Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe’s Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted. His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher’s 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door. It’s run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015. Puppy love The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales. They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice. Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later. “There’s a lot of scientific study out there that’s been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they’re very young,” he explained “It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.” The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat. The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife. Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier. “The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,” Law said. “But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they’re going for the greater good.” Biting back Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies. They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa’s first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe’s vast Phundundu Wildlife Area. Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga’s tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Such victories demonstrate the “game-changing” value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence. “When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,” Priddle said. “Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.” As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe’s 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school. Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to “own the night,” Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal. And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone. “They’ve saved our guys on the ground on several occasions and they’ve been responsible for apprehending quite a few poachers,” Travers told CNN. “It’s had a massive impact on security for Imire. We’ve had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It’s not the silver bullet but it’s a tool that will make a significant difference.” ‘We learn in nature’ Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino. The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country’s rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent. Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise. And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent’s most renowned parks.

SRINAGAR, India — Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists on Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said in what appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared. Police said it was a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media. Two senior police officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range. The officers said at least three dozen people were wounded, many of them reported to be in serious condition. Most of the killed tourists were Indian, the officers said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy. Officials collected at least 24 bodies in Baisaran meadow, 3 miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam. Two others died while being taken for medical treatment. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police and soldiers were searching for the attackers. “We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” India’s home minister, Amit Shah, wrote on social media. He arrived in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and convened a meeting with top security officials. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cutting short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returning to New Delhi early Wednesday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance politician and Kashmir’s top religious cleric, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists,” writing on social media that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth.” The gunfire coincided with the visit to India of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who called it a “devastating terrorist attack.” He added on social media: “Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack.” U.S. President Donald Trump on social media noted “deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.” Other global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, condemned the attack. “The United States stands with India,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X. Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir but both claim the territory in its entirety. Kashmir has seen a spate of targeted killings of Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms. Tensions have been simmering as India has intensified its counterinsurgency operations. But despite tourists flocking to Kashmir in huge numbers for its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, they have not been targeted. The region has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism and claimed it as a sign of normalcy returning. The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, while condemning the attack, said Modi’s government should take accountability instead of making “hollow claims on the situation being normal” in the region. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir while then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was visiting India. It was the region’s deadliest attack in the past couple of decades. Violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion. Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.

BEIJING — In the global race to produce robots that are smarter and faster, China’s humanoids have come a long way. Robots from cutting-edge Chinese companies can dance and spin or do roundhouse kicks, as they have demonstrated in videos that are all over China’s internet. Yet when humanoids and robots were invited to join real flesh-and-blood runners for a half-marathon in Beijing this past weekend, the race garnered attention but also laid bare the challenges still facing the industry as China seeks to dominate technologies of the future. Some of the robots barely got started. One, designed with a woman’s body and face, collapsed moments after getting started, sending a group of engineers rushing to its side with laptops. Another that was mounted to a platform with propellers crashed into a barrier. A robot the size of a young child succumbed to a glitch and simply lay down on the starting line. Hailed as a “historic moment” by the Chinese government, the race came amid an intensifying tech rivalry between the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest powers in artificial intelligence. While China remains a distant second, it leads the world in AI publications and patents and is closing the gap in terms of the quality of AI models. U.S. investors were spooked early this year when the Chinese start-up DeepSeek released a ChatGPT-like model developed at a fraction of the cost. Much as it has with electric vehicles, the Chinese government has been promoting humanoid robots as a potential engine of economic growth, even as the Trump administration tightens U.S. export controls on AI chips on which Chinese developers rely. Several Chinese state-backed industry groups have declared that U.S.-made chips are “no longer safe or reliable.” The robot-human race was another step forward in China’s goal of becoming the world leader in humanoid robots by 2027. “That more than 20 robot companies participated shows that robot tech in China is pushing forward quickly,” said Guo Yijie, team lead for the winning robot, Tiangong Ultra, which was developed by the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics. As the starting siren echoed through the air, the first batch of robots jogged ahead, their metal legs thumping loudly against the track. The tallest robot was 5 feet, 10 inches, while the shortest, nicknamed “Little Giant,” measured less than 2½ feet and drew cheers from the crowd as it swaggered past and waved enthusiastically. Some robots ran smoothly like humans while others had stiffer, more mechanical movements. Each also had a unique style: Some had lifelike skin and hair, others wore clothes, and a few ran in sneakers. Companies developing humanoid robots in China, the U.S. and elsewhere hope they might eventually be able to do jobs ranging from manufacturing to caregiving. “Our vision is for humanoid robots to integrate into various industries and households, serving humanity in meaningful ways,” said Wei Jiaxing, brand and public relations lead at the Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics. “They can enhance productivity, improve efficiency and help address labor shortages.” When it came to running, however, the robots were no match for the human contestants, who had time to stop and snap selfies with them along the 13-mile course in Yizhuang, a tech hub district in southeast Beijing. Midway through the race, some robots became too “tired” to continue on their own, and their human operators had to guide them with leashes. The robots were allowed to swap batteries or even be replaced by another machine altogether.

