We will fight till the end, says Tanvir FOCUS

Pakistan speedster Sohail Tanvir, who failed to fire on the fourth day of the Kotla Test, said that fall of Misbah's wicket turned the tables for his team.

"Misbah's wicket and then the wicket of Kamran Akmal were the turning points of the match. If Misbah had remained on the pitch for another hour, the scenario could have been different," Tanvir said.

But he appreciated Misbah's game. "He has played well in both the innings and his wicket was lost pretty late in the innings, so it was fine," he said.

However, Tanvir refused to accept defeat in the match.

"We will fight till the end. One cannot be sure of a win until the last run is scored," he said. Tanvir's statement comes at juncture when India just requires another 32 runs to win the Kotla Test against Pakistan with seven wickets and a full day in hand.

He held his teammates guilty for this situation.

"They played some wrong shots, otherwise there was not much in the pitch," he said.

The pacer from Rawalpindi said the pitch had not assisted him much. "There was not much help from the pitch for seamers," he said.

Asked if he was satisfied with his performance in his debut Test, Tanvir said, "if you're satisfied, your improvement stops."

On the pressure he faced while bowling Tanvir said, "I am never under pressure when on the field, as I know that one cannot give his best, when under pressure."

New Aussie PM vows to tackle Iraq policy

Australia's new leader Kevin Rudd vowed on Sunday to tackle climate change and Iraq war policy, a day after sweeping veteran Prime Minister John Howard from power in a stunning election landslide.

Mr Rudd pledged to implement his campaign promises as a new era dawned for Australia after Saturday's poll ended nearly 12 years of conservative rule by US President George W. Bush's closest remaining ally in the war in Iraq.

Voters abandoned Mr Howard, 68, who presided over a record economic boom and became Australia's second longest-serving leader, in a humiliating drubbing in which he is also likely to suffer the indignity of losing his parliamentary seat of 33 years.

As the campaign hubris dissipated, Mr Rudd, 50, said his centre-left Labour Party would immediately begin work on fulfilling campaign pledges, which included tackling global warming and withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.

In his first press conference as leader, he also reached out to Australia's traditional allies, offered Mr Bush an olive branch despite policy differences and called for unity at home following a bruising election campaign.

"This is a humbling experience, to be extended the trust and confidence of people right across the country," he said in his hometown of Brisbane, thanking voters and promising not to breach their trust.

"I would also say to those people that we will be a government for all Australians and that I will always govern in the national interest," he said.

Mr Rudd revealed he had spoken to major world leaders on the telephone, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Mr Bush. "I emphasised to President Bush the centrality of the US alliance in our approach to future foreign policy," Mr Rudd said, adding he planned to visit the United States in 2008 and that Mr Bush had welcomed the trip.

But Mr Rudd refused to say if he had discussed his campaign pledge to withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq with Bush, a plan Mr Howard and Mr Bush insisted would be a signal that the "terrorists" were winning the conflict.

Benazir files for reserve seat

For mer Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto filed her nomination papers on Sunday to contest the January 8 election.

A local election commissioner in Karachi said she filed papers in her name for a seat reserved for women. She will also file papers for the constituency of her family's ancestral seat in Larkana. Ms Bhutto, is allowing her party candidates to lodge their nomination papers ahead of Monday's deadline for registration, but has warned that they might be told to pull out in order to protest President General Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule. The decision to pull out will depend partly on what other Opposition parties decide, although Ms Bhutto has indicated she is in favour of taking part, albeit reluctantly.

"We should not leave the field empty," she told reporters on Sunday. Ms Bhutto said the return of Nawaz Sharif, is likely to energise the political process.

"With Mr Sharif's arrival, the political process will accelerate," she said.

"We welcome his return to the country, it will contribute positively to the political scene." Ms Bhutto returned home from exile on October 18 in 2007. She will be taking part in election after almost a decade.

Ms Bhutto, who lead Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has twice ruled the country between 1988 and 1999. Both times her governments were sacked by the Presidents on corruption charges.

