SCIENCE

Deep inside a labyrinthine cave in southwestern France, ancient humans who lived around 30,000 years ago carved horses, mammoths and rhinoceros into the walls, a fabulous prehistoric menagerie that has rarely been seen -- until now.

Bone and muscle deterioration, radiation exposure, vision impairment -- these are just a few of the challenges space travelers face on long-duration missions, even before considering the psychological toll of isolation.

Washington has questioned UN agencies, nonprofits and charities that received US funds on whether they have "communist" links or support "gender ideology", and other topics targeted by US President Donald Trump, a dozen groups told AFP. A list of 36 questions was sent to small and large organisations alike as part of Washington's ongoing review of its vast foreign aid spending.

A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA said.

In the cold, lightless Pacific Ocean deep, the seabed is scattered with metal-rich rocks coveted by miners -- and huge numbers of strange and rare animals almost entirely unknown to science.

With a few taps on his phone, Dandam Nangor knows exactly what temperature his greenhouse is at, when to water his crops and even the pH of the soil.

Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada's prime minister on Friday, taking charge of a country rattled by a breakdown in US relations since President Donald Trump's return to power.

Rules for the emerging deep-sea mining sector should take a "precautionary approach" that protects the environment, the head of the body drafting regulations for the practice told AFP Friday.

Germany's likely next leader Friedrich Merz said Thursday urgent action was needed to boost the country's under-resourced military and ailing economy, as he defended plans for a spending bonanza during a fiery parliamentary debate.

Over a year after a devastating winter wiped out virtually his entire sheep flock, herder Zandan Lkhamsuren is still reckoning with the damage wrought by Mongolia's increasingly erratic extreme weather.

Greenland, the Danish self-governing territory coveted by US President Donald Trump, votes Tuesday in legislative elections that could yield a timeline for independence, which is supported by a majority of the population.

Climate scientist Tom Di Liberto had dreamed of working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since college.

The United States may still have the world's most powerful navy but it seems to have realised that this is no longer sufficient to reassert US supremacy over the high seas.

As Germany's Friedrich Merz gets closer to becoming chancellor, many asylum seekers live in fear of what his promised crackdown on irregular immigration will mean for them.

China's retaliatory tariffs against US farm produce from corn to chicken are designed to hurt Donald Trump's voter base, but remain restrained enough to allow room for the adversaries to hash out a trade deal, analysts say.

Global sea ice cover fell to a historic low in February when the world continued to experience exceptional heat and temperatures reached 11 degrees Celsius above average near the North Pole, Europe's climate monitor said on Thursday.

Germany holds elections on Sunday after its three-party "traffic light" coalition collapsed last year and could soon have a "black-red" government while a "Jamaica" or "blackberry" alliance is less likely.

German politicians made a final scramble for votes Saturday on the eve of key elections in which conservatives hope to win despite the dramatic rise of the far right targeting a record score.

The world's biggest nature conservation conference resumes in Rome next week for an urgent attempt at overcoming a deadlock between northern and southern countries over funding for nature protection.

Faced with myriad problems including gridlocked traffic and a sinking earth surface in its current capital, Iran is considering a drastic solution -- moving it to an altogether different location on the Gulf of Oman.

Armed with a slingshot, Taiwanese bounty hunter Wu Cheng-hua bends sideways and aims his lethal weapon up at a green iguana, one of tens of thousands in the crosshairs of a government cull.

US Vice President JD Vance launched a withering attack Friday against European policies on immigration, populist parties and free speech, echoing President Donald Trump whom he called Washington's "new sheriff in town".

Cambodian scientist Yeang Chheang has spent six decades fighting malaria -- even in the Khmer Rouge labour camp where his wife and baby died -- and stands tantalisingly close to fulfilling his life's work.

Pesticides are significantly harming wildlife across the planet, stunting growth, damaging reproduction and even causing behavioural changes in animals not meant to be targeted, according to a large-scale study published on Thursday.

The Baltic states on Saturday began cutting ties with Russia's power grid in order to integrate with Europe's system, a years-long process that gained urgency with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Last month was the hottest January on record, Europe's climate monitor said Thursday, despite expectations that cooler La Nina conditions might quell a streak of record-breaking global temperatures.

LA MAXIME, an Australian luxury organic skincare brand, is stepping into this space with a product crafted for Youthful Eyes Organic Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream.

In Ecuador's presidential election, both top candidates want a second chance.

Germany's conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz defiantly vowed Friday to pass a bill to restrict immigration with the support of the far-right AfD, repeating a tactic that has sparked an outcry and street protests.