Europe

ROME (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as part of the Group of 20 summit on Sunday — an outreach designed to ensure that the intensely competitive relationship between the world’s two largest economies doesn’t veer into open conflicts.

Senior State Department officials described the conversations as candid, constructive and productive, saying that Blinken was clear about U.S. concerns during the roughly hourlong meeting. The officials insisted on anonymity to discuss the exchanges.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has recorded a new daily high number of coronavirus cases as much of the country’s businesses remain closed in an effort to counter a weekslong surge in infections.

The national coronavirus task force on Sunday reported 40,993 new infections over the previous day, up more than 700 on the previous record of a day earlier. Russia has tallied new record of infections or deaths almost daily during October.

The death toll reported Sunday was 1,158, just slightly down from Friday’s record 1,163.

ROME (AP) — President Joe Biden told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that their countries must better manage disagreements after the partnership between NATO allies was tested by Turkey’s threat to no longer recognize the U.S. envoy and its purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

“We’re planning to have a good conversation,” Biden said as the leaders appeared in front of journalists before nearly an hour of closed-door talks. The president did not answer questions about whether Turkey had grown too close to Russia or human rights.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow has formally opened, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries on how to tackle the common challenge of global warming.

Following the opening gavel, officials set about addressing a raft of procedural matters before leaders from around the world gather in Scotland’s biggest city Monday to lay out their countries’ efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the effects of climate change.

ROME (AP) — Leaders of the world’s biggest economies worked Sunday to finalize agreement on scaling up climate financing and a deadline for reaching carbon neutrality on the final day of a weekend summit that is setting the tone for the even bigger U.N. climate conference opening in Glasgow, Scotland.

Negotiators for the Group of 20 worked through the night and talks continued Sunday morning in hopes of reaching consensus for a final statement, said two European officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

30 Oct 2021; MEMO: A rare painting of Hurrem Sultan, known in the Wests as Roxelana, was sold at a London auction on Wednesday for $173,000, Anadolu Agency reported.

The sale came as part of an auction called 'Arts of the Islamic World & India' by Sotheby's, one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles.

CHISINAU, October 30. /TASS/: A price for the Russian natural gas supplies to Moldova under a new contract with Russia’s energy giant Gazprom is likely to hike to $500-600 per 1,000 cubic meters, a source close to the situation told TASS on Saturday.

Gazprom announced late on Friday night that a contract on Russia’s natural gas supplies to Moldova was renewed for a five-year term starting on November 1.

MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/: A rise in budget deficits in countries across the world carries the risk of high global inflation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video conference address to a G20 summit on Saturday.

MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/: Russia recorded 40,251 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number since the beginning of the pandemic, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday. The total number of cases has reached 8,472,797.

According to data from the crisis center, Russia's coronavirus growth rate was 0.48%.

In particular, 7,267 coronavirus cases were reported in Moscow in the past day, 3,578 in St. Petersburg, 2,680 in the Moscow region, 1,405 in the Samara region, 815 in the Nizhny Novgorod region and 787 in the Voronezh region.

VLADIMIR, October 30. /TASS/: The Sputnik Light vaccine should be used only for revaccination, and corresponding amendments to vaccination guidelines will be published later in the day, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said during his working trip to the Vladimir region on Saturday.

"As the Delta variant is spreading, changes in the methodological recommendations on vaccination will definitely be issued today, and they will read, ‘Sputnik Light shall be used only for revaccination’," Murashko said.