* US Trade Representative Katherine Tai will unveil the Biden administration's long-awaited strategy for the troubled US-China trade relationship in a speech on Monday at a Washington think tank, her office said.
* Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday dismissed neighbouring Ukraine's criticism of a long-term gas supply agreement signed with Russia's Gazprom, saying he could not take Kyiv's viewpoint into account.
* Bahamian and Cuban authorities have intercepted hundreds of Haitians at sea seeking to reach the United States, and will repatriate them to Haiti, they said.
* European stocks sank to two-month lows on Friday after slides in Asia and on Wall Street, with euro zone inflation data expected to hit a 13-year high to compound investor fears over surging prices combining with stuttering growth.
* Euro zone manufacturing growth remained strong in September but activity took a big hit from supply chain bottlenecks that are likely to persist and keep inflationary pressures high, a survey showed on Friday.
* Japan's factory activity grew at the slowest rate in seven months in September as overall output and new orders shrank, even as a central bank survey showed business mood improved for the fifth straight quarter.
* The European Commission may approve in November EU-funded national recovery plans of Poland and Hungary, but will set conditions linked to respecting the rule of law for the release of EU funds, EU officials said.
* The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia was fulfilling all its obligations under existing natural gas contracts and that most complaints directed against Moscow about natural gas were politicised.
* The Kremlin said on Friday that German authorities were continuing to work on the certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany.
* Turkey and Greece will hold the next round of bilateral talks aimed at addressing differences in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in Ankara on Oct. 6, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday, as the NATO members seek to repair their frayed ties.
* Russia reported 887 coronavirus-related deaths, the largest single-day death toll it has recorded since the pandemic began and the fourth day in a row it has set that record.
* Malaysia has given conditional approval for a vaccine made by China's Sinovac to be used on young people aged between 12 and 17.
* Los Angeles officials signalled they would vote next week to prohibit unvaccinated people from entering most businesses in the United States' second-largest city.
* Nine people died when a fire broke out in an intensive care unit at a Romanian hospital treating COVID-19 patients, officials said, the country's third deadly hospital fire in less than a year.
* Australia's Victoria state has included professional athletes in a vaccination mandate that will require about 1.25 million "authorised workers" to have two COVID-19 shots by the end of November.
* The Republic of Korea extended social distancing curbs for two weeks, offering more incentives to people to get vaccinated as it battles thousands of new cases each day.
* Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical said that "human error" caused metal contaminants to get into Moderna vaccine doses, leading to a recall.
* Pupils will from Oct. 4 no longer have to wear protective face masks in French primary schools in areas with a low COVID-19 infection rate, according to a government decree.
* The European Union will extend a mechanism to monitor and potentially limit the export of COVID-19 vaccines from the bloc, an EU official said.
* Romania's centrist minority government introduced new progressive restrictions late on Thursday to stem a rise in new coronavirus infections, including making mask wearing mandatory outside, but opted to keep schools open.
* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has eased restrictions to the lowest alert level, as the country looks to open up its economy ahead of the summer holiday season.
* A cargo plane delivered four helicopters, weapons and ammunition from Russia to Mali late on Thursday, Malian interim defence minister Sadio Camara said.
* Zimbabwe has allowed the export of 200,000 tonnes of excess power coal because of limited intake at its biggest coal-fired power plant, which is beset by frequent breakdowns, the coal producers association said on Friday.
* It is safe for people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot at the same time and it does not negatively impact the immune response produced by either, a British study has found.
* Egypt received 1.6 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer as a gift from the United States as part of the COVAX initiative, the first batch of a total of 5 million doses.
* Israel's Health Ministry has identified fewer than 10 cases of heart inflammation following a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine among millions administered, according to recently released data.
