China's Three Tenors Singer Dai Yuqian (right), Warren Mok (center) and Wei Song sing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. It is the first stop of their Three Chinese Tenors World Tour. Photo by Jiang Dong / China Daily

Chongqing

Landslide halts Yangtze cruise

A landslide in southwest China's Chongqing municipality blocked part of the Yangtze River's navigation route on Friday, forcing the cancellation of river cruises for multitudes of tourists, local authorities said on Saturday.

The landslide happened early on Friday in Liangping township of Wushan county, police said.

Although there were no casualties, the officer said cruise and ferry services from Wushan to Yichang, where the landmark Three Gorges Dam is located in the central Hubei province, were canceled indefinitely.

Beijing

China set to boost soft power

Leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Tuesday adopted a guideline that is aimed at boosting China's soft power and maintain "cultural security" following the ongoing economic boom.

The 17th Central Committee of the CPC closed its sixth plenary session and approved a decision on deepening the reform of China's cultural system and promoting the development of the culture industry.

The country will work to improve Chinese citizens' sense of identity and confidence in Chinese culture, according to a statement issued after the session.

Hong Kong

Ferry crash into pillar injures 76

Seventy-six people were injured, with three elderly passengers in serious condition, after a ferry crashed into a mooring pillar inside the departure port on Friday morning in Hong Kong, and the city's marine department said it would pay special attention to the speed of the ferry at the time of the collision.

The initial findings of an investigation by the Marine Department of the city government have revealed that the ferry strayed outside the navigational fairway into a mooring area.

Guangdong

Girl in double hit-and-run dies

A Chinese toddler who was hit by two vehicles on a market street and subsequently ignored by 18 passers-by died in hospital on Friday, doctors said.

Her death triggered a nationwide wave of mourning, as the incident has been closely followed by people who were concerned about the seeming lack of morality in Chinese society.

Two-year-old Wang Yue died of brain failure. The public came to know of Wang's case on Oct 13, when a surveillance video showing her being hit by two vehicles and left to bleed on a market street in the city of Foshan was posted online.

United states

Troop presence in Iraq to end this year

President Barack Obama vowed late on Friday to pull all US troops from Iraq this year, symbolically ending the war but dashing US hopes of leaving a few thousand troops to buttress a still shaky Iraq.

After months of negotiations with officials in Baghdad failed to reach an agreement to keep possibly thousands of US troops in Iraq as trainers, Obama announced he would stick to plans to pull out the remaining 40,000 troops by year's end.

United Kingdom

Murdoch, sons survive annual meeting

Using contentious barbs and comic relief, Rupert Murdoch deflected attempts by angry investors to remove him as chairman of his News Corp empire at the company's annual meeting on Friday.

The 80-year-old media baron survived what was effectively a no-confidence vote and also managed to get his sons James and Lachlan re-elected as directors.

Murdoch had some supporters in the crowd, among them Haim Saban, the billionaire creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

News Watch

Yemeni government forces and opponents clashed in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, a day after the UN Security Council urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a deal that would require him to step down in exchange for immunity. Five people were killed in street fighting overnight.

Xinhua - China Daily - Reuters

(China Daily 10/23/2011 page2)