Earth's average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday (July 7), the third such milestone in a week that was already rated as the hottest on record. The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17.23 degrees Celsius), surpassing the 62.9-degree mark (17.18-degree mark) set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world's condition.

That average includes places that are sweltering under dangerous heat - like Jingxing, China, which checked in almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) - and the merely unusually warm, like Antarctica, where temperatures across much of the continent were as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) above normal this week. The data has been widely regarded as another troubling sign of climate change around the globe. Some climate scientists said this week they weren't surprised to see the unofficial records.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appealed to China's No. 2 leader not to let frustration over U.S. curbs on access to processor chips and other technology disrupt economic cooperation during a visit Friday aimed at improving strained relations. Meeting with Premier Li Qiang, Yellen said Washington and Beijing have a duty to cooperate on issues that affect the world. She appealed for "regular channels of communication" at a time when relations are at their lowest in decades due to disputes over technology, security and other irritants.

Yellen is one of several senior U.S. officials due to visit Beijing to encourage Chinese leaders to revive interactions between governments of the two largest economies. Treasury officials said earlier she wouldn't meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and no breakthroughs were expected. Yellen defended "targeted actions," a reference to curbs on Chinese access to advanced processor chips and other technology, saying they are needed to protect national security.

The United States and its Western allies clashed with Russia and Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over Tehran's advancing uranium enrichment and its reported supply of combat drones to Moscow being used to attack Ukraine. The sharp exchanges came at the council's semi-annual meeting on implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major countries known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump left in 2018.

At the start of the meeting, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Britain, which hold the council presidency, of seeking to hold "an openly politicised show" by inviting Ukraine to take part in the meeting when it is not part of the JCPOA. He demanded a procedural vote on its participation. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood countered, accusing both Iran and Russia of participating in the transfer of drones used in Ukraine.

A Hamas militant opened fire near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing an Israeli soldier, a day after Israeli forces withdrew from the largest military operation in the West Bank in two decades. The Palestinian attacker was shot and killed by Israeli forces, the army said. The shooting came on the heels of the Israeli withdrawal from the nearby Jenin refugee camp after a two-day offensive meant to crack down on Palestinian militants.

The operation destroyed the camp's narrow roads and alleyways, sent thousands of people fleeing their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier also was killed. Thursday's shooting near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim raised questions about the effectiveness of the Israeli raid, which came after nearly a year and a half of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in the area.