Mullaperiyar row:Trade and business are freezed in Madurai

Trade and business came to standstill in Madurai four other districts on Thursday as commercial establishments downed their shutters throughout the day, as part of the protests against the Kerala government's move to build a new dam as an alternative to the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.There was a complete shut down of shops and commercial establishments in the district. The strike call was given by as many as 50 outfits, including trade bodies like the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries ( and Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) in five districts under Periyar - Vaigai Command area."The estimated...

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Rumor of a Mini iPad from Apple to compete Fire

In November last year, Steve Jobs had quashed all rumors on Apple making iPads lesser than its 10-inch diagonal as anything below that would not allow to create great apps for the tablet. Jobs further had said that 7-inch screens had only 45% space compared to the larger iPad, which was not sufficient enough for the tablet apps. The decree of Steve Jobs of not making any tablet below the 10-inch mark might be ignored in future by Apple. According to Digitimes, Apple is planning to launch an iPad of 7.85-inch, within final quarter 2012, for coping with market competition from the Kindle Fire. The report further mentions that AU Optronics...

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Mullaperiyar dam is safe

Tamil Nadu on Friday refuted Kerala's allegation before the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand, that the Mullaperiyar dam was not safe if the water level was maintained at 136 ft. and that it should be reduced to 120 ft.In its response to Kerala's affidavit filed before the committee on Thursday, the State reiterated that the dam was safe and that it had been permitted by the Supreme Court to raise the water level up to 142 ft. and further raise it to 152 ft. after completing the remaining strengthening measures. Tamil Nadu made it clear that the question of considering a new dam would arise...

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Mullaperiyar: TN rejects SC's appeal offer

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Prime Minister was the "most suitable authority" to hammer out a solution to vexed water disputes like Mullaperiyar dam row and wanted to appeal for his intervention but refrained from doing so after Tamil Nadu objected to it. A five-judge Constitution Bench wanted to make the appeal on the suggestion of Kerala's counsel Harish Salve but Tamil Nadu's lawyer Raju Ramachandran put up a stubborn opposition to the Prime Minister's intervention as the apex court-empowered committee was already seized of the issue. At the fag end of the hearing held to decide on Tamil Nadu's plea for deployment of CISF...

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TN Assembly passes resolution on Mullaperiyar Dam, blames Kerala

Tamil Nadu has raised the pitch on the Mullaperiyar Dam row with the state Assembly on Thursday passing a resolution unanimously demanding that Kerala should take immediate steps to increase water levels in the dam to 142 feet as per Supreme Court orders. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was supported by all the MLAs including those belonging to the DMK and DMDK. The J Jayalalithaa government accused the Centre of remaining a mute spectator to requests to deploy Central Industrial Security Force personnel at the dam site and rejected Kerala government's claim that an earthquake will damage the 116-year-old structure....

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61 turns Rajini: His 10 quotes Interesting Coverage Report

Rajinikanth aka Shivaji Rao Gaikwad has not only been a phenomenon on the screen but off the screen too. His dialogues and one liners have always given the people a chance to flaunt their attitude. The era of social networking sites has changed the way people communicate but basic emotions are still the same. On the eve of superstar's birthday, we have compiled 10 best Rajinikanth dialogues that you can post as your Facebook status. Aaj Sunday hai. Din mein daru peene ka din hai." (Today is Sunday. This day is meant for drinking.) 2. Moondru Mugam (1982) Ekambaram: "Ekambaramnu sonna vayithula irukura kozhandhai kooda vaaya moodum."...

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Mulla Periyar Dam issue Full Coverage.

1.            On 29-10-1886 a lease indenture for 999 years was made between Maharaja of Travancore and Secretary of State for India for Periyar irrigation works by another agreement in 1970, Tamil Nadu was permitted to generate power also. 2.         The Mullaperiyar Dam was constructed during 1887-1895 across Periyar River in the then Travancore state (now Kerala) territory after said indenture. The Periyar Dam with full reservoir level of 152 ft. provides for diversion of water from the reservoir through a tunnel to Vaigai basin in Tamil...

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200 Indian fans hired at Rs 300 to welcome Tom Cruise

Cheering squad paid to greet the hollywood star at airport's vip exit. Some of them did not even know who the actor was, 'but 300 for an hour is easy money'.By the time Tom Cruise landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening, a couple of 100 eager fans had managed to line the pavement across the airport's VIP exit, even though the time of his arrival had not been made public. As the Hollywood star emerged from the gate, in a blue shirt and aviator sunglasses, the air was buzzing with screeches and elated, in coherent howls. There was bannerwaving, and much cheering and chanting. Cruise, who's been travelling around...

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An eye-opening fossil

Armed with barbed grasping claws and a mouth full of tooth-like serrations, anomalocaridids are thought to have been the top predators in the Cambrian oceans about 500 million years ago. A cache of spectacular fossils now suggests that the ancient hunter Anomalocaris had compound eyes that gave it keener vision than many of the modern arthropods related to it.Previous fossils have raised the possibility that it had compound eyes, but none of them has had enough surface detail to confirm this. Palaeontologist John Paterson at the University of New England in Australia, and his colleagues have now done so by studying fossils discovered...

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Watch the total lunar eclipse, wherever you may be

The calendar may say there's a full moon, but millions of people will be watching for the moon to go dark on Saturday, during the last total lunar eclipse until 2014. And even if you can't see the eclipse in the sky, you can still bring it up on your computer.The best views will be available in Asia and the Pacific, but the western U.S. and Canada will get in on at least some of the action. In fact, there's a chance that Westerners could see an "impossible" eclipse, with the dark moon and the rising sun in the sky simultaneously.Lunar eclipses occur when Earth is positioned in its orbit just right to cast a huge shadow on...

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Microsoft to fix Duqu virus

Microsoft Corp said it will release a security update to protect personal computers from getting attacked by Duqu, a mysterious virus that researchers suspect was built by the same group behind Stuxnet.Stuxnet is the piece of malicious software, ormalware, that security experts say was used last year to launch a successful attack on a uranium enrichment facility in Iran, setting back that nation's effort to build a nuclear bomb.After researchers in Hungary discovered Duqu in October, many security experts concluded that it was created by the group behind Stuxnet because of similarities in the code between the two viruses.While...

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Facebook IPO sparks dreams of riches, adventure

Travelling to space or embarking on an expedition to excavate lost Mayan ruins are normally the stuff of adventure novels.But for employees of Facebook, these and other lavish dreams are moving closer to reality as the world's No 1 online social network prepares for a blockbuster initial public offering that could create at least a thousand millionaires.The most anticipated stock market debut of 2012 is expected to value Facebook at as much as $100 billion, which would top just about any of Silicon Valley's most celebrated coming-out parties, from Netscape to Google Inc.While weak financial markets could postpone or downsize any IPO, even the...

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