Reuters - France and Britain launched a European Union initiative on Friday to secure peace in east Congo and the EU may fly in food for tens of thousands of civilians fleeing attacks by rebels and soldiers.
AP - U.S. deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July. Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year. Eight of the 13 Americans died in combat, most of them in northern Iraq where al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent groups remain active. The U.S. military suffered 25 deaths in September and 23 in August.
AP - International envoys converged on eastern Congo on Friday hoping to help end some of the worst violence the central African nation has seen in years, as thousands of anxious, hungry refugees struggled to get home amid a fragile cease-fire.
AP - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging the factions fighting in eastern Congo to meet at a neutral site and begin talks on restoring peace to the conflict-wracked region, a senior U.N. official said Friday.
Reuters - Senior U.S. and North Korean diplomats will meet in New York next week, the State Department said on Friday, as the Bush administration seeks to advance an arms-for-disarmament deal with the poor, isolated state.
AP - A German doctor hoping to gain permanent residency in Australia said Friday he will fight an immigration department decision denying his application because his son has Down syndrome. Bernhard Moeller came to Australia with his family two years ago to help fill a doctor shortage in a rural area of Victoria state.
AP - Four Mexican military officers and one soldier are under investigation for alleged links to one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels, Mexico’s Defense Department said Friday.
AP - Suspected U.S. missiles slammed into two villages close to the Afghan border Friday, killing 27 people including an Arab al-Qaida operative and other foreign militants, intelligence officials said.
AP - Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli police and Palestinians Friday in the West Bank city of Hebron over the demolition of an unauthorized settler outpost.
AP - Car bombs rather than Obama, making it home rather than McCain dominate the talk among many U.S. soldiers in Iraq’s deadliest city during the final countdown to America’s presidential election.
