was published in the online journal Eurosurveillance, said the circulation would probably have taken place in either birds or mammals, but said exactly which animals were involved was not yet clear.

"Simply the fact that this virus is spreading under the radar - because that is what this data confirms - is of concern," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The H7N9 virus is so far known to have infected 87 people in China, killing 17 of them. Health officials raised further questions on Friday about the source of the new strain after data indicated that more than half of patients had had no contact with poultry.

MUTATIONS

A scientific study published last week showed the H7N9 strain was a so-called "triple reassortant" virus with a mixture of genes from three other flu strains found in birds in Asia. One of those three strains is thought to have come from a brambling, a type of small wild bird.

For their study, Koopmans and her team compared some data from the first two weeks of the China H7N9 outbreak with data from a large H7N7 flu outbreak in birds and people the Netherlands in 2003 and an H7N1 epidemic in birds in Italy in 1999 and 2000.

The Dutch outbreak resulted in infection of poultry on 255 farms and led to the culling of about 30 million chickens. Some 89 people were also diagnosed as having the H7N7 virus and one person, a vet, died as a result of the infection.

The comparison suggested that "widespread circulation (of the H7N9 strain in China) must have occurred, resulting in major genetic diversification", the researchers wrote in their study.

They added: "Such diversification is of concern, given that several markers associated with increased risk for public health are already present."

Flu experts in China and at the World Health Organization say there is no evidence so far that H7N9 is passing easily between people.

But scientists who analyzed the genetic sequence data from three early samples from China say the virus has already acquired some mutations that might make it more likely to be able to do so in the future, raising the risk of a human pandemic.

"Although human infections with H7 influenza viruses have occurred repeatedly over the last decades without evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, the absence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H7N9 viruses does not come with any guarantee," Koopmans' team wrote in their study.

(Editing by Ben Hirschler and Alison Williams)

With any luck (and some good weather), all four of thesesights may be readily available to us in the near future. Here is a list of the Top 4 and when we might expect to see them:

A total eclipse of the sun

It lasts only a few minutes. It occurs on average just once every 18 months, and then has a perverse habit of taking place over Earths most remote, inhospitable places. Yet people will travel to the ends of the Earth, sparing no expense or trouble, to see it. []

You havent really lived until youve experienced a total . But beware! This is not something you can just put on your bucket list to do just once in your life and be satisfied. Its addictive; once youve see one, youll want to see them all.

The nextwill occur later this year, on Nov. 3. But before you start packing your suitcase, be advised that the eclipse track for this event starts out over the open waters of the Atlantic midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico and heads east, ultimately passing south of the Cape Verde Islands, then curves southeastward parallel to the African coastline.

The path width will reach a maximum of just 36 miles (58 kilometers) about 250 miles (402 km) off the coast of Liberia, where the sun will be totally eclipsed for 100 seconds. The shadow track will then sweep across central Africa, passing over sections of Gabon, Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Kenya, before ending at sunset at the Ethiopia-Somalia border not where most people would think of taking the wife and kids for a weekend jaunt.

RELATED:

The bill was introduced shortly before Christmas last year by Rep. Dwayne Bohac. Bohac describes his motivation for the legislation at a site created to advocate for the measure, .

It's isn't just Bohan. The site also featuresapparently from regular citizens, all of which center around the exclusion of Christmas (but no other holidays) from school celebrations. In Bohan's case, he asked school officials why they didn't use the word. The officials told him that they were "fearful of litigation."

RELATED:

House Bill 308 was meant to assuage those anecdotal concerns.is brief. There are four elements. One, schools may educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations. Two, students and teachers can offer "traditional greetings," like "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hanukkah," and the dreaded "Happy holidays." Three, schools can put up displays if they either include multiple religions or a religion and some sort of "secular scene or symbol." Four, the display can't include a message "that encourages adherence" to a religious belief. According to the Fox News report on the bill, that third point includes nativity scenes.

