SCIENCE

A new report backed by climate scientists and athletes warned Tuesday about the dangers posed by extreme high temperatures at this year's Paris Olympics.

Saudi Arabia on Monday warned of a temperature spike in Mecca as Muslim pilgrims wrapped up the hajj in searing conditions, with more than a dozen heat-related deaths confirmed.

In the Libyan village of Kabaw in the Nafusa Mountains, M'hamed Maakaf waters an ailing fig tree as climate change pushes villagers to forsake lands and livestock.

Inuit hunter Hjelmer Hammeken spotted a ringed seal near its breathing hole on the Greenland ice.

More than 1.5 million Muslims braved extreme heat to reach Mount Arafat on Saturday for the high point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, praying for hours, especially for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza.

In the hottest year on record, with scorching conditions claiming lives from India to Mexico and Greece sweltering in its earliest-ever heatwave, experts are sounding the alarm over heat stress.

From misting systems to heat-reflective road coverings, Saudi officials are trying to aid hajj pilgrims in coping with heat, but scientists caution that climate change may outpace these efforts.

G7 leaders were set to agree on a new $50-billion loan for Ukraine as they gathered Thursday for a summit in southern Italy, using the profits from frozen Russian assets.

When Hurricane Sally slammed coastal Florida in 2020, US pilot Dean Legidakes was aboard a scientific aircraft flying directly into the storm's core.

French business leaders have been pitched into fresh uncertainty by snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron that risk strengthening the far right.

India's heatwave is the longest ever to hit the country, the government's top weather expert said Monday as he warned people will face increasingly oppressive temperatures.

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.