Cyclone Thane, packing wind speed of 140 kmph, made landfall on the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil and Puducherry on Friday morning.

Severe cyclonic storm ‘Thane’ on Friday claimed 18 lives as it hit the Tamil Nadu coast, leaving a trail of destruction and throwing life out of gear in Cuddalore district and neighbouring union territory of Puducherry.

The issue of inducting members of Praja Rajyam into the state Cabinet came to the fore on Wednesday with the Congress central leadership summoning chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to New Delhi.

Chennai city has been experiencing heavy showers since Wednesday night as 'very severe' cyclonic storm lay centered about 250 km from the Tamil Nadu capital.

Anna Hazare, who is suffering from viral fever, announced that he will end his hunger-strike today but said the fight for a "strong Lokpal" will continue.

In a sudden climb down, Anna Hazare today made a surprise announcement of calling off his campaign to fill jails from Friday and ended his fast.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said the state will decide on moving court against the alleged unilateral approach by members of the Supreme Court-appointed empowered panel on the Mullaperiyar issue during their recent visit to the dam site.

The Chennai police had been put on alert on Monday after they received a call claiming that there was a bomb on the plane in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would travel from Tiruchy to New Delhi.

Concerns over Anna Hazare's health mounted this afternoon with doctors advising him to end his fast as its continuance could affect his kidneys.

Within 24 hours of Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa raising the issue with the Prime Minister, the Centre on Monday told Tamil Nadu that it has deferred constituting an experts’ team to draw up a “contingency response plan” in the event of some disaster hitting the Mullaperiyar dam.