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Scientists Uncover Secret of Missing continent

A supplied image shows a penguin standing atop an iceberg in Antarctica, November 17, 2006. John B. Weller-Pew Charitable Trust/Handout via REUTERS.
A supplied image shows a penguin standing atop an iceberg in Antarctica, November 17, 2006. John B. Weller-Pew Charitable Trust/Handout via REUTERS.
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Scientists Uncover Secret of Missing continent

A supplied image shows a penguin standing atop an iceberg in Antarctica, November 17, 2006. John B. Weller-Pew Charitable Trust/Handout via REUTERS.
A supplied image shows a penguin standing atop an iceberg in Antarctica, November 17, 2006. John B. Weller-Pew Charitable Trust/Handout via REUTERS.

Scientists have uncovered the remnants of lost continents hidden under the ice sheets of Antarctica, revealing clues about how the continent broke away from the supercontinent in the past and how ice sheets may move in the future.

Using gravity-mapping satellite data and seismological information, researchers pieced together features of Earth's lithosphere, which consists of the solid crust of the planet and the section of the molten mantle beneath it.

A team of researchers from Kiel University and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used data from the European Space Agency's Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite, which orbited Earth from March 2009 to November 2013. Their work was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Co-author Fausto Ferraccioli, science leader of geology and geophysics at BAS, said: "These gravity images are revolutionizing our ability to study the least understood continent on Earth, Antarctica."

Researchers used the GOCE data to create 3D images of the Earth, with a particular focus on areas of Antarctica buried deep beneath heavy layers of ice. The images reveal the separation of Antarctica from the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, which was once part of an even larger supercontinent known as Pangaea, the MNN website reported.

Ferraccioli wrote: "thick ice sheet cover and the remoteness of Antarctica make geological and geophysical investigations particularly challenging, but, researchers were able to uncover more about this continent."

"In East Antarctica, we see an exciting mosaic of geological features that reveal fundamental similarities and differences between the crust beneath Antarctica and other continents it was joined to until 160 million years ago," he added.

The team's head said that the findings also showed how West Antarctica has a thinner crust and lithosphere compared to East Antarctica, which is made of old cratons. These findings also give clues about how Antarctica's structure impacts how ice sheets move and how regions on the continent will rebound as ice melts, he explained.

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Macron Reappears Wearing Viral Aviator Sunglasses

France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a welcoming ceremony for Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida (not pictured) in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on June 29, 2026, as part of an official state visit of the Thai King to France. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a welcoming ceremony for Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida (not pictured) in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on June 29, 2026, as part of an official state visit of the Thai King to France. (AFP)
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Macron Reappears Wearing Viral Aviator Sunglasses

France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a welcoming ceremony for Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida (not pictured) in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on June 29, 2026, as part of an official state visit of the Thai King to France. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a welcoming ceremony for Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida (not pictured) in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris on June 29, 2026, as part of an official state visit of the Thai King to France. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron reappeared on Monday wearing now-iconic aviator sunglasses that caused a stir at the Davos forum when he wore them due to an eye condition during a speech standing up to Donald Trump.

Macron was sporting the blue-tinted shades on the steps of the Elysee Palace as he welcomed the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq.

But his eyewear choice wasn't to block the midday sun in Paris, but again because of "an eye problem", staff said, without giving further details.

The president continued to wear his sunglasses during a signing ceremony inside the presidential palace alongside the sultan, and later at a hotel for a Franco-Omani business forum.

Macron's aviators sparked a viral moment when he wore them at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January during a speech standing up to Donald Trump that was punctuated by the English phrase "for sure".

He said Europe needed to stand up to "bullies" and be "much stronger and more autonomous" at a time when tensions were mounting over Trump's designs on Greenland.

Macron embodied the counter-offensive against the US president, symbolized -- albeit unwittingly -- by his sunglasses.

Trump himself fueled the buzz by poking fun at Macron for wearing the aviators, quipping, "I watched him sort of be tough" with those "beautiful sunglasses".

After Davos, demand for the Henry Jullien sunglasses crashed the French eyewear maker's site.

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer jumped on the aviators bandwagon with a mock "Top Gun" poster featuring himself and Macron dressed as fighter pilots.

The French leader -- who speaks excellent if accented English -- quickly shot back, "For sure."

Varieties

Three Firefighters Die as Blazes Torch Western US

A helicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire burning near Beaver, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP)
A helicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire burning near Beaver, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP)
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Three Firefighters Die as Blazes Torch Western US

A helicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire burning near Beaver, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP)
A helicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire burning near Beaver, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP)

Three firefighters have died battling fierce blazes along the Utah-Colorado border, driven by high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity.

