California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West

Grace Evans lived through one of the most powerful and deadly twisters in Oklahoma history: a roaring top-of-the-scale terror in 2013 that plowed through homes, tore through a school and killed 24 people in the small suburb of Moore. A hospital and bowling alley were also destroyed. But not the movie theater next door — where almost a decade later, Evans and her teenage daughter this week felt no pause buying two tickets to a showing of the blockbuster “Twisters.” “I was looking for that element of excitement and I guess drama and danger,” Evans said.

France's capital city is set to rock to a sporting beat on Saturday as the Olympic Games get under way in earnest on the back of an opening ceremony as dazzling as it was rainswept.After a tumultuous Friday, which started with a pre-dawn attack by saboteurs on France's high-speed train network, the focus now turns to gold medals and sporting excellence.No fewer than 14 will be up for grabs as day one promises action across multiple sports: four golds in swimming, two each in cycling, fencing, and judo, and one each in diving, skateboarding, shooting, and rugby sevens.FLYING START FOR SWIM

William Howard went to the north-central Idaho town of Juliaetta on Thursday to help a friend after a lightning-sparked wildfire began tearing through the friend's property, using barrels of water in an effort to extinguish “hot spots” on the land. But in the 15 minutes it took to refill the barrels, the wind-whipped flames engulfed the area. A harrowing video, shot by Howard as he fled in his vehicle, shows tall flames surrounding both sides of the road on the outskirts of town. A mobile home and several vehicles are burning on one side of the road. On the oth

Scores of wildfires across the United States and Canada have scorched swaths of land in California, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Alberta and beyond, forcing evacuations and road closures, as well as destroying and threatening structures. Air quality advisorie s and alerts have been issued in some affected areas. As of Friday, there were 96 large active fires in the U.S. that have engulfed 2,274 square miles (5,890 square kilometers), most of them in Oregon, followed by California and Arizona, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 1,500 square mile