Photojournalist Chandu Mhatre, one of the first to reach Bhopal after India's worst industrial disaster ravaged the city, remembers his worst seven days, in a conversation with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com.
The Blue Whale challenge didn't spring out of nowhere. It belongs to the well-established tradition of the glamourisation of self-harm on the internet.
Rediff.com lists a few other dramatic and frightful hostage situations that sent governments and security agencies into a tizzy.
The Delhi high court called the anti-Sikh riots case "communal frenzy" after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.
On Thursday, violent mobs went on the rampage in the Nagaland capital vandalising and setting on fire government offices and vehicles, prompting deployment of five columns of army to bring the situation under control.
The Opposition parties also demanded stopping the use of pellet guns on protesters, even as one member demanded withdrawal of AFPSA from the Kashmir Valley and withdrawal of the dominating presence of army from civilian areas.
'That is what Gauri was, in her essence -- the principle of free, open, forthright words, made flesh.' 'And that is what was gunned down -- her words, and with them our freedom to fashion our own opinions, to frame our own thoughts, to articulate them without fear of reprisal.'
Here are other controversial 'babas' who were given the Z-category security, though later, it was withdrawn from some.
Tension prevailed as the next of kin of two of the slain in Andhra Pradesh staged protests in Tiruvannamalai district
'Every opportunity, every disappointment, every rejection, every accolade...' 'Everything has contributed in shaping my character and my choices and who I have become.'
A 19-year-old Indian was killed as Nepal police opened fire on people demonstrating against the new Constitution near the Indo-Nepal border, hours after security forces baton-charged Madhesi protesters and evicted them from a key bridge in the area in a pre-dawn swoop.
Omung Kumar plays it woefully safe and completely avoids treading on political toes except for a token representation now and then, writes Sukanya Verma.
MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.
- 'I still think that he had 2 or 3 more years of cricket left in him' - 'India is going to miss Dhoni the player big time'
If Manto, the film, falls short of being a masterpiece it's because Nandita Das could not quite crack the Manto code: She couldn't quite see the wholeness of her subject with the same eyes that Manto saw his people. This imperfection in the film, in a way, becomes the greatest tribute to Manto, feels Sreehari Nair.
Rediff.com looks at other sensational murder mysteries that left India shell-shocked.
A bit of melancholy and unbridled joy converged at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics on Sunday as Brazil breathed a collective sigh of relief for having pulled off South America's first Games.
'If Modi sincerely thinks that Dalits are also Hindus then spread this message to the entire nation through programmes like Mann Ki Baat.' 'We would love to listen to the PM tell the nation to look upon us as fellow Indians and human beings.'
The houses of a sitting and a former MLA, both Dalits, were set afire by a violent mob.
'It is clear that nature is not in a mood to give us leeway to be lazy, inefficient or just do business as usual.' 'It is telling us that we have no time to get things wrong. We need to take drastic actions - now
Top moments from around the world in the week that was.
Without a moment of hesitation, Rai jumped up on his rickety wooden stool in the witness box. He then drew his legs close to his body and wrapped his arms around his knees and finally tucked his head into his knees demonstrating the fetal position.
Chhaya Ranka trusts her grandma's kitchen to sort her out every single time.
Sanjeeb Mukherjee, who was eight years old when the deadly gas leaked from Union Carbide's factory, gives his account of living in the city during that fateful period
A pregnant woman is murdered in cold blood in the heart of suburban Mumbai. By her father who didn't want her to marry the man she did.
Democracy has died -- and we, my friends, killed her, says Paloma Sharma.
A Pakistani court on Saturday summoned four witnesses for cross- examination in the trial of seven Pakistanis, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, for July 6.
Many pictures showed The Skeleton Named Sheena. For the purpose of the photographs, the skeleton had been re-assembled and looked straight at the camera.
Then chief minister Jyoti Basu once told an industrialist that capitalists were class enemies and he should expect no sympathy.
Militants on Friday struck in a big way two days ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to Jammu and Kashmir, storming an Army camp in Uri in Baramulla district, killing 11 security personnel, including a Lieutenant colonel, and following it up with multiple attacks in Srinagar, Tral and Shopian.
President Barack Obama has said the United States and its allies are not at war with Islam but with people who have perverted the religion, asserting that groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda are desperate for legitimacy by portraying themselves as holy warriors in the defence of religion.
Witnesses describe the chaotic scenes following bomb attacks on the airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital.
The burning of a Dalit house has put Sunpedh on tenterhooks, and overenthusiastic politicians and activists aren't helping matters.
'Gauri was a woman of great integrity and few people know how modestly she lived, generously sharing the little she had.' 'Her only asset was the home her mother built.' 'But she had even bigger riches -- her capacious heart,' remembers former husband and close friend, Chidanand Rajghatta.
'The summer of 1857 saw violence, perpetrated by the Indians and the Britons, on an unprecedented scale.' 'Never before and never after in the history of British rule in India was there violence at the level that 1857 witnessed.'
Bangladesh's violence-plagued general elections, being boycotted by opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, on Sunday witnessed low turn out in initial hours amid heavy security, as voters preferred to stay inside home fearing violence that has left six persons dead in last 12 hours.
Tales By Light is devoted to the kind of nature photography that appears on the pages of Nat Geo, but it exposes viewers to fascinating vistas that have only partly to do with photography, says Vikram Johri.
Despite its many problems, A Death in the Gunj is an important work says Sreehari Nair.
