PRESIDENTIAL RACE-REPUBLICAN DEBATE

SIMI VALLEY — Front-running Donald Trump begins the second Republican presidential debate with a bang, throwing his well-practiced barbs in all directions, but was quiet for long stretches as his fellow candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination bore down on serious issues.

 

PRESIDENTIAL RACE-BIDEN — Vice President Joe Biden takes aim at potential 2016 presidential campaign opponents, rallying against Republicans who "deny climate change and pleading with them to "just get out of the way."

 

CHILE-EARTHQUAKE

SANTIAGO, Chile — A major earthquake in the Pacific rattles Chileans, killing three people and shaking the Earth so strongly the tremor is felt on the other side of the continent. Tsunami waves triggered by the quake cause some flooding in coastal cities.

 

UNITED STATES- ISLAMIC STATE MILITARY

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats lambasted the Obama administration's strategy to combat the Islamic State group after a top U.S. general admitted that just a handful of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels are still on the battlefield fighting the militants.

 

UNITED STATES-RUSSIA-SYRIA

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to accept an offer from Russia for direct talks on its military buildup in Syria that U.S. officials believe is aimed at propping up Syrian President Bashar Assad. The move comes amid increasing unease and uncertainty over Russia's intentions.

 

SWITZERLAND CANADA ROBBER

GENEVA — Geneva police have arrested the "most-wanted bank robber in Canada," a seemingly athletic French-American citizen known for jumping over bank counters in his heists, police officials said.

 

PUERTO RICO-ECONOMY

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Puerto Rican government's fiscal reform plan is coming under increased scrutiny amid growing concerns that it does not have legislative support and that some measures are too austere and could push the U.S. territory into a deeper economic crisis.

 

CUBA-PAPAL RENOVATION

HAVANA — In a country where buildings go unpainted for decades, roads are unpaved and water mains unrepaired, Pope Francis' impending arrival has brought a surge of sprucing up — at least in areas he will visit.

 

VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA BORDER

CARACAS, Venezuela —President Nicolas Maduro has closed the last remaining bridge connecting Venezuela with Colombia as he extends a monthlong crackdown on smuggling along the border that is fueling tensions between the two neighbors.

 

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

MIDDLETOWN, California — Two bodies are found at the site of a wildfire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, while dogs were used to search for a former police reporter and several other people who authorities fear were killed in a separate, fast-moving blaze in northern California.

 

FATAL FLASH FLOODS

ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — Seven people who enter a narrow desert canyon for a day of hiking became trapped when a flash flood filled the chasm with water, killing at least six of them in Zion National Park in southern Utah, officials say.