Morning Brief: One month left

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With a month to go before U.S. voters head to the polls on Nov. 4, the presidential candidates are taking off the proverbial gloves. Or as Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan expressed her fear on Sunday’s Meet the Press, “They’re going to open up the gates of hell.”

Hoping to change the dynamics of a race that increasingly favors Barack Obama, John McCain and his campaign have resumed making the case that Obama is untrustworthy and has dubious past associations.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, said Saturday that Obama has been “palling around with terrorists,” pointing to a New York Times story that actually downplays Obama’s ties with 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

Obama, who appears to have associated with Ayers in Chicago but not been especially friendly, called the attacks “smears” and promised to keep focusing on the economy. Meanwhile, his campaign has been hitting McCain hard on healthcare and released a tough ad attacking McCain as “erratic” and “out of touch” on economic issues. His campaign will also reportedly dredge up McCain’s involvement in the “Keating Five” scandal.

Global Economy

As Europe’s financial crisis deepens, Europe’s top leaders are taking independent action to save major banks. Tyler Cowen comments.

The passage Friday of the U.S. bailout plan doesn’t appear of have calmed the world’s stock markets. Stocks plunged sharply today in Europe and Asia.

Americas

More U.S. bank failures are on the way.

Business is booming at a Mexico City boutique selling bulletproof clothing.

Brazil’s local elections are a mixed bag for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Asia

Kim Jong Il appeared in public, according to the North Korean state press.

At least 33 people were killed in fighting in northeast India.

China is upset about the United States’ selling $6 billion in weaponry to Taiwan.

Middle East and Africa

Michael Gordon looks at the U.S. presidential candidates’ divergent goals in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia recently hosted peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Britain’s top general in Afghanistan approves.

Sudan fires back at criticism from Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

Europe and the Caucasus

Russian troops have begun dismantling checkpoints in the buffer zone surrounding South Ossetia.

From 2010 to 2015, the United States will have to rely on Russia to get its astronauts to the International Space Station.

The credit crisis is hitting Iceland especially hard.

Today’s Agenda

The U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term.

Three Europeans have won the Nobel Prize in medicine. Later this week: physics, chemistry, and peace.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing on Lehman Brothers’ collapse.