J.J. McGrath

The death toll from the earthquake in southeastern Turkey last week rose to 596 Sunday, the day after authorities stopped searching for survivors and focused on helping thousands of homeless families in crisis.

A suicide car bomber killed 13 foreign troops in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, the deadliest single ground attack in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

The head of the European Financial Stability Facility sought to entice China on Saturday to invest in the bailout fund by saying investors may be protected against as much as one-fifth of initial losses.

Oakland, Calif., Mayor Jean Quan has apologized for a clash between police and protesters during a march against economic inequality that left a former U.S. Marine seriously wounded, and said she would meet with demonstrators.

The Bank of America Corp., after receiving heavy public criticism for a planned $5-per-month debit-card fee, is likely to give customers more ways to avoid the fee, a person familiar with the bank's plans said Friday.

Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. grounded its entire fleet Saturday over a bitter labor dispute in an unprecedented move that the government said it would ask a labor tribunal to stop.

The White House said Friday it would conduct an independent review of the U.S. Energy Department's loan portfolio following the collapse of Solyndra, the solar-panel maker that went bankrupt last month after receiving a hefty federal loan guarantee.

A powerful earthquake that shook southeastern Turkey on Sunday may have killed as many as 1,000 people as it triggered the collapse of dozens of buildings across the region, media reported the Kandilli Observatory as saying.

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 shook southeastern Turkey on Sunday, Turkey's Kandilli Observatory said, triggering the collapse of buildings and killing many people, according to a local mayor.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit near Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Research Institute said.

EU finance ministers outlined a deal on Saturday for recapitalizing European banks, and the leaders of Germany and France said they hoped for a breakthrough in tackling the Eurozone debt crisis at a summit on Wednesday.

Homeowners who owe more than their houses are worth will get new help to refinance in a government plan to be unveiled as early as Monday to support the battered housing sector, sources familiar with the effort said.

Banks cannot rely on taxpayers' money to recapitalize themselves, Sweden's Finance Minister said Saturday ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers that was due to discuss steps to strengthen the European banking system.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud died on Saturday while abroad, the country's royal court said in a statement carried by state media.

NATO called an end to its air war in Libya, and the clan of Moammar Gadhafi demanded a chance to bury the body that lay on display in a meat locker after a death as brutal and chaotic as his 42-year rule.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is warning staffers their personal brokerage-account information may have been compromised, after it uncovered security flaws with an ethics-compliance program.

The Obama administration is pulling the plug on a long-term, home-care program included in the 2010 healthcare reform law that Republicans have derided as a budget trick.

Poles are voting in a parliamentary election Sunday, likely to give the ruling center-right Civic Platform four more years in power to press on with gradual economic reforms and closer ties with the EU.