WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan to work with each other to de-escalate tensions after last week’s Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, the State Department said. Rubio spoke separately with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while expressing support to India in combating extremism and urging Pakistan to cooperate in investigating the attack, the State Department said after Rubio’s calls. Wednesday’s calls mark the highest levels of publicly known simultaneous diplomatic engagements from Washington aimed at reducing India-Pakistan tensions since the April 22 attack. India is an important U.S. partner to counter China’s rising influence. Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan. State Department statements after the calls termed the Kashmir attack as “terror” and “unconscionable,” and said Rubio spoke to Pakistan “of the need to condemn” it. Rubio “urged Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating this unconscionable attack,” the State Department said. Sharif’s office said he asked Rubio to urge India “to dial down the rhetoric.” Rubio urged the Asian nuclear-armed neighbors to work with each other “to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace.” Washington urged other countries to help reduce tensions while asking India and Pakistan to work on a “responsible solution.” Washington has condemned the attack without criticizing Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan, which denied responsibility, calling for a neutral investigation. Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which each control only part of it and have fought wars over it. After the attack, India suspended a treaty regulating water-sharing, and both countries closed airspace to each other’s airlines. They also exchanged fire across their border. Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish those responsible. Pakistan says military action by India is imminent

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan to work with each other to de-escalate tensions after last week’s Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, the State Department said. Rubio spoke separately with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while expressing support to India in combating extremism and urging Pakistan to cooperate in investigating the attack, the State Department said after Rubio’s calls. Wednesday’s calls mark the highest levels of publicly known simultaneous diplomatic engagements from Washington aimed at reducing India-Pakistan tensions since the April 22 attack. India is an important U.S. partner to counter China’s rising influence. Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan. State Department statements after the calls termed the Kashmir attack as “terror” and “unconscionable,” and said Rubio spoke to Pakistan “of the need to condemn” it. Rubio “urged Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating this unconscionable attack,” the State Department said. Sharif’s office said he asked Rubio to urge India “to dial down the rhetoric.” Rubio urged the Asian nuclear-armed neighbors to work with each other “to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace.” Washington urged other countries to help reduce tensions while asking India and Pakistan to work on a “responsible solution.” Washington has condemned the attack without criticizing Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan, which denied responsibility, calling for a neutral investigation. Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which each control only part of it and have fought wars over it. After the attack, India suspended a treaty regulating water-sharing, and both countries closed airspace to each other’s airlines. They also exchanged fire across their border. Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish those responsible. Pakistan says military action by India is imminent

“To be honest, I did have some thoughts about, oh, why am I going out here?” Core recalled on Thursday. “As we were going out, my young son, Parker, turned to me and said ... ‘My heart’s pounding.’ I said, ‘Yeah, mine’s beating pretty fast too,’” Core added. The three men had used crab rakes — a garden rake-like tool for digging small crabs from sand — to move the shark into deeper water by the time the father and son arrived. Core said he decided against pushing the shark himself. “They … got it into deeper water where I thought it’s probably not a good idea to go any further. That’s its territory and I’ll stay back,” he said. Core said the rescuers later told him they’d never seen a beached shark before. Macquarie University wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta said while shark strandings were not common, they were becoming more visible through social media. There could be a number of reasons why marine animals like sharks might strand, including illness and injury. The shark could also have chased prey into the shallows, Pirotta said. “If you see something like this, human safety comes first and foremost,” Pirotta said. “You can contact environmental authorities … who will get someone appropriate to come and assist.”

