The unusual event on the airport's third runway -- which is still under construction -- saw the workout paired with beverages as participants were offered coconuts, iced teas and water to incorporate into their routines.

Some 500 yoga-goers and camera-ready influencers began arriving at 5:00 am, making their way in the dark to their mats on the runaway.

As the sun rose, yoga instructors guided the group through two workouts, cheerily enthusiastic despite the pollution, industrial setting, and occasional flight roar.

"Today is going to be very special," an instructor blared, before urging participants to "put your coconut in the air!"

"Feel like a beautiful bird," she said, as a plane rumbled along the concrete and lifted into the air behind the participants.

While many present were influencers -- and perhaps more focused on getting the perfect shot than the perfect lunge -- most seemed to have come for a laugh.

"This was something fun, this was a nice event," said lawyer Rugeradh Tungsupakul, attending with a friend.

"Right now, because of our jobs, we are too busy to go to a yoga studio," she told AFP.

Although Rugeradh was worried about pollution -- a perennial issue in smoggy Bangkok, which regularly ranks among the world's most polluted cities -- she said they had checked the air quality before arriving.

"Right now, it's not too bad," she explained.

Although there were a few men scattered in the crowd, the workout was dominated by women.

Most were clad in the ubiquitous yoga uniform of black leggings and cropped white t-shirts -- in this instance emblazoned with the word "BREW" for Brew Yoga which organized the event.

- 'Why not?!' -

"This is a very special event for me," said instructor Pavadee Komchokpaisan, 30, adding it was the first time yoga had been done on the runway.

"We have so many people come here to just join the yoga class, and take a picture on a runway," she told AFP, praising Bangkok's yoga community.

One of those receiving instruction was Precious, who has lived in Bangkok for the past four years, and said she was invited thanks to her Instagram-famous cat Ernest.

"He's been to Switzerland, Botswana, South Africa, so obviously this seemed kind of appropriate," she told AFP.

She figured she was unlikely to ever be asked to do yoga on an airport runway again.

"Why not?!" she asked.

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In the northern port of serves fish and shellfish, with dozens of portraits of her on the walls.

"When cuisine, art and politics come together, you can make beautiful things," restaurant owner Gjergj Luca told AFP.

Funded by Italy, the asylum centre -- one of two in the area due to open in coming weeks -- has been largely welcomed by local people for creating jobs in an impoverished region.

Human rights groups have branded it illegal under international law, warning that Albania, a n Shengjin -- by the Adriatic Sea where many migrants risk their lives trying to cross to Italy -- the "Trattoria Meloni"on-EU country, offers limited protections for the asylum seekers.

Meloni visited the future centre in Shengjin in June, before the restaurant was opened.

The 58-year-old owner Luca, son of a famous Albanian actor and a former actor himself, said he was charmed by her personality, calling her "extraordinary".

He said he hopes she will come back to taste his food and admire her portraits, which adorn every inch of the restaurant's walls.

The portraits were all painted by Heliton Haliti, a well-known Albanian artist.

A smiling Meloni, a serious Meloni, an angry Meloni, Meloni as a child, teenager or politician -- 70 portraits of the leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party hang in the restaurant.

Meloni is a "very interesting, strong character, and even if her political convictions aren't my own, that hasn't stopped me from doing a passionate job," Haliti told AFP.

"Did I need a permission to paint her portrait?" he added.

"Did Andy Warhol need permission to paint Marilyn Monroe? In postmodernism, it's allowed, and I think that with Meloni, I've succeeded."

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He's been living in a submerged capsule off the coast of Panama for two months -- which means, he told a visiting AFP journalist, he has about two more to go.

"The last time I checked, I was still married," he joked, as fish swim through bright blue Caribbean waters outside the portholes.

But Koch, a 59-year-old aerospace engineer from Germany, has grander plans than simply notching a record. His stunt, he says, could change the way we think about human life -- and where we can settle, even permanently.

"Moving out to the ocean is something we should do as a species," he told AFP.

"What we are trying to do here is prove that the seas are actually a viable environment for human expansion."

Koch's 30-square-meter (320-square-foot) capsule has most of the trappings of modern life: a bed, toilet, TV, computer and internet -- even an exercise bike.

The only thing missing? A shower.

His home under the sea is attached through a vertical tube to another chamber perched above the waves, housing other members of his team -- and providing a way for food and curious journalists to be sent down.

The underwater chamber, meanwhile, provides a shelter for fish and acts as an artificial reef -- providing an environmental benefit.

"In the night, you can hear all the crustaceans," he said. "There's the fish out there, and there's all that stuff, and that wasn't here before we came."

- A window into the sea -

On a small bedside table lies Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," a 19th century sci-fi classic.

