SCIENCE

For months US Vice President Kamala Harris was laser-focused on one potentially career-defining, history-making goal -- becoming the first woman entrusted with the keys to the White House.

Uruguay's cult ex-president Jose Mujica -- a leftist icon for his humble lifestyle and progressive policies -- warned in an AFP interview against growing authoritarianism in Latin America and the "madness" of Javier Milei's rise to power in neighboring Argentina.

Global wine production is set to fall again this year to its lowest level since 1961 due to climate change, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said Friday.

Diplomats warned Friday of a looming showdown in negotiations to reach the world's first deal to curb plastic pollution, after a new draft text emerged littered with competing visions and ongoing disagreements.

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed Friday for a second term, in the shadow of the coming return of Donald Trump and his disdain for international trade rules.

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is expected to be reappointed Friday for a second term, in the shadow of the coming return of Donald Trump and his disdain for international trade rules.

The world's top court will next week start unprecedented hearings aimed at finding a "legal blueprint" for how countries should protect the environment from damaging greenhouse gases -- and what the consequences are if they do not.

A bitterly-fought climate finance deal reached at COP29 risks weakening emissions-cutting plans from developing countries, observers say, further raising the stakes for new national commitments due early next year.

Crunch United Nations talks to find funding to curb the destruction of nature will resume in Rome in February, the UN said on Thursday, after negotiations this month in Colombia ended without a deal.

At 250 metres underground, the dust is thick and oxygen is in short supply at the Mramor mine in northeastern Bosnia.

America's largest private employer, Walmart, is the latest name to join a list of US businesses and institutions rethinking programs to bolster minority groups as support for progressive policies erodes.

Air pollution caused by fires is linked to more than 1.5 million deaths a year worldwide, the vast majority occurring in developing countries, a major new study said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday announced almost 2.3 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in new aid for Spain's flood-stricken region and defended his government's handling of the deadly disaster last month.

Negotiators must move "significantly" faster to agree on a landmark treaty to curb plastic pollution, the diplomat chairing the talks warned Wednesday, as countries lined up to express frustration about the limited progress.

Thailand is sending almost 1,000 highly endangered lemurs and tortoises back to their home in Madagascar, in what both countries called their biggest ever operation against wildlife trafficking.

The European Parliament is set Wednesday to give the final greenlight for EU chief Ursula von der Leyen's new executive to start work, as the bloc faces mounting challenges.

A teenager whose lies about her teacher are accused of contributing to the educator's murder by an Islamist radical apologised to his family in a French court on Tuesday.

The tough-fought finance deal at UN climate negotiations was "imperfect", the Azerbaijan COP29 leadership has admitted, seeking to blame richer countries for an outcome slammed by poorer nations as insulting.

Germany's former chancellor Angela Merkel gives a spirited defence of her 16 years at the helm of Europe's top economy in her memoir "Freedom", released in 30 languages on Tuesday.

Nations gathered in Busan, South Korea have a week to agree the world's first treaty to curb plastic pollution, a gargantuan challenge given the major divisions that remain.

Hydropower production in Canada is plummeting as extreme weather linked to climate change, particularly sudden swings between drought and flood, hampers output while threatening the structure of dams themselves.

Conflicts, violence and disasters across Africa have dramatically driven up the number of displaced people on the continent over the past 15 years, international monitors said Tuesday.

California will revive its own subsidy programs for electric vehicles if Donald Trump guts US federal tax breaks for such cars, the state's governor said Monday.

After three sleepless nights of back and forth among negotiators, all it took to seal a contentious global deal on climate finance was the hammering of a gavel.

While the fossil fuel industry and some natural sources emit methane, cattle farming has become a major climate concern due to the sheer volume of the cows' emissions.

New rules allowing wealthy polluting countries to buy carbon-cutting "offsets" from developing nations were agreed at UN climate talks Saturday, in a move already raising fears they will be used to greenwash climate targets.

Negotiators were struggling to reach a deal Saturday at UN climate talks in Baku.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir held an urgent meeting of top security brass on Friday after a shootout at the home of powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot.

South Sudan security forces were investigating Friday a shootout at the home of the troubled nation's powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot.