Proponents of natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal, say it offers a bridge fuel to sustain the economy and limit climate change as renewable energy comes online. Exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia could also give the U.S. geopolitical leverage against Russia and Middle Eastern countries.

Yet methane, the largest component of natural gas, is a notoriously potent heat-trapper, which could present a conundrum for Joe Biden and his climate plan. One the one hand, the Democratic presidential candidate has proposed rejoining the Paris Agreement and tightly regulating greenhouse gas emissions. On the other, Mr. Biden supports fracking, and his team of energy advisers includes fossil fuel executives.

The debate over America’s energy future is playing out in Oregon’s southwest corner, ...

It’s been six months since the coronavirus turned Broadway stages dark, shuttering all at once an industry that generates $2 billion a year in ticket sales – a figure that outstrips the combined total of every professional sports team in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.

“And if we really do open next March – and that’s when we’re hoping we do open – New York City alone will have already lost the economic impact of almost $15 billion,” says Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League. The trade association represents 41 Broadway theaters and a nationwide network of regional venues.

But as Broadway performers and others flee New York as traditional backup jobs like bartending and restaurant service dry up, many have headed back to their hometowns.

A...

When long-awaited intra-Afghan peace talks began Sept. 12 in Qatar, the government called for an immediate cease-fire. “It would be a miscalculation to think that causing more casualties would make people more hopeful about peace,” warned Abdullah Abdullah.

The Taliban disagreed. “It does not make sense to end 20 years of war in one hour,” a spokesman said.

On Thursday, the government said at least 27 security personnel and 36 Taliban fighters had been killed in conflict across five provinces in the previous 24 hours. One result is that a substantial trust deficit has grown even deeper; any new power-sharing arrangement could take months or even years to negotiate.

Analysts say the highest risk in the negotiations is to the U.S...

Bolivia has been through the wringer over the past year, from contested elections and the flight of its ex-president to the arrival of COVID-19 and the challenges of online learning. But since early August, Bolivian parents are facing a new dilemma: no school, at all. Full stop.

Only about 25% of the country’s households have broadband internet, and continuing digital classes was unrealistic, the government argued. The rest of the school year, which typically ends in November, was canceled, though public school teachers still receive their salary, and many continue trying to reach out to students. There are targeted efforts to reach children in secluded Indigenous communities, and nonprofit groups are attempting to bridge the education gap with lessons, too...

I reported from Afghanistan for three years starting in 2011, when U.S. troop levels had peaked at 100,000. Since 2018, I’ve covered wildfires in the West, where each summer the ranks of firefighters swell as volunteers from other states and countries rush to aid their brothers and sisters on the fiery front lines. Throwing more bodies at the adversary has yielded as little progress here as there.

The West’s forever war has wrought a summer of catastrophe. Thick layers of smoke and ash have coated the region’s skies for weeks as tens of thousands of firefighters battle hundreds of wildfires from California’s border with Mexico to Washington’s border with Canada. The infernos have scorched more than 5 million acres and killed at least 36 people.

The fallout illustrates the urgen...