A series of earthquakes shook Europe’s largest city, Istanbul, on Wednesday, sending people running from buildings and Turkish authorities warning residents to stay outdoors. The largest quake, which had a magnitude of 6.2, struck the Marmara Sea 13 miles off the coast at 12:49 p.m. local time (5:49 a.m. ET), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That was followed by at least three aftershocks between magnitudes 4 and 5, the USGS said, all clustered near the economic maritime artery of the Bosporus Strait. The USGS’ “Did You Feel It?” map said it shook cities as far away as the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, 300 miles away.But so far, Turkish officials have found no “damage or adverse conditions on our highways, airports, trains or subways,” Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on X. Turkey’s disaster management agency, the AFAD, has “now started field scans,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Security camera video distributed by Reuters showed the moment the earthquake struck. People were sitting in a café in Istanbul, which has a population of 16 million, before getting up to leave once the shaking started.Some shops reportedly closed after the initial quake and its aftershocks. Turkey is a particularly active earthquake zone, sitting at the junction of three tectonic plates: the Eurasian, Arabian and African. About 60,000 people died in February 2023 when Turkey and neighboring Syria were hit by a 7.8-magnitude quake and more than 500 aftershocks over the next 24 hours.

Iran will have to stop enriching uranium under any deal with the United States and could only import what is needed for a civilian nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of talks between Tehran and Washington on Saturday. However, Iran has already made clear that its right to enrich uranium is not negotiable. When asked about Rubio’s comments, a senior Iranian official, close to Iran’s negotiating team, again said on Wednesday “zero enrichment is unacceptable.” The U.S. is seeking to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and President Donald Trump has imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions and threatened to use military force if Iran does not end its nuclear program. Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful. U.S. and Iranian officials will meet in Oman on Saturday for a third round of talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. “There’s a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one,” Rubio told the “Honestly with Bari Weiss” podcast on Tuesday. “But if they insist on enriching, then they will be the only country in the world that doesn’t have a ‘weapons program,’ ... but is enriching. And so I think that’s problematic,” he said. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff last week said Iran does not need to enrich past 3.67% — a remark that raised questions as to whether Washington still wanted Tehran to dismantle its enrichment program. Witkoff then said a day later that Iran must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment.” Rubio said on Tuesday that Witkoff was initially talking about “the level of enriched material that they would be allowed to import from outside, like multiple countries around the world do for their peaceful civil nuclear programs.” “If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one, and that is they import enriched material,” he said. The U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has said that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level. Western countries say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level for civilian uses and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs.

Francis, who died Monday at 88, made near-nightly calls to the Holy Family Church in Gaza throughout the war as he called for an end to Israel's offensive in the enclave. To the world, he was Pope Francis, leader of 1.4 billion Catholics. To parishioners at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, the late pontiff was a "shield" who fought to provide succor to their tiny community in the besieged Palestinian enclave. “He was a real father to us,” George Antone, a parishioner in the enclave's only Catholic church, told NBC News' crew in Gaza. “Pope Francis was like a shield for the Christians in the enclave. He was the fighter, he was fighting for our rights and for our protection.” Throughout the war, parishioners and leaders of the church said, Francis had been a significant source of strength, making near-nightly calls for the past year and a half, even as he faced his own health struggles in his final months. Antone was among dozens who gathered in the church in Gaza City to pay their respects to Francis in an evening Mass. Around 1,300 Christians live in Gaza, according to a 2022 U.S. State Department report. Heads bowed and hands lifted to their hearts in prayer, worshippers, from children to older people, offered their farewells to the pontiff. A row of altar boys dressed in scarlet and white helped lead the service. One worshipper lifted his hands, grief etched on his face, as he faced a portrait of Francis adorned with a black ribbon that sat on the altar. The church has withstood some 18 months of war, including an attack that killed two of its parishioners as they stood within the compound's walls. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic regional body whose territory covers the Palestinian territories, accused Israeli forces of shooting Nahida Anton and her daughter, Samar Anton, "in cold blood," and injuring others as they tried to flee to safety inside the church compound, which was heavily damaged in the attack. Israeli officials denied responsibility in the incident. During Francis' nearly nightly calls, he often asked what parishioners had managed to get to eat and how they were holding up amid the fighting. The pope continued that tradition even in the final weeks of his life as he faced a string of health issues, including bronchitis and double pneumonia. “He was very close to us,” the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli of the Holy Family Church said Easter Monday, hours after the Vatican announced Francis’ death. “All the time, he called us during all this war, this horrid war,” he said. "For more than one year and a half, daily, he called us.” In his final call Saturday, Romanelli said, Francis had shared his blessings with the church and thanked them for all that they were doing. The pope became more outspoken in his criticism of Israel's conduct in the war in recent months. Earlier this year, he condemned the humanitarian crisis, labeling it "very serious and shameful" as he called for an end to Israel's bombing campaign. Israel resumed its offensive last month after ending a ceasefire with Hamas. Francis had also lambasted the alleged targeting of the Holy Family Church in December 2023. He said that in Gaza, "unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire," including at the church where, he stated, there were "no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, sisters." More than 51,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave. Israel launched its offensive following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli counts, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. After Francis' death, Palestinians across Gaza will be hoping to see his successor take up his call for an end to the war in the enclave. "We are united in prayers for him and for the next pope," said parishioner Suhail Abu Dawood, 19, adding: "We are united in prayers for peace — in Gaza and in all the world."

