Hockey legend, two others elected to RS from Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Hockey legend and former Indian captain, Dilip Tirkey was among the three persons who were on Thursday declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabja from Odisha.

Besides Tirkey, BJD leader Rabi Narayan Mohapatra of Nayagarh and AV Swamy from Nuapada, supported by the ruling BJD, were also declared elected to the upper house of Parliament to fill three vacant seats from Odisha.

The results were declared by returning officer and Assembly Secretary Amiya Kumar Sarangi after the time schedule for withdrawal of nomination was over.

As there was no other contestant in the fray for the biennial election, it would not be necessary to hold election earlier scheduled for March 30 for the three vacant seats from the state, he said.

Though four others had filed their nomination for the Rajya sabha polls, these were rejected during scrutiny as the papers were without any proposer.

The three Rajya Sabja seats had fallen vacant following completion of tenure of Kishore Mohanty, Rudra Narayan Pani and Sushila Tiriya.

SL war crimes resolution: DMK, Left welcome India's move

New Delhi: The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted the resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes on Thursday with 24 countries, including India, voting in favour, 15 against and eight abstaining.

Welcoming the move of India to vote in favour of the US-backed resolution, DMK MP Kanimozhi said that all the parties in Tamil Nadu were asking for it and the credit for it went to each one of them.

She said that the move "makes sure that Tamils get their rights, rehabilitation happens and they get justice".

"It is very important that international law is followed. Many countries have voted against it," said Kanimozhi.

Referring to the war crimes in Sri Lanka, the DMK MP termed it as human rights violation.

The move was also welcomed by Left leader D Raja, who said, "I thank the Prime Minister."

He, however, said that the need was to keep up the pressure on Sri Lanka.

Raja said, "We have to continue pressure on Lanka, so that Sri Lankan Tamils get genuine political solution."

The government, meanwhile, said that the move was meant to protect human rights.

Union Minister Vayalar Ravi said, "The government was concerned about the safety and security of Tamils in Sri Lanka, so naturally, it is a move to protect human right."

"India always stood for the prevention of human rights violation...this is what India has done," he said.

Nayanthara returns to Tamil films

New Delhi: Ending months of speculation over what film she will next be seen in, actress Nayanthara has signed the dotted line for a movie that will mark Telugu actor Gopichand's re-entry in Tamil. Gopichand had earlier played villain in the movie Jeyam, and will be seen playing the protagonist in this film.

This commercial flick will be director by Bhoopathi Pandian, who had earlier made films Devadhaiyai Kandein with Dhanush and Malaikottai with Vishal.

Shooting for the same will begin in April. The movie has been given the working title of Production Five, and will be produced by Jayabalaji Real Media.

This full-fledged commercial flick will mark the return of Nayanthara to Kollywood, after a two-year break. Her last outing in Tamil was Boss Engira Baskaran, in which she was paired with actor Arya. The movie hit the screens in September 2010, after which the actress did not sign any Tamil film and instead, relocated to Mumbai. She was last seen in the Telugu flick Sri Rama Rajyam.

Rumoured to have broken up with boyfriend Prabhu Deva, Nayanthara has finally ended her sabbatical in films, and has already agreed to feature in Ajith's next. This is an action thriller to be directed by filmmaker Vishnuvardhan. Ajith, Nayanthara and Vishnuvardhan had earlier teamed up for the 2007-blockbuster Billa. This yet-to-be-titled film, shoot for which is said to begin this summer, is believed to be the remake of the Saif, Akshay Khanna starrer Race.

Odisha hostage crisis: Naxals say they will free one of the abducted Italians if two demands are met

Bhubaneswar: Negotiations between the mediators and Maoists are set to begin on Thursday. Mediator Dandapani Mohanty has told CNN-IBN that one hostage will be freed on Thursday if two of their 13 demands of the Maoists are met.

The demands include action against officials who violated human rights of tribals and freeing several Maoist sympathisers including Sabyasachi Panda's wife Subhasree Panda.

