One of the most powerful earthquakes in the past decade struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula: a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the seafloor east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It wasn’t just a single point on a map: USGS models show the quake ruptured a fault zone about 500 km
Mandalay, Myanmar. Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, at a depth of 17 kilometers and extending for at least 300 kilometers, the country’s worst in a century. A skyscraper under construction also collapses in Bangkok, Thailand. The total death toll stands at 3,645 (the
Strong Santa Ana winds (100 mph, hurricane-force winds), dry conditions, and a lack of rainfall are sparking massive wildfires in California. Los Angeles is engulfed in flames: in three days, five deaths, 180,000 displaced, and 11,000 buildings destroyed. Although the fires are less extensive than
Derna, Cyrenaica, Libya. Unusually heavy rains cause two dams to collapse, and the wave overwhelms the city of Derna, killing at least 11,300 people. “In a matter of seconds, the water level suddenly rose,” said an injured survivor, who said he and his mother were
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Covid-19 pandemic over. It was declared in early 2020, and in 40 months it has caused 7 million deaths and an estimated 20 million. 764 million people have been infected, and 5 billion have received at least
Gaziantep, Turkey. A powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude, at a depth of 17.9 kilometers, strikes a 200-kilometer stretch of southeastern Turkey, bordering Syria. Nearly fifty thousand people have died in both Turkey and Syria.
Bagnolo in Piano, Reggio Emilia. Two earthquakes measuring 4.0 and 4.3 on the Richter scale hit the area, the first around 8:00 PM and the second an hour later.
The fourth wave of COVID-19 infections has peaked in Italy, with 200,000 new cases per day. In the United States, the same period will see one million new cases per day. However, intensive care hospitalizations and deaths are significantly lower than in previous waves, thanks
US President Joe Biden is reopening the Wuhan laboratory investigation into the artificial origin of the virus that gave rise to Covid-19. He is demanding that US intelligence complete an investigation, which will ultimately prove inconclusive. What is concrete is that at least three researchers
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide exceeds 60 million. The actual (uncounted) number likely reaches one billion, according to the WHO. The reported death toll exceeds 1.5 million, but the true number is likely much higher. Europe is just finishing its second wave, while
Japan also declared a state of emergency due to Covid-19. The government has allocated a significant sum to support the Japanese economy: 108 trillion yen, equivalent to nearly $1 trillion. A veritable bazooka, a “whatever it takes” effort, also aimed at mitigating a blow to
Covid-19: Over 3.9 billion people, more than half the world’s population, are under lockdown in 90 countries and territories. The number of cases worldwide has reached one million. The United Nations considers this the greatest global crisis since World War II.
Italy. The government allocates €400 billion to support businesses and families for recovery during and after the Covid-19 lockdown.
COVID-19: Over 3.38 billion people in 78 countries and territories worldwide are under some form of restriction in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus. This represents approximately 43% of the world’s total population. The majority—at least 2.45 billion people in 42 countries
Covid-19 cases surpass 100,000 in the United States, making it the world’s leading country in terms of number of infections.
Washington, DC. COVID-19: Agreement reached in the United States on the $2 trillion plan to boost the economy. The Republican majority in the United States Senate announced that it has reached an agreement with the Democrats and the White House on the “historic” plan (dubbed
COVID-19 deaths in Italy exceed those in China. There have been 3,405 deaths in Italy, while in China, a total of 3,242 people have died from COVID-19 since December. In Italy, deaths are rising at a rate of 500 per day, while total infections are
United States. The Federal Reserve has committed to buying up to $1 trillion in commercial paper, i.e., debt securities with a maturity of up to 270 days, to stabilize markets in response to the financial turmoil resulting from Covid-19.
The World Health Organization declares a pandemic for COVID-19 or Coronavirus.
Italy. Quarantine measures (called “I’m staying at home” by Prime Minister Conte) have been extended to the entire country.
Italy. Prime Minister Conte has introduced quarantine measures due to the coronavirus emergency, with restrictions on movement for all of Lombardy, part of Veneto, Piedmont, and Emilia-Romagna.
Wuhan, China. The Huanan market, where Covid-19 supposedly originated, is undergoing a massive cleanup and disinfection. The first World Health Organization (WHO) inspectors will only be admitted eleven months later.
Italy. First Italian to test positive for COVID-19, or Coronavirus, without ever having traveled to China. This marks the start of the epidemic in Italy, the first among Western European countries. Within a few weeks, several thousand Italians will test positive.
