LOS ANGELES (AP) — Parched Southern California continued to face dangerous winds but could get some badly needed rain this weekend, forecasters said Tuesday, dampening the prospects of another round of killer wildfires though even a small amount of precipitation could could create new challenges like toxic ash runoff. Los Angeles officials were preparing for that prospect even as a small number of residents were allowed to return to the devastated Pacific Palisades area and firefighters that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump 's administration is directing that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, and that agencies develop plans to lay them off, according to a memo Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo follows an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding to...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The South Korean government will reduce subsidies for biomass energy after rising domestic and international criticism of its link to deforestation. Environmental activists generally applauded the reforms but criticized loopholes and slow timelines for phasing out the subsidies. “While not without caveats, (the) decision by the South Korean government demonstrates that large-scale biomass power has no place in a renewable energy future,” Hansae Song, program at...