Paris (AFP) – Women are increasingly making their mark in men's fashion, breaking through the "fabric ceiling" that has seen the industry dominated by men, and attracted by a sector where some of the most radical changes are taking place.

Fashion has long been an industry focused predominantly on women but run by men, with a 2019 study by PriceWaterhouseCooper showing just 12.5 percent of fashion houses had female bosses.

While change is slow at the top, the latest men's fashion week in Paris that wrapped up on Sunday highlighted the number of exciting women designers choosing to focus on menswear.

Grace Wales Bonner's opening night show in a Place Vendome hotel -- her first physical event in Paris -- was one of the hottest tickets.

Known for literary references and highlighting black and minority artists, it was clear why she is considered a frontrunner to replace the late Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton.

"I went into menswear because I thought there's a lot more room for expression," she told AFP.

"It feels like it's not overdeveloped -- (menswear) can be quite conservative at times."

It was well-received, with Bloomingdale's men's director Justin Berkowitz praising her "sharp tailoring... with charming details for a spot-on, personal collection".

Bode, meanwhile, returned to Paris for the first time since the pandemic, with a vintage collection inspired by rural America and her mother's family.

Known for handcrafted clothes, often made from recycled materials, she was named menswear designer of the year at the CFDA Awards in 2022.

'Fewer cliches'

There were also shows from France's Marine Serre, who has disrupted the industry with her determined adherence to sustainability, and Britain's Bianca Saunders, who told AFP she was attracted to menswear because it offered "a different canvas where I could be very explorative".

Wales Bonner, Bode, Serre and Saunders are all in their early thirties, but more experienced designers like Gabriela Hearst and Isabel Marant have also launched menswear lines in recent years as the sector hots up.

"Men chase an ideal -- today I want to feel like Marlon Brando so I throw on a leather jacket," said Hermes shoe designer Pierre Hardy, a longtime collaborator of Veronique Nichanian, who has headed menswear at the label for 35 years.

"Women come with fewer cliches, with an external and more neutral perspective," he told AFP.

"They have an eye that is more centred on reality, with a bit of distance and less fantasy," agreed Alice Feillard, menswear buying director at Paris department store Galeries Lafayette.

A new crop is hot on their heels -- among them France's Jeanne Friot, who presented a flamboyant, bright-red collection as part of a newcomer's showcase in Paris.

"As a woman designer and a lesbian, I have a different perspective on men and fashion," said Friot, whose most popular piece is an upcycled pair of jeans made from feathers.

"Men need to have more options in their wardrobe than just black, white and grey -- why not some pieces that are more feminine and fun," she said.

Online tools that can create wonderful, absurd and sometimes horrifying images using artificial intelligence (AI) have exploded in popularity, sparking soul-searching over the nature of art.

Tech companies tout their inventions as a liberating force of art for all, but purists argue that the artist is still the central cog in the machine.

Seoul (AFP) – K-pop stars BTS drink it. It appears in K-dramas. Fans are so dedicated to consuming it year-round they've coined a new South Korean proverb: "Even if I freeze to death, iced Americano!"

The humble coffee -- shots of espresso served over ice, topped up with water -- has become South Korea's unofficial national drink, outselling its hot counterpart even during the depths of winter, Starbucks data shows.

Seoul, South Korea- It wasn't the nuclear missiles, ranks of goose-stepping soldiers or medal-bedecked generals that captivated most attention at North Korea's recent military parade: it was a 10-year-old girl.

Alongside the country's leader Kim Jong Un, the girl -- likely Kim's second child Ju Ae -- inspected a guard of honour in the most recent of a slew of high-profile appearances that have sparked fervent speculation she has been anointed his heir.

AFP takes a look at what we know:

Who is she?

For years, North Korean state media never mentioned Kim's children, although Seoul's spy agency has said he has three with his wife. They are believed to be aged around 13, 10 and six.

The only previous confirmation of their existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who claimed he met a baby daughter of Kim's called Ju Ae during a 2013 visit to North Korea.

But three months ago, at the launch of his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim turned up with his "beloved" daughter in tow.

Although North Korea has never officially identified her by name, Seoul's spy agency and analysts believe the girl is Ju Ae, Kim's second child.

