Montreal, Canada | He snowboards, he hikes, he surfs -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is already a bit of an action hero.
But now, Marvel has made him into a real superhero, in a comic book that hit newsstands
Trudeau graces one of two covers of the latest edition of "Civil War II: Choosing Sides" -- seated in the corner of a boxing ring, smiling, his elbows resting on the ropes, with the maple leaf symbol emblazoned on his tank top and wearing red boxing gloves.
The 44-year-old prime minister is surrounded by Canadian superheroes Puck, Sasquatch and Aurora -- members of the Alpha Flight squad -- as Iron Man looms in the background.
The main cover in circulation does not feature Trudeau.
The comic book also introduces a mysterious new character, Ulysses, who has the power to predict the future.
Trudeau is consulted in his Ottawa office by the members of Alpha Flight after a disagreement breaks out over how to leverage Ulysses's powers.
Captain Marvel wants to take measures to prevent crimes before they occur, while Tony Stark (Iron Man) views it as immoral to punish anyone for a crime they have not yet committed.
Trudeau takes a principled view, telling his comrades: "Above all else civil liberties must be protected.
"I think imprisoning people for crimes they may not even have thought of yet is wrong... I think this is a dangerous path you've embarked on."
Trudeau's father Pierre, who also served as Canada's prime minister, also appeared in a Marvel comic released in 1979.
Tokyo, Japan | A Japanese man who came face-to-face with a snarling bear took things into his own hands -- and unleashed his karate skills on the beast.
The 63-year-old was fishing in a mountain creek when the 190-centimetre (6-foot 3-inch) creature set upon him in what he said was an unprovoked attack.
In scenes seemingly reminiscent of Leonardo Di Caprio's epic tussle with an angry bear in the Oscar-winning film "The Revenant" -- Atsushi Aoki was bitten and scratched repeatedly, including on his head.
"The bear was so strong, and it knocked me down," Aoki told Tokyo Broadcasting System.
"It turned me over and bit me right here," he added, pointing to his bandaged leg.
But instead of trying to outrun the beast -- an Asian black bear -- the fisherman decided he would use his well-honed karate skills.
After assuming a fighting stance with his right fist in front of him, Aoki jabbed at his attacker's eyes, which sent the creature scrambling away into the woods.
"I thought it's either 'I kill him or he kills me,'" Aoki told public broadcaster NHK.
The plucky fisherman managed to get back to his car and get himself to a hospital in Gunma, northwest of Tokyo, despite the mauling that left him with injuries to his head, arm and leg.
"He drove himself to hospital, and he even remembered to grab the fish that he had caught," a local police officer told AFP.
The ursine adventure was hailed in the Japanese press as a man-versus-nature tale of triumph.
"Man fights off bear with bare hands!" the Nikkan Sports tabloid screamed.
Despite media excitement over the episode, authorities in Japan advise against this course of action when confronted by one of Japan's numerous wild bears.
Earlier this year four people were killed in separate bear attacks.
San Francisco, United States | Microsoft is putting its machine brains into a Liebherr refrigerator.
The US technology giant and Liebherr are collaborating on a new "SmartDeviceBox" that take the kitchen appliance beyond cooling comestibles to reminding people what they need at the market, Microsoft principal data scientist TJ Hazen said in a blog post
The box is an internet-connected module that fits inside refrigerators and freezers.
Microsoft is putting machine vision capabilities to work to enable boxes to recognize milk cartons, ketchup bottles and other food inside refrigerators, according to Hazen.
The SmartDeviceBox uses cameras and object recognition technology to track what is in a refrigerator, keeping an inventory list, so that can be accessed through applications tailored for smartphones powered by Android, Apple or Windows software, Microsoft news center staff member Athima Chansanchai said in an online post.
"In the near future, Liebherr refrigerators will help you shop and plan meals through intelligent food management," Chansanchai said.
