EUROPEAN UNION

'Hottest' September by 'extraordinary' margin

Last month was the world's hottest September on record by an "extraordinary" margin, adding to record-breaking global temperatures during the Northern Hemisphere summer, the European Union's climate monitor said on Thursday. September's average surface air temperatures of 16.38 C "have broken records by an extraordinary amount", Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said. That is the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the European Space Agency's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

BANGLADESH

Nation swamped by record dengue deaths

In the crowded fever ward in Bangladesh's Mugda hospital, every bed is taken as the country struggles in the grip of its deadliest dengue outbreak due to climate change. A record 1,030 people have died nationwide this year, with more than 210,000 cases confirmed by hospitals. The figures dwarf the previous record last year, when 281 died.

AUSTRALIA

Indigenous senator targeted ahead of vote

An indigenous senator in Australia was targeted with threats and racial abuses in a video on social media, just days before the country votes in a referendum on whether to constitutionally recognize its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. Australians will vote on Oct 14 and will be asked if they support a change to the Constitution to include a "Voice to Parliament", an indigenous committee to advise parliament on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. A video published online showed a man in a balaclava claiming to be from a neo-Nazi group, burning the Aboriginal flag, performing a Nazi salute, and threatening Senator Lidia Thorpe.