Out to enjoy an evening of chilling out and letting their hair down, a number of Chennaiites recently headed to this nightclub in a hotel.

It wasn’t one of those parties where glamour and dazzle were the keywords, and party people walked in, in their casual best, and settled in almost immediately for a fun time.

History, heritage and healthcare are just some of the reasons Chennai is one of the most visited cities in the country. In 2009, Chennai attracted the highest number of foreign tourists, with its temples, beaches and historical and cultural centres. For many foreigners, there is also the draw of learning Tamil and visiting places such as Mammallapuram.

Four time world chess champion Vishwanathan Anand will be among the few sportpersons who will welcome the Queen’s Baton Relay for the XIX Commonwealth Games when it reaches Chennai on Friday.

Besides Anand, tennis legend Ramesh Krishnan, former Asian Games 800m gold medalist Shiny Wilson, squash ace Joshna Chinappa and former Indian hockey captain Md. Riaz will also participate in the relay.

An Infosys employee, working at the company’s Mahindra World City centre here, has been missing since Monday. Software professional Avik Mukherjee, 23, lived with his roommates at a rented accommodation in Singaperumal Koil, 40 kilometres from the state capital.

According to his roommates, Avik was last seen on Monday.

Avik’s roommate Devanjan Bhattacharya had informed his father Bhrigu Mukherjee that Avik did not return after he left home at 9.30 pm on Monday.

Visitors’ entry at the airport here was banned from today for an unspecified period, airport sources said.

The move was based on the directions from Union Home More >

Police teams have left for Mangalore after a Chennai-based diamond merchant on Thursday submitted a complaint saying he had been cheated of Rs 55 lakh by two jewellers from that city who took diamonds from his shop in May but failed to pay.

As part of enhancing its resources, the Coast Guard has inducted a HAL-built (Hindustan Aeronautical Limited) Chetak helicopter, capable of undertaking missions, including maritime reconnaissance, which will be operating under the operational command of the Coast Guard Air Station, Chennai.

“This Chetak helicopter (CG 820) is a high performance,multi role, versatile flying machine capable of undertaking various Coast Guard missions such as search-and-rescue, casualty evacuation, maritime reconnaissance, pollution response and aerial photographybesides acting as a lethal platform from the air,” a Coast Guard press release in Chennai said.

Ford Motor India has installed 92 robots at its Maraimalainagar factory, which were sourced from ABB of Sweden and Durr of Germany. The company said these robots were imported to cope with surging demand, precision-build quality, flexible manufacturing capability and worker safety.

According to Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India, robots take about 10-15 per cent of the load. “The sophisticated robots are installed primarily into key areas of the plant to handle repetitive tasks with high degree of accuracy and precision,” he said.

A Chennai-based woman executive of telecom service provider Vodafone was found dead in the swimming pool of a luxury hotel in the city late on Wednesday.Indumathi Subramanian, 40, deputy general manager of Vodafone, had been staying at the ITC Grand Maratha, a five star deluxe hotel.Though Vodafone officials refused to comment on the death, a hotel employee said Subramanian was one among 10 senior executives from Vodafone’s Chennai office who were attending an official training programme and conference at the hotel.

Family members of the one of the victims of the serial rape and murder incidents at Nehru Nagar are going to leave the city forever.

Body of Anjali Jaiswal’s was found on the terrace of the police quarters building where a senior police inspector also resided with his family.