The PPP is on a high and is expected to win or at least perform well in the January 8 elections. Meanwhile, on Sunday, PPP released final lists of the party candidates for reserved seats of minorities, for four provincial Assemblies and the National Assembly.

The party has nominated seven candidates for minorities' seats in the National Assembly, while nine each for Punjab and Sindh Assemblies and three for NWFP Assembly

12 MARINE STATIONS SOON IN TN

The 12 marine police stations, coming up in Tamil Nadu to check the activities of LTTE supporters and man its more than 1,000 km coastline, will soon become operational, according to Mr. Jagan M. Seshadri, additional director general of police and chief of the coastal security wing.

"The stations should be ready in a month's time. Many policemen have been given training on board ships and coaching in deep-sea swimming. We will be taking over the buildings as soon as the Tamil Nadu police housing corporation finishes constructing them. The work is progressing fast and senior government officials are monitoring the growth every month," Mr. Seshadri said.

These marine police stations have been established in all coastal states under a Union government scheme. Each station will receive two well equipped vessels, costing Rs 3.5 crore. In total, the Centre will be providing 24 vessels to the state police and will also bear the fuel expenses for the first five years, said senior police officials.

In Tamil Nadu, the Nagapatinam district will have three marine police stations, while Tanjavur, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts will have two each. And the Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts will have one marine police station each. "Each police station will have 42 policemen attached to it," the officer said. Currently, the state does not have any marine police station, expect the B6–Port Marine station, attached to the city police and managed by the Chennai port trust. It maybe recalled that in January, the police arrested five persons and seized three tonnes of steel ball bearing that were being smuggled to the LTTE. In February, the Indian Coast Guard intercepted an explosive laden boat near Kodiankarai (Point Calimere) and held a hard core LTTE member and four others. The Tamil Nadu police and the Coast guard later destroyed the fibre boat after its sides were found to be stuffed with improvised explosive devices. Incidents like these have heightened the need for marine police stations.

Sharif back in Lahore

Exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a coup on October 12, 1999 and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia a year later, finally managed to return home to Lahore on Sunday after living abroad for the past seven years.

He is the second former Prime Minister, after Ms Benazir Bhutto, to end his exile before the January 8 general election in Pakistan.

Mr Sharif had made an attempt to return to the country a little more than two months ago, when he flew in on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London on September 10 this year, but he was arrested at the airport itself.

Complaint against disrespect to flag

A local organisation has filed a criminal complaint against alleged disrespect to India's national flag during the India-Pakistan cricket match on Sunday at SMS Stadium. The court has posted the matter for hearing on November 27. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Cricket Association [RCA] also directed its officials to investigate the matter. Suresh Mishra of Nagrik Morcha has moved a complaint before the fourth additional chief judicial magistrate against RCA president Lalit Modi, vice-president Vimal Soni and Shubhash Sharma for allegedly disrespecting the tricolour.

Health tourism led to ill-health

The much publicised effort of the government to promote India as a "Health Tourism'' destination is infact contributing to "ill-health'' in the country. A recent report, released by an NGO, Ensuring Universal Access to Health and Education in India, based on studies in the health sector, says that this "distorted'' priority of the government has led to subsidy shifts from the public to the private sector through land subsi dies for the construction of hospitals, cuts in import duties on drugs and equipments and inclusion of private institutions on government health panels.

This is being done by offering them space and profits in public hospitals, permitting private contracts of non-clinical services and investigations, and outsourcing services. Quoting from the Qureshi Committee Report, the report gives the example of Apollo Hospital which got 15 acres of prime land in 1988 for a token rent of one rupee per annum on condition that it would provide free treatment to one third of its patients. The hospital also got Rs 42 crores from the Delhi government which it was commissioned in 1996, it said..India today allocates less to health than Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand. Brazil and South Africa have already reached levels over 3 per cent of the GDP, while Western countries allocate 6 per cent and above to their health sectors. Calling the government's attention to raise the allocation for the health sector to achieve the 3 per cent of GDP target for health, as promised in the National Common Minimum Programme, the report raised concern over the district health sector reform projects taken up by the World Bank. "While the Bank invested heavily, the resources were selectively allocated....to items with high foreign exchange value..," it said. The report revealed that the 10th five-year plan and the draft approach paper to the 11th plan have further emphasised the need for promoting health tourism to earn foreign exchange and facilitate public-private partnerships. The privatisation services has given a handle to the World Trade Organisation to demand that the health sector be treated like any other "trade" or "business" and not be given any privileges due to social services, noted Imrana Qadeer, who has written the section on Status of Health Services in India in the report.