RELATED:

RELATED:

During debate on the measure, the Texas House . The case for the bill was presented by a group called , which advocates for issues like religious freedom and against domestic partnerships. (Today the group is holding a rally toto allow openly gay boys to participate.)

RELATED:

that the bill will soon become law.

A recent Gallup survey indicated that at least three-quarters of Texans are . Despite the timidity of school officials, that figure has largely remained consistent over the past several years.

On Thursday (Dec. 27) Prokopi pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to smuggling fossils and agreed to forfeit a small menagerie of dinosaurs to federal officials. All but one of the dinosaurs in question came from Mongolia, where law makes fossils state property, and among them is a high-profile skeleton that .

"We have looked into this, and we can't find any instance anywhere when one country has returned to another a lot of dinosaurs this large and this significant that have been looted or smuggled," said Robert Painter, attorney for Mongolian President ElbegdorjTsakhia.

The outcome has set precedent in other ways, according to observers and others who are involved in the case. In particular, some believe it will send a message to those involved in the , particularly those taken from Mongolia, which have been widely available for sale.

A long list of dinosaurs

In May, Prokopi put his 8-foot-tall and 24-foot-long (2.4 meters by 7.3 meters) Tarbosaurus bataar specimen up for auction. President Elbegdorj and several paleontologists objected, saying the dinosaur was almost certainly pilfered from Mongolia. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney became involved and sought legal possession of the dinosaur with the intent of returning it to Mongolia and later arresting Prokopi. []

In a plea deal, Prokopi pleaded guilty to three felony counts and agreed to give up his claim on this dinosaur, plus fossils from two other Tarbosaurus bataars, which are Asian relatives of the infamous T. rex; one Saurolophus or duck-billed dinosaur; and two birdlike Oviraptors. In September, federal officials seizedthat Prokopi had sold to California-based gallery and auction houseI.M. Chait. A small four-winged Microraptor from China was taken by federal officials before this case began. One of the Tarbosaurus fossils is believed to be in Great Britain.

"We are pleased that we can now begin the process of returning these prehistoric fossils to their countries of origin," Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

Prokopi's prospects

After pleading guilty to charges of smuggling, making false statements on customs forms and dealing in fossils he knew to be illegal, Prokopi faces a maximum of 17 years in prison and a substantial fine. However, his defense attorney Georges Lederman said he believes it is highly unlikely Prokopi will receive anything close to the maximum sentence.

"We are confident that the sentence imposed will be a fair and reasonable one and will take into account all the proactive measures my client has made," Lederman said, noting that Prokopi has cooperated with investigators and, as part of his plea deal, will continue to do so.

The outcome of the case disappointed David Herskowitz, an independent natural history consultant. While employed by auction house Heritage Auctions, Herskowitzof Prokopi's Tarbosaurus.

"I know Eric, and I know he is not a criminal," Herskowitz said. "I don't believe he knowingly broke any laws, and I believe the only reason why he had to cop a plea was financial and the pressures [of being involved in a court case]."

Prokopi spent a year , which were once rough fossils that made up about 75 percent of a skeleton, to create a complete, mounted specimen with the intent of selling it at auction, Herskowitz said. But the $1 million sale was never completed.

Since releasing a statement in June, in which he described himself as "just a guy in Gainesville, Florida trying to support my family, not some international bone smuggler," Prokopi has been silent.

At roughly the same time federal officials seized the Tarbosaurus bataar, fossils of probable Mongolian origin . Herskowitz noted that he has seen Mongolian fossils for sale during the 20 years he has been working in the field.

"Mongolia never stepped forward to do anything about the buying and selling of Mongolian fossils, and that was the reason why everyone felt it was legal and OK," Herskowitz said.

A legal question

With the deal still fresh, not everyone agrees about its legal implications. An important issue in the case was the relationship between Mongolian law which Prokopis civil attorneys said did not clearly make fossils state property and U.S. law. This is important because prosecutors were basing the claim that the fossils were stolen on Mongolian law, however, Prokopi was being prosecuted under U.S. law.

