A newly discovered tectonic "regime" may explain why Earth has active plates while Venus remains stagnant.

Finance and economy ministers from Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain are pressing for the European Commission to impose windfall taxes on energy companies as they profit from the crisis caused by the Iran war, dpa learnt on Saturday. The ministers point to a solidarity levy imposed during the energy crisis that followed the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in a letter addressed to Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.

Blue Origin launched its huge New Glenn rocket Thursday with a pair of NASA spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’ company and NASA are counting on to get people and supplies to the moon — and it was a complete success. The 321-foot (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending NASA’s twin Mars orbiters on a drawn-out journey to the red planet.