Protests in Puttaparthi over alleged mishandling of Sathya Sai Trust money

Puttaparthi:  Several followers of Sathya Sai Baba held protests in Puttaparthi today over reports of alleged mishandling of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust's money by its members. "We have lost trust in the trust members and want them to quit. We want the donations to be put to good use," said one of the protesting devotees. They are demanding an inquiry into the functioning of the trust. On June 17, close to Rs. 11.56...

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Hunt on for mob that thrashed a 19-yr-old bike thief

CHENNAI: The police are hunting for members of a mob who brutally attacked a 19-year-old bike thief in Pudupet on Wednesday. According to the police, the youth had stolen the bike parked outside a restaurant in Parrys three days ago. Immediately , the bike owner, Yusuff of Mannadi, came to Pudupet, the hub for for used automobile spare parts in the city. On Wednesday, Yusuff noticed the youth, later identified as R Dinesh , 19, of Bangalore,...

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19 'terrorists' held on Day 2 of mock drill

CHENNAI: The city police nabbed eight 'terrorists' who tried to sneak into Chennai Harbour on Thursday, the second day of Operation Hamla-3 . The arrested men were among the 19 caught across the state during the exercise, designed to check the terror-preparedness of the state. The operation began on Wednesday and will continue till Friday. Early on Thursday, police personnel near the Chennai Harbour check point on Rajaji Salai nabbed eight...

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A. Raja's wife appears before IT officials

Former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja’s wife Parameswari, and his elder brother appeared at the Income Tax Office here on Friday after they were summoned by the IT Department for an enquiry.  Sources said Parameswari, wife of Raja, who has been arrested and lodged in the Tihar Jail in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, and his elder brother A. Ramachandran were questioned by a senior officer of the IT Department in the rank of a Deputy...

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Indian cricketers criticise Daryl Harper for bad decisions

KINGSTON ( Jamaica): Umpire Daryl Harper came in for some scathing criticism from the Indian cricket team, which blasted the Australian for his poor decisions during the first cricket Test against the West Indies. Such was the exasperation that a senior member of the side said that whole team wishes that Harper does not officiate in the third Test. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni did little to hide his disgust at the standard of umpiring...

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Government shying away from facing Parliament: Sushma

Chennai: The ruling coalition at the Centre is shying away from facing Parliament, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday. “They [the ruling party] do not want to face Parliament and will delay the session as long as they can.” Addressing a press conference, Ms. Swaraj said the budget session of the Lok Sabha had already been cut short. “We expected a short session in May; that didn't happen.” The Opposition...

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Katrina Kaif with Hrithik Roshan on the cover of Filmfare Magazine

Sexy Katrina Kaif on the cover of Filmfare Magazine with Hrithik Roshan. Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif filmfare pho...

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This Surat businessman bought Sachin's red Ferrari

Surat:  The '360 Modena Ferrari', which once occupied a pride of place in batting icon Sachin Tendulkar's fleet of premium cars, is now a prized possession of a city businessman. Jayesh Desai, Chairman of Raj Hans group, said he purchased the car a fortnight ago. "I have bought the 360 Modena Ferrari car directly from Sachin Tendulkar with all legal documents," Desai told PTI, but declined to reveal the price. "It...

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We are ready to face bullets for Lokpal Bill: Hazare

Pune:  Anna Hazare today said he was not afraid of death and dared the government to fire bullets in the event of his going on fast to press for a strong Lokpal bill. "Anna is not afraid of death. They can fire bullets and not just use lathis to repress our agitation and the people of this country will decide whether India has a democratic rule or a dictatorship," said Anna. The anti-corruption crusader said this in...

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Andhra Pradesh minister's car attacked in Telangana

Hyderabad:  Demanding his resignation over the issue of a separate state, Telangana activists on Wednesday attacked a minister's convoy in Andhra Pradesh's Warangal district. The incident took place in Hanamkonda town when Handlooms and Textiles Minister Shankar Rao arrived to pay his last respects to Telangana ideologue K. Jayashankar, who died on Tuesday. Raising slogans of "Jai Telangana", students and activists...

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Aishwarya Rai is pregnant, says Big B

BollywoodWorld.com, Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai is in the family way, says her father-in-law and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan. “NEWS NEWS NEWS !! I AM GOING TO BECOME A GRANDFATHER .. AISHWARYA EXPECTING .. SO HAPPY AND THRILLED, (sic)” Amitabh posted on his Twitter account. Ever since Amitabh posted the message on the microblogging site, congratulatory messages have started pouring in. Aishwarya, 37, and Abhishek, 35, were married...

