Trump adds Columbus statue, walkway in latest White House makeover

Billions of dirty diapers end up buried or burned every year in Japan  -- more from seniors than babies -- but a recycling breakthrough has given them a new lease of life, one hot mess at a time.

A pilot project, billed as a world first, reuses the main ingredient in nappies to make new ones, offering hopes to ease bloated landfill sites and respond to a growing need for adult diapers in ageing Japan.

"Demand for baby diapers is falling. But a growing number of elderly people wear diapers, and more recently, even pets do too," Takahisa Takahara, president of Japanese hygiene product maker Unicharm, the firm behind the new initiative, told AFP.

"If we can transform the sense of guilt ordinary consumers may feel about using disposable products into something positive, and make using recycled products the norm in society, it will become economically viable," he said.

Unicharm is testing the scheme in two pioneering southern Japanese municipalities, Shibushi and Osaki, which recycle 80 percent of household waste -- four times the Japanese average.

The two localities, home to about 40,000 people, decided to take radical action around 25 years ago after predictions that their communal rubbish dump would be full by 2004.

Now, the landfill site will stay open for another four decades.

In 2024, diapers were included in the recycling drive, with residents required to write their names on designated bin bags.

"Ultimately, our top priority is to reduce our trash and extend the life of the landfill," Shibushi environment official Kenichi Matsunaga told AFP.

- Nappy ending -

The collected diapers are shredded, washed and separated into pulp, plastic and super-absorbent polymer (SAP).

Unicharm has been able to recycle these materials into products with less rigorous sanitary requirements, like toilet paper.

It has also achieved the breakthrough of managing to use the pulp, which makes up the bulk of a diaper, to make new ones.

The process follows a special ozone treatment for sterilisation, bleaching and deodorisation.

By 2028, Unicharm aims to recycle the plastic and absorbent polymer from soiled diapers to make new ones as well, Tsutomu Kido, senior executive officer of Unicharm's recycling business, told AFP.

For now, its recycled products are on sale only in some local stores, priced around 10 percent higher than those with fresh raw materials, or distributed to selected childcare and senior care centres.

The company is also testing a method to cut the amount of water in the recycling process, and aims to team up with 20 municipalities by 2035 to recycle their diapers.  

- Ageing nation -

Japan has a poor recycling rate, reusing not even 20 percent of municipal waste, according to the National Institute for Environmental Studies.

That compares to 67 percent in Germany, 44 percent in Britain and around 32 percent in the United States.

Waste per capita, however, is less than two-thirds the OECD average -- a typical American throws almost three times more.

Japan does relatively well on generating electricity by incinerating trash, too.

In the ageing nation, home to almost 100,000 people over 100, diapers and related products are used more by seniors than babies.

In 2024, Japan produced 9.6 billion adult diapers and incontinence pads, compared to eight billion for babies, according to the Japan Hygiene Products Industry Association.

The group predicts Japan will throw away 2.6 million tons of dirty diapers every year by 2030, up from around 2.2 tons in 2020.

By that date, the share of dirty diapers in Japanese trash by weight will rise to 7.1 percent from 5.2 percent in 2020, the environment ministry said.

By 2030, the national government wants at least 100 of more than 1,700 municipalities to start recycling diapers, or at least talk about it.

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Oil prices tumbled and stocks rose Wednesday on hopes for a de-escalation of the Middle East war after Washington sent a peace plan to Iran, while Tehran announced it will let "non-hostile" oil vessels through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

After nearly four weeks of conflict, investors jumped on the first signs that hostilities could wind down, though analysts pointed out that the arrival of more US troops in the region suggested the chance of escalation remained.

The economic impact of the crisis has begun to bite around the world, with governments looking to cut energy consumption and airlines scaling back flights.

Both main crude contracts plunged more than six percent -- with Brent back below $100 -- after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism at ending the war and said officials were "in negotiations right now". Iran has not confirmed any formal talks.

"They did something yesterday that was amazing actually. They gave us a present and the present arrived today. And it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"That meant one thing to me -- we're dealing with the right people."

He did not explain further but said it related to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas flows and which Iran has largely blockaded, sending global energy prices soaring and fuelling fears of another surge in inflation.

