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The Dawn probe (a US-Italian-German collaboration) awakens as scheduled after seven years of interplanetary travel with its ion engines, taking the first photographs of the planetoid Ceres to calibrate its onboard instruments. Dawn has already visited another planetoid, Vesta. Ceres is the most massive and

Mitsubishi H-IIA rocket launches the Hayabusa-2 mission, which, powered by its electric ion engine, will arrive at the asteroid Ryugu on June 27, 2018, fire two projectiles at it, collect substantial samples, launch hoppers, and bring the samples back to Earth in 2020 for analysis,

Eastern Ukraine. Ten Russian paratroopers were captured by Ukrainian troops, interrogated, and shown to journalists. This is the first evidence, after several days of evidence, that Russian troops are operating on Ukrainian soil.

The European probe Venus Express bravely plunged, in a maneuver lasting several weeks, into the upper layers of Venus’s dense atmosphere. It survived to temporarily return to a higher, safer orbit. The minimum orbital altitude during the aerobraking maneuver was just 131 km, encountering pressure

The e-book Automation Story is published at the SPS trade fair in Parma. http://www.automationstory.com/ This is the first Italian e-book on the history of industrial automation.

Kiev, Ukraine. After several days of violent clashes, culminating in around a hundred deaths among protesters and dozens of police officers captured and held hostage, President Yanukovych and his government sat down to negotiate and signed an agreement that led to a truce in street

Unrest erupted across Ukraine following President Yanukovych’s decision to withdraw from the European Union.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or Daesh, takes control of large areas of northern Iraq and northeastern Syria.

Modena. The Secchia River breached its right bank near the Uccellino Bridge, flooding the Modena lowlands for tens of square kilometers with up to 2 meters of water, mud, and debris.

The spread between Italian BTPs and German Bunds has fallen below 200 points (2%) for the first time since July 2011, after having reached 600 points at the end of 2011.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FIAT, completes the acquisition of 100% of Chrysler. An agreement is reached with the UAW union for the purchase of the remaining 42% of shares for $4.35 billion, mostly ($2.60 billion) paid directly by Chrysler, significantly less than the market expected

Nigeria. In a tremendous escalation of violence, Boko Haram Islamic extremists kill several thousand people (2,000 in the first six months of the year alone). Hundreds of women are kidnapped. The regular army occasionally manages to retake attacked towns and villages. The civil war continues

Moon. China’s Chang’e 3 probe makes a soft landing with its rover aboard. This is the first controlled return to the lunar surface since 1976, when the Soviets returned lunar soil samples to Earth.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed his uncle and advisor, Jan Song Taek. He was his top advisor, but also, ultimately, a symbol of openness toward the West, and was considered close to the Beijing government.

Comet ISON passes perihelion, passing through the solar atmosphere at millions of degrees. The comet’s body reaches thousands of degrees and is subjected to tremendous tidal forces. The comet disintegrates, and only a small portion survives. Due to its parabolic orbit, this is the first

Geneva. Iran, the EU, and the US reach an agreement to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment program through sanctions relief and the release of Iranian funds.

Launch of the USS Gerald Ford, CVN 78 (Carrier Vessel Nuclear), the first of the Ford class. Part of the CVN 21 class, it will serve the entire 21st century, with innovations such as the electromagnetic catapult (essentially a long linear motor) that saves enormous

Donald Trump’s official visit to Moscow, Russia. In January 2017, a dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, emerged, proving that Donald Trump acted in a way that would make him vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Specifically, while in Moscow for a Miss

Germany. Angela Merkel and the CDU secure their third term as leader of the country.

Peshawar, Pakistan. Two suicide bombers detonated their bombs at the Anglican Church of All Saints. At least 70 people were killed and 120 were injured.

Kenya. Al-Shabaab Islamic extremists kill 68 people and wound hundreds in a shopping mall in an automatic weapons and grenade attack, leading to a siege that lasts for several days.

US-Russian agreement for Syria to deliver 1,000 tons of chemical weapons to more than forty sites on Syrian territory.

Astana, Kazakhstan. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in office for a year, delivers a historic speech outlining his new strategy: “More than 2,100 years ago, under the Han Dynasty of Western China, the Emperor’s representative, Zhang Qian, was twice sent to Central Asia to establish trade

Syria. The use of chemical weapons has killed at least a thousand people. This was the “Red Line” enunciated by Barack Obama, a line that, if crossed, would have provoked American military intervention. Aircraft carriers are moving. And with them, diplomacy, to avoid a conflict.

The Supreme Court of Cassation upheld Silvio Berlusconi’s four-year sentence for tax fraud, with three years covered by a pardon and the fourth to be served under house arrest or community service.

massive cloud of interstellar gas is approaching the supermassive central black hole of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A (Sgr A), with a good chance that part of it will fall directly into the singularity. The central black hole has a mass

Cyprus, in agreement with the European Union, must resort to extreme measures to avoid bankruptcy. Forced withdrawals of up to 40% from bank accounts over €100,000 are being implemented.

