A futuristic Saudi megacity is to feature two skyscrapers extending across a swathe of desert and mountain terrain, according to the latest disclosures on the project by the kingdom's de facto ruler.

France is on track to experience its driest July on record, the national weather service said Wednesday, with drought-like conditions leading to increasingly severe water restrictions around the country.

In 1998, as nations around the world agreed to cut carbon emissions through the Kyoto Protocol, America's fossil fuel companies plotted their response, including an aggressive strategy to inject doubt into the public debate.

"Victory," according to the American Petroleum Institute's memo, "will be achieved when average citizens 'understand' (recognize) uncertainties in climate science... Unless 'climate change' becomes a non-issue... there may be no moment when we can declare victory."

Firefighters were battling California's largest wildfire of the summer on Monday, a blaze near famed Yosemite National Park that has forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said.

People in England were urged Tuesday to use water "wisely" to protect supplies and the environment, after the Met Office said the previous eight months had been among the driest on record.

Firefighters from several countries have joined forces to battle a fire in a national park in northern Czech Republic that has spread to neighboring Germany, officials said Tuesday.

The fire in the Bohemian Switzerland park broke out on Sunday and was mostly contained before windy weather caused it to spread again on Monday afternoon and overnight. Firefighters said some 30 hectares have been affected in the park and more across the border in the German state of Saxony.

A weather emergency was declared in Karachi Monday as heavier-than-usual monsoon rains continue to lash Pakistan's biggest city, flooding homes and making streets impassable.

Firefighters significantly slowed the spread of a smoky wildfire churning through forest near Yosemite National Park that has thousands of residents of remote mountain communities still under evacuation orders on Monday.

Crews "made good headway" against the Oak Fire, according to a Sunday night incident report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. "Fire activity was not as extreme as it has been in previous days."

Two forest fires that broke out in northwest France last week were caused by arson, prosecutors said Monday, taking to three the total of deliberately started blazes in recent weeks. 

The two fires in normally wet and blustery northwest Brittany came during a fierce heatwave that has scorched Europe over the last fortnight.

Greek firefighters on Monday battled a raging fire threatening the Dadia National Park, known for its black vulture colony, as the country scorched under a blistering heatwave.

The Mediterranean country is reeling under a heatwave that began on Saturday and is expected to last 10 days. Temperatures were set to rise to 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions and the country is battling three major wildfires.