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Global warming makes French reservoir a winter resort for migrating cranes

The Lac du Der was once just a passing glimpse for hundreds of thousands of cranes flying from Scandinavia in search of sunshine, but with global warming the French reservoir has become an attractive winter retreat.

'I'm out of here': French town waits for flood to recede

Residents of a flooded French town on Thursday waited for the water to drain away from its streets, after a nearby river did not rise out of its bed quite as high as expected.

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Oceans are changing colour and climate change may be to blame

Over the past 20 years huge swathes of the world's oceans have changed colour, displaying a subtle greening towards the tropics that researchers say points to the effect of climate change on life in the world's seas.

Evacuations as US state of Vermont hit by catastrophic floods

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the northeastern US state of Vermont Tuesday as heavy rains triggered flooding from which dozens of residents were rescued by boat.

'Not there yet': COP host UAE vows to cut more emissions

The United Arab Emirates promised Tuesday to do more to help keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees tipping point after falling short in its latest plan to slash emissions.

The Anthropocene heralds disaster. Can humans change course?

Her distant ancestors paddled canoes across the Pacific Ocean to settle what became the island nation of Tuvalu, but now climate change means Grace Malie and her generation may live to see those islands swallowed by the sea.

UN sounds alarm on heat threat to Iraq's fabled marshland

Southern Iraq's fabled marshland is suffering its worst heatwave in the past 40 years, the United Nations warned on Monday, reporting a drastic drop in water levels.

Last week the hottest worldwide on record: UN

The beginning of July was the hottest week on record for the planet, according to early findings Monday from the World Meteorological Organization, after a series of scorching days saw global temperature records tumble.

Rare snowfall dusts Johannesburg, parts of S.Africa

A rare snowfall dusted Johannesburg and other high-lying parts of South Africa on Monday, with weather services warning of potential road closures and dangerously cold temperatures.

How the weight of the world fell on one geologist's shoulders

In 1981, newly minted palaeobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz assumed he was headed for a discreet career retrieving and deciphering fossils from Earth's deep past.

One dead as Japan warns of 'heaviest rain ever' in southwest

One person died in a landslide and hundreds of thousands of people have been urged to evacuate their homes in southwestern Japan as forecasters on Monday warned of the "heaviest rain ever" in the region.

Proof humans reshaped the world? Chickens

When aliens or our distant progeny sift through layers of sediment 500,000 years from now to decode the Earth's past, they will find unusual evidence of the abrupt change that upended life half-a-million years earlier: chicken bones.

Climate change challenges hydropower-dependent Austria

High in the Austrian Alps, hundreds of construction workers toil in a huge underground project aimed at storing hydropower as climate change has reduced the country's water-dependent electricity production.

Wildfires 'off the charts' in Canada as temperatures climb

The number of forest fires continues to rise in Canada, climbing on Friday to more than 670 blazes -- more than 380 of them out of control -- with a long and difficult summer ahead.

World daily temperature records smashed -- here's how we know

World daily temperature records have been smashed this week, according to preliminary data.

World athletics chief Coe blasts 'greenwashing' by politicians

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has criticised politicians for "greenwashing exercises" but said sport can play a key role in tackling climate change during an event at Wimbledon.

UAE climate chair urges oil firms to slash emissions

The Emirati oil executive chairing this year's UN climate summit, Sultan Al Jaber, told private and national oil and gas companies on Thursday they must slash their planet-warming emissions.

Climate change, El Nino drive hottest June on record

The world saw its hottest June on record last month, the EU's climate monitoring service said Thursday, as climate change and the El Nino weather pattern looked likely to drive another scorching northern summer.

Greta Thunberg charged over Swedish climate protest: report

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been charged with disobeying police during a June climate protest in southern Sweden, media reported Wednesday, most likely risking a fine.

Climate protesters disrupt Wimbledon match

Climate activists interrupted a match on one of Wimbledon's show courts on Wednesday, scattering orange confetti and jigsaw pieces.

Hundreds flee homes after flooding in Mongolia capital

Hundreds of people in Mongolia's capital have fled their homes as heavy flooding inundated basement apartments, with authorities placing the city on high alert Wednesday.

We may be underestimating the climate risk to crops: researchers

The risks of harvest failures in multiple global breadbaskets have been underestimated, according to a study Tuesday that researchers said should be a "wake up call" about the threat climate change poses to our food systems.

Dead fish wash up on riverbank in drought-hit Iraq

Thousands of dead fish have washed ashore in southeast Iraq, prompting an official investigation into the wildlife disaster that officials said Monday may be linked to drought conditions.

Vietnam farmers planting in the dark as heatwave looms

It's 3 am and pitch black when rice farmer Tran Thi Lan heads into water-logged fields on the outskirts of Hanoi to begin planting, desperate to finish before the day's brutal heat arrives.

Polluting shipping to face climate reckoning

The hefty carbon footprint of global shipping networks that crisscross our oceans and keep the world's economy afloat will come under scrutiny next week, as countries wrestle over measures to slash planet-heating pollution.

At least 13 die in extreme heat wave in US

At least 13 people have died from the extreme heat wave that has been tormenting the southern United States for two weeks, officials said Friday, with air in other parts of the country polluted by forest fires in Canada.

Smog and extreme heat, an unsafe combo for Texans

Extreme temperatures have combined with habitual smog in Houston for more than two weeks, and Erandi Trevino feels the hazardous combination in her body.

Spain mortality soared during scorching summer of 2022

Spain's record-breaking heat of summer 2022 caused more than 350 deaths from heatstroke and dehydration and was a decisive factor in a 20.5 percent increase in mortality, official figures showed Tuesday.

Southern US swelters in brutal heat wave

A dangerous and prolonged heat wave blanketed large parts of the southern United States on Tuesday, buckling highways and forcing people into air-conditioned shelters as temperatures soared past 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius).

Football pitch of tropical forest lost every 5 seconds

Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops, an analysis of satellite data released Tuesday revealed.

New carbon accounting rules target 'greenwashing'

Common standards unveiled Monday for companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions could curb misleading climate claims in the corporate world, the chair of the body that wrote the norms told AFP.

Montreal has worst air of any major city as wildfires rage: monitor

Forest fires in Canada left Montreal blanketed with smog on Sunday, giving it the worst air quality of any major city in the world, according to a pollution monitor.

German prosecutors admit to tapping climate activists' phones

Prosecutors in Germany have confirmed a press report that investigators have listened in on phone calls of climate activists from the Letzte Generation ("Last Generation") group, sparking widespread outrage Sunday.

Big ideas, small steps at climate finance summit

A global climate summit wrapped up Friday with leaders agreeing that the international financial system was woefully inadequate in an era of global warming, after taking a number of small steps to helping debt-burdened developing nations.

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