Paris, France |

Thousands of people massed outside the Moulin Rouge caberet on Sunday night for a fireworks and French can-can extravaganza to mark the 130th anniversary of the storied Montmartre institution.

Police blocked off the boulevard for the event, which began with music and a light show projected onto the iconic red windmill, recounting the venue's Belle Epoque origins.

A sole dancer then appeared on the roof, braving the autumn chill in one of the caberet's skimpy sequined costumes -- though she was not topless, presumably a nod to the families in the crowd.

Then, as fireworks boomed overhead -- red, naturally, later mixed with whites and blues -- around 50 long-legged dancers wearing the same colours emerged to perform their famous can-can.

Yiftah Bar-Akiva, an Israeli who has lived in Paris for 11 years, was sipping champagne from a flute glass with friends who came for the party.

"It's as mythical as the Eiffel Tower, it's like a piece of history of the Belle Epoque," he said.

"I don't think it's disrespectful of women, I think it's still art," he added. "It's not like it's a peepshow!"

Joanna Cavarzan travelled from her home near the city of Chartres, not far from Paris, with a friend, Joe McGinty, who was visiting from Toronto.

"I've never been inside, and I was hoping to see a little bit what it was like," Cavarzan said.

But like many in the crowd, she could hardly see the dancers -- no stage had been set up on the boulevard for their show.  

Opened in 1889 -- the same year as the Eiffel Tower was completed -- the Moulin Rouge has become a must-see for millions of tourists to the French capital, even if only from the outside.

The two nightly shows, two hours each, are almost always sold out seven nights a week, 365 nights a year, with tourists and locals attending in roughly even numbers.

The cabaret has also become a touchstone in popular culture, not only with Baz Luhrmann's 2001 hit film but before that in 1952 with John Huston's version starring Zsa Zsa Gabor.

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Johannesburg, South Africa |

Clad in an array of capes, masks, pointy elf ears and spectacular face paint, comics fans gathered in South Africa's biggest city this weekend for the second edition of Comic Con Africa.  

Dressed as their favourite superhero, fans of cosplay -- a portmanteau for costume play -- strolled around Johannesburg's Gallager convention centre, meeting writers, illustrators and fellow enthusiasts.

"It's the first time I've been here. I have heard so much about it so I wanted to experience it," said Nishen Deepchand, peering out from a black Batman mask.

"I've teamed up with Tinkerbell as well. It's a special love affair but nobody knows about it so make sure you don't tell Batgirl."

Sponsors of the four-day event, which opened on Saturday, are expecting 60,000 attendees - a unique opportunity for new creators to showcase their work.

Guests of honour this year included Loyiso Mkize, the artist behind South Africa's first superhero.

Mkize's three-volume illustrated story of "Kwezi" - a 19-year old boy in South Africa who discovers he has superpowers - has been a hit in the country.  

"The fan base has grown to now in the tens of thousands," Mkize told AFP. "That's an amazing feat, particularly for an industry in South Africa where we thought there was no industry."

Mkize is among a growing movement of African illustrators striving to bring more diversity to the global comic scene.

Since 2013, Nigerian start-up Comic Republic have created a series of superheroes referred to as "Africa's Avengers"by fans. 

And in 2015 Nigerian-born Roye Okupe launched the futuristic saga "E.X.O. - The Legend of Wale Williams".

Last year, Marvel studios released "Black Panther", the first superhero blockbuster featuring an entirely black cast.

"Creating South Africa's first superhero was the first leg," said Mkize. "But continuing that legacy and continuing the story and the narrative along with our readers has been the journey".

Miami, United States |A team of scientists in the US have managed to reproduce coral in a lab setting for the first time ever, an encouraging step in the race to save "America's Great Barrier Reef" off the coast of Florida.

The researchers from Florida Aquarium's Center for Conservation were able to reproduce endangered Atlantic Pillar coral through induced spawning, a development that could ultimately prevent the extinction of the Florida Reef tract.

"This amazing breakthrough was the first time that we spawned Atlantic corals in a laboratory setting that we've had for over a year in our greenhouses," Amber Whittle, the aquarium's director for conservation, told AFP.

"It's been done before at the Horniman Museum in London with Pacific corals, never with Atlantic corals, and the Pillar coral that we spawned is a highly endangered species."

The Florida Aquarium and the Horniman Museum began working together in 2015 on induced reproduction techniques. 

Reproduction was achieved by mimicking the conditions of the corals' natural environment, including sunrises, sunsets, moon phases, water temperature and quality.

Florida's corals are deteriorating rapidly due to climate change and a destructive tissue disease that appeared in the waters of the southeastern state in 2014.

Scientists hope to reproduce healthy corals and repopulate the reefs through this technique.

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Dozens of curvy women staged a fashion show near the Eiffel Tower , braving chilly rain in skimpy outfits to defy fashion diktats with the simple slogan: "My body is beautiful."

