A deadly wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry forest around Los Angeles made another menacing advance Monday, surging toward thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex. more …

The powerful Hurricane Jimena is threatening the popular Mexican resort area at the tip of the Baja California peninsula. more …

Yukio Hatoyama, the Stanford Ph.D and political blue blood who led Japan’s opposition party to a stunning election victory, is coming to power amid questions about how he will pursue his desire for a more independent relationship with the United States. more …

The British government will make public its correspondence with Scottish ministers over releasing the Lockerbie bomber, a government spokeswoman said Monday, a day after a newspaper reported that officials believed a deal was in the U.K.’s “overwhelming interests.” more …

The admission, if it is confirmed and leads to punishment, could shore up support for the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among clerics.

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The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council nominated Ammar al-Hakim to fill the vacuum left by his father, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who died of cancer last week.

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Nearly 500 people have packed an Oklahoma church to remember a pastor who was killed as she prepared for a Sunday service. more …

The United States has asked Jamaica to extradite a suspected crime boss to face federal drug and weapons-trafficking charges in New York, officials said Monday. more …

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says five people who refused to heed wildfire evacuation orders are trapped in a canyon and it’s too dangerous to rescue them. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore says the four men and a woman refused to leave the…

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The father of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and vice presidential nominee, says his daughter has been steering clear of the media spotlight in recent weeks to focus on writing her memoirs. Chuck Heath, in Idaho campaigning for a Republican…

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