Open Magazine - Top Stories

Nepal Floods: Over 150 Dead, Nearly 400 Missing as Gandak Surge Puts Bihar, UP on Alert
Nepal Floods: Over 150 Dead, Nearly 400 Missing as Gandak Surge Puts Bihar, UP on Alert
6 min read
The Bhotekoshi flash flood has buried settlements, swept away bridges and trapped workers inside a hydropower tunnel near the Tibet border. Over 100 Indians are among those out of contact, while Bihar ...
Mohan Bhagwat in New York: Why Mamdani Opposes the RSS Event but May Be Unable to Stop It
7 min read
The RSS calls it a celebration of universal oneness. USCIRF wants Bhagwat’s visa revoked, rights groups want the gathering cancelled and a Hindu advocacy organisation has issued a security alert. Yet ...
Cockroaches, Expired Food, Rotten Fruit: How FSSAI is Putting India's Kitchens Under the Scanner
5 min read
Two luxury hotels in Delhi's Aerocity are under scrutiny after Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) inspections reportedly uncovered expired food, pest infestations and dozens of hygie ...
Meta’s $17 Billion Child-Safety Settlement: Will Instagram Finally Put the Brakes on Teen Scrolling?
8 min read
Teenagers face a two-hour daily cap, an overnight lockout, muted school-hour notifications and hidden likes under Meta’s proposed settlement with US states. But messaging, personalised feeds and targe ...
Dolly Parton's Smartest Business Move Was Saying No to Elvis: How the Country Legend Built a $450 Million Empire
4 min read
Dolly Parton is being remembered as the Queen of Country Music. But behind the rhinestones, wigs and chart-topping hits was one of the sharpest business minds in entertainment—an entrepreneur whose bo ...
Starc Reality vs Boom Boom Bumrah: Who is Test Cricket’s Real No. 1?
6 min read
At 36, Mitchell Starc has reached the top of the ICC Test bowling rankings for the first time after 107 Tests, 445 wickets and a 10-wicket demolition of Bangladesh. Jasprit Bumrah has slipped while in ...
Aashirvaad’s Fit Maveli: When Advertising Gave Onam a Metabolic Makeover
6 min read
Aashirvaad replaced Onam’s familiar pot-bellied king with a fitter Maveli who recommends balanced meals and exercise. The health message is playful. But the commercial mission is heavier: can atta bor ...
Before Rohit Shetty, there was Kuku Kohli: The filmmaker behind Ajay Devgn's debut and Bollywood's mass-market era
3 min read
The filmmaker who launched Ajay Devgn with Phool Aur Kaante and delivered some of the biggest commercial entertainers of the 1990s has died at 77. But why does his influence extend far beyond a single ...
A Broken Shoulder, a Local Train and a Pistol: How Suruchi Phogat Shot Her Way into the Indian Jersey
8 min read
Her father wanted her to wrestle. A shattered shoulder ended that dream before it had properly begun. At 13, Suruchi Phogat picked up a pistol and started travelling nearly 100 kilometres by train to ...