En plein Antarctique, une cave d’archives de glaces unique au monde ouvre ses portes

Dans une longue cave creusée dans l’Antarctique, plusieurs personnes s’affairent à entreposer des dizaines de caisses de glaces de montagnes provenant d’Europe, un “sanctuaire” inauguré mercredi et destiné aux générations futures de scientifiques prêts à percer les mystères du passé.Long de 35 mètres, haut et large de 5 mètres, ce tunnel creusé sous 9 mètres de neige a accueilli de la glace des montagnes européennes en décembre, quelques semaines avant l’inauguration officielle de ce “sanctuaire d’archives glaciaires” niché à 3.200 mètres d’altitude.Les dernières caisses, d’environ un mètre de long pour 40 cm de large, ont été déposées mercredi en direct dans ce lieu, le premier du genre dans le monde, à l’occasion d’une conférence en ligne avec des journalistes du monde entier.”C’est un très grand jour pour nous, puisqu’en fait ça fait dix ans quasiment qu’on travaille sur ce projet”, se réjouit Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, directrice de la fondation Ice Memory à l’origine de l’initiative, à l’occasion d’un entretien avec l’AFP. – -52 degrés -Les premières glaces à élire domicile dans cette cave à environ -52 degrés sont celles du Col du Dôme dans le Massif du Mont Blanc, dont un échantillon a été foré en 2016, et du sommet du Grand Combin, dans les Alpes suisses, visité l’an dernier.Cette glace d’1,7 tonne a été entreposée dans des caisses réfrigérées à -20 degrés et transportée à bord d’un brise-glace italien entre octobre et décembre, le temps de traverser les mers et les océans depuis l’Europe jusqu’au pôle Sud. D’autres suivront bientôt, Ice Memory ayant déjà participé à plusieurs forages notamment dans le Caucase, les Andes, et au Tadjikistan dans le massif du Pamir, où à 5.810 mètres de haut deux carottes d’environ 105 mètres chacune ont été prélevées en septembre, alors en présence d’un journaliste de l’AFP.Grâce à des forages de cylindres profonds, ces couches de glaces compactées pendant des siècles, peut-être des millénaires, peuvent renseigner sur les chutes de neige, les températures, l’atmosphère et les poussières du passé.”Imaginez un chercheur asiatique en 2090 qui découvre une substance servant d’indicateur nouveau et précis de l’activité de la mousson. Il pourrait la mesurer dans une carotte de glace et remonter dans le temps”, a détaillé Thomas Stocker, physicien du climat et président de la Fondation Ice Memory, au cours de la conférence.- Des siècles avant la fonte -La station franco-italienne Concordia où se trouve ce sanctuaire est aujourd’hui très préservée du réchauffement climatique et de la fonte des neige, à 1.000 km des côtes et avec des températures qui n’augmentent pas, précise la fondation Ice Memory. “On estime qu’on a encore a minima des décennies, voire des siècles avant que ça n’arrive à un point où nos carottes vont fondre”, affirme Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, à la tête de du projet lancé en 2015 notamment par le CNRS, l’université Ca’ Foscari de Venise, et l’Institut suisse Paul Scherrer, et financé par la Fondation Prince Albert II.De quoi constituer une réserve alors que des milliers de glaciers disparaîtront chaque année au cours des prochaines décennies du fait du réchauffement climatique d’origine humaine, a encore conclu en décembre une étude dans la revue Nature Climate Change.L’année 2025 a par ailleurs été la troisième année la plus chaude jamais enregistrée dans le monde, ont annoncé mercredi l’observatoire européen Copernicus et l’institut américain Berkeley Earth, pour qui 2026 devrait rester à des niveaux historiquement hauts.”Nous sommes engagés dans une course contre la montre pour sauver ce patrimoine avant qu’il ne disparaisse à jamais”, a dit Carlo Barbante, climatologue italien et vice-président de la Fondation Ice Memory, au cours de la conférence mercredi.Tout en se félicitant de cette “première mondiale”, Anne-Catherine Ohlmann affirme que la fondation “a besoin (…) des nations, on a besoin des agences des Nations Unies pour nous relayer, voire prendre en charge cette gouvernance à très long terme”.”Cette partie gouvernance est plus délicate puisque aujourd’hui, on fait le constat qu’il n’y a aucun cadre juridique dans lequel on peut s’inscrire”, poursuit-elle, affirmant que “tout ça reste ouvert”.

