NPR News: 05-23-2026 3PM EDT

Nora Raum· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in New Delhi, India today, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His mission is to shore up relations between the two countries strained by U.S. tariffs on India.

Marco Rubio· Soundbite0:17

We've expanded commercial ties now with more than twenty billion in investments. Twenty billion in investments from Indian companies in the United States. We've deepened a security partnership through military exercises in the Indo-Pacific. Uh, and, and of course, as part of that, we, we recognize that an orderly and a secure consular system is vital to solidifying this important relationship.

Nora Raum· Host0:39

The relationship has also been affected by the U.S. growing closer to India's rival, Pakistan, which has been attempting to negotiate an end to the war in Iran. Rubio said today that some progress has been made. France has banned Israel's Minister of National Security from its territory in the latest reaction to the alleged Israeli mistreatment of pro-Palestinian activists who tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. France says his actions were intolerable. NPR's Jane Arraf has details.

Jane Arraf1:12

The minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted a video of himself taunting activists on the Gaza-bound flotilla seized by Israel in international waters. The flotilla organizers later said that forty of those on board, some of them European, had suffered broken ribs from being beaten