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Emotional Karunanidhi meets Kanimozhi again at Tihar

For the second time in one month, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi  on Tuesday arrived at Tihar Jail to pay a visit to his daughter Kanimozhi.  Karunanidhi's second visit comes a day after the Supreme Court refused bail to Kanimozhi, who is arrested in the 2G spectrum case. A visibly emotional Karunanidhi spent about 20 minutes alone with his daughter, before he summoned his wife and son.  This is Karunanidhi's...

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Government draft on Lokpal Bill excludes PM

NEW DELHI: The Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill ended its deliberations on Tuesday without a common text, and the government has decided to go ahead with its plan of consulting political parties and Chief Ministers on the two different versions before getting the Cabinet to clear a final draft. Expressing “deep disappointment” at what it said was the government's watered down version of a Lokpal Bill — an official draft was presented...

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Karunanidhi to leave for Delhi tomorrow

With the Supreme Court rejecting the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi, her father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday morning to meet her in Tihar Jail, where she has been lodged.  DMK sources said a visibly upset Karunanidhi had decided to call on his daughter at the prison to console her. Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi Ammal is already in New Del...

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Single window counselling for engineering admissions

CHENNAI: Admissions to engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu through the single window counselling process will begin on June 30. Minister for higher education P Palaniappan announced the dates on Monday at an event organised at Anna University to generate random numbers for applicants having the same cut-off marks. While 3,457 applicants under the sports quota will go through the counselling process first on June 30, the counselling for...

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Supreme Court denies bail to Kanimozhi

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi's bail plea in the 2G spectrum allocation case and questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation for its failure to interrogate the accused for recovering certain documents.  However, the court offered her some hope, saying she could approach the trial court for bail once charges are framed. It said she shall be entitled to invoke Section 437 of the Criminal Procedure...

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Four hours of load shedding from tomorrow

Residents of Chennai and its suburbs will have to brace themselves for four hours of load shedding daily from June 21 to 30. The cut would be carried out in spells of one hour every four hours in rotation.  Line connectivity work The four-hour load shedding is being introduced to take up line connectivity work to the TNEB-NTPC joint venture thermal power plant at Vallur. The Nellore-Alamathy 400 KV line is being shutdown for this purpose.  ...

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Student found hanging in school hostel

A student of a private school near Velur in the district was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his school's hostel in the early hours of Sunday.  According to police, the boy who was hailing from a village near Bodinayakanur in Theni district, was homesick as his parents had forcibly put him in hostel after the school reopened on Wednesday. The boy wanted to go to school from home and asked his parents to take him back home, the...

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Lessons my father taught me: Happy Father's Day!

by Lynette Holloway CHICAGO, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Rebecca L. Stinson still recalls the poignant letters of encouragement she received from her father in Chicago as a college student in Washington, D.C. while she earned her education degree. The Chicago Police Detective who died 13 years ago encouraged her to receive a good education and to be an independent thinker. His advice helped shape her life as a daughter, woman, wife, mother, teacher,...

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Education must be beyond controversies: Chidambaram

Education must be beyond controversies, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said at the inauguration of the new campus of the Omayal Achi College of Nursing at Puzhal, near here. School and college admissions attract controversies almost every year, Mr. Chidambaram said. For instance, this year, a Delhi college had declared that the cut-off mark was 100 per cent. If this is the base mark, can students score over 100 per cent, he wondered.  This...

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Young woman found murdered in Mumbai train

Mumbai: A partly decomposed body of a woman with stab injuries was found in a second class compartment of an empty local train at Kalwa railway car shed on Friday night. The incident came to light at 11.30 pm when RPF (Railway Protection Force) on duty constable Ajitsingh Kalam in Kalwa car shed found the body of a woman lying between two seats in the second class compartment of the empty 12 car rake that had arrived from Kalyan. Thinking...

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Minor girl sexually exploited by nearly 100 people in Kerala

Kochi:  Police teams have been sent to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and various parts of Kerala to nab at least 70 persons for the alleged sexual exploitation of a 14-year old girl in connivance with her father. The action came after the girl revealed to police about her sexual exploitation, including by her own father, police said. The child is being treated for venereal diseases at a government hospital here. According to...

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Anna Salai flyovers proposal shelved

The two flyovers proposed on Anna Salai with funds from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) last year have been shelved.  The CMDA had sanctioned Rs.100 crore for the piling work of the project and the Highways Department was expected to start the work on the two facilities by August 2010. The Highways department also conducted a traffic survey at eight traffic intersections after objections were raised over locating...

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