Parents donate ‘brain dead' girl's organs

The liver of an 11 year-old girl who was declared ‘brain dead' was transplanted to a 59-year-old man at Kamineni Hospitals. Shankari Thyagarajan of BPDAV School in Midhani in Hyderabad was a brain cancer patient and Kamineni doctors said the transplant was carried out with the consent of her parents.

Shankari's eyes were donated to LV Prasad Eye Institute and one each of her kidneys to Kamineni and Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences.

Kamineni officials refused to provide any details of Shankari's parents stating that they did not wish to be identified.

The liver transplant surgery was performed in the second week of October, when Shankari was declared ‘brain died'. Doctors revealed details on Wednesday after the recovery of the recipient, Purushottam Bhai Kanji Bhai, a retired engineer from Surat, Gujarat.

Dr G. Satyanarayana who headed the transplantation team, said Mr Kanji was suffering from hepatitis B and cirrhosis. "He had developed a liver tumour that was spreading," the doctor said.

Mr Kanji had registered himself at Delhi, another hospital in the city as well as with Kamineni Hospitals.

Dr Satyanarayana said, "Shankari was treated in major cancer hospitals for six months. She was in a terminal stage and admitted to our hospital while unconscious."

"Experts who were not part of the transplantation team confirmed that Shankari was brain dead. The parents offered to donate the organs of Shankari's body," Dr Satyanarayana said.

Dr Satyanarayana said the hospital searched for a recipient of Shankari's age. They didn't find one. Following this, they checked out their waiting lists and spotted Mr Kanji who achieved a tissue match.

Mr Kanji was admitted on the day of the surgery. "Shankari was well built and her liver was well grown at 4 kg. Mr Kanji is short in physical stature and his liver had shrunk. We thought there may be a problem with the arteries but everything went well. The liver suited him well," Dr Satyanarayana said.

"Shankari's school principal came to us on Wednesday during the discharge of Mr Kanji. The school had organised an awareness campaign earlier on organ donation, in which Shankari had participated," he said.

Dr Satyanarayana explained that under the Organ Donation Act the consent of close family members was necessary in case of brain dead persons. If any one of the family members refuses, the transplant cannot be carried out. "In this case both parents gave consent," said Dr Satyanarayana.

Dr Satyanarayana said that the hospital got permission from the Directorate of Medical Education to conduct the organ transplantation.

Directorate of Medical Education incharge chief Dr A.V.Y. Chary who heads the organ transplantation committee in the State was not available for comment.

Airtel has plans to expand in state

Mobile service provider Airtel, today announced that it has lined up expansion plans for Tamil Nadu by 2008.

By the end of March 2008, said Deepak Mehrotra, Bharti Airtel Limited Director-South Hub, "Rural coverage would go up from 10,000 villages to 17,000 villages and we will increase SMS capacity by over three times from 1850 to 5850 messages."

He said, "To ensure seamless connectivity 100 per cent of national highways and over 80 per cent of state highways and railway routes would get covered by 2007."

Mr Mehrotra said, "Airtel's customer base is nearing five million mark in the state with about 2.5 lakh customers opting for Airtel every month. We have 2550 percent of post paid connections in the southern region," he added.

Elaborating on the investments he said, "Out of the Rs 3.5 billion investments by Airtel this year, a substantial amount was invested in Tamil Nadu and we will be increasing it further next year."

Diana case: Coroner to contest ruling

Justice Scott Baker, the coroner of the combined inquests into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed, has said that he might appeal against a high court ruling blocking his decision to allow statements by paparazzi to be admitted as evidence.

