Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet will huddle Wednesday to approve a massive relief package for rebuilding German regions destroyed in historic flooding and better protect them in future.

The death toll from Germany's worst floods in living memory rose to 165 on Monday as emergency services continued to comb through decimated towns in search of dozens of people still missing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that the world "must hurry" in the battle against global warming, as she visited a flood-stricken German area after heavy rain many experts have attributed to climate change.

Two endangered Syrian brown bears were headed to a new life in the United States on Sunday after being rescued from cramped conditions in a Lebanese zoo, two charities said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that she was horrified by the "surreal" devastation in the flood-ravaged region of Germany, as the toll in western Europe reached at least 184 people dead with dozens still missing.

The death toll from devastating floods in Europe soared to at least 126 on Friday, most in western Germany where emergency responders were frantically searching for missing people.

Unsuspecting residents were caught completely off guard by the torrent dubbed the "flood of death" by Germany's top-selling daily Bild.

Heavy rains and floods lashing western Europe have killed at least 20 people in Germany and left around 50 missing, as rising waters led several houses to collapse on Thursday.

The EU went into battle Wednesday to secure a path to its pledge of carbon neutrality by 2050, triggering an epic political clash over electric cars and fuel prices that could last for years.

The mammoth plan was unveiled by the European Commission and is intended to transform the bloc's economy from fossil fuel dependency to a world of net-zero emissions.

A French firm aims to turn tons of rotting grain at Beirut's devastated port into compost, the company said Tuesday, nearly a year after Lebanon's worst peacetime disaster ravaged its silos.

Several people reportedly taking selfies near a historical fort in northern India were among nearly 80 killed by lightning strikes during the early stages of the annual monsoon season, officials said Monday.

Deadly lightning strikes are common in the vast Asian nation during the June-September deluge, which bring respite from the summer heat across the northern Indian plains.