The Italian hostage Claudio Colangelo who is reportedly ill might be handed over to a select group of journalists by Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda and set free.

However the second hostage Paolo Bosusco is likely to remain captive by the Maoists as negotiations begin in Bhubaneswar. One of the appointed mediators BD Sharma will be in Bhubaneswar on Thursday and is likely to begin talks with the Maoists.

The extended deadline to give into the Naxals' demands ended on Wednesday evening but the state government is yet to come up with any kind of truce.

Earlier, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also hit out at the Centre for not helping the state in the case. He said that the central government did not do anything to end the hostage crisis.

Two Italians - Puri-based tour operator Paolo Bosusco and tourist Claudio Colangelo - were abducted while trekking in Kandhamal district on March 14.

The two Italians had driven down from Puri and entered a forested area in spite of being warned by the Daringibadi police about the presence of Maoists.

A driver and cook who were accompanying them and their vehicle were released by the Maoists subsequently.

A report from Puri said that the driver, Kartik Parida, and cook, Santosh, were interrogated by the police.

Mukul Roy announces rollback in rail fare hike

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New Delhi: Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday withdrew the increase in passenger fares in the sleeper, suburban, ordinary second class, AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier classes announced by his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi, who had presented the budget on March 14. Roy's announcement was expected after his party, the Trinamool Congress, forced Trivedi to quit from Union Cabinet for increasing passenger fares across all the classes.

""The proposal to increase fare by 2 paise per km, 3 paise per km and 5 paise per km in second class suburban and non-suburban and Sleeper class is a huge drain on the pocket of the masses. Similarly, increase in the fare of AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier, which is now patronised by the middle class, is also quite severe. I intend to give relief to the already over burdened common man by not effecting any increase in these classes," he announced in the Lok Sabha while replying to the Railway Budget.

The rollback is in keeping with Trinamool Congress supreme and Mamata Banerjee's stand that the hike announced by Trivedi was going to impact the common man and so was unjustified.

Roy did not touch the fares of AC 2-tier, First Class and AC I. The Railway Minister also put on hold the proposal for expansion of the Railway Board. He said that the Railways intend to launch an aggressive drive to mop up resources and upgrade safety measures.

"It is important to run railways economically and safely. There will be a recruitment of 1 lakh people in 2012-13. Unmanned level crossing will be removed and we are vigorously working towards that goal. All vacancies in safety areas will be filled up very soon," he said.

Trivedi had increased the passenger fares by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class; 3 paise per km for mail/express second class; 5 paise per km for sleeper class; 10 paise per km for AC Chair Car, AC 3-tier and First Class; 15 paise per km for AC 2-tier and 30 paise per km for AC I. Even the price of platform tickets has been raised to Rs 5 from Rs 3.

Apple's New iPad now available in India for Rs 36,799

Mumbai: Apple's New iPad, which was introduced by the company on March 7 in USA, is now available in India for Rs 36,799. Indian online retailer Tradus.in has listed the new iPad 16 GB, WiFi model for Rs 36,799 after discount of Rs 3191. So it is fair to assume that the official price of the New iPad will be around Rs 39,990.

The New iPad comes with Retina Display and better hardware than its predecessors. Apple has even managed to sell about three million units of the tablet in eleven different countries within first three days of launch. Interestingly, India was nowhere on the charts for availability in second phase.

The new Apple iPad comes with 9.7-inch touchscreen Retina Display supporting higher resolution 2048x1536 pixel resolution. The tablet is slightly thicker and bit heavier than its predecessor. This tablet houses Apple A5X mobile processor and features a better 5 megapixel camera at the back for recording full HD video.

Apple had launched iPad 2 in India starting Rs 29,500. Apple's pricing has always surprised everyone and the company has taken active steps to offer better pricing in India. However, this time we are not sure if Apple would be introducing the 4G LTE supporting models in India any time soon.

We consider this product listing as early bird price to pay for getting the hands on the tablet first. With the heavy demand of the New iPad in several countries, it will not be a surprise to use if the tablet comes to India by the end of second quarter this year.