Early signs suggest China 's biggest online shopping event is struggling to persuade anxious consumers to spend more, despite discounts.

The Singles' Day festival, a major discount campaign comparable to Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S., centers on Nov. 11. But it begins weeks earlier and is seen as a barometer of the broader economy.

China's car exports remained strong in October as growing overseas shipments helped offset persistently sluggish domestic demand in the world's largest auto market.

China exported about 927,000 passenger vehicles last month, up 62.3% from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Wednesday. Demand for electric vehicles and hybrids drove the growth.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking ahead of U.S.-China talks, called Tuesday for a "more balanced relationship" between the two countries, saying Americans have grown too dependent on imports.

Addressing a gala hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations at a New York ballroom, Bessent extolled the countries' bond as "one of this century's most consequential relationships" and portrayed ties between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a genuine friendship. But Bessent said reducing U.S. reliance on China was necessary for both countries.

Pope Leo XIV told inmates at an Argentine prison with a dark history tied to the military dictatorship that there is always hope for redemption and reconciliation, as he spent his final morning in Argentina on Wednesday offering an uplifting message to a polarized country.

Leo visited Devoto Prison before celebrating his final Mass at Argentina's national shrine, the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, where 1 million people were expected — the latest of the record-setting crowds that have welcomed Leo on the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly four decades.

Italian authorities evacuated some 300 schools across Italy on Wednesday after receiving an emailed bomb threat, the latest disruptions affecting European institutions following hoax bomb threats against airlines and broadcasters in recent weeks.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that there was no indication of any "concrete danger" to Italian schools and said the threats appeared aimed at "generating alarm and concern."

Portugal closed all schools and shuttered non-essential public services on Wednesday as a major Atlantic storm headed for the country's mainland.

Streets remained largely deserted ahead of the arrival of Storm Charles after the government told people to stay at home as heavy rain and rough seas were expected to batter the Portuguese coast, with wind gusts of up to 140 kph (85 mph).

Congo's Ebola outbreak has topped 11,000 cases, the government said Wednesday, a stark figure that underscores the severity of the situation as the country grapples with the spread of the disease.

According to the latest health ministry data, 11,042 people have been infected with the deadly virus that has now killed 5,387 — nearly half of those infected in what has been Congo's deadliest outbreak.

Ali al-Abdullah spent more than five months in Israeli detention centers last year after being taken from a village in southwestern Syria. He said he was beaten and placed in solitary confinement, but that no charges were ever brought against him.

Kinan Baker was detained by Israeli forces last year from a nearby Syrian village in a middle-of-the-night raid of his home. His family has not heard from him since and does not know where he is or why he is being held.

World leaders began to arrive Wednesday to start formal discussions at the United Nations climate change conference in Turkey, hoping to agree on concrete actions to curb global warming after a year of deadly floods, heat waves and other climate-related disasters.

But what can and will be accomplished at the Conference of the Parties, called COP31, remains to be seen. Past talks have been criticized for making promises that later fell flat.

Millions of Spain's workers are striking Wednesday to demand that the government remedy the nation's housing crisis less than three weeks before a national election that could catapult the far right to power.

Spain's first general strike in 14 years is expected to cause delays to the widely used public transport system and lead to the slowdown or shuttering of businesses, factories and shops across the eurozone's fourth largest economy.