Reuters World News Highlights at 0600 GMT, Oct 31

TOKYO/HONG KONG - Japan is expected to cut interest rates on Friday, joining a growing wave of central banks that are shifting from stabilising credit markets to slashing borrowing costs to cushion their economies against the threat of a global recession.

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DEFIANCE, Ohio - Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama dueled over the economy on Thursday in the last stretch of their fierce fight for the White House, with McCain charging Obama would not do enough to rein in oil company profits.

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GUWAHATI, India - Eleven bomb blasts in quick succession ripped through the main city of India's troubled northeastern Assam state and three other towns on Thursday, killing at least 68 people and wounding 335, police said.

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BOSASSO, Somalia - North Somali authorities said on Thursday they had arrested a prominent local sheikh and others suspected of involvement in a wave of suicide attacks that killed at least 30 people.

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GOMA, Congo - Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatened on Thursday to occupy an eastern city unless U.N. peacekeepers guaranteed a ceasefire, while foreign envoys scrambled to secure peace on the Rwanda-Congo border.

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BEIJING - China's health minister urged officials to focus on fixing the problem-ridden food safety system now the flood of Chinese children hospitalised for toxic milk poisoning has eased.

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BEIJING - Envoys of the Dalai Lama flew to Beijing on Thursday for fence-mending talks, the Tibetan government-in-exile said, days after he expressed dismay at China's attitude about Tibet's future.

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MOSCOW - Russia has spent $8 billion from its foreign exchange reserves to help some of its richest men to refinance foreign debts and the names of the recipients give a clue to the Kremlin's favourites.

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LUSAKA - Zambians voted for a successor to their late President Levy Mwanawasa on Thursday to lead one of southern Africa's most stable and relatively prosperous states.

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SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il failed to attend the funeral of one of the most senior members of the communist state, the South said on Friday, adding to speculation about the health of the reclusive leader.