SCIENCE

Voters across Europe cast ballots Sunday on the final -- and biggest -- day of elections for the EU's parliament, with far-right parties expected to make gains at a pivotal time for the bloc.

Once shunned and now eagerly courted by the West, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has steered his country away from its secular traditions and towards the Hindu-first politics he has championed for decades.

The final -- and by far biggest -- day of EU elections takes place Sunday with voting in 21 member countries, including France and Germany, where support for surging far-right parties is being tested.

The incoming president of the COP29 UN climate summit in Azerbaijan told AFP on Friday that his country would keep increasing fossil fuel production "in parallel" with investments in cleaner alternatives.

Research from the University of Sydney has shown that organic farming, which often utilizes organic carbon fertilizers, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50%.

The sun beats down from a cloudless sky on the town of Boundiali, where Ivory Coast's first solar power plant embodies the drive to embrace clean energy without abandoning fossil fuels.

In the mountainous valleys of Pakistan, 18-hour daily power cuts have meant local teacher Aniqa Bano uses her fridge as a cupboard for storing books and kitchen utensils.

The Pacific's Solomon Islands has become a key player in the global live animal trade, with foreign collectors sourcing exotic species including some subject to trade bans, an AFP investigation has found.

The Netherlands on Thursday kicked off the marathon four-day European elections with the Dutch far right urging voters to make a crackdown on immigration the headline issue.

In an electoral system in which money is the ultimate kingmaker, Donald Trump has been courting the country's billionaires -- and they have their checkbooks ready.

Five years ago Green parties swept to their best results ever at elections for the European Union's parliament, before helping to push through a sweeping raft of landmark legislation.

Kenyan President William Ruto told AFP on Wednesday that Africa could help decarbonise the global economy -- but developed countries need to step up with serious investment to help unlock the continent's potential.

The German far-right AfD party has "a lot in common" with the Nazis in the 1930s, according to 95-year-old Ruth Winklemann, who recalls having to hide in a shed with her mother after her father was sent to Auschwitz.

Once shunned and now eagerly courted by the West, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has steered India away from its secular traditions and towards the Hindu-first politics he has championed for decades.

Euro 2024, beginning in Germany on June 14, is a mouth-watering prospect, as France and England lead the heavyweight contenders for a tournament which will be played out in some of the continent's finest stadiums across a football-mad nation.

EU voters go to the polls in a week's time, with far-right, nationalist parties expected to do well in the bloc's next parliament in a time of social and geopolitical uncertainty.

India's gruelling heatwave is set to abate soon but that was no consolation to housewife Bindwasvini Devi, one of the millions braving Saturday's scorching sun to vote in the final day of national elections.

Indians flocked to the polls under scorching heat in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi on Saturday as a marathon national election reached its final day, six weeks after voting first began.

A small, seemingly unremarkable fern that only grows on a remote Pacific island was on Friday crowned the Guinness World Record holder for having the largest genome of any organism on Earth.

Just after sunrise on the Afghan day of rest, two goldfinches puffed their chests and belted a song, surrounded by men straining to hear which chirped stronger in an age-old pastime.

Extreme temperatures across India are having their worst impact in the country's teeming megacities, experts said Thursday, warning that the heat is fast becoming a public health crisis.

The EU faces a delicate balancing act as it prepares to rev up taxes on Chinese electric cars to protect European industry, while steering clear of a US-style showdown with Beijing that could spark a trade war.

North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Thursday, Seoul's military said, hours after Pyongyang sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons across the border to punish South Korea.

Temperatures in India's capital soared to a national record-high of 52.3 degrees Celsius (126.1 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, figures from the government's weather bureau showed, as it warned of dangerous heat levels in the sprawling megacity.

Wealthy countries met their target of providing $100 billion in annual climate aid to poorer countries for the first time in 2022 though two years later than promised, the OECD said Wednesday.

Supplies of food and medicine began arriving at the scene of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea Wednesday, with aid workers discovering children rendered mute by the shock of the disaster.

The world experienced an average of 26 more days of extreme heat over the last 12 months that would probably not have occurred without climate change, a report said on Tuesday.

Bangladeshi weather experts said Tuesday that a deadly cyclone that carved a swath of destruction was one of the quickest-forming and longest-lasting they'd experienced, blaming climate change for the shift.

More than 2,000 people have been buried in a Papua New Guinea landslide that destroyed a remote highland village, the government warned Monday as it called for international help in the rescue effort.