Transparent nightgowns, stockings and lingerie were out in full force along with white-winged models gently mocking US underwear Victoria's Secret to the delight of Parisians and tourists who snapped away with mobile phones and cameras.

Plus size models and "everyday women" took part in the second edition of the "body positive" show, inspired by a movement launched in countries such as Britain and the United States.

Organiser Georgia Stein told AFP her goal was "to represent the majority of women, show they are beautiful despite their 'faults' which are in fact not faults because they are completely natural, like tummies, cellulite or stretchmarks".

The message was underscored by signs in English that read "My body is beautiful" or "Your beauty through your diversity".

Stein, 32, said she wanted to make a difference for "women who don't feel good about themselves and fall into depression as a result".

"In France we lag far behind on the subject," she added in reference to fashion for larger women.

"We don't see any diversity in advertising campaigns or on catwalks. The market for larger sizes is minimal."

Leslie Lauthelin, who wears a French size 44-46 (a US size 10-12, a UK size 14-16) said she had trouble finding fashionable clothing in stores.

Sexy lingerie

"Finding something trendy at a good price is almost impossible. We have to fall back on things with little flowers, outfits that are pretty out of date," she said.

"Finding sexy lingerie if you are curvy, with good support, is complicated. We are doing this so that the fashion world gets going," she added.

The city of Paris in February organised a campaign against fat shaming during the latest fashion week, but the message had trouble being heard. Fashion houses contacted by AFP preferred not to comment publicly.

Karl Lagerfeld, the late designer known for speaking his mind, once said that "no one wants to see curvy women" on catwalks.

Stein noted there were fewer plus sized women in France than in Britain or the US.

"In the United States, they are who they are, a woman size 50 will wear a short, tight dress with a plunging neckline or heels.

"In France, we are more likely to hide that of which we have too much or not enough."

Victoria's Secret wings

"Ladies, don't forget your wings," Stein called out as she adjusted a pink puff on the arm of a shiny-lipped model wearing a fuchsia nightgown in a cafe north of Paris ahead of the show.

Stein herself was wearing a lacy white slip and makeup but all were covered with blankets as they headed to a bus that took them to the Trocadero plaza where the show had the Eiffel Tower as background.

She said that when staff at Victoria's Secret were asked why there was not more diversity among their models -- who are sometimes called angels -- they had replied "because we sell fantasy".

"They were hit by a huge boycott on social media," Stein said. "With the wings we wanted to send a little wink, to say we too are angels who sell fantasies."

Vienna, Austria | 

The Austrian capital is for the second year in a row basking in the title of the world's most liveable city, as measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual ranking of the world's urban centres.

Tourists may already be familiar with its Habsburg palaces and numerous opportunities for coffee and cake, but how else has Vienna kept its place at top?

- The great outdoors -

Environment is an important factor in the EIU's ranking and Vienna prides itself on its residents' access to plentiful green spaces, with rolling woodland at the city limits easy accessible by its efficient public transport system. Even within its urban area, the city says that half of its surface is covered with some sort of greenery. Vienna can also boast that its drinking water comes direct from the Alps but if inhabitants need even more water to cool off in, a stretch of the Danube river is open for swimming in summer -- reachable by metro, of course. 

- An 'inclusive' city -

Many of Vienna's municipal policies focus on keeping the cost of living in check and preventing patterns of inequality and gentrification that have affected other big cities. For example, annual travelcards for public transport cost just one euro per day and now outnumber cars in the city.

Housing is also an area where efforts have been made over decades to keep costs down, with around 60 percent of the city's 1.8 million inhabitants living in a property where rents are capped. The cost of living overall is near the European average and the city's crime rate is the lowest it has been for almost 20 years.

One resident Barbara Zburny told AFP that there were "no ghettos" in the city, adding: "Different cultures mix together well."

- Everybody happy? -

One could be forgiven for thinking that given all this, the Viennese would be among the world's cheeriest people and in the last satisfaction survey carried out by city authorities in June, nine out of ten did indeed say they were either "happy" or "very happy" to live in Vienna, with the city's cultural life and environment scoring particularly highly.

However, the Viennese also have a reputation for "Schmaeh" or a sardonic sense of humour, and not always looking on the bright side of life. Indeed, tips for newcomers often include the essential skill of complaining like a local -- or "raunzen" in the local dialect.

One survey of emigrants worldwide ranked Vienna 65th out of 72 cities in order of "friendliness", with the language barrier cited as a particular problem in fitting in.

- 'Vienna-bashing' -

The left has won every democratic election in Viennagoing back a century, with the city sometimes at odds politically with the more conservative rest of the country.

Every flattering international ranking is therefore useful ammunition for the city authorities, especially ahead of what's expected to be a strong right-wing challenge in municipal elections in 2020.

The previous right-wing national government under Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was often accused of indulging in "Vienna-bashing", particularly in respect of the city's social expenditure.

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© Agence France-Presse