Top Asian News 3:59 a.m. GMT

Pakistan says India fired missiles at 3 air bases inside country. Pakistani retaliation underway

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan said India fired missiles at three air bases inside the country Saturday but most of the missiles were intercepted and that retaliatory strikes on India were underway. It’s the latest escalation in a conflict triggered by a massacre last month that India blames on Pakistan. The Pakistani military said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to target an Indian missile storage facility and airbases in Pathankot and Udhampur. There was no way to independently verify all the actions attributed to Pakistan or India. Army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, said Pakistan’s air force assets were safe following the Indian strikes, adding that some of the Indian missiles also hit India’s eastern Punjab.

Nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan are a step closer to war. Here’s a timeline of how it happened

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A gun massacre of tourists on April 22 has pushed India and Pakistan a step closer to war, marking the biggest breakdown in relations since 2019. Conflict between India and Pakistan is not rare, with the two countries having periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British India in 1947. What’s different about this escalation is the frequency and intensity of strikes and retaliation. And U.S. President Donald Trump’s disengagement from the crisis hasn’t helped. The U.S. was once a key player during periods of heightened tensions. Calls for restraint from the international community have yet to make an impact.

The Latest: Pakistan says India fired missiles at air bases inside the country and Pakistan responds

India and Pakistan have been in conflict since 1947 Partition. A look at its troubled legacy

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Pakistan’s latest military conflict has expanded, days after India carried out airstrikes in Pakistan that followed an attack by gunmen on tourists in India-controlled Kashmir last month. The two nuclear-armed rivals have exchanged artillery shells, gunfire, missiles and drones, killing civilians on both sides and raising concerns of a wider war. The fresh round of confrontation is yet another escalation of a decades-long conflict over the disputed Kashmir region that began after a bloody partition of India in 1947. Here’s a look at the troubled legacy of Partition that has dictated the future course of India-Pakistan relations: In August 1947, Britain divided India, its former colony, into two countries — Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

India’s clash with Pakistan sees use of Chinese missiles, French jets, Israeli drones, and more

BANGKOK (AP) — India’s missile and bomb strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir have spiked tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, with Pakistan’s leader calling the attacks an act of war. Claims on exactly what was hit and where have differed widely, with neither India nor Pakistan releasing many specific details. Making the ongoing conflict even more confusing, the internet has been “flooded with disinformation, false claims, and manipulated photos and videos,” the Soufan Center think tank said in a research note Friday. “This information warfare is compounded by both sides’ commitment to save face,” it said. Still, some information can be gleaned from official statements and paired with what is known to gain greater insight into the clash: Hours after India’s attack early Wednesday, in retaliation for last month’s massacre of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lt.

India and Pakistan don’t fight wars like other countries. Here’s why

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. They’ve also had dozens of skirmishes and conflicts, including one atop a glacier dubbed the coldest and highest-altitude battlefield in the world. The latest escalation follows a deadly gun attack on tourists that India blames Pakistan for — Islamabad denies any connection. But they don’t fight wars like other countries. The dominant factor is their nuclear weapons arsenal, a distinct way of deterring major attacks and a guarantee that fighting doesn’t get out of hand, even when the situation is spiraling.

Australian prime minister says reducing student debt is his re-elected government’s first priority

MELBOURNE, Austalia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told his government colleagues on Friday that reducing student debt would be the first legislative priority for his administration that was returned to power in the nation’s first election in which the Baby Boomer generation was outnumbered by younger voters. Albanese addressed a crowded room full of center-left Labor Party lawmakers in Parliament House for the first time since his government won an emphatic election victory on May 3. The struggle a growing number of young Australians — particularly those burdened with student loans — face to buy their first home, due to soaring real estate prices and a lack of new housing construction was a major election issue.

India suspends its top cricket tournament, the IPL, for a week amid military tensions with Pakistan

MUMBAI, India (AP) — India’s biggest domestic cricket tournament was suspended for one week on Friday following the escalating military tensions with Pakistan. The Indian Premier League, which features top players from around the world and attracts hundreds of millions of TV viewers, was halted with immediate effect, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said. “Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders,” the BCCI said in a statement. The decision came after a night of artillery exchanges between Indian and Pakistani soldiers across their frontier in Kashmir, amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.

Military helicopter plunges into reservoir in Sri Lanka, killing 5

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A military helicopter plunged into a reservoir in Sri Lanka on Friday, killing five people. Air force spokesperson Eranda Geeganage said the helicopter was carrying 12 people from the army and air force to a military pass out event when it plunged into a reservoir in Maduru Oya, some 280 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo. All the passengers were recovered alive, but three army personnel and two from the air force died later in a hospital, Geeganage said. The reason for the crash was not immediately known.

An elaborate centuries-old royal ritual in Thailand’s capital predicts a good year for farmers

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided Friday over an elaborate annual ceremony that marks the start of the rice-planting season and honors the nation’s farmers. The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is held to read auguries that predict the farming conditions for the year ahead. As is usually the case, good times were predicted, even though Thailand’s economy is sluggish. The King and Queen Suthida were sheltered from the bright sun by ornate umbrellas at the ceremony’s traditional venue, Sanam Luang, or “Royal Ground,” a large field near the Grand Palace in the capital Bangkok. According to Thai historians, the ritual goes back some 700 years.