Trump said that he sent a plan and that it "all starts with, they cannot have a nuclear weapon", while the New York Times quoted unnamed officials saying the 15-point proposal was sent through Pakistan.

Israel's Channel 12 said that Trump was suggesting a one-month ceasefire during which they would discuss handing over Iran's enriched uranium and banning further enrichment, while Tehran would also ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Israeli report also said Iran would see an end to all sanctions and receive assistance in developing civil nuclear energy.

- Economic impact -

Meanwhile, Tehran, in a message circulated by the International Maritime Organization, assured safe passage through the strait to "non-hostile vessels".

Iran had already said it was not targeting friendly nations.

The news comes after Trump on Saturday gave Iran 48 hours to open Hormuz or he would strike the country's energy infrastructure, before making a surprise U-turn Monday, citing "very good" talks.

Equity traders pounced on the developments, with Tokyo and Seoul spiking more than three percent at one point, while Hong Kong, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, Wellington and Taipei also rallied.

However, violence continued, with an Iranian missile wounding people in Israel, which in turn pressed on multiple fronts and vowed to seize control of a strip of southern Lebanon.

"Markets have tentatively repriced towards a slightly higher probability of de-escalation, but conviction remains low," said Pepperstone's Chris Weston.

However, he added that "developments on the ground do not fully support a de-escalation narrative".

"Reports that the 82nd Airborne Division could deploy around 3,000 troops to the Middle East, alongside discussions around raising the US enlistment age from 34 to 42, point to continued preparation and an increased presence in the region, which in Trump's thinking could increase the pressure on Iran to forge an agreement in the reported upcoming talks."

The economic impact is becoming increasingly clearer. 

Data Tuesday showed business activity in the eurozone slowed significantly in March as energy prices surged and global supply chains were hit, while France's INSEE statistics agency trimmed its growth forecast for the first and second quarters of this year.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared a state of "national energy emergency", citing risks to domestic supplies, and Sri Lanka ordered street lights, neon signs and billboard lighting to be switched off.

Bangladesh raised jet fuel prices 79 percent and Ireland slashed the excise duty on petrol and diesel to stem surging prices at filling stations.

And major airlines Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Air France extended flight suspensions to destinations across the Middle East. 

- Key figures at around 0210 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 5.2 percent at $87.52 a barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.3 percent at $97.90 a barrel

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.7 percent at 53,664.86 

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 25,321.32 

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,916.28

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1611 from $1.1583 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3414 from $1.3381

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.70 yen from 159.03 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.55 pence from 86.57 pence

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 46,124.06 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,965.16 (close)

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Coco Gauff battled past Belinda Bencic to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Open for the first time on Tuesday with a gruelling 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory.

Fourth seed Gauff had considered skipping Miami after being forced to pull out during the fourth round at Indian Wells with a left-arm injury.

But the 22-year-old from Florida, who lives in nearby Delray Beach, was determined to play in what she considers to be her hometown tournament where she had never previously gone further than the last 16.

Gauff's sense of determination was on full display at the Hard Rock Stadium's main court on Tuesday as she weathered fluctuating form against the 12th-seeded Bencic to grind out victory.

"I honestly didn't think I would be in the semis so I'm really happy and proud of myself," Gauff said. 

"I think I proved a lot to myself this week, and I feel like with each match I'm getting better.

"Even though I'm still playing three sets, I feel like the level is getting better and better."

Gauff, the French Open champion, will now face the Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova in the last four as she chases her first Miami final appearance. 

Gauff has won all five of her previous matches against Muchova.

"You don't think about the head-to-head," Gauff said. 

"There's so many matches that we play that could go either way. I don't really think about it -- especially when I play here, because I know how good she is."

Muchova advanced to the last four earlier with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) defeat of Canadian 10th seed Victoria Mboko.

The 29-year-old Muchova admitted she had everything to prove against Gauff.

"I don't have the best record against Coco, but I feel good," Muchova said. "And you never know."

Despite giving away 10 years to the teenaged Mboko, Muchova said she did not feel any sense of disadvantage against her younger opponent.

