Xinhua world news summary at 0830 GMT, March 3

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan held elections for its Senate to elect 52 members of the house for the next six years on Saturday amid strict measures to ensure transparency, the Election Commission said.

According to a statement from the Election Commission of Pakistan, at least 135 candidates, including 110 men and 25 women, are competing for the 52 Senate seats from all the four provinces of the country, northwest Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the capital of Islamabad.

(Pakistan-Senate-Election)

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PHNOM PENH -- The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen won all the Senate seats at stake in an election on Feb. 25, according to official results released by the National Election Committee on Saturday.

The results showed that the CPP received 11,202 (or 96 percent) of the total 11,670 votes, sweeping all 58 elected Senate seats.(Cambodia-Senate-Election)

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WASHINGTON -- The State Department said Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will outline his country's relationship with Africa and its "desire to strengthen ties with African partners."

Prior to his visit to Africa, Tillerson is scheduled to deliver the remarks at George Mason University in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Tillerson will kick off his maiden trip to Africa next week as the country's chief diplomat, which will bring him to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria on March 6-13. (US-Africa-Visit)

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KABUL -- More than 300 armed insurgents have been killed elsewhere in the conflict-torn Afghanistan over the past week as government forces have increased military pressure against militants, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

"A total of 302 insurgents have been killed, 187 others injured and 28 more militants have been captured elsewhere in Afghanistan over the past seven days," the ministry said in a statement. (Afghanistan-Militants) Enditem