France's stay-at-home orders to combat the coronavirus outbreak have produced a 20 to 30 percent decline in overall air pollution levels in Paris, according to a report from the region's air quality monitoring agency.

Early one morning in Cairo, volunteers paddle their kayaks across the Nile, fishing out garbage from the mighty waterway that gave birth to Egyptian civilization but now faces multiple threats.

A Buddhist monk scrawls a prayer on an orange face mask beseeching "an end to the suffering" caused by the deadly coronavirus -- a finishing touch to the facial covering weaved out of recycled plastic at one Thai temple.

Gutted factories, rusting pickaxes and crumbling homes that will soon be abandoned dot the scarred hills in Mentougou -- home to Beijing's last coal mine slated to close this year as the city battles choking smog. 

The European Commission insisted Tuesday it would continue work on its green growth initiative despite at least one leader urging them to drop it while the bloc battles coronavirus.

The "European Green Deal" is the flagship climate and economic policy of commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's mandate, but it has already run into fire from some coal-hungry member states.

Air pollution from petrol and diesel vehicles is likely to increase mortality from the novel coronavirus in cities, public health experts told AFP Monday.

Oman will ban single-use plastic bags starting next year as part of efforts to reduce pollution and protect the environment, Muscat announced on Sunday. 

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded urgent action against global warming following the publication of a report Tuesday on planetary warming last year.

"Global heating is accelerating," Guterres told reporters, commenting on the report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a U.N. institution.

Australian scientists are developing the country's first satellite designed to predict where bushfires are likely to start, following months of devastating fires.

Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, shredding at least 40 buildings and killing at least 19 people. One of the twisters caused severe damage across downtown Nashville, destroying the stained glass in a historic church and leaving hundreds of people homeless.

Daybreak revealed a landscape littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees, leaving city streets in gridlock. Schools, courts, transit lines, an airport and the state Capitol were closed, and some damaged polling stations had to be moved only hours before Super Tuesday voting began.