The German government on Monday approved 60 billion euros ($68 billion) in funding to be used for combating climate change and modernizing the country, a move that the new finance minister described as a "booster" for Europe's biggest economy.

The supplementary budget approved by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Cabinet entails putting the money into a government fund that is being redesigned as a "climate and transformation fund." It will be used to finance projects aimed at fighting climate change and improving Germany's infrastructure.

The Western U.S. is bracing for the brunt of a major winter storm expected to hit Monday, bringing travel headaches, the threat of localized flooding and some relief in an abnormally warm fall.

Light rain and snow fell in Northern California on Sunday, giving residents a taste of what's to come. The multiday storm could drop more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow on the highest peaks and drench other parts of California as it pushes south and east before moving out midweek.

Rescuers were forced to crawl over the dead to get to the living at a Kentucky candle factory walloped by a tornado, part of an unusual cluster that killed dozens in the Midwest and South and flattened whole towns.

By the time churchgoers gathered Sunday morning to pray for the lost, more than 24 hours had elapsed since anyone had been found alive. Instead, crews recovered pieces of peoples' lives — a backpack, a pair of shoes and a cellphone with 27 missed messages were among the items. Still, a definitive death toll remained elusive, though it was expected to be lower than initially feared.

U.S. emergency workers searched Sunday for survivors of ferocious tornadoes that killed dozens of people across several states and left towns in ruins, as the governor of hard-hit Kentucky warned that cadaver dogs were still finding bodies.

Rescuers were desperately searching for survivors early Sunday after dozens of devastating tornadoes tore through six U.S. states, leaving at least 83 people dead, dozens missing and towns in ruin.

Three people died in severe weather in Tennessee, one person died and several were injured in an apparent tornado at an Arkansas nursing home, and emergency crews in southern Illinois were responding to reports of workers trapped inside an Amazon warehouse after its roof collapsed from storm damage.

At least one fatality was also reported in Missouri as severe storms, some believed to be tornadoes, swept across the Midwest and parts of the South late Friday and into Saturday morning.

Three ocean drones were launched from Rhode Island Thursday and will travel along the Gulf Stream, collecting data in tough winter conditions that would be challenging for traditional ships with crews.

Saildrone, headquartered in Alameda, California, makes autonomous surface vehicles powered by the wind and sun to measure climate quality data and do mapping in remote oceans for scientists worldwide. The company launched the drones from Newport, Rhode Island, on a mission to sail the strong ocean currents in the North Atlantic for six months.

Banana peels, chicken bones and leftover veggies won't have a place in California trashcans under the nation's largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program that's set to take effect in January.

The effort is designed to keep landfills in the most populous U.S. state clear of food waste that damages the atmosphere as it decays. When food scraps and other organic materials break down they emit methane, a greenhouse gas more potent and damaging in the short-term than carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

A group of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders is urging luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton to stop using animal fur in its clothing and other products.

In a joint statement, Orthodox Christian priest Stephen Karcher, Hindu activist Rajan Zed, Jewish rabbi ElizaBeth Webb Beyer and Buddhist priest Matthew Fisher said selling items trimmed with fur is inconsistent with the ethics and values of parent company Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The capital of Uganda coughs itself awake on weekdays under a soft blanket of smog. Kampala's hills come into sharper focus as the morning rush of minibuses and motorbikes fades. It is this East African city that one of the world's most well-known climate activists, Vanessa Nakate, calls home.

The 25-year-old's rise in profile has been quick. Not even three years have passed since she set out with relatives in Kampala to stage her first, modest protest over how the world is treating its only planet.