French publisher withdraws school books over ‘Jewish settler’ reference

French publisher Hachette said Wednesday it was recalling three textbooks for high-school children which refer to the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks on the country as “Jewish settlers”.The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian armed group Hamas kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.The revision manuals for final-year students refer to all the victims as “Jewish settlers” — a term usually used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.”In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a large-scale humanitarian crisis in the region,” they state.French President Emmanuel Macron criticised them as “intolerable”. He said they were a “falsification of the facts” that amounted to “revisionism” in a post on the social media platform X.Yonathan Arfi, head of the French Jewish group Crif, said the text amounted to “a falsification of history and an unacceptable legitimisation of terrorism by Hamas, which this work notably fails to describe as a terrorist organisation”.The chairman of Hachette, Arnaud Lagardere, issued a statement to “personally offer my apologies to all those who may rightly have felt hurt, to the teaching staff, to the parents of students, and to the students themselves”.The company, France’s biggest publisher, has launched an internal investigation and is recalling an estimated 2,000 copies of the manuals. Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people were taken hostage, including 44 who were dead, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.jri-fff-slb-adp/jj

US pulls some personnel from Qatar as Iran warns of response to attack

Iran warned the United States on Wednesday that it was capable of responding to any attack, as Washington appeared to be pulling personnel out of a base that Iran targeted in a strike last year.The tensions between the two foes, who have had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic revolution of 1979, come after President Donald Trump warned Tehran it could face action over a crackdown on protests that a rights group said had left at least 3,428 people dead.Rights groups say that under the cover of a more than five-day internet blackout, Iranian authorities are carrying out their most severe repression in years of protests that have openly challenged the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the revolution.The head of the judiciary vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over the protests as fears grew that the authorities would make extensive use of capital punishment as a tool of repression.In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for more than 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have accused protesters of using to wage “acts of terror”.Some personnel have been asked to depart the Al Udeid US military base in Qatar, two diplomatic sources told AFP on Wednesday, with the Gulf state saying “regional tensions” were behind the move.In June, Iran targeted the Al Udeid base in response to American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump that the strike on the base had demonstrated “Iran’s will and capability to respond to any attack”.The US embassy in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, told its personnel on Wednesday to act with caution and avoid military installations.Trump on Tuesday said in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.”We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” he said. “When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.- ‘Unprecedented level of brutality’ -Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly”, in comments broadcast by state television.Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public, and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself. The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.Monitor Netblocks said in a post to X on Wednesday that the internet blackout had now lasted 132 hours.Some information has trickled out of Iran, however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.In the face of the crackdown and communications blackout, evidence of protest activity has sharply diminished.The US-based Institute for the Study of War said the authorities were using an “unprecedented level of brutality to suppress protests”, and noted that reports of protest activity on Tuesday were at a “relatively low level”.A high-ranking Iranian official told journalists on Wednesday that there had been no new “riots” since Monday, drawing a distinction between previous cost-of-living protests and the more recent demonstrations.”Every society can expect protests, but we will not tolerate violence,” he said. – ‘Crush and deter dissent’ -Iranian prosecutors have said authorities would press capital charges of “waging war against God” against some detainees. According to state media, hundreds of people have been arrested.State media has also reported on the arrest of a foreign national for espionage in connection with the protests. No details were given on the person’s nationality or identity.The US State Department on its Persian-language X account said 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani had been sentenced to be executed on Wednesday.”Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.The Norway-based Hengaw rights group, which has closely followed his case, said it had no new information about his fate as it was unable to contact the family due to the communications blackout.Iranian security forces have killed at least 3,428 protesters in their crackdown, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said Wednesday, adding that more than 10,000 people had also been arrested.The group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam condemned the “mass killing of protesters on the streets in recent days”, while IHR warned that the new figure represented an “absolute minimum” for the actual toll.Asked about the number of deaths, another government official said Wednesday that “we do not have any number yet”, adding victims were still being identified.At Wednesday’s funeral ceremony in Tehran, thousands of people waved flags of the Islamic republic as prayers were read out for the dead outside Tehran University, according to images broadcast on state television.”Death to America!” read banners held up by people attending the rally, while others carried photos of Khamenei.