As the threat posed by US President Donald Trump tops Canada's federal election agenda, the issue of the country's contribution to global warming has been largely overshadowed. The two main contenders are pushing plans for new energy infrastructure as the country seeks to pivot away from its reliance on the US. Mark Carney's Liberals are promising to make Canada a global superpower in both conventional and green energy. The Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre want to invigorate the oil and gas sector and scrap the industrial carbon tax. It's a big shift from the 2021 election, when the environment topped the list of voter concerns. In that vote, there was a consensus between the two major parties that Canada should rapidly transition to a green economy, with a net-zero emissions law passed in June of that year. That sense of unity is now long gone. Carney, who became leader of the Liberals and prime minister in early March, has a long track record as an international champion of climate change. As well as being a governor of the Bank of England, he was a UN Special Envoy on climate action and finance and was co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, one of the big outcomes of COP26. However, his first action as prime minister was to repeal the consumer carbon levy. The tax - a signature climate policy of the governing Liberals - was introduced in 2019, and placed an added charge on consumers using coal, oil or gas products. It was unpopular, and for the Conservatives it became an easy target of blame for the rising cost of living in recent years. Poilievre even sought to paint his rival as "Carbon Tax Carney". Some observers believe that cancelling the tax was a smart political move, others feel it was a mistake. "By making one of your first moves the removal of the carbon price, you're accepting this narrative that climate change policy costs us too much money and isn't good for us, when, in fact, that is not the case," said Catherine Abreu, who is director of the International Climate Politics Hub and a member of Canada's Net Zero Advisory Body. "I think there's a missed opportunity here to set a new narrative framework around this in the election." Carney's election pitch on energy is to turn Canada into "a world leading superpower in both clean and conventional energy". He is emphasising his pragmatic approach, and his campaign talks about fast-tracking green energy projects and encouraging green transport and buildings, without giving too many details. He has also called for investment in technologies like carbon capture. There are other important factors that have helped cool some of the Carney climate rhetoric. Opinion polls indicate that, since late 2023, Canadian concerns over the climate fell as worries over rising prices, energy and housing costs came to the fore. The war in Ukraine has also put new emphasis on the country's bountiful natural resources in oil, gas and critical minerals. "We have had a parade of geopolitical allies turning up on our doorstep saying, we want your rocks, we want Canada to be the geopolitically secure primary resource commodity provider, in place of Russia," said Mark Winfield, a professor in the faculty of environmental and urban change at Toronto's York University. "And that's created another sort of dynamic in all of this, which was not present in previous elections." Pierre Poilievre is the man seeking to replace Carney as PM. He is running on cost of living issues, and advocating for tougher policies on law and order and what he considers "woke" cultural issues. Poilievre, whose party has a strong voter base in energy-rich regions of the country, is pushing for a major expansion of the oil and gas industries and the removal of the carbon tax on industry. While he has remained tight-lipped on whether he supports Canada's net-zero goals, he has argued that it would be better for the world if India and other Asian countries were to replace "dirty coal" with cleaner Canadian oil and gas. According to Prof Winfield, the Conservative proposals to boost oil and gas is likely to prove attractive to voters, even if the merits of expanding production don't stand up to scrutiny. Regardless of climate or energy, the key question in the minds of voters in this election is which leader is best placed to deal with the combative US president. That is especially important when it comes to the oil and gas industry. Canada is America's largest foreign supplier of oil, with around 90% of crude production heading south of the border, and the impact of energy tariffs could well be disastrous for jobs and the economy. "Our relationship with the US has completely changed," Carney said last week in the first of two election debates. "The pipelines are a national security problem for us." That concern over US dependence has revived interest in pipelines that would move oil and gas from the western provinces, where they are mainly produced, to the east, where they could be exported to new overseas markets. A previous attempt called the Energy East pipeline was shelved in 2017 due to a number of factors, including fierce opposition from some regions of the country and regulatory hurdles. In this campaign, both the Liberals and Conservatives have promised to fast track "energy corridors", though Carney has flip-flopped on his support for pipelines, knowing they are deeply unpopular with environmentalists. He is trying to walk a fine line between defending Canada as a nation under threat from Trump, and taking action on a warming climate. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that in 2024, there were C$8.5bn ($6.1bn; £4.6bn) in weather-related insured losses, triple the figure for 2023. And while the two election frontrunners are advocating a major role for fossil fuels in Canada's economy, this approach will clash head on with the country's climate commitments. Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, a federal party based in Quebec, has accused the pair of being in a "denial situation about climate change". "I'm sorry to crash your party guys, but you are telling fairy tales" about clean oil and gas, he said in last week's debates. Canada has promised on the international stage to curb carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2030 based on the levels in 2005. As of 2023, carbon output was only down 8.5%. Whoever wins the election will have a real challenge to square that circle. Canadians go to the polls on 28 April.

