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England’s Maro Itoje will captain the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their upcoming tour of Australia, it was announced Thursday.The 30-year-old lock only took over as England skipper ahead of this season’s Six Nations and guided the side to a creditable second-placed finish behind champions France.Now he has been chosen as skipper for a Lions tour including three Tests against the Wallabies by head coach, Andy Farrell, seconded from his day job as Ireland boss.”It’s hard to articulate,” said Itoje after taking the stage at London’s O2 Arena for a squad announcement where fans were present for the first time.”It’s a tremendous honour, it’s a tremendous privilege. You think about the people who have held this position before and it’s remarkable. It’s an honour and I will do my very best to make sure I can contribute to a successful tour.”Itoje, a previous two-time tourist with the Lions — a side made up of leading players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales — is the first English player to lead the combined team since Martin Johnson in 2001. A tour featuring three Tests with the Wallabies will in fact start with a fixture against Argentina in Dublin on June 20.The first Test against Australia will be in Brisbane on July 19, with two more internationals in Melbourne (July 26) and Sydney (August 2).Australia have long been regarded as the easiest side for the Lions, who only tour every four years, to beat.The only other teams they have played series against in their 137-year history are New Zealand and South Africa, the traditional powerhouses of the 15-a-side code who have won seven World Cups between them.Indeed the last time the Lions won a Test series was their 2-1 success against Australia back in 2013. But the Wallabies have been making significant progress since Joe Schmidt took charge shortly after a woeful 2023 World Cup in France, where they failed to reach the knockout stage for the first time.The Kiwi coach also has the added advantage of knowing several Lions players, and indeed Andy Farrell, well following his six-year stint as Ireland boss.

Australia women’s football captain Sam Kerr and her partner Kristie Mewis announced Thursday the birth of their first child. The footballing couple, who are due to be married later this December, announced that they were expecting a baby back in November. “Our little man is here. Jagger Mewis-Kerr,” the pair said in an Instagram post on Thursday. Matildas star Kerr is a striker for English Women’s Super League champions Chelsea, while United States international Mewis plays for London rivals West Ham.  In February, Kerr was found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment after calling a British police officer “stupid and white” following a drunken night out.However, the judge at the court in London said the 31-year-old’s “behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation”.

Madasar Choudhary said his sister saw two children killed in the town of Poonch that bore the brunt of this week’s shelling by Pakistan, with India saying a total of 13 people died there.”She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” Choudhary, 29, from the town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that was bombarded on Wednesday, told AFP.”But shrapnel hit the children — and they eventually died,” Choudhary said. His sister was still too distraught to talk.The deadly artillery barrage that killed a total of 16 people and injured dozens more hours after India launched strikes on Pakistan.Those was in response to an attack in the disputed Kashmir region on April 22 that killed 26 people and which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad — a charge it rejects.Islamabad said that the Indian strikes and firing along the border has killed 31 civilians.- Shattered glass -Dazed, shocked and in mourning, other Poonch residents described being terrified in the long hours of bombardment that began in the dead of night.”A shell fell… It was right next to our house, where we were. It fell and we panicked… a glass window shattered,” said Shariyar Ali, 25, a student.Ali, like hundreds of others, has since fled with his family some 30 kilometres (20 miles) away to the small town of Surankote, further away from the range of the guns.”The shelling around my home caused many casualties”, said Kumail Nadeem, 25, another student who ran from Poonch. “We knew personally those killed.””We have seen shelling before, the border is like three kilometres away,” said Zaheer Ahmed Banday, 30, who runs a small shop in Poonch.”But when they hit the city, that was unexpected. I picked up a shirt and trousers, phone and charger, and left the house as is.”- ‘Each drop of blood’ -Much of Poonch — where buildings hit by artillery fire could be seen — is now deserted, but a few people have stayed.”Where can we go?” said businessman Arvinder Pal Singh, 40, who had hunkered down with his wife, two children and parents during the shelling.”We spent the night huddled on the ground floor of our house. We haven’t seen this fear and shelling like this — ever.”Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in an address to the nation late Wednesday, vowed to “avenge each drop of the blood” of those killed by India’s strikes.”Everyone is afraid”, said Sohail Sarwar, 30, a shopkeeper in Surankote.This was echoed by fellow grocery store owner, Sanjay Ghai, 60, who said people were buying essential items in case of more bombardment.”There is so much fear and panic about what could happen in the coming days. People are stocking up,” Ghai told AFP.India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.Muslim-majority Kashmir — claimed by both India and Pakistan — has been a repeated flashpoint.But for younger generations, the violence was the worst they had witnessed.”I have never seen such intense shelling in my lifetime, it is something that my parents used to tell us about”, added Nadeem. “It is something very new for us, which is why we are also afraid.”Iqbal Singh, 75, a tailor in Poonch, was the only non-essential business open in the market on Thursday.”I’ve lived through 1965, 1971, 1999 wars and everything in between. This is just another episode. It’s okay,” he told AFP at his shop next to a Sikh temple that was damaged in the shelling.”It too shall pass.”

