Coal should play no part in any country's post-coronavirus stimulus plan and economic recovery should align with global climate goals, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a lecture to Chinese students.
Temperatures soared on Monday in Australia's normally icy cool state of Tasmania, the country's closest point to the South Pole, reaching more than double the summer average with hot air blowing in from a scorching mainland.
South Africa has imposed emergency measures, including rationing, to save dwindling water supplies after an abnormally hot, dry summer coupled with below average rainfall and a spike in usage pushes the country towards a crippling shortage.
Strong winds on Sunday are expected to fan forest fires that have been burning for a week through New Zealand's South Island, forcing thousands of people from their homes, with more residents expected to flee, officials said.
Australians have been warned to avoid exerting themselves outdoors and to drink lots of water as record temperatures in parts of the country look set to linger, and even increase, over coming days.
Cherry blossoms across Japan have bloomed six months early after two powerful typhoons pummeled the country in September, stripping leaves, bringing a warm snap and turning the trees unseasonably pink.
The southern Indian state of Kerala is battling an outbreak of a bacterial disease that authorities suspect has killed dozens of people since mid-August after the worst flooding in a century.