"I keep getting these questions this week like I'm really old or something," Muchova said. 

"I don't feel that old -- I feel like I'm still pretty young. In my head, I could be 20."

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An Australian dog credited with saving over 100 koalas from bushfires is retiring after a decade of service.

Bear, an 11-year-old Australian Koolie, was one of the first dogs in the country to be trained on the scent of koala fur.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare called using dogs to detect koalas a "novel" approach.

"No one knew if it could be done," IFAW head of programmes Josey Sharrad wrote in a statement about Bear on Monday.

As a pup, the four-legged hero's boundless energy made it tough to stay indoors, but he found his true potential in the bush.

"He literally went from chewing the walls of a Gold Coast apartment to roaming through the Aussie bush on a mission to save our most iconic species," Sharrad said.

Bear's skills saved over 100 koalas as the Black Summer bushfires raged across Australia's eastern seaboard from late 2019 to early 2020, razing millions of hectares, destroying thousands of homes and blanketing cities in noxious smoke. 

The tail-wagging detective with a "joyful and goofy" personality retires with an extensive list of accolades -- including an Animal of the Year award and Puppy Tales Photos Australian Dog of the Year award.

He also features in a "dogumentary" called "Bear: Koala Hero", and in a book, "Bear to the Rescue".

Bear will embark on a slower-paced chapter on the Sunshine Coast with one of his former handlers, getting belly rubs and playing his favourite game, fetch.

One of his former handlers, Romane Cristescu, said Bear had been a "tireless ambassador for koalas for a decade". 

"He melted hearts all around the world, and opened many doors so we could have critical and difficult conversations about climate change and its impacts on the threatened koalas, as well as so many other species."

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Two of the final remaining tickets to the World Cup will be up for grabs when a high‑stakes playoff tournament kicks off in Mexico on Thursday, bringing together six teams from across the globe.

New Caledonia, Suriname, Jamaica, Bolivia, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo form the diverse cast of hopefuls each chasing one of the two berths on offer for this year's expanded 48‑team finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The mini‑tournament in Guadalajara and Monterrey also serves as a test run for two cities set to host World Cup matches in June, giving Mexico a chance to showcase its readiness after recent security concerns.

The straight‑knockout playoffs begin Thursday, with the tiny French Pacific territory of New Caledonia facing the "Reggae Boyz" of Jamaica in Guadalajara.

The winner will advance to meet the Democratic Republic of Congo at the same venue on March 31, with a World Cup ticket on the line. Whoever emerges will join Group K alongside Colombia, Portugal and Uzbekistan.

In Monterrey, Bolivia — seeking their first World Cup appearance since the 1994 finals in the United States — take on Suriname, the former Dutch colony on the northeastern coast   

The victor will move on to a winner‑take‑all clash with Iraq next week for the second berth on offer.

The team that survives the Monterrey pathway will land in a daunting Group I, where France, Norway and Senegal await.

- Iraq, DR Congo favourites -

On paper, and according to the latest FIFA rankings, Iraq and the DR Congo will start as the heavy favourites to advance out of the playoffs.

Iraq's preparations however have been hampered by the outbreak of war in the Middle East triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Iraq coach Graham Arnold initially appealed to FIFA to postpone his team's playoff, stating that many players and backroom staff had been left stranded due to the war.

Players and staff based in Baghdad however made it out of the country after reportedly traveling overland to Jordan before flying out of Amman to reach Mexico.

Iraq are bidding to reach the World Cup for only the second time, having qualified for the 1986 finals in Mexico where they lost all three group games against Paraguay, Belgium, and Mexico.

For DR Congo, meanwhile, the wait to secure their second World Cup finals appearance has been even longer. 

The country, formerly Zaire, last played at the 1974 World Cup finals in Germany, where they were eliminated in the group stage after defeats to Scotland, Yugoslavia and Brazil without scoring a goal.

DR Congo though have grounds for believing that the long wait to return to the finals could finally be over after battling through African qualifying, eliminating Cameroon and Nigeria to reach these playofffs.

This week's tournament is taking place just weeks after an explosion of violence in Guadalajara and other parts of Mexico triggered by the death of a notorious cartel druglord.

