In Time: Babri Masjid Demolition

1992: Mob rips apart mosque in Ayodhya

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Hindu militants have demolished the Babri Mosque and attacked other Muslim targets, in one of India's worst outbreaks of communal violence.

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> Timeline: Ayodhya crisis

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In Context

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The destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya triggered some of the worst inter-communal violence since partition in 1947. More than 2,000 people died in rioting throughout India. The BJP's leader, LK Advani, resigned as leader of the opposition, accepting "moral responsibility".

He subsequently became deputy PM in the BJP government of Atal Behari Vajpayee. He was among seven Hindu leaders ordered to stand trial in 2003 for inciting violence at Ayodhya. In February 2002, one of the Hindu groups involved in the 1992 demonstration, the VHP, again called hundreds of volunteers to the site to begin construction of the temple.


> In pictures: Ayodhya attack

> Q&A: The Ayodhya dispute


About Ayodhya: Lying on the banks of the Ghaghara River just east of Faizabad, Ayodhya in ancient times was one of India's greatest cities. It was the capital of Kosala, as described in the Ramayana.

On YouTube: Demolition of Babri Masjid

Pirates of Bangladesh

Seen on: YouTube

The shipping routes off the coast of Bangladesh are among the most important in the world, but they're also some of the most dangerous because of rampant piracy. Al Jazeera's Nicholas Haque reports from the Bay of Bengal on pirates, as well as the shaky administration, whose job it is to combat this growing problem.

AP Video: Mumbai Under Siege

Seen on: YouTube

There has been widespread international condemnation of the series of shootings across the Indian city of Mumbai in which more than 100 people have been killed.

AlJazeera Video: Mumbai Terror Attacks

Seen on: YouTube

More than 100 people are dead after a series of attacks across Mumbai, India's financial capital. Parts of the city are still under siege after the attackers stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a crowded train station and a hospital.

Image Day - Taj Mahal Hotel

Fire engulfs a part of the Taj Mahal Hotel as firemen try to douse it in Mumbai, India. Teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in co-ordinated attacks across India's financial capital, killing at least 78 people.

> Image by AP

AP Video: Mumbai Terror Attacks

Seen on: YouTube

Teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital Wednesday night, killing at least 78 people and taking Westerners hostage.

Links: Mumbai Terror Attacks

Related links on the appalling terror attacks in Mumbai:

• Twitter
  The death toll from the terrorists attack in Mumbai has risen to at least 87; 900 reported injured; attack still unfolding at locations.


• In pictures: Mumbai attacks
  Gunmen have launched co-ordinated attacks at several sites in the Indian city of Mumbai, killing scores. Police told people to stay inside.


• India: Terror attacks continue in Mumbai
  In what appears to be a surreal sense of reality, television channels are airing footage from various places in Southern Mumbai.


• Scores killed in Mumbai attacks
  "The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed. The encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them," A.N. Roy, a senior police officer, said.


• Mumbai gunmen kill 80, Western hostages taken
  "The terrorists are throwing grenades at us from the rooftop of the Taj and trying to stop us," Ashok Patil, a police inspector told Reuters.

Latest: Mumbai Terror Attacks

Shivnath Thukral reports for NDTV that fire is still being exchanged between the security forces and terrorists inside the historic Taj Hotel.

According to NDTV reports, three terrorists have been killed, while a number of gunmen remain at large inside the hotel compounds. Indian security forces are still struggling to bring the situation in control and authorities are advising people to stay away from the scene of the attacks, which include prominent city locations like the Trident Hotel.

Times Video: Mumbai Terror Strikes

Seen on: YouTube

Gunmen have carried out a series of co-ordinated attacks across the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing at least 80 people and injuring 200.

Life in Kashmir

Seen on: YouTube

India is having its moment. Having shed the bonds of colonialism, years of bitter civil strife and a stagnant economy, the country boasts nine percent growth a year with a capable middle class and world-beating industry. But just beneath the veneer lies an underclass that has been left behind.

>> Kashmir Activists Don't See Guns as the Answer

India Smoking Ban

Seen on: YouTube

Up to 900,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases in India. It is feared that the yearly toll could rise to one million people by 2010.

