BRICS News

Russia says civilians trying to leave the city of Aleppo were fired on by Islamist rebel groups [Xinhua]
Russia is calling on the international community to ensure the safe passage of civilians evacuating Aleppo.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that Russia and the Syrian government were ready to resume the ‘humanitarian pause’ which initially began last week.
“Six humanitarian corridors are open around the clock, hot food and first-aid are provided for the civilians leaving the eastern districts of Aleppo,” Konashenkov said.

Temer, center, and Meirelles say their goal is to lower public spending and the primary deficit [Xinhua]
A leading Brazilian politician is urging Congress to quickly pass pivotal austerity measures and fiscal reforms to avoid a financial disaster in the country.
President Michel Temer has made the reforms a cornerstone of his administration and pledged to work diligently to see that they are passed through Congress.

The sixth plenary is likely to conclude with a strong communique targeting corruption as China continues to reform its economy [Xinhua]
The 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) kicked off its sixth plenary session on Monday to examine fundamentals of Party governance, political life and the economy.
One core issue focuses on the Rules on Intra-Party Political Life, which center around collective governance rather than localizing power to one person.

This is the first exhibition in Europe to display China’s collection on the massacre since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization added the Nanjing Massacre to its Memory of the World Register in 2015 [Xinhua]
A new Chinese exhibition in the French city of Caen in northwestern France revisits the atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial soldiers in China just before World War II.

Egyptian airports must upgrade their security measures if Russian tourists are to return, Moscow officials have said [Xinhua]
Egyptian officials this week have reportedly implemented almost all the necessary airport security measures demanded by Russia before the resumption of flights to Cairo, an aid to the minister of interior told local media on Friday.
Hesham Bastawi said a biometric employee-access system, which monitors the time of arrival and departure of staff, is among the measures to be implemented.

A member of the Kurdish security forces stands guard near an oil field attacked by the Islamic State earlier in the year [Xinhua]
The Russian Ministry of Defense on Saturday said that its reconnaissance aircraft detected two US-led coalition fighter jets carrying out an air raid on the city of Daquq, just south of Kirkuk and Mosul.
The Ministry of Defense says that according to its intelligence sources there are no Islamic State fighters in that area.

Xi called Duterte’s visit a “milestone” in China-Philippine relations [Xinhua]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made good on a promise he made in August to steer relations with China toward mutual benefit and bilateral cooperation.
During his visit to Beijing on Thursday Duterte said that he was still committed to discussing the South China Sea territorial dispute in a bilateral fashion with his Chinese counterparts.

Brazil’s economic activity has slackened for most of the third quarter, official data has shown [Xinhua]
Brazil’s economy wobbled somewhat in the third quarter, data from the central bank released on Thursday has shown.
Frustrating President Michel Temer’s efforts to pull the country out of a stubborn recession, economic activity plummeted in August, the IBC-BR index showed on Thursday.
The Central Bank’s IBC-BR which measures economic activity in Brazil’s farming, industry and services sectors, contracted 0.91 per cent in August.

Fighting in and around Aleppo has not subsided some groups said on Thursday, barring many civilians from leaving the city [Xinhua]
Updated: Russia has announced it is unilaterally extending its humanitarian pause in Aleppo by another 24 hours.
The Russian and Syrian air forces had unilaterally halted airstrikes on Aleppo for an 11-hour ceasefire that began on Thursday morning, the Russian military said.

Alexander Novak seen here at a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in a bid to lower production. That meeting in April failed to reach consensus [Xinhua]
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak is set to meet his Saudi Arabian counterpart next Sunday, reported Russian News Agency TASS citing the ministry.