Fifteen people died on Monday in a plane crash in Venezuela, but 36 others miraculously survived after the pilot alerted air traffic control that something was wrong moments before disaster struck.

Economists peddling dire warnings that the world's number one economy is on the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and a spiralling public deficit, are flourishing here.

The second round of the U.S.- sponsored Israeli-Palestinian direct peace negotiations will be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday amid doubts of success two weeks before the 10-month Israeli moratorium of freezing settlement ends.

 On September 11, US President Barack Obama called for religious tolerance ahead of the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, asking people not to "turn on each other".

Ministers responsible for Human Resources Development from APEC member economies will meet in Beijing next week to address issues such as unemployment and improving social safety nets to protect the vulnerable following the global financial crisis.

BP will release on Wednesday the results of an internal probe into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said Tuesday.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has managed to hold onto power after securing the support of independents to form a minority government. It took 17 days to do so after a general election failed to deliver a clear winner.

Hundreds of firefighters on Tuesday battled several wildfires that have ravaged some 2,500 hectares of land in Spain's eastern Valencia region, regional authorities said.

A powerful car bomb in Pakistan killed at least 20 people on September 7 and wounded more than 50 others.

A well-known Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist has pledged to donate his entire fortune to charity after his death, becoming the first in China to respond to the campaign launched in the US by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who will soon visit China to advocate philanthropy.

Iranian officials continued on September 5 to trade barbs with the Palestinian Authority over its president's decision to renew direct peace talks with Israel.

A sweeping reshuffle of the Greek government was announced after midnight on Monday , less than a year after the elections which brought the ruling socialist PASOK party in power last October.

The race for the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan officially started Wednesday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan going head-to-head with the party’s former No. 2 Ichiro Ozawa, in a contest that will ultimately decide who will be Japan’s next prime minister.

 

 Residents evacuate the Outer Banks area in Southern Shores, North Carolina. Hurricane Earl bore down on a vast stretch of the US East Coast on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people fled North Carolina's barrier islands to avoid dangerous winds and surf.