Pakistan’s army said Thursday it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades.Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border.At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children.Pakistan’s military said in a statement Thursday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan’s military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said from the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, where a drone was downed.”One managed to engage in a military target near Lahore,” he said, adding that four troops in the city were injured.He earlier said the operation was ongoing.One civilian was killed and another injured in Sindh as a result of the drone incidents. Crowds gathered at crash sites, some close to army installations, to gaze at the debris. Blasts could be heard across Lahore.The Civil Aviation Authority said Karachi airport was closed until 6 pm (1300 GMT), while Islamabad and Lahore were briefly shut “for operational reasons”.Pakistan and Indian have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority disputed region of Kashmir — divided between the two but claimed in full by both.”We will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Sharif said, in an address to the nation.- ‘Right to respond’ -Speaking after the Wednesday missile strike, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said New Delhi had a “right to respond” following an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation for the Pahalgam shooting, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation into the April 22 attack.India said on Wednesday it had destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in “focused, measured and non-escalatory” strikes.Islamabad said Wednesday that 31 civilians were killed by Indian strikes and firing along the border.New Delhi said 13 civilians and a soldier had been killed by Pakistani fire.Pakistan’s military also said five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.- ‘Screamed’ -The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjabi city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people according to the Pakistan military. Muhammad Riaz said he and his family had been made homeless after Indian strikes hit Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.”There is no place to live,” he said. “There is no space at the house of our relatives. We are very upset, we have nowhere to go.”On the Indian side of the frontier on Wednesday, Madasar Choudhary, 29, described how his sister saw two children killed in Poonch, where Pakistan military carried out shelling. “She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” Choudhary said, narrating her account because she was too shocked to speak.”But shrapnel hit the children — and they eventually died.”- ‘No pushover’ -India on Thursday braced for Pakistan’s threatened retaliation.In an editorial on Thursday, the Indian Express wrote “there is no reason to believe that the Pakistan Army has been chastened by the Indian airstrikes”, adding that Indian military experts were “aware that Pakistan’s armed forces are no pushover”.”Border districts on high alert,” The Hindu newspaper headline read, adding that “India must be prepared for escalatory action” by Pakistan.Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.”I want to see them stop,” US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is slated to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday in New Delhi, days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate.Analysts said they were fully expecting Pakistani military action to “save face” in a response to India.”India’s limited objectives are met,” said Happymon Jacob, director of the New Delhi-based think tank Council for Strategic and Defence Research.”Pakistan has a limited objective of ensuring that it carries out a retaliatory strike to save face domestically and internationally. So, that is likely to happen.”Based on past conflicts, he believed it would “likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory”. burs-pjm/ecl/lb

Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged gunfire overnight in Kashmir, New Delhi said Thursday, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades.Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, with days of repeated gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling.”We will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Sharif said, in an address to the nation.India said it had destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in “focused, measured and non-escalatory” strikes, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir — a charge Pakistan denies.At least 45 deaths have been reported from both sides of the border following Wednesday’s violence, including children.Islamabad said 31 civilians were killed by Indian strikes and firing along the border.New Delhi said 13 civilians and a soldier had been killed by Pakistani fire.Pakistan’s military also said five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.- ‘Screamed’ -The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjabi city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people according to the Pakistan military. Madasar Choudhary, 29, described how his sister saw two children killed in Poonch, on the Indian side of the frontier on Wednesday.”She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” Choudhary said, narrating her account because she was too shocked to speak.”But shrapnel got to the children — and they eventually died.”Muhammad Riaz said he and his family had been made homeless after Indian strikes hit Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.”There is no place to live,” he said. “There is no space at the house of our relatives. We are very upset, we have nowhere to go.”On Wednesday night, Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reported firing across the Line of Control — the de facto border in Kashmir — and said that the armed forces had been authorised to “respond in self-defence” at a “time, place and manner of its choosing”.India’s army on Thursday morning reported firing “small arms and artillery guns” in multiple sites overnight, adding that its soldiers had “responded proportionately”, without giving further details.India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.Muslim-majority Kashmir — claimed by both India and Pakistan — has been a repeated flashpoint.- ‘No pushover’ -India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.India on Thursday braced for Pakistan’s threatened retaliation.”Border districts on high alert,” The Hindu newspaper headline read, adding that “India must be prepared for escalatory action” by Pakistan.In an editorial, the Indian Express wrote “there is no reason to believe that the Pakistan Army has been chastened by the Indian airstrikes”, adding that Indian military experts were “aware that Pakistan’s armed forces are no pushover”.Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.”I want to see them stop,” US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is slated to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday in New Delhi, days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate.Analysts said they were fully expecting Pakistani military action to “save face” in a response to India.”India’s limited objectives are met,” said Happymon Jacob, director of the New Delhi-based think tank Council for Strategic and Defence Research.”Pakistan has a limited objective of ensuring that it carries out a retaliatory strike to save face domestically and internationally. So, that is likely to happen.”Based on past conflicts, he believed it would “likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory”. burs-pjm/lb