From Herskowitzs perspective, the plea deal doesnt resolve this issue, but the ambiguity will likely change the market.

I would believe that no one should be selling Mongolian fossils until this whole thing is resolved, he said.

Ricardo St. Hilaire, an attorney who practices cultural law, disagreed, saying that the deal created a foundation for using Mongolian law on cultural property to invoke U.S. law on stolen property.

"This conviction should signal to those of us in the legal community and to anybody in the collecting community that Mongolian law has served as the basis to trigger the National Stolen Property Act," St. Hilaire said. Prokopi pleaded guilty to one count of violating this law. []

The case and its outcome signal the willingness of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney to pursue cultural property cases, said St. Hilaire, who has been following the case and writing about it .

Robert Painter, attorney for the Mongolian President, put the significance in more blunt terms: "Smugglers like Eric Prokopi used to think they could do this with impunity. Now they realize this is very serious."

The Mongolian reaction

Mongolian officials have announced plans to establish a temporary facility in the central square of the capital Ulaanbataar to display the dinosaurs once they return, Painter said.

"President Elbegdorj and Mongolians are so grateful for what the U.S. government has done, there is just a tremendous amount of excitement," he said.

The dinosaur's saga from auction block to courtroom has captured Mongolians' attention: A Mongolian media company, shuud.mn, named the dinosaur's story the top event of the year, said Bolorsetseg Minjin, a Mongolian paleontologist who has .

"It is not only on the news, just talking to the people in Mongolia, they really want to know what is going on with the whole case," Minjin said.

Mongolian officials are investigating the illicit trade within their own borders as well, Painter said.

Followon Twitter . We're also on & .

The 28 year-old, who finished 24-under-par overall after his three-under round, had begun the day with a 10-shot advantage over Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and never looked in any danger as he reached the turn at level-par for his round.

A two-hour delay for thunderstorms at the Leopard Creek Country Club followed, but the former U.S. Masters champion returned to the 10th hole and cruised to victory with three further birdies and no bogeys.

Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg ended up second.

"I thought I started off well today and through the first six holes I had an opportunity on every hole," Schwartzel told reporters.

"I hit good putts that didn't go in. Then the three-putt on eight put a stop to things and Gregory started to make some birdies. Then it got down to seven shots and that to me was as close as I wanted it to be.

"I was happy to make that birdie on nine just to pull the momentum back in my favour, because seven shots around this course is catchable. After the rain delay we came back and I played some nice, solid golf and put myself back in the driver's seat."

Last week Schwartzel claimed an 11-stroke victory at the Thailand Golf Championship on the Asian Tour, his first win in 20 months, and he dazzled the crowds once again at home as he stormed clear of his rivals for the second week in succession.

"This doesn't happen often. You don't see it happen often. For me it's nice after last week," Schwartzel added.

"Last week I got that win by a big margin, and normally when you come back the next week it's hard to put up the same show.

"That's pleasing and what I keep talking about is consistency. It's back where I like it to be."

Those behind Schwartzel were always fighting it out for second place and for much of the day it looked as though Bourdy was on course for the runners-up cheque.

However, a calamitous double-bogey on the final hole meant he fell back to 11-under and the Frenchman had to settle for a four-way share of third place with Andy Sullivan, Garth Mulroy and Scott Jamieson, while Broberg earned sole possession of second as his final round of 70 took him to 12-under.

Another Swede enjoyed a memorable moment on the day, as Magnus A. Carlsson's seven-iron found the cup for a hole-in-one on the 12th hole.

South Africa's Keith Horne had carded an ace on the very same hole in successive days on Friday and Saturday, but Carlsson's earned the prize of a brand new car as it came during the final round of play. (Editing by Mark Pangallo)

Yuri Milner's Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation announced the awards in a statement Tuesday.

Hawking is honored for his discovery of Hawking radiation from black holes "and his deep contributions to quantum gravity and quantum aspects of the early universe."

The prize money for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is being split among a scientist who oversaw the building of the $10 billion atom smasher and six physicists who oversaw two teams of 3,000 scientists each.