A heat wave and humidity smothered parts of the South and Midwest on Thursday. In Florida, where heat index levels of up to 112 degrees (44 Celsius) are forecast over the next several days, the Christian Service Center set up an “extreme heat cooling center” in Orlando for homeless people and others who don’t have…

FORT PIERRE, S.D.—The South Dakota State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating a house explosion that killed a baby and her grandparents and left two young children hospitalized with burns. The house about 11 miles southwest of Fort Pierre exploded around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, Stanley County Sheriff Brad Rathbun said. The sheriff said 6-month-old Harper Hupp…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—A 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused a small tsunami to wash ashore on South Pacific islands Friday. No damage has been reported, and the threat passed in a few hours. Waves 60 centimeters (2 feet) above tide level were measured off Lenakel, a port town in Vanuatu, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Smaller…

A Georgia man shot two of his relatives and a fast food worker dead before killing himself on Thursday in rural south Georgia, the local coroner said. The shooter killed his mother and grandmother at two neighboring homes and killed a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Moultrie, Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock…

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on the State of the American Economy: The South at 9:00 a.m. ET on April 21 in Peachtree, Georgia. …

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on the State of the American Economy: The South at 9:00 a.m. ET on April 21 in Peachtree, Georgia. …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—A tornado plowed through Little Rock and surrounding areas on Friday afternoon, reducing rooftops to splinters, toppling vehicles, and tossing debris on roadways as people raced for shelter. More than 350,000 people were at risk as what the National Weather Service called a “confirmed large and destructive tornado” tore through business districts and…

JACKSON, Miss.—Massive storms brewing over 10 states in the Midwest and southern U.S. on Friday have meteorologists urging people to brace for dangerous weather including tornadoes, saying the conditions are similar to those a week ago that unleashed a devastating twister that killed at least 21 people in Mississippi. Roughly 89 million people were under…

A seemingly relentless series of severe storms, likely with deadly tornadoes, are forecast to rip across parts of America’s Midwest and South over the next couple of weeks, especially Friday, meteorologists said. An unusual weather pattern has set in, last week triggering the devastating tornado that hit Rolling Fork, Mississippi, and meteorologists fear this Friday…

JUBA, South Sudan—At least 10 people in South Sudan, including three children, have been killed after mistaking unexploded ordnance for scrap metal, an official said Friday. The commissioner of Jur River county, James Bak, confirmed Thursday’s accident in Western Bahr el Ghazal and said two other children were injured. He said people in Jebel-Mille area…