1. Turkey quake toll

Rescuers clawed through rubble* on Monday to free people trapped by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 279 people and wounded more than 1,000 in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

Hundreds more were feared dead, as Turkey's most powerful quake in a decade toppled* remote villages of mud brick houses.

2. Stranded seamen

All 164 Chinese seamen from 26 vessels had returned home by Sunday after being stranded* in northern Thailand following a fatal* cargo ship attack two weeks ago.

Thirteen Chinese sailors were confirmed dead after two cargo vessels, the Huaping and Yuxing 8, were hijacked by an unknown group of armed men on October 5 on the Mekong River.

3. Fernandez re-elected

President Cristina Fernandez has been re-elected with one of the widest victory margins* in Argentine history by persuading voters that she alone, even without her late powerbroker husband, is best able to keep spreading the wealth of an economic boom*.

Fernandez had nearly 54 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's election, with nearly 97 percent of polling stations reporting nationwide. Her nearest challenger got just under 17 percent.

4. Seif al-Islam vows revenge

Seif al-Islam, one of the sons of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi who was killed on Thursday by fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC) near his home town of Sirte, vowed revenge for his father's death.

An autopsy* confirmed that Gadhafi died from a gunshot to the head, the country's chief pathologist* said on Sunday, just hours before Libya's new leaders were to declare liberation and a formal end to an eight-month civil war to topple the longtime ruler's regime*.

5. Talks in Geneva

U.S. and North Korean negotiators began a two-day meeting in Geneva on Monday, the second such encounter since six-party talks on nuclear disarmament* collapsed more than two years ago.

The session, which follows talks in New York in late July, is aimed more at managing tensions* on the divided Korean peninsula than resuming stalled* regional talks on ending the North's nuclear programs.

6. Italian sport in shock

Italian sport was in shock after Marco Simoncelli died following a crash at the Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle race. He was 24. Simoncelli died of chest, head and neck injuries on Sunday after he lost control of his Honda at turn 11 four minutes into the race, and swerved* across the track, straight into the path of American rider Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi of Italy.

7. U.S.: Iraq war over

America's long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year's end and all U.S. troops ''will definitely be home for the holidays," U.S. President Barack Obama declared on Friday.

Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded.