World News Roundup: Italy's Berlusconi spends second night in hospital, friends hopeful; Taiwan faces choice of 'peace and war', ex-president says after China trip and more

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, reacted with anger to the McCarthy meeting having demanded it not take place, though so far has held off ratcheting up military tensions to show its displeasure. China imposes sanctions on Taiwan's US envoy, US institutions China has imposed further sanctions on Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States, prohibiting her and family members from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, state media reported on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Italy's Berlusconi spends second night in hospital, friends hopeful

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spent a second night calmly in the intensive care unit of Milan's San Raffaele hospital and is reacting positively to treatment, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday. The 86-year-old billionaire media tycoon was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, heightening concerns over his fragile health.

Taiwan faces choice of 'peace and war', ex-president says after China trip

Tension with China has escalated under Taiwan's government and the island will in future have to choose between "peace and war", former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Friday at the end of a landmark visit to China. Ma is the first former Taiwanese president to ever visit China. Since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists, no serving island leader has visited China.

France needs healing period, PM says, without offering tonic

France needs to "go through a healing period" after weeks of sometimes violent street protests against plans to raise the retirement age, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, though she offered no clear path out of the political turmoil. The protests, which began as a trade union-led movement against President Emmanuel Macron's contested pension reform, has coalesced widespread anger against Macron himself after he avoided putting the legislation to a final vote in parliament.

Shooting attack in West Bank with Israel on high alert

Two Israeli women were killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday and Israel reinforced troops near its borders after cross-frontier violence and police raids at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque raised concerns of a broadening conflict. But despite militants firing salvoes of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza over the past day and the Israeli military replying with air strikes, no other serious injuries were reported along the borders and neither side seemed keen to intensify the fighting.

Taiwan won't be stopped from engaging with world, president says

Taiwan will not be stopped from engaging with the world and will not give in to pressure, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday as she arrived back from a trip to Central America and United States, where she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, reacted with anger to the McCarthy meeting having demanded it not take place, though so far has held off ratcheting up military tensions to show its displeasure.

China imposes sanctions on Taiwan's US envoy, US institutions

China has imposed further sanctions on Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States, prohibiting her and family members from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, state media reported on Friday. The sanctions, announced by China's Taiwan Affairs Office, also ban investors and firms related to Hsiao from cooperating with mainland organisations and individuals.

With lavish treatment of Macron, China's Xi woos France to "counter" U.S.

China's Xi Jinping has given French President Emmanuel Macron an unusually lavish welcome on a state visit, which some analysts see as a sign of Beijing's growing offensive to woo key allies within the European Union to counter the United States. The two leaders visited southern China together on Friday, where Macron was due to drink Chinese tea with Xi in a former residence of his father in the city of Guangzhou, capital of the economic and manufacturing powerhouse of Guangdong province.

China holds the key to understanding COVID-19 origins: WHO chief

The World Health Organization chief pressed China on Thursday to share its information about the origins of COVID-19, saying that until that happened all hypotheses remained on the table, more than three years after the virus first emerged. "Without full access to the information that China has, you cannot say this or that," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to a question about the origin of the virus.

Climate change activists glue themselves to road to Alpine tunnel

Climate change activists brought holiday traffic to a halt in Switzerland on Friday when they blocked the main route beneath the Alps to demand urgent action against global warming.

Protesters from the group Renovate Switzerland glued themselves to the motorway surface around the northern entrance to the Gotthard Tunnel, the group said.

Russian forces likely threaten Ukrainian supply line to eastern city, Britain says

Russian forces have very likely seized the centre of the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and are threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west, British intelligence said on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday his troops would pull back from the small city, which has been the main focus of Russia's assault on Ukraine for months, if they came under risk of encirclement.