Wildfires sweeping through the US states of North and South Carolina have forced evacuations and prompted a state of emergency.

In North Carolina's Polk County, the hardest-hit area, about 250 households have been evacuated, and at least 20 homes and outbuildings destroyed, according to Kellie Cannon, public information officer of the county.

Firefighters have managed to save most of the structures near the fires. Only one injury has been reported — a firefighter in North Carolina got his leg caught under a tree, officials said.

The fires, fueled by dry conditions, strong winds, and downed trees from Hurricane Helene, continue to spread. The hurricane, which struck North Carolina in late September 2024, left a trail of destruction and claimed hundreds of lives.

US President Donald Trump's recent announcement to levy 25 per cent tariffs on all imported vehicles next month is expected to deal a heavy blow to South Korean carmakers, which largely depend on shipments to the United States, analysts said on Thursday.

Trump signed a proclamation to impose the new tariffs on foreign-made cars, light trucks and key auto parts, set to take effect from next Wednesday.

South Korea exported US$34.7 billion worth of vehicles to the U.S. last year, accounting for nearly half of the country's total car exports in the year at $70.8 billion, reports news agency.

Under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), Korean-made cars have been exempt from tariffs in the U.S.

The government will hold an emergency meeting with local automotive companies on Thursday to discuss the possible impact of the US administration's plan to start imposing auto tariffs next week, the industry ministry said.

The meeting, to be chaired by Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun, will be held later in the day with the attendance of officials from major automobile companies here, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The planned meeting comes shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration will start imposing 25 percent tariffs on all imported cars, light trucks and key parts, such as engines and transmissions, on April 2 and begin collecting them the next day, reports news agency.

The move is expected to deal a major blow to the South Korean car manufacturers and the global automotive industry in general.

Pakistan's ruling coalition party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has joined ongoing demonstrations and rallies across Sindh province in protest against the government's plan to construct six new canals on the Indus River.

Addressing a rally, PPP's Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro stated that sit-in demonstrations will be held in all talukas of the province in the next phase of their protest. Khuhro threatened to block the National Highway if the Centre does not scrap the project.

“The protest movement will continue until the federal government withdraws the plan to build Cholistan and other canals,” Khuhro was quoted as saying by Pakistan's leading newspaper, The Express Tribune.

Amid rising internal conflicts in the coalition and contradicting stances, PPP-Sindh President also criticised the Pakistani government, labelling it as a “dictatorial federal government”.

China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat to the national security of the United States, a US intelligence report revealed on Tuesday.

The report spotlighted that China poses an active and persistent cyber threat to the US government, private sector, and critical infrastructure networks with Beijing's nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems - capable of delivering catastrophic damage - posing a direct threat to the US and threatening its military forces at home and abroad.

The Annual Threat Assessment done by the intelligence authority cites that a major portion of China's military modernisation efforts is focused on developing counter-intervention capabilities tailored against all aspects of US and allied military operations in the Pacific.

Yemen's Houthi group said on Wednesday that it had launched fresh attacks on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea and "military targets" in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

"Our forces launched missile and drone attacks over the past few hours, targeting American warships in the Red Sea, including the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, from which the aggression against our country is launched," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

"The confrontation and engagement continued for several hours," he said, vowing to confront the ongoing US airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in northern Yemen.

There was no comment yet from the US military, news agency reported.

A South Korean firefighting helicopter with one pilot crashed on Wednesday while battling a large wildfire in the southeastern county of Uiseong, killing the pilot, authorities said.

The helicopter went down on a mountain in Uiseong, located about 180 kilometres southeast of Seoul, at 12:54 p.m., according to the Korea Forest Service.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, authorities said, news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a wave of wildfires in the southeastern region has risen to 16, with another 10 injured, officials said on Wednesday, as firefighters struggled to contain the rapidly spreading blazes.

The fires that began in Sancheong County in South Gyeongsang Province last Friday have spread to nearby Uiseong, and were advancing to neighbouring Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Yeongdeok, fueled by strong and dry winds.

A senior military commander of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese security source on Tuesday.

The body, transported by civil defence teams to a hospital in Nabatieh, was identified as a Hezbollah military commander named Hassan Kamal Halawi, the unnamed source said.

However, Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operations Centre said in a statement that the dead person was "a civilian, according to initial reports."

Meanwhile, the Israeli military confirmed that it launched a drone strike last night in Nabatieh and killed Halawi, whom it identified as chief of Hezbollah's anti-tank unit in southern Lebanon.

South Korean Police said on Tuesday that the burned body of a woman in her 60s was found on a roadside in the southeastern county of Cheongsong, where massive wildfires are spreading.

The 65-year-old woman, whose identity was withheld, was found dead by a passerby at around 7 pm on the roadside just off a main road in the area, police said.

She had apparently been evacuating by car following the evacuation order from the local authorities. When she was discovered, she had appeared to have managed to get out of the vehicle, police said.

Police said they believe the victim died after being caught in the wildfire while evacuating, news agency reported.

Japan has raised serious concerns over the recent, and one of the longest, intrusion by the Chinese Coast Guard ships in the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed islets in the East China Sea.

Marking the longest intrusion in the territorial waters of Japan, Chinese Coast Guard ships left on Monday night after sailing for 92 hours and 8 minutes near the disputed Senkaku islands.

The amount of activity by Chinese vessels near the Senkaku Islands is "clearly escalating," Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Monday.

His remarks came as the Chinese Coast Guard ships continued to operate within Japan's territorial seas near the uninhabited islands since the early hours of Friday, reports the leading Japanese news agency.