Paris, France | The Champs-Elysee was the setting of a mini-air show as amateur drone enthusiasts flew their high-tech toys over the famed Paris avenue in the city's first festival celebrating the gadgets.
Concentrating intently, punters guided their remote-controlled flying machines through a brightly coloured obstacle course accompanied by commentary worthy of a Formula One race.
The afternoon festival included a race and demonstrations of the remote-controlled devices that are increasingly used as toys as well as for surveillance, aerial photography and -- controversially -- in the secretive US counter-terror campaign.
"It's really magical to be at a site like the Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous places in the world," said Dunkan Bossian, 19, one of eight pilots who competed in the race.
A German entrant, 27-year-old Julia Muller, added: "Events like this are important to show people that drones are not only dangerous things but you can have fun with them as well."
Part of the famous avenue -- which is carless on the first Sunday of every month -- was converted into a drone aviary for the occasion, a space confined in netting that is about eight metres (25 feet) high and 140 metres long.
"There has been a democratisation of the drone for leisure activities," city official Jean-Louis Missika told AFP, adding that drones were last year's most popular Christmas present.
However, "people must absolutely understand that it is not a toy, that regulations are very strict for good reasons," Missika said. "You can't fly a drone in the park like you can play badminton."
So the festival had a teaching component, with displays on the regulations, the drone's various uses, and workshops on piloting them that allowed amateurs to try their hand.
The festival was an occasion for the postal service to demonstrate its delivery drone, which weighs 3.7 kilos (eight pounds) and can carry three kilos of mail over 20 kilometres (12 miles).
France is the world leader in the market for civilian drones, selling 300,000 of the devices last year -- three times as many as in 2014.
The industry had a turnover of some 300 million euros ($335 million) in 2015, of which 60 million euros was in the professional drone sector.
The city on Sunday announced the opening of two permanent sites -- in the Bois de Boulogne park in the west of Paris and in the Parc de la Villette to the north -- where amateurs can pilot their drones
Paris, France | Patients long paralysed from spinal cord injuries showed unprecedented gains in mobility and feeling -- and in some cases a renewed sex life -- through virtual-reality training and the use of brain-controlled robotics, scientists said.
Six men and two women who had completely lost the use of their lower limbs all made significant progress, the researchers reported in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.
In four cases, doctors were able to upgrade their status to "partial paralysis," an unheard-of level of improvement using non-invasive techniques.
One of them -- a 32-year-old woman paralysed for more than a decade -- may have experienced the most dramatic transformation.
At the outset of the trial, undertaken at a clinic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she was unable to stand, even with the help of braces.
Within 13 months, she could walk with the help of braces and a therapist, and could produce a walking motion while suspended from a harness.
"We couldn't have predicted this surprising clinical outcome when we began the project," said Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University in North Carolina and the main architect of the rehabilitative research.
"Until now, nobody has seen recovery of these functions in a patient so many years after being diagnosed with complete paralysis," he told journalists in a phone briefing.
One of the women sufficiently recovered sensation -- on her skin and inside her body -- "that she decided to deliver a baby," Nicolelis said. "She could feel the contractions."
The innovative therapy combined several techniques to stimulate parts of the brain that once controlled the patients' long-inactive limbs.
The underlying -- but still unproven -- theory is that this process provokes changes not only in the brain, but in the damaged spinal cord as well.
- Virtual reality -Nicolelis took the global spotlight in June 2014 when a paraplegic wearing a robotic bodysuit he co-designed delivered the symbolic first kick at football's World Cup in Brazil.
In the new trials, rehabilitation began by learing how to operate a digital Doppelganger, or avatar, within a virtual reality environment.
At the same time, patients wore snug caps lined with 11 electrodes to record their brain activity through EEG, or electro-encephalography.
Initially, when they were asked to imagine walking while immersed in a digital 3D world, the parts of the brain associated with motor control of the legs failed to light up.
"If you said, 'Use your hands,' there was brain activity," Nicolelis said. "But the brain has almost completely erased the representation of their lower limbs."
