World News in Brief: July 30

* Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Saturday co-chaired the ninth China-France High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue in Beijing with Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty of France.

* The African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) on Saturday demanded the Nigerien military restore constitutional authority within 15 days.

* The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned Wednesday's military coup in Niger that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that there were agreements with Turkey that Ukraine's Azov fighters would remain in Turkey, and that there would be no further comments on the matter.

* Ukraine attempted to launch an attack on targets in Moscow with three drones but failed to achieve its goal, said the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday.

* Saudi Arabia is set to host talks in August about Ukraine, inviting Western states, Ukraine and major developing countries including India and Brazil, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

* King Mohammed VI said on Saturday Morocco hopes for a return to normality and open borders with Algeria amid severed diplomatic ties.

* Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has voiced the kingdom's rejection of all attempts to desecrate the Islamic holy book of the Quran and demanded immediate measures to stop such "extremist acts of violence" that offended Muslims.

* The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) needs to raise millions of dollars to bridge its deficit before the end of 2023, a UNRWA official said on Saturday.

* The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a 70-million-USD risk-sharing agreement for Morocco's Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) to support international trade, Morocco's official news agency MAP reported Friday.

* China on Saturday evening issued a string of alerts for multiple natural disasters.

* Nine people were killed in central Russia after strong winds toppled trees and heavy rains disrupted the electricity supply in hundreds of settlements, Russia's Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday.

* A firefighter battling the wildfire in British Columbia, Canada, has been confirmed dead, the fourth such fatality during the country's record fire season this year, local media reported Saturday.

* Israel is launching a 100 billion shekel ($27 billion) rail expansion that will connect its outlying areas to metropolitan Tel Aviv and, in the future, could provide overland links to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

* Myanmar's border trade surged 37.83 percent year-on-year to over 2.75 billion USD during the first quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

* Colombia's government on Saturday presented a budget proposal worth 502.6 trillion pesos ($127.8 billion) for 2024 to Congress, 19% greater than this year, the Finance Ministry said, an amount that would be the country's highest if approved.

* The Moroccan economy registered growth of 1.3% in 2022, against 8% in 2021, the central bank said late on Saturday.