"The coroner has immediately and successfully applied for leave to appeal. The court made clear in its judgment that there was no criticism whatsoever of the coroner. The coroner's immediate concern is to consider the practical implications of implementing the divisional court's ruling," Justice Baker said in a statement.

The Paul family and Ritz lawyers had challenged the decision of Justice Baker that the documentary evidence containing witness statements of the French paparazzi could be read to the jury. The lawyers had objected to transcripts of police interviews with the photographers and other statements being read out to the 11-member jury without being given an opportunity to cross-examine anyone about possible inconsis tencies in the paparazzi accounts. Two high court judges on Tuesday ruled in favour of the challenge and said that documentary evidence should only be used in an inquest if it was not disputed by any of the interested parties. The judges said that if the police officers, who originally took the paparazzi statements, were called as witnesses, there was "no reason" why the policemen could not read the statements out to the jury.

Afghan, US forces kill 50 Taliban

The Afghan police and US-led coalition forces killed more than 50 Taliban militants in fighting in southern Afghanistan, the government said on Wednesday.

The Islamist "terrorists" were killed in clashes in the volatile Charchino district of Uruzgan province over the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties to the Afghan and the US forces, the government said. The operation involved ground and air attacks, Uruzgan police chief Juma Gul Himat said.

Separately, a Taliban commander and four of his guards were killed in a police operation in Deh Rawood district of the same province on Tuesday, said the statement.

The Taliban, whose regime was toppled in 2001 by a US-led offensive, have stepped up their attacks in recent years.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is in "crisis" and risks becoming a divided state, as Taliban insurgents now control vast areas of unchallenged territory, a think tank warned on Wednesday. The Senlis Council called for the Nato-led force in the country to be doubled in size to 80,000, after a study found that 54 per cent of Afghan territory has a permanent Taliban presence.

"The security situation has reached crisis proportions," said Norine MacDonald of the think tank, which has offices in London, Paris, Brussels and Kabul. "The insurgency now controls vast swaths of unchallenged territory including rural areas, border areas, some district centres, and important road arteries," she added.

Software breaks barrier between two Punjabs

Chandigarh: New computer software developed by Patiala's Punjabi University will, for the first time, give Indian and Pakistani Punjabis common access to a huge volume of post-Partition literature that was until now unavailable because of differences in script.

The new software suite developed by Dr Gurpreet Lehal and his students at the Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language, Literature & Culture makes it possible to read Punjabi irrespective of the script Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi (Arabic), Devnagri or Roman - it may be written in.

For instance, it now needs no more than a click of a mouse to transliterate an entire book written in Shahmukhi (Arabic script used to write Punjabi in Pakistan) to Gurmukhi (Punjabi script used in India) or even Devnagri and Roman. Dr Lehal and his colleagues have been able to demonstrate not only the amazing agility of their product but are able to convert texts with a minimum accuracy level of 97 per cent. Written in Unicode, the universal coding scheme for multilingual documents, the new software suite is also capable of converting entire websites, including links from one script to another. Effectively peo ple orally familiar with Punjabi do not need to learn multiple scripts. By knocking down insurmountable script barriers Dr Lehal and his young researchers have literally opened up a whole new world for 10 crore Punjabis across India, Pakistan and the diaspora. The computer scientist describes a scenario that is happily no longer a dream: "A friend in Pakistan sends me his poem and the fact that I cannot read the Shahmukhi script is not a problem any more. I can now read the piece in Gurmukhi, Devnagri or even Roman." He is confident that his work will help Punjabis break down long persisting barriers. He said, "Young Punjabis living in the West can now access their heritage contained in Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi which will now be instantly convert ible to Roman script." Set for a formal launch next month, the software suite has already caught the fancy of the Indian and Pakistani business communities, which are together preparing to step up mutual trade and exchanges. "Besides lit erature and language, the software's translitera tion capability has a huge potential for business communication between Amritsar and Lahore," said an exporter in Amritsar. Sponsored jointly by Canada's International Development Research Centre and Asia Pacific Network Information Centre of Singapore, the software suite took four years and a grant of $30,000 to develop. It is cur rently available free for testing at Punjabi University's official website: http://s2g.advanced centrepunjabi.org

Music award for vocalist Sudha Raghunathan

The 20th music festival of Sruthi Laya Kendra will be held on December 15 and 16 in the city, announced Kendra founder and mridhangam maestro Karaikudi Mani on Tuesday.

