Here's your weekly digest of the craziest and funniest stories from around the world.
At the start of the English football season last August, bookmakers in Britain were offering odds of 5,000-1 against LeicesterCity winning the Premier League. 5,000-1? Now, let's put that into perspective.
As per the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Oxford overtakes Cambridge as Britain's best research university.
Muslim community members came in large numbers to support the Dalit community in their campaign.
Models.com recently released its 2015 rankings of the top female models in the business.
This week's collection of stories that prove we live in a truly mad, mad world.
As we celebrate the spirit of childhood, here are some children who've made India proud.
Here's this week's collection of wacky and funny stories from around the world.
The transformation of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, once a naive politician, into the most elastic entities in Indian politics is complete.
When it boils down to matters of discipline, Pullela Gopichand has no peers with PV Sindhu learning it the hard way since her formative years at the legendary coach's academy.
'She really doesn't care if she is called heartless.' 'For her, the job needs to be done. That's all that matters.'
Communist Party of India-Marxist Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan will be the next Chief Minister of Kerala.
'Does it make any difference to you, that one of our doctors almost lost his vision, while you delayed in immediately getting the right care for your family member, as per his advice?'
'A Life With Wildlife is a must for all who are concerned about how a billion Indians will coexist with over 500 mammals and 1,300 birds, not to mention 25,000 flowering plant species in the new century,' says Mahesh Rangarajan.
Every year, for thousands of years, the Sonepur Mela, transforms a small rural town in north Bihar into a giant fair.
Rediff reader Celeste Tudu who recently joined Bongaigaon College in Guwahati writes about the nervousness and simple joys of his first day in college.
The earthquake epicentred in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan struck at around 2.40 pm, sending ripples across several states like Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi- National Capital Region, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
'I've seen the craze for English education even among the poorest. But that is only for their sons. Parents feel thrilled when they see their sons going to school wearing a tie. They don't mind paying for their sons' private tuitions too.' 'But daughters are sent to municipal schools, madarsas, small schools where teachers with no teaching skills are paid Rs 2,000 or Rs 4,000. That's why more girls come to my class.' Syed Feroze Ashraf, who has sent 500-odd girls (and a few boys) -- all first generation learners, children of grave-diggers, hawkers, rickshaw-drivers, tailors and watchmen -- to college, speaks to Jyoti Punwani. A Rediff.com Special.
Anil Swarup, who conceived the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana -- a scheme the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organisation recognised as among the finest -- speaks to Anjuli Bhargava.
'Let us see the tricolour flutter and soar as we park our vehicles, as we play cricket in the gullies, as we surf the Internet, as we enter our places of worship,' says Ankita Athawale.
Daniel Carder said he's surprised to see such a hullabaloo now, because his team's findings were made public nearly a year and a half ago.
Happy with her latest move, Indrani departed from Courtroom 51 with a spring in her step. The woman who hopped up into the jail truck was a cheerful one.
Technology and social media are great tools to fight injustice, says Abhijit Masih, use them!
Jaya Puri Gharti, who served as a cabinet minister during the Maoists' term in government, tells Patrick Ward about the issues facing Nepal and the difficult road to reconciliation.
While his critics described him as a leader 'with no smile on his face, and the most feared politician in Kerala', his party rivals have often accused him of deviating from the party line.
The DMK combine has won 37 of the 38 LS constituencies in Tamil Nadu, and bagged 13 of the 22 assembly bypolls. What swept away the AIADMK-BJP alliance in the southern state was not dravidian ideology but job loss and graft bias, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Sriram Raghavan is mainstream Hindi cinema's greatest gift to us,' declares Sreehari Nair after watching the director's latest movie caper.
'Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed.' 'I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him.' 'He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police,' points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
At 15, she has already written two books on poetry and a novel. Meet the fascinating Zuni Chopra.
Sandeep Mawa is a Kashmiri Pandit married to a Kashmiri Muslim, intent upon spreading the message of love and Kashmiriyat through his campaign. He wants to hug Assaduddin Owaisi, Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and do a pau lago to Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi.
I am only suggesting greater sensitisation and understanding of adults' sexual and lifestyle choices, says Shekhar Gupta.
Pakistan on Sunday ordered a judicial probe into sectarian clashes in Rawalpindi that killed at least 10 people as authorities imposed curfew for the second day, turning the garrison city into a ghost town.
The owners of English soccer champions Leicester City say they will resist attempts by more glamorous rivals to lure away their title-winning players, after an unlikely triumph that has captured the imagination of fans worldwide. Duty-free magnate Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha became the first Thai owner of an English Premier League title-winning team on Monday night, when the only club capable of catching them, Tottenham Hotspur, were held to a 2-2 draw by Chelsea. Leicester's journey from 5,000-1 outsiders to English champions has captivated soccer lovers everywhere, but also prompted predictions that the team could be broken up in the off-season as bigger clubs look to poach their best players. "We are not the team that will sell players for money," said Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the club's vice chairman and Vichai's son, in comments reported by Thai website Manager. "So, I can confirm that we will keep all major players with the team, such as Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante or Kasper Schmeichel."
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
You'll be forgiven for salivating over these droolworthy pics that will give you a 'foodgasm'!
'We must delink religion from politics' 'Leaders with vested interests have brought religion into politics.' Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, the BJP candidate against Mamata Banerjee, on the campaign trail.
Ramdev's Patanjali is a low-cost, low-margin business that gets away with pretty much what it wants because wily old Ramdev knows how to get around all politicians, says Vir Sanghvi.
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