Vijay to do 'Ek Tha Tiger' tamil remake!

The massive success of Ek Tha Tiger has created a huge demand for its remake rights. We hear that some of the well-known names of South are in the race to bag the remake rights and superstar Vijay is the first choice of the Tamil filmmakers for the Kollywood version.

Rumours are rife that several filmmaker including Jayam Raja, who is known for making remake films, is keen on remaking it in Tamil and he is in talks for the rights with Yash Raj Films. It is said that he wants Vijay to star in the movie, as he believes that Ilayathalapathy can do justice for the role. In fact, reports say that the actor is the favourite choice of many directors.

Vijay and Jayam Raja had worked together in last year's blockbuster Velayudham. However, more news on the remake are yet to arrive.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Ek Tha Tiger has done record breaking collections at the Box Office. The movie, which collected Rs 100 crore in 5 days, has become the fastest 100 crore grosser in India. It is also noted that the Bollywood movie has raked in Rs 1.09 crore in the five-day extended weekend.

Courtesy: oneindia.com

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Govt issues guidelines for its departments for using social media

New Delhi: The government today issued guidelines for its departments using social media networks asking them not to post confidential information and "unverified" facts.

With 40 million Facebook and 16 million twitter users in India, social media has emerged as a powerful platform for forming an opinion as well as generating mass support, the Information Technology Ministry said in its 38-page guidelines issued today.

"Great care must be taken to avoid propagation of unverified facts and frivolous misleading rumours," it said.

It asked persons handling social media for all government agencies including public sector undertakings not to "comment and respond unless authorised to do so especially in the matters that are sub-judice, draft legislations or relating to other individuals".

Asking social media handlers to be polite, discrete and respectful, the guidelines said personal comments for or against any individuals or agencies should not be made and professional discussions should not be politicised.

"Not all posts/comments need to be responded to immediately and individually. Also, wherever a response is required all posts should be kept short and to the point," it said adding infringement of IPR and copyrights of others should be avoided.

The guidelines said while employees were free to post response in their personal capacity, "it is mandatory that while they are doing so, they must clearly identify themselves, confidential information must not be divulged and should not be seen to represent 'official view' unless authorised to do so".

The guidelines stated that social media can only be used by the government to communicate existing government information and propagate official policy to the public.

Social media, it said, should only be one of the components of the overall citizen engagement strategy and government departments must desist from using only social media to communicate with their stakeholders.

"Initially, the departments may just aim to post information regularly. For example, if it is a Facebook page, posting may be done at least a couple of times a week and on Twitter slightly more frequently," it said.

The government's communication to citizens via social media should follow the same data retention policy as its communication through other electronic and non-electronic channels.

"When any information is shared or guidance given online, it is necessary to ensure that all relevant records are captured, trail is generated and records are managed appropriately," the guidelines stated.

The government said the guidelines have been formulated with a view to help ministries, departments and agencies to make use of social media platforms to engage more meaningfully with their various stakeholders.

World over, various government agencies use various social media platforms to interact with their stakeholders. In US, the White House has Facebook page and a Twitter profile.

Even the US Army has a Facebook page and a social network website called GovLoop.com was created within the US Department of Homeland Security to share experiences and best practices.

In India, the Prime Minister's Office this January launched social media initiatives and currently uses Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The Ministry of External Affairs is also present on Twitter.

Courtesy: http://www.ndtv.com/

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Laptop thief lands in police dragnet

Laptops are his passion. However, he is no software whizkid but an ace robber who has stolen over 300 laptops over the past year from residential areas on the IT corridor and in Adyar. A Semmenchery police team, on Tuesday evening, intercepted a youth who had robbed a man of his laptop on Rajiv Gandhi Salai in Sholinganallur at knifepoint and attempted to flee. The suspected was identified as Balaji (25), a resident of Burma Nagar, Ernavoor. 

“On interrogation, we came to know that he had entered many houses, mainly of bachelors, in the guise of an electrician and fled with laptops and valuables placed near the computer. The police was flooded with complaints of laptop thefts in the last 12 months and were on the lookout for the suspect who had stuck in all the places,” said N. Karnan, Inspector of Police, Semmenchery. 

Balaji had stolen more than 300 laptops and sold it to some dealers in Richie Street and Burma Bazaar. A search has been launched for Balaji’s accomplices who are spread around the State. “We suspect the existence of a larger network of gadget thieves,” Mr. Karnan added.

