TOKYO - JAPAN and India plan to launch their first joint space research project this year, an experiment in growing plants in zero gravity, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency researcher said on Friday.

The two Asian powers are set to launch a small and unmanned Indian-made satellite in October, carrying Japanese laboratory equipment, that is set to orbit for about one week at a height of around 600 kilometres (370 miles).

SINGAPORE - INCREASING loss of ice from Antarctica and Greenland could cause sea levels to exceed UN estimates by 2100, an Australian government-backed report says, with the extent of the rise still uncertain.

The UN Climate Panel says seas could rise by 18-59cm (7-24 inches) by 2100. It also raised the possibility of an additional 20cm rise if polar ice sheets dumped ever greater amounts of ice into the ocean.

WASHINGTON - THINGS may get a little tight at the international space station next week when it is set to be a temporary home to 13 astronauts with the arrival of the shuttle Endeavour and its seven crew.

It will be the first time so many people have stayed on the orbiting station at once, and the 12 men and one woman will also represent the main countries involved in constructing the US$100 billion (S$144 billion) outpost in space.