“We see the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end to the war against Ukraine,” the director of the Dutch military intelligence agency said. THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Russia is increasing its hybrid attacks aimed at undermining society in the Netherlands and its European allies, and Russian hackers have already targeted the Dutch public service, Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD said Tuesday. “We see the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end to the war against Ukraine,” MIVD director Peter Reesink said in the agency’s annual report. “The conflict in the gray zone between war and peace has become a reality. More and more, state actors try to undermine our society with hybrid attacks. Russia especially ... is increasingly prepared to take risks,” he said. The MIVD said it had for the first time detected an attack by Russian hackers against the digital operating system of an unspecified Dutch public service last year. It said it had also found a Russian cyberoperation against critical infrastructure in the Netherlands, possibly as preparation for sabotage. Hybrid threats span everything from physical sabotage of critical infrastructure to disinformation campaigns. The MIVD described such attacks as combining traditional acts of espionage with cyberattacks and other attempts at influencing and undermining society. The agency repeated its warnings of Russian entities mapping infrastructure in the North Sea for espionage, and acts of sabotage aimed at internet cables, water and energy supplies. Britain’s foreign spy chief accused Russia in November of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe, ranging from repeated cyberattacks to Moscow-linked arson. Moscow has denied responsibility for all such incidents, saying accusations against it are baseless and unproven.

Multiple casualties are feared after assailants indiscriminately fired at tourists visiting a beauty spot in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said. Police said it was a “terror attack” carried out by militants fighting against Indian rule near the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam. Initial reports said gunmen sprayed bullets at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, some 3 miles from Pahalgam. Police said multiple tourists suffered gunshot wounds and officials were evacuating the wounded to hospitals. Reinforcements of police and soldiers cordoned off the area and launched a hunt for the attackers. No other details were immediately available. The meadow in Pahalgam is a top sightseeing destination, surrounded by snowcapped mountains and dotted with dense pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day. Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday hailed the “significant” progress made in trade talks between the two sides during Vance’s visit to India. Vance, who was in India on a mostly personal trip with second lady Usha Vance and his family, met Modi in New Delhi A statement from Modi’s office said the two leaders “welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial India-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement.“ Vance and Modi also reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, and noted “continued efforts” in enhancing cooperation in areas like energy, defense and strategic technologies. The two leaders also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest, and called for dialogue and diplomacy. India was hit with a 26% “reciprocal” tariff on April 2, before the levies were suspended for 90 days by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 9, leaving a 10% baseline tariff. On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the USTR and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry have “finalized the terms of reference to lay down a roadmap for the negotiations on reciprocal trade.” He added, “there is a serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India,” but said “India’s constructive engagement so far has been welcomed and I look forward to creating new opportunities for workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs in both countries.” Back in February, Modi and Trump had agreed to more than double bilateral trade between New Delhi and Washington to $500 billion by 2030. U.S. total goods trade with India is estimated at $129 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. India’s surplus with the United States, reached $45.7 billion last year.