Five laptops, two sovereigns of gold, a motorcycle and a knife were recovered from Balaji, who was remanded in custody and sent to Puzhal prison on Wednesday.

This article has been corrected for typographical errors.

Source: thehindu.com

 

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Draft of transport rules for school children ready: Tamil Nadu government tells High Court

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday told the Madras High Court that the draft of the rules pertaining to regulate transport of school children in the state was ready and would be tabled before the Cabinet in a few days.

Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice A Arumugasamy are looking into the matter.

Taking a serious look at the incident in the suburbs of the city on July 25, when a Class 2 student was run over by her school bus after slipping through a hole in its floor, the First Bench made a suo motu statement to draft a set of rules for regulating transport of school children in the state.

The matter was posted after a week.

Meanwhile, Justice GM Akbar Ali granted bail to three persons including bus driver Seeman and two others, who were arrested in connection with the case.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/draft-of-transport-rules-for-school-children-ready-tamil-nadu-government-tells-high-court-258060

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Cops hunt for Woman who married Many

A marriage is said to be a bond of a lifetime. Not for Shahanaz, who has overnight become the woman most wanted by Chennai police for having married more than a dozen men and disappearing with their money in the past few months.

“We do not know the actual number of persons cheated by her. So far we have received five complaints.

It is possible that some victims do not want it known that they were cheated. We expect more people to lodge complaints,” the police said.

On Wenesday, Manikandan, who works at a car service firm, and Prasanna, a football player working in a sport goods firm, approached the city police with complaints against Shahanaz, believed to a be native of Thiruvanathapuram.Three other men had lodged complaints with the city police on Tuesday against the woman.

Manikandan said that he had married Shahanaz in 2011 but she had vanished after staying with him for few weeks.

Prasanna said he had married her in March and two months later she had said she wanted to stay in a hostel to prepare for civil service examinations. He arranged for her to do so, after which she vanished.

Shahanaz had told the men she was an orphan. She told some of them that she is a lawyer.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/cops-hunt-woman-who-married-many-540

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ATMs crowded as 7,000 bank branches strike work

Serpentine queues in most ATM locations marked the start of the two-day nationwide strike by the banking community.

Banking services were hit in the state on Wednesday with over 70,000 employees from 7,000 public sector bank branches participating in the two-day nationwide strike against reforms in the banking sector and outsourcing of non-core activities.

Expecting another tough day on Thursday, most folks were hurriedly withdrawing cash from ATMs of public sector banks.

“Even after the two-day strike, the banks may not refill cash immediately and with a party at home this weekend, I want to be on the safe side,” said Manohar working with a PR firm.

Though private sector banks, foreign banks and ATMs, continued to operate normally, there was general panic among the public.

“I am leaving for my home town for Onam tomorrow and hence decided to withdraw today,” said Mr Renjith Kumar of Madipakkam.

PSU banks, which operate 63,000 ATMs, control about 75 per cent of banking business in the country.
“Nearly 10 lakh employees are participating in the strike.

This includes 24 public- sector banks, 12 private banks and 6 foreign banks,” said All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam.

Employees held demonstrations across the state as part of the protest, spearheaded by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions of employees and officers of PSU banks.

UFBU which has over 10 lakh members from 70,000 bank branches in its fold, is demanding pension revision, housing loan revision, a five-day working week and opposing the unilateral implementation of the Khandelwal committee report on human resources management in PSU banks.

Other major measures, which the unions are protesting, include increasing the voting rights of shareholders and allowing more foreign and private capital into the banking sector.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com

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TN girl speaks her way to London MBA

City college girl Sruthi Vijayachandran has won the “Best Young Speaker from Asia” award at an international competition hosted by the University of Cambridge.

She has bagged an MBA scholarship at the London School of Business and Finance—but the youngster has decided to put off the MBA, to first pursue a career in communications.

Shruthi holds a Masters Degree in Public Relations from Stella Maris College in the city, and had also taken up the Business English Certificate (BEC) vantage course.

She was listed among the top 100 performers in the BEC exam in 2011, and short-listed as one of the nine young students from across Asia to be flown to the UK to take part in the finals of the competition.

Describing her experience onstage at Cambridge, she says, “ The first round required all contestants to give a five-minute prepared speech about the advantages and disadvantages of hosting the Olympics and how the Games could impact the economy of the host country positively or negatively.

