Australia's southeast has been hit by a rainstorm and floods, forcing thousands of residents to move to safer areas.

Monsoon rains caused widespread flooding in northeastern India and Bangladesh, stranding nearly 6 million people, with officials warning the situation could worsen. 

The US Air Force has cleared of any wrongdoing the flight crew of an American military cargo plane that Afghan civilians desperately clamored to hang onto during the chaotic withdrawal of US occupation forces from the war-torn country.

Firefighters in New Mexico begged holdout residents of a mountain village to evacuate on Sunday, before the United States' largest active wildfire races up a valley that is their only way out.

Ukrainian forces have staged fresh attacks on targets inside the Russian territory even as the UN-backed evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol gets underway.

Russia has announced a local ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol, calling on Kiev to respect the truce, as the conflict between the neighbors rages on.

Iryna Vereshchuk says ten humanitarian corridors will evacuate civilians from the besieged cities and towns.