The world is "losing the race" against climate change, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned Thursday, demanding bolder action from governments to arrest runaway warming.

Temperatures in southern Australian neared 48 degrees on Thursday, shattering previous records as sizzling citizens received free beer to help weather heatwave of historic proportions.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported temperatures of 47.9 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) north of Adelaide, while inside the city temperatures reached 46.2 Celsius, a fraction above a record that had stood since 1939.

China's slowdown and Brexit took center-stage Wednesday at the Davos forum of the world's business elite, but the unlikely star was shaping up to be a Swedish teenager whose demands for climate action are inspiring schoolchildren across the world.

A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Sumba on Tuesday, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage.

Future generations face an environmental "time bomb" as the world's groundwater systems take decades to respond to the present day impact of climate change, scientists warned on Monday. 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Pacific charm offensive went off course on Friday when he was forced to defend Fiji's accusations of inaction over climate change. 

A Japanese volcano erupted on Thursday, spewing ash and smoke six kilometers into the air over a small southern island.

The risks of catastrophic weather and flooding from climate change are exercising business leaders heading into next week's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

In a world where climate change, air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, ozone depletion, and other environmental problems overlap, a fix in one arena can cause trouble in another.

More than 16,000 desalination plants scattered across the globe produce far more toxic sludge than fresh water, according to a first global assessment of the sector's industrial waste, published Monday.