Pakistan Says It Shot Down Indian Drone along Kashmir Border

TOPSHOT - An Indian citizen returns from Pakistan through the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar on April 28, 2025,  after Islamabad revoked visas of Indian nationals in response to New Delhi's withdrawal of visas for Pakistanis. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - An Indian citizen returns from Pakistan through the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar on April 28, 2025, after Islamabad revoked visas of Indian nationals in response to New Delhi's withdrawal of visas for Pakistanis. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP)
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Pakistan Says It Shot Down Indian Drone along Kashmir Border

TOPSHOT - An Indian citizen returns from Pakistan through the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar on April 28, 2025,  after Islamabad revoked visas of Indian nationals in response to New Delhi's withdrawal of visas for Pakistanis. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - An Indian citizen returns from Pakistan through the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar on April 28, 2025, after Islamabad revoked visas of Indian nationals in response to New Delhi's withdrawal of visas for Pakistanis. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP)

Pakistan's military shot down an Indian drone along the de facto Kashmir border, state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday, a week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years.

The Indian army also said that both sides exchanged fire for a fifth straight night along the Line of Control (LoC), a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts, AFP said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan on the exchange of fire but state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported that the military had shot down an Indian "quadcopter", calling it a violation of its airspace.

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 in which 26 men were killed.

Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, diplomatic barbs, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.

The unmanned Indian aircraft had attempted to conduct surveillance along the LoC in the Manawar Sector of the Bhimber area, the Radio Pakistan report said.

It did not say when the incident happened. There was no comment from New Delhi.

India said the "Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control" overnight Monday to Tuesday. The gunfire took place in areas opposite Kupwara and Baramulla districts, as well as in the Akhnoor sector, it said.

The Indian army said its troops had "responded in a measured and effective manner to the provocation". There were no reports of casualties.

India has said Tuesday is the deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave.

'Exercise restraint'

Analysts say they fear bellicose statements will escalate into possible military action.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.

They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man's arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the killers.

The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show "maximum restraint", while China, which shares a border with both India and Pakistan, on Tuesday repeated its call on both sides to "exercise restraint".

"Both India and Pakistan are important countries in South Asia. Their harmonious coexistence is crucial to the peace, stability and development of the region," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get "figured out, one way or another".



Israel Arrests Citizen Suspected of Spying for Iran

Iranians drive past an anti-Israeli billboard carrying a sentence in Persian reading 'We are ready, are you ready?' hanging at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 24 December 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past an anti-Israeli billboard carrying a sentence in Persian reading 'We are ready, are you ready?' hanging at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 24 December 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Arrests Citizen Suspected of Spying for Iran

Iranians drive past an anti-Israeli billboard carrying a sentence in Persian reading 'We are ready, are you ready?' hanging at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 24 December 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past an anti-Israeli billboard carrying a sentence in Persian reading 'We are ready, are you ready?' hanging at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 24 December 2025. (EPA)

Israeli authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of an Israeli man on suspicion of committing security offences under the direction of Iranian intelligence agents, days after Tehran executed an Iranian accused of spying for Israel.

The arrest is the latest in a series of cases in which Israel has charged its own citizens with spying for its arch-foe since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

The suspect, who is in his 40s and lives in the city of Rishon LeZion, was arrested this month in a joint operation by Israeli police and Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency.

"The suspect was identified as having conducted photography in the vicinity of the home of former prime minister Naftali Bennett," a joint police and Shin Bet statement said.

"As part of his contact with Iranian handlers, he was instructed to purchase a dash camera in order to carry out the task," it added.

According to the statement, the man transferred photographs taken in his city of residence and other locations in exchange for various sums of money.

In May, Israel announced the arrest of an 18-year-old Israeli for spying on Bennett.

Iran and Israel, long-standing adversaries, have regularly accused each other of espionage.

Last week, Iran said it had executed an Iranian citizen convicted of spying for Israel.

In June, Israel launched strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas.

