Chon Buri, Thailand | 

Sloshing across a muddy field with men sprinting behind them, prized water buffaloes blow past cheering spectators in eastern Thailand on Sunday in a rare display of bovine speed.

Tractors have largely replaced the big beasts in daily work but farmers in Chonburi have preserved the more than 100-year-old racing custom to mark annual rice plantings.

"Before, we used buffaloes to plough rice fields. When our work was done, we held the buffalo race as relaxation," said owner Thanin Sae-tiew, 52.

"It has since become our tradition."

Pairs of horned buffaloes thunder to the finish line while a racer grasping a red plough tries to hold on until the end or face disqualification -- and excited laughter from the crowd.

It's less about winning the 3,000 baht ($100) prize than pride in victory, though the best buffaloes can fetch higher prices when sold.

And they are treated to fancier food than most livestock.

Racer Noppadol Pornpaipan, 22, says his animals are fed boiled rice, eggs and chicken extract in the evening.

But come race day they get a special meal of rice mixed with a little shark fin soup that supposedly boosts buffalo energy.

The normally slow-moving buffaloes can still be seen dotting the rural landscape but the rise of mechanised farming has made them less essential.

Some worry that younger generations will lose touch with older ways of life but the race provides a way of keeping the history alive.

"I feel good that I'm preserving the Thai buffaloes so they will not disappear," Noppadol said.

spk-joe/mtp

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.

js/har

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.

lm/ia/to