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Imperial Tobacco Plc., the fourth largest global tobacco group by sales in the world, said today that it is back to profit in the first half of the fiscal. Imperial said that it reported good first half results Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Central Europe.

Imperial said that the first half profit was mainly attributable to the increased revenue, helped by the price increases and improving market share. Imperial is also optimistic for the rest of the year.

The market leader in the UV segment, Mahindra & Mahindra has once again shown that it has what it takes to stay at the top of the segment. Its best-selling Mahindra Bolero has been able to retain its #1 position in the Indian market by selling a record 70,554 units in 2009-10.

Bolero has been the backbone of the company in this segment along with offerings like Scorpio and Xylo. Vivek Nayer, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Auto Division, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd said that the company is happy to see Bolero at the top of the UV segment.

According to the official reports, a former community doctor in China, accused of fatally stabbing eight elementary school children last month, was executed Wednesday in eastern Fujian province.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency, which reported the execution of Zheng Minsheng, 41, gave no other details. Earlier it had reported Zheng admitted "intentionally killing" the children at the entrance to their school in Nanping city.

It was also reported that five others were injured in the March 23 incident.

Banking on factors like low interest rates and high sales, companies like Ambuja Cement and Maruti Suzuki are clearly leading the pack as far as the results for the Q4 are concerned.

Notably, both the giants have grown at the fastest pace in 18 months, with net profits doubling from a year earlier levels. However, the margin pressures and high input costs are a cause of concern for the automobile and the cement sector going forward.

Authorities have said that a suicide vehicle bomb explosion Wednesday near a police check post in Pakistan's northwest Peshawar city killed at least four policemen.

Geo News has reported that six others were injured in the blast early Wednesday near the Pir Bala check post.

The attackers rammed their explosives-laden vehicle into check point, apparently after they tried to drive through the barricade into the city, Police official Liaquat Ali in Peshawar, one of the worst hit Pakistani cities in the current wave of militant violence, was quoted as saying.

ABC News has confirmed that the Secret Service arrested a sound engineer covering President Barack Obama's Iowa trip after marijuana was found in his backpack, Tuesday.

TVNewser has reported on the Web site mediabistro. com that the audio engineer, whose name was not reported, was part of ABC's crew covering the presidential visit. He was brought into the assignment by a local cameraman hired by ABC.