Spain wanted to make a splash on the international scene by agreeing to host next month's COP25 climate summit at the last minute after Chile pulled out. 

Two men trying to cross the Arctic Ocean on skis have run into difficulty as unusually thin ice has lengthened their journey and cut into their rations, their team said Saturday.

A third of the species of tropical plants in Africa are potentially threatened with extinction, according to a preliminary estimate published Wednesday by the journal Science Advances.

Switching to renewables could cut the health impacts of air pollution from power generation as much as 80 percent by mid-century, experts said Tuesday.

Lightning strikes killed at least 18 people and injured several more during a deadly night in Pakistan's Thar desert, police said Friday, describing the deaths as "unprecedented".

Another exceptional high tide swamped flood-hit Venice on Friday, prompting the mayor to order St Mark's square closed after Italy declared a state of emergency for the UNESCO city.

Football legend Didier Drogba helped launch a drive Friday to plant a million trees to halt deforestation in Ivory Coast.

Italy was poised to declare a state of emergency for Venice Thursday after an exceptional tide surged through churches, shops and homes, causing millions of euros worth of damage to the UNESCO city.

Wildfires such as those raging across eastern Australia have become more common across the world in recent years. AFP talked to scientists about the ways in which climate change can make them worse.

Fourteen people died and more than two million others spent a night huddled in storm shelters as Cyclone Bulbul smashed into the coasts of India and Bangladesh with fierce gales and torrential rains, officials said Sunday.