Wuhan, China. A new strain of coronavirus (2019-nCoV, the virus; the disease is COVID-19) spreads in Wuhan, which goes into lockdown on January 23. Within days, the death toll rises exponentially, and the entire region of 56 million people is isolated by Chinese authorities. The
Wuhan, China. The 34-year-old ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was the first to speak out about the COVID-19 virus on the popular messaging app WeChat. He was stopped by the police, interrogated, accused of spreading false news, and forced to sign a self-declaration and confess to his
Wuhan Epidemiological Laboratory, China. At least three researchers at the Chinese laboratory in Wuhan simultaneously fell ill with symptoms similar to those of COVID-19. Furthermore, on June 18, 2021, an American researcher (Jesse D. Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle) found
Yemen. During the funeral of the father of General al-Ruwishan, Interior Minister of the self-proclaimed Shiite Houthi government in Yemen, an airstrike decimated those present, including several senior officials from the rebels’ armed forces and intelligence services. The ceremony hall in Sana’a was gutted, amid
The European Union is demanding that Ireland recover 13 billion euros in unpaid taxes from Apple. This is a long-standing agreement between the multinational and the Irish government to pay extremely low taxes on its profits, which the European Union deems illegal. The Irish government,
Krakow, World Youth Day. Pope Francis declares that, yes, there is a war going on, but it is not a religious war. All religions want peace.
Paris. 129 people were killed and 350 injured, 99 of them seriously, in a series of seven simultaneous attacks in the French capital. The attack sites were: La Belle Equipe, with at least 19 people killed by gunfire; Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge
Singapore. President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China and Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist Republic of China are meeting for the first time since 1949.
Geneva. The first data from 13 TeV collisions are collected after the LHC was restarted at double its power.
Mojave Desert, California. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spacecraft explodes minutes after separating from WhiteKnightTwo. It was the fourth flight. The pilot manages to parachute out and lands seriously injured. The co-pilot is trapped in the spacecraft and dies.
Virginia. The fifth launch of the Antares rocket, and the fourth to the space station, explodes shortly after launch. The AJ-26 engines, designed and built in the USSR and adopted by the private American company Orbital Sciences after the end of the Cold War, fail.
Queens, New York. Zale Thomson, a Muslim, unprovoked and without a word, attacked four police officers with an axe. He seriously injured one in the head and another in the arm before being killed. His Facebook page features images of a jihadist warrior.
Shuji Nakamura (中村 修二) received the Nobel Prize, along with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, for inventing the blue LED, a seemingly impossible task that only his determination allowed him to achieve—a determination to work on the project, often against the wishes of the company
Iraqi special forces find a secret document among Islamic State (ISIS) militias. It is the battle plan against Iran, drafted by Abdullah Ahmed al-Meshedani, one of the six members of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s war cabinet. It contains 70 directives explaining how to strike Iran and
Northern Syria. The Kurdish city of Kobane falls first to ISIS and then back to the Kurds, following US air strikes.
The Ebola epidemic has already killed 4,000 people and infected 9,000, almost all in West Africa, but some cases have been reported in the United States and Europe.
ISIS. Great Britain, Belgium, and Denmark, among others, join the bombing of ISIS targets. The coalition now has a total of 62 nations.
Scotland. In the Scottish independence referendum, the No vote wins with 55% of the vote.
United States. The House of Representatives approves intervention in Syria as part of a plan to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Eastern Ukraine. A ceasefire has been reached. The agreement provides for a 30-kilometer buffer zone in the east of the country, supervised by the OSCE. The breakaway zones are the eastern parts of the eastern provinces (Oblasts) of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Google engineers have released a neural network model, called “Inception,” capable of automatically recognizing and cataloging an image, with few false alarms and missed alarms, across numerous categories. For example, it can tell not only whether it’s a dog or a cat, but also whether
ISIS has kidnapped over 700 Yazidi girls and women in the Mount Sinjar region of northern Iraq. More abducted women, from the Turkmen, Shabak, and Christian minorities, will soon join them. The choice is: convert to Islam and be sold as wives to the jihadists
Donbass, Ukraine. After the downing of a civilian airliner over Ukraine, Putin decides there is no longer any need for subterfuge: Russia must engage directly with the insurgents in Donbass. Russian armored columns cross the border with Ukraine, heading west. In less than a week,
ISIS conquers Mosul, and among its first targets is Badush Prison. The gates are opened and Sunni inmates are released, while at least 670 Shiite prisoners are executed. The massacre is confirmed by the testimonies of 20 survivors and 16 eyewitnesses.
