Lalu absolved in assets case
Patna: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi have been absolved of all charges in a seven-year-old disproportionate assets case.

While Lalu was accused by the CBI of amassing property worth Rs 46 lakhs above his known source of income between 1990 and 1997 as the then Bihar chief minister, his wife was charged with abetting him in the alleged crime. The case was an offshoot of the infamous fodder scam.

CBI indicated that it might appeal against the verdict for which it has 90 days.

Lalu still faces six more cases in connection with the multi-crore fodder scam estimated to be running into more than Rs900 crore.
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Kindler named chairman of Pfizer Inc
New York: The world's largest drugmaker, Pfizer Inc has named its chief executive officer Jeffrey Kindler as chairman, replacing Hank McKinnell three months before schedule.

The board also raised the dividend by 21 percent to 29 cents a share, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Pfizer has raised the dividend 40 years in a row, and the payout is 53 percent higher than two years ago.

Kindler has announced speed job cuts, plant closings and the search for new products after the failure of Pfizer's most important experimental drug, the cholesterol treatment torcetrapib. The company put Kindler in the top job in July, replacing the 63-year-old McKinnell as chief after five years during which the stock lost 40 percent of its value.
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