Comment on Japan's Emperor Akihito turns 81, renews commitment to peace ahead of 70th year since war end

As Spanish race walker Laura Garcia-Caro approached the finish line of the 20 km race at the European Athletics Championship on Friday, she began to celebrate the bronze medal she was in good stead to win. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] She punched her fist in the air and stuck out her tongue cheekily, with the Spanish flag tucked in her shirt billowing behind her.

PARIS — President Joe Biden said France was America’s “first friend” at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Biden and Macron attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday and met separately the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris.

In a new letter, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, apologized to the Irish Guards—a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army—for missing today’s final rehearsal of the annual Trooping the Colour event and wished the regiment good luck. “I wanted to write and let you know how proud I am of the entire Regiment ahead of the Colonel’s Review and Trooping the Colour,” Middleton wrote in the letter.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida says he’ll be voting in November against a ballot amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in his state, a deeply personal decision based on his brother’s long history of addiction. The senator and former Florida governor said he watched his brother Roger Scott begin smoking marijuana as a teenager and then struggle with substance use for the rest of life. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “People end up with addictive personalities, and so he did,” Scott said in an interview.

JERUSALEM — Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began in Gaza. At least 55 Palestinians including children were killed as heavy fighting continued around the sites in central Gaza, the Health Ministry said, and more dead continued to arrive. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Israel’s army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two locations in a complex daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat on Saturday morning, raiding the two places at once and under fire. Argamani had been one of the most widely recognized hostages after being abducted from a music festival in southern Israel.

The Traitors, Peacock’s reality TV competition, has revealed its cast for its upcoming Season 3, and one of the new stars will be British aristocrat Lord Ivar Mountbatten, second cousin to King Charles III and a direct descendent of Queen Victoria. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Traitors, which operates similarly to a murder mystery show and a game of Mafia, has become extremely popular, and is Peacock’s most streamed unscripted original series to date.