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The image, captured by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite, shows smoke trails stretching out over the Pacific Ocean.

In Little Rock, a judge struck down a prohibition on county clerks' issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. In Boise, a judge temporarily blocked a ruling allowing such marriages.

The accident that has claimed hundreds of lives appears to have causes that are all too familiar to mining experts in the U.S. and around the world.

Vietnamese mobs are destroying foreign-owned property and hunting down Chinese nationals in an angry response to Beijing's push to place an oil rig in disputed Southeast Asian waters.

Authorities issued an additional 13,000 evacuation notices Thursday afternoon as a 1,000-acre blaze spread out in several directions. It's one of nine brushfires plaguing the area.

The rules could set standards for Internet providers to create paid priority fast lanes on their networks. Public comments on the proposal are due by July 15.

At issue are accusations of delayed treatment and preventable deaths at the VA hospital in Phoenix. Eric Shinseki, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, is testifying before a Senate panel.

A family's story of how their cat ran off a dog that had attacked their young son is making waves far beyond Bakersfield, Calif., as the incident was captured in a dramatic video.

After Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested such accidents are unavoidable, thousands of people flocked to protests calling for his resignation.

Also: Publishers Lunch has a free e-book with excerpts from more than 30 of the most anticipated books of fall and winter; an ode to air purification that actually purifies the air.