* The Japanese and Chinese governments have started planning a meeting between Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and China's President Xi Jinping for mid-November, the Sankei newspaper reported on Friday.
* Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz jointly met with representatives of the Chinese and German business community at the Great Hall of the People on Friday evening.
* India called on rich countries on Friday to live up to their promise of providing $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing nations and urged them to increase the amount for future years at next week's U.N. climate conference.
* Finnish president Sauli Niinisto is optimistic Turkey will ratify Finland's application to join NATO, he told reporters on Friday.
* President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran's cities were "safe and sound" after what he called a failed attempt by the United States to repeat the 2011 Arab uprisings in the Islamic Republic, Iranian media reported on Saturday as protests continued for a 50th day.
* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he had agreed with counterpart Vladimir Putin that Russian grains sent under the Black Sea export deal should go to poor African countries for free.
* US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday that US support to Ukraine would remain "unwavering and unflinching" following Tuesday's midterm congressional elections.
* The Netherlands will supply Ukraine with tanks and other heavy military equipment with a total worth of 120 million euros ($119 million), the Dutch defence ministry said on Friday.
* World wheat prices rose by 3.2 percent in October partially due to tighter supplies from the US following a downward production revision, the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index showed on Friday.
* India will allow the export of 6 million tonnes of sugar in 2022/23, in line with market expectations, as the country's production is set to jump to a record high for the second straight year, the government said in on Saturday.
* The United Nations is hopeful it can resume aid deliveries into Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region "in days" following a truce agreed between combatants, but some remote areas remain off-limits, the head of its humanitarian office (OCHA) for Ethiopia said on Friday.
* US job growth increased more than expected in October, but the pace is slowing and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, suggesting some loosening in labor market conditions, which would allow the Federal Reserve to shift towards smaller interest rates increases starting in December.
* Egypt is counting on the upcoming 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) to obligate developed countries to honor their commitments to finance climate change projects and mitigate the effects of harmful climate changes, a COP official said on Friday.
* Pakistan's climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, is heading to Egypt for the U.N. COP27 climate summit with one goal: finally getting the world to commit to helping countries like hers deal with the growing "loss and damage" caused by global warming.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday that Iran had given "a limited number" of drones to Russia months before the start of the Ukraine conflict.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on the US administration to compel Israel to stop its violations against the Palestinians in the Palestinian territories.
* Aunion representing 55,000 education workers went on strike on Friday in Canada's most populous province of Ontario after failing to reach an agreement with the provincial government for better pay and more frontline staff in schools.
* Nine health workers have been kidnapped from a government-run hospital in Cameroon's restive northwest, one of two regions where armed separatists have been fighting government troops to create a breakaway state, the local mayor said on Friday.
* South Africa needs about 1.5 trillion rand ($84 billion) over the next five years for its plans to cut carbon emissions, harness economic opportunities from the energy transition and support affected communities, its president said on Friday.
* The Czech lower house of parliament approved on Friday a steep 60% windfall tax on energy firms and banks, aiming to raise $3.4 billion next year from profits deemed excessive to fund help for people and firms hit by soaring electricity and gas prices.
* Italy's new government will hike its borrowing plans for this year and next to fund support measures for the economy when it unveils its first public finance targets on Friday, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.
* Iran's Revolutionary Guards have successfully tested the first sub-orbital stage of the three-stage Ghaem 100 launch vehicle, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.
* Spanish police said on Saturday they had seized 32 tonnes of packaged marijuana with a street value of at least 64 million euros ($63.74 million), which they said was the largest amount ever found in Spain or internationally.
* At least 5.7 million Sri Lankans, or 26 percent of the country's population, need humanitarian aid, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday, warning an ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka was likely to deepen the situation.
* The Portuguese and Spanish governments announced Friday the decision to present the financing plan for the "Green Energy Corridor" with France before Dec. 15 as the European Commission required.
* The Portuguese and Spanish governments announced Friday the decision to present the financing plan for the "Green Energy Corridor" with France before Dec. 15 as the European Commission required.
* US equities rallied on Friday, as Wall Street digested the October jobs report, assessing its implications to the Federal Reserve's future policy path.
* Canada's employment rose by 108,000, or 0.6 percent, in October, recouping losses observed from May to September while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.2 percent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
* The East African Business Council (EABC) has called for setting up of fresh produce consolidation centers across East African Community (EAC) countries and improve transport interconnectivity in order to boost export volumes and competitiveness.
* The peace process on eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led by the East African Community (EAC) is on track, the EAC said in a statement on Saturday.
