Germany's powerful BDI industry federation Thursday urged Berlin to trim its ambitions for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, saying the goal of close to zero by 2050 is unrealistic.

Germany's Bavaria state said Wednesday it will pass into law a popular "save the bees" petition that promises drastic changes in farming practices.

More than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced "acute hunger" last year because of wars and climate disasters, with Africa the worst-hit region, the U.N. said Tuesday.

Germany said Tuesday it had reduced emissions of greenhouse gases signficantly for the first time in five years in 2018, although it has already abandoned self-imposed targets for the end of this decade.

Eleven climate change protesters stripped off in Britain's House of Commons on Monday during another lengthy debate about Brexit, chastising MPs for ignoring the urgent environmental needs of the planet.

"I'm tired of the time and resources our government wastes rearranging the deckchairs on the Brexitanic," Iggy Fox, a 24-year-old wildlife biologist and one of the protesters, said in a statement.

Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in a western province as rivers burst their banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication.

Australia continued a string of "hottest ever" months in March, the government said Monday, as global warming emerges as the hot button issue in national elections just weeks away.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the country had experienced the warmest March on record, with mean maximum and minimum temperatures above average for nearly all of the vast continent nation.

A storm lashing Lebanon left one person wounded and caused material damage in some areas on Sunday.

In the Keserwan town of Adma, a woman was injured after rainwaters invaded three apartments.

The Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were plunged into darkness for an hour Saturday to raise awareness about climate change and its impact on the planet's vanishing biodiversity.

Teaching cows to use the toilet is not the easiest task, but a Dutch inventor is banking on a new bovine urinal to help cut emissions that cause environmental damage.

Tests have started on a farm in the Netherlands on the device which collects some of the 15 to 20 liters of urine that the average cow produces a day.