-The Times of India A fact-finding team of 21 rights groups alleged that joint forces comprising CRPF and state police "killed 17 villagers in cold blood" at Sarkeguda on June 28. "It was plain slaughter that night near Sarkeguda," said Asish Gupta, convener of Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO) on Wednesday. The team visited the encounter site at Sarkeguda on July 6 and 7. Speaking to reporters, Gupta said, "There were no...

-The Hindu Journalists need to adopt a set of integrity measures in order to police the boundaries between the market and political power   Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person and the world’s wealthiest woman, is seeking three board seats following her purchase of 18.7 per cent of Fairfax which owns most papers in Australia not controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd. There has already been considerable upheaval in two of the Fairfax papers...

-The Hindu School staff members offended by government circular asking them to avoid wearing indecent clothes A recent circular issued by the school education department, which urges teachers to be dressed in a “decent manner”, has evoked strong responses from teachers, who are offended by what they see as the officiousness of the message. The circular dated June 29, in essence, tells teachers: Please avoid wearing indecent clothes; it is important that you...

-The Times of India After spending 25 days behind bars on charges of raping her live-in girlfriend, athlete Pinki Pramanik was granted bail on Tuesday. The judge virtually exonerated the Asiad gold medallist by saying that preliminary medical reports make it clear Pinki is "not capable of committing rape".  There was much drama both inside the courtroom and outside. Athlete and former CPM MP Jyotirmoyee Sikdar led a huge crowd at the...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court today adjourned a hearing on the Nagri land acquisition controversy till Monday but asked the state to begin a dialogue with villagers who have disrupted construction of campuses of three national academic institutes. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya Roy allowed the adjournment since advocate-general Anil Sinha was away in New Delhi, but asked the state government to work out a...