In a bizarre display of ignorance, court officials and lawyers wore medical masks during a rape case hearing where the victim, a young woman, was HIV positive.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan on Friday dubbed chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s Thursday talks with the local legislators of Jagatsinghpur district as “disappointing” and claimed that it would not lead to any “tangible solution.”

Following Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s opposition to the separate Vidarbha, pro-Vidarbha leaders have accused him of backstabbing. Jambuwantrao Dhote, who led the first major public agitation in 1971 for the demand of separate Vidarbha, has said that the NCP chief has made baseless statements regarding the demand.

The main Opposition BJP on Friday accused the Congress-led UPA II’s first year at the Centre of “full of corruption, conspiracy, contradictions and compromises.” Party’s national vice president, Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said soaring prices, corruption, terrorism, Naxalism and unemployment are at their peak in the UPA’s rule.

The ITC Limited on Friday reported a 27.1 per cent jump in its post-tax profit for the fourth quarter of 2009-10 at Rs 1028.22 crores, while the post-tax profit for the last fiscal stood at Rs 4,061 crores, registering a growth of 24.4 per cent.

President Pratibha Patil on Friday led the nation in paying tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 19th death anniversary. She was first to pay floral tribute at the departed leader’s memorial Vir Bhumi here in the morning.

The Indian family-owned investment firm Hinduja Group said it has agreed to buy the private banking arm of Belgian firm KBC Group for 1.35 billion euros.
The deal comprises the sale of KBC’s entire interest in KBL European Private Banking and includes all the private banking subsidiaries as well as the custody and life insurance businesses.

A 55-year-old man was stabbed to death allegedly by his former disgruntled domestic help in Kalkaji area of southeast Delhi on Thursday, the police said.
The police officials said the accused is a minor and was allegedly angry at his employer who had not paid his two months’ salary. The incident happened at around 1

The government is set to reap another bonanza from the auction of wireless broadband (BWA) spectrum that would begin from Monday. Even if the government gets half the money from the BWA auction that it got from 3G, it will would bring the total money generated by the auctions of spectrum to around Rs 93,000 crore.

Union minister for urban development Jaipal Reddy said here on Friday that the state government should not take credit for schemes introduced or funded by the government of India. Mr Reddy was addressing the state-level convention of elected representatives of local bodies organised by the state Congress unit to mark the death anniversary Rajiv Gandhi.