Despatches : Curated and Edited Selections from The Hindu's Weekly Page on International Affairs Despatches 2017-2018

We have been "India's National Newspaper from 1878", as we declare below our masthead. But international news coverage has also been a key strength of The Hindu's journalism. From its infanthood as a daily in 1889, The Hindu had a foreign correspondent based in London. The fortnightly newsletters filed by the London correspondent were published on the Leader page and were a popular and important feature in those days. Over the years, the number of foreign correspondents increased, as the newspaper thought it was important to carry independent international news reports for our readers.

At one point of time, The Hindu had foreign correspondents in places as far-flung as Washington, London, Colombo, Durban, Singapore, Islamabad, Kathmandu, Moscow, Tokyo and Dubai. Even today, we have more foreign contributors than most, if not all, Indian newspapers.

The idea of Dispatches was born out of the conviction that we provide additional play for our international coverage with weekly reports that took a larger perspective on the news developments of the week. The page was introduced in the new The Hindu on Sunday, which was launched on February 19, 2017. Over the past couple of years, Dispatches has brought hundreds of original reports from more than 30 foreign locations including Lahore, Kabul, Manila, Brussels, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Addis Ababa, Hanoi, Bethlehem, Seoul and Tashkent. These are reports about the events and personalities that shape the contemporary era - such as the civil war in Syria, the insurgency in Afghanistan, the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S., the changes in Japan's pacifist national security doctrine or the unfolding refugee crisis in Europe. In other words, Dispatches is an informed glimpse into contemporary world history.

Our foreign editor Stanly Johny has chosen what he believed are among the most relevant reports and arranged them thematically for better reading. If you have an interest in the events that have recently played out on the global stage, then this is just the book for you.

**Contents and Sample Pages**