Mr Mani said the Guru Surajananda Award would be given to Narada Gana Sabha secretary R. Krishnasamy in recognition of his services to music, art and culture. Vocalist Sudha Raghunathan will get the Sri Gowri Manohari Award, which comprises Rs 10,000 in cash, a memento and a citation.

Mr Mani said that every year two senior vidwans were given financial assistance. This year also the proceeds from the festival would go to two musicians. Mridhangam player Bangalore Nagabooshanamiah is one of the recipients. "We have not yet finalised the other person,"he said

Hoda is chairman of chennai Metro Rail

The state government on Tuesday appointed Mr Syed Munir Hoda as chairman of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited. Currently, Mr Hoda is secretary to chief minister M. Karunanidhi.

An official press release said that pending formation of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited, Mr Syed Munir Hoda, would be posted as special officer, Chennai Metro Rail Project in the planning and development (special initiatives) department.

Mr Hoda was appointed as the chief minister's secretary after the DMK won the assembly election in May last year. Mr Hoda is expected to assume charge shortly.

The project comprises of three phases, and is being implemented to make the public transport system more efficient. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation recently submitted its detailed project report for the project.

The 46.5-km metro rail will comprise two corridors-one extending from Washermenpet in North Chennai to the city air port via Egmore and Teynampet and another from Fort St George to St Thomas Mount via Anna Nagar, Vadapalani, Ashok Nagar and Alandur. The state Cabinet recently approved the the Rs.9,757-crore project, which it is hoped will ease traffic congestion in the metropolis. About 20 km of the railway line will be underground and the remaining on the surface.

The state cabinet decided to approach the Centre for financial assistance and loans to fund it. Japan's Bank for International Cooperation is also expected to provide financial assistance.Union finance minister P. Chidambaram who met Mr. Karunanidhi recently said that Chennai would get the same assistance as Bangalore and Hyderabad had received for building the metro rail.

The DMRC was requested to prepare the detailed project report at a cost of Rs 3.3 crore in 2005. Initially, the government considered having a major part of the 46.5-km structure underground. It was estimated to cost Rs.13,000 crore. The cost came down significantly after a decision was taken to only partly build the line underground.

Karnataka is back under Central rule

President's Rule was reim posed in Karnataka on Tuesday following the fall of the BJP-JD(S) government in the state headed by Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa. An early morning meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just before he left for the Asean summit in Singapore, took the decision. President Pratibha Patil signed the proclamation bringing the state under Central rule later in the day. The Karnataka Assembly has been kept under suspended animation for the time being, pending ratification of the proclamation under Article 356 by Parliament. Immediately after that the Assembly is likely to be dissolved.

The Union home ministry issued the proclamation imposing President's Rule in Karnakata shortly after receiving a report from Karnataka governor Rameshwar Thakur. The Centre's action comes a day after the first-ever BJP government in the South collapsed after the Janata Dal (Secular) decided on Monday to vote against a government it had earlier pledged to support in a confidence vote in the Assembly.

Information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, who is also parliamentary affairs minister, said the Union government would seek the approval of Parliament for the proclamation under Article 356 and later.

Convergence, AT&T style

Convergence has come really alive after Apple put together a phone, a media player and a computer of sorts in a sleek and handy way in its iPhone.

Now it has become difficult to say whether laptops are shrinking further or mobile phones are growing larger.

The latest addition to this trend is AT&T's Tilt. It has a seven cm sliding keyboard, touchscreen and a 400 megahertz processor put together in a compact manner. And the screen pops out with a tilt, which makes it easy for you to keep it on a desk and work on it.

Tilt is run on Windows Mobile 6, the latest version of Microsoft's mobile operating system, has Bluetooth and a 2.8-megapixel camera. It weighs about 200 gms and will snugly fit into your pocket.