Monsanto settles for $1 billion in a dispute with DuPont over genetically modified grains. Monsanto, of St. Louis, accused Pioneer Hi-Bred (later DuPont Pioneer), based in Johnston, Iowa, of infringing Monsanto’s patents on Roundup Ready Crops, which are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.
Fukushima, Japan: The reactors are being cooled with seawater, a measure that appears reassuring but which reveals itself to be a desperate act given its extreme measure.
The International Climate Conference concludes in Copenhagen with a general political agreement on climate, signed first by US President Barack Obama and representatives of China, India, Brazil and South Africa, and then adopted unanimously by the 193 countries participating in the United Nations climate summit.
Global Financial Crisis. General Motors (GM) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, essentially a state-controlled administration with a 72.5% stake and a $50 billion injection. This is the third-largest insolvency filing in US history, and will lead the century-old automotive company to delist from Wall
Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies. He had returned to settle in Russia (no longer the USSR), and in 2004 he addressed the Duma in Moscow. He died on August 3, 2008. In 2010, The Gulag Archipelago was adopted as a school text (recommended, not required), in the
Abu Aith Al Libi, senior Al-Qaeda leader, is killed in Pakistan by a US airstrike.
Al-Qaeda claims attack on Algerian president in Algiers; car bomb explodes in front of presidential palace, president escapes unharmed
Dave Deamer (University of California at Santa Cruz), Dan Branton (Harvard) and George Church (Harvard Medical School) develop the DNA sequencing technique called Nanopore Sequencing based on nanotechnology: in practice, a single-stranded DNA is passed through a 1.5nm pore via electrical attraction, thus varying the
Venetia Burney, the little girl who had the idea to name the first trans-Neptunian planet after Pluto, the god of the underworld, was still alive when the mission that would explore it up close departed. Venetia Burney died in 2009, at the age of 90,
prodigious gamma-ray burst (GRB) from the neutron star SGR-1806-20 (30,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the galactic center) arrives on Earth: it is the most energetic event detected so far
Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Al Qaeda kills 16 people in the attack on a residence, several hostages are taken; when some hostages are slaughtered during the night, Saudi special forces intervene: 25 hostages are freed, 9 killed (an Italian, a Swede, 7 Asians), 2 terrorists are
Intermittent fighting erupts in Iraq in Fallujah, Karbala, Najaf, and Nasiriyah; a scandal erupts regarding the torture of Iraqi prisoners; an American civilian hostage is beheaded; the video is published online and endorsed by Al Qaeda; following the scandals, the prison director, General Karpinsky, and
Chechnya, Russia. While Chechen President Kadyrov is attending a Victory Day concert at Grozny Stadium, a massive explosion destroys the VIP stand, killing him and five others. For Putin, it is a devastating blow: the definitive collapse of any hope for stability in the region
Oxford, England. The day is 3/14, a date written in the American alphabet, meaning pi. Daniel Tammet, an autistic man with Asperger’s syndrome, recites the first 22,514 digits of pi from memory in 5 hours and 9 minutes, without ever getting a single one wrong.
A 6.5 earthquake razed the Iranian city of Bam, killing 50,000 people.
The first European (ESA) mission to Mars, Mars Express, is in Martian orbit and releases the probe, which, however, will be lost.
Valentino Rossi wins his third consecutive riders’ title in the 500cc class, his fifth world title including those won in the 125cc and 250cc classes.
After more than 10 years of observations, the presence of a supermassive black hole (3.7 million solar masses) in the center of the Milky Way has been confirmed; the evidence comes from observations of the motion of the star S2 which orbits it with a
A double attack in Bali, Indonesia, targeting a pub frequented by Westerners and an American consulate left 190 dead, mostly Australians, and more than 300 injured. Members of the Islamic group Jamaah Islamiah were identified and arrested as the perpetrators. Some were sentenced to death.
The Tora Bora area in Afghanistan also falls into the hands of the Northern Alliance and American special forces; in just over two months of military operations, there are around a hundred American victims; in the following 4 years the peacekeeping forces will lose around
Two million people (700,000 of them foreigners) arrive at World Youth Day in Rome.