Jade Walker

Eleven people perished Tuesday when a fire burned down a house near Brisbane, Australia. Search teams are trying to retrieve the victims' bodies from the two-story house, but the process is proving most difficult due to the extensive damage caused by the fire. The intense blaze also destroyed two vehicles parked near the building. It is not known whether smoke alarms were fitted in the home. Read

The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that unnerved millions of people on the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday forced schools in three states to close and damaged several buildings and federal landmarks. At least four aftershocks followed the powerful quake, including a 3.4-magnitude tremblor that hit near the nation's capital overnight.

The FBI has captured William Walter Asher III, a convicted killer who escaped from prison and spent three decades on the lam. The case broke wide open when Asher's mother put the word out that she wanted to speak with him one last time before she died.

Authorities along the Atlantic seaboard are closely monitoring Hurricane Irene's projected path, and preparing for the powerful storm's arrival later in the week. The first major hurricane of the season became a Category 2 storm on Aug. 22, and could strengthen even more in the coming days.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C., has officially opened to the public. The memorial will be formally dedicated on Aug. 28 -- the anniversary of his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech -- and will cap a five-day celebration that could draw as many as 250,000 people.

The areas surrounding the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan may be uninhabitable for decades. That's the word from the Japanese government after a survey found dangerously high levels of radioactive contamination.

Passengers who rode on Amtrak's northeast regional train No. 171 last Wednesday  may have been exposed to the measles. Virginia health officials issued the alert after a foreign visitor came down with the highly contagious illness.

After six months of civil war, Libyan rebels swept into Tripoli on Sunday and laid claim to most of the city. Government troops and snipers loyal to Moammar Gadhafi continued to put up a last-ditch resistance near his compound, though it is unknown if the Libyan leader was still inside.

In an effort to re-engineer a recovery and stop the massive sell-off of its stock, Bank of America reportedly plans to lay off 3,500 employees this quarter. Thousands more could lose their jobs in the coming months.

Police in Utah plan to launch another search for Susan Cox Powell, who disappeared in 2009. The latest effort is based on new and credible information about the disappearance of the 28-year-old mother of two.