Washington DC, USA. “My great friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping…” thus begins Donald Trump’s speech, in which he imposes heavy trade tariffs on China: 25% import duties, totaling $50 billion. And these are just the first of a series of tariff packages that will
Global Foundries (also financed with capital from the Persian Gulf) cancels its program to develop EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) technology, which enables the fabrication of chips using 7nm technology. At this point, only TSMC (Taiwan), Samsung (South Korea), and Intel (USA) remain on the global
Venezuela. The socialism of the Chávez-Maduro era has brought catastrophic economic ruin, accompanied by human suffering, despite its enormous oil wealth (Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world). GDP collapsed by 35% from 2013 to 2017. This is the worst economic collapse ever
The giant Chinese telecommunications company ZTE (Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment) is the reason for Chinese Premier Xi’s request to US President Trump to lift the US embargo on ZTE, ordered by the Obama administration following ZTE’s trade relations with North Korea on embargoed products. This order
Singapore. North Korean President Kim Jong Un and American President Donald Trump met. It was the first time since the 1950 Korean War.
South Korea. Kim Jong-un crosses the border (the first time a North Korean head of state has done so since 1953) and has an official meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Moon Jae-in.
The American exoplanet-hunting space telescope, TESS, is launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket is recovered. As of April 5, 2021 (the end of the primary mission), TESS had identified 2,601 candidate exoplanets, and the extended mission continues to acquire
It turns out that the galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 has no dark matter. It is an ultradiffuse galaxy, with very low mass. It is therefore the first galaxy observed whose orbital velocity is consistent with the gravitational force expected from its observable stars. The presence of
Carcassonne, France. Radouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old Moroccan man who claims to be a member of ISIS and wants to free Salah Abdeslam (Paris attack of November 2015), kills two people and takes hostages in a supermarket. One of the police officers offers to exchange one
Salisbury, England. Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, as they do every year, visit his wife’s grave to lay a bouquet of flowers. Yulia lives in Russia, and her father lives in England. Someone slips the nerve agent, already in Russia, into
Elon Musk’s Space X launches the Falcon Heavy, carrying a Tesla Roadster sports car and a mannequin in a Space X spacesuit, into orbit beyond Mars, toward the dwarf planet Ceres. The images from space, featuring the Roadster and Earth in the background, set to
Idlib, Syria. A Russian Su-25 warplane is shot down by rebels. The pilot ejects, but then commits suicide with a grenade before being captured.
Kabul, Afghanistan. A Taliban suicide attack, involving an ambulance gaining access to the capital’s protected area, kills around a hundred people and wounds hundreds more.
Syria. The territories under direct ISIS control are reduced to a bare minimum. But now, with the ISIS challenge defeated, the Damascus government and Turkey are focusing on other objectives. Damascus is attacking the rebel enclave of Idlib, while Turkey is bombing and attacking the
John Young, astronaut on Apollo 10, Apollo 16 (walks on the moon with Charlie Duke), Gemini 3 and 10, and STS-1 (first to pilot the Space Shuttle) and STS-9, dies.
Kaonan Micadei of the Federal University of ABC in Brazil, constructs a microsystem, at the atomic level, where the arrow of time, understood as linked to entropy, is reversed, meaning heat flows from a cold body to a hot one.
Iraq declares victory in the war against ISIS on its soil. A few pockets, mostly desert, remain in eastern Syria, but ISIS has lost more than 95% of its territory. Of the 40,000 fighters who fought in 2014, only about 3,000 remain. Nearly 7,000 foreign
milestone in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Google’s AlphaZero program defeats Stockfish 8, the world chess champion since 2016, at chess. Stockfish 8 had access to the brute force of centuries of human experience accumulated in its memory. It was capable of calculating 70 billion positions per
Pisa. Adalberto Giazotto, an Italian physicist, dies. He had the intuition that gravitational wave detectors could be built on Earth using enormous interferometers with stationary pendulums to minimize coupling of the mirrors with the ground. These interferometers searched for signals in the 10-100Hz range, previously
Chile. The planet Ross 128b is discovered 11 light-years from Earth using the La Silla telescope. It is the second terrestrial planet in terms of distance, after Proxima b.
iPTF14hls, a bizarre supernova (or zombie star), continues to explode repeatedly. The first known one occurred in 1954, and several more recently within 11 weeks. One possible explanation (Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae), hypothesized by Daniel Kasen and discovered by Arcavi, Howell, and Birnstein, posits a star
The first in vivo gene editing procedure, performed not in a laboratory cell culture but directly on a patient with Hunter syndrome, has been performed in the United States. The therapy, tested by California-based Sangamo Therapeutics, uses a viral vector that, when injected into the
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser reentry spacecraft completes its first flight without any problems (the previous flight had suffered a landing gear issue). It is released from a Chinook helicopter from an altitude of more than 12 kilometers.