The second round was an impromptu speech and the topic assigned to me pertained to the key factors to be considered when preparing for a job interview.”

The third round comprised three questions, related to education, business development and professional life, Sruthi recollects.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com

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M Tech student ends life in IIT Madras

A First Year M.Tech (Chemical Engineering) student at IIT Madras committed suicide in her hostel room on Tuesday afternoon.

S. Merugu Manasa, 22, from Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh was reportedly married and had arrived in the city only on Tuesday morning
.
Police are yet to find the reason behind her suicide.According to cops, Manasa, who had joined the institute on August 1, attended the lecture session in the morning on Tuesday and later returned to her room at the Sarayu hostel extension in the afternoon.

Her friend, Jothi, returned to the hostel at 4 pm and saw that the door was locked from inside. Suspecting something amiss, she informed the hostel warden. The door was eventually broken open and Manasa was found hanging from the ceiling with her dupatta.

The IIT administration informed the Kotturpuram police who recovered Manasa’s body and sent it to the Government General Hospital at Royapettah for autopsy. Police say that Manasa could have committed suicide between 1 pm and 4 pm.

They also say that Manasa had allegedly married one Srinivasa Minisala, a software engineer in Hyderabad, a few months ago without their parents’ knowledge. Her father Rajesh Shiyam and family live in Karimnagar.

“We informed Manasa’s uncle about her death. He was surprised to know that she had got married and refused to accept the same. We have also informed her husband Minisala, who is on his way to Chennai.
We tried to open her laptop and cell phone but did not have the password,” said an official.

We are yet to ascertain the reason for her death. We have registered a case under IPC Section 174,” said an official.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/m-tech-student-ends-life-268

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Presidency College witnesses protest over arrest of students

Parents of 32 students of the prestigious Presidency College staged a protest in the college campus seeking the release of their sons who were arrested by police three days ago.

Police arrested the students after they started recieving complaints that the group of students were roaming menacingly and being a nuisance to public on Pallavan Salai. The students were produced in court and lodged in prison.

Seeking the release of the students, their parents and around 150 other students picketed the college campus.

Police officials held talks with the protestors. and advised the parents to move the court seeking bail. Meanwhile, the college administration has announced that the college will remain closed till August 24.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/presidency-college-witnesses-protest-over-arrest-students-269

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Japanese Food Festival at The Oriental Blossom,Chennai

The Oriental Blossom at Radha Regent  is all set to  bring the exotic flavours of Japan to Chennai  with a Japanese Food Festival.

Japanese Food Festival will feature specially designed A la carte menu.  And  will feature  special dishes like sushi, sashimi, udon, yakitori and much more. 

“The Sushi remains the most popular Japanese food, there’s much more to explore in this Far Eastern cuisine,” said chef Aiwa. Japan provides the opportunity to enjoy a specially crafted a la carte menu with items like Spicy Salmon Sushi, Battleship Sushi, California Maki with Salmon Roe, Prawn Tempura Maki, Hilsa Sushi, Fukusa Zushi in the food festival.

According to   Mr. Upjeet, GM, Radha Regent, Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on seasonality of food, quality of ingredients and presentation. “The style of presentation of Japanese food is very unique,”. Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a soup and okazu – dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like to add flavour to the staple food.

Japan has a deep-rooted food culture and the cuisine is rich in food value with less usage of oil that ensure a great taste with the health in mind. The Japanese Food Festival will kick off at  The Oriental Blossom  from 24th August till 2nd September 2012.  The average cost  for two is Rs 1200/- .(a la carte menu).        

 For reservation plplease call  6677 8899

 

Source: livechennai.com

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300 kg of ganja seized by NIB

The Narcotics Intelligence Bureau (NIB) of the state police seized 300 kg ganja stuffed in an SUV in Perambur in the city on Monday and arrested two persons for smuggling the narcotics from Naxal-dominated hill area in Padagiri in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

NIB officials here said that the value of the seized narcotics and the Toyota Innova was around `45 lakh.
The police said that Sekar of Uslampatti and Rajapandi of Madurai had packed the dry ganja leaves in 15 kg packets and kept this in the vehicle, which was covered with sun-control film.