An admirer of the novel's Captain Nemo, Koch, who went down on September 26, is hoping to come up for air on January 24, surpassing by 20 days the record held by American Joseph Dituri, who spent 100 days submerged in a Florida lake.

Two clocks show how much time has passed -- and how much remains.

A narrow spiral staircase leads to the chamber above, the entire contraption located some 15 minutes by boat from the Puerto Lindo coast, off northern Panama.

Four cameras film his moves in the capsule -- capturing his daily life, monitoring his mental health and to provide proof that he's never come up to the surface.

Eial Berja, an Israeli, operates them from the section above, while minding the electricity and back-up generator.

It's not all easy going, he told AFP, noting that a heavy storm almost put an end to the project.

Outside of the media, Koch's only visitors have been his doctor, his children and his wife.

Supporting the project is Grant Romundt, from Canada. Both he and Koch have grander visions linked to the libertarian -- and at-times controversial --  "seasteading" movement that envisions ocean-based communities outside government control.

Though he still has a long way to go to resurface, Koch knows exactly what he'll do first once he's back on land: "a shower, a real shower."

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AFP picks out six sports stories that weren't all about the sport:

- Super Swift -

Kansas City Chiefs may have taken a third Super Bowl in five years but the NFL thriller seemed to take second billing to the presence of Travis Kelce's girlfriend in the crowd - Taylor Swift.

The songstress superstar was performing in Tokyo the night before but hopped on a private jet to make the NFL championship spectacular in Las Vegas.

At one point she delighted the internet by chugging a beer -- she clocked in at 6.6 seconds.

"Thank you for making it halfway across the world," said Kelce after the game before offering what might be a Swift lyric. "You're the best, baby. The absolute best."

A few days later Swift donated $100,000 to a fundraiser supporting the family of a woman killed in a mass shooting at the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade.

- A man of influence -

Top flight Argentinian club Deportivo Riestra drew the ire of the country's football community after selecting an influencer with no professional experience in its starting XI.

Riestra selected a streamer known as "Spreen", who has some 15 million followers on his social media channels, for their match against Primera Division leaders Velez Sarsfield, before substituting the 24-year-old off after 78 seconds. He had not touched the ball.

His selection caused a backlash with former Argentina international Juan Sebastian Veron saying it showed a "total lack of respect for football and footballers" but it worked wonders for the club.

The announcement "Spreen" -- the pseudonym of Argentine influencer Ivan Buhajeruk -- would be playing racked up 3.4 million views, compared to the several thousand for a typical match.

- Death is no excuse -

When dope testers turned up at the Norwegian football team's training base, they had a list of stars they wanted samples from Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Leipzig's Antonio Nusa... as well as Einar Gundersen and Jorgen Juve.

Gundersen and Juve are Norwegian legends but both have been dead for decades -- Juve scoring the goal that beat Germany in front of Adolf Hitler in 1936.

Coach Stale Solbakken thought he was being pranked, asking, "Is this a hidden camera or what?"

Anti-Doping Norway struggled to explain their mistake. "It's hard to say what happened," a spokesman said.

- Baseball double -

Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen carved out a unique piece of baseball history after becoming the first player to officially appear for two teams in the same game.

The 29-year-old's unprecedented stint of double-duty arose due to a freak confluence of events stemming from Boston's abandoned game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The match began on June 26 with Jansen in the middle of an at-bat for Toronto when it was called off for rain in the second inning.

A month later, Jansen was traded to the Red Sox and when the game was resumed at Fenway Park in August he was on the field playing against his former team.

"Everybody keeps saying history is being made," he said. "It's such a strange thing. I never would have imagined myself in this situation with it being history."

- Bonkers conkers -

Scandal struck the UK-based World Conker Championships when the men's champion, 'King Conker', was accused of cheating after he was found to have a steel chestnut in his pocket.

Eighty-two-year-old David Jakins, who has been competing since 1977, said he kept a steel conker on him for "humour value".

His vanquished opponent, however, made the accusation that he had switched his genuine conker - a horse chestnut threaded with string - for the far more destructive steel version.

After an investigation, Jakins was cleared by the organisers and allowed to keep his crown although he was beaten for the overall title by 'Queen Conker' - 34-year-old Kelci Banschbach, originally from Indianapolis, Indiana.

- Sun power -

Hats off to a team of Belgian students and engineers who won a solar-powered car race in South Africa, widely considered the most challenging for testing the technology.

Over a dozen teams competed in the eight-day race spanning 4,000 kilometres from the north-east of the country to Cape Town, with varying weather and altitude extremes adding to the complexities for designers.

"Innoptus claimed victory after breaking their own record not once, but twice during the competition," said the organisers of the Sasol Solar Challenge.

The Innoptus car had a flat surface decked with photovoltaic panels and a white exterior, with narrow driver's seat sporting the number plate "SUN 08".

