A powerful tropical storm lashed Japan on Thursday, bringing strong winds and torrential rain that claimed at least one life, prompted warnings of landslides and flooding, and sparked evacuation advisories and travel chaos at a peak holiday period.

More than 500 firefighters have been deployed to battle a blaze that has already destroyed 900 hectares of pine forest in southern France, the fire service said on Thursday.

Firefighters on the Greek island of Evia were still battling Wednesday to contain a fire that has caused massive damage to a pristine mountain wildlife habitat after threatening four communities.

Firefighters hoped to bring under control on Monday a fire raging on the Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria which sparked the evacuation of hundreds of people, local officials said.

Indian authorities have moved around a million people into emergency camps in recent days as the death toll from monsoon floods jumped Monday to at least 184.

Myanmar troops and emergency responders scrambled to provide aid in flood-hit parts of the country Sunday after rising waters forced residents to flee by boat and a landslide killed at least 52 people.

China issued a red alert Friday for incoming Super Typhoon Lekima, expected to batter eastern Zhejiang province early Saturday morning with high winds and torrential rainfall.

Humanity faces increasingly painful trade-offs between food security and rising temperatures within decades unless emissions are curbed and unsustainable farming and deforestation halted, a landmark climate assessment said Thursday.

Mexico's prickly pear cactus, which is emblazoned on the country's flag, could soon play a new and innovative role in the production of biodegradable plastics.

Svetlana Tuflyakova is in a hurry as she pushes her small son in his pram, keen to get back inside her house and away from the permeating smoke of Siberian wildfires: "It feels like it fills your whole body," she says.