1. INDIA

1. INDIA

The Hindu, New Delhi, March 30: The twin bomb blasts in Moscow’s crowded metro that killed 38 people and wounded 65 were a horrible reminder of continuing Islamist violence in Russia’s troublesome North Caucasus.

Female suicide bombers carried out the strikes — a trademark tactic of Chechen terrorists.

After Chechnya was pacified in the mid-2000s, violence spread to the neighboring North Caucasus regions, where massive poverty, unemployment, and rampant corruption provided fertile ground for extremism.

President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to fight terrorism “without hesitation, to the end.” At the same time, the Kremlin has shifted the emphasis away from a security crackdown to promoting economic development, rooting out corruption, and clamping down on economic crime.

2. IRELAND

The Irish Independent, Dublin, March 25: The row between Google and China can be expressed in simple, practical terms. If you type “Tiananmen Square Massacre” into a Google search engine in mainland China you are greeted by the response: “Search unavailable.” If you make the same search in Bangkok, for instance, where freedom of speech is far less restricted, you will be directed to sites describing the massacre of 1989.

China’s government wants its people to hit an investigative dead end. Google has decided to circumnavigate government censorship by rerouting traffic through its Hong Kong engine.

Censorship, civilian espionage, uncertainty about the rule of law: it adds up to a serious list. China has put short-term self-interest ahead of winning friends or fulfilling its promises to the World Trade Organizations.