New York City. Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant to the United States, drives his van into a car park on a bike path in Lower Manhattan. He kills eight people and wounds 11. He claims to be working for ISIS. He shouted “Allah Akhbar.” Among
Afghanistan. A series of attacks have killed over 70 Muslim worshippers at prayer. The first occurred in a Shiite mosque in Kabul and was claimed by ISIS; the second in a Sunni mosque in Ghor, a central province of Afghanistan.
The Pan-Starrs 1 telescope in Hawaii has discovered an asteroid from outside the solar system. It’s the first of its kind. It was first named 1I/2017U1 and then christened Oumuamua, a Hawaiian word meaning “the messenger who comes from far away and arrives first.” It
North Korea. Underground explosion of a thermonuclear device of approximately 50,000 tons. This is North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.
Cape Canaveral, Florida. Elon Musk’s Space X Falcon 9 rocket delivers nine satellites into orbit, then maneuvers and returns to Cape Canaveral with a vertical landing. This marks a major milestone in space travel, making a traditional launch vehicle fully reusable, with a Vertical Take
Paris. Armed attack on the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper. Journalists and cartoonists were hauled in with bullets, shouting “Allah Akbar.” 12 people were killed, two of them police officers, mercilessly gunned down in the street. 20 people were injured, four of
The leader of the Somali Islamic Organization Al-Shabab, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi, surrendered to the police. There was a $3 million reward for his capture. Three months earlier, the previous leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, had been killed in a US drone strike. Rumors suggest the
The Kepler satellite concludes Campaign 1 of its exoplanet observation mission and begins Campaign 2, which extends the mission to 2016. Kepler has so far discovered 997 confirmed planets in over 400 alien planetary systems, and a further 3,216 are still unconfirmed (based on past
Russia. Angara is the first and only large-capacity launcher developed entirely after 1991. Produced by Krunichev, it is still based on the Zenit and uses the RD-171 liquid oxygen and kerosene engines (renamed RD-191 and with a single chamber instead of a quadruple) for the
Ukrainian President Yanukovych arrives in Moscow, where he has taken refuge from the street demonstrations in Ukraine.
Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad for three decades, formerly Tsaritsyn for three centuries) is hit by two Islamic-inspired suicide attacks. The first at the central station kills 17, the second, on a moving bus, kills 14. Both are captured on webcams.
Central African Republic. Christian militiamen of the Antibalaka retake the capital, Bangui. Meanwhile, 436,000 people have been displaced out of a population of 4.5 million.
London. Approximately 2:20 PM. Michael Adebolajo, 28, Nigerian by birth and a convert to Islam several years ago, and an accomplice, Michael Adebolawe, 22, attacked Drummer Lee Rigby, a British soldier, a veteran of Afghanistan and the father of a two-year-old child. They killed him
St. Peter’s Square, Rome. Pope Francis officially consecrates the tortured men of Otranto in 1480-1481, by Ahmed Pasha Gedik “the Toothless.” An initial declaration had been made in 1771, followed by the consecration by Pope John Paul II in 1980, on the 500th anniversary.
Pope Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, resigns, in a decision unprecedented in recent history.
Sandy Hook School, Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and 6 adults with a shotgun, as well as his mother, before shooting himself. He had taken the rifle from his mother’s home. Adam Lanza suffered from serious mental illness. This massacre is the
Bletchingley, Surrey, UK. During renovations by his homeowner, 74-year-old David Martin discovered the skeleton of a pigeon with a small red cylinder containing a coded message. The dispatch wasn’t immediately translated by the British intelligence services, but a Canadian who inherited an old Royal Artillery
Gaza Strip. Ahmed Al Jabari, head of Hamas’s military wing, is hit in his car by an Israeli missile. This event intensifies Hamas’s rocket fire on Israel and triggers further Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Cairo, Egypt. A blindfolded child draws the name of the new Pope of the Coptic Christians. It is Bishop Tawadros. He replaces Shenouda III, who remained in office for 40 years. He is the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The New York Times begins publishing a series of articles investigating the wealth accumulated by the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. From then on, the Times has been the victim of cyberattacks and hacks linked to the Chinese government, and 54 NYT employees have
Philippines. After 40 years of conflict and 120,000 deaths, a peace agreement is signed in the south of the country between the government and Islamic autonomist rebels. It is decided to establish an independent region by 2016. The country is 94% Christian. The southern Philippines
Benghazi, Libya. Tens of thousands of people are demonstrating against the fundamentalists who want to embrace the Arab Spring. The protests are peaceful for a few hours, then some people head to the Ansar al-Sharia base, headquarters of the Salafist Islamic militia suspected of carrying
Benghazi, Libya. A well-planned attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi leads to the killing of 10 Libyan guards, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, a CIA officer, and a Marine. The attack occurred during a street protest over a film posted online by a Californian, deemed
The American probe Dawn leaves orbit around the asteroid Vesta, to leave for the asteroid Ceres, where it will arrive a few months before New Horizons arrives at Pluto, thus becoming, Dawn, the first probe to visit a dwarf planet.