The arrested men had borrowed the vehicle from a neighbour saying that they were going to the Tirupati temple for darshan. “Along with the ganja, they had kept a pack of Tirupati laddus to give to the vehicle owner. However, now we have seized the vehicle,” the police said.

”Our ADGP Prateep V. Philip received a tip off about the vehicle carrying ganja coming to Tamil Nadu. We were waiting for it and intercepted it at the Vadapalani signal on Monday morning,” a NIB sleuth said.

Sekar has a history of ganja peddling. A warrant was pending against him since he was found to be involved in smuggling in 2007, the police said. Sleuths here said that the two had managed to establish contact with people in the Padagiri hill area where ganja is cultivated in large-scale with the help of Naxals in the area.

“They claimed that this was the first time they were smuggling the narcotic substance, but we believe they could have been doing it for some time,” the police said.

Source: www.deccanchronicle.com

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TN police site has no room for woes

Once bitten twice shy. That seems to be the motto of the Tamil Nadu Police department after its official website was hacked few weeks ago by Anonymous India. The site, which is back online, doesn’t have a complaint section for grievances of the public, like ragging and land grabbing, any longer.

The top brass of the department had decided to close down the website immediately after it was hacked one and half months back. And now though it is back up, the online complaint sections are missing.

Meanwhile the cyber wing cops are still clueless about the identity of the hackers. “We are still probing the case and are yet to make any arrests,” said an official of the city police cyber cell.

The site was hacked by a group called “OpIndia” and the contents, particularly large files of complaints received online by the Tamil Nadu police and its responses, were posted on Anonymous India’s Facebook page.

The hackers had claimed that they had decided to hack the government site only to make a point that governments should not censor Internet and that they were against corruption in the country.

The hackers posted data including names, addresses, phone numbers of the complainants along with their complaints, which the petitioners had thought would be kept confidential by the police.

It seems that senior officials are hesitant to activate the online complaint section because that was the section which was hacked.

“I think the officials wants to make sure that the online complaint section is fool-proof before activating it,” said a source.

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Autopsy rpt: Geetika was subjected to unnatural sex

New Delhi, Aug 20: With former Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda, main accused in the Geetika Sharma suicide case, surrendering after evading arrest for close to 11 days, the drama with regard to the case seems to be far from over. The autopsy report of the former airhostess Geetika has revealed that she died from hanging. The report also says that Geetika was subjected to unnatural sex which could also be one of the reasons the ambitious woman chose to end her life.

Geetika was found hanging in her flat on Aug 5 and the suicide note in the premises had named Gopal Kanda and another MDLR employee Aruna Chaddha of causing her mental distress and cited as the reason for her decision to commit suicide.

As part of the autopsy, samples of vaginal swabs taken from Geetika's body has been sent for DNA profiling. The result of the same will give more insights into some valuable clues regarding her death.
The autopsy report was released to the media. Kanda has been charged with abetment to suicide and is presently in police custody for the next seven days.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties are trying to take leverage of the case and have sought the resignation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for trying to protect Kanda while he was termed 'absconder' by the police.

Geetika Sharma's brother Ankit has been quoted as saying, "Police has demanded remand of 14 days but they only got for seven days. This shows that he has once again misused his stature but police is doing its work and I have full faith in judiciary. This is a very good thing that he has been sent on police remand for seven days. Police is also cooperating and now the entire interrogation depends on police."

On Kanda's dubious past, Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal party, told reporters in Rohtak, Haryana, that Kanda was earlier involved in several such cases before also.

Source: oneindia.in 

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Devotees protest work at Parthasarathy temple

Devotees of one of Chennai’s oldest temples, the Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Temple, are up in arms against construction by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department inside the temple prakara. The department laid new granite stones and built a shed. Residents have planned a series of protests including group-chanting of the Vishnu Sahasranamam.

They say that the shed was preventing them from having darshan of the Anandha vimanam (tower over the sanctum of Sri Parthasarathy Swamy sannidhi), Vedavalli Thayar Vimanam and Varadhar Sannidhi Vimanam over the pradakshina course.

“Having darshan of vimanams is equivalent to having darshan of the presiding deity. Now if we want to have darshan of vimanams, we will have to go to one of the buildings on the mada veedhis and view them from a distance,” said a senior citizen.

