Energy efficiency accelerated last year despite low oil prices, according to a report from the International Energy Agency published Monday, driven in large part by gains in China.

Emergency workers sealed off a portion of New Delhi's international airport Sunday after officials suspected a consignment containing radioactive material had leaked, a police officer said. 

At first glance there's nothing out of the ordinary about the regional airport in George, a town of just 150,000 residents on South Africa's south coast.

Envoys from nearly 200 nations meet in Kigali next week to discuss ridding the world of HFCs, gases introduced to save the ozone layer only to unwittingly assail Earth's climate.

Observers are hopeful that after years of talks, countries are poised to commit to phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, rolled out in the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerators, aerosols, air conditioners and foam insulation.

Humanitarian agencies are warning of a "second disaster" in flood-hit North Korea with tens of thousands -- many of them children -- still homeless as the region's bitter winter approaches.

The historic Paris climate pact dashed across the ratification finish line Wednesday to diplomatic cheers.

"A turning point for the planet," said US President Barack Obama.

The European Parliament Tuesday overwhelmingly backed the ratification of the Paris climate deal, in a vote attended by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon that paves the way for the landmark pact to come into force globally.

The planet's three most dangerous greenhouse gases are rising, and fossil fuels must be taxed to protect children from the costly turmoil of rising seas and extreme storms, world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen warned Tuesday.

Vulnerable Haiti braced for flash floods and violent winds from the extremely dangerous Hurricane Matthew as the powerful storm kept on a path early Monday aiming at the hemisphere's poorest country.

The eye of the approaching Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) early Monday, was expected to pass to the east of Jamaica and then cross over or be very close to the southwestern tip of Haiti late Monday or early Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was predicted to hit the lightly populated eastern tip of Cuba on Tuesday afternoon.

India, the world's third biggest carbon emitter, ratified the Paris agreement on climate change on Sunday on the birthday of the country's famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.