With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and Horn of Africa, Kenya's president is hoping the heavens will finally open with the help of a national day of mass prayer on Tuesday.

William Ruto announced the plans for the country's first ever day of prayer on Sunday at a service in the drought-stricken city of Nakuru, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital Nairobi. It follows a joint call by the country's spiritual leaders to dedicate an entire day to prayer to ease drought conditions in the nation.

A cyclone that left a devastating wake of extensive flooding and landslides in New Zealand has claimed at least four lives and police have "grave concerns" for other residents who remain unaccounted for, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Monday and has brought more destruction to this nation of 5 million than any weather event in decades.

The elusive Eurasian lynx is at risk of vanishing completely from France, according to a study Monday that called for urgent measures to boost the population of isolated wild cats.

Landslides triggered by steady rains swept mud, water and rocks into several villages in southern Peru, killing at least 36 people, authorities said.

Wilson Gutierrez, a civil defense official in the Mariano Nicolás Valcárcel municipality in Camana province, told local radio RPP that 36 bodies had been recovered in a remote sector called Miski.

India, France and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday agreed on a trilateral initiative to undertake energy projects with a focus on solar and nuclear sources, fight climate change and protect biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.

The countries will organize trilateral events in the framework of the Indian presidency of the Group of 20 rich and developing nations, and the UAE's hosting of COP28 climate negotiations this year, said a statement by India's External Affairs Ministry.

Brazil plans to sink a decommissioned aircraft carrier that has been towed around the Atlantic for months with a damaged hull, drawing criticism from environmentalists, who say it is packed with toxic materials.

Mexico welcomes investment by all countries in its clean energy projects, its foreign minister said on Thursday, launching a diplomatic charm offensive amid international concerns over controversial power reforms.

Indian Ocean countries wanting better safeguards for local marine life by updating fishing quotas and restricting harmful catch methods are facing resistance from the European Union, conservation groups say.

Officials are gathering in Mombasa, Kenya on Friday for a meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission — a group of 30 countries who regulate and manage the ocean's tuna. India plans to propose to eliminate the use of high-tech devices to scoop vast amounts of marine life and Kenya wants a limit on the devices and more transparency on tuna fisheries.

The heating plant in Munich's southern Sendling neighbourhood has been run for more than a century on gas, often imported from far away.

Mexico was pushed to accelerate its turn toward renewable energy after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year drove a sharp increase in global energy costs, Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said late Thursday.

Ebrard made the comments after taking dozens of foreign diplomats to see a massive new solar energy project near the U.S. border.