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Fees for engineering seats fixed at Rs 35,000

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Thiruvananthapuram, June 27: The Self-Financing Engineering College Managements Association has decided to fix the annual fee at Rs.35,000.

The Association representatives decided to fix the fees at Rs.35,000 following talks with Education Minister M.A.Baby over phone on Friday night. The Association was demanding a fee of Rs.40,000 earlier.

The announcement of the schedule for centralised allotment process is being delayed owing to the dilemma in finalising the fee structure.

Jai Ho, MJ!’ says Rahman, Prabhu Deva numbed

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Chennai, June 27: : “Jai Ho, MJ!” said Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, for whom pop legend Michael Jackson symbolised limitless energy, perfection and vision, while the death of his “role model” has left dancing star Prabhu Deva numb.

“MJ, for most of our generation, was an icon who made uncompromising music. He pushed the milestone of pop music to unbelievable levels through the 80s and 90s. I am yet to find an artist with that energy, perfection and vision,” said Rahman, who had recently met the pop superstar following the Oscar awards.

Woman yet to receive husband’s body from Kuwait

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Tirunelveli, June 27: A young woman from Thanjavur district has been struggling for the past five months to get back the body of her husband who reportedly died in Kuwait.

Sameer Sherif (31) of Subramaniapuram in Tiruchy district had married Fathima Beevi (25) of Thirunagar in Thanjavur in August last year.

After spending two months with his wife, Sherif went to Kuwait to work as a driver.

Within four-and-a-half months, she was informed that her husband had died. All attempts by Fathima to get back Sherif ’s body and to find out the real story behind the death have been in vain.

Delay in revaluation marks worries students

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Chennai, June 27: Even after a day of the release of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions rank list and with the Directorate of Medical Education releasing MBBS admission rank list on Monday, the Directorate of Government Examinations is showing no sign of easing the panic of students.

Over 1,700 students have applied for re-evaluation, with maximum requests in Chemistry and Physics subjects and though several of the students have been informed of their revised marks they are yet to get their marksheets from the department.

Have nuts ‘to cut heart disease risk’

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London, June 26: A new study by Havard Medical School has revealed that eating nuts could cut women’s risk of developing heart disease particularly those suffering from diabetes — in fact, it can slash the risk by almost half.

“These data suggest frequent nut and peanut butter consumption is associated with a significantly lower CVD risk in women with Type 2 diabetes,” the authors of the study were quoted by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ as saying.

Indian-origin woman is US special envoy to Muslim world

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Washington, June 26: The United States has appointed Farah Pandith, a Kashmiri-origin Indian woman, to reach out to the Muslim world, providing momentum to President Barack Obama’s efforts for a “new beginning” with the community.

Pandith’s appointment was made early this week but the State Department communications staff failed to make the key nomination public.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Pandith, a Muslim, as a Special Representative to Islamic communities two days ago.

Deepika gives Kareena royal ignore

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Mumbai, June 26: Deepika Padukone is planning to organise a special screening of her upcoming film Love Aaj Kal. She plans to send invites to her beau, parents, close friends and everyone who’s close to the dame.

She has strategically dropped Kareena Kapoor from the guest list.

Looks like a risky move considering that Bebo is quite important in the filmi circuit. But most importantly Deepika is all out to miff her own producer with this move. After all it’s his girl that Deepika is planning to ignore.

Delhi University begins admission process

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New Delhi, June 26: Even as the temperature touched a sizzling 41 degrees Celsius before mid-day, students along with their parents made a beeline for various colleges as Delhi University (DU) began its admission process Friday.

Armed with umbrellas, hats, sun glasses and water bottles, the youngsters, however, had scores of queries before they took admission in a college “more or less” of their choice.

Four men burn woman for protesting eve teasing

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Chhatarpur, June 26: In a bloodcurdling incident, four miscreants set a young woman on fire at her house after being annoyed by her protest for eve-teasing at Kotwali thana area here this morning, police said.

City Police Superintendent of Police Sameer Yadav said that Rakesh Kori, Brajesh Kori, Siaram and Nisar Mohammad stormed into the house of Ruksana (18) when she was alone, poured kerosene over her and set her ablaze.

The miscreants soon fled from the spot.

On getting information, police admitted the victim, who sustained 80 per cent burn injuries, to the district hospital.

Michael Jackson was my guru: Farah Khan

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Los Angeles, June 26: As an era in pop music comes to an end with the sudden death of Michael Jackson, one of the Bollywood best choreographers Farah Khan remembers the ‘King of Pop’ as her guru.

“I officially had no training in dance and whatever I learnt was from watching Michael Jackson by watching his videos, especially ‘Thriller’ over and over again. I consider him as my guru,” Farah said.

Jackson died on Thursday in Los Angeles due to suspected cardiac arrest. He was 50.

Air India offers 2-yr leave without pay to 30k staff

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New Delhi, June 26: Cash-strapped and over-staffed carrier, the state-owned, Air India on Tuesday introduced a voluntary leave without pay scheme for its more than 30,000 employees to cut its annual wage bill of Rs 3,000 crore. The carrier has nearly 10,000 excess employees and another 20,000 on contracts.

