US Vice President JD Vance has defended saying that he hopes his wife Usha — who was raised as a Hindu — converts to Christianity.

A fervent Catholic who himself converted in 2019, Vance said on Friday that pushback against his remarks reek of “anti-Christian bigotry.”

The 41-year-old was asked about raising their three children in an interfaith marriage at a Turning Point USA event honoring assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.

“Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” he said.

“But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”

Vance, who has been tipped by President Donald Trump as a likely candidate in the 2028 US election, then responded to criticism of his remarks on social media.

Replying to one critic who accused him on X of throwing the Second Lady’s religion “under the bus” to placate right-wingers, Vance replied: “What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines.”

“She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do,” Vance wrote.

Usha Vance was born in San Diego to parents who emigrated from India. She told Fox News in 2024 that her parents’ Hindu religion helped make them “really good people.”

Vance was raised as an evangelical in a chaotic and sometimes deprived upbringing that he described in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”

The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014.

Since Vance’s conversion to Catholicism five years later, he has frequently spoken about how his faith has informed his conservative political views.

• Lee hosts Xi in Asia-Pacific leaders’ forum after 11 years.
• South Korean leader also promises to strengthen ties with US.
• Lee calls for phased approach to denuclearising North Korea.
  

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sought Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help in efforts to resume talks with nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea on Saturday, while Xi told Lee he was willing to widen cooperation and jointly tackle the challenges they face.

Lee hosted Xi at a state summit and dinner after an Asia-Pacific leaders’ forum in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, marking Xi’s first visit to the US ally in 11 years.

Beijing attaches great importance to relations with Seoul and sees South Korea as an inseparable cooperative partner, Xi said ahead of the summit according to Lee’s office.

Lee, who was elected president in a snap election in June, has promised to strengthen ties with the United States while not antagonising China and seeking to reduce tensions with the North.

“I am very positive about the situation in which conditions for engagement with North Korea are being formed,” Lee said, referring to recent high-level exchanges between China and North Korea.

“I also hope that South Korea and China will take advantage of these favourable conditions to strengthen strategic communication to resume dialogue with North Korea.”

Lee has called for a phased approach to denuclearising North Korea, starting with engagement and a freeze on further development of nuclear weapons.

In a statement on Saturday, Pyongyang, a military and economic ally of China, dismissed the denuclearisation agenda as an unrealisable “pipe dream”.

North Korea has repeatedly and explicitly rejected Lee’s overtures, saying it will never talk to the South. In recent years Pyongyang abandoned its longstanding policy of unification with the South and called Seoul a main enemy.

Leader Kim Jong Un said he would be willing to talk to the United States if Washington drops demands for denuclearisation, but he did not publicly respond when US President Donald Trump offered talks during his visit to South Korea earlier this week.

Trump and Lee announced a surprise breakthrough in talks to lower US tariffs in return for billions of dollars in investment from South Korea. The US president then departed before the main APEC leaders’ summit.

South Korean national security adviser Wi Sunglac told a briefing that China expressed its willingness to cooperate for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, but the leaders did not specifically discuss what kind of role China would play. Both sides also agreed that US-North Korea dialogue was most important, Wi said.

Chinese state media reports on the meeting with Lee made no mention of the North Korea discussions.

According to Xinhua, Xi proposed ways to open a new chapter in relations, including having each country “respect each other’s social systems and development paths, accommodate core interests and major concerns, and properly handle differences through friendly consultation.”

Xi also called for upholding multilateralism and increasing cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, green industries and aging populations, Xinhua reported.

During Xi’s visit, China and South Korea signed seven agreements including a won-yuan currency swap and memorandums of understanding on online crime, businesses that cater to aging populations, and innovation, among other issues.

• 25,000 devotees throng temple built for 2,000.
• 18 injuries reported so far: district collector.
• Govt to compensate families of victims: Indian PM.

A stampede at a temple in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh killed at least nine people early on Saturday, government officials said, with several injured.

The stampede occurred as worshippers crowded into the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in the city of Srikakulam on Ekadashi, a day Hindus consider auspicious, said Pawan Kalyan, the state’s deputy chief minister.

“An inquiry will be conducted into the tragic incident,” Kalyan said in a statement, adding that the temple was run by private individuals. He put the death toll at nine.

As many as 25,000 devotees crowded into the temple, which can accommodate only about 2,000, leading to the crush, state minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy added, while district officials have been told to provide the injured with medical help.

A total of 18 injuries have been reported so far, the collector and magistrate of Srikakulam district Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar said, while two critically injured patients have been moved to a tertiary care hospital for treatment.

The government will pay compensation of INR200,000 ($2,300) to the families of the dead, and INR50,000 ($570) to the injured, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.