Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that the U.S. healthcare reform bill will include a public option. The option of a government-run health insurance plan seemed to be dead in the water months ago, but is gaining more momentum, Wall Street Journal.
The death toll from yesterday’s suicide bombing in Baghdad has risen to 160, including 30 children who were on a bus. At least 540 were injured after the two car bombs detonated around 10:30 am local time, CNN.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah are at odds over the country’s election commission chief. Abdullah wants the chief fired, but Karzai has refused. The two will partake in a runoff election on November 7th after the UN issued a report stating they believed Karzai had not legally won the August presidential election, BBC News.
South Korea is offering to ship 10,000 tons of corn to North Korea. It would be the first government aid sent to the communist country in almost two years, but far less than the amount of aid South Korea has exported previously, New York Times.
The Daily Brief 