"The U.S. Pacific Northwest wilted on Thursday under the latest sweltering heat wave to punish the region this summer, as near-record temperatures strained power grids and drove residents to seek shade."

"Energy companies are starting to pitch the idea that planet-warming natural gas can be erased by paying villagers to protect forests. Experts can’t make the math work."

"Charles H. Loeb defied the American military’s denials and propaganda to show how deadly radiation from the strike on Hiroshima sickened and killed."

"Syrian President Bashar Assad has the power to free Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing while covering the war there nine years ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday."

"A senior US climate official has warned Australia’s targets are “not sufficient” and the country should be considering a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, given the urgency of the threat outlined this week in a landmark report."

"On Wednesday, the White House asked the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to pump more oil in hopes of stemming the rise in gas prices in the United States."

"California’s largest single wildfire in recorded history continued to grow Wednesday after destroying more than 1,000 buildings, nearly half of them homes, while authorities in Montana ordered evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote communities. The dangerous fires were among some 100 large blazes burning across 15 states, mostly in the West, where historic drought conditions have left lands parched and ripe for ignition."

"Tropical Depression Fred was crossing over the large Caribbean island of Hispaniola on Wednesday when it was downgraded from tropical storm status. ... [But it will]  skirt just west of Florida this weekend on a path toward landfall in the southeastern United States early next week, potentially making two U.S. landfalls."

"Punishing heat waves are roasting the Pacific Northwest and the central and eastern United States simultaneously, placing more than half of the Lower 48 states under alerts from the National Weather Service. Excessive-heat warnings or heat advisories are in place for nearly 175 million Americans, and some of these alerts will remain in effect until the weekend."

"The Colorado River through the national park holds lessons for managing an essential and diminishing resource in a rapidly warming climate."