China's Service Production Index up 4.6 pct in October

China's service sector saw steady growth in October, with the Service Production Index growing by 4.6 percent and modern services maintaining sound development, said Fu Linghui, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing on Friday.

"In October, China's Services Production Index rose 4.6 percent year on year. Breaking it down by sector, the production indices for information transmission, software and IT services, leasing and business services, and financial services outpaced the overall index by 8.4, 3.6 and 1.0 percentage points, respectively," said Fu at a press conference.

"Meanwhile, the Business Activity Index in railway transport, air transport, postal services, accommodation, and culture, sports and entertainment, all stayed within the high expansion range of 60 percent and above," he said.

The United States and Ukrainian delegations on Saturday concluded three-day talks in Miami, Florida, where the two sides focused on territorial issues and U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, U.S. online media outlet Axios reported.

Sources told Axios that the discussion on territory was "difficult" as Russia continued to demand that Ukraine withdraws from parts of Donbas it currently controls, while the United States was trying to develop new ideas to bridge the gap.

Another major topic was U.S. security guarantees for Kiev, on which the parties made "significant progress" and moved closer to agreement, though further work is needed to ensure both sides interpret the draft framework consistently, according to the report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that the Miami talks concluded with a two-hour phone call between himself and U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Peace Steven Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Ukraine's peace negotiators -- Secretary of National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov and Chief of General Staff Andriy Hnatov -- also joined the conversation.

Zelensky described the call on X as "long and substantive," noting that the sides discussed key points needed to end the bloodshed.

He stressed that Ukraine remains committed to working with the United States "in good faith" to "genuinely achieve peace" and said both sides agreed on next steps and formats for continued talks.