Battle lines have been drawn for tomorrow’s poll for the 68-member Himachal Assembly where political heavyweights Prem Kumar Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh are jostling for attention of voters for whom the issue of price rise and corruption seems to have surpassed the anti-incumbency factor.

Syria’s Prime Minister Riad Hijab joined the anti-regime revolt and fled abroad, in what Washington and the Opposition hailed Monday as a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad.

Dashing the hopes of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), the high-powered committee on the Gorkhaland Territorial Administr-ation (GTA) has recommended the inclusion of only five mouzas out of the 398

Ashish Kate dropped out of college to pursue a career in art and music journalism. Now a visual artist, he works with shoe polish as a medium to paint.

Bunny Suraiya, the author of Calcutta Exile, is a newspaper columnist. Her first short story was published by Khushwant Singh in the Illustrated Weekly.

Vikas Rathi is a chartered accountant and an IIM graduate. He is the author of Resident Dormitus.

Ahmed Faiyaz is a chartered accountant and management consultant by accident, a civil servant by day and a writer by night.