Xi, Trump to discuss bilateral relations, world peace and development
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump will have an in-depth exchange of views on major issues concerning China-U.S. relations and world peace and development, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday.
Guo made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked about Trump's upcoming state visit to China, scheduled from May 13 to 15, which will be the first visit to China by a U.S. president in nine years.
Xi and Trump met last time in October 2025 in Busan, the Republic of Korea. Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-U.S. relations, he said.
China is willing to work with the United States in the spirit of equality, respect, and mutual benefit to expand cooperation, manage differences, and inject more stability and certainty into a turbulent and changing world, Guo said.
Preliminary positive hantavirus PCR test confirmed among MV Hondius evacuees in Spain
One of the 14 Spanish evacuees from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday has tested preliminarily positive for the virus, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said Monday.
Garcia wrote on X that one of the Spanish passengers currently under isolation at Madrid's Gomez Ulla hospital had tested preliminarily positive in a PCR test conducted upon arrival.
"The person remains in isolation, without symptoms and in general good health, under continued clinical observation in accordance with established safety and epidemiological protocols," she wrote.
The other 13 Spaniards tested provisionally negative, while final results were expected in the coming hours, the minister said.
According to health authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak is believed to involve the Andes strain of hantavirus, a variant known for possible person-to-person transmission through close contact. The virus is typically transmitted through exposure to infected rodent urine or droppings.
The Spanish evacuees were transferred to Madrid as part of an evacuation operation launched after the MV Hondius arrived in Spain's Canary Islands over the weekend.
Trump says U.S.-Iran truce on "massive life support" as diplomacy continues
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the weeks-long ceasefire with Iran remains in effect but is on "massive life support," signaling that Washington will continue pursuing diplomacy with Tehran despite rejecting Iran's latest proposal.
"I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support," Trump told reporters at the White House, describing the current truce as "unbelievably weak."
Trump again slammed Iran's latest response to the White House peace plan, which he rejected one day earlier, calling it "totally unacceptable," stressing that any peace deal between Washington and Tehran would require Iran to pledge to stop pursuing a nuclear program.
He accused Iran of reneging on an agreement to give up its enriched uranium and allow the United States to remove it. "They did two days ago," Trump told reporters. "But they changed their mind, because they didn't put it in the paper."
"They told me, number one, you're getting it, but you're going to have to take it out," Trump said of Iran's uranium buried under rubble following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. "The site was so obliterated that there's only one or two countries in the world that could get it."
Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its enriched uranium, insisting that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran says proposal to U.S. seeks only "legitimate rights"
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Tehran had sought only its "legitimate rights" in a new peace proposal delivered to the United States through Pakistan, which has been mediating between the two sides.
Speaking at a weekly news conference in Tehran, Baghaei said Iran's demands included ending the war in West Asia, lifting the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian shipping, releasing Iranian assets frozen abroad, ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and restoring regional stability.
"We have not demanded any concession. The only things we demanded are the Iranian nation's legitimate rights," he said.
Baghaei described Tehran's proposal as "reasonable and responsible," saying it was aimed at protecting Iran's interests as well as regional and global security.
He also noted that nuclear issues would be discussed later as Tehran was currently focused on ending the conflict.
EU countries agree on sanctions on Israeli settlers
The European Union (EU) members on Monday agreed on new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, after a months-long deadlock, according to a top EU diplomat.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media platform X that foreign ministers of EU members had approved the move. The decision comes amid rising settler violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery," Kallas said.
The EU has yet to publish details of the individuals and entities to be targeted by the new sanctions.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X that the EU was sanctioning major Israeli organizations and their leaders over their support for the "extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank." He said such "serious and intolerable" acts must stop immediately.
However, EU diplomats failed to agree on further measures, including a ban on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank or the suspension of a key trade agreement with Israel.
Two killed, six injured in shooting in southern French city of Nice
At least two people were killed and six others injured in a shooting in the Moulins district of the southern French city of Nice on Monday, Nice Mayor Eric Ciotti said.
Two people have died, and among the injured, three are in critical condition, during the shooting at Place des Amaryllis in Nice, Ciotti said on social platform X.
According to French news channel BFM TV, a vehicle carrying two people drove through the neighborhood before one of them opened fire several times near Place des Amaryllis and fled the scene.
Following the shooting, all schools in the district were temporarily placed under lockdown, the report said, adding that the area was quickly secured, and the lockdown measures were later lifted.
The investigation of the shooting incident is still ongoing, the report said.■
