Six young adults and children argued that governments across Europe aren't doing enough to protect people from climate change at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday in the latest and largest instance of activists taking governments to court to force climate action.

Legal teams for the 32 nations — which includes the 27 EU member countries, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey — questioned the admissibility of the case as well as the claim that the plaintiffs are victims of climate change harm.

A second powerful storm in less than a month hammered parts of central Greece Thursday, sweeping away roads, smashing bridges and flooding thousands of homes.

The storm — called Elias — caused extensive flooding in the central city of Volos and left hundreds stranded in nearby mountain villages. The fire service carried out multiple rescues and evacuations, authorities said. Rescuers were also searching a mountainous area for two people after a private helicopter flying in the bad weather went missing.

Wildfires fueled by climate change have ravaged communities from Maui to the Mediterranean this summer, killing many people, exhausting firefighters and fueling demand for new solutions. Enter artificial intelligence.

Firefighters and startups are using AI-enabled cameras to scan the horizon for signs of smoke. A German company is building a constellation of satellites to detect fires from space. And Microsoft is using AI models to predict where the next blaze could be sparked.

From just outside the burn zone in Lahaina, Jes Claydon can see the ruins of the rental home where she lived for 13 years and raised three children. Little remains recognizable beyond the jars of sea glass that stood outside the front door.

On Monday, officials are expected to begin lifting restrictions on entry to the area, and Claydon hopes to collect those jars and any other mementos she might find.

Kathleen Maxwell has lived in Phoenix for more than 20 years, but this summer was the first time she felt fear, as daily high temperatures soared to 110 degrees or hotter and kept it up for a record-shattering 31 consecutive days.

"It's always been really hot here, but nothing like this past summer," said Maxwell, 50, who last week opened her windows for the first time since March and walked her dog outdoors for the first time since May. "I was seriously scared. Like, what if this doesn't end and this is how it's going to be?"

It was supposed to be a good-news story out of the damaged Amazon rainforest: a project that replanted hundreds of thousands of trees in an illegally deforested nature reserve in Brazil.

Then it went up in flames, allegedly torched by land-grabbers trying to reclaim the territory for cattle pasture.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that he's delaying by five years a ban on new gas and diesel cars that had been due to take effect in 2030, watering down climate goals that he said imposed "unacceptable costs" on ordinary people.

The move angered green groups, opposition politicians and large chunks of U.K. industry, but was welcomed by some in the governing Conservative Party who chafe at the expense of ending the country's reliance on fossil fuels.

A top official helping to oversee upcoming international climate negotiations hopes to prove critics wrong — and surprise them with a "course correction" for an ever-warming world.

But don't expect that big a turn.

Firefighters on Thursday were battling flames in Brazil's northeastern Bahia state, fanned by strong winds and abnormally high temperatures for the season, authorities said.

While it is still technically winter in Brazil, with spring due to start in a couple days, a heat wave prompting record temperatures has swept across much of the country since the beginning of the week.

Two tornadoes within hours killed 10 people and seriously injured four others in eastern China, state media said Wednesday.

The first tornado hit parts of Suqian city in Jiangsu province on Tuesday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said. It destroyed 137 homes and damaged crop land and pig farms. Five people died and four were injured.