Mangalore, Apr. 9 : The eighth of March, 2009 is a special day for the Jews for worshipping the Sun: the day comes once in 29 years.

With the most recent two project orders valued Rs. 1,344 crore from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), Larsen and Toubro this week has booked five large orders worth Rs. 5177 crore.

By and large, these contracts are from government units - including Rail Vikas Nigam; Power Grid Corporation; Nuclear Power Corporation; and now MRPL. Over and above these large orders, the engineering and construction major L&T also has quite a few smaller orders in its kitty, pertaining to the company's other unannounced businesses.

Mangalore, Mar. 16 : A statue of Hollywood''s most famous comedian Charlie Chaplin has sparked controversy in Karnataka.

Some radical activists protested against the construction of the statue, which was being set up for a dance sequence of a film called ''House Full'', saying that they would not let a statue of a Christian actor to be built near the temple.

The Chaplin statue was being set-up up near a temple at the Ottinene beach near Udupi, but some locals along with Jagrana Vedike activists halted the construction.

After the externment of five Sri Ram Sene activists including convenor Prasad Attavar by Dakshina Kannada district magistrate V Ponnuraj last week, Pramod Mutalik, Sri Ram Sene chief, has said he will defy the externment order and enter Mangalore with 10,000 Sene workers.

Mutalik said at a press conference on Sunday: “I will defy the externment and ban order with impunity and sheer brute force.” He claimed he would enter Mangalore with a force of 10,000 Sene workers to oppose the “hate politics being unleashed by the government or the party in power.” 

A two day national nursing conference began at the Conference Hall of the Father Muller Medical College Hospital in Mangalore on Friday.

The convention is being organized under the theme ‘Nurse Educator: Care-Taker to Career Maker’.

Getting away from Mangalore after the series of turmoil-ridden events that the city faced was imperative. Every trotter worth his salt wants to get away from the city and shed the dubious “reputation” that Mangaloreans acquired during the attacks on the Pub, the MLA’s daughter and the suicide of a high school girl followed by the criminal case against the Union minister Renuka Choudhury for allegedly calling Mangaloreans “Talibans”. Being fed up with the same coastal terrain, I packed my family into my small car and headed towards more pleasant climes. A perfect getaway from Mangalore’s dust and din created by these fringe groups.