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It's 15:00 Universal Time. And here is the news from the Voice of America.
I'm David Deforest from the VOA News Center in Washington

A Chinese envoy has met the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang to discuss the crisis over the North's recent nuclear weapon's test. A Foreign Ministery spokesman said the envoy passed on a personal verbal message from the President Hu Jintao to the North Korean leader today. He gave no details on the contents of the message. State-run media in Pyongyang said the two had friendly talks on regional security issues. VOA's Louis Ramirez has more from Beijing.
Chinese officials called the visit to North Korea by the envoy Tang Jiaxuan a very significant one. They say he met with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang Thursday and delivered a message from Chinese President Hu Jintao. But they gave no details of what that message contained. China was outraged when Pyongyang went ahead with a nuclear test on October 9th despite Beijing's warning against it. Beijing supported the United Nation's resolution condemning North Korea and barring shipments of luxury goods and some weapon's material to the country. Regional experts, however, say Beijing is hesitant about sanctions that call for the inspection of cargo, particularly sea cargo, going in and out of North Korea. The experts say Beijing fears tough implementation of the sanctions might trigger a collapse of Pyongyang [屏蔽] and send a wave of refugees into Chinese territory. The United States says the resolution gives nations not only a right but also an obligation to carry out the searches. Louis Ramirez, VOA NewsBeijing.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met South Korean officials in Seoul to discuss ways to implement UN Security Council's sanctions against the North. Rice said a quarantine or blockade against North Korea is not the intention of the UN Security Council resolution. She said it is meant to prevent the trafficking of nuclear weapons by the North.
"The key is to live up to the obligation that all of us undertook that North Korea should not be able to traffic in these weapons and weapon's technologies nor should they be able to receive help, assistance financing for their nuclear weapon's programs."
The US Secretary of State is travelling next to Beijing and Moscow for further talks on implementing sanctions against the North.

Iraqi police report two suicide bomb attacks today in Northern Iraq. They say a blast in Kirkuk today killed at least 12 people and wounded scores outside a bank. In Mosul a suicide truck bomber hit a police station killing at least 11 people and wounding 25. A US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell acknowledged that the violence has increased in Iraq.
"The violence is indeed disheartening. In Baghdad alone we've seen a 22 percent increase in attacks during the first 3 weeks of Ramadan as compared to the three weeks preceding Ramadan."
The US military says 12 American troops were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday, battling both the ongoing insurgency and increasing sectarian violence.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces have exchanged artillery fire hours after rebels carried out a suicide attack in the south. Sri Lankan military official say the fighting began late Wednesday when rebels fired artillery rounds on the army's defensive positions on the northern Jaffna Peninsula. There were no confirmed reports of casualties.

Most cocoa farmers in the world's biggest producer Ivory Coast have suspended a strike over low prices but as Franz Wild reports, some producers are refusing to stop until the government meets their demands.
After three days / which warehouses in Ivory Coast's two ports Abidjan and San Pedro receive no new cocoa beans, the main farmer's union Anaproci agreed to give the government time to respond to its demands. Others in the cocoa-rich San Pedro area say they're keeping up the strike. Their main demand is the price planters get for their beans while the current price is set by the regulatory body at about 75 cents per kilogram. They are asking for 1 dollar 15 cents per kilogram of beans. Farmers of the bean/ used to make chocolate when export tax is to be dropped so more of the revenue reaches them. Franz Wild for VOA New Abidjan.

NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says some countries have responded to a NATO plea for a more troops for Afghanistan but the alliance has not reached its goal yet. The alliance is involved in the biggest ground war in its history in Afghanistan and / its commander says fighting against Taliban insurgents has been more intense than they expected.