Central African Republic. Seleka Islamist militants, arriving from the north of the country and from Chad and Sudan, conquer the capital, Bangui.

Global paper consumption peaked. Since 2013, paper consumption has steadily declined, thanks to the dematerialization of goods and services, such as smartphones. The United States reached this peak in 1990.

Tunisia. Political leader Chokri Belaid is assassinated. Belaid represents the secular opposition to the Islamist-inspired government, which has recently come under intense pressure from Salafist and extremist factions. The political assassination is followed by massive demonstrations with over a million people and clashes in the

England. The remains of Richard III, the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty, are found two meters beneath the asphalt of a parking lot in Leicester, central England. The skeleton reveals the king’s spinal deformity, a wound to his skull, and a leg, and his

Microsoft buys Texas-based Dell for $24 billion

39 km above Roswell, New Mexico. 19:09 UTC. Felix Baumgartner jumps from an altitude of 39,068 m, exceeding the speed of sound and reaching a maximum speed of 1,343 km/h, or Mach 1.24.

The CRISPR-Cas9 tool, which allows for multiple targeted modifications of any DNA in vitro, has been perfected for purposes such as fungal and disease-resistant plants, animal disease models, the treatment of defective organs, lowering cholesterol levels, repairing stem cells in vitro, blocking AIDS infection, and

Emilia. 4:04 am. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale at a depth of just 6.3 km beneath Finale Emilia shakes the Modena and Ferrara lowlands. Seven people have been confirmed dead, approximately 50 injured, 5,000 displaced, and extensive damage to cultural heritage has

Worldwide, airplane accidents account for 1 death per 10 billion miles. The figure was 2,100 per 10 billion miles in 1929-1933.

Kourou, French Guiana. The VEGA (European Advanced Generation Launcher) rocket is successfully launched. This launcher, developed jointly by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA), was technically developed by ELV, a company jointly owned by the Italian company Avio and the

5:45 PM: First targets hit by French jets (four tanks, several armored personnel carriers, and tank fuel depots) in Benghazi and Misrata. Within hours, 112 cruise missiles from the US Navy and other Royal Navy aircraft are also launched, hitting 20 targets. During the night,

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft is the first to enter orbit around Mercury. The photos are spectacular. The innermost planet in the Solar System had been overlooked for too long…

Munich. In a police operation that remained secret until November 2013, 1,500 paintings, previously thought to have disappeared after being requisitioned by the Nazis during World War II, were seized. They included works by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Kokoschka, Marc, Beckmann, Nolde, Klee, and many others.

Fukushima, Japan: Fires and explosions also broke out at reactors 2 and 4. Reactor 4 released significant amounts of radiation due to exposure to spent uranium rods stored in the upper part of the building, which caused a fire.

Manama, Bahrain: Shiite street protests against the Sunni monarchy are growing. The Saudi army rushes to help, but the opposition views it as an invader.

Apple and Google, for the first time, are spending more on lawsuits and patent payments than on research and development. The history of electronics has always oscillated between two development models: the one that made the internet successful, for example, based on the sharing of

Several street protests in Algeria and Tunisia, caused by joblessness and skyrocketing prices, culminated in dozens of deaths at the hands of police and the flight of Tunisian President Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia.

The Cassini spacecraft completes a flyby of Rhea, passing within 75 kilometers of its surface. This is the extension of its mission. The primary mission (4 years) ended in 2008, while the Cassini Equinox Mission extension ended in 2010, following which the Cassini Solstice Mission

Amanda Henry and her team at the Smithsonian have published a paper demonstrating that Neanderthals at two sites in Belgium and Iraq unequivocally cooked their food. The analysis is based on tiny fossil remains on Neanderthal teeth. Clive Finlayson will also demonstrate that they roasted

Alexandria, Egypt. A terrorist attack involving a car packed with explosives took place outside a crowded Coptic Christian church (Church of the Saints, or Al-Qiddissine). Around a hundred people were injured and 21 people were moved. The explosion also damaged the adjacent mosque, injuring eight

The U.S. Department of Defense controls more than half of the military satellites currently active in orbit and spends 95% of the world’s annual budget on military space, with expenditures reaching $25 billion in 2010 (up from $17.5 billion in 2003). By comparison, NASA spent

Space Shuttle Endeavour’s STS130 mission to the ISS

The rate of workplace accident deaths in the United States has dropped below 5 per 100,000 workers per year (0.005%/year). It was 60 in 1912 (0.060%/year).

Ninety people were killed in a suicide bombing during a crowd at a volleyball match in Lakki Marwat, in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan. In this and other villages, civilians have organized themselves into anti-Taliban militias to defend themselves from the wave of violence

The Car4 receptor, which senses carbon dioxide in carbonated drinks, was discovered in sour-tasting cells located on the tongue.