As cardinals gather in the Vatican to elect a new pope — with a Filipino among the favourites — the church in Asia’s most Catholic country is grappling with a decline in those with a vocation for the priesthood.”According to the statistics we have… one priest is catering to around 9,000 Catholics,” John Alfred Rabena, chancellor of UST Central Seminary, one the country’s oldest, said this week.It is a situation that was leading to “exhaustion” among an overworked clergy, he told AFP during a visit to the seminary’s art deco building on the sprawling University of Santo Tomas campus.Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis, while another Filipino, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, has emerged as a late dark horse candidate.While officially cautioned not to campaign for their countrymen, clergymen in the Philippines told AFP they believe a Filipino pope could inspire a surge in recruits to the flagging ranks of the priesthood.Father Robert Reyes, a well-known activist priest, said he sounded the alarm during his 1987-98 tenure as national vocation director of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). “I was already warning the bishops that there were obvious signs of a decline in vocations, and how many years is that already?” he said.While the CBCP said it maintains no formal database tracking enrolment numbers, the Philippine Church marked its first-ever National Vocation Awareness Month in November in a bid to “address the critical need for more priests within the nation”.- ‘Broken trust’ -For Father Jerome Secillano, spokesperson for the CBCP, the reason for that need is no secret.”Because of the sexual misconduct that happened in the Church,” he said of the global abuse scandal that erupted in the early 2000s.”That was when people entering the seminary started to dwindle. The impact of that is still being felt.”And while he believes an outpouring of joy and pride would follow the ascendance of a Filipino pope, he questions if it would be enough.”I don’t know if a Filipino pope will immediately restore that broken trust,” he said.Others who spoke to AFP said the sex abuse scandal could not be solely blamed for dwindling seminary enrollments, pointing to cultural changes that had made the country’s youth harder to reach.”It’s also because young people are so exposed to the secular world, with travel, with the internet and with social media,” said Reyes.- ‘Plain Filipino’ -Seminarian Neil Pena, 27, told AFP he believed the potential for a Filipino pope to galvanise his countrymen’s faith was undeniable.”It’s different when the pope speaks your language,” Pena said.”A pope speaking Filipino, plain Filipino, talking to you like he’s talking to you directly… it will be an inspiration.”Reyes agreed a shared heritage would be meaningful in a “personality-oriented” country.”If there’s someone famous, we gravitate towards the person and his actions, way of life,” Reyes said. “There might be many who will be interested in (becoming a) priest.”Rabena, the seminary chancellor, pointed to his own decision to join the clergy, saying it had been “ignited” by the 2015 visit of Pope Francis to the country following the deadliest storm in its history.Arvin Eballo, a theology professor at the University of Santo Tomas, said there was a time when almost every family aspired to have a son as a priest.”They believed it was a blessing of God,” he said.