More than 70 people were killed in the violence, but Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and world governing body FIFA have insisted the unrest will have no bearing on the World Cup.

Mexico, which is hosting 13 matches at the World Cup shared between Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City, has said more than 100,000 security personnel will be deployed to protect fans at the tournament.

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NASA's Artemis 2 lunar mission is set to be the first crewed flyby of the Moon in more than half a century, and could launch as soon as April 1.

Here is what to know about the highly anticipated mission that will usher in a new chapter of space exploration:

- The goal -

Artemis is the legacy of initiatives launched in the 2000s to succeed the American space shuttles. Those efforts survived several presidencies until Donald Trump officially established the program during his first White House term.

It aims to return Americans to the Moon to establish a long-term presence there and pave the way for eventual missions to Mars.

The upcoming mission is intended to last approximately 10 days, and will mark the first crewed Artemis flight.

The second phase follows the Artemis 1 mission in 2022, when an uncrewed spacecraft flew around the Moon. 

NASA intends to now verify that both that spacecraft and the rocket are in working order before attempting a lunar landing -- a milestone now scheduled for the Artemis 4 mission in 2028.

Unlike in the Apollo program -- the US spaceflight effort that landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969 -- NASA this time is collaborating both with private industry and other countries, notably in Europe.

This includes SpaceX and Blue Origin, rival companies founded respectively by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos that are tasked with developing lunar landers.

- The team -

Four astronauts -- three Americans and one Canadian -- will take flight in this major mission.

Reid Wiseman, a 50-year-old former naval aviator and test pilot who also formerly served as a deputy chief of NASA's astronaut office, will be in command.

Victor Glover, 49, also served in the US Navy. He will pilot the spacecraft while also becoming the first Black man -- and first non-white person -- to travel to the Moon.

And engineer-by-training Christina Koch, 47, will becoming the first woman to participate in a lunar mission.

Canadian Jeremy Hansen, a 50-year-old former fighter pilot, will become the first non-American to fly around the Moon.

- The countdown begins-

The crew will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft, perched atop NASA's powerful SLS rocket.

This orange and white rocket stands 98 meters (321 feet) tall, approximately 10 meters shorter than the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket.

It will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The planned trajectory is hyper-precise, and can only take place during very specific time periods.

- The trajectory -

After liftoff, the team will not immediately head towards the Moon, instead entering orbit around Earth.

During this time the astronauts will conduct various checks to ensure the reliability and safety of the spacecraft -- it has never carried human's before -- prior to venturing further.

They will also test its manual piloting capabilities during docking simulations.

If all trials are successful, Orion will then provide the necessary thrust to leave Earth's orbit and head to the Moon.

For several days, the astronauts will conduct additional tests and experiments while en route.

Once they reach the Moon they will fly over its far side.

At this moment communications with Earth will be interrupted: the four astronauts are expected to become the human beings who've traveled farthest from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 record.

Their observations should help NASA choose a landing site for Artemis 4, which will venture to the Moon's south pole -- where no human has ever been.

- The return -

Artemis 2 will then follow a so-called "free-return" trajectory, designed to use the Moon's gravity to send it back towards Earth without propulsion.

This piece of the journey will last approximately three or four days, punctuated by re-entry into the atmosphere -- one of the mission's most delicate maneuvers.

During Artemis 1, the heat shield protecting the spacecraft eroded in unexpected ways, according to a NASA technical report.

The US space agency has thus adjusted the spacecraft's trajectory so that the angle or re-entry into the atmosphere should be slightly less severe for the shield.

Once that stage is complete, powerful parachutes will slow the spacecraft, which will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

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The four astronauts selected for the Artemis 2 Moon mission will be the first to travel there in more than five decades.

In doing so, they will become the new faces of American space exploration.

Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch will make the voyage with their Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen, and are now preparing to take off as soon as April 1.

The journey, set to last around 10 days, will take the astronauts on a loop around the Moon, though they will not land on its surface.

The crew comprises the first woman, the first person of color and the first non-American to take part in such a journey.

Those are key differences from the Apollo era, which included the first and to this day the only humans to travel to the Moon.

