* China and the United States kicked off in Washington on Thursday a new round of high-level consultations to address their differences on outstanding economic and trade issues.
* Indonesian Chief Security Minister Wiranto was wounded after he was attacked by assailants with a knife on Thursday in Banten province, national police spokesman Brigadier General Dedi Prasetyo said. Investigations are underway to find out the groups that the two attackers belong to.
* Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Thursday blamed the Kurdish forces for the ongoing Turkish offensive in northern Syria.
* The Turkish military campaign against the Kurdish forces in northern Syria has so far displaced 70,000 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday.
* Up to four civilians, including a child, were killed and 70 injured in Turkish border towns by mortars and rockets fired from Syria on Thursday, local officials said.
* Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his Qatari counterpart Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah discussed Turkey's military operation in northern Syria over the phone on Thursday, semi-official Anadolu news agency reported.
* China has believed that Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity must be respected and safeguarded, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday. Spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press briefing when commenting on Turkey's military operations in northeastern Syria.
* US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft on Thursday warned Turkey of consequences should it fail to protect the Kurdish population in Syria in its military operation.
* Russian authorities on Thursday urged all parties to restrain from stirring up tensions in Syria and expressed readiness to facilitate a multilateral dialogue so as to restore peace in the Middle East country.
* The EU members on the UN Security Council on Thursday demanded Turkey cease its military operation in northeast Syria.
*Australian government has called for a halt to the Turkish military operation in northern Syria. Canberra voiced its concerns by calling in the Turkish Ambassador to Australia to its Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Ambassador in Ankara Marc Innes-Brown has put the Australian concerns to counterparts in the Turkish capital.
* Russia will resist possible attempts to revise the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
* Some 30,000 Spanish olive farmers and workers took to the streets of Madrid on Thursday to protest against a US plan to impose import tariffs on European and Spanish agricultural produce, including olive oil, Spanish state TV network RTVE reported.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, agreed on Thursday that they can "see a pathway" to a possible Brexit deal after talks, local media reported.
* The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) expects to sign 10 agreements with a total value of over US$2 billion when Russian President Vladimir Putin pays a state visit to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 14, the RDIF head said Thursday.
* Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced that he would hold consultations with the political parties and parliamentary groups on the topic of the new government on Friday, soon after the current Social Democrat cabinet collapsed on Thursday.
* Authorities in Indonesia's eastern province of Maluku on Thursday prolonged an emergency status for some areas after a 6.5-magnitude quake on Sept. 26, a move aiming at paving emergency relief works, a senior disaster agency official said.
* Israel will set up its first waste-to-energy facility at a cost of about 1 billion new shekels (US$285 million), said the Ministries of Finance and Environmental Protection on Thursday.
* Tunisia's presidential candidates, Kais Saied and Nabil Karoui, will face off in a live televised debate, Elyes Jarraya, director of communications at Tunisian central television, announced on Thursday.