Second rape case officially registered in Nandigram

The police on Saturday registered "a case of rape" on the basis of a complaint filed by the wife of a Bhoomi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) member. The complaint was lodged at the Nandigram police station. This is the second officially confirmed incident of rape that has come to light, following the "violent recapture" of Nandigram by CPI(M) cadre.

Confirming the rape case, superintendent of police (East Medinipur), S.S. Panda said, "A complaint has been lodged with the Nandigram police. We are looking into the matter." The 45-year-old woman claimed that she had been gangraped allegedly by CPI(M) cadres for two days. The cadre were looking for her husband, a BUPC member, who has been absconding since the CPI(M) cadre entered Gokulnagar on November 10.

The victim said after her husband took shelter in the relief camp in Nandigram, she had locked herself inside her house in fear. On November 14, three men forced open the door and asked her about her husband. When she said that she did not know about his whereabouts, they refused to believe her.

Bulletproof cars for Pak ministers, former PMs

Pakistan's former Prime Ministers and ministers will get official bulletproof vehicles with security escorts until the general elections in January, officials said on Sunday.

"The interior ministry has prepared a summary in this regard, which will soon be submitted to caretaker Prime Minister Mohammad Mian Soomro for approval," a senior governement official told this newspaper.

"The government has so far provided bulletproof vehicles and security escorts to former Prime Ministers Shaukat Aziz, Benazir Bhutto and Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain and leader of the house in Senate, Wasim Sajjad on their requests, while (former PM) Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has yet not requested for such security," he said.

They include minister for information and broadcasting Mohammed Ali Durrani, minister for religious affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq, minister for petroleum Amanullah Khan Jadoon and minister of state for interior Zafar Iqbal Warria.

City cops to set up passport centres

The city police have decided to set up passport application receipt centres to quicken the process of passport verification.

The Special Branch of city police will open receipt centres so that applicants can submit application directly.

A senior police official said, in this practice special branch police personnel accept the applications and verify them. After verification the application is sent to the passport office. So far in Hyderabad the passport applications were received by the passport officials or post office personnel. So the applicants have to go to the police for verification. This takes a few days. The centres are set to become operational this month, the official sources said.

Colleges to get commerce labs

Students pursuing Commerce courses at the graduate level will have to attend practical classes like Science students from next year. The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has decided to set up "Commerce labs" in colleges to provide prac tical exposure to students.

The government feels that the present curriculum is not enough to equip students with job skills required in the corporate sector. The students will be taught how to improve soft skills and lay emphasis on tapping opportunities in banking, retail management and human resources in these labs. "We held a brain-storming session with the heads of Commerce departments, deans of universities and representatives of Indian Commerce Association to discuss about the changes needed in the Commerce courses. As part of reforms in Commerce courses, we have decided to set up Commerce labs in all colleges across the State," said Mr M.D. Christopher, secretary, APSCHE.

He said the curriculum of Commerce courses like B.Com will be totally revamped to equip the students with job skills, soft skills and application orientation.

The syllabi of Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai and Utkal universities had been examined for the purpose, he said.

"Due to lack of information, particularly among the semi-urban and rural areas, Commerce students are not able to cash in on the new avenues. The reforms in Commerce courses will create awareness among students about changing realities in the business environment in the backdrop of rapid globalisation," said Mr Christopher.

Medical waste not disposed as per norms

Bio medical waste is not being disposed off by the hospitals and nursing homes in rural and semi urban areas in the State as per the Pollution Control Board norms posing danger to public health.

AP Private Hospitals & Nursing Homes Association (APNA) president Dr S.V.S. Rao on Sunday admitted, "No infrastructure was provided by the Pollution Control Board in rural areas for disposal of biomedical waste from hospitals."

APNA now demands that the government bring out an Act to put non-bailable cases against the rioters who attack hospitals after alleged medical negligence cases.

Dr S.V.S. Rao said, "An Act should be brought in to punish the rioters and recover the cost of the property damaged by them. The property tax on hospitals has to be decreased. Power tariff should be brought down to the level of domestic tariff. This will help decrease the medical bills of the patients."

