Fires set stage for irreversible forest losses in Australia
Australia’s forests are burning at a rate unmatched in modern times and scientists say the landscape is being permanently altered as a warming climate...
Homes burn after shooter kills 2 Honolulu officers
HONOLULU — A man shot and killed two police officers Sunday as they responded to a home in a leafy neighborhood beneath the rim of a famed volcanic cr...
Splits in France’s strike movement trigger fears of violence
PARIS — A French government minister warned that seditious groups bent on violence were hijacking the protest movement against pension reform that has...
Scientists seek rare species survivors amid Australia flames
Australia’s unprecedented wildfires season has so far charred 40,000 square miles (104,000 square kilometers) of brushland, rainforests, and national ...
Crafting for critters: Australian fires prompt global effort
CONCORD, N.H. — Kyla Gill had never so much as touched a sewing machine or picked up a crochet hook two weeks ago. Now, she’s hooked on crafting for c...
Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010s
WASHINGTON — The decade that just ended was by far the hottest ever measured on Earth, capped off by the second-warmest year on record, two U.S. agenc...
Australian wildfire smoke stokes health fears in cities
CANBERRA, Australia — Fire alarms have been sounding in high-rise buildings across downtown Sydney and Melbourne as dense smoke from distant wildfires...
Spain: Chemical plant explosion kills 1, injures at least 9
MADRID — A massive explosion at a petrochemical plant in northeastern Spain on Tuesday killed one person and injured at least nine others, three serio...
Tom Hanks’ family offered Greek passport too for fire help
ATHENS, Greece — Greece's government is extending its offer of citizenship to Tom Hanks to his wife and their two children, in recognition of the fami...
Bad air doesn’t stop qualifying for Australian Open
The air was considered hazardous for outdoor workers, and described as among the worst in the world. For professional tennis players, though, it was d...
Federal government blasts PG&E’s deal with fire victims
SAN FRANCISCO — Tensions between the U.S. government and Pacific Gas & Electric are boiling over as the two sides battle over whether a taxpayer-f...
A fire, an SOS, a rescue: Man spends weeks in remote Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska — Tyson Steele watched his remote cabin go up in flames, mourned the death of his dog and then spent weeks in the Alaska wilderness, bu...
Australian village ready for ‘The Beast’ to burn on through
BURRAGATE, Australia — As the sky darkened and the smoke billowed through the village, it seemed to those hunkering at the fire station that "The Beas...
2 Aussie wildfires merge into inferno; man seriously burned
BURRAGATE, Australia — Two wildfires merged to form a massive inferno in southeastern Australia and a man suffered serious burns protecting a home, in...
California budget plan aids teachers, those in US illegally
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to give $20,000 stipends to teachers at high needs schools and extend health care to older low...
Australians leave homes as heat, winds escalate fire danger
EDEN, Australia — Communities across Australia’s fire-ravaged southeast were bracing for a long day of mounting danger on Friday as thousands abandone...
California lawmakers eye back-up power for cellphone towers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When the nation's largest electric utility preemptively shut off power last fall to prevent wildfires in California, customers lo...
Australian PM’s leadership criticized during wildfire crisis
CANBERRA, Australia — As his country burned, Australia's prime minister was cursed and jeered out of a town, called an “idiot,” a “moron” and worse, a...
Sex tech from women-led startups pops up at CES gadget show
LAS VEGAS — Sex tech is gracing the CES gadget show in Las Vegas this week, a year after organizers took fire for revoking an innovation award to a se...
Celebs donate millions to help Australia wildfire efforts
LOS ANGELES — Elton John and Chris Hemsworth are among the celebrities donating big bucks for relief efforts as wildfires engulf Australia.
Australian crews race to contain blazes as damage bill soars
SYDNEY — Bolstered by cooler weather and desperately needed rain, exhausted firefighters in Australia raced to shore up defenses against deadly wildfi...
Australia to pay ‘whatever it takes’ to fight wildfires
SYDNEY — Australia's government said Monday it was willing to pay “whatever it takes” to help communities recover from deadly wildfires that have rava...
California eyes climate bond to prepare for disasters
SACRAMENTO, CAlif. — In a state burdened by billions of dollars in wildfire damage, California lawmakers are hoping for an advance loan before the nex...
Aussie PM defends response to fires; weather brings respite
SYDNEY — Cooling temperatures and calmer winds brought some relief Sunday to Australian communities raked by wildfires, but the heat stayed on Prime M...
Wildfires threaten unique critters on Australian ‘Galapagos’
SYDNEY — It has been described as Australia's Galapagos Islands and has long been a refuge for some of the country's most endangered creatures. But de...
Australian PM calls up reservists as fire threats escalate
SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called up about 3,000 reservists as the threat of wildfires escalated Saturday in at least three...
Battery factory collapses in fire in New Delhi, killing 1
NEW DELHI — A factory manufacturing batteries in the Indian capital caught fire and collapsed Thursday, killing one firefighter and injuring at least ...
Australian prime minister is jeered in wildfire-ravaged zone
PERTH, Australia — Prime Minister Scott Morrison was confronted by angry residents who cursed and insulted him Thursday as he visited a wildfire-ravag...
Apes, monkeys among 30 animals killed in German zoo fire
BERLIN — A fire raced through a zoo in western Germany in the first few minutes of the new year, killing more than 30 animals, including apes, monkeys...