Do not expect much of a winter wallop this year, except for the pain of worsening drought, U.S. government forecasters said Thursday.

Two-thirds of the United States should get a warmer than normal winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted. Only Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and northwestern Minnesota, will get a colder than normal winter, forecasters said.

At least 20 people were killed, injured or remain missing after attacks by extremist rebels on three villages in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region, the government announced.

The attacks occurred in Bombofa, Peteguerse, and Demniol towns, in Seno province and the army is searching the area, government spokesman Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was now time to prepare for a no-trade deal Brexit unless the European Union fundamentally changed course, bluntly telling Brussels that there was no point in talking any more.

A tumultuous “no deal” finale to the United Kingdom’s five-year Brexit crisis would sow chaos through the delicate supply chains that stretch across Britain, the EU and beyond—just as the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will need to raise $6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine amid the COVID-19 crisis, the agency said on Tuesday.

The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, said it had so far raised $1.6 billion.

The reported death toll in clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has reached about 600, with officials reporting more military and civilian deaths as the fighting continues despite a cease-fire announced over the weekend.

Nagorno-Karabakh military officials said Tuesday that 16 more of their servicemen have been killed in fighting, bringing the total number of dead among military members to 532 since September 27, when the fighting started. Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military losses, and the overall toll is likely to be much higher with both sides regularly claiming to have inflicted significant military casualties on one another.

It took just eight minutes and 46 seconds to set the world ablaze. First, tempers flared while watching the video of a police officer putting his knee on the neck of a handcuffed George Floyd as he lay on the pavement. Next thing we knew, the fires were literal.

In every corner of the U.S., as well as across the globe, the cellphone video of Floyd’s slow death set off turbulent and sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality, racism and inequality.

Everyone loves a good debate, or so it seems. Watching a political candidate verbally clash with his opponent using biting quips and well-timed barbs makes for good drama, even for anxious onlookers who have already made up their minds.

In the modern age of political campaigns, debates are akin to…

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India’s parliament on Wednesday passed “historic” labor laws that the government says help workers and business alike, but activists fear a loss of labor rights in a push for profits.

Experts said the laws—aimed at protecting workers and streamlining labyrinthine regulation—exempt tens of thousands of smaller firms, and rob workers of a right to strike or receive benefits.

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard,” the founder of Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson, once said.

This quote—a statement that applies to many areas of life—was meant to encourage Earth’s inhabitants to be more environmentally conscious. And since 1970, when Earth Day was created, the Western world in particular has become significantly more mindful of its natural surroundings.

After a summer of civil unrest over racial injustice in the United States, the National Guard has put hundreds of military police on standby specifically to help law enforcement deal with any potential violence in the coming months, three U.S. military officials have told Reuters.

Officials said the units, consisting of about 600 military police stationed in Arizona and Alabama, were a response to the lessons learned during the violent upheaval after a black man, George Floyd, died in late May when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.

“Teach us to pray.” This may sound like a naive request considering people had been praying for thousands of years by the time this question was asked. Yet the man decided to ask Jesus Christ anyway (Luke 11:1).

People typically do not ask others how to pray. They try to figure it out on their own, usually mimicking what they see: Bow your head, get on your knees, and speak out loud or in your head—inquiring an unseen Being. That may seem straightforward.

Military suicides have increased by as much as 20% this year compared to the same period in 2019, and some incidents of violent behavior have spiked as service members struggle under COVID-19, war-zone deployments, national disasters and civil unrest.

While the data is incomplete and causes of suicide are complex, Army and Air Force officials say they believe the pandemic is adding stress to an already strained force.

In a state where Confederate monuments have stood for more than a century and have recently become a flashpoint in the national debate over racial injustice, Virginians remain about evenly divided on whether the statues should stay or go, according to a new poll.

The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. A similar divide emerged over the question of changing the names of schools, streets and military bases named after Confederate leaders, with 44% in support and 43% opposed.

The U.S. Department threatened to revoke federal funding for New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, saying on Monday the three liberal cities were allowing anarchy and violence on their streets.

“We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.