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Kudankulam calm, relay fast on

Kudankulam (TN): An uneasy calm prevailed here today with police tightening vigil as anti-nuclear protesters continued with their relay fast at Idinthakari, epicentre of protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear plant, condemning the action against anti-KNPP activists.

Police here said the situation was calm but they are keeping a strict vigil. "Security has been stepped up," sources said.

Sources close to S P Udhayakumar, convener of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, spearheading the protest against KNPP, said key leaders including him and Pushparayan, will court arrest by turning up at the Kudankulam Police Station tonight.

The agitation had turned violent yesterday when one person was killed in police firing when protesters tried to attack a police station at Manapad in Tuticorin district.

The year-long agitation, confined to Indinthakarai and nearby villages, spilled over to neighbouring Tuticorin district and was intensified after authorities announced loading of uranium fuel in the plant.

Murray wins US Open in epic final

New York: History-making Andy Murray ended Britain's 76-year wait for a men's Grand Slam champion when he beat 2011 winner Novak Djokovic 7-6 (12/10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 in an epic US Open final.

Murray became Britain's first major champion since Fred Perry claimed his third American title in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started and Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected US president.

In a roller-coaster final, which witnessed a 54-shot rally, numerous 30-stroke exchanges, as well as a record-setting tie-breaker, the 25-year-old Murray held his nerve in a knife-edge final set yesterday.

The Olympic champion led 3-0 in the decider, dropped serve but broke again for 5-2 when Djokovic called a medical time-out.

But Murray wasn't to be denied, taking the historic crown when Djokovic went long with a forehand on a second match point in what was, at four hours and 54 minutes, the second-longest US Open final of all time.

Murray insisted it was a huge relief to finally have captured a major and put an end to the questions over whether or not he would do it.

Oil price hike likely today

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) may take decision to hike petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices simultaneously in its scheduled meeting later on Tuesday.

Diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene rates have not been changed since June 2011 even though cost of production has soared 28 percent.

State-owned fuel retailers are losing over Rs 5 per litre on sale of petrol, a commodity which was freed from government control in June 2010 but whose rates haven't moved in tandem with cost.

They sell diesel at a loss of Rs 19.26 a litre, kerosene at Rs 34.34 per litre and domestic LPG at Rs 347 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

"I have circulated terrible facts (about prices to Cabinet). Subsidy burden is very high... there is no escaping the very difficult and painful part of taking a decision on petroleum prices," Oil minister Jaipal Reddy had said last week.

Besides hike in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices, the Oil Ministry is also seeking to limit supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to 4-6 per household in a year.