After months of training, these long-dormant parts of the brain started to wake up.
At that point, the patients graduated to more challenging equipment that required some control over their posture, balance and ability to use upper limbs, including overhead harnesses -- common in physical therapy centres -- that carry the body's weight.
They also used exoskeleton robotics not unlike the articulated, high-tech armour of comic book hero Iron Man.
Through all of this, the patients wore an arm sleeve equipped with a touch-technology, called haptic feedback, that uses a range of unique vibrations -- something like the buzzing jolts gamers feel in hand-held controllers -- to help train the brain.
When an avatar walks on sand, for example, the patient feels a different pressure than for grass or asphalt.
The patient's brain creates the illusory feeling that he or she is walking without the assistance of devices.
- Reason unclear -What exactly happens in the body to allow for these improvements is still not clear.
At least one previous study, Nicolelis said, has shown that a large percentage of patients who are diagnosed as having complete paraplegia may still have some spinal nerves left intact.
"These nerves may go quiet for many years because there is no signal from the (cerebral) cortex to the muscles," he speculated.
"Over time, training with the brain-machine interface could have rekindled these nerves."
Even a small number of remaining nerve fibres "may be enough to convey signals from the motor cortical area of the brain to the spinal cord," he suggested.
High-tech imaging confirms activity in the brain during training.
However, the scanning cannot be used to scrutinise the spinal cord due to the presence of reconstructive metal in the damaged area.
In 2014, three young paraplegics were able to voluntarily flex their knees, ankles and toes after US scientists placed implants in their lower spine, hailed as a breakthrough at the time.
And earlier this year, a US man paralysed in the arms was able to use his right hand to swipe a credit card and stir coffee thanks to a surgically-inserted chip that allowed his brain to communicate with computer linked to an electrode sleeve.
But the new results may be the first achieved without the use of any invasive devices.
- Better life -With the eight patients now into their second year of training, Nicolelis is preparing a follow-up study looking at changes in their quality of life.
Most them recovered some degree of control of basic bodily functions, including bladder control and bowel function.
"There has also been improvement in sexual performance for the men," said Nicolelis.
Some had recovered "the possibility of having sexual intercourse, and erections," he said.
Beijing, China | Decades of conservation work in China have paid off for the giant panda, whose status was upgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" due to a population rebound.
The news was announced as part of an update to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which praised Beijing's efforts.
China, however, has refrained from self-congratulation and stressed that the panda -- which symbolises wildlife protection efforts worldwide -- is still under threat.
The number of giant pandas in the wild in China has grown by 16.8 percent over a decade, from 1,596 in 2003 to 1,864 in 2013. The number in captivity rose from 164 to 375 in the same period, according to the State Forestry Administration.
How has China done this?
1) Creation of nature reservesChina has 13 reserves devoted to giant pandas, with the first set up in 1958. They have a dual objective: to prevent poaching of the species and to preserve bamboo forests, which the country has massively replanted. Bamboo constitutes almost the entire diet of a panda -- an adult will eat an average 20 kilogrammes (45 pounds) a day. But there is cause for concern: due to global warming, the IUCN predicts that more than a third of bamboo forests could vanish within 80 years.
2) Subsidies for farmersThe government pays subsidies to farmers living near the reserves, explains Yang Fuqiang, of the American NGO Natural Resources Defense Council. In return they promise to avoid damaging the environment and refrain from using chemical fertilisers or pesticides. The state also compensates victims of panda attacks, with a farmer badly bitten on the thigh receiving more than 80,000 euros ($89,280) last year.
3) Welcome foreign NGOsFor over 30 years China has welcomed international organisations wishing to study pandas. They can provide not just expertise but also media exposure. The first such visit, according to Yang, was in 1979 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Its world-famous logo features the panda and contributes to its global popularity.
4) Use 'panda loans'By loaning specimens to foreign zoos (Beauval in France, Vienna in Austria, Pairi Daiza in Belgium, for example), often after intense diplomatic negotiations, China makes money which is used for conservation efforts. Currently 40 Chinese pandas are on loan in 15 countries.
