N. Korean envoy arrives for talks

North Korea’s nuclear envoy arrived in Beijing today as chief negotiators from China, the United States, South Korea and Japan were meeting to work out details on the next round of six-nation disarmament talks.

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan arrived in the Chinese capital this morning.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack has said that a meeting between Christopher Hill, the American nuclear envoy, and Kim is “certainly an open possibility.”

Last month, an unannounced meeting between Hill and Kim in Beijing led to North Korea agreeing to return to six-party arms negotiations amid heightened tensions after its first nuclear test on Oct. 9.

KINSHASA, Congo

Volcano erupts near fighting

A volcano erupted late Monday near the city of Goma in eastern Congo, spewing lava in an area devastated by a major eruption four years ago.

The area around Goma has seen days of clashes between forces loyal to a dissident former general and Congo’s army that have killed at least three people. U.N. forces were drawn into the unrest on Monday.

Mount Nyamulagira began erupting at about 10 p.m., said Celestin Kasereka, head of the Goma volcano observatory.

Specific details of the eruption weren’t immediately available. Kasereka said observation of the site had been difficult because of the unrest in the region.

Goma is not in the path of lava flows from Nyamulagira because its sister volcano, Mount Nyirangongo, protects the city.

The fighting has been centered around the town of Sake, about 18 miles west of Goma in the opposite direction from the volcanoes.

Toronto

Nation status OK’d for Quebec

Parliament formally recognized Quebec as a nation within Canada Monday, a symbolic gesture that has led to a Cabinet resignation and ignited concerns over a renewed push for the French-speaking province’s independence.

The motion presented by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which calls Quebec a nation within a united Canada, is largely symbolic in that it requires no constitutional amendment or change of law. The opposition Liberals and New Democrats supported the motion, so it passed easily through the House of Commons.

It was devised by Harper to pre-empt a similar attempt by the Bloc Quebecois, the separatist party in Parliament that represents Quebec, whose members also reluctantly backed the resolution once they realized they had been outflanked by Harper.

The people of Quebec have twice voted down referendums seeking independence from Canada; the last one was narrowly defeated in 1995.