OSLO, July 10 (Reuters) - A volcano has erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, near the capital Reykjavik, following intense earthquake activity in the area, the country's Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Monday.

"At the moment, it's a very small eruption," said Matthew Roberts of the service and research division at the IMO. He added there was no direct imminent hazard to people in the region.

Traffic at Reykjavik's international Keflavik airport was not disrupted, the airport said on its website.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin had a nearly three-hour-long meeting with Yevgeny Prigozhin and PMC Wagner commanding officers in the Kremlin on June 29, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Commenting on a piece by the Liberation newspaper about Putin’s meeting with Prigozhin after what happened on June 24, the Kremlin spokesman said, "The president did hold such a meeting."

JUBA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese have pinned hopes on the upcoming elections scheduled for December 2024 as they celebrated the 12th Independence Day anniversary on Sunday.

The world's youngest nation experienced short-lived peace after it won independence on July 9, 2011, from neighboring Sudan before a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his then-deputy Riek Machar plunged the country into war in December 2013.

BAGHDAD, Jul 10 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said, Iraq lost 5,000 megawatts of electricity because of a shortage of gas supply from Iran.

The loss of nearly 5,000 megawatts caused by the decline in gas supplies from Iran, and the gap of 10,000 megawatts because of insufficient national gas production, have negatively affected the electricity supply to citizens, the ministry spokesman, Ahmed Musa, said.

BEIJING, July 10 (Reuters) - A 25-year-old man was suspected of attacking a kindergarten in China's Guangdong province on Monday, killing six people and injuring one, triggering an outpouring of concern about violence against children at school.

Media reported the attack in Lianjiang county in the southern province was a stabbing. The suspect, with the surname Wu and from Lianjiang, had been detained, police said, adding they were investigating.

Some media reported that both adults and children were among the victims.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. on Monday will announce a campaign for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the nation’s most competitive House districts.

Hertel and another ex-state senator, Republican Tom Barrett, who launched his second run for the seat Sunday night, are the first to announce bids for U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s seat. Slotkin, a Democrat, announced earlier this year that she would seek Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.

JOHANNESBURG, July 10 (Reuters) - Residents of South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg were stunned by the first snowfall in over a decade on Monday, with some children seeing snow for the first time.

While parts of South Africa regularly receive snowfall over the southern hemisphere winter months around June to August, Johannesburg last saw snow in August 2012.

After getting her picture taken on Nelson Mandela Square in the financial district, Jennifer Banda told Reuters that she was pregnant the last time it snowed.

BEIJING, July 10. /TASS/: The trade turnover between China and Russia may exceed $200 bln by year-end 2023, Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, or senate in Russia’s parliament, said after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

BISSAU, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Heads of state and government of West African countries have elected President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu as the new chairman of the regional bloc, replacing President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

Tinubu said he would promote democracy so that elections are the only possible route to power in the region, and fight terrorism that threatens peace and security.

He made the remarks at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that ended Sunday.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia and India reaffirmed commitments to further enhance defence cooperation, particularly in military-to-military cooperation and defence science, technology and industry.

This was achieved during the meeting between Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan and his visiting counterpart from India, Shri Rajnath Singh at the Ministry of Defence, here Monday.

Shri Rajnath Singh arrived Sunday for a four-day introductory visit to Malaysia.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: Cooperation between Russia and member countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), does not seek to hurt anyone, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"Today’s meeting confirmed that we always lay bare our positions honestly and no one of us is seeking to cooperate against anyone else," he said after the sixth ministerial meeting of the Russia-GCC strategic dialogue in Moscow.

ADEN (Yemen), July 10 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Yemen and Cuba on Sunday discussed on several aspects concerning bilateral cooperation in environmental matters, sustainable development and climate actions, the Saba news agency reported. 

According to Saba, the Yemeni Water and Environment Minister Tawfiq Al-Sharjabi and the Cuban Science, Technology and Environment Minister Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya held cordial talks.