PLA conduct joint exercises around Taiwan Island

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command on Tuesday started to conduct joint exercises around Taiwan Island, said a spokesperson.

The theater command organized its army, navy, air and rocket forces to close in on Taiwan Island from multiple directions, said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the spokesperson for the theater command.

French far-right leader Le Pen found guilty in embezzlement trial

The Paris Court on Monday found Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in the French parliament, guilty of embezzling public funds by paying ghost European parliamentary assistants. The ruling bans her from running for the French presidency for five years.

Alongside Le Pen, eight other RN members of the European Parliament (EP) were also convicted of embezzlement. The 12 parliamentary assistants they had hired were found guilty of possessing stolen goods.

According to the Court, Le Pen and her colleagues arranged for the EP to pay salaries to individuals who were working, partially or entirely, for the French far-right party rather than for the European Parliament.

Yemen Houthis shoot down U.S. drone

Yemen's Houthi armed group said in a statement early Tuesday that it has shot down a U.S. MQ-9 drone over Yemen's central province of Marib.

"Our air defenses shot down a hostile American MQ-9 drone in the airspace of Marib province, using a locally manufactured missile," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by the group's al-Masirah TV.

"This is the sixteenth U.S. drone that our air defenses have successfully shot down since October 2023," he said, without specifying the exact timing. Local Houthi media reported that the drone was downed on Monday.

Trump plans to visit Saudi Arabia in May

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to visit Saudi Arabia in mid-May for the first foreign trip of his second term, U.S. media reported on Sunday.

The potential trip was discussed in recent weeks between senior U.S. officials and their Saudi Arabian counterparts, including on the sidelines of the talks about the Ukraine crisis in Saudi Arabia, reported news website Axios, citing U.S. officials and a source with knowledge of the plans.

China, Japan, ROK pledge to deepen cooperation

China is committed to high-quality development and expanding high-level openness, vowing to share opportunities with all nations, including the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, said Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao here on Sunday.

Amid the downward pressure on the global economy, China, Japan and ROK, as major regional and global economies, have to make joint efforts to safeguard free trade and multilateral trading system, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and advance regional economic integration, said Wang at the 13th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting held in Seoul on Sunday.

Myanmar's earthquake death toll rises to 2,056

The death toll from Friday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar has risen to 2,056, with approximately 3,900 people injured and nearly 270 reported missing, according to the country's State Administration Council Information Team on Monday.

International and domestic rescuers have been racing against time to save more lives in the quake-affected areas.

The first batch of disaster-relief material offered by the Chinese government arrived in Myanmar on Monday.