> Smoking curbs: The global picture

Faced with these startling figures, the government is instituting toughter smoking bans. But will it be enough? Al Jazeera's Matt McClure reports from Delhi.

From my prison

"Taslima Nasreen survives under the constant threat of fatwas in India and Bangladesh. But, in France she is receiving the Simone de Beauvoir prize."

>> Taslima Nasreen: The France-24 Interview

Bangladesh War-Crimes: Part two

In 1972, the president of Bangladesh issued an order which established special tribunals to prosecute Bangladeshi citizens who had collaborated with the Pakistani armed forces during 1971. Thereafter, India and Bangladesh agreed to bring criminal charges against certain Pakistani prisoners of war held by India.

In anticipation of these trials, Bangladesh Published Act No. XIX of 1973, which was entitled "An Act to provide for the detention, prosecution and punishment of persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law."

As Bangladesh prepared for the prosecution, Pakistan filed an action before the International Court of Justice. The basis of Pakistan's action against India was predicated on the grounds that India had detained 92,000 Pakistani prisoners of war in violation of the third and fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Pakistan claimed that pursuant to these conventions, India had the duty to repatriate these persons at the conclusion of the conflict. However, India did not continue the repatriation of the detainees that it had begun in 1972, because it claimed that it had agreed with Bangladesh to surrender to that country those persons whose number exceeded ten thousand, and who were to be charged with genocide. By 1973, the exact number was fixed at 195.

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

> Bangladesh War-Crimes: Part one

Image Day - Bangalore

A seller waits for buyers at a local vegetable market in Bangalore. India's key inflation rate has surged, raising the possibility of interest-rates rising.

> AP Images

Image Day - India's inflation

An Indian customer checks out different varieties of rice at a wholesale market in the old quarters of New Delhi. India has scrapped import duties on edible oil and tightened restrictions on rice exports to rein in inflation that has hit a peak.

> Getty Images

Bangladesh War-Crimes: Part one

In 1971, Golam Azam, then chief of East Pakistan wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami, actively collaborated with the Pakistani military junta and helped organize paramilitary forces (called Razakars and al-Badrs) that were akin to killing squads. In the last days of the liberation war, Golam Azam fled to Pakistan.

In February 1972, the government issued a subpoena to Golam Azam to appear before a local court. Later, the Bangladesh government canceled his citizenship (along with that of thirty-eight others) on April 18, 1973.

After the liberation of Bangladesh, Golam Azam took refuge in Saudi Arabia and the UK and engaged in anti-Bangladesh propaganda.

After the coup d'etat of 1975 and the political changes that ensued, Azam attempted to return to Bangladesh. After several failed attempts, he finally succeeded in 1978 and on July 11 re-entered Bangladesh.

Golam Azam's return was made possible by a series of steps taken by the military regime. But the atmosphere for change in legal provisions that finally resulted in his return was created during the reign of Mujib.

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

> Bangladesh War-Crimes: Part two

Image Day - Holi Ke Din

People sing and dance as they celebrate Holi, festival of colors, in Ahmedabad.

> AP Images

Juvenile-Justice in Bangladesh: Part one

As in many countries, the situation of children coming into conflict with the law is an issue of serious concern in Bangladesh. The Committee on the Rights of the Child in its concluding observations of 2003 expressed its concern over "the limited progress achieved in establishing a functioning justice system".

In the absence of a proper functioning juvenile system, no accurate statistical information is available on the actual number of children in conflict with law.

The 1974 Children Act is the main law concerning children in Bangladesh, but it deals both with children in need of protection/care as well as children in conflict with the law. Other laws, such as the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, also contain provision regarding children in conflict with the law.

Related Link: Children's Voices

Key Statistics

• Child population (under 18 years) - 59.5 million
• Minimum age of criminal responsibility - 9 years
• Age when children can be tried as adults - 16 years
• Number of child development centres - 3

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

> Image by Ahmed Sharif

Image Day - 'Holi in Kolkata'

A girl participates in the celebrations for the spring season during Holi, the festival of colours, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. The tradition of Holi heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world.

> Reuters Pictures

Google-Trends India

About Google Trends India
With Google Trends, you can compare the world's interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they've been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions.

