Four people were killed and eight others wounded on September 15 when police fired on demonstrators in the town of Mendhar in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, a local official said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on September 14 to head a new UN body that will seek to improve the lives of women and girls around the world.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders have held "serious discussions on core issues" during direct peace talks in Egypt, the US Middle East envoy says.

French police evacuated tourists from the landmark Paris Eiffel Tower and a metro station following bomb alerts on Tuesday evening, but searches found no explosives, police said.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was re-elected president of the ruling Democratic Party on September 14, sparing Japan another leadership change as it deals with an economic slowdown.

Cuba has announced radical plans to lay off huge numbers of state employees, to help revive the country's struggling economy.

Japan's foreign minister apologized for the suffering of a group of former World War II prisoners of war visiting from the United States and said they were treated inhumanely.

Indian forces fought Kashmiri demonstrators in street battles Monday that killed 15 people — including one police officer — in the deadliest day in a summer of violence challenging Indian rule in the disputed territory.

A turboprop plane with 51 passengers and crew on board crashed into the yard of a steel mill in southern Venezuela and burst into flames on Monday, killing 15 people.

Japanese authorities have released the crew of a Chinese fishing trawler seized last week in the East Sea, Chinese state media says.