CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia sweltered through its hottest month on record in January and the summer of extremes continued with wildfires razing the drought-parched south and flooding in expanses of the tropical north.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the January record on Friday as parts of the northern hemisphere had record cold.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) A day before high-powered selection committee is to meet to decide the new CBI chief, the government has appointed four officers in the central agency, officials said Thursday.

In inducting these officers, the government is understood to have also considered the views of CBI interim chief M Nageswara Rao, they said.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The first in a series of winter storms swept through Southern California on Friday, trigging heavy rain, mudslides and lighting strikes.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Thursday adopted a resolution to extend sanctions against the Central African Republic (CAR) for another year.

Resolution 2454, adopted unanimously by the 15-member council, decides to renew the sanctions regime -- an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze -- till Jan. 31, 2020.

It also decides to extend the mandate of the panel of experts, which helps the Security Council with the implementation of the sanctions, till Feb. 29, 2020.

Hyderabad, Jan 31 (PTI) A 24-year-old woman software engineer was Thursday booked by police here on charge of kidnapping a man, who had allegedly been stalking her, police said.

The man, a carpenter, had allegedly been harassing the woman by sending messages and calling her on her mobile phone for the past several days after being warned not do so, they said.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) GST collections in January crossed Rs 1 lakh crore-mark after a gap of 2 months, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

"The total gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 has today crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year," the ministry tweeted.

Chandigarh, Jan 31 (PTI) The Punjab government on Thursday said it will provide 1.32 lakh plots of five marla each to homeless people in rural areas.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on January 22 directed all deputy commissioners to launch the scheme after identifying the requisite land for this purpose.

Under the proposal mooted by the Rural Development and Panchayats Department, the chief minister had asked the deputy commissioners to allot at least 10 plots to homeless families in every village, where land is available with the Panchayats.

TOKYO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Friday that the nation is contending with a flu epidemic with a record-high number of patients being diagnosed last week.

According to the ministry, an average of 57.09 patients were diagnosed with influenza last week at each medical facility conducting tests for the virus, with the figures gathered for the seven days through Sunday being the highest number since data gathering on the virus began in 1999.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Piyush Goyal Friday said farmers will be provided Rs 6,000 per year in three installments under a scheme to be fully funded by the central government.

Presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Goyal sought to address some of the distress that the farm sector has been facing.

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) An eleven-year-old boy moved the Bombay High Court Thursday seeking a ban on popular mobile game 'PUBG'.

Ahad Nizam, who filed the public interest litigation through his mother, said the game promotes violence, aggression and cyber-bullying.

The court should direct the Maharashtra government to ban it, the PIL said.

SHANGHAI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- A special court to handle bankruptcy cases was set up in Shanghai on Friday, according to local authorities.

The newly established Shanghai court will handle company bankruptcies, compulsory liquidation cases and cross-border bankruptcy cases.

Shenzhen set up a bankruptcy court, the first of its kind in the country, on Jan. 14. Beijing set up the country's second on Wednesday.

Dehradun, Jan 31 (PTI) Over 3.5 lakh government employees in Uttarakhand went on a mass holiday on Thursday in support of their 10-point charter of demands, including a hike in housing allowance and timely promotions.

Essential and emergency services like health, roadways, power and water supply were kept out of the ambit of the protest.