5) Don't rest on your laurels (or bamboo)Far from basking in self-congratulation following the IUCN report, China believes that the giant panda "remains in imminent danger". Its forestry department pointed Monday to "destruction of the habitat of the giant panda, which continues to threaten its survival" and limits exchanges between different isolated groups.
The administration said increasing exchanges between groups to ensure genetic diversity was a priority, and described the IUCN move to change the panda's status as "premature".
Berlin, Germany | From curved televisions and futuristic virtual reality headsets to intelligent kitchens, Berlin's mega consumer electronics show offers a mind-boggling array of the latest in high-tech gizmos.
Here are a few of the most eye-catching gadgets at IFA:
IT NOT ONLY WASHES AND DRIES
This Panasonic washing machine also folds your laundry. The Japanese white goods maker said the three-in-one machine would be ready to hit stores in 2019.
In the run up, the company is developing a robot called "Laundroid", which would be trained to fold laundry.
ODOUR REMOVAL
Last night's meal at the restaurant may have been delicious but it is far less alluring to have to put on the jacket that still smells like it a day later. German appliance giant Siemens has a solution for that: simply toss it into a washing machine, which without running a wash cycle eliminates the odour through a so-called sensoFresh function.
PA IN YOUR EAR
Want to send an SMS without taking out your phone, or have someone whisper the weather forecast in your ear? Sony has developed "Xperia Ear" -- a small Bluetooth earphone that can tell your smartphone to send texts or recite information into your ear.
"It's not just a Bluetooth earphone, but a personal assistant who works with the smartphone without having to touch it," said Jean-Raoul de Gelis, director-general of Sony Mobile France.
VROOM VROOM GPS
After helping to popularise the use of GPS in cars, TomTom has finally decided to take a crack at the scooter market, with a colourful round satellite navigator that looks like a rear-view mirror.
Fitted on the handlebar, the gadget is controlled through an app on the smartphone. To plot a route, simply enter the destination. The link to the smartphone also allows the GPS device to alert the rider when a call is coming in.
WATCH THE KIDS
Smartwatches are not only for adult geeks. Elari has one called Fixitime that is designed for children, with a GPS system linked to a smartphone app that tells parents exactly where their child is.
It also comes with an SOS button and another that allows the child to make calls to up to 60 pre-set numbers.
Pet-owners who want to make sure that their furry darlings do not run astray meanwhile have the option of attaching a "Smartrack" into their collars. The Elari device is controlled through a smartphone app, and locates the wearer on a map.
Washington, United States | NASA published the first-ever images of Jupiter's north pole and its southern aurora, taken during the Juno spacecraft's first orbital flyby of the gaseous giant.
Juno came within 2,500 miles (4,200 kilometers) of Jupiter during a six-hour transit from the north pole to the south.
"It looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
"The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is."
A camera dubbed the "JunoCam" took the high-definition images. It is one of the nine instruments onboard the spacecraft.
Juno notably sent the first infrared close-ups of the planet's north and south poles.
"These first infrared views of Jupiter's north and south poles are revealing warm and hot spots that have never been seen before," said Alberto Adriani, of the Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali in Rome.
Adriani is one of the researchers who developed the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) that allowed scientists to acquire the images.
"While we knew that the first-ever infrared views of Jupiter's south pole could reveal the planet's southern aurora, we were amazed to see it for the first time," he said.
Auroras are streamers of light in the sky caused by energy from the sun and electrically charged particles trapped in the magnetic field.
Another Juno instrument recorded sounds from Jupiter -- "ghostly-sounding transmissions emanating from the planet," said NASA.
Scientists have known about Jupiter's radio emissions since the 1950s, but had never analyzed them from such a close distance.
"Jupiter is talking to us in a way only gas-giant worlds can," said Bill Kurth, co-investigator from the University of Iowa.
