Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will hold the United States responsible for any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities after U.S. media reported Israel is preparing for an attack.

"We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the U.S. government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility," Araghchi said in a letter to the United Nations published on Thursday.

The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes but refused to reveal where they would end up. The judge's statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government's deportation efforts.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing, administration officials accused "activist judges" of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

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.

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.