Akshaya Tritiya to be celebrated on Friday

Thiruvananthapuram: With gold emerging as one of the top investment avenues, prominent jewellers are offering discounts on the yellow metal to tap the buying rush on Akshaya Tritiya on Friday. This day is considered to be auspicious according to Hindu calendar for gems and jewellery buying

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In a step towards this, Reliance Jewels announced ‘Double Gold Rate Protection’, wherein its customers can pre-book jewellery and fix their gold rate as protection against price increase. If the gold rate on Akshaya Tritiya is lower than the booking rate the difference is returned to customers.

Last year, Akshaya Tritiya was on May 16 and the gold price on May 17 was `18,265 per ten grams. This year, as on May 4, the cost is `22,265 per ten grams.

According to Hindu mythology it’s believed that it was on the day of Akshaya Tritiya that the Treta Yuga commenced and the holy river Ganges descended to the earth from heaven.

Akshaya Tritiya is also traditionally revered to as the birthday of Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Malayalis have a special berth for Parasurama as it’s believed that it was he who created Kerala by reclaiming sea.

Reporter channel to be launched on May 11

Kerala’s most popular media person M.V Nikesh Kumar is going to start a news channel,named as ‘Reporter’.Yesterday MT Vasudevan Nair Relieved the Log of Channel ‘ReporteR’ at a function.MV Nikesh Kumar is the managing director and Chief Editor of ‘ReporteR’,and he added that ‘ReporteR’ will start its operations by April 2011 from kochi.’Reporter’ will be the first High Definition News Channel in Kerala.The financial back up of the channel will be from Indo-asian news channel private limited (IANS).

KOCHI: The Malayalam news channel Reporter owned by IndoAsian News Channel Private Ltd will be on air from May 11.

The director board meeting of the channel on Wednesday elected litterateur M T Vasudevan Nair as its chairman. Vasudevan Nair told reporters here that the channel would be on air from May 11 by presenting programmes which will be a run up to the announcement of the election results.

He said that Reporter was the first high-definition channel in South India. Channel managing director and editor-in-chief M V Nikesh Kumar said that the channel would also launch a journalism college.


Thechannel is the 1st HD format channel in Malayalam

Kochi Tuskers VS Kolkata Knight Riders: Kochi Innings

Kochi Tuskers beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 17 runs in the 45th match of Indian Primer League, played at Kochi. Batting first, the host side sets the challenging target of 157 after losing 5 wickets. The lost side can score 139/7 in specified 20 overs.

According to details, the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir wins the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, the host side goes early in trouble by losing the big wicket of Brendon McCullum. The batsman goes for a square-cut but the delivery of Jaidev Unadkat swings away and was just enough to take the edge which was caught by Kallis at the first slip.

Pathiv Patel, who scored 21 runs on 16 balls, dismissed by Unadkat on the 3rd ball of 6th over. Patel makes room and top edges his pull shot high in the air towards mid on where Bhatia kept his eyes on the ball and took a backward running catch on the second attempt.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene, with Michael Klinger played responsible cricket and added 51 runs in the mutual cooperation. This partnership ended when Yusaf Pathan gives the breakthrough by making the dismissal of Klinger, he scored 29 on 26 balls with the help of three boundaries. Yusaf took the catch of Ravindrasinh Jadeja on the ball of Bhatia when his score was just 8.

The innings of Jayawardene ended on 55, when he was looking for a risky second run. In the result of a direct his of Kaliis, Mahila had to return back to pavilion. His innings was consists of two boundaries and two massive sixes.

At the end of limited number of overs, Kochi posted a changing total of 156/6 on the scoreboard. Bred Hodge contributed his role by lashing unbeaten 35 runs. Jaidev Unadkat was the best bowler from visitors, who picked two wickets for 25 runs.

‘Make Kodiyeri accused in Lavalin case’

KOCHI: A petition was filed Thursday in a Kerala court to include Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and former finance minister T. Sivadasan Menon as accused in the SNC Lavalin corruption case in which Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has been named.

The petition by T.P. Nandakumar in a special Central Bureau of Invetigation (CBI) court says Balakrishnan's name should be included because the deal to renovate three power plants was inked when the latter was a member of the Kerala State Electricity Board.

In June 2009, the CBI filed chargesheet against nine people in the Rs.374-crore scam. Vijayan was the state power minister in 1997 when the agreement to renovate the power plants was signed with SNC Lavalin.

The petitioner alleges that names of Balakrishnan and Menon were omitted because they were ministers at the time of filing the chargesheet.

