Soaring temperatures worldwide made July the Earth's hottest month in modern times, setting a new high mark for global heat in 137 years of record-keeping, U.S. government scientists said Wednesday.

The report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came just two days after the U.S. space agency NASA released its climate data, which also found July was a record-breaking month.

A giant panda on loan from China to Austria has given birth to two naturally conceived twins, an exceptionally rare event for the endangered species, Vienna's famous Schoenbrunn Zoo said Tuesday.

More rain Saturday was expected to swamp already soggy ground across Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast where at least two people died and dozens had to be rescued from waist-high water surrounding their homes.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency as rescue workers in the southeastern part of the state braced for more precipitation.

Millions of Americans will spend the weekend hot under the collar as soaring East Coast temperatures and stifling humidity slapped excessive weather warnings on New York and Philadelphia.

The combination of heat and humidity would make it feel as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) in the two cities. 

For farmer Mohlakoane Molise, the view of the enormous Katse dam from his smallholding high in the mountains of Lesotho taunts him daily.

His country is suffering through its worst drought in 35 years, but the vast and vital water reserves remain out of reach, destined instead for export to neighboring South Africa.

India's top court Friday lifted a ban on the registration of new high-end diesel vehicles in New Delhi after carmakers said they had been left stranded with thousands of unsold SUVs.

Farming and hunting pose a more immediate threat to wildlife than climate change, researchers said Wednesday, in a controversial plea to redirect resources earmarked for species conservation.

In an analysis of nearly 9,000 "threatened" or "near-threatened" species, scientists found that three-quarters are being over-exploited for trade, leisure or food.

Inside a huge walk-in freezer in suburban Denver, a college student in a thick parka shoots a jolt of electricity through a yard-long column of ice extracted from Antarctica.

Just outside the freezer, in a much warmer room, a computer wired to the ice registers a sudden spike in a jagged red line crawling across the screen.

Fish are becoming more scarce in Africa's oldest and deepest lake, Lake Tanganyika, because of climate warming, not just overfishing, U.S. researchers said this week.

Coral reefs in the Maldives are under severe stress after suffering mass bleaching this year as sea temperatures soared, a top conservationist body warned Monday.