
-
Ecuador mounts anti-drug op overseen by Blackwater founder
-
Pegula rallies to reach Charleston final
-
Nick Rockett flies to victory in magical Mullins Grand National
-
Ovechkin on the brink of the 'impossible'
-
Anthony, Bird to enter basketball Hall of Fame
-
'Phenomenal' Munster edge O'Gara's La Rochelle to reach Champions Cup quarters
-
Munster edge O'Gara's La Rochelle to reach Champions Cup quarters
-
Rahul, Jaiswal fire as Delhi and Rajasthan register big IPL wins
-
Aston Villa beat Forest for seventh straight win ahead of PSG trip
-
Jaiswal, Archer help Rajasthan thrash Punjab in IPL
-
Inter's title charge stalls after throwing away points at Parma
-
Real Madrid stumble at home to Valencia in Liga
-
Leading garment producer Bangladesh holds crisis talks on US tariffs
-
PSG win 13th French title ahead of Aston Villa Champions League clash
-
Nick Rockett storms to victory in the 'Mullins' Grand National
-
Despair and sadness follow death of Malian musical great Amadou
-
Arsenal held by Everton, Wolves push Ipswich closer to relegation
-
Lions contender Prendergast fires Leinster to Champions Cup quarters
-
Nick Rockett wins the 'Mullins' Grand National for father and son
-
Last-gasp Buendia goal keeps Leverkusen's Bundesliga title hopes alive
-
Video shows last minutes before Gaza aid workers' deaths, Red Crescent says
-
Zverev 'mentally' affected by Australian Open defeat
-
Rahul guides Delhi to third straight IPL victory
-
Arsenal draw at Everton to edge Liverpool closer to Premier League title
-
Senate Republicans move forward with Trump tax cuts
-
Sinner regrets 'unfair' doping ban as he prepares return to courts
-
Isa hat-trick powers Toulon into Champions Cup quarters in Saracens thriller
-
'Hang tough, it won't be easy': Trump defiant on tariffs
-
Zelensky slams 'weak' US reply to Russian strike on his hometown
-
Musiala hamstring tear compounds Bayern's injury crisis
-
Selfies, goals and cheers at South Africa's grannies World Cup
-
Tsunoda frustrated with 15th in Red Bull qualifying debut
-
Rain forecast adds new element to combustible Japanese GP
-
Ukraine mourns 18 killed in Russian missile strike
-
Germany's Mueller to leave Bayern Munich after 25 years
-
India's Modi clinches defence, energy deals in Sri Lanka
-
Verstappen snatches 'special' pole for Japan GP with lap record
-
Cambodia hails opening of naval base renovated by China
-
Verstappen snatches 'insane' pole for Japan GP in track record
-
Thousands rally for South Korea's impeached ex-president Yoon
-
New Zealand hammer Pakistan by 43 runs to sweep ODI series 3-0
-
Myanmar quake death toll passes 3,300: state media
-
India's Modi in Sri Lanka for defence and energy deals
-
'No one to return to': Afghans fear Pakistan deportation
-
Fractious Republicans seek unity over Trump tax cuts
-
America's passion for tariffs rarely pays off, economists warn
-
Trump's global tariff takes effect in dramatic US trade shift
-
North Korea's Kim fires new sniper rifle while visiting troops
-
Norris fastest in McLaren 1-2 as fires again disrupt Japan GP practice
-
Vital European defence startups still facing hurdles
RBGPF | 100% | 69.02 | $ | |
SCS | -0.56% | 10.68 | $ | |
GSK | -6.79% | 36.53 | $ | |
RELX | -6.81% | 48.16 | $ | |
BTI | -5.17% | 39.86 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.13% | 22.29 | $ | |
NGG | -5.25% | 65.93 | $ | |
RYCEF | -18.79% | 8.25 | $ | |
RIO | -6.88% | 54.67 | $ | |
BP | -10.43% | 28.38 | $ | |
BCE | 0.22% | 22.71 | $ | |
BCC | 0.85% | 95.44 | $ | |
VOD | -10.24% | 8.5 | $ | |
AZN | -7.98% | 68.46 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.7% | 22.83 | $ | |
JRI | -7.19% | 11.96 | $ |

Mega-iceberg drifts towards Antarctic penguin island
The world's biggest iceberg -- more than twice the size of London -- could drift towards a remote island where a scientist warns it risks disrupting feeding for baby penguins and seals.
The gigantic wall of ice is moving slowly from Antarctica on a potential collision course with South Georgia, a crucial wildlife breeding ground in the South Atlantic.
Satellite imagery suggested that unlike previous "megabergs" this rogue was not crumbling into smaller chunks as it plodded through the Southern Ocean, Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, told AFP on Friday.
He said predicting its exact course was difficult but prevailing currents suggested the colossus would reach the shallow continental shelf around South Georgia in two to four weeks.
But what might happen next is anyone's guess, he said.
It could avoid the shelf and get carried into open water beyond South Georgia, a British overseas territory some 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) east of the Falkland Islands.
Or it could strike the sloping bottom and get stuck for months or break up into pieces.
Meijers said this scenario could seriously impede seals and penguins trying to feed and raise their young on the island.
"Icebergs have grounded there in the past and that has caused significant mortality to penguin chicks and seal pups," he said.
- 'White wall' -
Roughly 3,500 square kilometres (1,550 square miles) across, the world's biggest and oldest iceberg, known as A23a, calved from the Antarctic shelf in 1986.
It remained stuck for over 30 years before finally breaking free in 2020, its lumbering journey north sometimes delayed by ocean forces that kept it spinning in place.
Meijers -- who encountered the iceberg face to face while leading a scientific mission in late 2023 -- described "a huge white cliff, 40 or 50 metres high, that stretches from horizon to horizon".
"It's just like this white wall. It's very sort of Game of Thrones-esque, actually," he said, referring to the dark fantasy series.
A23a has followed roughly the same path as previous massive icebergs, passing the east side of the Antarctica Peninsula through the Weddell Sea along a route called "iceberg alley".
Weighing a little under a trillion tonnes, this monster block of freshwater was being whisked along by the world's most powerful ocean "jet stream" -- the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Raul Cordero from Chile's University of Santiago, who is also part of the National Antarctic Research Committee, said he was confident the iceberg would sidestep South Georgia.
"The island acts as an obstacle for ocean currents and therefore usually diverts the water long before it reaches the island," he said.
"The iceberg is moved by that water flow, so the chances of it hitting are not that high," though chunks could, he said.
Another scientist, glaciologist Soledad Tiranti currently on an Argentinian exploration voyage in the Antarctic, said that icebergs such as A23a "are so deep that before reaching an island or mainland they generally get stuck" on the seabed.
- Icy obstacle -
It is summer in South Georgia and resident penguins and seals along its southern coastline are foraging in the frosty waters to bring back food to fatten their young.
"If the iceberg parks there, it'll either block physically where they feed from, or they'll have to go around it," said Meijers.
"That burns a huge amount of extra energy for them, so that's less energy for the pups and chicks, which causes increased mortality."
The seal and penguin populations on South Georgia have already been having a "bad season" with an outbreak of bird flu "and that (iceberg) would make it significantly worse," he said.
As A23a ultimately melted it could seed the water with nutrients that encourage phytoplankton growth, feeding whales and other species, and allowing scientists to study how such blooms absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
While icebergs are natural phenomena, Meijers said the rate at which they were being lost from Antarctica was increasing, likely due to human induced climate change.
L.Janezki--BTB