WSJ.com What's News - Worldwide News Briefs for Oct 31

CATALONIA'S FORMER LEADER SAYS HE WILL RESPECT ELECTION RESULTS

Carles Puigdemont, the embattled leader of Catalonia's independence movement, said he would respect the result of regional elections called by the Spanish government, marking a possible turning point in the separatists' drive for secession.

BEIJING, SEOUL TO RESTORE RELATIONS AFTER MISSILE-DEFENSE DISPUTE

China and South Korea committed to restore military, political and economic relations more than a year after Seoul's decision to install an American missile-defense battery infuriated Beijing.

NORTH KOREAN HACKERS STOLE SUBMARINE SECRETS FROM DAEWOO, LAWMAKER SAYS

North Korean hackers are suspected to have broken into a South Korean shipyard and stolen military secrets, in a breach made public less than a month after news of a similar attack in which hackers stole joint U.S.-South Korea war plans.

SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK IN AFGHAN CAPITAL KILLS AT LEAST SEVEN PEOPLE

A teenage suicide bomber blew himself up in the heavily fortified diplomatic quarter in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing at least seven people.

AS 'AUSTRALIA'S GUANTANAMO BAY' CLOSES, TERRIFIED REFUGEES FIGHT TO STAY INSIDE

Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are braced for a blockade to prevent the closure of an Australian-backed immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea, stockpiling food and barricading themselves inside amid fears of violence if they are forcibly moved into the broader community.

U.S. CAPTURES A SECOND SUSPECT IN 2012 BENGHAZI ATTACK

U.S. Special Operations Forces have captured a Libyan man believed to be part of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, U.S. defense officials said Monday.

RUSSIAN OPPONENT KILLED IN AMBUSH IN UKRAINE

A Kremlin opponent whose quick pistol skills saved her husband from an assassination attempt in June was shot dead in an ambush late Monday, a Ukrainian official said, amid a spate of killings in Kiev that some blame on Russia.

NEW ZEALAND TO BAN MOST FOREIGN INVESTORS FROM BUYING HOUSES

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her newly elected center-left government would ban almost all foreign investors from buying houses by early next year.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2017 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)