Chamila Nilanthi is tired of all the waiting. The 47-year-old mother of two spent three days lining up to get kerosene in the Sri Lankan town of Gampaha, northeast of the capital Colombo. Two weeks earlier, she spent three days in a queue for cooking gas -- but came home with none.

"I am totally fed up, exhausted,'' she said. "I don't know how long we have to do this.''

A total of 20 men are facing a verdict Wednesday over the 2015 Paris attacks by Islamic State extremists on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium.

Most attention has focused on the lone surviving member of the attack team, Salah Abdeslam. Others are accused of preparing the attacks, which killed 130 people, or hiding Abdeslam from police. Some are presumed dead in Syria and were tried in absentia. Some acknowledged helping the assailants but said they were unaware of the overall attack plot.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and received Communion during a papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, witnesses said, despite her position in support of abortion rights.

Pelosi attended the morning Mass marking the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, during which Francis bestowed the woolen pallium stole on newly consecrated archbishops. She was seated in a VIP diplomatic section of the basilica and received Communion along with the rest of the congregants, according to two people who witnessed the moment.

Australia's new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.

A bill will be introduced to commit Australia to reducing its emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 when Parliament sits on July 26, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen told the National Press Club.

New York's recreational marijuana market is beginning to sprout, literally, with thin-leafed plants stretching toward the sun in farms around the state.

In a novel move, New York gave 203 hemp growers first shot at cultivating marijuana destined for legal sales, which could start by the end of the year. Big indoor growers are expected to join later.

The worst drought Italy has faced in 70 years is thirsting paddy fields in the river Po valley and jeopardizing the harvest of the premium rice used for risotto.

Italy's largest river is turning into a long stretch of sand due to the lack of rain, leaving the Lomellina rice flats — nestled between the river Po and the Alps — without the necessary water to flood the paddies.

European Union countries reached a deal following hard-fought talks that dragged into early Wednesday to back stricter climate rules that would eliminate carbon emissions from new cars by 2035.

The 27 EU members found agreement on draft legislation aimed at slashing EU greenhouse gases by at least 55% in 2030 compared with 1990 rather than by a previously agreed 40%.

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers ended Wednesday in Qatar after failing to make significant progress amid a growing crisis over the Islamic Republic's atomic program, diplomats said.

The Doha talks broke up after two days without any sign of a breakthrough, months after talks in Vienna among all of the deal's parties went on "pause." In the time since, Iran shut off surveillance cameras of international inspectors and now has enough high-enriched uranium to potentially fashion into at least one nuclear bomb if it chose.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will significantly increase its military presence in Europe for the long haul, including by establishing its first permanent presence in Poland, to bolster regional security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the opening of the alliance's annual leaders' summit in Madrid, Biden said "NATO is strong and united" and that steps to be taken during the gathering will "further augment our collective strength."

NATO declared Russia the "most significant and direct threat" to its members' peace and security, as the military alliance met Wednesday to confront what NATO's chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II.

It also promised to "step up political and practical support" to Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion.