Europe

LISBON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Board of Directors and Strategic Council of the Portuguese-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCILC) on Monday condemned the exclusion of China's telecommunications giant Huawei from Portugal's 5G market as "unreasonable" and potentially damaging the long-standing friendship between Portugal and China.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania have agreed on a plan they hope will help expedite Ukrainian grain exports, officials said Tuesday, with needy countries beyond Europe potentially benefitting from speedier procedures.

The deal means that grain inspections will shift from the Ukraine-Poland border to a Lithuanian port on the Baltic Sea, according to a statement from the Ukrainian farm ministry.

The move seeks to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian exports through Polish territory, the statement said, without providing further details.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for giving us the first split-second glimpse into the superfast world of spinning electrons, a field that could one day lead to better electronics or disease diagnoses.

The award went to French-Swedish physicist Anne L’Huillier, French scientist Pierre Agostini and Hungarian-born Ferenc Krausz for their work with the tiny part of each atom that races around the center and that is fundamental to virtually everything: chemistry, physics, our bodies and our gadgets.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The Russian stock indices grew at the beginning of the main session on the Moscow Exchange.

As of 10:20 a.m. Moscow time, the MOEX index rose by 0.53% to 3,149.91 points, the RTS index went up by 0.38% to 1,011.4 points.

At the opening of trading, the MOEX index grew by 0.27% to 3,141.69 points, the RTS index edged down 0.04 to 1,007.96 points.

The dollar-to-ruble rate grew by 0.14% to 98.1 rubles, the euro rate added 0.4% and amounted to 103.76 rubles, the yuan exchange rate decreased by 0.19% to 13.467 rubles.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The dollar surpassed 99 rubles on the Moscow Exchange for the first time on August 15.

As of 14:23 Moscow time, the dollar exchange rate rose to 99.075 rubles (+1.13%).

By 14:42 Moscow time, the dollar reached 98.83 rubles (+0.9%). At the same time, the euro rose by 0.71%, to 104.05 rubles, and the yuan added 0.44%, rising to 13.55 rubles.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold separate talks with the president and top diplomat of Abkhazia and the president and foreign minister of South Ossetia in Sochi on October 3, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"On October 3, Sochi will host Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s separate bilateral talks and trilateral negotiations with Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania and Foreign Minister Inal Ardzinba, as well as with South Ossetian President Alan Gagloyev and Foreign Minister Akhsar Dzhioyev," the statement reads.

SOCHI, October 2. /TASS/: The upcoming year of 2024 will mark a pivotal turning point as regards determining the scope of further weapons supplies to Ukraine as the US gears up for its presidential election showdown, Richard Sakwa, professor emeritus of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent (UK) and honorary professor of political science at Moscow State University, told TASS.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: The expansion of Russia's cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean is not to the liking of Washington and other capitals, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on the sidelines of the Russia-Latin America parliamentary conference.

PARIS, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France started vaccinating ducks against bird flu on Monday to try and stem the virus that killed millions of birds around the world, a move that prompted the United States to impose trade restrictions on French poultry imports.

France has been among the countries worst affected by an unprecedented global spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, that has disrupted supply of poultry meat and eggs and sent prices rocketing in many parts of the globe in the past years.

MOSCOW, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday it believed a decision by U.S. Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid for Ukraine was a temporary setback for Kyiv, but forecast war fatigue in the West would grow and increasingly split opinion.

Congress passed legislation on Saturday which extended funding for more than a month to avoid a government shutdown but did not include any aid for Kyiv, despite Washington's status as Ukraine's biggest financial and military backer.