Here is a closer look at the crew:

- Reid Wiseman -

At 50 years old, Reid Wiseman is the mission's commander.

The native of Baltimore joined NASA in 2009 following a 27-year career in the US Navy.

"I never thought I'd be an astronaut," he said on a NASA podcast. "I mean, come on, it's like an unobtainable dream."

Until it's not: in 2014, Wiseman traveled to space for a 165-day mission aboard the International Space Station, and later served as NASA's chief of the astronaut office.

After losing his wife to cancer in 2020, he raised his two daughters -- now teenagers -- on his own.

In January, he said he aimed for transparency in explaining to them the inherent risks of his career and his coming journey.

"I told them, 'here's where the will is, here's where the trust documents are,'" he said. "And if anything happens to me, here's what's going to happen to you."

"And that's just that is a part of this life."

- Victor Glover -

Victor Glover, 49 and also a Navy veteran, will serve as pilot of the Orion spacecraft.

The native of California and father of four daughters was working as a legislative advisor in the US Senate when NASA selected him in 2013.

He has recounted youthful dreaming of becoming a police officer like his father.

But watching a Space Shuttle launch on his family's television set changed his perspective: "I thought, 'I really want to drive one of those.'"

"And yes, I said drive, because I didn't know any pilots or engineers."

He will become the first Black man -- and person of color, period -- to travel to the Moon.

In 2020, he became the first African American to take part on a long-duration mission to the ISS.

He emphasized at the time that the historic first was made possible thanks to those who came before him, paying tribute to figures including Guion Bluford, the first African American to travel to space in 1983.

- Christina Koch -

American astronaut Christina Koch, 47, will become the first woman to take part in a lunar mission.

Like Glover, she was also chosen by NASA in 2013. 

Her background is particularly eclectic: an engineer by training, she is a seasoned explorer who has worked in extreme environments including Antarctica.

She long dreamed of becoming an astronaut, she has said, noting the poster of the iconic "Earthrise" image plastered to the wall of her childhood bedroom.

That photograph was taken during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.

"I always say to people, do what scares you," she says of her personal motto. "And that means I have to follow my own advice."

Koch already holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman -- 328 days -- and also participated in the first spacewalk performed entirely by women, alongside her colleague Jessica Meir.

- Jeremy Hansen -

Canadian Jeremy Hansen, 50, rounds out the crew and will be the first non-American to fly around the Moon.

Following his career as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Canadian Space Agency brought him into its ranks in 2009.

Post-training he served for several years as a liaison between Earth and the ISS, after which he was entrusted with training a new class of astronauts.

He has said that as a child he found a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, a moment that sparked his passion for space exploration.

The Artemis 2 mission will be his first journey away from Earth -- and with that, the father of three will fulfill a lifelong dream.

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Pope Leo XIV heads to Monaco on Saturday for a one-day visit that will see him greet the Catholic faithful in a Mediterranean principality known best for yachts and gambling.

The decision to choose tiny Monaco for the US-born pope's first trip in Europe since his election last year has caused puzzlement among observers.

Wedged between the mountains and the sea on the French Riviera, Monaco is the world's second smallest state after the Vatican, and resolutely Catholic.

Ties between the two states date back to the Middle Ages and they share interests such as promoting interfaith dialogue and environmental protection.

Yet many commentators question why he is making the eight-hour trip, his second abroad after visiting Turkey and Lebanon in a joint visit last year.

Philippe Orengo, Monaco's ambassador to the Holy See, said the pope was interested in visiting a country where there has been a resurgence in Catholicism in recent years.

The pope "wanted to see for himself what is happening in Monaco, where this movement of renewal is based on an embraced faith, and on an inclusive popular piety and devotion," he told AFP.

In the first papal trip to Monaco in modern times, Leo will meet Prince Albert II and take a tour in his popemobile, before holding a mass in the local stadium.

Large crowds are expected from among Monaco's 39,000 inhabitants as well as surrounding France.

But so far the discreet American has drawn less fervour than Argentine reformer Pope Francis, who died last April after leading the world's 1.4 billion Catholics for 12 years.

