Sachin Tendulkar's Rajya Sabha nomination perfectly valid: P Chidambaram

PTI Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha is perfectly valid under the provisions of the Constitution

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha is perfectly valid under the provisions of the Constitution.

Asked about questions being raised on the nomination of the cricketer under Article 80 of the Constitution, Chidambaram said: "That is not our reading of the Constitution provision. I think the Constitution provision is very clear and I urge all of you to read it once again."

"Hence, Sachin Tendulkar's nomination is perfectly valid under that provision," he added.
Tendulkar, who has brought many laurels to the nation through his remarkable achievements in the game of cricket, met Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with his wife Anjali at the former's residence on Thursday.

Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket.

In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked Tendulkar the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. He was also a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team.

Thunderstorm wreaks havoc in Pollachi

A summer thunderstorm devastated parts of Pollachi and surrounding areas on Friday night

POLLACHI: A summer thunderstorm devastated parts of Pollachi and surrounding areas on Friday night, damaging houses and crops and throwing normal life out of gear. The countryside presented a devastating sight with broken coconut trees and flattened plantain trees. Farmers were crestfallen with their hard labour of months destroyed in 10 minutes, when powerful wind accompanied by rain swept the land.

The loss is estimated to be more than Rs 2 crore. Thousands of coconut trees standing in 200 acre of land were damaged and 50,000 plantain trees flattened. Electric poles have been uprooted plunging nearly 10 villages in darkness. Villages including C Gopalapuram, Aradhanairpalayam, Palakkarai, Keerapalayam and R Ponnapuram near Pollachi were affected by the storm.

For S Jayaprakash, a farmer from C Gopalapuram, the loss was a twin blow. An hour after the strong winds that accompanied the thundershower destroyed his crops, his mother died. "Will I take care of the damaged crops or make funeral arrangements? My mother was ill for a long time and she was 92. So I guess it is ok. But I am unable to cope. We do not know whom to turn to at this moment of crisis and personal loss," said Jayaprakash. Read More!!!

Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's speech at internal security meet

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said the Centre must evolve NCTC in consultation with the states.

New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday slammed the Centre and said that the government was making repeated efforts to interfere with the powers of the state governments. "Constant attempts to reduce states to the level of glorified municipal corporation heavily dependent on the Centre for funds," Jayalalithaa said, addressing the Chief Ministers' meeting on internal security in the national capital.

Following is the full text of Jayalalithaa's speech at teh Chief Ministers' meeting in the national capital:

Hon'ble Prime Minister and dignitaries participating in the Conference today, Public order and Police are subjects that top the list of items under the State List of the Constitution. The founding fathers of our Nation clearly delineated the functions of the Central and State Governments, and accordingly made Parliament and the State Legislative Assemblies the law making Institutions for the smooth performance of these functions.

It is in this context that the subject of internal security must be understood, and appreciated. This Conference on internal security seeks to address a host of issues such as the Crime and Criminal tracking network system, Modernization of the Police Force, Border Management, Coastal Security, preventing the circulation of fake Indian currency notes, strengthening of the Intelligence Wings and separation of Criminal Investigation and Law and Order. Read More...

North Korea rocket breaks up in flight

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Friday, but it broke apart before escaping the earth's atmosphere and fell into the sea.

The launch drew condemnation from United States and countries in the region, as well as an unusual admission of failure from Pyongyang, which had invited in journalists and space experts from around the world for the occasion.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet Friday to discuss the launch, which North Korea insists was intended to put an observation satellite in orbit. The United States, South Korea and Japan say the operation is a cover for a ballistic missile test.

In a break from previous practice, the North Korean state media announced that the rocket had not managed to put the satellite into orbit. In the past, North Korea has insisted that failed launches have been successful. Read More...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Launch makes food aid "impossible," Obama administration official says
• North Korean state media say the rocket failed to put satellite in orbit
• U.N. Security Council will meet Friday on the matter
• Short-lived flight never escaped the atmosphere, officials say

Boom, boom, boom!' Navy jet crash stuns Virginia neighborhood

A Navy F/A-18D fighter slams into apartments in Virginia Beach, setting buildings aflame. No deaths and only a few injuries are reported.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Robert Leggett is accustomed to the deep roar of Navy jet fighter planes flying over his rooftop in this military town. But at lunchtime Friday, the F/A-18D Hornet that flew screaming above his apartment window didn't sound right.

"It sounded way too low," Leggett, 27, recalled. He should know. He's a Navy enlisted man who repairs Navy jet fighters.

Spilling fuel, the Hornet slammed into an apartment complex 100 feet from where Leggett stood in his bedroom Friday afternoon. Remarkably, there were no initial reports of deaths after about 40 units in the complex were destroyed or damaged by flames.

"The whole rooftop was in flames," Leggett said, describing plumes of black smoke that rose high into the clear blue spring sky. "I saw six or eight people on their hands and knees, crawling out of their apartments." Read More...

Myanmar president says by-elections "Very Successful"

Myanmar's President Thein Sein arrives for the 20th ASEAN summit meeting at the Peace Palace in the Office of the Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh April 3, 2012.

Myanmar President Thein Sein said on Tuesday the country's by-elections at the weekend, which were swept by the opposition, were carried out successfully.

"It was conducted in a very successful way," the retired general told reporters during a summit of Association of South East Asian Nation leaders in Cambodia, his first public comment on Sunday's elections for vacant parliamentary seats.

Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide in the vote, a victory she hailed as a "triumph of the people" after decades of military dictatorship.

Her party won 40 of the 45 seats being contested, the Election Commission announced on state television, dealing a crushing blow to a ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) created by the former military junta.

Thein Sein's USDP still holds most of parliament's 664 seats, thanks to 2010 elections held while Suu Kyi was in detention and her party boycotted the polls.