About Hot Trends
With Hot Trends, you can see a snapshot of what's on the public's collective mind by viewing the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. You can see a list of today's top 100 fastest-rising search queries. You can also select a recent date in history to see what the top rising searches were.

1. How does Google Trends work?

Google analyzes a portion of web searches to compute how many searches have been done, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.

2. How does Hot Trends work?

Hot Trends reflects what people are searching for on Google today. Rather than showing the most popular searches overall, which would always be generic terms like "weather," Hot Trends highlights searches that have sudden surges in popularity. The algorithm analyzes millions of web searches performed on Google and displays those searches that deviate the most from their historic traffic pattern. The algorithm also filters out spam and removes inappropriate material.

For each search, Hot Trends shows related searches, a search-volume graph, and the top cities. It also displays news, blog, and web results to help give context about why a search may be appearing on the Hot Trends list today.

Hot Trends is updated hourly. You can also choose a date in the past to see what the top Hot Trends for that date were.

3. How many terms can I compare? Any other functionality?

You can compare up to five terms by separating each with a comma. To compare trend info for "bollywood" and "hollywood," for example, simply enter bollywood, hollywood and click "Search Trends."

To see how many searches contained either of two terms, just separate those terms with a vertical bar: "|". For example, to determine how many searches contained the terms "mittens" or "gloves," just enter bollywood | hollywood.

To compare multi-word terms, use parentheses. To see how many searches were done for either "bollywood music" or "music," for instance, just enter (bollywood music) | music (if you don't use parentheses, your query will be interpreted to mean all searches for "bollywood music" or "hollywood music").

You can also exclude terms from your search by using the minus sign.

To see how many searches contained the term "maps" butnot "google," for instance, just enter maps-google. To restrict your results to only those searches that contain your terms in the specific order you've entered them, you can put your terms in quotation marks. (By default, Google Trends will show you all searches that contain the terms you entered in any order.)

Note: when you use any of these advanced features -- quotation marks, minus signs, or vertical bars -- Google Trends will only display the search-volume graph.

4. Can I change the time frame, region, or sub-region of the results?

You can use the drop-down boxes under the search volume graph of the Google Trends results page to restrict your results to a particular time frame or region. The restrictions will affect both the search-volume and news-reference-volume graphs, and the city, region, and language data that appear below the graphs, though news-reference volume may not be available on a per region basis.

When you restrict your results to a specific year or multi-year period, each point on the graph will represent a week's worth of searches. When you restrict the results to a specific month, each point on the graph will represent one day of searches. You can now also select a time frame of the last 30 days or 12 months.

To view the results for a particular sub-region, just use the drop-down boxes or click on the link for a particular country or sub-region on the results page.

5. How do the Cities, Regions, Sub-regions and Languages work?

Google Trends uses IP address information from server logs to make a best guess about where queries originated. Language information is determined by the language version of the Google site on which the search was originally entered.

6. How does counting and ranking of the Top Cities, Regions and Languages work, and what does 'normalized' mean?

For counting and ranking cities, Google Trends first looks at a sample of all Google searches to determine the cities from which it received the most searches for your first term. Then, for those top cities, Google Trends calculates the ratio of searches for your term coming from each city divided by total Google searches coming from the same city. The city ranking you see on the page and the bar charts alongside each city name both represent this ratio. When cities' ratios are fairly close together, the corresponding bar graphs will be roughly the same length, and the exact ranking between these cities is less meaningful.

Essentially, all results from Google Trends are normalized. This means it divided the sets of data by a common variable to cancel out the variable's effect on the data and allow the underlying characteristics of the data sets to be compared. If it didn't normalize the results, and instead displayed the absolute rankings of cities, they wouldn't be all that interesting. For example, New York city would be the top city for many results because there are lots of searches from there.

7. What about my personal search data?

Your personal search data remains safe and private. The graphs are based on aggregated data from millions of searches done on Google over time. And the results Google Trends displays are produced entirely by an automated formula.

8. How accurate and up-to-date is the information?

Google Trends is a Google Labs product, which means it's still in its early stages of development. The data Google Trends produces may contain inaccuracies for a number of reasons, including data-sampling issues.