Morning Brief, Friday, November 2

Middle East

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Meeting with Turkish officials in Ankara, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged “effective” moves against the PKK.

Violence and particularly the use of roadside bombs is declining in Iraq, Pentagon officials say.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton warned U.S. President George W. Bush in a letter that he does not have the authority to wage war against Iran.

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan said Thursday that had U.S. officials “engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner, in my opinion, we would have avoided what happened” on 9/11.

Key Persian Gulf states followed the U.S. Federal Reserve and cut interest rates Thursday, a signal that they do not intend to drop the dollar.

Asia  

The Sri Lankan air force killed the political head of the Tamil Tigers in a bombing raid Friday morning. Analysts say the move will make a political solution to the conflict less likely.

Taliban-linked militants in northwest Pakistan showed off dozens of government soldiers allegedly captured during the recent fighting in that region.

Japan’s prime minister failed to resolve a political stalemate with opposition leaders over Japanese naval support for Afghanistan.

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said that U.S. sanctions on North Korea will remain in effect until the North Koreans are “out of the nuclear business.”

Europe

Political turmoil is slowing the pace of reform in Turkey, a European Union report has found. 

Europe and the United States are urging OPEC to increase production quotas, but OPEC officials counter that financial speculation and political instability are to blame for high prices—not a lack of supply.

Bosnia’s prime minister, an ethnic Serb, has resigned in anger over what he sees as EU-imposed reforms. 

Elsewhere

Stock markets around the world tumbled again on fears about the impact of the subprime crisis on the U.S. economy.

Because of HIV, a growing number of people in sub-Saharan Africa are developing tuberculosis.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, has opened the region’s first five-star hotel for gay men. 

Today’s Agenda 

• Permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany meet today to revisit the issue of sanctions against Iran. The big question: Will China and Russia play along?
• Dick Cheney speaks at the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Forth Worth. Speaking yesterday in Indianapolis, the U.S. vice president defended the CIA’s interrogation policies and called on the Senate to confirm Mike Mukasey as attorney general.
• Ministers from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan are meeting in Tajikistan under the auspices of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation, an initiative of the Asian Development Bank.
• Istanbul hosts a regional conference on Iraq that includes such luminaries as Condi Rice, Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Yesterday on Passport

• Shiite-produced map of Iraq outrages Sunnis
• In the land of the child soldier, business is king?
• It’s time for Ron Paul’s 15 minutes to be up