- 'Positive secularism' -

Monaco is steeped in Catholic tradition and -- rare among most of Europe -- abortion remains illegal there.

However, abortion has been decriminalised, and women who head across the border to France are not prosecuted.

As a tax haven that made its money in casinos and where prostitution is legal, Monaco is not everybody's idea of a Catholic state.

It is a somewhat incongruous location for a visit by Pope Leo who, like Francis, has prioritised the poor and marginalised.

"One of Monaco's distinctive features is a kind of positive secularism, which recognises the legitimate autonomy of the spiritual and temporal spheres," Guillaume Paris, a senior clergyman in Monaco, told AFP.

"We talk to each other, we know each other, we recognise each other," he said.

- Diplomatic niceties -

The pope will arrive by helicopter, a diplomatic subtlety that spares him from landing on French soil without actually visiting France.

He will then visit the princely palace, the official residence of the Grimaldi dynasty since the 13th century, for a private meeting with Prince Albert.

The two men share a concern for ecology and a passion for sport, according to the diocese of Monaco. Leo, 70, swims and plays tennis regularly.

The highlight of the visit is expected to be an open-air mass at 1430 GMT at the Louis II Stadium where around 15,000 people are expected.

A heavy security and logistics operation is in place, comparable to that put in place for the Monaco Grand Prix.

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More than half-a-century after the groundbreaking Apollo program's last crewed flight to the Moon, three men and one woman are preparing for a lunar journey set to turn a new page in American space exploration.

The long-delayed NASA mission dubbed Artemis II is slated to lift-off from Florida and venture to Earth's natural satellite as early as April 1.

They won't land but are instead on a mission to fly by, much as Apollo 8 did in 1968.

Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glober and Christina Koch -- along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen -- will carry out the approximately 10-day trip.

The odyssey will mark a series of firsts: the first time a woman, a person of color and a non-American will venture on a Moon mission.

It's also the inaugural crewed flight of NASA's new lunar rocket, dubbed SLS.

The mammoth orange-and-white rocket is designed to allow the United States to repeatedly return to the Moon in years to come, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a stepping stone for further exploration.

"We're going back to the Moon because it's the next step in our journey to Mars," said Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, on a NASA podcast.

- Space Race 2.0? -

The Artemis program -- named in honor of Apollo's goddess twin -- aims to test technologies needed to one day send humans to Mars, a far more distant journey.

That ambition presents an immense challenge -- which is compounded by pressure to achieve it before China does.

China is currently aiming to land humans on the Moon by 2030.

Beijing is also targeting the lunar South Pole, not least for its rich natural resource potential.

The competition recalls the 1960s-era Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union -- but Harvard professor Matthew Hersch said that rivalry was "unique" and "will not be repeated anytime soon."

He told AFP the Chinese are "not really competing with anyone but themselves." 

Washington's lunar program investment is significantly lower now than during the Cold War era -- but the technology has changed dramatically.

"The computer technology that supports the Artemis 2 crew would be almost unimaginable to the Apollo 8 crew, which went to the Moon in a spacecraft with the electronics of a modern high-end toaster oven," Hersch said.

And yet the Artemis 2 mission will not be without risks, even by NASA's own admission.

The crew will board a spacecraft that has never once carried humans or traveled to the Moon, which is more than 384,000 kilometers (238,855 miles) from Earth -- or roughly 1,000 times further away than the International Space Station.

"We don't accept anything less than perfect, otherwise we're accepting greater risk," NASA's former chief astronaut Peggy Whitson told AFP.

"That is an important process that everyone has to embrace in order for us to be really successful, because we have to live with that knowledge, because of our space flight history, that when accidents happen, people will die," she said.

Minimizing risks and preventing disaster will involve the crew performing a series of checks and maneuvers while still in Earth's vicinity.

If all goes well, they'll set forth for the Moon.

- Ambitious timeline -

The crew's objective will be to verify that both the rocket and the spacecraft are in working order, in the hopes of paving the way for a return and Moon landing in 2028 -- the final year of President Donald Trump's term.

That deadline has raised eyebrows among experts, in part because Washington is relying on the private sector's technological headway.