Iran responded with drone and missile strikes on Israel, and later on in war, the United States joined Israel in targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

During the 12-day conflict, Israeli authorities arrested two citizens suspected of working for Iranian intelligence services.

Iran, which does not recognize Israel, has long accused it of conducting sabotage operations against its nuclear facilities and assassinating its scientists.


In First Christmas Sermon, Pope Leo Decries Conditions for Palestinians in Gaza

 Pope Leo XIV arrives looks on as he performs the Christmas mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 25, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV arrives looks on as he performs the Christmas mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 25, 2025. (AFP)
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In First Christmas Sermon, Pope Leo Decries Conditions for Palestinians in Gaza

 Pope Leo XIV arrives looks on as he performs the Christmas mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 25, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV arrives looks on as he performs the Christmas mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 25, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Leo decried conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas sermon on Thursday, in an unusually direct appeal during what is normally a solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians across the globe celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

Leo, the first US pope, said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had "pitched his fragile tent" among the people of the world. 

"How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?" he asked. 

Leo, celebrating his first Christmas after being elected in May by the world's cardinals to succeed the late ‌Pope Francis, has a ‌quieter, more diplomatic style than his predecessor and usually refrains from ‌making ⁠political references in ‌his sermons. 

In a later Christmas blessing, the pope, who has made care for immigrants a key theme of his early papacy, also lamented the situation for migrants and refugees who "traverse the American continent". 

Leo, who has in the past criticized US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, did not mention Trump. In a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday, the pope said refusing to help the poor and strangers was tantamount to rejecting God himself. 

LEO DECRIES 'RUBBLE AND OPEN WOUNDS' OF WAR 

The new pope has lamented the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza several times recently and told ⁠journalists last month that the only solution in the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict must include a Palestinian state. 

Israel and ‌Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October after two years of ‍intense Israeli bombardment and military operations that followed ‍a deadly attack by Hamas-led fighters on Israeli communities in October 2023. Humanitarian agencies say there ‍is still too little aid getting into Gaza, where nearly the entire population is homeless. 

In Thursday's service with thousands in St Peter's Basilica, Leo also lamented conditions for the homeless across the globe and the destruction caused by war more generally. 

"Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds," said the pope. 

"Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness ⁠of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths," he said. 

POPE LAMENTS CONFLICTS IN UKRAINE, THAILAND AND CAMBODIA 

In an appeal on Thursday during the "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing given by the pope at Christmas and Easter, Leo called for an end to all global wars. 

Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he lamented conflicts, political, social or military, in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, and Thailand and Cambodia, among others. 

Leo said people in Ukraine, where Russian troops are threatening cities critical to the country's eastern defenses, have been "tormented" by violence. 

"May the clamor of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, ‌direct and respectful dialogue," said the pope. 

For Thailand and Cambodia, where border fighting is in its third week with at least 80 killed, Leo asked that the nations' "ancient friendship" be restored, "to work towards reconciliation and peace". 


China Accuses US of Trying to Thwart Improved China-India Ties

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and US flags flutter in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song
FILE PHOTO: Chinese and US flags flutter in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song
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China Accuses US of Trying to Thwart Improved China-India Ties

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and US flags flutter in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song
FILE PHOTO: Chinese and US flags flutter in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

China accused the US on Thursday of distorting its defense policy in an effort to thwart an improvement in China-India ties.

Foreign ministry ‌spokesperson Lin ‌Jian was ‌responding ⁠to a question ‌at a press briefing on whether China might exploit a recent easing of tensions with India over disputed border areas to keep ⁠ties between the United States ‌and India from ‍deepening.

China views ‍its ties with ‍India from a strategic and long-term perspective, Lin said, adding that the border issue was a matter between China and India and "we object to ⁠any country passing judgment about this issue".

The Pentagon said in a report on Tuesday that China "probably seeks to capitalize on decreased tension ... to stabilize bilateral relations and prevent the deepening of US-India ties".