He also asked the government to set up a special panel of doctors in consumer courts to review cases before the final judgement.

"The maximum possible compensation amount has to be fixed for cases against hospitals in consumer courts," he added.

MULLAPERIYAR ROW - Kerala decides to build new dam

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to go ahead with constructing a new dam at Mullaperiyar despite strong objections raised by neighbouring Tamil Nadu that such a move would deplete the water available to irrigate its paddy fields. Responding, Tamil Nadu PWD minister Durai Murugan threatened legal action if Kerala went ahead with its decision to build a new dam across Mullaperiyar.

"The cabinet has now decided to go ahead with the new dam at Mullaperiyar taking into consideration the safety of the people downstream and also the irrigation needs in Tamil Nadu," chief minister V. S. Achuthanandan told a crowded press conference after the cabinet meeting here.

The cabinet discussed the report submitted to the government on Tuesday by the expert committee constituted by the government to go into the safety concerns of the 111-year-old reservoir. The committee strongly recommended that since the structure was already suffering seepage, it would be unwise to concede to the Tamil Nadu demand to raise the dam's level from the present 136 ft to 142 ft for meeting its irrigation needs.

"The cabinet went through the expert committee report carefully and took this decision to go ahead with the new dam instead of increasing the level of the existing one. It has also been decided to call for a joint safety inspection by the officials of Kerala and Tamil Nadu," Mr Achuthanandan said.

The chief minister called upon the Centre to take immediate steps to evolve an amicable settlement of the dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar issue. With increased monsoon inflows, the dam height had reached 138.2 ft on November 6 and the expert committee reported several new seepage points on the concrete backing of the dam.

At the meeting between Mr Achuthanandan and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Mr M. Karunanidhi, convened in Delhi by the Union minister for water resources SaifU-Din Soz in November last year, the former had urged

Vitamin D does little to cut cancer risk

Vitamin D, long thought to possess miraculous cancer-fighting properties, is not so special.

A new study has discovered that Vitamin D does little to cut the risk of cancer in humans. The vitamin, linked to sunshine, was widely credited with warding off cancer, strengthening bones and cutting the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The study, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found there is no relationship between vitamin D levels and the overall risk of dying from cancer.

The team of researchers, led by D. Michal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, analysed data from a health and nutrition examination survey to examine the relationship between levels of circulating vitamin D in the blood and cancer mortality in a group of 16,818 participants aged 17 and older.

After about a decade of follow-up, 536 participants had died of cancer. Cancer mortality was not related to the level of circulating vitamin D for the overall group, nor was it related when the researchers looked at the data by sex, race, or age.

"To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between measured serum vitamin D levels and cancer mortality for selected site and for all sites combined," the authors of the research have written. However, higher levels of vitamin D were associated with a 72 per cent reduced risk of colorectal cancer mortality.

"These findings must be put into the context of total diet and lifestyle." "There are many risk factors other than diet for colorectal cancer, and there are many possible dietary risk factors other than vitamin D that have been linked to cancer risk," Cindy Davis and Johanna Dwyer said in the same journal

Poverty drives family to suicide in LPG blast

A middle aged woman and her two children committed suicide by setting off an explosion using their LPG gas cylinder as they could not raise enough money to perform the funeral rites of her daughter, who died of jaundice.

Sources said, Ms. Rajarathnam's daughter Bhavani was suffering from jaundice and had been admitted to a private hospital in Raja Annamalai Puram, where she breathed her last on Tuesday evening. Her body was brought back home in Krishna Nagar in Tambaram.

Police said, Radhakrishnan (69) had been the sole breadwinner of the family. He had left the house that morning to raise money to perform the funeral rites. Soon after, neighbours noticed smoke emanating from the house, followed by a huge blast. Ms. Rajarathnam had apparently poured kerosene on the body of her teenage son Ganapathy, her 21-year-old daughter Meenakshi, the corpse and herself. She then opened the LPG gas cylinder and lit a match, setting off the explosion, according to the police. Tambaram police and District Fire Services officer Priya Ravichandran and her team rushed to the scene and put out the fire. Ms. Rajarathnam's body was unearthed under the rubble. Meenakshi and Ganapathy were rushed to the Kilpauk Government Hospital. While, Meenakshi died on the way to hospital, Ganapathy succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. The Tambaram police has registered a case.

