WORLD

Japan's Emperor Naruhito said Britain's royals treated him "like family", as he recounted previous trips at a rare press conference on Wednesday ahead of a UK state visit.

As Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako make the first Japanese state visit to Britain since 1998, here are some key things to know about the imperial family: - Sun goddess - Legend has it that Japan's royals, whose myth-filled history spans 2,600 years, are descended from the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu.

Monday's incident was the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to the disputed area.

Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel's army warned it had readied an "offensive" against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on the country's northern front.

The European Union is expected on Wednesday to rebuke nearly 10 governments, including France and Italy, over their excessive spending after new budget rules entered into force this year.

China will send 11 swimmers implicated in a major doping scandal to next month's Paris Olympics, after the country named its squad for the Games.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Wednesday that China was attempting to force the self-ruled island into submission but that it would not bow to pressure.

American intellectual, linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky was discharged from a hospital in Sao Paolo Tuesday, the facility said, and would continue an undisclosed treatment at home.

In 2023, a newborn Javan rhino in Indonesia raised hopes for the highly endangered species.

Baseball icon Willie Mays, one of the greatest players in the sport's history beloved for dazzling skill and athletic grace, died Tuesday aged 93, his family announced.

South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa is to be sworn in as president at a ceremony in Pretoria on Wednesday, after his weakened African National Congress (ANC) struck a government coalition deal.

Republicans are flooding the internet with out-of-context videos of US President Joe Biden, using what the White House has characterized as deceptive editing tactics to cast the 81-year-old as infirm less than five months from November's election.

Education bosses in Los Angeles voted Tuesday to work towards a complete ban on the use of smartphones in the city's schools.

A senior Federal Reserve official said Tuesday that she is optimistic about the US central bank's progress against inflation, and expects it will be appropriate to start interest rate cuts this year.

Ukrainian forces staged an overnight drone attack that set several oil storage tanks ablaze near the town of Azov in southern Russia, a source in Kyiv told AFP on Tuesday.

Kenyan police fired tear gas and arrested at least a dozen demonstrators Tuesday as hundreds of people gathered near parliament to protest tax hikes, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

With Thai lawmakers voting to legalise same-sex marriage Tuesday, we look at the situation across the globe.

Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 13 people in central Gaza, the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run territory said, although fighting has largely subsided as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha.

Four Philippine policemen were found guilty Tuesday of killing a father and son, court officials said, in a rare case of law enforcement officers being prosecuted for taking part in former president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war.

Survivors of an Indian double train crash that killed nine people described on Tuesday their terror when a driver missed a signal and rammed a goods train into a passenger express.

Musicians around the world have described artificial intelligence as a threat to creativity, but the CEO of one popular platform told AFP he thinks critics are looking at it all wrong.

Dozens of North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the heavily fortified border Tuesday but retreated after warning shots were fired, Seoul said, the second such incident in two weeks as Pyongyang reinforces its frontiers with the South.

Australia voiced concern Tuesday about the "ham-fisted" actions of two Chinese diplomats at a press event, tarnishing a highly touted visit in which Premier Li Qiang has sought to celebrate trade and friendship.

Thai prosecutors on Tuesday formally indicted influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra under the kingdom's strict royal insult laws over comments he made nearly a decade ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed North Korea for "firmly supporting" Moscow's war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Thirty-seven political and social activists have been detained in Venezuela in the runup to July 28 elections in which Nicolas Maduro will seek a third, consecutive presidential term, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Monday.

Thai lawmakers met Tuesday to vote on legalising same-sex marriage, putting the kingdom on the cusp of becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to recognise marriage equality.

The governor of the US state of Maryland issued a mass pardon of drug offenses on Monday, in a far-reaching move forgiving 175,000 low-level marijuana convictions across multiple decades.

France captain Kylian Mbappe broke his nose during his side's 1-0 win over Austria at Euro 2024 on Monday, a source close to the player told AFP. Mbappe's head violently collided with the shoulder of Austrian defender Kevin Danso as they competed for the ball in the air.