Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Oct 10 (PTI) Young Indian player Nihal Sarin emerged winner in the Chess.com's 2020 Junior Speed Online Chess Championship, beating Russia's world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana 18-7 in the final.

The title win earned the 16-year old Sarin USD 8,766 and enabled him to qualify for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Final which will feature the world's best players.

Coimbatore, Oct 3 (PTI): Two persons allegedly involved in the gang-rape of a woman (22) in Palladam in nearby Tirupur district were arrested in the early hours of Saturday, police said.

Already, three have been arrested while search was still on for another in connection with the crime that took place on September 28, the police said.

The victim, hailing from Assam and a resident of Coimbatore, lodged a complaint stating that she was raped by five people after being taken to an isolated spot by Rajeev on a motorcycle, they said.

Tiruchirappalli (TN) Sep 27 (PTI) A statue of reformist leader E V Ramasamy Periyar here was found smeared with saffron dye on Sunday by unidentified miscreants, drawing strong responses from political leaders in Tamil Nadu.

A slipper was also found near the statue at Samathuvapuram colony in Inamkulathur here early this morning, police said, adding, a case has been registered for defacing and vandalising the statue.

Chennai, Sep 1 (PTI) One-fifth of the population here has been exposed to COVID, a sero survey for the transmission of the infection in Greater Chennai Corporation areas has revealed.

"Overall, one-fifth of the population in Chennai was exposed to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection," the GCC said in its preliminary finding.

The sample size was around 12,000 to detect a sero- prevalence of 2 per cent, for a relative precision of 20 per cent design effect of 2.5 and for 95 percent confidence interval.

Chennai, Sep 2 (PTI) Excessive, regular consumption of alcohol after a break due to COVID-19 lockdown induced dry phase has landed a number of men in "alcohol induced psychosis," a mental condition marked by disrupted thinking, perceptions and behaviour, an expert said here on Wednesday.

Left with no other option, several people had been abstinent from alcohol for a considerable period of time during the lockdown, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Institue of Mental Health (IMH), Dr D Devi said.

Chennai, Aug 22 (PTI) Vinayaka Chaturthi was celebrated across Tamil Nadu with usual fervour on Saturday, although the trademark large idols of the elephant god were missing this year in lines with a government directive in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami held prayers at his residence in his native Salem, strictly following COVID-19 protocols-- social distancing and wearing mask-- with his family.

Chennai, Aug 21 (PTI) The opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu on Friday opposed the Centre's decision to "privatise" airports, saying the move "usurps the rights and autonomy from the State."

In an apparent reference to the Centre deciding to lease out three airports, including the one at Thiruvananthapuram, DMK President M K Stalin described the decision as "unilateral" and demanded its revocation.

"The Center's unilateral decision to privatise airports usurps the rights and autonomy from the State," he said in a tweet.

Chennai, Aug 12 (PTI): More than not knowing Hindi, the issue of equating Hindi with nationalism is "shameful" and it edged out all other languages in the country in determining one's identity, DMK MP Kanimozhi said on Wednesday.

The Thoothukudi Lok Sabha MP claimed she had never studied Hindi in school nor learnt the language even after she started going to Delhi as a Parliamentarian.

Chennai, Aug 9 (PTI) DMK MP Kanimozhi on Sunday said a Central Industrial Security Force officer asked her if she was an Indian, when she asked the woman official to speak in Tamil or English.

"Today at the airport a CISF officer asked me if 'I am an Indian,' when I asked her to speak to me in tamil or English as I did not know Hindi.

I would like to know from when being Indian is equal to knowing Hindi. #hindiimposition," Kanimozhi who is also the DMK's women's wing secretary said on her twitter handle.

Chennai, Jul 27 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday launched a free mask distribution scheme to benefit over 69 lakh families in the first phase, as part of measures to help fight COVID-19.

Palaniswami gave away the masks to five people at the Secretariat marking the inauguration of the first phase of the scheme, which would witness distribution tobeneficiaries through ration shops.