Juno's main mission began in July and is scheduled to end in February 2018, when the probe will self-destruct by diving into the planet's atmosphere.
The $1.1 billion project aims to peer beneath the clouds around Jupiter for the first time to learn more about the planet's atmosphere.
Scientists want to know how much water the planet contains, because it can tell them a lot about when and how the planet formed.
Juno will also probe how the planet's intense magnetic field is generated, and study the formation of auroras.
Washington, United States | American researchers have created a low-cost textile made of a plastic base that could cool the body when woven into clothing.
The engineers suggested in the US journal Science that the textile could become a way to keep people living in hot climates cool without using air conditioning.
"If you can cool the person rather than the building where they work or live, that will save energy," said Yi Cui, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and of photon science at Stanford.
Scientists blended nanotechnology, photonics and chemistry to develop the material, which cools the wearer in two ways.
Like cotton, the textile allows sweat to evaporate through the material, but the new development allows it to also let through heat the body gives off as infrared radiation.
The latter is a characteristic of polyethylene, the clear, clingy plastic already used as kitchen wrap.
All objects -- including our bodies -- discharge heat as infrared radiation in the form of invisible light wavelengths.
Clothing traps those wavelengths close to the body, but the new plastic textile lets them through.
"Forty to 60 percent of our body heat is dissipated as infrared radiation when we are sitting in an office," said Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering. "But until now there has been little or no research on designing the thermal radiation characteristics of textiles."
To test the cooling capabilities of the experimental material, researchers put swatches of the plastic material and cotton fabric on bare skin and compared skin surface temperature.
"Wearing anything traps some heat and makes the skin warmer," Fan said. "If dissipating thermal radiation were our only concern, then it would be best to wear nothing."
The cotton fabric made the skin 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) warmer than the new material, suggesting that wearing the "cooling textile" might make people less likely to resort to turning on fans or air conditioners.
The scientists said they will continue working to add more colors, textures and cloth-like traits to their product.
"If you want to make a textile, you have to be able to make huge volumes inexpensively," Cui said.
New York, United States | Shanghai-based designer Wang Tao celebrated two years since her New York Fashion Week launch with a stunning collection of elegant banker chic for the independent, clever woman.
Wang -- who studied fashion in Japan, worked in Britain and still keeps a studio in London -- chooses to show her collections in New York as the financial capital of the fashion world.
Hers is a sophisticated look that elongates the figure with seasonal on-trend vertical stripes, black and white blazer-style dresses with sexy frayed hemlines, delicate lace tops and soft pleats.
It was a meditation on classic masculine-inspired office wear, made luxurious in the use of gorgeous fabrics and feminine with lace detailing: a look after the heart of many a Park Avenue businesswoman.
Next year she is planning to open a store in Manhattan, her first outside China for namesake brand Taoray Wang, and she sees the Big Apple as a key emerging market.
"We have a lot of career women working in New York and so maybe that's why this market is becoming very attractive to us," she told AFP. "The market is here."
While she showcased some Eastern-style high collars, the secret Chinese ingredient to her clothes is the patterned silk linings -- not outwardly visible but which feel beautiful on the skin.
Women have to care about themselves, she explained.
"It's not just a look, it's a feel so I think maybe I care more about how do you feel when you're wearing the clothes," she said.
Speaking English with a noticeable London accent, she said she finds inspiration in friends who are bankers, investors and lawyers.
"I just find them incredible," Wang said. "I like strong, clever, independent women."
She offered the beautifully tailored jacket dress in ivory, black and navy, or in silk for evening. There were asymmetrical white lace skirts worn under the blazer and pinstriped pants and blouses.
Her wide-leg trousers had a panel overlay to create movement. There was a beautiful black top with cream ribbon shoulder straps and a one-shoulder pleated black and white dress in wide vertical stripes.
Another highlight was a sophisticated jumpsuit designed for the powerful, professional and modern woman who wants to be stylish, elegant and sexy.
