By Sarda Lahangir
Puri, June 23 (ANI): Preparations are in full swing to put together the famous wooden chariots of Lord Jagannath in Puri for the annual festival, which is scheduled to begin next month.

By Allabaksh     
New Delhi (Syndicate Features): It is hardly surprising that a book written on the slain Pakistani leader, Benazir Bhutto, by an Indian author has created controversy in Pakistan. But what is surprising is the rash of apologies that has followed in India following protests by some members of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party days after the release of the book, ‘Goodbye Shahzadi’.

By Atul Cowshish  
  
New Delhi (Syndicate Features): Despite the West’s long crusade for democracy there are countries where one-man or one-party rule looks to be in no danger of going into oblivion. One such country is Zimbabwe where the autocratic regime of President Robert Mugabe has reduced the once fairly prosperous country into abject poverty. One unique - or dubious - distinction of his over two decade rule is that inflation in Zimbabwe has run into six figures. Though most people in Zimbabwe are jobless the few who are lucky enough to have some job are paid in ‘billions’ of local currency - actually no more than a few dollars in value. With its currency so heavily devalued, Zimbabwe has reverted to the ancient barter system. Here in India even eight per cent inflation has become a political foot-ball.

By Chandramohan     
New Delhi (Syndicate Features): The civil aviation minister, Praful Patel, has no doubt that India’s national carrier, Air India, has to ‘perform’ if it does not want to ‘perish’ in the face of growing competition from other airlines. But was the minister issuing a warning or making a candid confession? Or, maybe, at the back of his mind was a report that the US-based Reputation Institute has given the ‘worst’ rating to India’s national carrier.