More than 220,000 people are without power after heavy rains and high winds slammed northern California.

The head of SeaWorld resigns as the amusement park struggles to attract visitors, in the wake of a 2013 film criticising its treatment of killer whales.

Australian PM Tony Abbott vows to "sweat blood" to secure constitutional recognition for indigenous people, saying he wants a referendum in 2017.

Brazilian prosecutors charged 35 executives from the country's largest engineering companies in connection with the Petrobras corruption scandal.

Charges are dropped against a US woman who was on death row for over 20 years after being convicted of arranging the murder of her son.

The US House of Representatives has passed a $1.1tn budget, hours before government was due to shut down at midnight on Thursday.

The Jakarta Post defends the publication of a cartoon criticising Islamic State (IS) militants, after its editor was named in a defamation case.

The archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria says more must be done to protect ordinary people, after dozens died in twin attacks blamed on Boko Haram.