Speaking after a week of violent protests in Pakistan by a radical Islamist party outraged by French government support for magazines publishing cartoons of Mohammed, Khan said insulting the prophet hurt Muslims around the world.  

A joint statement issued after their first in-person meeting underscored the pressing challenges posed by China's assertiveness in the region, including over Taiwan, making it the first time in more than half a century that the self-ruled island was explicitly mentioned by Japanese and US leaders in such a document.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at age 99, was interred in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle after a 50-minute service attended by just 30 guests.

Pilot Jose Raul Martinez, who had been recruited by the CIA, asked for -- and received -- assurance from the agency that it would provide university educations to his two sons if he died during the operation, according to the documents published by the Washington-based National Security Archive research institute.

The statement came after a meeting between Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart, John Kerry, in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday, China's environment ministry said.

Yukio Edano, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, termed Friday's summit lackluster and said, "I'm not sure why Prime Minister Suga bothered to go (to the United States) in the midst of a coronavirus resurgence."

"The enrichment of uranium to 60 percent is underway at the Martyr Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility" in Natanz, Ali Akbar Salehi of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

The victims all died at a Fedex facility where the shooting took place late Thursday, police spokeswoman Genae Cook told a news conference, adding several other people had been taken to hospital.

Police spokeswoman Genae Cook told reporters  officers found an "active shooter incident" at a Fedex facility near the city's international airport, and believe the gunman died by suicide.

CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required.

"I'm sure that the water will be diluted so that (the tritium concentration) is one-seventh of the level safe for drinking water under the World Health Organization's guideline," Aso told a press conference, without responding directly to the proposal made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters that the government was considering adding Aichi, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba to six other prefectures already under the orders, including the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka. A final decision is expected on Friday afternoon.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent private WhatsApp messages to Johnson in June last year demanding that the English Premier League "reconsider and correct its wrong conclusion" blocking the takeover, the Daily Mail reported.

At a time when China's maritime assertiveness has become a major regional security concern, the drills of the GSDF, including transporting necessary supplies and improving communication systems, are expected to be carried out between September and November across the country.

The Frenchman had pulled off a series of dramatic flights over the Gulf city, using jetpacks and carbon-fibre wings to soar above the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa and alongside a passenger jet.

Canada has welcomed 70,000 new permanent residents so far this year, according to official numbers provided to Reuters, proportionally well short of the government's 2021 goal of 401,000. Three-quarters of those 70,000 were already living in the country.

In the hours after the blaze, Macron promised a distraught French nation that the cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, would be rebuilt and later said it would be reopened in some form to worshippers by 2024.

William Amos, a Liberal MP, was caught covering his nether regions with a mobile phone and in a state of nature between the flags of Quebec and Canada when his laptop camera turned on during the virtual session.

In her first statement since Sunday's first-round election, the daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori urged Peruvians to leave behind the politics of "hatred and revenge" that have hobbled both the economy and voter's trust in government.

In an open letter to President Joe Biden published late Wednesday, the group said it was "gravely concerned by the very slow progress" in scaling up global vaccine access and inoculation in low- and middle-income countries.

Investigators declined to say whether the bullet that struck Willson came from his own gun or from another officer's weapon, according to the New York Times.

While that emphasis of Japan's key status will be welcome in Tokyo, where some politicians are pushing for a tougher stance towards Beijing, it also raises questions about how far Tokyo can go to meet demands on regional defence and human rights.

Daunte Wright, 20, was pulled over on Sunday in Brooklyn Center, just outside Minneapolis, for what police said was an expired vehicle registration, then struggled with police and was shot to death by officer Kimberly Potter, 48, who drew her handgun instead of a Taser in what officials called an accident.

Tsai also told the delegation that Taiwan looks forward to resuming trade talks with the United States as soon as possible, Reuters reported Thursday.

Penny Williams, a former Australian high commissioner to Malaysia, has been appointed the new Australian ambassador to Indonesia, replacing outgoing envoy Gary Quinlan, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced.

On Tuesday, the Japanese government decided to release the treated water into the sea from the plant in two years, a major development following more than seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel there.

Around 7,000 non-US forces from mainly NATO countries, but also from Australia, New Zealand and Georgia, outnumber the 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan but still rely on U.S. air support, planning and leadership for their training mission.

The virus was detected in more than 1,000 people in just 48 hours in the city of Haridwar, which lies along the holy river where the Kumbh Mela is being observed, officials said.

"Enabling IR-6 (centrifuges) at Natanz today, or bringing enrichment to 60 percent: this is the response to your malice," Rouhani said in a message aimed at arch-enemy Israel, in televised remarks. 

Japan unveiled plans on Tuesday to release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water into the sea from the plant crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, starting in about two years after filtering it to remove harmful isotopes.