Briefly

CHINA

Vice-president to attend coronation

Vice-President Han Zheng, serving as President Xi Jinping's special representative, will attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III of the United Kingdom scheduled to be held on Saturday in London, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning announced on Thursday. Han will also pay visits to Portugal and the Netherlands from May 7 to 12, she said.

UNITED STATES

Trump calls writer's rape claim 'ridiculous'

Donald Trump called a writer's claims that he raped her at a Manhattan department store "the most ridiculous, disgusting story", testifying in a deposition shown in court on Wednesday that the allegations were "made up" and that the assault never happened. Lawyers for accuser E. Jean Carroll played about 30 minutes of excerpts from the former president's deposition, including his emphatic denial of the longtime advice columnist's accusation that he attacked her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Several jurors leaned forward, watching without expression as the video played on individual monitors in front of their seats.

EUROPE

Raids, arrests hit Italian mafia group

Police across Europe arrested dozens of people, raided homes and seized millions of euros in assets on Wednesday, in a coordinated crackdown on Italy's 'Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, one of the world's most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups. The operation, coordinated by European Union judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, is aimed to dismantle a network that includes the 'Ndrangheta, Colombian drug producers and paramilitary groups.

Agencies - China Daily