Good morning. We’re covering rising tensions between India and Pakistan, and the Trump Organization’s deals in the Gulf. Plus, books that whisk you away.
A backlash in India as tensions with Pakistan soarPublic anger has swelled in India after last week’s attack in Kashmir in which 26 people — all but one of them Hindu tourists — were killed by militants. Thousands of Muslims have been detained and their homes demolished in a growing backlash. India appeared to be preparing to strike Pakistan, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing to hunt down the militants and “raze” their safe havens. A Pakistani minister said on Tuesday that Pakistan believed an Indian strike was imminent. India has said that Pakistan had a supporting hand in the attack, an accusation that Pakistan denies. The killings of Muslims were reported in two states, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, with media reports suggesting they were hate crimes. Inside Kashmir, security forces have arrested hundreds and have blown up the homes of people they have accused of having terrorist affiliations. Background: The backlash was targeted at Kashmiris and soon spread to a wider anti-Muslim sentiment. That, analysts said, has furthered a demonization of Muslims that Modi’s party has long used to unite India’s Hindu majority. Related: More than 80,000 Afghans have been expelled from Pakistan since March 31. Many Afghan migrants have Pakistani spouses and have lived in the country for years. Nevertheless, the government says they must leave.
Trump family clinched a real estate deal in Qatar and DubaiThe Trump Organization has agreed to a deal for real estate developments in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates ahead of President Trump’s visit to the Gulf region this month. The Trump family business is partnering with a Qatari government-owned firm to back a golf course and luxury home project in the country. A new 80-story Trump International Hotel and Tower will be built in Dubai. Eric Trump, the president’s son, who was in Dubai this week to promote the real estate developments, told The Times that the golf course would be “beautiful” and “right on the ocean.” The president will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates, beginning May 13.
Israel’s military intervened in Syrian sectarian violenceIsrael launched airstrikes on Syria yesterday and threatened to strike government forces if clashes persisted between pro-government fighters and militiamen from the Druse minority. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of “operatives” accused of having “attacked Druse civilians” south of Damascus. At least 39 people — including 22 yesterday — have been killed in two days of clashes on the outskirts of Damascus, according to a war-monitoring group.
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A small cafe-bar in western France recently had a surprising visitor: the president of the Republic. Emmanuel Macron has taken to dropping in on random bars, without an entourage or press, to schmooze with patrons and hear their day-to-day concerns. “He did not come to scratch!” a bar owner said, alluding to betting games he offers on scratch cards. “He came to chat.” Lives lived: Jane Gardam, whose fiction captured both working-class and aristocratic Britain in the last years of the colonial era, died at 96.
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