There are hardly any tourists in the scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir. Most of the hotels and ornate pinewood houseboats are empty. Resorts in the snowclad mountains have fallen silent. Hundreds of cabs are parked and idle.

It's the fallout of last month's gun massacre that left 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir followed by tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan, bringing the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region.

North Korea's second naval destroyer was damaged in a failed launch this week, state media reported Thursday, sparking fury from leader Kim Jong Un, who wants bigger warships to deal with what he calls escalating U.S.-led threats against his country.

It's not common for North Korea to acknowledge military-related setbacks, but observers say the disclosure of the failed ship launch suggests that Kim is serious about his naval advancement program and confident of ultimately achieving that objective.

Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead late Wednesday outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted "free Palestine," authorities said, with U.S., Israeli and other world leaders expressing outrage over the killings.

President Donald Trump condemned the attack in the heart of the U.S. capital, saying: "These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!"

Iran and the United States will hold the next round of talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear program in Rome later this week, Tehran and mediator Oman said.

The arch-foes have held four rounds of nuclear talks since April 12, the highest-level contact between them since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal during his first term.

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia's Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.

A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province.

The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, designated a terror group by the United States in 2019.

The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected Ukrainian and European accusations that it was stalling Ukraine peace talks saying it plans to name its conditions for a ceasefire, but did not give a time frame.

"Nobody is interested in dragging out this process. Everyone is working dynamically," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question about when a "memorandum" announced by Putin can be expected. "Separately, there will be a list of conditions for a ceasefire. This was agreed at Istanbul talks," he said, without saying when either would be published or passed to Kyiv.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that Donald Trump's plan for a "Golden Dome" missile shield required consultations with Russia but was otherwise a "sovereign matter" for the U.S., softening its tone after previously slamming the idea as destabilizing.

"This is a sovereign matter for the United States. If the United States believes that there is a missile threat, then of course it will develop a missile defense system," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding the plan would require resuming nuclear talks with Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced new details and initial funding for his "Golden Dome" missile shield system, with geopolitical rival China accusing Washington on Wednesday of undermining global stability.

Crude prices rallied Wednesday following a report that U.S. intelligence suggested Israel was planning a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which would send geopolitical tensions into overdrive and fuel regional conflict fears.

While safe haven gold pushed almost two percent higher, the news from CNN appeared to be having little detrimental effect on Asian equities, with most extending the previous day's rally.