Matthew S. Schwartz

The powerful derecho that swept through the Midwest in August, focusing its destruction on central Iowa, is officially the most costly thunderstorm event in recorded U.S. history.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has won re-election in a landslide.

The win wasn't surprising; Ardern's leadership has helped New Zealand become one of the most successful countries in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Going into the election, polls showed Ardern's Labour Party with a wide lead over the nearest competitor, the conservative National Party.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has thrown out a lawsuit by the Trump campaign that tried to limit the swing state's use of drop boxes in the current presidential election.

The lawsuit also challenged the Pennsylvania secretary of state's guidance that mail-in ballots shouldn't be rejected if the voter's signature doesn't match the one on file, and a state restriction that poll watchers be residents of the county where they are assigned.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf Coast are without power after Hurricane Delta made landfall in Louisiana on Friday night. The storm brought high winds and heavy rain to an area that was still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Laura in August.

More than half a million power outages were reported throughout the state, representing about 25% of all customers in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a press conference on Saturday.

Facing an increase in coronavirus infections in certain neighborhoods, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that he would close all nonessential businesses, public and private schools, and daycares in nine ZIP codes throughout Brooklyn and Queens, to ensure that the virus doesn't spread further.

A decades-long dispute over territory in the southern Caucasus has led to open hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia this past week. Azerbaijan's second-largest city, Ganja, came under attack Sunday, with government officials saying Armenia had launched missiles into residential areas. Armenia has denied the charges; the leader of the territory at the center of the dispute said his forces were responsible for the attack.

Azerbaijani officials said one civilian was killed in the attack, and 32 more were injured.

President Trump, hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, is being treated with remdesivir, an antiviral drug made by Gilead Sciences.

A man has been charged with attempted murder after he fired multiple shots into a Los Angeles County sheriff's patrol vehicle earlier this month.

Deonte Lee Murray, 36, allegedly fired a handgun into the squad car as it was parked near a train station in Compton on Sept. 12. The two deputies inside were critically wounded, but were able to radio for help.

The world was watching the U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday night, and what they saw was not pretty.