More than 100 artists on seven continents will take part in a "Live Earth" global concert on June 18 to demand action on climate change, former U.S. vice president Al Gore said Wednesday.

"We are going to have one event all over the world on all seven continents," he announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

A volcanic eruption in Tonga has created a new island — although scientists say it could soon disappear.

The volcano has been erupting for a month in the ocean about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the capital, Nuku'alofa. Last week it disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.

The private space exploration firm SpaceX said Tuesday it had secured a $1 billion investment that could help founder Elon Musk's plan to build a satellite Internet network.

The latest round of funding comes from Google and the financial firm Fidelity, which will own some 10 percent of the company.

Precious scrolls blackened by the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in AD 79 may become readable again, thanks to 21st century technology, scientists said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of papyrus scrolls believed to have been authored by Greek philosophers were found in the Roman town of Herculaneum, which was hit in the same eruption that destroyed the town of Pompeii.

The Solar System has at least two more planets waiting to be discovered beyond the orbit of Pluto, Spanish and British astronomers say.

The official list of planets in our star system runs to eight, with gas giant Neptune the outermost.

The EU said Monday it will ban open water trawling of sea bass during the spawning season through April in order to ensure the stock's survival.

The European Commission, the EU executive arm, said it is working with Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to implement the ban which should take effect at the end of January.

The fall in oil prices poses a threat to global efforts to boost renewable energy use and lower carbon emissions, France's ecology and energy minister said Monday.

"There is a real risk of the re-orientation of consumption towards fossil fuels, the ones that cause global warming and thus very severe climatic changes," Segolene Royal said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

Offshore sailors' biggest enemy — the lack of wind — stalled Volvo Ocean Race boats as they approached one of the most challenging parts of the nine-month event on Sunday.

The six-strong fleet has been crawling along at speeds of around five knots or less for much of the past week as it edged through the Bay of Bengal toward the Malacca Strait, leading into the South China Sea on the third leg of the nine-month, 38,739 nautical mile race.

Halfway through the rainy season, the key reservoir for the hemisphere's largest city holds just 6 percent of its capacity, and experts warned Friday that Sao Paulo authorities must take urgent steps to prevent the worst drought in more than 80 years from drying it out.

The system of reservoirs and rivers that provide water to millions in this city have received less rainfall than hoped during the first weeks of the wet season, raising fears they won't be replenished as hoped. Rainfall during the first two weeks of January totaled just 2.9 inches (7.1 centimeters), well below the historic average for the month of 10.7 inches (27.1 centimeters).

Record-breaking temperatures scorched the planet last year, making 2014 the hottest in more than a century and raising new concerns about global warming, US government scientists said Friday.

The much-anticipated report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was confirmed by an independent analysis from the US space agency NASA that reached the same conclusion.