Paris. Seven people convicted of terrorism, including members of the Red Brigades, Nuclei Armati Contropotere Territoriale, and a former militant of Lotta Continua, are arrested in France at Italy’s request. Two others turn themselves in the following days, and a third remains on the run
First summit between the new American president Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping, less than two months after Biden’s inauguration, who did not at all dismantle the arsenal of tariffs put in place by his rival Trump.
Pope Francis visits Iraq. This is the first papal visit to the country. In Baghdad, he meets with President Barham Salih. He then flies to Najaf (where he meets with Shiite Ayatollah Al-Sistani), Mosul, Erbil (where he meets with the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan,
Rome. Former European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi lifts his voice and presents his new, broad-based government.
Burma (Myanmar). The Burmese military staged a coup and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party had just swept the legislative elections, defeating the pro-military United Solidarity and Development Party. A few days later, China vetoed a UN resolution condemning the
Joe Biden takes office as the 46th president of the United States. In the next two days, he signs 25 executive orders. Trump had signed 25 in 90 days, Obama in several months. George W. Bush took even longer. Biden intends to U-turn on several
Moscow. Alexei Navalny, one of Putin’s leading opponents, was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport by riot police after being hospitalized in Berlin following his poisoning in Russia. He was tried at a police station.
United States. The House is calling for President Trump’s impeachment for inciting the storming of Congress on the seventh floor. This is the first time in US history that a president has been impeached twice in his term.
United States. In a dramatic session at 3 a.m., after suspending the session due to the entry of pro-Trump protesters, Congress, presided over by Vice President Pence, formalized Joe Biden’s victory in the election. Democrats also won the two Georgia seats, thus achieving a tie
United States. As the vote counting ceremony ratifying the election of Democrat Joe Biden took place on Capitol Hill, and the Democratic Party secured a majority in the Senate by winning the two seats in Georgia, a mob, responding to President Trump’s encouragement, stormed Capitol
United States. The U.S. Congress reaches an agreement on a massive $900 billion package to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, support businesses, and provide unemployment benefits. A follow-up package of $1.4 trillion to finance the next nine months of the administration remains under discussion.
Iran. Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam is hanged for posting on a social network a few years earlier inciting anti-government protests.
After normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan, Israel is now also doing so with Morocco.
Paolo Rossi, nicknamed “Pablito,” the main architect of Italy’s triumph at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, against all odds, has died at the age of 64.
At the age of 60, Diego Armando Maradona, nicknamed “El pibe de oro,” and considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, dies.
The near-final results of the US election show Democrat Joe Biden winning at least 279 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, compared to the 214 won by the incumbent Republican Donald Trump. Counting remains to be completed in Georgia and Arizona
U.S. presidential, Senate, and House of Representatives elections. A record percentage of eligible voters turn out to vote.
After normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Israel is also doing so with Sudan.
Germany. Alexei Navalny, one of Putin’s leading opponents, after being taken to Germany for medical checks following a sudden illness, is diagnosed by German military experts as having been poisoned with Novichok. Novichok is a set of related molecules, a class of nerve agents, developed
Israel and the United Arab Emirates reach an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations. This is the third such agreement in relations between Israel and Arab countries, after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994).
Beirut, Lebanon. Over a hundred people lost their lives, thousands were injured, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes following a massive explosion in the port. It appears 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate were stored there.
The European Parliament approved the agreement to issue €750 billion of common debt to finance a €360 billion loan and €390 billion grant package to address the recovery from the Covid-19 emergency.
Salerno. The Guardia di Finanza seized a record quantity of 14 tons of amphetamines at the port, 84 million pills labeled “captagon,” produced in Syria by ISIS to finance terrorism, with a street value of over €1 billion.
Minneapolis, Minnesota. An on-duty officer, Derek Chauvin, suffocated George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck to restrain him. Protests against racism erupt across the United States.
North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia, which changed its name to avoid Greece’s veto on its NATO membership) formally joins the Atlantic Alliance. It is the 30th state to do so.
Doha, Qatar. U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sign an agreement to bring peace to Afghanistan.
Washington, DC, United States. President Donald Trump is acquitted by the Senate on impeachment charges.
