Firefighters battled to control a series of major fires in the Los Angeles area early Thursday that have killed five people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.

Ferocious winds that drove the flames and led to chaotic evacuations have calmed somewhat and were not expected to be as powerful during the day. That could provide an opportunity for firefighters to make progress reining in blazes that have hopscotched across the sprawling region, including massive ones in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun was elected as the new president of Lebanon Thursday with 99 votes, which ended more than two years of presidential vacuum.

Thirteen MPs voted for “sovereignty and the constitution”, nine cast blank ballots, two voted for the lawyer Chebli Mallat as five ballots were considered spoiled.

Lebanon's lawmakers on Thursday began a session that could see army chief Joseph Aoun elected as president following a vacancy of more than two years, an AFP reporter said.

While 12 previous attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022, there are indications that Thursday's vote may produce a head of state.

A century after it was formally introduced at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, in Paris, Art Deco is enjoying a resurgence in decor, fashion and more. A new generation is appreciating the style's unapologetically glamorous roots and translating it into something new.

A current exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York provides a look at the style that helped define the city in the popular imagination a century ago, in landmarks like the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. "Art Deco City: New York Postcards from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection" also showcases ephemera, clothing and film clips from the era.

Elon Musk's father says his billionaire son has expressed interest in buying English soccer club Liverpool.

The Premier League club is privately owned by Fenway Sports Group, which has not indicated it wants to sell but has accepted external investment in the past.

China's leaders are bracing for shocks to the economy from higher tariffs threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump once he takes office.

To help rev up an economy bogged down by a property crisis and disruptions during the pandemic, the ruling Communist Party is rolling out a slew of measures to get Chinese consumers and businesses to spend more money and counter a slump in the Chinese currency and stock prices.

The world knew Jimmy Carter as a president and humanitarian, but he also was a woodworker, painter and poet, creating a body of artistic work that reflects deeply personal views of the global community — and himself.

His portfolio illuminates his closest relationships, his spartan sensibilities and his place in the evolution of American race relations. And it continues to improve the finances of The Carter Center, his enduring legacy.

The head of Poland's parliament said Wednesday that the country's presidential election will be held on May 18, with a runoff on June 1 if needed.

The election will decide whether the pro-European Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk will gain an ally in the presidential palace at a challenging time for Poland and for Europe.

President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to call off Friday's sentencing in his hush money case in New York.

Trump's lawyers turned to the nation's highest court on Wednesday after New York courts refused to postpone the sentencing by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial and conviction last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

Egypt unveiled several discoveries near the famed city of Luxor on Wednesday, including ancient rock-cut tombs and burial shafts dating back 3,600 years.

They were unearthed at the causeway of Queen Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir al-Bahri on the Nile's West Bank, according to a statement released by Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities & Heritage. It said it worked in tandem with the Supreme Council of Antiquities on the site since September 2022.