Japan's severe heatwave killed at least 15 people and sent more than 12,000 to hospital in the first two weeks of July, official figures show as the temperature neared 40 degrees C (104 F) in many cities on Sunday.   

Twelve people died of heatstroke in the week ending July 15 after three perished in the preceding week, according to latest data.

At least 10 people have died after floods spurred by Typhoon rains struck central and northern Vietnam, authorities said Saturday.

A vast fire in northern California has destroyed 50 km2 (more than 12,000 acres), left one person dead and is threatening Yosemite National Park, authorities said Tuesday.

In the waters of the Arabian Sea, a vast "dead zone" the size of Scotland is expanding and scientists say climate change may be to blame.

Finland sides with democracy and fighting climate change, its deputy prime minister said on Monday, as presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a historic summit in Helsinki. 

Climate change has helped melt nearly a fifth of Colombia's mountaintop glacier cover in just seven years, the government said Thursday. 

Tropical Storm Chris surged Tuesday into hurricane strength as it churned away from the US East coast and became the second hurricane of the Atlantic season, forecasters said.

French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi announced late Monday an immediate halt in production at a chemical factory in southwest France, in the wake of media reports that toxic waste emissions exceeded the norms.

An environmental pressure group claimed Monday that Chinese factories are illegally using ozone-depleting CFCs, which have recently seen a spike in emissions that has baffled scientists.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) campaign group said 18 factories in 10 Chinese provinces they looked into admitted to using banned chlorofluorocarbons.

Malaysian wildlife officers arrested six Vietnamese suspected poachers and seized a large cache of animal parts, including skins of the critically endangered Malayan tiger, during a raid this week, officials said Friday.