Is she Kim's heir?

It certainly looks that way, experts say.

State media has called her Kim's "beloved" and "respected" daughter, and she has been shown walking hand-in-hand with her father -- as her mother trailed behind them.

This indicates North Korea has started building a "personality cult" around Ju Ae, said Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at South Korea's Sejong Institute.

It "signals that she has been designated as the de facto successor even though she doesn't hold the official 'successor' status yet", he said.

In state media images, Ju Ae has been placed in the middle, next to her father and surrounded by the country's top brass.

"It suggests that Kim Ju Ae will become the supreme commander of the military in the future," Cheong added.

Will North Korea accept a woman leader?

When it comes to women assuming political leadership roles, North Korea's glass ceiling has been bulletproof, says Bronwen Dalton, head of the department of management at the University of Technology Sydney's business school.

But change is afoot, she said, and North Korea's leadership is trying to "maintain its legitimacy by creating a new version of womanhood" that reflects social changes in the country over recent decades.

Younger generations have "grown up buying and selling in markets, using mobile phones and accessing foreign media content", which has forced North Korea to recalibrate its version of an ideal woman.

North Korea's current leadership, although predominantly male, does have some high-profile women, including foreign minister Choe Son-hui and Kim's younger sister Kim Yo Jong as a regime spokeswoman.

Kim Jong Un is "presiding over a propaganda apparatus forging a new narrative on the place of women", Dalton told AFP.

But crucially, the most important role of all North Korean women remains "devotion to their 'father' Kim Jong Un", which Ju Ae embodies perfectly, she added.

So she'll definitely be in charge one day?

Not necessarily, experts say.

"Perhaps more than any other country, relying on family ties and being in the proximity of power is precarious," Dalton said, pointing to a "revolving door" of family members who have been exiled from North Korea or killed.

"Women are not immune," she added.

A female leader remains "impossible" in North Korea for now, An Chan-il, a defector turned researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.

"No one would welcome the idea if Kim Jong Un disappeared right away and Ju Ae had to succeed him," he said.

But her gradual introduction to the public over the next decade or two, coupled with "ideological education", should help, he said.

"The North Koreans seldom question who becomes the ruler."

What about Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal?

While North Korea is not a monarchy, Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule the country, after his father and grandfather, founding leader Kim Il Sung.

For the Kims, one of the most important elements of regime preservation has been their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

"Celebrations of North Korea's nuclear-capable missile build-up may seem like strange occasions to project a child-friendly image," but they are effective domestic propaganda, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP.

"Kim is portraying Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal as a multigenerational asset to national security while proclaiming the military's complete loyalty to his political dynasty."

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© Agence France-Presse

New York (AFP) – After a starring role in last year's Super Bowl broadcast, cryptocurrency firms are expected to sit out the 2023 game.

But the annual advertising extravaganza -- a kind of competition among marketers that runs parallel to the American football championship -- features an array of beer and car companies, along with other familiar brands like M&M's candies, which has been teasing its spot since last month.

Paris, France - 

When the damselfly reappeared in France in 2009 after a 133-year absence, it was considered a small miracle.

But the dragonfly's smaller cousin hasn't been seen in four years, sparking fresh fears it may be gone for good -- a worrying indicator of the health of the world's precious wetlands in which it breeds.

Damselflies face menaces on multiple fronts. In Asia, the wetlands and jungles in which they live are often cleared for crops like palm oil. In Latin America their habitats are razed to build houses and offices.

In Europe and North America, pesticides, pollutants and climate change have posed the biggest threat.

So when the Nehalennia speciosa damselfly was spotted in wetlands in the Jura region of eastern France for the first time since 1876, scientists were overjoyed -- calling the rediscovery an "ecological scoop".

But that comeback was probably only a "remission from the collapse that our biodiversity is suffering," said naturalist Francois Dehondt.

The last confirmed sighting was in 2019, when a severe drought gripped the Jura, and experts fear there might not be a second comeback.

"The water source that shelters the insect was reduced to nothing" by drought, Dehondt wrote in France's Le Monde newspaper in December.

In 2020, water levels remained low. The following year, some water returned to the bogs of the Jura where a dozen or so damselflies had been spotted in 2009.

