World
Here's why a flare-up between India and Pakistan over Kashmir matters
India and Pakistan have intensified their hostilities over the hotly contested Kashmir region following a massacre of 26 mostly Indian tourists, which New Delhi linked to Pakistan.
Pakistan denies it was behind Tuesday’s attack by gunmen on a group of tourists in Kashmir. Both sides have since escalated the tensions by exchanging diplomatic and trade sanctions against each other and raising fears of a military conflict.
INDIA VOWS TO HUNT TERRORISTS ‘TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH’ AS TENSIONS WITH PAKISTAN RISE AFTER KASHMIR ATTACK
Here are five reasons why a flare-up between India and Pakistan matters:
The Kashmir attack could lead to an armed conflict between 2 neighbors
Under intense domestic pressure, India has hinted at the possibility of a limited military strike on Pakistan in response to what it called the “terror attack” with “cross-border links.” Pakistan has made it clear that it will respond militarily to an attack.
This raises fears that an escalation by any one side could lead to a wider war. The last time the two nations came to blows was in 2019, when a suicide car bombing killed 40 Indian soldiers in Kashmir.
In 2021, the sides renewed a ceasefire agreement along their border, which has largely held. That relative calm was broken on Thursday after a brief exchange of fire between their armies.
Kashmir is a nuclear flashpoint between the archrivals
Both India and Pakistan are armed with nuclear weapons. There are fears that any conventional war or skirmish between them could potentially turn into a nuclear exchange.
India and Pakistan fought two major wars, in 1965 and 1971, but in 1974, India conducted its first nuclear tests, raising the stakes in any military conflict. It triggered a nuclear race and Pakistan reached that same milestone in 1998.
Kashmiri villager women walk past the blown-up family home of Asif Shiekh, a militant who officials say is involved in the deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam, at Monghama village in Tral, south of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Since then, India and Pakistan have had one major border skirmish in 1999 that killed at least 1,000 combatants. The fighting only stopped after the U.S. intervened.
A conflict could bring in China
India and China are geopolitical rivals whose armies clashed along the disputed Himalayan border in 2020. Ties between the Asian giants have improved since, but they still maintain large numbers of troops on their borders. Their borders are also contiguous to Pakistan’s, making it the world’s only three-way nuclear junction.
Beijing also controls a part of the Kashmir region that New Delhi says belongs to India.
On the other hand, China is also a main ally of Pakistan and has helped advance its missile programs, creating additional military concerns for New Delhi. Meanwhile, India maintains strong defense ties with the U.S., which has long sought to limit Beijing’s rise in the Indo-Pacific region.
Experts say any conflict between India and Pakistan is unlikely to stay strictly between them, as their strategic partners are likely to get involved.
Kashmir tensions can lead to a war over water
In response to the massacre, India suspended a crucial treaty that governs the flow of river waters into Pakistan. Pakistan said it would consider any attempt to stop the flow of water from India an “act of war.”
Under the Indus Water treaty, India is obliged to let six rivers flow freely to Pakistan. If India follows through and restricts the flow, it could have a devastating impact on Pakistan’s agriculture as it battles acute water shortages.
It’s also a major environmental issue. Water insecurity is a big concern in both India and Pakistan due to rapidly growing populations and climate change.
Attacks by militants and rights abuses in Kashmir test world’s response
Rights groups — including the U.N. — have blamed New Delhi for rights violations, including civilian killings and arbitrary arrests, in Indian-controlled Kashmir as a result of an intense crackdown by Indian forces. It has hurt India’s human rights record and raised concerns that global powers are not doing enough to pressure New Delhi and hold it accountable.
Militants fighting against Indian rule have also killed scores of civilians, including Hindu pilgrims.
India has used military response against militants as part of its efforts to eradicate “terrorism,” saying it threatens regional stability.
World
Shakira Acquitted of Tax Fraud in Spain, Will Be Reimbursed $64 Million: Singer Says She’s Spent Eight Years ‘Enduring Campaigns to Destroy My Reputation’
After an eight-year court battle, a Spanish court has ordered the country’s treasury to refund nearly $65 million to singer Shakira after ruling that the money was improperly collected.
The country’s high court has acquitted the Colombian singer of tax fraud and ordered the treasury to repay the money to her, with interest. In the ruling, the court said that tax authorities failed to prove Shakira had spent 183 days in Spain in 2011, effectively making her a resident and liable for personal income tax. The court ruled instead that she had spent just 163 days in the country during that financial year.
The country’s tax agency said it would appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court, and would make no payment until the final ruling.
In a lengthy statement following the ruling, Shakira said: “After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight. There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.
“Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty. Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.
“Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling. My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin. This victory is dedicated to them.”
