China

Events promote Silk Road

A series of cultural activities with the theme of "Retrace the Silk Road" were launched on Thursday in Beijing. The first series of events will be held between China and Turkey. A group of Chinese artists from Jingdezhen, the Chinese porcelain-making center, will travel to Istanbul, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire. Hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, "Retrace the Silk Road" is aimed at promoting the bilateral and multilateral cooperation among China and the nations of the Silk Road through cultural exchanges.

Myanmar

Police report more bombings

Several bombs exploded in northeastern Myanmar on Thursday, police said, the latest in a string of unexplained attacks, including a blast this week that injured a US tourist in a plush hotel in the country's commercial capital. Investigations are proceeding into the motive behind the string of bombings that have killed at least two people and wounded four over five days in four different regions.

The Netherlands

Watchdog says goals attainable

The world's chemical weapons watchdog is confident it will be able to meet deadlines to destroy Syria's toxic stockpile even though some sites are in disputed or rebel-held territory, a special adviser to the organization's director general said. Inspectors from the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have visited nearly half of more than 20 sites declared by Damascus, Malik Ellahi, special adviser to Director General Ahmet Uzumcu, said on Thursday.

Indonesia

Workers call for higher wages

Thousands of Indonesian workers took to the streets of the capital on Thursday, demanding the government raise wages and adding to fears that labor costs in Southeast Asia's biggest economy are becoming uncompetitive. About 7,000 members of the country's largest labor unions marched through the center of Jakarta to the presidential palace to press their case for a 50 percent increase in minimum wages and improved social welfare.

Iraq

Suicide blast kills 15 people

A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives blew himself up in a village in northern Iraq, killing at least 15 members of the country's Shabak minority early on Thursday, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but Sunni Islamist militants have in the past targeted Shabaks, who are predominantly Shiite, and warned them to leave the area.

Reuters-China Daily

(China Daily 10/18/2013 page11)