Torrential downpours lashed Australia's east Monday, forcing thousands to flee the worst flooding in decades and pushing communities already battling drought, bushfires, and the coronavirus pandemic to "breaking point".

Record rains and widespread flooding prompted evacuations along Australia's east coast Saturday and filled Sydney's main reservoir to overflowing for the first time in 30 years, officials said.

Japan's meteorological agency issued a tsunami advisory on Saturday, after a strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast.

The quake hit at 6:09 pm (0909 GMT) in Pacific waters off Miyagi region with a depth of 60 kilometres (37 miles), the JMA said, issuing an advisory for tsunami waves of around one metre.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck central Mexico on Friday, seismologists said, triggering alarms in the capital where anxious residents poured into the streets.

Record rains and widespread flooding prompted evacuations along Australia's east coast Saturday and filled Sydney's main reservoir to overflowing for the first time in 30 years, officials said.

The United Nations' biodiversity summit, COP15, will take place in October in the Chinese city of Kunming after being delayed a year due to the pandemic, the UN said Friday.

The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters ranging from massive fires to locust invasions is putting food production systems at risk, the UN warned Thursday.

At evening's twilight, the skies over Abidjan's business quarter are darkened by bats squeaking their way between buildings, flying across Ivory Coast's economic hub in the tens of thousands.

French lawmakers are expected to vote Tuesday on whether to enshrine environmental protection in the constitution, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks the upper hand in what could be a key issue in next year's elections.

Russia said Friday it was considering sending prisoners to help clean up the Arctic after a massive diesel spill hit a remote Siberian territory last year.