The American spacecraft Voyager 1 recorded a definitive drop in solar wind speed by a factor of a thousand. From this point on, the solar wind will never return to its previous values, indicating that the spacecraft has reached the edge of the solar influence.
Waziristan, Pakistan. Al Qaeda’s number two, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, is killed in the Waziristan tribal region. Local sources report a drone strike that destroyed a vehicle with four people aboard.
The wreck of the Roma was discovered by a search team led by engineer Guido Gay, with the assistance of Italian Navy personnel, in the Gulf of Asinara at a depth of 1,000 meters, approximately 16 miles off the Sardinian coast. It was sunk by
Space Shuttle mission STS135 returns from the ISS. This is the last mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and of the entire Space Shuttle fleet. They flew for 30 years, from April 12, 1981 to July 21, 2011, for a total of 134 flights divided
Japanese and Australian technicians recovered the Hayabusa probe’s reentry capsule from the surface of the Australian desert on Monday. The capsule had traveled 6 billion kilometers through space. The teams completed the recovery of the capsule, approximately 20 centimeters in diameter, from the Woomera Prohibited
car bomb in New York’s Times Square is defused thanks to the quick reaction of first a street vendor and then a mounted policeman. Three days later, the car’s owner, Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani naturalized American, who was already on his way to leave the
Kim Peek, the “idiot savant” from the 1988 film “Rain Man,” played by Dustin Hoffman, has died. He was 58 and had been affected since birth by what is known as “sage man syndrome,” a rare neurological disorder that affects 10% of people with autism.
Global Financial Crisis. Global stock markets lose an average of 20-25% of their value in five trading sessions a week. This despite other measures worth hundreds of billions of euros taken by Germany, the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Russia. It is the worst crisis since
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addresses 200,000 people in Berlin, pledging withdrawal from Iraq by 2010, increased emphasis on Afghanistan, and renewed EU-US partnership.
Modena, Luciano Pavarotti dies at 71. More than 100,000 people from around the world will attend his funeral on Saturday, the 8th, in the Cathedral.
An Israeli airstrike destroys a Syrian nuclear facility in Deir ez-Zor; the information will be released only six months later by the Americans, confirming intelligence that the reactor would be capable of producing plutonium within a few months; the Americans were informed of the operation
Three people were tied up and slaughtered in Malachi, Türkiye. They worked at a publishing house that produced the Bible for the small Turkish Protestant community.
Elements of the U.S. Fifth Fleet are militarily intervening in southern Somalia in the pocket of Islamic Courts fleeing the offensive of the Somali and Ethiopian government armies; they are searching for Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the attacks on the American embassies in Kenya
First fighting between Ethiopian and Somali government forces on one side and Somali Islamic guerrillas on the other
Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, a London resident, was murdered with radioactive Polonium-210, likely ingested in a Japanese restaurant. Litvinenko, who died a few days later, accused Russian President Putin in a letter. The European Court trial will conclude on September 21, 2021, with Russia
In London, four attackers carry out another four bombings, three more on the subway and one on a bus. Fortunately, there is only one injury and no casualties; all the attackers will be captured within a week, in raids in Liverpool, London and Rome.
Ivory Coast: President Laurent Gbagbo’s air force bombs a French military base, killing eight soldiers. President Chirac immediately orders the destruction of all government aircraft. The incident is part of a war between government forces and rebels in the country.
The European Rosetta probe, with Ariane-5, is launched towards comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also exploring the asteroids Lutetia and Steins.
An armored van escorted by American soldiers was attacked: 46 fedayeen and eight Iraqi civilians were killed in the three-hour firefight that followed.
Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz, with the San Diego telescope, discover the small planet Sedna; within a few weeks, observational confirmations arrive from telescopes in Chile, Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope; Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto, with a highly elliptical orbit that brings