Washington - Leaders from the Group of 20 nations gathered Friday for an historic summit to address a financial crisis that has sent global stock markets plummeting and threatened to plunge the global economy into recession.

US President George W Bush will welcome the leaders of 20 countries to the White House for a working dinner Friday evening and the group will hold an intensive day of talks Saturday aimed at overhauling the world's financial system and spurring global growth.

Washington - Former presidential candidate and New York Senator Hillary Clinton has refused to address speculation that president-elect Barack Obama will tap her to become his top diplomat.

"I'm not going to speculate about the president-elect's incoming administration," Clinton told a gathering in New York, adding that any questions should be directed to Obama's transition team.

Los Angeles - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency as more than 1,000 firefighters battled a raging wildfire near the celebrity hideaway of Montecito on Friday.

More than 100 houses had been destroyed by the wind-driven flames overnight and fire chiefs were working to contain the damage before strong winds picked up again Friday night.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh expressed need for greater inclusivity in the international financial system to avoid failure of the world economy. Mr. Singh is going to attend G8 summit at Washington, called by US president, George W Bush, to discuss world credit crunch. The finance minister, Mr. P Chidambaram, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and some other officials will also accompany Dr. Singh.

Quito - Ecuador opted Friday to make use of a 30-day technical moratorium for payment of 30.6 million dollars of interest on its foreign debt that were due Saturday, Economy Minister Maria Elsa Viteri said.

During the moratorium, Ecuador is set to evaluate a report on potential irregularity in some portions of the country's sales of bonds, the minister said.

"There is no lack of financial resources," Viteri said.

Mexico City - The pilot of the plane that crashed last week in Mexico City killing Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and 13 others did not keep enough distance from another plane, which may have caused the crash.

Mexican Transport Minister Luis Tellez said Friday that there were indications that the resulting turbulence "may have been a factor that contributed to the fall of the plane," but the investigation is ongoing to prove what he now called a "solid hypothesis."