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Supreme Court overturned on Thursday an earlier ruling that had cleared election frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of violating election law, throwing into doubt his eligibility to run for the presidency. Lee, the candidate of the liberal Democratic Party that controls parliament, leads opinion polls to win a snap presidential election set off by the ouster of conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his imposition of martial law. The election law violation case against Lee had been closely watched since a ruling that removes him from the ballot could further deepen divisions in society, after months of political turmoil that has hampered efforts to steer Asia’s fourth-largest economy through the choppy waters of U.S. tariffs. In March, an appeals court had cleared Lee of violating the election law, but prosecutors had appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. Lee is embroiled in several criminal trials, but the election law case was in the spotlight because if the Supreme Court overturned Lee’s not guilty verdict and it is finalized, it would bar him from contesting elections for at least five years. The Supreme Court said that Lee violated election law by publicly stating false facts and ruled to send the case back to the appeals court. While the Supreme Court moved unusually fast to consider Lee’s election law case, it gave no deadline for the lower court, which usually takes months to revisit rulings and it was unclear if it would come before the June 3 election. Meanwhile, South Korea’s acting leader, Han Duck-soo, resigned on Thursday in order to clear a path for him to join the race to become the country’s permanent president. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok was expected to stand in as acting president as required by law. Speculation had grown that Han, 75, would decide to contest the election after opinion polls showed an increase in support for the experienced technocrat, who was thrust into the top post in December after Yoon’s removal from office. Han was impeached less than two weeks into the role after clashing with lawmakers in the opposition-controlled parliament. South Korea’s Constitutional Court overturned that impeachment in March, restoring Han to the acting president position.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said the construction of a new bridge linking it to Russia is a “significant” development in relations between the two countries, state media reported Thursday. Russia and North Korea on Wednesday began construction of a road bridge that will span the Tumen River. It had been in discussion for years but was agreed on during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to North Korea in 2024. “It provides a substantial guarantee for laying down and reinforcing... important infrastructure for economic cooperation and for vitalizing bilateral cooperation including travel of persons, tourism and circulation of commodities,” state news agency KCNA said. The bridge is being built near the existing “Friendship Bridge,” a rail bridge that was commissioned in 1959 after the Korean War. At a ceremony marking the start of construction, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also said it was a significant event in Russian-North Korean relations, Russia’s TASS news agency reported Wednesday. “The significance goes far beyond just an engineering task,” Mishustin was quoted as saying. “It symbolizes our common desire to strengthen friendly, good-neighborly relations and increase inter-regional cooperation.” The new road bridge, which has been under discussion for years, will be almost 2,800 feet long and link up with the Russian highway system. Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said it would be ready by the summer of 2026. Mishustin said the bridge “will allow entrepreneurs to significantly increase transportation volumes and reduce transportation costs, ensure reliable and stable supplies of various products, which will contribute to the expansion of trade and economic cooperation,” TASS reported. North Korea appears to have gained economic and military benefits in exchange for sending arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Pyongyang is discussing industrial modernization in 14 sectors with aid from Russia, including in metals, aviation, energy and tourism, South Korean lawmakers said Wednesday, citing the country’s intelligence agency. The lawmakers also said about 600 North Korean troops had been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine out of a total deployment of 15,000.

Pakistan has “credible intelligence” that India intends to launch military strikes in the next “24-36 hours,” the country's information minister said Wednesday as tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors ramp up. “Any such military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively,” Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X without elaborating on what intelligence Pakistan has. His comments came amid a sharp war of words between the two nations after last week's deadly terrorist attack on tourists in the Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. All but one were Indian nationals; the one was from Nepal. A previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance has claimed responsibility for the attack, but New Delhi is still pointing the finger at Islamabad, which it has long accused of supporting cross-border terrorism. India has said that two of the three attackers identified were Pakistani nationals. Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack and has called for a neutral investigation, saying it will defend its “sovereignty and territorial integrity” at all costs. The April 22 attack took place in the Baisaran Valley in Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region that is the only Muslim-majority part of India and one of Kashmir’s top tourist destinations, known for its lush green meadows, dense pine forests and snowcapped mountains. The massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between India and Pakistan that included cancellation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani troops have also exchanged gunfire along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has insisted that the security situation in Kashmir was stabilized after a decadeslong separatist insurgency, has vowed retribution. He was expected to convene a security committee meeting on Wednesday, following a meeting with his top military and security officials. “India has signaled a certain posture vis-a-vis Pakistan to domestic audiences in ways that makes it difficult for them not to carry out a strike in the face of a terrorist attack,” Srinath Raghavan, a professor of international relations and history at Ashoka University in India. Tensions have ramped up between the nuclear-armed neighbors since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Experts have said that the U.S. presence historically deterred violence between India and Pakistan. President Donald Trump said the two countries will figure it out "out one way or the other." “There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been," he told reporters last Friday. The strategic and policy decisions surrounding Indian military actions have historically been the prerogative of its elected government, Raghavan said. He added that the military has the “operational attitude to decide what kinds of targets they want to respond to and how they want to carry out these operations.” “This means that there is no restraint on them,” he said. “Of course, the military will make a presentation to Modi, but after that, they will get a go-ahead.”

