Thousands of people were evacuated, buildings boarded up and classes canceled on Mexico's Pacific coast as Hurricane Willa threatened to batter tourist resorts with high winds and heavy rains on Tuesday.

A U.S. judge on Monday affirmed a verdict against Bayer AG unit Monsanto that found its glyphosate-based weed-killers responsible for a man’s terminal cancer, sending the German company's shares down 8 percent.

India's Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the use of "safe and green" firecrackers during Diwali festivities next month, but it was unclear how the rules will be enforced at a time when millions of fireworks add to the country's toxic pollution.

Hurricane Willa, an extremely dangerous a Category 4 storm, weakened slightly as it veered toward popular tourist resorts on Mexico's Pacific coast on Monday, prompting government warnings for people to leave high-risk areas and take cover.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck Taiwan, the United States Geological Survey said on Tuesday, and witnesses said it set buildings shaking in the capital Taipei.

(This 19 October story has been refilled to correct quote in paragraph 5)

A lioness has killed the father of her three offspring, suffocating her mate by locking her jaws onto his neck at the Indianapolis Zoo in an attack not fully understood by zoo staff.

Authorities in eastern China's Shandong province ordered 41 coal mines to halt production for security checks, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Monday, after an accident at a mine in the province killed three people.

Two of six critically endangered black rhinos relocated to Chad in May have died, Zakouma National Park's management said, undermining efforts to restore their population in Chad after a nearly 50-year absence.

Hurricane Willa gained dangerous strength early on Monday as it churned toward Mexico's Pacific coast, an area frequented by tourists, with torrential rain and major flooding in the offing, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.