Well-known film director Mani Ratnam was admitted to a private hospital early this morning after he complained of chest pain and giddiness.

Mani, who is in his early 50s, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Apollo hospital in Chennai.

According to the hospital sources Mani had a slight discomfort in the heart.

The doctors have decided to keep Mani in the ICU for the next one week for observation.

All the family members and close friends of the director rushed to hospital on hearing about his condition.

Chennai-based Polaris Software Lab, a financial technology company, has plans to expand its operation to 40 countries over the next five years.

In addition, the company, in order to strengthen its insurance portfolio business has decided to set up a centre of excellence for insurance near Chennai, with an investment of around Rs 100 crore to develop new solutions and to service company’s insurance clients.

Chennai, Apr 10 : Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko on Friday said that he was not afraid of being arrested for making inflammatory speech.

“I am prepared to face any charges. I am not scared of arrest,” Vaiko said.

His comments came after an First Incident Report (FIR) was issued against him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Law, for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

On Thursday, Vaiko had warned of a bloodbath in Tamil Nadu if the LTTE Chief Prabhakaran is harmed.

Chennai, Apr 9 : The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Thursday released the list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections.

Former Union Minister M Thambidurai will contest from Karur, while former state Ministers Semmalai is being field from Salem, M C Sampath from Cuddalore, Raja Kannappan from Shivaganga and V Satyamurthy from Ramanathapuram.

Two women candidates are former Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam University Sinthyapandiyan from Tuticorin.

Chennai, Apr 8 : In the wake of reports of the Sri Lankan army capturing the last stronghold of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, the pro-Eelam Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) on Wednesday appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to press for a ceasefire in the island-nation.

The Chennai-based networking solutions provider Gemini Communication plans to demerge its system integration business comprising enterprise convergence group, wireless and telecom and 4S divisions to a separate company.

However, the company will retain the technical services division to the telecom sector; PointRed Telecom and radio frequency identification (RFID) businesses.

It may be noted that the company's board has proposed to make a preferential allotment of up to 97,18,000 warrants with option to convert them into 97,18,000 equity shares for working capital requirement.