On 12 November 2001 American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighbourhood of Queens shortly after leaving JFK, killing all 260 people aboard and five on the ground. Coming two months after 9/11, it first raised fears of another attack, but the NTSB found an accident. After the jet hit wake turbulence from a Boeing 747 that took off ahead of it, the first officer made aggressive rudder movements. These put such force on the vertical stabilizer that it tore off, and the two engines also separated before impact.

Israeli reports also say the cabinet directed the military to prepare for a possible new attack on Iran.

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.