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Saudi Physics Team Wins 4 Awards at European Physics Olympiad

The Saudi physics team has won four global awards at the 7th European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO)
The Saudi physics team has won four global awards at the 7th European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO)
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Saudi Physics Team Wins 4 Awards at European Physics Olympiad

The Saudi physics team has won four global awards at the 7th European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO)
The Saudi physics team has won four global awards at the 7th European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO)

The Saudi physics team has won four global awards at the 7th European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO) hosted by Germany on June 16-20.

The Kingdom, represented by King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) and the Ministry of Education, brought its total awards in these competitions to 17.

The Saudi team managed to win the medals among 181 students of both genders participating in EuPhO and representing 38 countries.

Mohammed Al-Barakat, a student from the Eastern Region, and Hussein Qadah from Jeddah Education Department, who received 2,400 hours of training each, won bronze medals in the contest.

Also, Mazen Al-Shakhs, a student from Al-Ahsa, won a bronze medal, while Roz Al-Sindi from Makkah Education Department received a certificate of appreciation. Al-Shakhs and Al-Sindi received 2,000 and 1,700 hours of intensive training respectively.

This accomplishment is an extension of the Kingdom's achievements in international competitions, said the Secretary-General of Mawhiba, Dr. Amal Al-Hazzaa.

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Iceland Looks to End Whale Hunting

Aerial view of a group of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Abrolhos Archipelago, Bahia State, Brazil on August 19, 2026. (Photo by Jose OSORIO / AFP)
Aerial view of a group of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Abrolhos Archipelago, Bahia State, Brazil on August 19, 2026. (Photo by Jose OSORIO / AFP)
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Iceland Looks to End Whale Hunting

Aerial view of a group of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Abrolhos Archipelago, Bahia State, Brazil on August 19, 2026. (Photo by Jose OSORIO / AFP)
Aerial view of a group of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Abrolhos Archipelago, Bahia State, Brazil on August 19, 2026. (Photo by Jose OSORIO / AFP)

Iceland's government will put forward in February a bill that could lead to an end to whale-hunting, a ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

Iceland is one of three countries in the world that still kills the giant marine mammals, drawing fierce criticism from animal rights groups.

"In February, a bill aimed at amending the law on whale hunting... will go before parliament," a spokesman for Iceland's industry ministry told AFP.

The text would give "special attention to recommendations drawn up concerning a permanent ban on whale-hunting", he said.

Industry Minister Hanna Katrín Frioriksson told local media outlet Visir that whale-hunting was barely profitable, and animal protection was a priority.

She noted that, last year, "nobody went out" to hunt whales despite a permit being given.

This year, however, boats did go out after whales. Yet what they caught "was far below the fixed quota", she said.

Wendy Higgins, spokeswoman for an animal protection group called Humane World for Animals, hailed the proposed bill as a "really important step" towards ending a "cruel" practice.

Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only countries that still authorize commercial hunting of whales.

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Trove of Everyday Items Dating Back to 1800s Found at Buckingham Palace

11 September 2026, United Kingdom, London: Members of the Massed Bands of the Guards Division perform on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London during a commemorative Changing of the Guard ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. (dpa)
11 September 2026, United Kingdom, London: Members of the Massed Bands of the Guards Division perform on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London during a commemorative Changing of the Guard ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. (dpa)
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Trove of Everyday Items Dating Back to 1800s Found at Buckingham Palace

11 September 2026, United Kingdom, London: Members of the Massed Bands of the Guards Division perform on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London during a commemorative Changing of the Guard ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. (dpa)
11 September 2026, United Kingdom, London: Members of the Massed Bands of the Guards Division perform on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London during a commemorative Changing of the Guard ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. (dpa)

A pair of battered, hobnailed boots and a decades-old newspaper cutting are among a trove of everyday objects unearthed during restoration work at Buckingham Palace, reported the BBC.

The misplaced items are thought to belong to staff who worked at the palace decades ago and were found by workers carrying out the £369 million refurbishment.

A ticket for a “whist drive” - a card game event hosted by the Palace on April 14, 1949 - was found embedded in a lump of brick.

Several betting slips, a bottle of spring water, an empty Silk Cut cigarette carton and a newspaper article about the gang jailed for the 1963 Great Train Robbery were also found under floorboards.

Blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957 and a scrap of West End theatre listings from The Standard newspaper in 1889 were also found, alongside fragments of Minton decorative ceramic tiles from a fireplace hearth, with the design dated to around the mid-1800s, according to BBC.

Among the discoveries was a typed schedule detailing Queen Elizabeth II's plans to host a diplomatic reception in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977.

It revealed the monarch would work the room in a “clockwise direction,” and that aides were asked to encourage the 350 British guests to mingle with the diplomats at the annual gathering.

Also discovered were pages from the Daily Express newspaper in 1966 detailing the “maximum security” prison where the Great Train Robbers were incarcerated.

The article had pictures of Durham Prison, revealing that “the men who were found guilty of stealing a fortune in mailbags spend their week stitching them for nine shillings.”

BBC wrote that King Charles and Queen Camilla are currently residing in Clarence House, which stands beside St James's Palace and was once the Queen Mother's home.

They will not live in Buckingham Palace after the refurbishment is completed.

Varieties

Europe Puts into Orbit Two Earth Observation Satellites

A Vega-C rocket carrying European satellites FLEX and Sentinel-3C lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on September 15, 2026. (AFP)
A Vega-C rocket carrying European satellites FLEX and Sentinel-3C lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on September 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Europe Puts into Orbit Two Earth Observation Satellites

A Vega-C rocket carrying European satellites FLEX and Sentinel-3C lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on September 15, 2026. (AFP)
A Vega-C rocket carrying European satellites FLEX and Sentinel-3C lifts off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on September 15, 2026. (AFP)

The European Space Agency has successfully put into orbit two satellites designed to better detect extreme weather events linked to climate change, officials said.

The European Vega-C rocket successfully launched the Sentinel-3C and Flex satellites after lifting off from the Kourou space center in French Guiana at 10:21 pm Monday (0121 GMT Tuesday), according to an AFP journalist on the scene.

The two satellites were placed into a sun-synchronous orbit nearly two hours after liftoff.

The first satellite, Flex (Fluorescence Explorer), will provide data on the impact of heatwaves on plant matter.

It will monitor fluorescence, the red light emitted by plants when they carry out photosynthesis, aiming to establish the link between "plant stress and fluorescence" and to "quantify it", head of the Flex program Thierry Huiban told AFP at Thales Alenia Space in April.

The second satellite, the Sentinel-3C from the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program, will measure the marine environment -- including temperature, wave height and ocean currents -- as well as land use and land cover, aiming to optimize yields to prevent food crises.

Such missions are "essential" in helping with the "climate change we are experiencing", said Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency (ESA), speaking from Kourou.