Main news of October 31

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Abdullah Abdullah, the main challenger to President Hamid Karzai, threatened on Saturday to boycott a presidential run-off election planned for November 7

* The Israeli government seems to be retracting its opposition to a UN plan for Western nuclear cooperation with Tehran, Iranian media reports say

* An influential Iranian lawmaker criticized a plan that requires the country to send its nuclear fuel abroad for processing due to a lack of guarantees over its return

* Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations has warned there are signs of an imminent Israeli attack on his country, a Lebanese newspaper has reported

* Ukraine's prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was formally registered as a candidate in the presidential election due on January 17

* Palestinians will not resume peace talks with Israel until it freezes settlement construction on the West Bank, a Palestinian official said

RUSSIA

* A French warship will visit Russia in November, a top Russian Navy official said

* A drunk passenger forced a Lufthansa airliner en route from Munich to Tokyo to make an emergency landing in Russia's Far East, a Russian air traffic control source said