Roll out the red carpet for Japan. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is being feted with a speech before a joint session of Congress and a White House state dinner. Key to the courtship is Tokyo's ramped-up role in policing the Pacific.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a video call with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun as the two countries seek to restore dialogue amid rising regional tensions.

European heads of state and government came together in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss ways to heighten the European Union's (EU) economic competitiveness. At the special summit, they were issued a stark warning that the EU's economic performance was falling behind that of other key global players, most notably the United States and China.

Members of the United Nations Security Council failed to reach a consensus on a Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

A former US diplomat has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying for Cuba for decades. The incident has been called "one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government."

US diplomats urged countries to do more to stop the humanitarian crisis in Sudan as the conflict between the army and the RSF nears the one-year mark. They also called for Iran not to provide arms to Sudan.

Roll out the red carpet for Japan. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is being feted with a speech before a joint session of Congress and a White House state dinner. Key to the courtship is Tokyo's ramped-up role in policing the Pacific. Like the Germans in Europe, the Japanese have had to shed the post-war pacifism that's even embedded in their constitution. It’s with an eye to China, North Korea and Russia that they’ve drawn closer to South Korea and supported Ukraine.

Washington and Tokyo plan to upgrade defense ties to maintain security and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. President Joe Biden and PM Fumio Kishida have said the alliance between the two countries is "unbreakable."

US Republican Representative Guy Reschenthaler has filed legislation to rename the Dulles International Airport in Virginia as "Donald J. Trump International Airport."

Attempts to retrieve aid from recent US airdrops to Gaza that landed in the Mediterranean Sea have turned deadly, as people drown trying to recover the packages. Border crossings for aid convoys into Gaza remain hampered despite international pressure on Israeli authorities.

The Pentagon has said that the US has not carried out air strikes in Syria after Syrian and Iranian state media blamed Washington for a dawn bombing on Tuesday.

The American media react to the Baltimore bridge collapse, which has left six construction workers missing, presumed dead. Meanwhile, one French paper investigates a scandal involving American tyre manufacturer Goodyear. In other news, public confidence in the NHS is at a record low.