* China's President Xi Jinping will meet his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on the sidelines of a G20 summit next week in Indonesia and he will later attend an APEC summit in Thailand, China's foreign ministry said on Friday.
* Cambodia and the Philippines vowed to further boost bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits, the Cambodian foreign ministry said in a press statement.
* The United States and India are natural allies that can show the rest of the world that democracies can deliver for their citizens, despite volatility and war, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday.
* Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and US President Joe Biden will hold talks in Cambodia on Sunday, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will head a delegation to the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia's Bali next week, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
* International cooperation is fundamental to tackling the challenges of today's world, the head of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) said Thursday during the opening ceremony of the 6th ACS International Cooperation Conference in the Cuban capital of Havana.
* The balance of power in the next US Congress is still undecided as of late Thursday night, two days after the 2022 midterm elections. Senate races in the states of Arizona and Nevada have yet to be called while Georgia's contest is heading to a runoff next month.
* A UN spokesperson said Thursday that the UN and humanitarian partners continue to provide life-saving assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
* Food imports costs across the world are on course to hit a near $2 trillion record in 2022, piling pressure on the globe's poorest countries who likely shipped in considerably less volumes of food, the U.N. Food Agency said on Friday.
* Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are on track to rise around 1% this year, scientists said on Friday, warning this would make it harder for the world to avoid disastrous levels of climate change.
* The European Union has agreed to a law to expand its forests, marshes and other "sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a measure that could allow the bloc to raise its target for cutting net emissions of greenhouse gases.
* Countries representing more than half of the global economy on Friday specified the steps they will take to help accelerate the low-carbon transition by cutting emissions in sectors including power, transport and steel.
* Russia's defence ministry said on Friday it had completed the withdrawal of troops from the western bank of the Dnipro river in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, the TASS news agency reported.
* Brazil's president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday assured supporters he will not privatize state-owned Banco do Brasil, the largest financial entity in Latin America, nor will he sell off parts of state oil giant Petrobras.
* Unilateral sanctions against Syria should be lifted as soon as possible, a UN expert said on Thursday. The sanctions are contributing to the destruction and trauma suffered by the Syrian people, said Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights.
* Israel's President Isaac Herzog will task veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a government on Sunday, the president's office said in a statement.
* Chinese health authorities on Friday eased some of the country's heavy COVID-19 curbs, including shortening by two days quarantine times for close contacts of cases and inbound travellers, and eliminating a penalty on airlines for bringing in infected passengers.
* One of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's closest aides warned France against escalating an ongoing spat on migration by limiting Rome's access to the European Union's post-pandemic recovery funds.
* Palestine on Thursday welcomed the United Nations (UN) vote in favor of a resolution on the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their natural resources in the Palestinian territories.
* The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations (UN) said Tehran has sent a technical delegation to Vienna to answer the questions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Iran's nuclear program, semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on Thursday.
* Israeli and Palestinian football fans will board the same chartered flights from Israeli city of Tel Aviv to the Qatari capital of Doha for the World Cup, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) said on Thursday.
* European shares rose on Friday as miners and luxury goods retailers jumped on news of China easing some of its strict COVID-19 rules, with Richemont's better-than-expected sales and margins also aiding the rally in luxury stocks.
* Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index ended at a two-month high on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight, as concerns eased over the US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes to combat inflation.
* Britain's economy shrank in the three months to September at the start of what is likely to be a lengthy recession, underscoring the challenge for finance minister Jeremy Hunt as he prepares to raise taxes and cut spending next week.
* A monthly economic report of the Republic of Korea warned of an economic slump for the sixth consecutive month with high inflation and sluggish export, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday.
* Pakistan will not be satisfied unless U.N. climate summit negotiators unlock emergency cash for the country to rebuild after this year's devastating floods, its climate minister said Thursday.
* Spain's ruling coalition will propose legal changes to replace the crime of sedition, which has landed many Catalan separatists in prison, with a lesser crime in the penal code in line with best European practices, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
* Italy approved a package of measures worth 9 billion euros ($8.96 billion) on Thursday to soften the impact of high energy prices, increase gas output and preserve stocks ahead of the winter.
* Mongolia's parliament, the State Great Khural, approved the 2023 state budget on Friday with a deficit of 1.4 trillion Mongolian tugriks (411.6 million USD).
* Banxico, Mexico's central bank, on Thursday raised the key interest rate for the 12th straight time, as risks of accelerating inflation persist in the short and medium term.
* Inflation in the Czech Republic showed signs of easing up in October, decreasing to 15.1 percent from a high of 18 percent September, according to data published on Thursday by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).
* Greece is aiming for 80 percent production of electricity from renewables by 2030, Energy and Environment minister Kostas Skrekas said here on Thursday.
* Poland and the European Commission (EC) are engaged in talks in an attempt to resolve a dispute over the Polish "anti-inflation shield", Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Thursday.
* France has raised the risk level of the highly pathogenic bird flu from "moderate" to "high", the Official Journal of the French Republic reported on Thursday.
* The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Ireland rose by 9.2 percent in October compared to the same period a year ago, hitting a record high for the last 38 years, said the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday.
* Terrorism is intensifying across Africa, exploiting instability and conflict, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Thursday.
* Australia has reported an almost 50 percent increase in new coronavirus cases amid warnings of a new wave of infections.
* South Sudan's government on Thursday announced plans to reduce malaria deaths by 80 percent by 2025.
