World

Two climate activists glued themselves to a 200-year-old masterpiece at London's National Gallery on Monday, the latest in a string of disruptive protests by environmentalist group Just Stop Oil.

From the snowcapped peaks of Tibet to the tropical island of Hainan, China is sweltering under the worst heatwave in decades while rainfall hit records in June. Extreme heat is also battering Japan, and volatile weather is causing trouble for other parts of the world in what scientists say has all the hallmarks of climate change, with even more warming expected this century. The China Meteorological Administration says the northeastern provinces of Shandong, Jilin and Liaoning saw precipitation rise to the highest levels recorded in June. The average temperature across the nation also rose to its highest since 1961. A city in the northern province of Henan recorded 42.1 degrees Celsius, or 107.8 Fahrenheit, in late June. The south meanwhile experienced floods.

Rescuers using drones are resuming the search for an estimated 13 people unaccounted-for following an avalanche in northern Italy that killed at least seven people and is being blamed in large part on rising temperatures that are melting glaciers.  After rain hampered the search Monday, sunny weather on Tuesday allowed helicopters to bring more rescue teams up to the avalanche site on the Marmolada glacier, east of Bolzano in the Italian Alps. A huge chunk of the glacier cleaved off Sunday, sending torrents of ice, rock and debris down the mountainside onto unsuspecting hikers below. At least seven people were killed, and a further 13 remain unaccounted-for, officials said.

The war in Ukraine has abruptly drawn millions of dollars away from longer-running humanitarian crises. Somalia is perhaps the most vulnerable as thousands die of hunger amid the driest drought in decades. Aid funding for Somalia is less than half of last year’s level as donors, overwhelmingly from the West, have sent more than $1.7 billion to respond to the war in Europe. The Norwegian Refugee Council secretary general tells The Associated Press he's “angry and ashamed" watching under-resourced aid workers in Somalia forced to make “horrific” choices about which desperately hungry people to help.

Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia's largest city in a flood emergency that was causing trouble for 50,000 people. Officials said Tuesday emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes. New South Wales state Premier Dominic Perrottet said 50,000 people in and around Sydney were given evacuation orders and warnings to prepare to abandon homes. That's up from 32,000 on Monday. Days of torrential rain have caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months to parts of the city of 5 million people.

If confirmed, Russia’s complete seizure of Luhansk would provide its forces a stronger base from which to press their advance in neighboring Donetsk province and bring them one step closer to achieving one of President Vladimir Putin’s major goals: capturing the entire Donbas.

Danish police say a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping mall has left several people dead and injured. Police said the suspected gunman who is custody is a 22-year-old Danish man who was detained near the Fields shopping mall after the shooting on Sunday. The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to Fields. The mall opened in 2004. A concert by former One Direction band member Harry Styles was scheduled to be held at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT) at the nearby Royal Arena. It was unclear whether the concert would be held.

Russia has claimed control over the last Ukrainian stronghold in an eastern province that is key to achieving a major goal of its grinding war. Ukraine’s General Staff of the military reported that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk in Luhansk province, but the president said the fight for the city was ongoing. If confirmed, Russia’s complete seizure of Luhansk would provide its forces a stronger base from which to press their advance in neighboring Donetsk province and bring them one step closer to achieving one of President Vladimir Putin’s major goals: capturing the entire Donbas.

The Vatican kept mum but the Tesla CEO tweeted a pic of him, Pope Francis and his four kids. The pope often meets privately with the rich and powerful, usually making an appeal for them to do more good.