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Live translation, GPS, cameras: glasses are quickly adopting new functionalities.

"There are so many of these smart wearables, and more of them are going on your face," said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where numerous smart glasses manufacturers showcased their latest innovations.

The industry has come a long way from its early days. Gone are the conspicuous protrusions of Google Glass and the bulky frames and cables of Epson's Moverio from the early 2010s.

Today's smart glasses, all paired with smartphone apps, increasingly resemble traditional eyewear. The Ray-Ban Meta, developed by Mark Zuckerberg's social media giant, currently leads the market with this new approach.

According to a recent MarketsandMarkets study, the sector's growth is "driven by advancements in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and miniaturization technologies, which are pushing the boundaries of what these wearable devices can achieve."

However, integrating technology into fashionable frames requires careful compromise.

The Ray-Ban Meta, for instance, can capture photos and videos, play music, and provide information about objects in view, but doesn't offer augmented reality with superimposed images.

Meta representative Robin Dyer explained that while AR capabilities may come later, they would likely double the current price.

- 200 dollars -

Price is a major battleground in this market, particularly with the entry of Chinese manufacturers.

While Google Glass initially retailed for around $1,500 in 2013, today's smart glasses are approaching the price of premium conventional frames.

Meta's James Nickerson noted that their Ray-Ban collaboration starts at $300, just $50 more than standard Ray-Bans, offering "a cool camera" as a bonus.

California startup Vue has pushed prices even lower, offering basic models with voice assistant and music capabilities for $200.

Some manufacturers, like XReal, focus on augmented reality, projecting smartphone, computer, or gaming console displays -- though this is a market for which Apple's Vision Pro failed to create excitement last year.

For AR, recent advances help move away from the bulk of a virtual reality headset towards that of classic sunglasses, even if they require a cable to be connected to the device.

Meta's ambition is to launch its own pared down version, the Orion, currently in the test phase but not expected to be marketed until 2027 at the earliest.

- Chasing cool -

Companies like Even Realities and Halliday are pioneering ultra-thin frames that look identical to standard glasses while offering basic AR capabilities.

"If we want to make a good pair of smart glasses, we must first make a pair of cool glasses," emphasized Carter Hou, Halliday's second-in-command.

Halliday's $489 model, launching in March, displays text in the upper corner of the wearer's vision. Using AI, it can suggest responses during conversations, provide real-time translation, and function as a discrete teleprompter.

Even Realities has also taken a minimalist approach.

"We got rid of the speaker, we got rid of the camera," explained the company's Tom Ouyang. "Glasses are for the eyes, not the ears."

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But the modest boxing club is one of a network of gyms teaching the noble art in just one small Accra district that has become known internationally as an epicentre for the sport.

Just a few metres away, another facility, Will Power Boxing Gym, welcomes those entering with the sign "Go Hard or Go Home".

More than a dozen small gyms are scattered throughout the winding sidestreets of the hardscrabble Jamestown district and its Bukom neighbourhood near the city's Atlantic Ocean fishing port.

Jamestown has already produced its share of champions, whose fading posters now adorn club walls, including Azumah "The Professor" Nelson, who many consider as the greatest African boxer.

A new generation of Jamestown champions is on the rise.

"Ghana boxing is all about Jamestown," said John Zile, 24, a professional with a record of 15-0, fighting out of the district's Bronx Boxing Gym and who moved to Jamestown from the north.

"If you want to be great you have to come here."

Boxing coaches attribute the growth of Jamestown and Bukom boxing to the tough life in the fishing community and a tradition of settling arguments the old-fashioned way: With a show of strength.

That eventually evolved into the boxing business.

"It became clear to this side of the country that boxing belonged to them," said Lawrence Carl Lokko, owner of Bronx Boxing and a well-known coach.

- Two rules -

The sport is also a way into a disciplined life, away from the Jamestown streets where opportunities are few, he said.

Among his stable of fighters is John "Expensive Boxer" Laryea, a WBO African champion and former national titleholder.

Nearby, the neighbourhood boxing stadium hosts regular tournaments among the Jamestown clubs.

At the sparse Attoh Quarshie gym, just metres from the beach, coaches put sweat-drenched fighters through their paces on the bags, before a whistle marks a pause between rounds.

Inside the ring, two more boxers move around and batter focus mitts held by partners.

Near the entrance, a wooden board spells out the gym rules: "Rule 1. The trainer is never wrong. Rule 2. If you think the trainer is wrong refer to Rule 1."

Photos of past tournaments and the gym's team cover parts of the peeling red and yellow walls.

"They train you well," fighter Akimos Ampiah, a professional bantamweight, said between rounds on the heavy bag.

"Boxing. It's a tradition here."

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