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The Latest: India fires missiles across the border with Pakistan

India fires missiles into Pakistani territory in what Islamabad calls ‘act of war’

ISLAMABAD (AP) — India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing at least 19 people including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war. India said it struck infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. At least three civilians were also killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir by Pakistani shelling, the Indian army said in a statement. Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbors since the attack, which India has blamed Pakistan for backing. Islamabad has denied the accusation. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s airstrikes and said the “deceitful enemy has carried out cowardly attacks” and that his country would retaliate.

A deadly attack on tourists preceded India’s strikes on Pakistan. Here’s where the rivals stand

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Pakistan have been scrambling resources both military and diplomatic to respond to a crisis triggered by a massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir that for days have raised fears of a conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals. On Wednesday, Pakistani officials said India fired missiles that struck at least three locations inside Pakistani-controlled territory. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants. India blames Pakistan for backing the gunmen behind the April 22 killing of 26 people, most of them Indian Hindu tourists, and has described it as a terror attack. Islamabad denies the charge. Both countries have expelled each other’s diplomats and nationals, as well as closed their borders and shuttered airspace.

India and Pakistan face a new crisis. Here’s a look at their history of armed conflict

NEW DELHI (AP) — India struck multiple sites inside Pakistani controlled territory early Wednesday, two weeks after a deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir plunged relations between the neighbors to new lows. India accused Pakistan of backing the massacre, in which 26 men, mostly Indian Hindus, were killed, a charge Pakistan denies. Soldiers on each side have exchanged fire along their de facto border since the killings, with each blaming the other for shooting first. Both countries expelled diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace for each other. Here’s a look at multiple conflicts between the two countries since their bloody partition in 1947: ___ 1947 — Months after British India is partitioned into a predominantly Hindu India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan, the two young nations fight their first war over control of Muslim-majority Kashmir, then a kingdom ruled by a Hindu monarch.

China launches a blitz of policies to help its economy, plans talks with the US on trade

BEIJING (AP) — China has announced a barrage of measures meant to counter the blow to its economy from U.S. President Donald Trump ’s trade war, as the two sides prepare for talks later this week. Beijing’s central bank governor and other top financial officials outlined plans to cut interest rates and reduce bank reserve requirements to help free up more funding for lending. They also said the government would increase the amount of money available for factory upgrades and other innovation and for elder care and other service businesses. High tariffs imposed by Trump have begun to take a toll on China’s export-dependent economy, which was already under pressure from a prolonged downturn in the property sector.

North Korean leader urges increased artillery shell production amid alignment with Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his munitions industry to boost the production of artillery shells, state media said Wednesday, as the country continues to supply arms and troops to support Russia’s war on Ukraine. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim, during recent visits to unspecified munitions and machinery factories, praised modernization efforts that the agency claimed enabled the facilities to double their annual shell production capacity. Kim urged workers to further accelerate artillery shell production, calling it crucial to “strengthening the fighting efficiency” of his armed forces, and also called for the development of more advanced machinery to boost munitions output.

Private Japanese lunar lander enters orbit around moon ahead of a June touchdown

A private lunar lander from Japan is now circling the moon, with just another month to go before it attempts a touchdown. Tokyo-based ispace said Wednesday morning its Resilience lander entered lunar orbit. “The countdown to lunar landing has now officially begun,” the company said in a statement. SpaceX launched Resilience with U.S-based Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander in January. Firefly got there first in March, becoming the first private outfit to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Another American company, Intuitive Machines, landed a spacecraft on the moon a few days later, but it ended up sideways in a crater.

Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Bill Gates arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives with the leader of the world’s fourth most populous country. Gates met President Prabowo Subianto at the colonial-style Merdeka palace in Jakarta. They planned to discuss global health, nutrition, financial inclusion and public digital infrastructure, Indonesia’s presidential office said in a statement ahead of the meeting. Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands sprawled across three time zones with a population of more than 280 million, launched an ambitious project this year to fight malnutrition that aims to feed nearly 90 million children and pregnant women.

Russia says Putin will travel to China in August

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China at the end of August and beginning of September, reciprocating Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia this week to attend festivities marking Victory Day in World War II. Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the visit will be part of a “good tradition,” in which Xi visits Moscow to attend celebrations of Russia’s defeat over Nazi Germany in May 1945, and Putin travels to China to attend events marking the Allied defeat of Japan. “This was the case 10 years ago, in 2015, and this will be the case this year,” Ushakov said.

Threatened by Trump tariffs, Japan walks a delicate tightrope between US and China

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as Japan’s top trade negotiator traveled to Washington for another round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation bearing the name of “Japan-China Friendship” wrapped up a visit to Beijing. A week earlier, the head of the junior party in Japan’s ruling coalition was in Beijing delivering a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Details of the letter are unknown, but the two sides discussed U.S. tariffs in addition to bilateral issues. Among all U.S. allies being wooed by Beijing in its tariff stare-down with Washington, Japan stands out.