Wuhan, China. Despite authorities being aware of the pandemic unfolding in the city, incredibly, Communist Party leaders are organizing a public gathering of forty thousand families to set a world record for a mass banquet. After five days, Wuhan will be quarantined. Meanwhile, millions of
Kerman, Iran. Fifty-two people die in the stampede for General Soleimani’s public funeral in his hometown.
Baghdad, Iraq. Parliament votes to expel all foreign troops from its territory.
Ukraine. Russian company Gazprom agrees to pay Ukraine $3.9 billion for the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory.
Calabria. 334 people, including national and local politicians, police officers, and justice officials, were arrested in the largest operation against the Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta.
Washington, DC, United States. The Democratic-majority House of Representatives votes in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump on two counts. He thus becomes the third American president to be impeached, following Bill Clinton in 1998 and Andrew Johnson in 1868. The subsequent Senate vote is
Washington, DC, United States. The Democratic-majority House of Representatives votes to move forward with the impeachment of President Donald Trump over his pressure on Ukraine to investigate presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son.
The Chinese company Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, which owns the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, launches a hostile takeover bid to buy the London Stock Exchange. The bid is rejected, but the move has strong symbolic value: Hong Kong is now able to buy the
US President Donald Trump signs new 15% tariffs on a long list of Chinese products, covering $112 billion in imports.
The European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay) sign a historic free trade agreement, after 20 years of negotiations.
Notre Dame, Paris. The cathedral’s wooden ceiling caught fire and burned completely within hours. The cathedral’s 12th-century walls were unaffected. The wooden ceiling is mostly made of 13th-century oak, while the wooden spire had been rebuilt in the 18th century.
Rome. Italy and China sign a Memorandum of Understanding, an intergovernmental protocol that establishes the principles of a comprehensive agreement for the “Belt and Road,” the new Silk Road from China to Europe. Italy is the first major Western country to join this program, drawing
Iraq. Iraqi regular forces and Iranian-armed Shiite militias occupy the city of Kirkuk and its oil fields. The Kurdish Peshmerga militias, who had held it since 2014, when Iraqi soldiers fled the advance of ISIS, leave the city peacefully. The Iraqi and Shiite advance will
Mogadishu, Somalia. Hassan Adan Isak drives a truck loaded with explosives and parks it at the city’s busiest intersection. He then detonates it, killing over 600 people. It is the worst massacre in Somalia. He will be captured and executed exactly one year after the
The Iraqi army, supported by the US Air Force, also conquered the Al Hawija pocket, west of Kirkuk, from ISIS.
Google, at a conference, declares that automatic speech recognition by Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reached parity with humans, with an error rate of 4.9% in dictation (it was 20-30% in 2013).
Manchester, England. At the Manchester Arena, at the end of a concert by American singer Ariana Grande, a teen idol, a suicide bomber detonated himself with an IED containing nails and bolts. His name was Salman Ramadan Abedi, 22. Twenty-three people, including adults, teenagers, and
Ferrari one-two in Monte Carlo, where they hadn’t won for 16 years: Vettel Raikkonnen.
Nangahar Province, eastern Afghanistan. A U.S. Special Forces C-130 dropped an 11-ton MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) of TNT on an ISIS base consisting of caves and a series of tunnels. Ninety people died.
Egypt. Forty-five people have been killed and hundreds injured in a double bomb attack inside two Coptic Christian churches in central Alexandria, crowded with thousands of worshippers for Palm Sunday.
Syria, Al Shayrat military airbase. Fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles hit the base, causing six deaths and damage. The attack was ordered by Donald Trump to ensure the chemical attack launched by government aircraft from this airbase goes unpunished.
Syria. Turkish forces are in full control of the city of Al-Bab, in northwestern Syria. They thus end Operation Euphrates Shield.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg publishes a bold manifesto on the need to build a global community and Facebook’s role in this project. He wants to simplify community building and make it global, bringing different parts of the world closer together.
Istanbul, Turkey. At least one man entered the Reina nightclub in Besictas, on the European side of the city, armed with a Kalashnikov and opened fire on the crowd gathered for the New Year’s Eve celebration. He then threw several grenades, and then fired again.
Norcia, central Italy. Earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale. Several collapses and dozens of injuries, but no fatalities.
Mosul, Iraq. Over 30,000 government soldiers and Sunni militias from the south, supported by 3,000 Kurdish Peshmerga from the east, attack the ISIS-held city. Coordinated air support comes from the U.S., British, and French air forces.
