1. On the 19th, local time, the global investment summit opened in London, UK, attended by executives of more than 200 well-known companies around the world. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced 18 new energy investment deals worth 9.7 billion pounds at the opening of the summit. It is understood that the deals mainly include investments in areas such as wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable housing and carbon capture. Johnson also said foreign investment deals in the UK’s low-carbon sector would create about 30,000 jobs. He pointed out that investors had recognised “the great potential of the UK in terms of growth and innovation”.

2.The richest 10% of Americans now own 89% of American stocks and funds. The figure hit an all-time high, highlighting the unequal distribution of wealth in the United States. Us stocks and funds have risen nearly 40% since January 2020, becoming the main source of wealth creation for Americans during the COVID-19 epidemic and causing inequality in the distribution of wealth in the United States.

3. Vietnam is an important production base of Nike, and 51% of its footwear products are processed in Vietnam. Due to strict local epidemic prevention measures, the Nike factory in Vietnam was basically closed from July to September. It is estimated that the current inventory of Nike goods in the United States is the lowest in 30 years and can only maintain sales for about a month.

4. On October 20th, the Langney Health Center of New York University completed the world’s first pig kidney transplant without rejection. The organ recipient was a brain-dead patient with kidney dysfunction, and the team of doctors conducted an experiment with the consent of the patient’s family before he stopped showing signs of life, the report said.

5. Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its global economic growth forecast to 5.9% in its World Economic Outlook report. The report points out that the global economy is expected to continue to recover, but the momentum is slowing down. With the unsealing of many countries one after another, supply chain crisis, energy shortage, inflation and other problems emerge one after another, and the world economic recovery is faltering.

6. In the third quarter, due to a shortage of parts and components, it was difficult for manufacturers to guarantee the supply of smartphones, and global smartphone shipments shrank 6% from a year earlier. Of all the manufacturers, Samsung firmly ranked first with a share of 23%. Thanks to the early positive response of the iPhone13 market, Apple returned to second place with a 15 per cent share. Xiaomi ranked third with 14 per cent, followed by vivo and OPPO, both tied for fifth with 10 per cent.

7.  On October 21, local time, the U.S. Treasury announced that the United States would eliminate punitive tariffs on products from Austria, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Under the agreement, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Austria agreed to “transition from the existing digital services tax to a new multilateral solution and committed to continuing to discuss this issue through constructive dialogue”.

8. On October 20, according to foreign media reports, the delta new coronavirus subspecies virus AY.4.2 was found in Britain and the United States. It is reported that the infection rate of the variant virus may be more than 10% higher than that of Delta virus, but the data have not been confirmed and need to be supported by more case studies. The US CDC reports that the strain is currently “relatively rare” in the country. The UK Health and Safety Agency said that as of September 27, the confirmed number of AY.4.2 strains had accounted for 6% of the total number of cases.

9. A hospital in Japan has mistook toilet water for drinking water for nearly 30 years. According to Japanese media reports on the 21st, the affiliated Hospital of the Medical Department of Osaka University in Japan admitted on the same day that there had been errors in the connection of water pipes in some areas since the hospital was built in 1993. The hospital had planned to use simply treated well water to flush the toilet, but due to construction mistakes, the well water was connected to the tap pipe for staff to wash their hands, drink directly and take showers, the report said. There are as many as 120 drinking water faucets in trouble. It is reported that the hospital has conducted weekly water quality checks since April 2014, but so far “no problems have been found.”

10. Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced that Russia will have a national holiday from October 30 to November 7 in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. More than 47.55 million people in Russia have completed two doses of vaccination, accounting for about 1/3 of Russia’s population. Russian virus experts say that only when more than 80 per cent of the population has been vaccinated will it be possible to stop the spread of novel coronavirus.