And then last year -- the hottest on record in France -- the region was once again parched.

Damselflies were nowhere to be seen.

- 'Warning lights' -

With a slender green-blue body that resembles bamboo and delicate translucent wings, the Nehalennia speciosa might look like a dragonfly to the untrained eye.

But at about 25 millimetres (less than an inch) long, Europe's smallest damselflies don't fly as well and often need to be shaken from bushes to be seen, making them very hard to detect.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said 16 percent of all 6,016 dragonfly and damselfly species globally risk extinction. In France, the damselfly is classified as "critically endangered".

France's Office for Insects and their Environment (OPIE), which is in charge of monitoring damselflies, suspects the subspecies has disappeared again.

"Given the state of environmental degradation and drought that we have seen for years, (the likelihood of seeing a damselfly in the Jura) is really very compromised," OPIE's Xavier Houard told AFP.

"The warning lights are red. But it's too soon to be completely certain," he added.

The agency will only confirm a "proven disappearance" of a species after 25 years of "non-observation" during which thorough searches are carried out.

And Houard has not lost hope just yet.

"The species has already demonstrated its ability to pass under the radar of observers" for over a century, he said.

- World Wetlands Day -

The demise of France's damselflies further underpins how vulnerable the country's wetlands are -- a reality across Europe and indeed the world.

"Globally, these ecosystems are disappearing three times faster than forests," IUCN director general Bruno Oberle said in 2021 when the organisation updated its Red List of Threatened Species.

Since 1900 an estimated 64 percent of the world's wetlands -- which include lakes, rivers, marshes, lagoons and peat bogs -- have disappeared, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands treaty.

Wetlands are crucial for the planet's health. They store 25 percent of the world's carbon and provide clean water and food. Up to 40 percent of the world's species live and breed in wetlands, according to the United Nations.

Yet a quarter are in danger of extinction.

The UN -- which marks World Wetlands Day on Thursday -- said there is an "urgent need" to restore 50 percent of destroyed wetlands by 2030.

In the meantime, France's scientists continue to scour for the elusive damselfly, whose very presence is "a wonderful indicator... of the health of wetlands", according to Houard.

Their disappearance would be nothing short of an "alarm bell", he added.

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© Agence France-Press

Paris (AFP) – Could humanity finally be gaining the upper hand in our age-old fight against cancer?

Los Angeles (AFP) – There is no clear frontrunner for this year's prestigious Grammy for Best New Artist, but Brazil's Anitta definitely has a strong chance to win -- which would be the perfect way to cap her banner year.

Sollentuna, Sweden-

The frigid water under the frozen Ravalen lake north of Stockholm doesn't intimidate Elton as the 11-year-old schoolboy takes the plunge to the applause of his classmates.

Forty pupils are taking part in an "isvaksovning", or a hole-in-the-ice exercise, part of their school's physical education class to learn what to do if they ever fall through the ice on one of Sweden's many lakes or out in the archipelago.

Every day for three weeks, 750 pupils in Sollentuna municipality will take turns jumping into the hole in the ice, which measures about two by four metres (6.5 by 13 feet).

Courses like this are common in the Nordic country.

For the students taking part on this day, it's optional if they want to jump in -- but all of them do.

Holding his head above the one degree Celsius (34 Fahrenheit) water, Elton grabs two small ice picks hanging around his neck, jabs them into the ice and drags himself out onto the snow-covered lake.

Many Swedes would not think of stepping out onto the ice without a pair of picks.

Without them, it's extremely difficult to get back onto the ice without slipping back into the chilly water.

"It was much colder than I thought it would be," Elton tells AFP, as he warms himself around a fire pit together with his classmates.

"But I still managed to stay in for 30 seconds".

His mother, Marie Ericsson, who works in IT, came to film the scene.

"It's super important. It's really good knowledge and it feels safer for us, because they are always playing around lots of lakes," she tells AFP.

The kids are fully clothed when they jump in wearing winter bonnets, mitts, shoes or boots and all.

They have big backpacks strapped on, which also help them float, and are attached to a safety rope held by gym teacher Anders Isaksson.

- Outdoor way of life -

Some of the kids shriek when they land in the cold water.

"Good! Breathe calmly", Isaksson reminds them as they slither out onto the ice.