The European Rosetta probe crashes into Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in a controlled and relatively slow manner. This allows it to take photographs of the surface and perform spectral measurements until the last minute.
Sirte, Libya. Tripoli government militias retake the city, supported by American and British special forces, and with Italian support (at least from the intelligence services). Sirte was the headquarters of the Islamic State (aka IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in Libya.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes to combat the spread of the Zika virus, which has caused so much suffering and death in Brazil and other countries, and is now appearing in Florida. The approved
Quetta, Pakistan. Dozens of people (63 according to some sources, 93 according to others) were killed in a suicide bombing inside a hospital, wounding 200. The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber carrying approximately 10 kg of explosives. Metal balls were also used
Following recent attacks, especially the latest in Rouen, tens of thousands of Muslims are responding to the call to attend Sunday Mass alongside Christians.
Ansbach, Germany. ISIS claims responsibility for the attack in which a man blew himself up, injuring 15 people, four of them seriously. Syrian Mohammed arrives at the entrance to the square where a concert is taking place. There’s a crowd. He tries to get past
Turkey. An attempted military coup was foiled within hours. President Erdogan’s crackdown will follow, with the arrests of hundreds of professors, journalists, judges, lawyers, politicians, and military personnel; thousands more public employees will lose their jobs.
Dallas, Texas. Micah Xavier Johnson, a 25-year-old Black Afghanistan veteran, opens fire on several police officers at a “Black Lives Matter” protest over the killing of an unarmed Black man stopped by police for a broken headlight. Johnson kills five officers and wounds others. Every
Dhaka, Bangladesh. ISIS terrorists attack the Hotley Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” in the diplomatic zone. They kill two customers and take the rest hostage. A security siege begins. During the night, about a hundred militants intervene. The total number of victims
Brexit. 51.9% of British voters in the referendum supported Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Damascus, Syria. Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah’s military commander, is killed overnight in an Israeli airstrike near the airport. Badreddine had participated in Hezbollah’s military operations since 1982. Indicted by the UN Lebanese Tribunal for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, he never
Elon Musk’s Space X successfully launches a Japanese satellite, then the Falcon 9 rocket turns around and lands on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the middle of the Atlantic, all in complete darkness. Another success for Elon Musk.
Russia. Vostochny Space Base (formerly Svobodny). It was established in 1994 by Boris Yeltsin to replace Baikonur, now in Kazakhstan. The first launch from the new launch pad took place on April 28, 2016. Launches from other launch pads have occurred since 1997.
Elon Musk’s Space X successfully launches the Dragon spacecraft toward the ISS, then the Falcon 9 rocket turns around and heads back toward the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” (named after a GCU-class battleship in a novel by Iain M. Banks). It
Lahore, Pakistan. A Taliban suicide bomber attacks Christians celebrating Easter in Lahore in a playground: at least 69 people are killed, mostly women and children, and 300 are injured.
Nineveh Province. Government forces and their allies, including tribal militias, begin an offensive to retake Nineveh Province and its capital, Mosul.
Syria. Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, who rose to the top of the Caliphate after al-Baghdadi was wounded in April 2015, was killed in a bombing. Al-Baghdadi’s deputy, also known as Hajji Imam, was of Iraqi birth and is believed to be between 57 and 59
Northeastern Nigeria. The Nigerian army chases Boko Haram from several villages and frees 829 hostages.
North Korea launched a long-range missile toward the island of Okinawa in the South China Sea. The missile was launched from the Dongchang-ri base, on the explicit order of “Supreme Commander Kim Jong-un.” However, the Seoul government immediately expressed serious doubts about its success: the
The experimental detection of gravitational waves has been confirmed. Confirmed with a confidence level of 5.1 sigma, the same level of confidence as, for example, the observation of the Higgs Boson. Rumors of the discovery of gravitational waves had been circulating for months. An article
Cairo, Egypt. The young Italian Cambridge student, Giulio Regeni, is found dead. The autopsy reveals clear signs of repeated torture.
Istanbul. A suicide bomber detonates himself among a group of German tourists. 13 Germans are killed. Turkish authorities attribute the attack to ISIS, and a few days later they bombard Islamic positions across the border with artillery bombardments.