AUSTRALIA: A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered world heritage sites, warning that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action, the world’s largest coral reef is in peril.

The warning came in a report published on Monday, following a 10-day mission to the reef last March by officials from US scientific agency Unesco and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The reef has been on the Unesco world heritage list since 1981.

INDONESIA: At least 323 people have been confirmed dead after a magnitude-5.6 earthquake hit Indonesia's West Java province on November 21, according to local authorities.

Officials say that about a third of those who died were children who were trapped in homes or schools that crumbled.

ZIMBABWE: Electricity shortages that have been plaguing the country are set to worsen after an authority that manages its biggest dam said that water levels are now too low to continue power generation.

The Zambezi River Authority, which runs the Kariba Dam, said water levels are at a record low.

UNITED STATES: Workers at two Peet’s Coffee branches in Davis, California, filed for union elections with the National Labour Relations Board on Monday in an effort to win higher wages, better working conditions and a voice in day-to-day operations.

“I’m organising because we deserve a say in how our workplace is run,” said Schroedter Kinman, a worker at the Peet’s branch in the centre of Davis.