SCIENCE

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.

Outside the warehouse in northwestern Spain, it's a freezing, foggy morning but inside it's balmy, the warmth and LED lights fooling 360 hop plants to flower as if it were late August.

Promoting nuclear power was long taboo in Brussels, but a high-profile international summit Thursday will send loud and clear the message that atomic energy -- now touted by its champions as key to fighting climate change -- is back.

Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto has been elected president of the world's third-biggest democracy, the elections commission said Wednesday, beating two rivals who have vowed to file legal complaints about the vote.

Global temperatures "smashed" heat records last year, as heatwaves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said Tuesday -- warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter.

Half of Gazans are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food security assessment warned Monday.

Their stories are divided into before and after.

At least 61 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday, as Israel was preparing to send negotiators to new truce talks in Qatar.

Planet-heating methane released by the fossil fuel industry rose to near record highs in 2023 despite technology available to curb this pollution at virtually no cost, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

The picture was meant to douse speculation about the whereabouts and health of Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, but instead her manipulated image unleashed a torrent of internet-breaking rumors and conspiracy theories.

Showing off his muscles, cigars and fast cars, influencer Andrew Tate's videos on social media have captured the attention of millions of teenage boys.

Finnish conscript Atte Ohman readied himself aboard a US landing ship to storm a snow-swept Norwegian beach as part of a rapid response unit pushing out an invading enemy.

For Muslims worldwide, Ramadan is a time of prayer, reflection and joyful evening meals, but all Gazans wish for this year is an end to five months of war and suffering.

Once a housewife in rural India, Sharmila Yadav always wanted to be a pilot and is now living her dream remotely, flying a heavy-duty drone across the skies to cultivate the country's picturesque farmlands.

US Vice President Kamala Harris urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, upping the pressure on key ally Israel as heavy fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

With the humanitarian situation in Gaza increasingly desperate, donors are considering delivering relief supplies from the sky, as the UN warns famine is "almost inevitable".

Iraq enjoys tremendous oil wealth but many hard-scrabble farmers in the north say crude spills have contaminated their lands, piling on pressure as they already battle drought.

A new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could start as soon as Monday, US President Joe Biden said, in a deal that could include the exchange of dozens of hostages held in Gaza for several hundred Palestinian detainees.

Israel's military proposed a plan Monday for "evacuating" civilians from the Gaza Strip, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory's southern city Rafah was necessary for "total victory".

Israel's war cabinet has discussed the next steps for negotiations towards a hostage deal and ceasefire in its war with Hamas, as concern deepens over the increasingly desperate situation faced by civilians in the devastated Gaza Strip.

In a shift from tit-for-tat tariffs and strong-arm tactics to tech restrictions and investment curbs, US policy towards China has become more targeted under President Joe Biden -- though still hardline.