Oil prices extend gains on Iran worries

Oil prices rose further Wednesday on the political instability in major crude producer Iran and the possibility of a US intervention, which also helped push safe-haven gold to a new record high while weighing on the dollar.Wall Street’s main stock indices fell despite US retail sales posting a higher-than-expected 0.6 percent increase in November and several major US banks beating earnings expectations.”Things are looking a little softer at the moment, reflecting a heightened sense of uncertainty in the air,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”Some of that uncertainty revolves around the path of monetary policy after this morning’s economic data worked against the notion of needing to cut rates again soon,” he noted.Recent data has indicated the US economy continues to hum, the labour market has not seen a major degradation and inflation is holding at a moderate level above the US Federal Reserve’s target.The Fed has tipped it would probably wait to make further cuts in interest rates, and most investors expect it will likely hold off for several months.O’Hare also pointed to traders waiting for a possible US Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday on the legality of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.A ruling against the government would prove a temporary setback to its economic and fiscal plans, though officials have said that tariffs can be reimposed by other means.Meanwhile, China said its trade last year reached a “new historical high”, surpassing 45 trillion yuan ($6.4 trillion) for the first time.Global demand for Chinese goods has held firm despite a slump in exports to the United States after Trump hiked tariffs.Other trade partners more than filled the gap, increasing Chinese exports overall by 5.5 percent in 2025.”We expect this resilience to continue through 2026,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.Much attention among traders remained on Iran, with Tehran warning it was capable of responding to any US attack, as Washington appeared to be pulling personnel out of a base that Iran targeted in a strike last year.”Traders are closely watching the political unrest in Iran and possible US intervention, which could threaten disruption to the country’s… oil production,” said Helge Andre Martinsen, senior energy analyst at DNB Carnegie.In European stocks trading London set a fresh all-time high thanks to gains in mining stocks, but Frankfurt and Paris slid lower. Asian stock markets mostly gained.Tokyo shares jumped by 1.5 percent while the yen slumped to its lowest value since mid-2024 amid media reports that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi planned to hold an election as soon as February 8.Takaichi’s cabinet — riding high in opinion polls — has approved a record 122.3-trillion-yen ($768 billion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026.She has vowed to get parliamentary approval as soon as possible to address inflation and shore up the world’s fourth-largest economy.”We are seeing a shift in sentiment that could see European and Asian equities gain ground on their US counterparts,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.On the corporate front, British energy giant BP revealed a write-down of up to $5 billion linked to its energy transition efforts that will be reflected in the company’s upcoming annual results.Its share price traded lower most of the day but closed the day with a gain of 1.5 percent.- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $65.96 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $61.35 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 49,124.17 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 6,917.81New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 23,440.38London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 10,184.35 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,330.97 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 25,286.24 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 54,341.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.6 percent at 26,999.81 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,126.09 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1656 from $1.1643 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3448 from $1.3426Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.25 yen from 159.15 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.66 pence from 86.71 penceburs-rl/cw

Denmark, Greenland in crunch White House talks as Trump ups pressure

Denmark and Greenland’s top diplomats held high-stakes talks at the White House on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump warning it was “vital” for the United States to take control of the Arctic island.Shortly before the meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Denmark announced it was immediately boosting its military presence in strategic Greenland.Footage from CNN showed Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt arriving at the White House campus, while AFP journalists saw Rubio and Vance heading into the talks.Trump’s escalating threats over Greenland — a vast and sparsely populated autonomous territory belonging to NATO ally Denmark — have deeply shaken transatlantic relations.The 79-year-old Republican insisted ahead of the talks that NATO should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, saying it was crucial for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.”NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network.”IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” added Trump.Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.”If the US continues with, ‘We have to have Greenland at all cost,’ it could be a very short meeting,” said Penny Naas, a senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington think tank.Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen sought to further ease US concerns on Thursday, telling AFP his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies.The Danish defense ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.”Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark’s request, Stockholm said.- ‘Big problem’ -Denmark’s Rasmussen said ahead of the meeting that he was hoping to “clear up certain misunderstandings.” But it remains to be seen if there is a chance of de-escalating the situation.Greenland’s leader said Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.”Shortly after the White House talks, a senior delegation from the US Congress — mostly Democrats, but with one Republican — will visit Copenhagen to offer solidarity.Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the US backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.The White House has said that military action against Greenland remains on the table.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an attack on a NATO ally would end the alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.It is a founding member of NATO and its military joined the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter to much criticism. An agreement with Denmark currently allows the United States to station as many soldiers as it wants on Greenland. It also has a “space base” at Pituffik in northern Greenland.Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen meanwhile said ahead of the Washington talks that “Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”But Trump has been insistent that he wants to acquire Greenland wholesale, repeatedly insisting on what he calls the threat of a takeover by Russia or China. The two rival powers have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, which is home to 57,000 people.

