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A surge of unexpected waves swamped the island of Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands on Saturday, forcing evacuations from a U.S. military base and causing damage that could take months to repair.A video from inside a building at U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll that circulated widely on social media showed a surge of water crashing through a set of double doors, knocking them off their hinges and upending people who were standing nearby. Another burst of water rushed through the windows, forcing the people to wade through waist-high water as furniture and vegetation floated around them.Roi-Namur is a small island about 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii and is the second-largest island of the Kwajalein Atoll, a loop of coral reefs in the Marshall Islands.U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll s...

A federal appeals panel in Boston ruled on Monday that a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico against U.S. gun manufacturers whose weapons are used by drug cartels can proceed, reversing a lower court that had dismissed the case.The decision, which is likely to be appealed, is one of the most significant setbacks for gunmakers since passage of a federal law nearly two decades ago that has provided immunity from lawsuits brought by the families of people killed and injured by their weapons.Mexico, in an attempt to challenge the reach of that law, sued six manufacturers in 2021, including Smith & Wesson, Glock and Ruger. It contended that the companies should be held liable for the trafficking of a half-million guns across the border a year, some of which were used in murders.In September...

He hoped to succeed Indonesia’s longtime dictator. He ordered the kidnappings of pro-democracy activists. He was accused of atrocities during the ruthless military occupation of East Timor. He has said elections run counter to his country’s culture.Even so, Prabowo Subianto has spent the past two decades trying his hand at democratic politics, donning different personas in multiple attempts to become Indonesia’s leader.Now, a month before the next election, nearly every poll shows Mr. Prabowo, 72, leading in the first round of voting. His rise, with the help of a running mate who is the son of the popular departing president, Joko Widodo, has alarmed millions of Indonesians who still remember the brutal and kleptocratic rule of Suharto, Mr. Prabowo’s former boss and father-in-law.A victory...

A Quebec resident who last summer had shared conspiracy theories online suggesting that the Canadian government was deliberately starting wildfires to convince people climate change is happening has now pleaded guilty to setting more than a dozen fires.Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty to lighting 14 fires in the Chibougamau area of Quebec between May and September 2023. Last year was Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, with a total of 45 million acres burned. On many days, smoke from the fires spread across North America and around the world, degrading air quality and disrupting the daily lives of millions of people.Two of the fires Mr. Paré set forced people to evacuate about 500 homes in the town of Chapais at the end of May, according to a statement by the prosecutor, Marie-Philippe...

The Biden administration will designate Yemen’s Houthi militia as a terrorist organization, partly reimposing penalties it lifted nearly three years ago on the Iran-backed group whose attacks on regional shipping traffic have drawn a U.S. military response.Beginning in mid-February, the United States will consider the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist” group, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday, blocking its access to the global financial system, among other penalties. But Biden officials stopped short of applying a second, more severe designation — that of “foreign terrorist organization” — which the Trump administration imposed on the Houthis in its final days. The State Department revoked both designations shortly after President Biden to...

Already, though, the rangers had made a difference. They had established the government’s presence in a formerly anything-goes region. Thanks to their outreach in San Martín, they had been invited in November to march in the annual parade celebrating the cuadrillas. Mr. Zorro thought that the invitation was a turning point for the park, a moment of acceptance. And on their motorcycle patrols through Manacacías, the rangers had logged some important wildlife sightings.Gustavo Castro, one of the rangers staying on the ranch that week, had been standing at a lookout a few months earlier when he noticed something brown and furry ambling in the tall grass. “I got closer to him, maybe five or six meters, and he carried on normally,” Mr. Castro said. “I was able to get some good videos and photos...