Most of the kids look apprehensive before it's their turn.

But once they're done most seem surprisingly unfazed, albeit freezing and soaked. They run to shore to change into dry clothes, and gather around a fire pit.

The classes gained importance in recent years amid a rise in ice accidents after declining for decades.

According to the Swedish Life Rescue Society, 16 people died in Sweden after falling through the ice in 2021 -- mostly elderly people -- compared to 10 the previous year.

Around 100 incidents were reported.

"This is important because this is a country where outdoor activities are a big part of people's lives," PE teacher Anders Isaksson notes.

For some, the plunge also offers an opportunity to test their mettle.

When Siri Franzen, 11, jumps in she endures a full two and a half minutes before dragging herself up.

"I am very proud of her," her mother Louise tells AFP. "She has just beaten her brother's record from four years ago."

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© Agence France-Presse

ZURICH: Swiss watches are in high demand these days, but sales of second-hand timepieces are also booming, driven by Generation Z buyers who want luxury goods but are also sustainability-minded.

The global second-hand watch market is estimated at nearly 20 billion Swiss francs ($21.7 billion) and could reach 35 billion francs by 2030, according to a study out in October by the auditing and consulting giant Deloitte.

Historically the province of collectors scouting for rare watches at auction, the second-hand market is turning increasingly professional with the proliferation of online sales sites that verify authenticity — with even the watch manufacturers themselves getting involved.

"Nowadays, there is a realization that we need to consume more responsibly," said Fabienne Lupo, the former head of the Foundation High Horology, who organized a second-hand luxury watch salon in Geneva in November.

The event was attended by the online auction giant eBay, the watch sales platform Watchbox, and Swiss brands such as Zenith.

Never say new again

Lupo said the craze for second-hand watches could be explained by the consumer choices of Millennials (born between 1980 and the late 1990s) and Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2010) who are "very concerned about the future of the planet, and no longer want to buy new."

There is also the fashion for vintage objects "that you can't find everywhere," she said.

And furthermore, buying certain Swiss luxury watches new is getting harder, as the booming market means longer waiting lists.

Swiss watch exports hit a new record in 2022, climbing 11.4 percent year-on-year to 24.8 billion Swiss francs, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry announced Tuesday.

"And then there is the digitalization which has accelerated with the pandemic," Lupo told AFP.

The growth in the pre-owned watch market is such that the British online platform Subdial has developed an index tracking the 50 most-traded models.

The average price fell from a record 45,000 Swiss francs in February 2022 to 35,000 francs in September, which Deloitte called a "correction" rather than a sign that the market was shrinking.

Sales platforms for certified pre-owned (CPO) watches are multiplying online, with the sector still attracting new entrants, including the US site Bezel, which counts former Disney president Michael Ovitz, comedian Kevin Hart and singer John Legend among its investors.

The luxury giant Richemont — which owns the Cartier, IWC and Piaget brands — entered the field as early as 2018, buying the British platform Watchfinder.

Rolex also took the plunge in December, pulling the rug from beneath the counterfeiters by launching a CPO program with the Swiss retailer Bucherer, which authenticates the watches.

The program is set up in six countries, including Britain and France, with the aim of extending it to the United States in the future.

Watch your image

"Watch manufacturers typically have been worried about the secondary market as it was closely associated with the grey market, where discounted watches could be found," said Jon Cox, an industry analyst with the Kepler Cheuvreux financial services company.

"However, they realize there is a halo effect of having strong secondary prices, enhancing the brand value of the primary watches," he told Agence France-Presse.

For top-end luxury brands like Richard Mille, where average watch prices exceed 260,000 Swiss francs, second-hand timepieces are even a way of enhancing their image.

"We might have a client who tells us, 'there was a limited edition of 100 watches; it was always my dream to buy one and now I have the money — but you no longer make them and they are almost impossible to find'," said Alexandre Mille, who took over from his father who founded the brand.

Mille said his teams can seek out the sought-after timepiece.

Deloitte's study found that buying a cheaper watch was the main motivation for 44 percent of respondents.

But Cox also noted that second-hand watches were a "store of wealth", being "worn and shown off for years but still retaining value to be resold so another watch can be bought in its place."