A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement.Thousands of overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and his impeached vice president Sara Duterte.While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened April 13.But Jun Burlasa III, a Filipino working in Singapore, says he will not vote again if he has to do it online. “I’d rather do manual,” the 50-year-old told AFP this week, describing the new system as “confusing and suspicious”.At issue is a digital QR code generated after voting that leads users to a page asking them to verify their ballot has been submitted correctly. Below that is a box containing a jumble of computer code and candidate names.Burlasa said many of the names visible were candidates for whom he had not voted.Similar stories about the anxiety-inducing webpage have proliferated across social media, including Facebook posts that have reached thousands.Eman Villanueva, a Hong Kong-based activist with migrant rights group BAYAN, said he was unsure his vote had been properly counted. “There is absolutely no way for the voters to know if the votes that went through really reflected our choices,” he said. In previous overseas elections, voters could review the names they selected after the fact, but Comelec told AFP the QR code was never supposed to serve that purpose.The landing page was only intended to verify a ballot’s receipt, the commission said, adding that the name of every candidate running in the election should appear.”We are definitely considering the feedback and studying how to incorporate them in future elections,” Ian Geonanga, Comelec’s director of overseas voting, told AFP.Election watchdogs, however, say the commission failed to properly explain the new system and warn of the confusion risks disenfranchising voters. “It’s a natural reaction of people that if you’re not familiar with the system, then you won’t trust it the first instance,” said Ona Caritos, executive director of the nonprofit Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente). – ChatGPT, disinfo and 2028 -Since April 14, 1.5 million people have watched a video in which a Philippines-based engineer named Jaydee San Juan quizzes ChatGPT about the names visible on the ballot verification page.”It’s highly likely showing the candidates that were selected/voted for using that ballot ID,” the AI chatbot replied.Comelec, however, got the opposite answer when conducting the ChatGPT experiment itself, Geonanga told AFP.The election commission’s efforts to quell fears about the new system, meanwhile, have been misrepresented to sow more disinformation.AFP fact-checkers recently debunked a video edited to make it appear Geonanga was saying online ballots were “designed” to rig the election’s results.The fiasco has also left election watchdogs and migrant groups sceptical that the switch to online voting will boost turnout as intended.Danilo Arao, convenor of voting watchdog Kontra Daya, said even a small change to the ballot’s design might have helped assuage fears he believes could lead to “widespread disenfranchisement”.Lente’s Caritos said losing trust in the online voting system could impact OFWs’ participation in the 2028 presidential election.“We don’t want that, because if election results are not trusted by our voters, then it would go into the legitimacy of the government,” she said. “It’s a domino effect.”

Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim — a page with 6.7 million followers — were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers.”I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account’s founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship.”Meta declined to comment. A spokesman for the tech giant directed AFP to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law.”The development, first reported by the US tech journalist Taylor Lorenz’ outlet User Magazine, comes in the wake of the worst violence between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in two decades.Both countries have exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.Pakistan rejects the charge and has warned it will “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes.The @Muslim account is among the most followed Muslim news sources on Instagram. Khatahtbeh apologized to followers in India, adding: “When platforms and countries try to silence media, it tells us that we are doing our job in holding those in power accountable.””We will continue to document the truth and stand out firmly for justice,” he added, while calling on Meta to reinstate the account in India.India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.In recent days, access to the Instagram account of Pakistan’s former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan has also been blocked in India.Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers — including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram.Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have also unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the Indian strikes.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the violence.

Pakistan has warned it will “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes that New Delhi said were in response to an attack in Kashmir, signalling an imminent escalation in the worst violence in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours.At least 43 deaths have been reported so far, with Islamabad saying 31 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least 12 dead from Pakistani shelling.”We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in an address to the nation late Wednesday.India’s army said it destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir — a charge Pakistan denies.Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets had been downed across the border.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.The two sides have exchanged heavy artillery fire along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but administer separately. The South Asian neighbours have fought two full-scale wars over the divided territory since they were carved out of the sub-continent after gaining independence from British rule in 1947.”There were terrible sounds during the night, there was panic among everyone,” said Muhammad Salman, who lives close to a mosque in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that was hit by an Indian strike.”We are moving to a safer place… we are homeless now,” added 24-year-old Tariq Mir, who was hit in the leg by shrapnel. India said that its actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory”.Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to “shore up” his domestic popularity, adding that Islamabad “won’t take long to settle the score”.- ‘People are fleeing’ -On Wednesday night, the Pakistani military spokesman said firing was “ongoing” at the Line of Control and that Islamabad would take retaliatory action against the air strikes.Chaudhry reiterated Pakistan’s “right to respond, in self-defence, at time, place, and manner of its choosing,” adding that the armed forces had been “authorised” to do so by the government. The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjab city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people, according to the Pakistan military. A government health and education complex in Muridke, 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Lahore, was blown apart, along with the mosque in Muzaffarabad — the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir — killing its caretaker.Four children were among those killed in Wednesday’s attacks, according to the Pakistan military. Pakistan also said a hydropower plant in Kashmir was targeted by India, damaging a dam structure, after India threatened to stop the flow of water on its side of the border.India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month. Pakistan has denied any involvement in that assault, which killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men, on April 22.In Muzaffarabad, United Nations military observers arrived to inspect the mosque that Islamabad said was struck by India. Residents collected damaged copies of the Koran from among concrete, wood, and iron debris.In Indian-administered Kashmir, residents fled in panic from the Pakistani shelling.”There was firing from Pakistan, which damaged the houses and injured many,” said Wasim Ahmed, 29, from Salamabad village. “People are fleeing.” – Calls for restraint -India had been widely expected to respond militarily to the Pahalgam attack, which it blamed on Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.The two nations had traded days of threats and tit-for-tat diplomatic measures, and Pakistan conducted two missile tests.The Indian army has reported nightly gunfire along the heavily militarised Line of Control since April 24.Diplomats and world leaders have piled pressure on both countries to step back from the brink.”The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for a halt to the fighting, adding: “If I can do anything to help, I will be there.”Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected in New Delhi late on Wednesday, two days after a visit to Islamabad, as Tehran seeks to mediate. Rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames Pakistan for backing armed groups fighting its forces in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.burs-pjm-aha/sst

