KAHULUI, Hawaii, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Maui's wildfires have killed at least 55 people, a toll expected to rise, and unleashed destruction on the resort town of Lahaina that will take many years and billions of dollars to rebuild, Hawaiian officials said on Thursday.

Governor Josh Green said the inferno that reduced much of Lahaina to smoldering ruins was the worst natural disaster in the state's history, making thousands of people homeless and leveling as many as 1,000 buildings.

KYIV, Aug 11 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy broadened his battle against graft on Friday, firing all the heads of Ukraine's regional army recruitment centres as the war with Russia enters a critical stage.

Zelenskiy said a state investigation into centres across Ukraine had exposed abuses by officials ranging from illegal enrichment to transporting draft-eligible men across the border despite a wartime ban on them leaving the country.

ALGIERS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and nine others injured after a truck collided with a bus in the northern Algerian province of Djelfa on Friday, Algeria's Civil Protection Authority said in a statement.

Ambulances and rescue teams rushed to the scene after the accident took place near the city of Ain Oussara, according to the emergency response service.

The injured people have been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, it added, without elaborating on the cause of the accident.

HARARE, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Going to bed and waking up in darkness had become the norm for Zimbabweans as the country endured rolling blackouts due to depressed power generation.

But now, according to Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country is now energy sufficient following the completion of a China-funded expansion of the Hwange Power Station, the country's largest thermal power plant.

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 11 (NNN-SANEWS) — It’s all systems go for the 15th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit, which will be held in Johannesburg later this month.

Taking place on Aug 22-24, government has indicated that it has concluded the BRICS outreach programmes for various sectors and communities.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Authorities were on standby to evacuate more people in southeastern Norway Friday, where huge amounts of water, littered with broken trees, debris and trash, were thundering down the usually serene rivers after days of torrential rain.

The level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continued to grow despite two days of dry but overcast weather, with houses abandoned in flooded areas, floating hay bales wrapped in white plastic, cars coated in mud and camping sites swamped.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Tensions are escalating between Niger’s new military regime and the West African regional bloc that has ordered the deployment of troops to restore Niger’s flailing democracy.

The ECOWAS bloc said on Thursday it had directed a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger after its Sunday deadline to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum expired.

ANKARA, August 11. /TASS/: Turkey may play host to the third round of consultations on resolving the Ukraine crisis following the last meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.

11 August 2023; MEMO: The Lebanese army confiscated a load of ammunition that was in a Hezbollah truck that overturned on Wednesday on a public road in a town near Beirut after an armed clash resulted in the killing of a Hezbollah member and another armed resident of the town, the army said yesterday.

The army has opened an investigation into the incident that occurred in the town of Kahaleh, The ammunition was moved to a military centre.

TEHRAN, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said on Friday the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the United States will take place "simultaneously" with the release of Iran's frozen assets in banks of the Republic of Korea (ROK).

HAVANA, Aug 11 (NNN-ACN) — Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party of the House of Councillors of Japan, called for closer ties of friendship between their countries.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The "growth acceleration" plan launched by Brazil on Friday foresees 1.7 trillion reais ($347.5 billion) in investments that will rely increasingly on public-private partnerships, while driving a new ecological transition plan, the government said.

The program, known as PAC, revisits an initiative that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva first introduced in 2007 during his earlier term in office to raise investments in energy, logistics, and urban and social infrastructure.