* Russia on Friday reported 1,163 new COVID-19 deaths, its highest one-day toll of the pandemic, amid a surge in cases that has forced officials to reimpose partial lockdown measures.
* Japan's factory output shrank for the third straight month in September as the auto sector was hit by a global supply shortage, raising the risk of an economic contraction in the third quarter and throwing the recovery into doubt.
* US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said she still sees inflation as a temporary result of severe supply chain bottlenecks, and expects price increases to normalize during 2022 as people get back to work and demand shifts back to services.
* China reported 64 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Oct. 28, compared with 39 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Friday.
* Malaysia said on Friday it would proceed with the procurement of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children, following a US expert panel's recommendation for the shot to be authorised for those aged 5 to 11.
* European Union election observers began their mission in Venezuela on Thursday, as campaigning kicked off for regional elections next month which are set to include opposition candidates. It is the first time in 15 years the EU has sent observers to Venezuela.
* Asian shares and US stock futures slipped on Friday, as Amazon and Apple quarterly earnings bucked a recent strong trend and growth and inflation fears continued to weigh.
* Australia's central bank on Friday lost all control of the yield target key to its stimulus policy as bonds suffered their biggest shellacking in decades and markets howled for rate hikes as soon as April.
* The German economy grew less than expected in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, suggesting that supply bottlenecks hampering manufacturers are holding back growth.
* The Czech economy expanded slower than expected in the third quarter, showing a recovery losing steam as external demand declined and the global supply crunch hit the car sector.
* France's economy grew a faster-than-expected 3% in the third quarter, preliminary data showed on Friday, propelled by a pick-up in consumer spending and exports as the euro zone's number two economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic.
* Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi presented his first budget on Thursday, aiming to lower the public deficit next year while cutting income and corporate tax.
* Britain threatened on Friday to board French fishing boats and France stood by a plan to impose sanctions on British vessels in a deepening row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
* The Panama Canal moved more than a half a billion tonnes of goods over the last year, the canal's top official said on Thursday, marking a record high for the key global waterway as international trade picked up.
* The United States and United Nations dialled up the pressure on Sudan's new military junta on Thursday as confrontations between soldiers and anti-coup protesters took the death toll to at least 11.
* Brazil registered on Thursday 389 new COVID-19 deaths and 15,268 additional confirmed cases of the virus, according to data released by the health ministry.
* Mexico added 357 new confirmed coronavirus fatalities on Thursday, health ministry data showed, bringing the country's overall death toll from the pandemic to 287,631.
* Poland's total number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic passed 3 million on Friday, health ministry data showed, as the fourth wave of infections gathers pace.
* Ukraine registered a record daily high of 26,870 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 26,071 a day earlier, the health ministry said on Friday.
* A circus-themed bar in Sydney is readying to open on Monday for the first time in four months, with new staff going through their paces and arcade machines serviced, polished and primed.
* The WHO said it was seeking further data from Merck on its experimental new antiviral COVID-19 pill and hoped to issue guidance in coming weeks regarding its use for mild and moderate cases.
* Health regulators in England have paved the way for e-cigarettes to be prescribed by doctors for the first time in any country to help people stop smoking tobacco, Britain's health ministry said on Friday.
* Citigroup Inc said on Thursday it will require all US employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of their employment.
* Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect to deliver 50 million more doses of their vaccine to the US government by April-end.
