عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Britain’s King Charles Honors Fallen US Troops on Last Day of Visit

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, US, April 30, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters)
Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, US, April 30, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters)
TT
TT

Britain’s King Charles Honors Fallen US Troops on Last Day of Visit

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, US, April 30, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters)
Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, US, April 30, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters)

King Charles III paid respects to fallen US troops at a military cemetery on Thursday, the final day of a state visit aimed at healing ties between Britain and the United States strained by the war in Iran.

By all accounts, the four-day visit has been a success, with President Donald Trump serving as solicitous host-in-chief who kicked off the monarch's stay with a pomp-filled welcome and lavish white-tie banquet at the White House.

"He's a great king -- the greatest king, in my book," Trump told reporters as Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the White House for a brief farewell ceremony under bright spring sunshine on Thursday morning.

As the royal couple drove off following handshakes and a bit of chat, Trump added: "Great people. We need more people like that in our country."

Charles and Camilla then visited Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, where they laid a wreath and flowers at the hilltop Tomb of the Unknown Soldier honoring America's unidentified war dead.

The pair stood solemnly as a bugler played "Taps," before visiting the adjacent display room of military exhibits and artifacts.

Next on the agenda was a "block party" to mark 250 years since American independence from Britain and meetings with Native Americans at a national park, before departing for the British island territory of Bermuda in the Atlantic.

- Light moments -

The centerpiece of the whirlwind trip was Charles's speech Tuesday to the US Congress, the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.

The address was warmly received, even as Charles ranged over subjects from climate change and the need for restraints on presidential power to the importance of NATO and defense of Ukraine -- sensitive issues for Trump's ruling Republicans.

The 77-year-old monarch skirted around tensions between Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Britain's refusal to join the war against Iran, insisting the partnership between the two countries was "born out of dispute, but no less strong for it."

The royals visited New York on Wednesday, where they stopped at the 9/11 memorial and met leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Charles, who is passionate about gardening and the environment, later visited an urban sustainable farming project in Harlem, while Camilla celebrated the 100th birthday of Winnie the Pooh at the New York Public Library.

Security has been tight for the royal visit, which came just days after an alleged assassination attempt against Trump at a Washington media gala.

The trip has seen light moments between Charles and Trump, including the US president joking that his Scottish-born mother had a crush on the future king when he was younger.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Pope to Release Major Artificial Intelligence Manifesto

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
TT
TT

Pope to Release Major Artificial Intelligence Manifesto

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Pope Leo XIV will release on Monday his long-awaited manifesto on artificial intelligence (AI), a bid to address ethical and social challenges as the technology rapidly develops worldwide.

The US pope will attend the presentation of the "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity) encyclical at the Vatican in person -- a first for the Catholic Church.

He will be joined not only by officials from the Holy See but experts including the co-founder of the American startup Anthropic, a key player in the booming AI landscape.

Anthropic is in a legal battle with the US military after refusing to change its internal policy prohibiting the use of its Claude model for lethal autonomous warfare or mass surveillance.

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field, saying that "delegating decisions concerning the life and death of human beings to machines" is a "destructive spiral".

Since his election a year ago as the Church's first US pope, he has repeatedly warned of the dangers of AI, including "the gradual replacement of reality by its simulation".

And he has slammed the "environmental devastation" caused by the "frenzied race" for rare earth elements, which are essential for modern electronics.

- 'Wake-up call' -

AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion (4.13 trillion euros) by 2033, a 25-fold increase in a decade, while concentrating its profits in the hands of a limited few, according to the UN.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last year warned "the window is closing to shape AI -- for peace, for justice, for humanity".

Leo has made the hot-button issue a cornerstone of his papacy in dedicating to it his first encyclical -- a document which lays the basis for Church teaching and longer-term debate.

Experts say "Magnifica Humanitas" could prove as influential as Pope Francis's "Laudato Si", a 2015 climate manifesto that triggered political and civic reactions worldwide.

The Vatican sees this new text as an extension of its social teachings on "protecting people in the AI era".

It was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of a 1891 encyclical by Leo XIII which laid the foundations of the Church's social doctrine during the Industrial Revolution.

"The Industrial Revolution transformed the labor market, people's lives, hegemony, and power dynamics," said Marijana Grbesa, political science professor at the University of Zagreb, and a speaker at an AI conference in the Vatican.

