A new phase of the natural El Niño weather pattern could begin in a matter of weeks, the UN has warned, boosting temperatures on a planet already under strain from climate change. The World Meteorological Organisation said this El Niño is likely to strengthen over the rest of 2026, driving more extreme weather around much of the globe. Several forecasts from national weather agencies suggest it could end up as one of the strongest ever recorded - a possible so-called "super" El Niño.

Predicting the exact timing and strength of El Niño can be challenging, and scientists have been watching conditions in a tell-tale region of the central Pacific for clues. El Niño forms when a switch in wind patterns allows warmer waters to spread across the tropical Pacific Ocean. And while an El Niño event had been anticipated, many scientists believe this one could be unusually powerful. Prof Adam Scaife, head of monthly to decadal prediction at the UK Met Office, said it may be a record event.

A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar's central government.

A rescue worker who rushed to the site of the blast told The Associated Press that 46 bodies, including six children, had been recovered by Sunday evening and taken for cremation. The rescuer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said 74 injured people had been transported to the township hospital and rescue operations were continuing.

Cambodia's government has filed notice under a UN agreement on maritime law for compulsory conciliation of a sea border dispute with neighbouring Thailand, Prime Minister Hun Manet said Tuesday. At issue is territory claimed by both that is believed to contain large, exploitable amounts of natural gas and other hydrocarbons. The decision to take the matter to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, comes after Thailand last month terminated a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding with Cambodia meant to resolve overlapping maritime claims.

Thailand unilaterally revoked the agreement in May after relations between the countries worsened last year after major armed clashes over their land border. Last year's fighting with Cambodia spurred nationalistic fervor, putting political pressure on Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to abrogate the pact. In a live broadcast on TVK state television, Hun Manet said that his government had delivered formal notice to Thailand and to the U.N. secretary-general to begin compulsory conciliation proceedings under UNCLOS rules.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, has said it plans to raise up to $80bn (£59bn) in equity to fund its vast artificial intelligence infrastructure investments, raising further questions over the economics of the AI boom. The move, the largest equity fundraising ever according to analysts, includes a $10bn share sale to the US investment group Berkshire Hathaway, which was led until last year by Warren Buffett. Alphabet shares fell as much as 4.4% after Wall Street opened. The stock was among the biggest fallers on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index in New York, which dipped almost 0.5%.

Alphabet, which is behind the Gemini system that has been increasing its share of the AI chatbot market, said it would use the money to expand its "world-class AI compute infrastructure to meet its unprecedented customer demand". In its filing, Alphabet explained that half of the $80bn would be used to "scale AI infrastructure and global compute."