Dangerous weather conditions are compounding a fire season made worse by historically low snowpack, with more than a dozen blazes burning across hundreds of thousands of acres in the two states.

Five firefighters were trapped in a fire over the weekend, with three losing their lives and two others treated for burn injuries, the US Wildland Fire Service said in a statement.

"Wildfire conditions remain critical for the Southwest and portions of the Great Basin through Monday," the National Weather Service said in an update.

Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox announced a ban on fireworks during the upcoming July 4 Independence Day holiday, while Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency to support fire response efforts.

Human-caused climate change is driving longer fire seasons and more intense blazes, as rising temperatures and increasingly arid conditions create landscapes primed to burn.

Varieties

Europe’s Deadly Heatwave Scorches Eastern Flank, Takes Aim at Ukraine

People cool themselves with water sprayed from a special sprayer set up on a sidewalk during a hot day in Lviv, Western Ukraine, 29 June 2026. (EPA)
People cool themselves with water sprayed from a special sprayer set up on a sidewalk during a hot day in Lviv, Western Ukraine, 29 June 2026. (EPA)
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Europe’s Deadly Heatwave Scorches Eastern Flank, Takes Aim at Ukraine

People cool themselves with water sprayed from a special sprayer set up on a sidewalk during a hot day in Lviv, Western Ukraine, 29 June 2026. (EPA)
People cool themselves with water sprayed from a special sprayer set up on a sidewalk during a hot day in Lviv, Western Ukraine, 29 June 2026. (EPA)

The most severe heatwave ever recorded in Europe roasted central and eastern parts of the continent on Monday as Ukraine's war-ravaged power grid struggled to cope with the shock of scorching heat.

The heatwave first smothered western Europe last week, sending temperatures to record highs and straining hospitals, transport networks and power grids on a continent where infrastructure was not built to withstand punishing heat and where air conditioning is not widespread.

More than 1,300 excess deaths were recorded in Europe since June 21, according to the UN health agency, including several small children who died in locked cars and youths who drowned as they sought relief from the infernal temperatures in unsupervised swimming spots.

France reported at least 74 drowning deaths since June 18 and Poland said 17 drowned on Sunday alone.

"I'm doing the same thing as everyone -- trying to stay in the shade and drink a lot of water," Susanne, a Vienna resident, told AFP on a bank of a river near the Austrian capital.

"I just hope that the politicians will understand the situation and will begin to set a course in the right direction," she said.

On Monday, the Balkans braced for temperatures of up to 40C, with firefighters in Bosnia battling blazes sparked during the heat.

At least 130 million people in Europe were expected to swelter through temperatures of more than 35C, down from 190 million on Sunday according to an AFP analysis.

This heatwave is the most severe ever recorded in Europe, and would have been "virtually impossible" this early in the summer without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

All-time temperature records have been broken in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as for the month of June in the UK and in Switzerland.

- New shock for Ukraine -

Ukraine's energy network, already pummeled by Russian attacks over more than four years of war, was buckling under the high temperatures on Monday.

In the western Rivne region, authorities introduced emergency power outages to ease pressure on the grid as temperatures passed 36C as of 15:00 (1200 GMT), according to data from the state Hydrometeorological Centre.

The central Khmelnytsky region also announced temporary outages, and five other regions -- from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Zaporizhzhia on the front line in the south -- warned households and businesses to be prepared for blackouts on Tuesday.

The state weather service said the country would face "intense heat", with temperatures of 35C-38C expected, though this is some way off the national record of 42C recorded in August 2010.

"The heat is also a serious test for equipment that has been operating under wartime conditions for more than four years and has withstood numerous attacks," Sergii Kovalenko, CEO of the Yasno energy company said over the weekend.

He said that summer was the peak period for repairing the energy network, battered through the winter by repeat Russian attacks, meaning the grid was already "operating at the limit of its capabilities".

- Record temperatures -

Over the weekend, the heat scorched the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, with the countries setting new temperature records of 41.9C, 41.7C and 40.5C, respectively.

The Berlin police used water cannons to help residents of the capital cool off for a second day running Sunday -- this time at the Olympia venue where singer Bruno Mars was performing.

With temperatures cooling in France, the national weather service said on Sunday evening it was already anticipating the possibility of another heatwave in July.

The scorching heat has sparked lively discussion in some countries about the merits of air-conditioning, which is used far less in Europe than in some parts of the world.

The EU on Monday refused to be drawn into the increasingly politicized debate, with a Brussels spokeswoman saying the bloc did not have "a particular view or position" on the matter.