He was speaking at a gathering of devotees, heritage enthusiasts and advocates, who met under the auspices of Srinivasa Young Men’s Association, Nanbargal Kuzhu, Triplicane Brahmins Welfare Association and Yadava Sabhai, among others, to think of an action plan to save the temple that has a recorded history of over 1200 years.

T.R. Ramesh, president, Temple Worshipers Society, and general secretary (legal affairs) of Janata Party, said the HR&CE had control only over the administration of temple properties and not the idols or jewellery.

“A few years ago, at Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, there was a move by the department to construct rest rooms, after the demolishing of a kottaaram in the temple premises was thwarted,” he said.

Advocate M. Vivekanandan said the department was not allowed to make any new innovations under the HR&CE Act. They can only preserve what is there. He said while more recent constructions including the Ripon Building, Fort St. George and Victoria Public Hall were being protected as monuments and every care was being taken in their maintenance and repairs, nothing has been done to preserve this temple, which has been in existence since time immemorial.

A senior priest, who retired from a temple in Thiruvarur, said that temple bhattacharyas and priests could not be expected to join the protests because if they did, they would be treated badly by the officials.

RTI activist V.S. Rajkumar said over 15,000 residents had signed a petition stating that the works must not be taken up. But the department had gone ahead and completed the construction.

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Assam fallout: Govt blocks 80 internet pages, user accounts

New Delhi, Aug 19: Government is learnt to have ordered blocking of 80 more Internet pages and user-accounts on social networking sites including Facebook, Google and Twitter to avoid panic among people of northeastern region living across India.

All these sites were found hosting inflammatory and hateful content, spreading rumours and inciting violence targeting the people from north-east, government sources said.

Yesterday, the government had issued instructions to block 76 Internet sites, which included web-pages and some websites, and had said that bulk of the rumours that triggered panic among people of North-eastern states in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were sourced from Pakistan.

"We have found inflammatory and objectionable contents on some pages of Facebook and Google. Some user-accounts at Twitter were also found spreading similar contents. All together, around 80 such pages and accounts have been ordered to be blocked today," the sources said.

The rumours about a possible attacks have led to mass exodus of people from northeast from many places including Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today asked his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik to crackdown on elements based in that country that were using social media networking sites to whip up communal sentiments and spreading hate in India.

According to a report prepared by the Home Ministry, a Pakistan-based hardline group is suspected to have been involved in doctoring images and spreading them across social networking sites to create panic among people of northeastern region living across India.

Source: oneindia.in

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Madras Week begins with promise of unlimited fun

If there is a loving memory of Chennai and a story behind it, now would be the time to dust the old photographs or if there is a recipe that has been handed over for generations in your family, it’s time to whip up something good at the cooking competition, for Madras Week is here! The city is turning 373 this year and celebrations have already started with a bang. Various programmes for the week began on August 19 and will conclude on August 26.

Madras Week celebrations started with a Madras Musings lecture on Sunday. People from various fields like entrepreneurs, dancers and chefs, would participate in panel discussions over the week to discuss the grace with which the city has aged.

“This year, the hotels of the city will, once again, be enthusiastic participants. Some will be venues for talks while others will host art and photography exhibitions besides organising food festivals with Madras cuisine as their theme. Art galleries have also taken to this event in a big way,” the organisers said. They are planning to conduct a range of activities, including quiz for school students, elocution and debates and heritage walks will be held as part of the celebrations, which have been extended to suburban parts like Tambaram and Nanganallur.

“Most of the landmarks have vanished and only stories are left behind. For people like us, who were never part of the generation which saw and enjoyed the Madarasapattinam in all its glory, Madras Week is something to look forward to,” says college student Nikhil Jayakrishnan.

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Barack Obama wishes 'Eid Mubarak'

Washington, Aug 19: US President Barack Obama wished Muslims around the world "Eid Mubarak" for the festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

"Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

"For Muslims, Ramadan has been a time of fasting, prayer and spiritual renewal. These past four weeks have also been a time to serve the less fortunate -- a reminder of the obligations that people of all faiths have to each other."

Obama said "we congratulate Muslim Americans and Muslims around the world on this joyous day. Eid Mubarak."

He said the Eid celebrations in America speak to "the truth that communities of faith -- including Muslim Americans -- enrich our national life, strengthen our democracy and uphold our freedoms, including the freedom of religion."

"That is why we stand with people of all faiths, in the United States and around the world, in protecting and advancing this universal human right," he added.

Source: oneindia.in

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