Fires, likely sparked by lightning strikes that hit California early Tuesday, razed over 12,000 acres in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, officials said.

© Noah Berger/Associated Press

The Chinese Consulate in Manhattan has mobilized community groups to defeat candidates who don’t fall in line with the authoritarian state.

A Wells Fargo banker and a U.S. government employee were blocked from leaving and a Japanese pharmaceutical executive was imprisoned, even as Beijing tries to court overseas investors.