HONG KONG — China’s Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft landed in the north of the country on Wednesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, after a one-day delay due to weather conditions at the landing site. The spacecraft and its three crew were sent into space in October last year to work on China’s “Tiangong” permanently inhabited space station. Shenzhou crewed spaceflights have been a regular fixture of the country’s space program for the past two decades and have increased in frequency in recent years after China officially completed “Tiangong” in November 2022. The fast development of China’s manned and unmanned space program has alarmed the United States, which has encountered issues with its own crewed spaceflights. China is aiming to achieve a manned landing on the moon by 2030. The Shenzhou-19 crew was made up of two male astronauts ages 48 and 34 and China’s third female astronaut, age 35. It was the first spaceflight for the two younger astronauts. All part of the Chinese military’s air force, the crew have been conducting experiments, some related to the construction of human habitats. One of these experiments was expected to involve exposing bricks made from simulated lunar soil to conditions in space. Should the tests prove successful, the bricks could be a key material used in the construction of a permanent lunar research station, which China hopes to complete by 2035. Shenzhou missions have involved trios of astronauts and six-month stays in space, with an overlap period of several days where the departing crew hand over the station to the newly arrived group.

Chinese online retailer Temu, known for its ultralow prices, is hitting U.S. customers with hefty import charges due to President Donald Trump's trade war. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have in some cases more than doubled the prices of items on the e-commerce marketplace. A three-pack of men's athletic shorts advertised as on sale for $23.61 with free shipping came out to $56.36 after a $32.75 import charge, according to an NBC News review of product listings. A notice on Temu’s checkout page says that “items imported into the U.S. may be subject to import charges.” “These charges cover all customs-related processes and cost, including import fees paid to customs authorities on your behalf. The amount listed may not represent the actual amount paid to customs authorities,” the notice said. Some items that are shipped from the U.S., yet still manufactured in China, showed a much higher price tag than those made and shipped abroad. One domestically shipped blender retailed for $34.19 and had no import fees, NBC News found. A similar blender manufactured and shipped from China cost only $5.94, but it came with an added $8.18 in import charges for U.S. customers — more than the price of the item itself. In many cases, Temu items that are shipped from domestic warehouses are now labeled “local,” with many appearing at the top of the search page for U.S. users. Temu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Bloomberg earlier reported on the Temu price hikes.

SYDNEY — The trial of a woman accused of murdering three elderly people after serving them a lunch of poisonous mushrooms began in Australia on Tuesday, in a case that has gripped the nation. Erin Patterson is charged with the 2023 murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband. All four became ill after the lunch hosted by the accused at her home in Leongatha, a town of around 6,000 people about 84 miles from Melbourne. Prosecutors allege the mushrooms were served to the victims as part of a beef Wellington. Jury selection began Tuesday at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in nearby Morwell, with the opening arguments expected to begin on Wednesday morning. Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty. The case has generated huge interest both in Australia and internationally, with the six seats in the courtroom reserved for media allocated in a daily ballot. Dozens more are expected to watch proceedings in an overflow room set up at the court. State broadcaster ABC is producing a daily podcast during the trial, which is expected to run for five to six weeks, while streaming service Stan has commissioned a documentary on what it says is “one of the highest-profile criminal cases in recent history.”

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles and ordered full readiness to use nuclear attack capability, which would ensure the most effective defense for the country, state media said Friday. The test was designed to warn “enemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the (country) and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment” and to demonstrate “readiness of its various nuke operation means,” the KCNA news agency said. “What is guaranteed by powerful striking ability is the most perfect deterrence and defense capacity,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying. “It is the responsible mission and duty of the DPRK’s nuclear armed forces to permanently defend the national sovereignty and security with the reliable nuclear shield by getting more thorough battle readiness of nuclear force and full preparedness for their use.” DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The missile launch was conducted on Wednesday over the sea off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, it said. South Korea’s military said Friday it had detected signs of missile launch preparations on Wednesday and tracked several cruise missiles after they were launched around 8 a.m. local time (6 p.m. Tuesday ET) over the sea. North Korea has pursued the development of strategic cruise missiles over several years, intended to deliver nuclear warheads.The type of missile tends to bring less alarm and condemnation from the international community than ballistic missiles because they are not formally banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Security Council has banned the North from ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development and imposed a number of sanctions for violations. The report of the missile test came in the same week that Kim made back-to-back visits to military schools, driving home the message of loyalty and the importance of ideological and tactical training of young military officers. Kim did not mention any country by name when he spoke of warning the enemies but has kept up harsh rhetoric against the United States and South Korea despite comments by President Donald Trump that he would be reaching out to him. Trump and Kim held unprecedented summit meetings during the U.S. president’s first term.