"At the time, it was necessary to train individuals in the use of tools. The same is true today: we need to train and educate," she told AFP.

The pope, she said, will emphasize that "education is not enough today".

"It's a wake-up call for the whole of civilization", to "be rational when we use these tools".

- 'Perception of reality' -

Leo has emphasized the need for "digital literacy... to understand how algorithms shape our perception of reality."

In April he warned against the use of AI to fuel "polarization, conflict, fear, and violence". And in January he lamented "the lack of transparency in the creation of the algorithms" that govern the operation of various chatbots, whose use is growing rapidly worldwide.

The release of "Magnificent Humanity" follows several years of study by the Church of AI-related technologies.

As early as 2020, the Holy See launched the "Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic", which called for new technologies to respect human dignity.

Leo's predecessor Pope Francis spoke extensively on the subject, calling for AI to be regulated and warning that it could exacerbate inequalities.

World

Around 20 Injured After Spraying Incident in Tokyo Mall

Emergency personnel work outside the Ginza Six luxury shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district, Japan, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
Emergency personnel work outside the Ginza Six luxury shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district, Japan, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
TT
TT

Around 20 Injured After Spraying Incident in Tokyo Mall

Emergency personnel work outside the Ginza Six luxury shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district, Japan, 25 May 2026. (EPA)
Emergency personnel work outside the Ginza Six luxury shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district, Japan, 25 May 2026. (EPA)

Around 20 people were injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo on Monday after a man sprayed a substance inside, police and fire department officials said.

Tokyo police spokesman Yusuke Koide told AFP that a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor of the building, while a local fire department official said "around 20 people were injured" after a report of a "smell".

The road in front of the mall -- located in the touristy and upmarket shopping district of Ginza -- was blocked off following the incident, and fire trucks lined the street.

But shoppers continued to come and go from the building using side entrances.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw two people on stretchers being put into an ambulance, while firefighters and officials dressed in hazmat suits brought people from the mall into specialized trucks to examine them.

Public broadcaster NHK said the injuries appeared to be light.

One 70-year-old woman who was at the mall told the broadcaster that her throat started "stinging and hurting" as she approached the ATM.

"By the time I arrived, the commotion had already started, and I thought there might have been a small fire or something.

"Once I went into the ATM corner, my throat felt scratchy, almost numb."

Police are investigating the cause, a fire department officer at the scene said.

Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world's toughest gun laws.

However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

In December last year fourteen people were injured in a stabbing attack in a factory in central Japan during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed.

Japan remains shaken by the memory of a major subway attack in 1995 when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill.

On March 20, 1995, five members of the Aum cult dropped bags of Nazi-developed sarin nerve agent inside morning commuter trains, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing.

World

Two Killed in Russia During Ukrainian Strikes

A man standing in smoke looks at heavily damaged buildings following Russian strikes in Kyiv on May 24, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A man standing in smoke looks at heavily damaged buildings following Russian strikes in Kyiv on May 24, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
TT
TT

Two Killed in Russia During Ukrainian Strikes

A man standing in smoke looks at heavily damaged buildings following Russian strikes in Kyiv on May 24, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A man standing in smoke looks at heavily damaged buildings following Russian strikes in Kyiv on May 24, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Two people were killed Monday in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk, local authorities said.

"A drone attacked a vehicle in the town of Graivoron," the authorities of the Belgorod region said in a statement, reporting that "a civilian was killed."

In Bryansk, a man was killed in a Ukrainian strike in the settlement of Belaya Beryozka, the acting regional governor Yegor Kovalchuk wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine regularly targets Russia in retaliation for the daily bombardments it has been subjected to since the start of the large-scale Russian offensive in February 2022.

At least four people were killed and more than one hundred injured in Ukraine overnight Saturday to Sunday in intense Russian bombardments that particularly targeted the capital, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Kyiv and Moscow reported that Russia used its Orechnik nuclear-capable ballistic missile during these strikes, which followed a Ukrainian drone attack on educational buildings in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk that left 21 dead and more than 40 injured.

US-mediated negotiations to end this conflict, the worst in Europe since the Second World War, have been at a standstill since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.