The astronauts will require a second vehicle to descend to the moon's surface, a lunar lander that remains under development by rival space companies owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

The Artemis program has also been plagued by delays and massive cost overruns.

Still, NASA hopes that Artemis 2 can succeed in recreating the rare moment of unity and hope that Apollo 8, when a crew flew by the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968, allowed for.

In the shadow of a tumultuous year, approximately one billion people worldwide tuned in to their flickering television sets to follow the monumental journey of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders.

The astronauts -- who immortalized the famous "Earthrise" photograph taken from lunar orbit -- were credited with having "saved 1968."

Nearly 60 years later, the country is once again mired in deep division and uncertainty, and the crew of Artemis 2 will soon have their chance to inspire.

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She's stood up to Donald Trump and posts her kitchen skills on Instagram: Mette Frederiksen, who intends to stay on as Denmark's prime minister after Tuesday's election, mixes high-stakes international politics with Danes' everyday concerns.

Her Social Democrats posted their lowest election score since 1903 but still came out on top, and the 48-year-old will now try to form a new coalition government.

"I'm ready to take on the responsibility of serving as Denmark's prime minister again for the next four years," she told supporters. 

The party stalwart is seen as the embodiment of Denmark's modernised social democracy, embracing a strict migration policy in order to defend the country's cherished welfare state.

"Denmark is a safe community, founded on trust and based on strong values," her party programme reads.

"And we must distinguish between those who can and want to (belong to) Denmark, and those who do not."

But Frederiksen doesn't just embody authority.

She loves to show off her cooking skills on Instagram, where she projects an image of an approachable leader who gets up early on Sundays to bake fresh bread for her family.

Frederiksen suffered a staggering blow in municipal elections in November 2025, when her party -- traditionally Denmark's biggest -- came in second place and lost nearly half of the municipalities it controlled, including the capital Copenhagen.

But her popularity surged in early 2026 when she stood up to US President Donald Trump over his threats to annex Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory which he says the United States needs to control for national security reasons.

Frederiksen "is a unifying figure in a world full of insecurity, and Danes are quite anxious -- there's Greenland, Ukraine, (and mystery) drones" that flew over the Scandinavian country last year, Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Danish newspaper Politiken, told AFP.

Frederiksen seized on the wave of popularity to call snap elections in late February.

- No obvious successor -

Frederiksen was born into a working class family of longstanding Social Democrats, her father a typographer and mother a pre-school teacher.

She entered parliament in 2001 at the age of 24, and took over as head of the Social Democrats in 2015 when the country's first woman prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, stepped down after an election defeat.

Frederiksen was a source of inspiration for the hit political drama Borgen, the show's creators have said.

The mother of two grown children has managed to unite her party without facing any serious challenges. 

Despite rumours that she could one day move on to a top job at NATO or the EU after leaving Danish politics, pundits struggle to identify her future successor.

"There's no real contender, no crown prince within the party, so the current situation will increase internal power struggles," suggested Christine Cordsen, political analyst at public broadcaster DR.

Known as a workhorse, she initially won broad praise for her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Denmark during her first term from 2019 to 2022.

But she faced a barrage of criticism over her handling of the "mink crisis" in November 2020.

Amid a worrying Covid variant outbreak among minks -- when Denmark was the largest exporter of their furs -- she ordered the culling of some 17 million minks, an order which was later ruled illegal.

"After this crisis, she knew how to bounce back," Svane said.

Frederiksen has tightened migration policy in order to quell support for the far-right, and at the same time advocated stronger international commitments with unwavering support for Ukraine and a massive hike in defence spending.

"She focuses a lot on international challenges, which is very noble, but it's not going to help you win national elections," Svane said.

She has been praised for standing up to Trump in the Greenland crisis, which also saw her build closer ties with the leaders of the Arctic island, long strained over traumas suffered during Denmark's colonial past. 

"She's always been very good on Greenland," said University of Copenhagen political science professor Ole Waever. 

"Even before Trump's annexation ambitions, she spoke about Greenland with more respect and understanding than most politicians have."

"As far as Greenland is concerned, it's not a bad idea for her to stay on," he said.

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