Hot News Mix: Diving Into India’s Fair Skin Obsession, You’re Probably At Risk For Cancer, + More

fairlovely_small• Panic time! Cancer rates are rising for Indian- and Pakistani-Americans — at a time when they seem to be experiencing a slight downturn for the nation as a whole. [India-West]

• Moni Basu’s written this excellent dissection into India’s obsession with white skin. One subject — former Miss India Pria Warrick — suggests that it would take an Indian icon of Oprah Winfrey’s stature to temper the nation’s obsession with fair skin. [CNN]

• Hitting Switzerland soon? You may want to skip the Swiss canton of Ticino, which just outlawed burqas. [WSJ]

• Any article that begins “India often finds itself embarrassingly high on the corruption index, rating among the most corrupt countries in the world,” is probably not going to inspire confidence about the subcontinent. Which is why finding out that Mumbai may be the second most honest city in the world according to a recent survey is a welcome surprise! [Times of India]

zayn malik beard• EVERYONE STOP THE PRESSES! Noted One Direction heartthrob Zayn Malik has a beard. Update: It looks a bit dicey, doesn’t it? [EntertainmentWise]

• India is set to build the largest solar power plant in the world, covering about 23,000 acres of land and intended to generate 4 gigawatts of power. [ThinkProgress]

• How dare a school in the Nashville ‘burbs try to educate its students about world religions by taking them to a mosque and a temple! Thankfully, the shrill cries of some small-minded parents put an end to that. Tolerance! What a facocta concept, amirite? [NY Daily News]

Rohin Guha is a contributing editor at The Aerogram. Follow him on Twitter @ohrohin. Find The Aerogram on Twitter @theaerogram.

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