Panel suggests modified parity, new pensions for ex-servicemen

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New Delhi, June 26: A High-powered Committee of Secretaries looking into the One Rank-One Pension demand put forward by ex-servicemen on Thursday presented a concept of ‘modified parity’ to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In a meeting with the PM, the committee suggested that a new concept of modified parity be drawn up which would ensure that ex-servicemen get a substantial increase in pension.

Nuclear Work, Aid to Militants Unchanged

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Jerusalem, June 26: The storm of protests over the disputed election in Iran may have raised the prospect of a weakened regime, but it has done little to curb Israeli concerns about Iran’s nuclear program or its support for militant groups in the region.

Israeli officials and academics agree with the Obama administration that the extent of recent demonstrations could prompt significant change in the Islamic republic — and perhaps pave the way for a calmer Middle East.

Sonia food law signal to PM

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New Delhi, June 26: Sonia Gandhi has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enact a law to ensure food security for the poor and has given him a prototype for the legislation.

The Congress president raised the issue in the first letter, dated June 12, that she wrote to the Prime Minister after he was re-elected.

India wholesale prices fall but price pressures mount

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New Delhi, June 25: India’s wholesale prices fell less than expected in mid-June from a year earlier, marking a build-up in price pressures as the economy picks up and the effect of past sharp falls in energy prices wears off.

The wholesale price index fell 1.14 percent in the 12 months to June 13, compared with analysts’ median forecast of a 1.69 percent drop and the previous week’s 1.61 percent decline, government data showed on Thursday.

Artists write to Chidambaram, more forces in Lalgarh

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Lalgarh, June 25: Eminent artists have written to Home Minister P. Chidambaram complaining about atrocities by security forces, whose presence in this trouble zone was beefed up Thursday by 1,000 paramilitary troopers crossing over from Jharkhand.

‘We have written to union Home Minister P. Chidambaram based on our experiences. We have demanded that the security operations be stopped and a ceasefire declared to facilitate talks between the ultras and the administration,’ said theatre personality Kaushik Sen.

Houseowner’s family killed in rent row

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Lucknow, June 25: Four members of a Dalit family were found dead in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district taking the toll in murders there to 24 in the past 24 days. Police Thursday said all the four victims have been strangled to death.

‘The tenant, Vijay Pratap Singh was arrested Wednesday night,’ Superintendent of Police Navneet Rana told IANS on telephone Thursday.

The victims, a widow, her mother-in-law and her two minor children, were found dead Wednesday inside their house in Sandi town of Hardoi, 110 km from the state capital Lucknow.

Poor nations plead for money at U.N. crisis meeting

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New Delhi, June 25: Developing countries had a clear message on Wednesday for a U.N. meeting on the global financial crisis — we need money.

Planning for the three-day conference has been fraught with difficulties. It was first scheduled for June 1-3 but U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto postponed it to this week when it became clear negotiators had no agreement on a set of draft proposals for reforming the global financial system.

India slams ‘ferocious’ attacks

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New Delhi, June 25: There have been large rallies against the attacks in Australian cities India’s overseas minister Vayalar Ravi has expressed concern over the “ferocity” of recent attacks on Indian students in Australia.

Mr Ravi told the BBC that the attacks have become more “aggressive”.

He said the primary reason for such attacks was robbery and that a few could be called racial attacks.

The attacks have caused outrage in India and prompted Australian PM Kevin Rudd to reassure the Indian government that Australia is not a racist country.

SC governor admits affair, secret Argentina trip

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Bogota, June 25: After going AWOL for seven days, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he had secretly flown to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he was having an affair.

Wiping away tears, he apologized to his family and gave up a national Republican Party post, but was silent on whether he would resign.

“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” he said in a news conference in which the 49-year-old governor ruminated on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. He said he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina.”

Hindu or Muslim, they are flocking to Ajmer Sufi shrine

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Jaipur, June 25: Pilgrims, both Hindu and Muslim, are thronging the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer for his 797th annual Urs or death anniversary, which is not treated as a sad occasion but a celebration of the soul’s union with god.

About 250,000 to 300,000 pilgrims visit Ajmer during the Urs, which this year begins Thursday and will go on till June 30. The dargah (shrine) of the saint, who was popularly known as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz by his devotees from both communities, symbolises a touching synthesis of the hopes and prayers of various faiths and communities.

NKorea warns of ‘fire shower of nuclear’ attack

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Taipai, June 25: North Korea condemned a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense of South Korea, saying Thursday that the move boosts its justification to have atomic bombs and invites a potential “fire shower of nuclear retaliation.”

The commentary in Pyongyang’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper was the North’s latest reaction to last week’s summit between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The allies issued a joint statement committing the U.S. to defend the South with nuclear weapons.

Manmohan assures support to Air India

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New Delhi, June 25: Reeling under an unprecedented financial crisis, national carrier Air India was on Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured government support to the airline.

The condition, however, is that it should undertake a comprehensive restructuring process and should become leaner and trimmer.

Nishank replaces Khanduri as new Uttarakhand CM

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New Delhi, June 24: The Uttarakhand BJP legislative party has chosen state Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as state’s next Chief Minister. Considered to be close to BC Khanduri, Nishank is a strong leader from Garhwal and is known to be close to the RSS.

The decision was taken at a crucial meeting of Uttarakhand BJP MLAs in the national capital on Wednesday. Senior party leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Thawar Chand Gehlot also attended the meeting as central observers besides dissident leader B S Koshiyari and state unit president Bachchi Singh Rawat.

–Agencies