World

Multiple fires raced through Northern California’s drought-hit wine country, shutting Interstate 80 at Fairfield about 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Sacramento as flames leapt across the highway, trapping motorists caught in a hectic evacuation.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, state legislators scrambled to authorize relief programs, review emergency protocols and rebalance their budgets amid plummeting revenue projections.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama will tell Democrats on Wednesday that Donald Trump's failures have left 170,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus pandemic, cost millions their jobs and threatened democracy both at home and abroad.

Puerto Ricos governor announced Wednesday that she will place the U.S. territory on a 24hour lockdown every Sunday as part of stricter measures to fight a spike in coronavirus cases.

A judge has ruled that a new election will be held in November for a disputed Paterson City Council seat, just weeks after the race's apparent winner and a sitting councilman were charged with voter fraud.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has informed British authorities the U.S. will not seek the death penalty if two British Islamic State execution squad members, nicknamed the "Beatles," are extradited to the United States.

France registered 3,776 new COVID19 infections on Wednesday, marking another postlockdown peak and bringing the total to 225,043, but President Emmanuel Macron again ruled out imposing another national lockdown.

The number of people in Florida confirmed to have died from the new coronavirus surpassed 10,000 cases Wednesday, as teachers and state officials argued in court over whether brickandmortar schools should be forced to reopen this month.

Sweden, which has stood out among European countries for its lowkey approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, recorded its highest tally of deaths in the first half of 2020 for 150 years, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia remains committed to peace with Israel on the basis of the longstanding Arab Peace Initiative, its foreign minister said on Wednesday in the first official comment since the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalise relations with Israel.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday not to take any steps that could lead to "bitter sorrow" after he ordered his police to put down protests in the capital Minsk.

At popular Peking roast duck restaurant chain Quanjude in Beijing, staff have been passing on a new message to diners: do not order more than you can eat.

China's clampdown on exotic animal farms has affected nearly 250,000 jobs, with businesses unable to sell animals worth some 11 billion yuan, a state media report said last week.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is weighing sweeping changes to the country's social welfare system and a series of economic measures that will align Canada with ambitious climate goals, according to people familiar with the matter.

Protesters lit fires, threw rocks and smashed windows at county government offices in the U.S. city of Portland on Tuesday, prompting police to declare a riot, after weeks of mostly peaceful antiracism demonstrations.

Iran's death toll from the new coronavirus surpassed 20,000 on Wednesday with 153 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry spokeswoman told state TV, as the number of total cases hit 350,279.