No threat from Taj minaret tilt

Lucknow (PTI): There is no threat to Taj Mahal from the tilt of its minaret, Uttar Pradesh tourism minister Kokab Hamid said quoting an expert committee.

“The experts’ team sent to Agra after reports of threat to one of the minarets of the white-marble wonder has found that it was intact and there was no threat to it,” Hamid said.

The state government had sent the team of experts, including some from the Archaeological Survey of India, for an inspection following reports in the media about an outward tilt in the 132-feet southwest minaret of the Taj.

The monument’s foundation had been laid on ebony wood and with the Yamuna changing its course, the moisture level of the ground has gone down, Hamid said. The concern now is maintaining the moisture level to sustain the seasoning of the foundation, he said, adding that the Union and state governments should join hands on this.

Apex court relief for New

New Delhi (PTI): Tamil movie New got a fresh lease of life on Monday with the Supreme Court staying the order of Madras High Court directing revocation of its censor board certificate on the ground that it promoted vulgarity.

A bench of Justices H.K. Sema and B.N. Srikrishna ? on an appeal by the film’s producer, Samm Creations ? issued a notice to Dravidar Kazhagam media secretary A. Arulmozhi, on whose petition the high court had passed the stay order on August 5.

Advocates Mukul Rohtagi and Vipin Nair argued for the petitioner that the high court had wrongly felt that the movie would influence young minds, despite the film being given an “A” certificate restricting its viewership to those over 18 years.

CRPF suicide

Srinagar (PTI): A Central Reserve Police Force jawan allegedly shot himself in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, official sources said. Constable Amit Kumar of the 93rd battalion used his service rifle to end his life while he was on a road-opening patrol duty at Ranbirpora in Mattan area of Anantnag, the sources said.

Chilli cheats

Ahmedabad (PTI): A brother-sister duo that had resisted police attempts to arrest them by throwing chilli powder were arrested in the city for fraud, the police said. They had allegedly not repaid loans of Rs 20 lakh taken from the Sidhpur Nagrik Cooperative Bank in Patan district in 2004 and issued bogus cheques of Rs 80 lakh to a businessman a year later.

Siblings drown

Jammu (PTI): Two siblings drowned in the Chenab river in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials said. A boy playing on the bank jumped in to retrieve a ball. His sister also jumped in to help and both were washed away, sources said.

Two NRI scientists and their colleagues have made the world’s tiniest transistor from carbon nanotubes ? rolled up sheets of carbon atoms that are a thousand times thinner than human hair.