ISLAMABAD

A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, killing five people a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.

Afghanistan

An attack that killed eight Americans underscored the vulnerability of the kind of isolated bases that the top American commander wants to scale back.

North Korea

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, held talks with the visiting prime minister of China, Wen Jiabao, as his government tried to mend ties with Beijing.

Europe

The Lisbon Treaty attempts to simplify decision-making and reform the bloc’s structures for a full-time president of the European Council. A difficult discussion lies ahead about how much power and influence the European Union president should have.

Greece

The Socialist party trounced a center-right government crippled by corruption scandals and the economic crisis.

Haiti

Haiti is caught in a quagmire: it needs jobs to quell social tensions, but companies require stability to create jobs as it tries to lure foreign investors with low costs.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak

For their research on chromosomes.

Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran has agreed to allow inspectors to visit its newly disclosed nuclear enrichment plant on October 25. The Obama administration demanded at talks with Iran on October 1 that the facility be opened to inspectors within two weeks.

United Arab Emirates:

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan codified a law that will form the legal framework for building a civilian nuclear energy sector. The country plans to import nuclear fuel, rather than enrich uranium locally.

Africa

Nigerian Amnesty

The Nigerian government declared its amnesty program a "huge success" after prominent rebel leader Government Ekpemupolo agreed to surrender his weapons. Nigeria said it expects more than ten thousand additional rebels to lay down their arms.

U.S.

President Obama will hold a Rose Garden event with doctors from across the country, and is delivering remarks on the need for health insurance reform this year. Pressure is on the white House as well as Senator Harry Reid. 

With the Senate Finance Committee ready to pass its version of the health care bill today, the Senate majority faces resistance with the more liberal Health committee bill. Reid's got pressure from the the full spectrum of the political landscape: left, the right and the middle in the Senate. At least two Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have refused to pledge support for the health-care reform bill scheduled for a vote this week, underscoring the hard work ahead for President Obama.

Several companies are quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due to the climate-change issue, which is straining alliances in Washington, as some businesses seek to profit from overhauling the energy market and others try to cut deals to head off tougher regulation.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Afghan commander rejected proposals to rely more heavily on drone missile strikes and special ops against al Qaeda.

For the first time in 18 years, the Dalai Lama will visit Washington this week without visiting the U.S. president.

Finance

It is apropos The Supreme Court term that begins Monday will be overrun by cases concerning corporations, compensation and the financial markets –It has just been revealed that private equity firms, former executives and Wall Street investment banks profited as the Simmons Bedding Company fell into bankruptcy, devastating its bondholders and employees. In addition. Goldman Sachs will receive $1 billion if the troubled commercial lender CIT files for bankruptcy protection, the Financial Times reports. U.S. taxpayers, meanwhile, would lose $2.3 billion if the lender files for Chapter 11. Goldman extended a financial rescue package to CIT in 2008, just a few months before the U.S. Treasury bought over $2 billion in CIT shares to prevent it from going under during the height of the crisis.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said in a speech before meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Istanbul, that America's economic power is in decline as a result of the financial crisis.