SCIENCE

Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions "most likely" exacerbated the intense rains that lashed the UAE and Oman last week, causing deaths and widespread flooding, an expert group of scientists said Thursday.

Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia sweltered through unusually hot weather on Thursday, as the Thai government said heatstroke has already killed at least 30 people this year.

Venice launched a new scheme Thursday to charge day-trippers for entering the historic Italian city, a world first intended to ease the pressure of mass tourism -- but many residents are opposed.

Migrants, vaccines, pedophilia rings -- old conspiracy theories are resurfacing ahead of the US election despite being repeatedly debunked, in what researchers call "zombie" falsehoods that appear to resonate with polarized voters.

The UK readied on Tuesday to start detention of migrants within days before deporting them to Rwanda, after the controversial plan cleared its final hurdle, sparking criticism from the UN and rights groups.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in neighbouring Iraq on Monday for his first state visit there in years, with water, oil and regional security issues topping their agenda.

Heat stress in Europe is increasingly threatening people's health as global warming makes summers there hotter and deadlier, two leading climate monitors warned on Monday.

Organisers of the Paris Olympics have promised a "great national party" for the country, but with 100 days to go, France's bitter politics and gloomy mindset are dampening the mood.

Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef is suffering one of the most severe coral bleaching events on record, leaving scientists fearful for its survival as the impact of climate change worsens.

Pakistan has initiated discussions with the IMF over a new multi-billion dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform program, its new finance minister told AFP on Monday.

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, whose penchant for python and flamboyant animal prints made him the darling of the international jet set for decades, died Friday at 83, the luxury company said.

The battle against climate change is increasingly being fought in the courtroom, as national governments, specific laws and individual companies are targeted over their role in the crisis -- sometimes successfully.

Activists gathered outside Europe's top rights court on Tuesday as it prepared to decide in three separate cases if states are doing enough in the face of climate change.

Online disinformation and hate speech are poisoning politics the world over, but in South Korea there have also been real-life acts of violence in a deeply polarised electorate before polls on Wednesday.

Gracefully rising above a din of croaking frogs as the sun sets, a pelican flies over Lake Karla, one the largest inland expanses of water in Greece.

Europe's climate monitor said Tuesday that March was the hottest on record and the tenth straight month of historic heat, with sea surface temperatures also hitting a "shocking" new high.

Eclipse mania gripped North America on Monday as a breathtaking celestial spectacle observed by tens of millions of people offered a rare convergence of commercial and scientific opportunities -- and an excuse to party.

The United States "will not accept" a situation where underpriced Chinese goods flood the global market, battering industries elsewhere, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday as she wrapped up high-level talks in China.

US Treasury chief Janet Yellen warned during a visit to China on Friday that Beijing's subsidies for industry could pose a risk to global economic resilience.

Since US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing last year, the world's two biggest economies have resumed regular talks and averted major escalations in tensions.

Pope Francis took part in the Easter Vigil service at the Vatican on Saturday, a day after the last-minute cancellation of his presence at a major Good Friday procession revived questions about his health.

China on Thursday announced the lifting of punitive tariffs on Australian wine, in a sign that the precarious bilateral relationship could be improving despite setbacks.

Struggle to wrap your head around daylight savings? If the need for an "unprecedented" negative leap second was delayed, that would be "welcome news indeed," Patrizia Tavella, the head of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which is responsible for UTC, commented in Nature.

President Emmanuel Macron and counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday celebrated the launch of Brazil's third French-designed submarine, which will help secure the country's immense coastline, dubbed the "Blue Amazon."

French President Emmanuel Macron kicked off a visit to Brazil on Tuesday with the launch of a billion-euro Amazonian green investment plan alongside his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The revelation that Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, has cancer prompted a swift backlash over a torrent of lurid social media speculation around her health, including by those positing she was secretly dead.

Fatih Macoglu, the popular "Communist Mayor" of a city in eastern Turkey, is now vying for control of a vibrant and hip Istanbul district along the Asian banks of the Bosphorus.

After four years of drought, Iraqi farmer Mohammed Sami was about to abandon his father's parched land, but then a water-saving irrigation system revived his crops and his hopes.

On a sunny day on the Athens waterfront, a gentle breeze blows through the smashed windows of the abandoned 2004 Olympics beach volleyball centre.