The Kremlin, responding to reports that sanctions might be eased in exchange for the release of political prisoners, said Russia has no political prisoners and called such claims meaningless.

China's finance minister Lan Fo'an attended the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's 11th annual board meeting in Doha via video on Sept. 28-29; the meeting theme was "Future Infrastructure: Impact and Innovation." Lan, China's AIIB governor, said the bank completed a smooth management transition and urged scaling up infrastructure financing, protecting multilateral decision-making, sticking to institutional strategic priorities, and maintaining high operational standards to lift project quality and development effectiveness amid rising global instability and growing development deficits. He said China, as the bank's largest shareholder and host, will work with members to push AIIB to a higher growth trajectory over the next decade.

WuXi AppTec says AI in innovative drug R&D is still in an exploratory/testing phase but could significantly raise R&D efficiency, lower barriers to entry and accelerate growth in the number of innovators and new drug concepts.