| India conducted military strikes in Pakistan, which said it retaliated in expected tit-for-tat blows after a militant attack last month in Kashmir that killed 26 people. India said it hit nine targets in “a precise and restrained response” that was “designed to be non-escalatory,” while Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the move an “act of war.”  Pakistani soldiers stand guard after Indian strikes in Muridke today. Photographer: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty images Friedrich Merz is traveling to Paris and Warsaw today on his first foreign trip as German chancellor, with the 69-year-old conservative still reeling from yesterday’s humiliating initial setback in a parliamentary confirmation vote that raised early questions about his leadership. Talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will address issues including Russia’s war on Ukraine, tariffs and migration, and the chancellor is due to speak by phone with the US president tomorrow. Trump said he would prescribe tariff levels and trade concessions for international partners trying to avert higher duties, saying the US is “not looking to hurt countries” while appearing to move away from the idea that he would engage in back-and-forth negotiations. Meanwhile, India and the UK agreed on a landmark trade deal slashing tariffs on cosmetics, vehicles, alcoholic beverages and other goods, as both sides look for wins to offset American protectionism. Romanian far-right leader George Simion, who’s in a runoff for the presidency after a resounding first-round win, said he found inspiration in Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding president, Javier Milei, when asked how he’d address the nation’s economic woes. The little-known Trump acolyte said in a Bloomberg News interview that the only answer to a widening budget deficit and lingering inflation is to shrink the state, a stance similar to Milei’s.  An election poster in Bucharest yesterday. Photographer: Andrei Pungovschi/Bloomberg Five top aides of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado escaped the country after the US helped them foil a siege of the Argentine embassy in Caracas where they had been holed up for 15 months. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group is on US soil after a “precise operation” to free them. Trump said the US would stop its bombing campaign against Houthis in Yemen after Oman facilitated a ceasefire, even as the group pledged to keep targeting Israel over its Gaza campaign. Poland’s central bank is set to cut interest rates for the first time since 2023 and, like the last time, the decision will come just days before an important election. China condemned the Central Intelligence Agency’s attempts to recruit its disenchanted citizens and warned of retaliation, days after the release of videos encouraging officials to spy for the US. Russia and Ukraine continued air strikes against each other’s capitals overnight, including an attack that killed two people in Kyiv. | 
