SCIENCE

Sofia Llocclla Pellaca always descends on foot from the unlit hill where she lives with hardly any electricity on the outskirts of Lima.

Facing record-shattering temperatures and a geopolitical tinderbox, countries are scrambling to lay the groundwork for crucial UN climate talks next month tasked with salvaging global warming goals laid out in the landmark Paris deal.

The crunch climate talks being held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12 will be the 28th such gathering of world leaders under UN auspices known as COPs. AFP unpacks the workings of the high-level summit, where countries will aim to thrash out a new agreement as accelerating climate change threatens the world with costly and destructive consequences.

Over 100,000 supporters of two major Bangladesh opposition parties rallied in the capital Dhaka on Saturday, police said, demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down to allow a free and fair vote under a neutral government.

ExxonMobil and Chevron reported lower profits Friday compared with the year-ago blowout quarter as the oil giants touted recent acquisitions they said balance economic and environmental priorities.

Humans and some whales are the only known species in which females live long after they stop being able to reproduce.

Hurricane Otis killed at least 27 people as it lashed Mexico's beach resort city of Acapulco as a scale-topping category 5 storm, officials said Thursday, in what residents called a "total disaster."

At the old Svea mine in the Arctic, broken railway tracks overgrown with weeds lead nowhere.

China sent a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday, in the latest mission for a growing space programme that plans to send people to the Moon by 2030.

A year ago Elon Musk purchased X, formerly known as Twitter, taking the platform on a journey that has resulted in lost money, advertisers and trust.

California governor Gavin Newsom said he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on climate cooperation at a meeting on Wednesday in Beijing, the latest in a string of visits to China by US politicians.

Melting glaciers, unbearable heat and space junk: a month before crunch climate talks in the United Arab Emirates, a UN report published Wednesday warns about irreversible impacts to the planet without drastic changes to connected social and physical systems.

More than six decades after Gitu Wa Kahengeri was jailed, tortured and denied food in a British-run labour camp in Kenya, the anti-colonial fighter says he is still waiting for justice.

China will send its youngest-ever crew of astronauts to the Tiangong space station this week, officials said Wednesday, as Beijing pursues plans for a manned mission to the Moon by the end of the decade.

Hurricane Otis intensified to a potentially "catastrophic" Category 5 storm Tuesday as it barreled towards Mexico's Pacific beach resort of Acapulco, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

California authorities on Tuesday suspended testing of Cruise self-driving cars being developed by General Motors, citing safety concerns following a series of accidents and other problems.

Climate change poses an "existential threat" to life on Earth, prominent scientists warned Tuesday, in an assessment on this year's avalanche of heat records and weather extremes that they said are hitting more ferociously than expected.

China announced Tuesday it would issue sovereign bonds worth 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion), state media said, in a move seen as an attempt to shore up the economy after a sluggish post-Covid recovery.

Bird flu has been detected in the Antarctica region for the first time, according to British experts, raising concerns the deadly virus could pose a threat to penguins and other local species.

Building a dynamic brand required Dusty and Peter to leverage their father's experience in the natural supplement industry but further adjust their business approach as consumer trends evolved against the backdrop of technology and the Internet of Things.

The world is "failing" on a pledge to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, with global losses increasing last year, a group of NGOs and researchers warned Tuesday.

In the middle of the shrunken Mississippi, a barge drags a giant metal-edged suction head along the riverbed to remove sediment from shipping lanes.

It was a sight that stopped traffic. - 'Not romantic at all' - But several locals in the Carpathian Mountains told AFP they were alarmed by increased bear sightings.

As the final votes were being cast Sunday in Switzerland's general elections, right-wing populists look set to sweep the polls following a campaign fuelled by anti-mass migration rhetoric and pledges to combat "woke madness".

A crucial meeting on climate "loss and damages" ahead of COP28 ended in failure Saturday, with countries from the global north and south unable to reach an agreement, according to sources involved in the talks.

Medicare just announced the first 10 drugs that will be subject to government price limits under last year's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The list will be expanded each year and will eventually encompass most branded drugs in Medicare.

They're one of the most endangered mammals in the world, and a species you may never have even heard of: North Atlantic right whales.

US inflation is "still too high" despite a recent slowdown, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday, leaving the door open for a new interest rate hike.

Hurricane Norma strengthened Thursday to a powerful Category 4 storm as it headed toward Mexico's Pacific coast with winds exceeding 130 miles per hour, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.