The Chinese Foreign Ministery says Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week. Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit starting on Thurday, it said. The Kremlin said Putin was going on Xi's invitation. China has backed Russia politically in the conflict in Ukraine and has continued to export machine tools and other items seen as contributing to the Russian war effort, without actually exporting weaponry. China is also a major export market for energy supplies that keep the Kremlin's coffers full. China's Foreign Ministry said Xi would discuss with Putin "cooperation in various fields of bilateral relations ... as well as international and regional issues of common concern."

Nobel laureate Alice Munro has died. The Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honored short story writers was 92. Munro achieved stature rare for an art form traditionally placed beneath the novel. She was the first lifelong Canadian to win the Nobel and the first recipient cited exclusively for short fiction. Munro was little known beyond Canada until her late 30s but became one of the few short story writers to enjoy ongoing commercial success. A spokesperson for publisher Penguin Random House Canada said Munro died Monday at home in Port Hope, Ontario.