In Australia, bushfires tear through a million hectares along the New South Wales mid-north coast and hit the outskirts of Sydney, officials have warned the worst may be still to come. Dozens of fires are burning from Nowra, south of Sydney, all the way to the Queensland border - after yesterday's deadly combination of scorching temperatures, strong winds and low humidity fuelled the flames. At 2am Wednesday there were 11 fires under emergency status but by 6am this had been reduced to two - one in Clarence Valley west of Coffs Harbour and one at Hillville near Forster. The 'catastrophic' conditions are expected to calm on Wednesday but NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said residents are not out of the woods yet. 🔥

St. Louis Police Department investigate racists tweets made by cop who called Rep. Maxine Waters a 'sheboon' and was disciplined for wearing name tag of officer who killed Michael Brown, to Ferguson protests. Tweets attributed to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Bartney Coats also included several photos of him at the 2014 Ferguson protests sporting embattled officer's Darren Wilson's name tag. Wilson was the officer who fatally gunned down 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014, sparking fierce protest across the country. The white police officer was not charged for the shooting. In the pictures, Coats can be seen wearing Wilson's name tag as he stands in front of the St. Louis City Hall building. 👮🏻‍♂️ #facepalm

A domestic dispute erupted into violence on Valentine’s Day this year, leaving three dead and a sheriff’s deputy injured after a high-speed chase unfolded and ended in a fatal road-side shootout. Nearly nine months on, police dash camera footage released from the Hubbard County Sheriff’s office reveals much of what happened on the fateful evening of February 14, when 34-year-old Bryce Bellomo shot and killed his sisters-in-law outside of a daycare in Nevis. Bellomo - who was well known among the small Minnesota as a volunteer firefighter, award-winning taxidermist and a leader of a Boy Scout troop – then led officers on a dangerous 20 minute high-speed chase down icy winding roads before taking his own life. #pursuit #shooting

Last night in hong kong ... 🔥 #HK

Multiple people were injured when about 50 vehicles were involved in the huge pileup on Interstate 80 just outside Youngstown in Ohio on Tuesday morning. The driver of a semitrailer died when he crashed into emergency vehicles on Interstate 70 in Clark County and another driver was killed in a crash on the Ohio Turnpike in Richfield. The quick-moving storm system is affecting about 70 per cent of the U.S., which will experience freezing temperatures this week. Forecasters said more than 240 million people are under winter warnings, watches and advisories. Much of the snow that was supposed to fall in the Midwest has come down and now it's time for the record-breaking cold. The mid-autumn taste of winter brought record single-digit temperatures to Chicago and environs; set snowfall records in Buffalo and Detroit; dusted cars with snow in Memphis, Tennessee; and froze lakes in Minnesota weeks earlier than usual. ☃️❄️