Morning Brief, Wednesday, November 1

Posted By Carolyn O'Hara Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - 11:58 AM Share

Iraq

Maliki The big question today: How (or will) the U.S. and Maliki repair their souring relationship, most recently evidenced by Maliki's demand that U.S. troops lift their cordon of Sadr City, and the military reluctantly agreeing?

Even the U.S. military's barometer of conflict shows Iraq sliding into chaos.

Israel/Gaza/Hezbollah

Israel launches its biggest raid into Gaza in months, and Palestinian representatives call for a long-term truce.

Hezbollah is talking to Israel through a UN mediator in order to negotiate prisoner releases, according to Nasrallah today.

Elsewhere

Blair secretly sent a senior envoy to Syria this week in order to gauge whether Assad is serious about playing a constructive role in the Middle East.

North Korea returned to six-party talks in order to get the financial sanctions against it lifted, according to the country's foreign ministry today. There was only indirect mention of last month's nuclear test.

Citizens in Spain's semi-autonomous region of Catalonia are electing a new regional assembly today.

Ugandan rebels sign a new truce with the government. Former South African leader P.W. Botha, who struggled to preserve apartheid, died yesterday at the age of 90. And in neighboring Zimbabwe, they're running out of burial space.

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