Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at crumbling India-Pakistan relations, a car bombing in Russia, and peace talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

‘Act of War’

The United Nations urged India and Pakistan on Friday to “exercise maximum restraint” as relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals rapidly deteriorate. “Any issues between Pakistan and India, we believe, can be and should be resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. The warning came after Indian and Pakistani soldiers reportedly briefly exchanged fire across their heavily patrolled and contested border in the Kashmir region late Thursday.

Historically fraught tensions between the two countries flared on Tuesday, when militants killed 26 people near the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam in the worst terrorist attack on civilians in the India-administered territory in decades. India accused Pakistan of backing militants like the ones thought to be responsible for the attack, but Islamabad has denied involvement.

In response to Tuesday’s attack, India closed Attari-Wagah, its main land border crossing with Pakistan; revoked visas issued to Pakistani nationals, to go into effect on Sunday; and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, a crucial water-sharing agreement with Pakistan. The treaty was signed in 1960 and has withstood two wars between the countries. Some experts say that if India decides to restrict the flow of water, it could lead to severe water shortages for Pakistan, particularly during its dry season; the country is already struggling with drought and low rainfall. However, many experts say such fears are overblown and that India lacks the capability to hold back such a massive volume of water. There is also concern that New Delhi could release surplus water from some rivers without notifying Islamabad, potentially causing floods.

Pakistan warned on Thursday that any attempt by India to stop or divert the flow of water under the Indus Waters Treaty would be considered an “act of war,” also threatening to suspend the 1972 Simla Agreement, a peace treaty that established the de facto Line of Control that divides Kashmir between the two countries; India, under the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, established direct control over its portion of the majority-Muslim territory in 2019, effectively ending the region’s semi-autonomous status.

On Thursday, Pakistan also canceled special visas issued to Indian nationals, closed its airspace to all Indian-owned or operated airlines, reduced New Delhi’s diplomatic staff in Islamabad, and suspended all trade with India through third parties.

Kashmir has long been a flash point in India-Pakistan relations, but a recent uptick in extremist violence could point to a “sense of hopelessness” among the region’s population, FP columnist Sumit Ganguly wrote last November following another attack on civilians.

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What We’re Following

Car bombing. An improvised explosive device killed Russian Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik in the city of Balashikha, near Moscow, on Friday. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the blast a “terrorist attack,” and Kremlin officials launched a criminal investigation into his killing. Zakharova’s language mimics that used by Moscow to describe past bombings that targeted Russian military personnel, which Russia claims were carried out by or on behalf of Ukraine.

The killing of Moskalik coincided with White House envoy Steve Witkoff’s trip to Moscow on Friday, during which the U.S. official met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Russia-Ukraine peace talks. This was their fourth meeting in recent months, and it followed U.S. President Donald Trump telling Time magazine that “Crimea will stay with Russia” as part of a future deal; Russia currently occupies the Ukrainian territory, yet Kyiv maintains that it will not concede any land.

The details of Putin’s three-hour meeting with Witkoff were not disclosed, but Putin’s foreign-policy advisor, Yury Ushakov, called the talks “constructive.” Meanwhile, Trump said on Friday that he may speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral in Vatican City.

Hope for peace. Foreign ministers from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo convened in Washington on Friday to discuss ways to promote peace and economic development. The meeting was part of a diplomatic effort to end months of violence between Congolese forces and M23 rebels in eastern Congo; much of the international community, including Congo and the United Nations, has accused Rwanda of financing the rebel group, but Kigali denies these allegations.

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has repeatedly rejected any direct negotiations with the M23. However, Kinshasa attended peace talks in Doha, Qatar, this week, and on Wednesday, Congo and the M23 agreed to a pause in fighting. “Both parties reaffirm their commitment to an immediate cessation of hostilities, a categorical rejection of any hate speech, intimidation, and call on local communities to uphold these commitments,” they said in a joint statement. The truce will be applied throughout the duration of peace negotiations.

Tariff exemption. China appeared on Friday to have quietly rolled back 125 percent retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods. According to three import agencies in the city of Shenzhen, Beijing has applied tariff exemptions on U.S. semiconductors; last year, China imported $11.7 billion worth of the critical technology from the United States.

The U.S.-China trade war has escalated in recent weeks, as both sides wait for the other to blink first. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping “numerous times,” though it is unclear if any of these instances were after Washington imposed 145 percent duties on Beijing. “He’s called. And I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf,” Trump told Time magazine in an interview published on Friday.

Beijing, however, denies any such phone call. “China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday. “The United States should not confuse the public.”

What in the World?

Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader, died on Monday. How old was he?

A. 76
B. 81
C. 88
D. 93

Odds and Ends

For the first time in history, anthropologists have uncovered direct evidence of gladiator fights. In a PLOS One paper published on Wednesday, researchers cited physical proof that the Roman Empire hosted classical fights between men and beasts, with the skeleton of a lion-mauled gladiator discovered in what is now the English city of York. Gladiator II director Ridley Scott can finally take a big sigh of relief.

And the Answer Is…

C. 88

Throughout his tenure, Francis was known as a champion of the poor and a progressive leader who sought to reshape the church’s priorities, Christopher White writes.

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