* China's special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said on Tuesday that the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow was deeply significant and that the People's Republic was working for the success of the conference.
* Russia reported a record daily number of coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
* A group of 10 naval vessels from China and Russia sailed through a strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido on Monday, the Japanese government said, adding that it is closely watching such activities.
* Japan on Tuesday kicked off its first official day of campaigning ahead of the Oct. 31 general election. Key election issues will be revitalising the economy and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
* Almost 6,000 Polish soldiers are now guarding the country's border with Belarus in stepped up security measures in the face of a surge in migration, the defence minister said on Tuesday.
* Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday confirmed the legislative election date as March 27, sources told Reuters.
* The COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out one in three jobs in the UK music industry, a trade body said on Tuesday, as it called for government support to help the sector recover.
* Europe's drug regulator is evaluating use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children as young as five, while also taking steps to aid an increase in production and boost the shot's reach.
* Latvia announced a lockdown from Oct. 21 until Nov. 15 to try to slow a spike in infections in one of the least vaccinated European Union countries.
* Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state, a top military officer and a national security adviser, died on Monday at age 84 due to complications from COVID-19. He was fully vaccinated, his family said.
* Brazil has had 7,446 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 183 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Monday.
* Mexico registered 96 more confirmed coronavirus deaths, bringing the overall death toll to 284,477, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
* Britain reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in three months on Monday as the number of infections reached levels last seen when lockdown restrictions were in place in England during the summer.
* Australia's Victoria state will not do special deals with unvaccinated athletes to allow them to compete at major events, an official said on Tuesday, putting Novak Djokovic's Australian Open title defence and bid for the Grand Slam record in doubt.
* The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said its decision to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for those competing at next year's Beijing Olympics has been met with some resistance.
* Travel website Kayak said searches related to international travel to the United States spiked 48% on Saturday from the same day one week earlier.
* New Zealand recorded the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began last year, as the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads in its biggest city Auckland.
* Bulgaria reported 4,979 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest daily count since March 24, as it battles the more contagious Delta variant, health ministry data showed.
* Algeria lifted an overnight curfew that was imposed in parts of the country last month.
* Burundi rolled out its first COVID-19 vaccines, months after most African countries.
* Nigerian troops killed 24 suspected Islamist insurgents in two attacks in the northeast and recovered some weapons, the army said on Tuesday.
* An earthquake struck off the Greek island of Karpathos early on Tuesday, shaking towns and cities across the eastern Mediterranean, witnesses and media said.
