Briefly

NATO

Dutch PM appointed new secretary-general

NATO on Wednesday appointed the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the alliance's next secretary-general, the bloc said in a statement. Rutte will take over on Oct 1 from Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, who is stepping down after a decade in the post. On June 19, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis officially announced his withdrawal from the race for NATO's secretary-general. Consequently, Rutte has gained the support of all 32 member countries.

UNITED KINGDOM

King Charles welcomes Japanese emperor

Britain's King Charles III welcomed Japan's Emperor Naruhito and his wife to London with a Buckingham Palace banquet on Tuesday, celebrating economic, diplomatic and cultural ties on the first day of a three-day state visit. The emperor's trip, postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seeks to deepen military, cultural and scientific links between the two countries. Emperor Naruhito studied in the UK in the early 1980s.

Agencies - Xinhua