The telephone tapping controversies continued to haunt the Tamil Nadu government with a minister being accused of influencing a top vigilance official over phone to help one of her relatives facing a corruption case.

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy released a CD containing the ‘tapped’ phone conversation between Social Welfare Minister Poongothai and the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption S K Upadhyaya.

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CHENNAI: Chennai is a gourmet’s delight. Everyone from the construction worker to the chief executive eats out with the difference being in the ambience, choice in ‘a la carte’ and of course the price. However, the spiraling cost, which began in April, has impacted on both the gourmand and the man who eats on the roadside ‘thattu kadai’ just to survive.

Raghavendar, an epicurean, did the unthinkable when he took his family to a fine dining restaurant. He read out the price, instead of discussing the menu."My family was horrified at my behavior, but with the steep increase in prices, I cannot help keep a tab on how much we spend," he adds.

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Beijing: Relief troops walked hours over rock, debris and mud in hopes of reaching the worst-hit area of an earthquake that rocked central China on Monday, killing nearly 10,000 people, state-run media reported.

Setting out from Maerkang in Sichuan Province at 8 pm on Monday, the 100 or so troops had to travel 200 kilometers (124 miles) to go before reaching Wenchuan, the epicenter of the quake, also in the province, Xinhua reported. After seven hours, they still had 70 kilometers (43 miles) to go.

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CHENNAI: Noticing a high incidence of people traveling without valid tickets in trains during summer vacations, Southern Railway’s Chennai division has started cracking the whip. In April alone, ticket inspection has yielded a fine amount of more than Rs 60 lakh. Ticket-less travel is seen more during summer vacations and festival seasons.

Last financial year, Chennai division collected Rs 6.12 crore by cracking down on ticket-less travelers.

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Jaipur: Seven serial blasts rocked the city of Jaipur at 7:35 PM on Tuesday evening, killing at least 50 people and injuring 150 others.

The injured have been rushed to the Sawai Mann Singh hospital. There are six women among the dead. The blasts — which were of medium intensity — took place in the walled city area.

The Chief Information Commissioner of Jaipur, Rohit Singh says that the first blast took place at the Manas Chowk Police Station area. The second blast, according to him, was near the most famous sweet shop in the city, Lakshmi Mishtaan Bhandar which is in Johari Bazaar.

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MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar, who is yet to play his first ball in the Indian Premier League, could feature in the crucial next tie against Chennai, Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput said on Sunday.

"Sachin has been batting for the last two days during practice and we are hoping that he will be playing the next match," Rajput said.

A groin injury has kept Tendulkar out of the IPL so far but the batsman has been practising with the team during the last two practice sessions.

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West Springfield, Pennsylvania: Six Indian nationals who were on their way to visit Niagara Falls were killed when their minivan spun out of control and was hit by an oncoming car on a Pennsylvania highway, police said on Sunday.

Four of those killed worked at the Troy, Michigan-based Syntel Inc, an information technology company, and two were spouses of employees, company spokesman Jonathan James said on Sunday.

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CHENNAI: The city police have arrested four persons for selling pirated DVDs and VCDs of the Tamil film Kuruvi, produced by Udayanidhi Stalin, grand son of the chief minister M Karunanidhi, and starring Vijay and Trisha. The police conducted an intensive raid across the city on Wednesday.

The police swung into action following instructions from the political bosses to curb selling the pirated versions of the film. The police formed special teams to conduct raids simultaneously in many places across the city targeting Burma Bazaar, T Nagar, Mogappair and Saidapet.

Police arrested Raja (25), Periya Balaji alias Padmanabhan (44), Suresh (27) and Arunachalam (35) for selling the pirated CDs. They recovered 3,690 DVDs and VCDs, including porn and other language films, worth Rs 26.21 lakh.

A police officer admitted that they have seized only 25 pirated versions of the film Kuruvi. The arrested were produced before the magistrate court in Egmore and remanded in judicial custody.

LONDON: Two cousins of Indian origin at the University of Oxford have overnight become millionaires after a free online service they started for students was sold for 2.5 million pounds within months after its launch.

Kulveer Taggar, 24, and Harjeet Taggar, 22, started their company ‘Auctomatic’ as a free online service while studying and working in the university’s student society Oxford Entrepreneurs. Read the full story

LONDON/VIJAYAWADA: The brutal assault and death of the 23-year-old student from Vijayawada in Birmingham continues to be shrouded in mystery, though the police have arrested a youth on suspicion of murder.

A West Midlands policeman on Thursday told TOI that a murder inquiry has been launched into Vempala Samrajya Jyothirmayi’s death in her apartment. “The arrested man, aged around 24 years, is helping us in the probe,” he said, but refused to specify the man’s nationality. “There is no indication of any motive at this stage.”

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