Mitchell hits ton as New Zealand down India to level ODI series

Daryl Mitchell struck an unbeaten 131 to lead New Zealand to a series-levelling seven-wicket win over India in the second one-day international on Wednesday.Chasing 285 for victory, Mitchell’s eighth ODI ton and a 162-run stand with Will Young (87) for the third wicket helped New Zealand reach their target with 15 balls to spare in Rajkot.Mitchell’s knock trumped an unbeaten 112 by KL Rahul in India’s 284-7 and forced the three-match series into a decider on Sunday in Indore.Mitchell walked in to bat with New Zealand on 46-2 and along with Young helped the Black Caps take control.Young fell to Kuldeep Yadav in the 38th over but Mitchell stood firm to bring up his hundred.He hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 117-ball innings and with Glenn Phillips, who made 32 not out, put together an unbeaten stand of 78.Indian bowlers enjoyed early success when Harshit Rana bowled Devon Conway, who made 16, and fellow quick Prasidh Krishna had Henry Nicholls inside-edge a delivery onto his stumps for 10.But Mitchell, who was dropped on 80, and Young struck regular boundaries as New Zealand completed their highest-ever ODI chase in India.Earlier, India skipper Shubman Gill made 56 before a brief collapse and a 73-run fifth-wicket partnership between Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.Rahul raised his eighth ODI ton in 87 balls with a six off Kyle Jamieson.India started strongly courtesy of Gill and Rohit Sharma, who scored 24, as the opening pair put on 70 runs.Rohit failed to capitalise on his start and fell to Kristian Clarke, before pace spearhead Jamieson sent back Gill.Clarke kept up the charge with his medium-pace bowling to dismiss Shreyas Iyer for eight and the in-form Virat Kohli for 23.The 37-year-old Kohli, who returned to the top of the ODI batting rankings on Wednesday, walked back to stunned silence after he played on as India slipped from 99-1 to 118-4.Rahul then took centre stage to rebuild the innings along with Jadeja, who made 27.The series will be followed by five T20s, ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka between February 7 and March 8.

Syrian army tells civilians to stay away from Kurdish positions east of Aleppo

Syria’s army told civilians to stay away from Kurdish military positions east of second city Aleppo on Wednesday, after it moved reinforcements to the area following deadly clashes last week.The deployment comes as Syria’s Islamist-led government seeks to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.The Syrian military said in a statement it urges “our civilian population to stay away” from all Kurdish military positions east of Aleppo, adding that “a humanitarian corridor will be opened towards the city of Aleppo” on Thursday morning until the afternoon.The army had closed several roads in the eastern Aleppo province “for security reasons”.The United States, which for years has supported Kurdish fighters but also backs Syria’s new authorities, urged all parties to “avoid actions that could further escalate tensions” in a statement by the US military’s Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper.Syrian state television on Tuesday published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a “closed military zone” and said “all armed groups in this area must withdraw to the east of the Euphrates” River.The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometres further east, as well as towards the south.State news agency SANA published images on Wednesday showing military reinforcements en route from the coastal province of Latakia, while a military source on the ground, requesting anonymity, said reinforcements were arriving from both Latakia and the Damascus region.Both sides reported limited skirmishes overnight. Kurdish forces in a statement accused government troops of bombing a post office, a bakery and other civilian facilities in Deir Hafer, warning of “a wider confrontation and its serious repercussions on civilians, infrastructure, and vital facilities”.An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Deir Hafer reported hearing intermittent artillery shelling on Wednesday, which the military source said was due to government targeting of positions belonging to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.- ‘Declaration of war’ -The SDF controls swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group.On Monday, Syria accused the SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it would send its own personnel there in response.Kurdish forces on Tuesday denied any build-up of their personnel and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.Cooper urged “a durable diplomatic resolution through dialogue”.Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said that government forces were “preparing themselves for another attack”.”The real intention is a full-scale attack” against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a “declaration of war” and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces.Syria’s government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last week that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.- PKK, Turkey -On Tuesday in Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country’s northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, with some burning pictures of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, an AFP correspondent said.Turkey has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border. Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move includes armed Kurdish groups in Syria.On Tuesday, the PKK called the “attack on the Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo” an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara.A day earlier, Ankara’s ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians killed in the Aleppo violence, as well as 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides.Aleppo civil defence official Faysal Mohammad said Tuesday that 50 bodies had been recovered from the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods after the fighting.bur-strs/lar/lg/nad/jfx