INTERNATIONAL PAPERS, Monday 17 September: Pakistan Today reports on the violent clashes outside Karachi’s US embassy; the Times of India has more muted coverage of the same story; we look at the different responses from Chinese and Japanese media to anti-Japan protests in Beijing; and one story dominates British media – the Duchess of Cambridge’s topless photographs!
When India and Pakistan separated in 1947, a large number of Hindus chose to live in Muslim-majority Pakistan. But now they want to leave. In August, over 500 Hindu families crossed the border from Pakistan into India, ostensibly on a pilgrimage. Soon after crossing the border, many of them announced that they would not go back to Pakistan due to the rising number of atrocities against the Hindu minority there, including kidnappings and forced conversions to Islam.
Cows may be regarded as highly sacred by India’s Hindu population, but the country is one of the world’s biggest beef exporters. We try to make sense of this paradox. Next, Burmese authorities decide to loosen censorship restrictions, giving the press a taste of freedom of speech. Finally, we take a look at why Chinese beaches are increasingly popular holiday hotspots amongst the country’s burgeoning middle class.
India blocks hundreds of web pages following threats of inter-ethnic violence. In the US, Republican congressman Todd Akin continues to face strong criticism online. And a 5 foot 6 high-school basketball player becomes the latest web sensation.
This week we head to India, where we count the cost incurred by the biggest blackout in history, affecting more than half a billion people. Next, UN officials investigate a recent spate of inter-communal violence in Burma that killed dozens. Finally, an unlikely tourist destination in Cambodia invites visitors to relive a chapter from the country's dark and no-so-distant past.
India was hit by huge power cuts this week that left 620 million without electricity. It was hugely embarrassing for the government, demonstrating just how the energy sector has failed to keep up with the rapidly growing Indian economy. India is the sixth biggest consumer of energy in the world and demand is constantly increasing. Yet, given the size of its 1.2 billion population, energy consumption per capita remains among the lowest in the world.
Power in India was fully restored on Wednesday after two days of grid failures in several states caused massive blackouts that affected around 600 million people.
India was hit by a second day of major blackouts on Tuesday after grids in a dozen states went down, leaving around half of the country’s 1.2 billion population without power.
INTERNATIONAL PAPERS, Tues. 31/07/12: The International Herald Tribune looks at the rise of jihadist fighters in Syria; India suffers its worst power cut in a decade; The Guardian looks at the doping scandal that's tainted an Olympic gold medal winner; and London's mayor says otters and athletes are very alike.
Indian police investigating a bomb attack that wounded an Israeli diplomat in Delhi last February have laid responsibility at the door of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, The Times of India newspaper has reported.