Six Italian paratroopers die in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan. It’s a multifaceted attack. First, a car bomb with 150 kg of explosives explodes against the Lince armored vehicles. Then, when the four survivors from the second armored vehicle emerge stunned, several bursts of

Ethiopian troops leave Somali territory after two years, an attempt to replace them with African Union soldiers fails and Islamic militias take control of Mogadishu

Baghdad’s Green Zone, the area of the city that houses the embassies, the Iraqi government and the American command, officially passes from Americans to Iraqi control, as part of the agreements ratified by the Iraqi parliament that provide for the gradual American withdrawal until complete

The number of American soldiers killed in Iraq in 2008 decreased to 309, from 906 in 2007.

The scientific journal Current Biology publishes the first analyses of an experiment on a tardigrade colony. They were transported into the vacuum of circumterrestrial space and exposed to direct ionizing solar radiation. The Russian Foton M3 probe, in collaboration with the ESA, was used. The

Global Financial Crisis. The Federal Reserve injects an additional $20 billion into the system through a three-day auction, intended to cover the weekend’s needs. The US central bank also states that it stands ready to launch additional operations throughout the day as needed. The auction

Global Financial Crisis. The ECB is injecting €70 billion in liquidity to stabilize financial markets. This is the Eurotower’s second consecutive extraordinary move, following Monday’s €30 billion injection. In total, in two days, the central bank injected €100 billion in liquidity into financial markets, restoring

Global Financial Crisis. American giant AIG (American International Group) is seeking $75 billion in fresh capital. Its stock has fallen more than 73% to a low of $1.25. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are also struggling.

Global Financial Crisis. Lehman Brothers (26,000 employees) collapses, the American investment bank is hit by the subprime mortgage crisis: $60 billion in high-risk real estate assets. The crash drags down all Asian and European stock markets.

Global Financial Crisis. To avert a catastrophe on the American and global financial markets, the Bush administration, represented by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, has taken control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two quasi-governmental agencies that finance nearly half of all mortgages in the

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd officially apologizes for the treatment of Aboriginal people.

Using the radial velocity method, three more terrestrial planets are discovered, all around HD40307, a solar-type star, planets with masses of 4.2, 6.7, and 9.4 times that of the Earth.

The situation in Iraq is improving, and control of public order is gradually shifting to Iraqi forces. General David Howell Petraeus of the United States Army has been commanding the US Armed Forces in Iraq since February 10, 2007. His strategy has achieved significant success:

Alitalia – Compagnia Aerea Italiana, was founded as an LLC on the initiative of the Intesa Sanpaolo banking institution and Roberto Colaninno with the aim of taking over the brand and activities of the old Alitalia and Air One.

The Jupiter B satellite, the second in the European Galileo satellite constellation, is launched into orbit by the Russian Soyuz launcher from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Izzat Ibrahim Al-Duri, the number 2 most wanted man of the former Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq (the king of clubs in the deck of cards), is captured by the Iraqi army and handed over to the Americans

Ralph Lorenz, of the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, together with American and Italian colleagues, examining radar data from the Cassini probe, discovers the presence of an ocean of water and ammonia 100 km below the carbonate-rich surface of Titan.

STS123 Endeavour Mission: Assembly of the Canadian Dextre robotic arm and Japanese Kibo module

Mponeng gold mine, in northern South Africa. Four kilometers below the surface, biologists discover a species of bacteria that lives without light or oxygen, in a community composed exclusively of other similar bacteria, and uses only the radioactive decay of uranium in the rock as

Euro-Dollar exchange rate at 1.49, meaning the dollar is worth 1300 lire.

Archaeologist Curtis Marean publishes an article in the journal Nature in which he provides evidence of the presence of marine invertebrates (such as mussels) in the diet of Homo sapiens in South Africa 164,000 years ago.

The American Dawn probe is taking off on a Delta 2 spacecraft bound for Vesta and Ceres, which it will reach in 2011 and 2015 respectively. It is carrying 247 kg of xenon for electric ion propulsion to reach Vesta and another 112 kg for

planet with Earth-like characteristics has been discovered outside our solar system, 20.4 light-years away, or 193 trillion kilometers away, in the constellation of Libra. It is likely a rocky planet, on which liquid water could also be found. It has a radius about 50% larger

171 people arrested in Saudi Arabia as part of a major police operation to uncover preparations for a large-scale terrorist attack on Saudi oil facilities.

Barzan Hassan, his half-brother and former secret police chief, and Awad Bandar, former chief judge of Saddam Hussein’s regime, were hanged; they had been sentenced to death in November 2006.

The Somali Islamic Courts Council has declared holy war on Ethiopia, which is supporting the Somali government in fighting Islamic guerrillas who control Mogadishu and the south of the country.

North Korea detonates its first atomic bomb 2,000 meters below Mount Paektu

Chechen terrorist leader Basayev killed by Russian forces in Chechnya