Rising geopolitical tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over tit-for-tat air raids following the Pulwama terror attack that Masood Azhar-led outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed continues to raise concern over global media.
Even on the day of the historic second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and explosive revelations by Trump former aide Michael Cohen the world's worries of about an escalation of conflict between two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours were evident in the media.
The New York Times, even though preoccupied by the events unfolding in Vietnam where President Trump shook hands with his former 'Rocket Man' and in Washington where Republican attack on Cohen failed to diminish the damning nature of Cohen's remarks, devoted a lot of attention to rising tension between New Delhi and Islamabad and writes about the need for de-escalation.
The Washington Post features the report of the capture of Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman after shooting down the Indian Air Force (IAF) Soviet-era MiG-21 after intercepting three intruding fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) over the line of control (LoC) in Kashmir. The newspaper also carries a report on New Delhi's allegation about Islamabad's violation of the Geneva Conventions for treatment of prisoners of war (PoW) by exhibiting in public the pilot who landed in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and was arrested.
BBC world news writes on how the IAF's air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province using Dassault Mirage 2000 attack aircraft raises the stakes of the India-Pakistan standoff over Kashmir. The report also alludes the rising war rhetoric on both sides of the border and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech vowing revenge for terror strikes.
The closure of its air space by Pakistan has been a prominent theme of world media coverage. CNN, whose website is carrying live updates on the border tensions, reports Thai Airways decision not suspend flights to European destinations and fly outside Pakistani air space.
Newspapers based in the Persian Gulf region that host a large number of Indian and Pakistani expatriate workers have been devoting a lot of space to developments between the two South Asian neighbours.
Gulf News from Dubai, the main commercial centre of United Arab Emirates (UAE), has extensive coverage and live updates of the happening across the Arabian Sea. India and Pakistan are major trading partners of the UAE.
The suspension of the Samjhauta Express train that runs between the two nations and capture of Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman are prominently featured on the website. The cancellation of UAE airlines flights to Pakistan after the closure of that country's airspace is also reported.
Al Jazeera from Doha takes to villagers in Balakot and reports that the IAF Mirage 2000 combat aircraft hit a vacant wooded area without causing any damage to property or major human casualties. The website has a picture of a villager with a bandaged head who claimed he was hit by shrapnel when he ran out of home hearing loud explosions in a nearby wheat field.
