The first shipments of infant formula from Europe to address a critical shortage in the United States should begin arriving this weekend, President Joe Biden said on Friday amid criticism of his administration's handling of the issue.

HSBC Holdings CEO Noel Quinn says his bank will not be distracted from its ambition to lead the global economy in the transition to net zero, after a senior executive said central banks had exaggerated the financial risks of climate change.

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Labor Party was set to end almost a decade of conservative rule as the government was swept away in Saturday's election by a wave of support for candidates who campaigned for more action on climate change and may hold the balance of power.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had conceded defeat in a national election on Saturday, saying that while vote counting was incomplete the opposition Labor party looked likely to form a government.

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia said on Saturday it had so far banned 963 Americans from entering the country - including previously announced moves against President Joe Biden and other top officials - and would continue to retaliate against what it called hostile U.S. actions.

Representatives of the United States and several other nations walked out of an Asia-Pacific trade ministers meeting in Bangkok on Saturday to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials said.

Russia stopped delivering gas to Finland in an escalation of a dispute over energy payments with Western nations, and claimed victory in a weeks-long battle for Mariupol's devastated Azovstal steel plant as it presses for control of the Donbas.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Shanghai cautiously pushed ahead on Saturday with plans to restore part of its transport network in a major step towards exiting a weeks-long COVID-19 lockdown, while Beijing kept up its defences in an outbreak that has persisted for a month.

President Joe Biden and his new South Korean counterpart agreed on Saturday to hold bigger military drills and deploy more U.S. weapons if necessary to deter North Korea, while offering to send COVID-19 vaccines and potentially meet Kim Jong Un.

Global health officials have sounded the alarm over rising cases in Europe and elsewhere of monkeypox, a type of viral infection more common to west and central Africa.