Briefly

CHINA

Chinese, Indonesian ministers to meet

China will host the First Ministerial Meeting of China-Indonesia Joint Foreign and Defense Ministerial Dialogue in Beijing on Monday. The meeting will be chaired by Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Defense Minister Dong Jun. Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono and Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin will attend the meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday. Both sides will exchange views on bilateral ties, bilateral cooperation in political security and defense, international and regional cooperation. China and Indonesia are good neighbors and good partners, Lin said. The dialogue, which is the first 2+2 mechanism China has established at the ministerial level, shows the high level and strategic significance of bilateral cooperation, he said.

MIDDLE EAST

Houthis say death toll up to 58 in strikes

Yemen's Houthi militia said US strikes on a fuel port killed 58 people and wounded more than 100 on Friday, making it the deadliest attack of Washington's intensified monthlong air campaign. "The death toll from the American enemy's targeting of the Ras Issa facility has risen to 58 martyrs and 126 wounded," the Houthis' Al-Masirah TV said. Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis' casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks.

PUERTO RICO

Efforts underway to restore power

Workers scrambled to restore power to Puerto Rico on Thursday after a blackout hit the entire island the previous day, affecting the main international airport, hospitals and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began around midday on Wednesday left 1.4 million people without electricity. Officials expected 90 percent of the people to have power back within 48 to 72 hours after the outage, although 200,000 were left without power again on Thursday afternoon when one power plant failed twice.

China Daily - Agencies