Open Magazine - Top Stories

Trump shortens US-South Korea drills, Seoul says it got no advance notice: What happens next?
Trump shortens US-South Korea drills, Seoul says it got no advance notice: What happens next?
4 min read
The US has pushed to shorten Ulchi Freedom Shield from 11 days to five, with Seoul and Washington agreeing to end the exercise on August 21. But for Seoul, the bigger question is not just the six days ...
Satwik-Chirag reach BWF Worlds pre-quarters without hitting a single shot: Here’s how
2 min read
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have reached the BWF World Championships pre-quarterfinals after Alexander Dunn and Adam Pringle withdrew, handing India’s top men’s doubles pair a walkover i ...
Third Child, Full-Year Leave: Why Vijay’s Tamil Nadu Government Is Rethinking Family Policy
4 min read
Tamil Nadu has extended one-year maternity leave to women government employees for a third child, bringing the benefit on par with the first two children as the state’s demographic profile changes.
Sprite Missed the Summer Rush. Then It Caught a Train
4 min read
Last week, Sprite wrapped the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express in green for six months. The monsoon launch looks off-season, but the brand is betting that a train people remember can travel much farther th ...
PV Sindhu was struggling. Virat Kohli gave her one simple instruction — and then came the comeback
4 min read
At one of the lowest points of her career, badminton player PV Sindhu told cricketer Virat Kohli that “nothing is happening”. His response was simple. Months later, Sindhu was a Japan Open champion.
Kolkata hotel fire kills 9, exposes a dangerous question: How safe are the city’s budget hotels?
4 min read
A pre-dawn blaze at a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street killed nine people, including a four-year-old child. The deaths have put Kolkata’s crowded hotel district and its fire-safety practices under fresh s ...
Missiles, Money and Hormuz: Why the UAE Suspended Trade With Iran — And What Happens Next
4 min read
The UAE has halted all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran “until further notice” after accusing Tehran of launching two ballistic missiles towards maritime traffic. Iran ...
The Invisible French Giant: How Sarovar quietly became India's third-largest hotel company
13 min read
Everyone knows Taj. Everyone knows Marriott. Everyone knows Radisson. Few know Sarovar. Fewer still know it is now French-owned. Yet, over three decades, the company quietly built one of India's bigge ...
‘Hormuz is now United Strait of America’
4 min read
Donald Trump has shared an AI-generated image labelling the Strait of Hormuz “NEW U.S. Territory” as Iran insists the vital waterway will remain closed until Washington meets its demands.
open magazine cover
14 Aug 2026 - Vol 05 | Issue 33

Freedom Issue 2026

Shashi Tharoor on being radical liberal | Ram Madhav on how Gandhi used his Hinduism | TCA Raghavan on a diplomat's travels in history | Sumana Roy on the novel beyond the Booker | Carlo Pizzati on the dissolution of Borders
Behold Gandhi the Hindu: How Sanatana Dharma Shaped India’s Independence Movement and Nationalism
Testament of a Radical Liberal
Freedom Issue 2026: Editor's Note
The Capital of Mobilisation: Delhi and the unfinished argument of the Republic