The news comes just days after Shakira was announced as a halftime performer, along with Madonna and BTS, during the half-time show at this summer’s Fifa Men’s World Cup final. Earlier in May, she performed for an estimated 2 million people at a free concert on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
World
Bodies of four missing Italian divers found inside ‘shark cave’ in Maldives days after they vanished
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Rescuers located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in the Maldives, days after the group vanished during a dangerous dive far beyond recreational limits, Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Officials said Finnish cave-diving specialists found the bodies in the innermost section of the cave system in Vaavu Atoll, where the divers disappeared Thursday while exploring at a depth of about 160 feet. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 98 feet.
“As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part,” Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaam said, adding the victims were found “pretty much together.”
The Thinwana Kandu cave system where the bodies were found is known locally as “shark cave.”
RESCUE OPERATION FREES INJURED MAN TRAPPED 130 FEET UNDERGROUND IN ITALIAN CAVE
Monica Montefalcone, one of five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives archipelago while exploring an underwater cave, is shown in this undated photo released by Greenpeace Italia on May 15, 2026. (Greenpeace Italia/AP)
Recovery crews plan to retrieve two bodies Tuesday and the remaining two the following day, officials said.
The discovery came after authorities resumed the search following the death of a Maldivian military diver involved in the rescue mission. Mohamed Mahdi died Saturday from decompression sickness after attempting to reach the trapped divers.
Mohamed Mahdi, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died from decompression sickness during the dangerous mission, officials said. (Maldives National Defense Force)
A fifth Italian diver, identified earlier as a diving instructor, was previously found dead outside the cave.
BAGPIPER DIES DOING POPULAR VACATION ATTRACTION DAYS BEFORE MISSING SON’S REMAINS FOUND IN BACKYARD TREEHOUSE
The specialized Finnish team used advanced closed-circuit rebreather systems, allowing for longer and deeper dives in the cave’s confined environment.
Divers prepare to search for four missing Italian divers near Alimathaa Island, Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, on May 15, 2026. (Maldives President’s Media Division/AP)
Rough seas and hazardous underwater conditions repeatedly delayed search efforts as crews mapped and marked the cave entrance before pushing deeper inside.
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Authorities continue to investigate the situation and what led to the divers’ deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has criticised the overwhelmingly male nature of peace negotiation teams, linking it to contemporary diplomacy’s tendency toward short-term results.
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“This is a bigger problem we see around the world with different peace talks when we see that they don’t actually address the issues of long-standing peace,” she said at a press conference in Tallinn, Estonia on Sunday.
The ceasefires many talks yield, she said, too often simply declare hostilities over without resolving the “underlying issues” that perpetuate future violence.
Another problem, she said, is the lack of female input.
“There are also studies that show that when women are part of the negotiations, these peace (efforts) last longer,” Kallas expanded, adding that “the picture that we saw from the US China talks, (was) a lot of masculinity in the room”.
“Women have a role,” she said.
Various studies and international bodies, including the UN Security Council, argue that women’s participation in conflict resolution improves outcomes, but mediators and negotiating parties often leave women out of their teams.
According to data compiled by the Council on Foreign Relations, women represented only 16 percent of negotiators in active peace processes led or co-led by the United Nations in 2022.
Security and defence analyst Iana Maisuradze of the European Policy Centre think tank argues that the EU is a firm supporter of the UN resolution calling for more female participation during conflict resolution – and that it is not “sexist argument” to believe that women are beneficial to negotiations. She told Euronews the data backs this up.
“The argument is that women focus on things that male-dominated negotiators are not focusing on such as education, health, victims’ rights, social reconciliation (and) community: things that really bring people together rather than a zero-sum game, which men tend to do,” Maisuradze said.
“Having women at table works because we also bring different perspectives to the resolution of the conflict, and also to the implementation of peace agreements.”
A seat at the table
Kallas’ comments came amid wider chatter in the Belgian capital regarding whether the EU should have a seat at the table for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine – and who should represent the bloc if so.
Putin recently floated appointing former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as the EU’s lead negotiator in potential peace talks on Ukraine. This notion was widely dismissed by European heads of state, and the discussion of who Europe’s mouthpiece should be continues.
Diplomatic sources in Ukraine have said that Russia would “never” accept a woman as lead negotiator.
A diplomatic source in Brussels reiterated this, saying there is no possibility a female figure is being considered as part of the discussions. But another source in the Belgian capital told Euronews that “equality is an important factor”.
Regardless of their differences on the gender issue, most EU officials argue that appointing any envoy before a major European Council (EUCO) summit in June could be unrealistic.
European Commission spokesperson for foreign affairs Anitta Hipper said in response to a question by Euronews on Monday that Kallas is a “feminist” and “has a lot of practice back home”. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia from 2021 to 2024.
Hipper said the Commission could not comment on whether Russia would want a woman at the table, but reiterated that European heads of state will meet in Limassol in Cyprus in the coming weeks to discuss what form any future talks with Ukraine, Russia and Europe might take before June’s EUCO.
“What will be discussed is what our position is in terms of the demands and the ask and what unity we have in demanding our lists of asks from Russia,” Hipper said.
“This is something that we will be looking into – into the what, and not into the who.”
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