Kavya Madhavan says no to politics

Ever since she campaigned for a candidate in the recently concluded Kerala Assembly elections, there was a buzz that Kavya Madhavan, who is currently busy with her second innings in cinema, will pursue politics too. However, the actress has sought to put full-stop to such reports. “Ganesh Kumar is a member of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movies Artistes). So I campaigned for him,” she says. “Please don’t mix films and politics. My sole priority is acting now and I will not enter politics,” Kavya says and adds: “I am apolitical and I am not attached to any political ideology.” Meanwhile, Kavya, who is popular in Kollywood too, recently wrote her SSLC exams as a private student in a public school near Aluva. Since she started her film career as a child artiste and became popular very soon, she had to drop studies.

Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden, burial

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, 

The killing of Osama bin Laden when he was unarmed has raised concerns the United States may have gone too far in acting as policeman, judge and executioner of the world's most wanted man.

But for several Muslim leaders, the more unsettling issue is whether the al Qaeda leader's burial at sea was contrary to Islamic practice.

The White House said on Tuesday that bin Laden had resisted the U.S. team which stormed his Pakistan hideout and that there had been concerns he would "oppose the capture operation".

Spokesman Jay Carney declined to specify what sort of resistance bin Laden offered but added: "We expected a great deal of resistance and were met with a great deal of resistance. There were many other people who were armed ... in the compound."

Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV the operation could have incalculable consequences in the Arab world at a time of unrest there.

Afghan officials say Pakistan should have known bin Laden was there

A satellie image shows the compound that Osama bin Laden was killed in, in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Credit: Reuters/DigitalGlobe

(Reuters) - Pakistan's spy agency should have known Osama bin Laden was hiding not far from its capital, Afghan officials said on Wednesday, the first direct comments from Kabul about its neighbor's apparent inability to track the al Qaeda leader.

The case also raised questions about Pakistan's ability to protect its nuclear weapons adequately, said Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy.

Bin Laden, the architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was killed by a U.S. strike team in a military garrison town about 60 km (35 miles) north of Islamabad on Monday.

U.S. legislators have demanded a review of aid to Pakistan after the disclosure that bin Laden could have been living in the house, which is not far from Pakistan's main military academy, for five or six years.

"When we talk about the location of the house and a military academy nearby ... at the very least it should be known about the activities inside the house and who is living there," Azimy told a news conference.

"If Pakistan's spy agency was not aware of the house near the academy, it brings the agency under question. If I was a security analyst, I would raise these very important questions."

Afghan and U.S. officials have expressed concern that bin Laden's killing might cause a short-term spike in violence as militants make retaliatory attacks.

But there has been no major violence in Afghanistan since Monday, although at least two rocket attacks were reported in and around the capital, Kabul, overnight. There were no major casualties, officials said.

Kerala election 2011 exit poll SURVEY RESULT

AS per the election survey by Asianet

UDF winning seats in Asianet survey : 43%.
LDF winning seats in Asianet survey : 39%.
BJP winning seats in Asianet survey : 18%.

Asianet survey result in Malabar region

Total seats : 45.
UDF winning seats : 16-20.
LDF winning seats : 28-32.
BJP and others winning seats : 0-2.

Asianet survey result in central Kerala 

Total seats : 44.
UDF winning seats : 31-34.
LDF winning seats : 10-13.
BJP and others winning seats : 0-1

Asianet survey result in Southern Kerala 

Total seats : 47.
UDF winning seats : 30-33.
LDF winning seats : 15-18.
BJP and others winning seats : 0-2.

Sourav Ganguly back in IPL4, will play for Pune

Indian cricketing legend Sourav Ganguly is back in the fourth edition of the Indian premier league. He will now play for the Pune Warriors and will replace Ashish Nehra.

Abhijit Sarkar, the director of Pune Warriors has been quoted as saying, “We were waiting for Ashish Nehra’s fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night.”

Sourav, who was left unsold in the players auction for the 2011 edition of Indian Premier League, will now most probably be a part of the Pune Warriors unit for their May 4 tie against the formidable Mumbai Indians.

His inclusion is expected to give a much needed fillip to the side that has lost six matches on the trot and are in a real danger of missing the playoffs. The news is also expected to bring in more fans to the side and most of them are likely to be from the eastern part of Indian in general and West Bengal in particular where the former Indian captain is nothing sort of a demi-god.

Earlier, Kochi Tuskers, yet another newcomer in the Indian Premier League were in talks with the stylish southpaw but couldn't sign him due to rules of the tournament.