World News Roundup: A punch in the face for Xi caricature: Taiwan air force badge goes viral; Dalai Lama apologises after video asking boy to 'suck my tongue' and more

Beijing on Monday carried out the last of three days of drills around Taiwan, including practicing aerial and naval blockade manoeuvres of the island, which China views as part of its own territory, something Taiwan's government strongly disputes. Battles in east Ukraine rage, report says Kyiv rethinking counteroffensive after leaks Russian forces pressed attacks on frontline cities in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv had had to amend some military plans ahead of a counter-offensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

A punch in the face for Xi caricature: Taiwan air force badge goes viral

Taiwanese are rushing to buy patches being worn by their air force pilots that depict a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh - representing China's President Xi Jinping - as a defiant symbol of the island's resistance to Chinese war games. China began three days of military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, a day after the island's president, Tsai Ing-wen, returned from a brief visit to the United States, where she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy despite Beijing's warnings.

Dalai Lama apologises after video asking boy to 'suck my tongue'

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' 87-year-old spiritual leader, apologised on Monday after footage showed him asking a young boy to "suck my tongue" at a public event. "A video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked his Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug," said a statement on the exiled leader's Twitter account, which has 19 million followers.

Intel leak has U.S. officials bracing for impact at home and abroad

The U.S. national security community is grappling with fallout from the release of dozens of secret documents, including the impact on sensitive information-sharing within the government and ties with other countries, two U.S. officials said. Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of these documents, labeled "Secret" and "Top Secret", that first appeared on social media websites in early March and purportedly reveal details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and information about allies including Israel, South Korea and Turkey. The material did not draw much notice until a New York Times article on Friday.

Italy's Berlusconi health conditions steadily improving, his doctors say

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's health condition is steadily improving as he is treated in hospital for a lung infection caused by chronic leukaemia, his doctors said on Monday. "Over the past 48 hours there has been a progressive and steady improvement in the functionality of organs being monitored," doctors Alberto Zangrillo and Fabio Ciceri said in a bulletin.

World Bank's Malpass says Russia's detention of WSJ reporter is 'brazen act'

Russia's detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is a "brazen act" and violates the vital freedom of the press, including the safety of journalists, World Bank President David Malpass said on Monday. Russian Federal Security Service investigators last week charged Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the accusation and said he was working as a journalist, domestic news agencies said on Friday.

Ukraine says only 1,800 civilians still living in 'ruins' of Avdiivka

The civilian population of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka has dwindled to 1,800 people from 32,000 before the war, as Russian forces bear down on the city to try to capture it, the local governor said on Monday. Avdiivka has been one of the main targets of a Russian winter offensive that Moscow hoped would reinvigorate its Feb. 2022 invasion and which has only been able to make small territorial advances in the east.

Kremlin says China has every right to conduct Taiwan exercises, France cannot mediate in Ukraine

The Kremlin said on Monday that China had every right to respond to what it called repeated "provocations" against it and carry out military exercises around Taiwan. Beijing on Monday carried out the last of three days of drills around Taiwan, including practicing aerial and naval blockade manoeuvres of the island, which China views as part of its own territory, something Taiwan's government strongly disputes.

Battles in east Ukraine rage, report says Kyiv rethinking counteroffensive after leaks

Russian forces pressed attacks on frontline cities in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv had had to amend some military plans ahead of a counter-offensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents. The Russians were pounding Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other cities and towns with air strikes and artillery barrages, Kyiv said.

China ends Taiwan drills after practising blockades, precision strikes

China ended three days of military drills around Taiwan on Monday saying they had tested integrated military capabilities under actual combat conditions, having practised precision strikes and blockading the island that Beijing views as its own. Beijing announced the drills on Saturday, after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Pope hopes Northern Ireland accord can be 'consolidated' to benefit all Ireland

Pope Francis said on Monday he was praying that the Good Friday agreement signed 25 years ago that largely ended violence in Northern Ireland can be "consolidated" to benefit the people of all of Ireland. Francis made the comment about the 1998 agreement, which has come under strain following Britain's exit from the European Union, in his noon address on Easter Monday to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.