From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Smith reporting.

North Korea's foreign minister said President Trump "lit a fuse of war" on the Korean peninsula with his threat that the U.S. would "totally destroy" Pyongyang if attacked.

Trump made those remarks in an address to the U.N. General Assembly last month.

Now the North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho has spoken to Russia's Tass news agency. He said, "We can say that Trump has lit a fuse of war against us by his militaristic and delusional statement at the U.N. Ri said the U.S. "must act reasonably and stop provoking" North Korea.

Now the South Korean Foreign Ministry is saying that senior diplomats of the United States, Japan and South Korea are to meet on October 18 in Seoul to discuss North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

President Trump on Wednesday rejected his "pure fiction," an NBC news report that a few months ago, he suggested there should be a ten-fold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Trump's comments on the size of the arsenal, which is now at about 4,000 weapons, came at a Pentagon meeting with top military and national security officials in July. NBC stated that citing the recollections of three people who were there. Trump was responding to a briefing that charted the steady reduction in the size of the country's stockpile since the 1960s and indicated he wanted a bigger arsenal, the network said.

Officials at the meeting were reported to have voiced surprise at the president's suggestion and explained the legal and practical restraints on a nuclear buildup.

This is VOA news.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's triple suicide bomb attack on the main police headquarters in Damascus, Syria. At least two people were killed, several others injured.

ISIS issued a statement on the Telegram messaging app, saying three fighters with explosive belts carried out the attack.

Turkey is calling for normalization with the United States following rising diplomatic tensions between the NATO allies. The dispute has already resulted in unprecedented restrictions on the issuance of visas in both countries. Correspondent Dorian Jones has more for us now from Istanbul.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, speaking at the meeting of provincial governors, ???upheld to reach out to Washington in a bid to defuse rising diplomatic tensions.

"Our wish is that relations between the two allies get back to normal soon. We, as Turkey, will not give up on common sense at a time when regional and global tensions have been rising," Yildirim said.

Relations have been deeply strained following the arrest of a local U.S. consulate employee on terrorism and espionage charges in relation to a failed coup last year against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Those tensions have resulted in both sides severely restricting the issuance of visas.

Dorian jones, VOA news, Istanbul.

India's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a man having sex with his wife who is under the age of 18 is raping her.

The landmark ruling changed an exception to an earlier law which did not criminalize sex with minors if the two were married. The court declared Wednesday that 18 is the age of consent for "all purposes."

The court did not rule on marital rape, which is not illegal in India.

Though child marriage is illegal in India, the non-governmental organization, Independent Thought, petitioned the top court to rule on the issue of sex with minor brides. The organization said India must face the reality that it is widespread throughout the country.

Thursday's weather forecast for northern California calls for high winds and low humidity - conditions that make it close to impossible to contain the 22 major wildfires burning north of San Francisco.

The fires are raging across nearly 69,000 hectares of several counties that are world famous for vineyards and wineries.

The flames have killed 21 people since Sunday. More than 500 people are missing.

There is more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Jonathan Smith reporting from the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.