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Hiker accidentally uncovers 280-million-year-old footprints in Italy

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Hiker accidentally uncovers 280-million-year-old footprints in Italy

A normal hiking trip turned into a day of archaeological discovery for a couple who found prehistoric footprints dating back millions of years. 

Claudia Steffensen was hiking with her husband through the Italian Alps last summer when she noticed what she described as “strange designs” on a rock. 

“It was a very hot day last summer and we wanted to escape the heat, so we went to the mountains,” Steffensen told the Guardian. “On our way back down, we had to walk very carefully along the path. My husband was in front of me, looking straight ahead, while I was looking towards my feet. I put my foot on a rock, which struck me as odd as it seemed more like a slab of cement. I then noticed these strange circular designs with wavy lines. I took a closer look and realized they were footprints.” 

Ancient footprints dating back millions of years were found when a husband and wife were taking a hike through the Italian Alps. (iStock)

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Once she identified the markings as footprints, the finding was passed along and further studied by a number of experts. 

The first step Steffensen took after discovering the footprints was sending along a photo to a photographer friend with a specialization in the natural world. 

The photographer then reached out to a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Milan named Cristiano Dal Sasso, according to the Guardian, who consulted other experts in the field. 

The footprints found by Steffensen, which presented themselves to her as a result of melting snow and ice, were identified by experts as belonging to a prehistoric reptile. 

The footprints found belonged to an animal from a time period predating dinosaurs. (De Agostini via Getty Images/De Agostini via Getty Images)

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ANCIENT PLANT LIFE UNEARTHED IN 53-MILLION-YEAR-OLD FOREST IN TASMANIA

Experts have made many visits to the area since the original footprints were discovered. Further exploration has led to the discovery of hundreds more fossilized footprints belonging to prehistoric reptiles, amphibians and insects. Fossils of plants, seeds and imprints of raindrops have also been discovered in the area, according to the Guardian. 

The fossilized footprints date back to the Permian period, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The time period took place between 251 and 299 million years ago, a time before dinosaurs. 

The time period ended in “the worst extinction event in the planet’s history,” according to National Geographic, with 90% of marine species and 70% of land animals being wiped out. 

“Dinosaurs did not yet exist, but the authors of the largest footprints must still have been of a considerable size – up to 2-3 meters long,” Dal Sasso said in a statement, per the Guardian. 

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The Natural History Museum has put various relics from the area on display. (Eddy Buttarelli/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

 

Steffensen expressed gratitude at being part of the discovery of what is now referred to as “Rock Zero.”

“I’m feeling very proud, especially to have made a small contribution to science,” Steffensen told the Guardian. 

Research continues on the site, with certain relics being brought to the Natural History Museum in Milan for display. 

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

new video loaded: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

Prosecutors in Switzerland ordered Jacques Moretti to be detained after investigators questioned him and his wife, Jessica Moretti. Officials are looking into whether negligence played a role in last week’s deadly fire at their bar, Le Constellation.

By Meg Felling

January 9, 2026

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on President Donald Trump as he and his administration call for the U.S. to take control of the island. Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press. Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S. ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S. acquiring the island.

Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.

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TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’

Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives. The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.

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“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S. “We don’t want to have China there. And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.” 

Trump said the U.S. is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro. 

Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S., according to Reuters.

A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. (Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FROM CARACAS TO NUUK: MADURO RAID SPARKS FRESH TRUMP PUSH ON GREENLAND

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.

That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

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White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller doubled down on Trump’s remarks, telling CNN in an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part of the United States.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.

“The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What Canada, accustomed to extreme winters, can teach Europe

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Euronews spoke to Patrick de Bellefeuille, a prominent Canadian weather presenter and climate specialist, on how Europe could benefit from Canada’s long experience with snowstorms. He has been forecasting for MétéoMédia, Canada’s top French-language weather network, since 1988.

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