MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/: Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, is expected to visit China on July 9-12, the country’s Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Federation Council Speaker Matviyenko is expected to lead the Russian delegation to the 8th meeting of the China-Russia committee for parliamentary cooperation, the agency reported.

The visit will be held at the invitation of Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China.

The report gives no further details of the visit.

KAMPALA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan military on Sunday said it has killed a senior commander of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels and three of his fighters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) in a joint operation with the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) killed Lubangakane, one of the most senior ADF commanders in Mwalika valley, North Kivu province in the eastern DRC, the military said in a statement issued here.

MONTREAL, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of forest fires continues to rise in Canada, climbing on Friday to more than 670 blazes – more than 380 of them out of control – with a long and difficult summer ahead.

“The numbers are literally off the charts, with at least three more months left in the active wildfire season,” said Michael Norton of the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources.

And weather forecasts for the coming weeks predict above-average temperatures in many parts of the country in the west, and also in northern Quebec, the worst-hit region.

BERLIN (AP) — The German government is considering whether it can make former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer foot at least part of the quarter-billion euro compensation it has to pay a private company over a failed plan to introduce highway tolls.

TORONTO, July 9 (Reuters) - Talks in Pacific Canada between striking dock workers and their employers have resumed after four days away from the negotiation table, a statement on Saturday by the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) showed.

The BCMEA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) met on Saturday, supported by federal mediators, the statement said. The talks had stalled on Tuesday and the two sides broke off negotiations.

CAIRO (AP) — A court in the Libyan capital sentenced three people to harsh prison terms on charges of human trafficking, in a first such ruling in a North African nation where migrants are routinely mistreated.

The Criminal Court of Tripoli convicted the three of human trafficking, detaining, and torturing migrants, and extorting their families to pay ransom to release their relatives, according to a statement Friday by the office of Libya’s chief processor.

KABUL, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police have arrested a man with 77 kg heroin in south Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Abdul Matin Qani said Sunday.

The counter-narcotics police have detained the man along with the drugs in Uruzgan province, three more drug smugglers in the eastern Khost province and another in Parwan province over the past 24 hours, Qani said.

Without providing more details, the spokesman added that the counter-narcotics police have also destroyed 200 acres of poppy in Paktika and Parwan provinces.

KULAI (Johor, Malaysia), July 9 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysians have suffered a total loss of RM302 million due to online scams on Facebook and Instagram from 2021 to June this year. 

Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Teo Nie Ching said the losses incurred from scams on Facebook amounted to RM232 million, whereas on Instagram, it was RM70 million.

“We have also had a meeting with Meta, the parent company, because we really want to prove that this is indeed a serious issue.

07 July 2023; MEMO: The UK's top diplomat to Afghanistan, on Thursday, said that he met the Taliban officials in the capital, Kabul, and discussed various issues, including the rights of women and girls, Anadolu Agency reports.

Robert C Dickson, charge d'Affaires of the UK Mission in Afghanistan, said he visited Afghanistan's capital city and met with acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and other senior officials.

MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) - At least 300 people who were traveling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain's Canary Islands have disappeared, migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday.

Two boats, one carrying about 65 people and the other with between 50 and 60 on board, have been missing for 15 days since they left Senegal to try to reach Spain, Helena Maleno of Walking Borders told Reuters.

A third boat left Senegal on June 27 with about 200 people aboard.

The families of those on board have not heard from them since they left, Maleno said.

09 July 2023; MEMO: A German town has sworn in a former Syrian refugee as its mayor, in the first case of a German municipality voting in someone who had arrived in the country as a refugee.

At a municipal council meeting on Friday evening, former Syrian refugee Ryyan Alshebl took the oath as mayor of Ostelsheim, a town 30 kilometres from the southern city of Stuttgart.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he has chosen 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong — places where Catholics are a small minority — as he continues to leave his mark on the body of churchmen who will select his successor.

The pope announced his picks during his customary weekly appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square, saying the ceremony to formally install the churchmen as cardinals will be held on Sept. 30.