Colin Dwyer

The blazes in one state alone have consumed an area about eight times the size of Los Angeles, and other fires have erupted across Australia. Amid drought and dry months to come, it could get worse.

Katie Visco said it was a "pinch" that drove her to undertake such an ambitious task with her husband in support. "I had been dreaming about this for a while," she tells NPR.

Executions had been set to resume next month after a 16-year pause. A federal judge halted the sentences as inmates challenge the government's lethal injection protocol.

The novelist and poet joined Sarah M. Broom, László Krasznahorkai, Ottilie Mulzet, and Martin W. Sandler as winners Wednesday night — receiving $10,000 and a medallion for their front covers.

Not since 2008 has the Amazon been destroyed at a faster rate, according to Brazilian authorities. They say an area more than 12 times the size of New York City was deforested in the span of a year.

The new number from Judge Thad Balkman comes nearly three months after he ordered the drugmaker to pay $572 million for its role in the opioid crisis. Both sides had questioned that sum.

Behrouz Boochani won Australia's richest literary prize earlier this year — but the asylum-seeker, detained offshore, couldn't accept in person. Now, he has made it to New Zealand with a message.

The literary prize, which honors fiction that tackles tough social issues, has announced a longlist of 16 titles. The nominees for the $35,000 prize include some big names and plenty of debuts.

Days after his resignation, the former Bolivian leader condemned Jeanine Áñez, who has stepped into the country's power vacuum. Áñez has promised new elections after last month's controversial vote.

"He was a ticking bomb," Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said of Bahaa Abu el-Atta, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader killed Tuesday. Militants in Gaza have responded with rocket attacks of their own.

A court ordered the release of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, one day after a Supreme Court decision cleared the way. Now, he can remain free as long as appeals of his corruption conviction unfold.

A student died Friday of injuries suffered in a fall as police dispersed protesters from a parking garage. Across the region, protesters mingled grief with grievance, renewing their calls for change.

The prison sentence is the longest ever doled out by the International Criminal Court, which earlier this year found the former warlord guilty of atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The U.S. judge found that the Trump administration's rule violates the law in "numerous, fundamental, and far-reaching" ways. Critics said the rule prioritized providers over patients.

Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch was ordered to leave the country for allegedly backing boycotts of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Aghast critics call it a blow to free expression.

The president accused E. Jean Carroll of "totally lying" when she said he assaulted her more than two decades ago. Now, Carroll is taking him to court for allegedly smearing her in the media.

President Barham Salih said Thursday that the premier, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, has agreed to resign, though timing is unclear. Abdul-Mahdi's ouster has been a major demand in weeks of widespread protests.

The organization says it's just starting to work out the details of how athletes would be compensated. The governing body's decision Tuesday reverses course on its longstanding objection to the idea.

The Kincade Fire has burned more than 75,000 acres in Northern California, while another blaze is 5% contained in Los Angeles. Gusty conditions will make the job even tougher for firefighters.

The Kincade Fire continues to menace Sonoma County, but firefighters are gaining optimism. In Los Angeles, the dramatic Getty Fire wildfire erupted near the busiest highway in the U.S.