A middle- aged woman and her two children committed suicide by setting off an explosion using their LPG gas cylinder as they could not raise enough money to perform the funeral rites of her daughter, who died of jaun- dice. Sources said, Ms. Rajarathnam's daughter Bhavani was suffering from jaundice and had been admitted to a private hospital in Raja Annamalai Puram, where she breathed her last on Tuesday evening. Her body was brought back home in Krishna Nagar in Tambaram. Police said, Radhakrishnan (69) had been the sole bread- winner of the family. He had left the house that morning to raise money to perform the funeral rites. Soon after, neighbours noticed smoke emanating from the house, followed by a huge blast. Ms. Rajarathnam had appar- ently poured kerosene on the body of her teenage son Ganapathy, her 21-year-old daughter Meenakshi, the corpse and herself. She then opened the LPG gas cylinder and lit a match, setting off the explosion, according to the police. Tambaram police and District Fire Services officer Priya Ravichandran and her team rushed to the scene and put out the fire. Ms. Rajarathnam's body was unearthed under the rubble. Meenakshi and Ganapathy were rushed to the Kilpauk Government Hospital. While, Meenakshi died on the way to hospital, Ganapathy succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. The Tambaram police has registered a case.

TN Chief Minister ready to give Thevar tag to 3 castes

The three communities of Kallar, Maravar and Ahambediar will be brought under the common umbrella of Thevars if they agree to the move, said chief minister M. Karunanidhi here on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the unveiling ceremony of the bronze statues of the Marudhupandiar brothers at Tepakulam in Madurai.

Chairman of the statue installation committee Pon Muthuramalingam asked the government to "bring the three communities under the common umbrella of Thevars and give them the most backward community status".

The chief minister the matter should be reviewed carefully and in the event of all the communities agreeing, there will be no problem in passing a government order.

Speakers at the function spoke of the valour and courage of the Marudhupandiar brothers who ruled Sivaganga and fought the British in 1801, nearly 60 years before the first war of independence in 1857.

Poet Vairamuthu said Marudhupandiar brothers had never bowed to the British and had set an example for others.

The place where the statues have been installed was the place where the Marudhupandiar brothers practiced throwing the boomerang, members of the organising committee said. Chief minister's son M.K. Azhagiri welcomed the gathering

Stalin on mystery visit to Bangkok

Mystery shrouds the sudden flight to Bangkok of local administration minister and DMK strongman M. K. Stalin on Tuesday sans the normal protocol and the elaborate "send-off" by the ruling party.

Mr Stalin took a 10.35 a.m. flight to Bangkok, accompanied only by close friend Ramajayam Raja Shankar. The usual bureaucratic and political paraphernalia were absent when the minister arrived at the airport shortly before the plane's take-off. The security personnel at the airport were taken aback when the all-powerful minister drove in for his sudden departure. The booking for the flight, made the previous day, was kept under wraps, sources said.

Bombarded with enquiries from the media and others regarding his whereabouts, the minister's office initially insisted he was unwell and was resting, but later admitted he had gone to Bangkok on some personal work. However, political circles here are agog with speculation regarding the sudden trip. The most heard reason was that it was on private business , albeit made at an important political juncture, when his party and the government were involved in an elaborate celebration of the birth centenary of the influential Muthuramalinga Thevar on Tuesday. The minister did not go through the ritual of garlanding Thevar's statue in Chennai, nor did he accompany his father and chief minister M. Karunanidhi to Thevar's native Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district down south.

Unconfirmed reports said the minister has been upset with his father for deciding to make stepsister and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi a Union minister. It is said that both the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have approved her induction into the Cabinet. Another report said Mr Stalin was not happy with KKSSR Ramachandran, one of his favourites, being recently divested of the plum health portfolio, reportedly under pressure from brother Azhagiri calling the shots