Free Republic

KOCHI: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court today directed the Travancore Devaswom Board to further probe into the presence of women at Pamba during ‘Aarattu’ and take appropriate action in consultation with the Tantris.The direction was issued by a bench comprising Justice S Sankarasubban and Justice A Lekshmikutty while closing the proceedings initiated on the basis of a news report and photograph that appeared in Janmabhumi, that a large number of women had attended the ‘Aarattu’ of Lord Ayyappa in the Pamba River on Monday last.As per the news report, a good number of worshippers who gathered at...

Gnomes abandoned by their owners in Birmingham are being saved from oblivion by caring rubbish tip workers. Without the sentimental staff the garden ornaments would otherwise be propping up a bridge on the M6 Toll road. But staff at Lifford Lane Civic Amenity Site are rescuing the garden statues, cleaning them up and giving them a new home. The gnomes, along with concrete rabbits, frogs and other garden sculptures, have been put on display on the grass and in bushes at the entrance to the Kings Norton site. Worker Ron Gladwin said they felt sorry for the little creatures so...

Catherine Zeta-Jones and husband Michael Douglas have decided to send their children to school in Bermuda.It had earlier been reported that Swansea-born Catherine wanted them to attend the private Llandovery College in west Wales, but the couple have announced that two-year-old Dylan and their new baby, due in April, will be educated on the Caribbean island where Michael has family. “We have a house in Bermuda, Michael’s mother is Bermudan and our children will be schooled there,” said Catherine. “When we arrive we have an instant family and friends. It’s a very close-knit world and extremely private. Dylan loves it...