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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden met along the sidelines of the Tokyo Quad leaders’ meeting for a bilateral meeting, their second bilateral meeting in a little over a month, with the two leaders having met virtually on April 11 before the India-U.S. 2+2 Defence and Foreign Ministries dialogue. The two countries announced a technology cooperation initiative and investment initiative with the U.S. development agency. Mr. Biden, expressing an idea he has articulated for years, said he would work for the U.S.-India relationship to be “among the closest” in the world. Speaking ahead of the bilateral dialogue, which was hosted at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s official residence in Tokyo, Mr. Modi called the India-U.S. partnership a “partnership of trust”. “Our shared values, and our common interests in many areas, including security, have strengthened the bonds of this trust,” he said, adding that bilateral trade and investment were expanding but “much be...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- In Afghanistan, 1.1 million children under the age of 5 will likely face the most severe form of malnutrition this year, according to the U.N., as increasing numbers of hungry, wasting-away children are brought into hospital wards. U.N. and other aid agencies were able to stave off outright famine after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year, rolling out a massive emergency aid program that fed millions. But they are struggling to keep pace with relentlessly worsening conditions. Poverty is spiraling and making more Afghans in need of aid, global food prices are mounting from the war in Ukraine and promises of international funding so far are not coming through, according to an assessment report issued this month. As a result, the vulnerable are falling victim, including children but also mothers struggling to feed themselves along with their families. Nazia said she had lost four children to malnutrition — two daughters and two sons under 2 years old. “A...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Tehran on Tuesday to pay their respects to a senior Revolutionary Guard member fatally shot by two gunmen on a motorcycle earlier this week, punching the air with their fists and chanting “Death to Israel.” The killing on Sunday of Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei bore the hallmarks of previous deadly shooting attacks in Iran blamed on Israel, such as those targeting the country’s nuclear scientists. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Iranian officials have blamed “global arrogance,” which is code for the United States and Israel, for Khodaei's killing. The funeral procession snaked through the main Tehran cemetery as mourners shouted anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans. A prominent poster hailed Khodaei as a martyr along with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020 in Iraq, and featured tattered Israeli, American and British flags. “Iran is a victim of terr...