New Delhi/Chennai, Apr. 21: Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, said Tuesday that the Indian Government is carefully monitoring the emerging situation in Sri Lanka, and was well aware and concerned about the plight of civilian Tamils in the island nation.

He, however, said that Prabhakaran is a proclaimed offender and the LTTE is a terrorist outfit and it should be treated on par with such other organisations,"

Chennai, Apr. 21 : Even as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has said that he has been misquoted on the the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and V. Prabhakaran issue, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo J Jayalalithaa has targeted Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that she should have responded aggressively to it.

Chennai, Apr 18 : With temperature rising in Tamil Nadu, the sale of watermelons and juices have picked up.

The temperature in Chennai, the state capital, was recorded at over 39.1 degree Celsius with humidity in the range of 69 percent on Thursday. Last year, the maximum temperature recorded was 42.1 degree celsius on May 18, but this year the temperature is inching towards that number in April itself.

Chennai-based Raj Television Network has declared the results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2009.

For the period under review, the company said that it has posted a net loss of Rs 30.76 million, as compared to the net loss of Rs 3.42 million during the corresponding period of the last year.

The company’s revenue saw a growth of 84.45% during the quarter to Rs 204.05 million, while the income from operations and net sales was Rs 194.94 million from Rs 86.44 million in the prior year.    

There was a sudden panic among the myriad friends and well-wishers of the movie-making maverick Mani Ratnam when on Tuesday he was admitted into the Apollo hospital in Chennai.

Since Mani has a history of heart ailment, the worst was naturally ,or not so unnaturally , presumed.

However it seems the news from Chennai is heartening and very very encouraging.

So says the poetic genius Gulzar who , as luck would have it, was in Chennai working on a song for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan with Mani and composer A R Rahman when Mani’s health scare occurred.