Severe drought, insect infestation and poor forest management have combined in recent years to kill millions of trees in the American West -- 130 million in California alone -- and provide fuel for huge wildfires.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which compiles comprehensive reviews of climate science, meets this week to vet and validate a report on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

Two people have been killed in a powerful typhoon that battered Japan over the weekend, officials said Monday, as the storm's aftermath brought travel chaos to Tokyo's morning commute.

By Monday morning, Typhoon Trami had cleared Japan, but its powerful winds and heavy rainfall caused damage that blocked roads and train lines.

The world's nations will gather at a U.N. conference in South Korea on Monday to review and approve a 20-page bombshell -- distilled from more than 6,000 scientific studies -- laying out narrowing options for staving off climate catastrophe.

Nearly 400 people were killed when a powerful quake sent a tsunami barrelling into the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, officials said Saturday, as hospitals struggled to cope with hundreds of injured and rescuers scrambled to reach the stricken region.

A powerful earthquake hit central Indonesia on Friday, causing a tsunami that slammed into a city on Sulawesi island with officials saying the tremor had leveled "many" buildings.

A large, very strong typhoon churned towards Japan Friday, with the weather agency warning the storm would rip through the nation over the weekend, bringing violent winds and torrential rain.

World leaders have gathered in New York to try to breathe new life into the Paris global climate accord, amid backsliding from several nations over commitments made in the historic deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that trade agreements will be contingent on membership in the Paris climate pact, in a clear bid to pressure the United States.

An ardent critic of an Australian rare earths plant in Malaysia said Tuesday she will head a government review into the controversial site after her political alliance took power at landmark elections.