President Donald Trump has been shaking up how the United States does business in the world. But with the violence between Pakistan and India, Trump has marked a return to a traditional, and even cautious, diplomacy.The United States across successive administrations has sought to build ties with India and Trump voiced solidarity after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 26 people in  Indian-administered Kashmir, nearly all Hindus.Trump did not criticize India after it carried out retaliatory strikes against Pakistan but has pleaded for a quick resolution.”It’s so terrible,” Trump said Wednesday. “I get along with both. I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.”India briefed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also interim national security advisor, on the overnight strikes. After the Kashmir attack, Rubio spoke to Pakistan’s prime minister to urge condemnation and cooperation but also asked India’s foreign minister to avoid escalation.Lisa Curtis, who was the National Security Council senior director on South Asia during Trump’s first term, said the United States remained unique in its influence on both sides.”There are other countries that are worried and may be in touch with their Indian and Pakistani counterparts, but when it comes down to it, it is the role and responsibility of the United States to help the countries find a face-saving way out of the crisis,” said Curtis, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ordered strikes after a deadly attack, which was against soldiers rather than civilians.Mike Pompeo, then Trump’s secretary of state, later said that he defused tensions after an Indian official contacted him to voice suspicion that Pakistan was readying a nuclear strike.”I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration,” Pompeo wrote in his memoir.- Leverage with Pakistan -India blames Islamabad for the attack and points to remarks beforehand by Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir who called Kashmir — the Muslim-majority Himalayan region divided between the powers — as Pakistan’s “jugular vein.”Pakistan denies responsibility for the attack.Former president Joe Biden had little patience for Pakistan, keeping it at arm’s length as he fumed over Islamabad’s role in the two-decade Afghanistan war.Pakistan was stunned late in Biden’s term when his deputy national security advisor, Jon Finer, called its long-range missiles “an emerging threat” to the United States, Islamabad’s Cold War-era military partner.Trump on returning to the White House quickly invited Modi but Pakistan has also reached out, arresting a purported perpetrator of the 2021 suicide bombing in Kabul on US troops, with Trump trumpeting the move in an address to Congress.”One of the motivating factors for Pakistan to de-escalate this situation is in order to have a better relationship with the United States,” Curtis said.Manjari Chatterjee Miller, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that the United States faced a dilemma on its public stance.”If the United States government were to be seen as either unsupportive of India or interfering in any way in Kashmir, it would be a serious setback to the US-India partnership. But the risk of escalation between two nuclear-armed neighbors is also real,” she wrote in an essay.- Placing priorities -Trump has largely sidelined career diplomats since his return, relying on his friend Steve Witkoff to crisscross the globe.Trump has so far failed in his quest to quickly end the Ukraine war and Israel has ended a Gaza ceasefire with Hamas, with Witkoff still pursuing diplomacy with Iran and recently reaching a deal with Yemen’s Huthi rebels.”The Trump administration has several global crises to deal with currently and would like to avoid another one right now,” said Aparna Pande, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute.”The Trump administration would also like the focus to remain on trade and commerce and the competition with China and any conflict detracts India, a partner in this endeavor, away from these efforts,” she said.