10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month

10 We Possibly Discovered Alien Civilizations (Twice)

KIC 8462852 may be the most interesting thing in our night sky. Also known as Tabby’s Star, it has been weirding out scientists for years. It dims erratically, its light getting brighter and darker. It has also been dimming slowly for a century. Four years ago, it suddenly sped up. Astronomer Jason Wright thinks these three anomalies are caused by an alien megastructure being built around it. This August, new data seemed to support his theory. The star’s crazy behavior fits the idea of a Type II Civilization—one that has built a massive Dyson sphere around its star to harness its entire energy output. Weirdly, this might not even be August’s best bet at finding ET. Russian scientists have revealed that they’ve detected a freaky radio signal coming from HD164595, a solar system about the same age as ours, with a potentially inhabitable planet. SETI is investigating further.

9 China Caught Its Creepiest Serial Killer

In 2002, Cui Jinping was found dead in her apartment in the Chinese province of Gansu. Her throat had been slit. Her hands, ears, and breasts had been removed. She’d been raped. The case caused a sensation when it was linked back to previous killings in the region. The unknown murderer was dubbed “China’s Jack the Ripper,” and he proved as elusive as the original. At least, he did until August 2016. Early last month, police arrested a petty criminal and did a routine check against their DNA database. To their shock, he turned out to be related to the Ripper. An investigation led them to the criminal’s nephew, a 52-year-old grocery store owner named Gao Chengyong. Gao confessed to stalking, raping, torturing, and killing 11 women between 1988 and 2002. The youngest of his victims was a tragic eight years old.

8 Kim Jong Un’s Regime Edged Closer to Collapse

Thae Yong-ho was North Korea’s toughest diplomat. Based in London, he was a high-ranking, ultra-loyal insider whom the British found a nightmare to deal with. Then, last month, he suddenly defected to South Korea. The defection fueled speculation that Kim Jong Un’s regime is on the brink of collapse. North Korea watchers think Kim was too young when he inherited the dictatorship and has made too many enemies among the ruling elite. His position is said to be extremely unstable. Some are even predicting the imminent implosion of the Kim regime. As if to underline this, Kim ended the month by executing several high-ranking officers with anti-aircraft guns. Analysts said that this showed Kim is less stable in power than his dad had ever been. Perhaps it won’t be too long until we see the back of this portly dictator.

7 Apple Got Smashed With €13 Billion In Unpaid Taxes

On August 30, the EU closed a two-year investigation into Apple’s tax arrangements with Ireland. The commission concluded that Apple had received state aid from Dublin, allowing the corporation to pay as little as 0.005 percent tax on profits. Such a “sweetheart deal” is illegal under EU Law. Brussels has previously investigated companies such as Starbucks and countries such as Luxembourg, but the scale of the fine handed out to Apple dwarfs all other cases. The EU ordered the company to cough up €13 billion ($14.5 billion). The move has widely been seen as the EU flexing its muscles, especially after the US tried to pressure Brussels to drop the case. Both Apple and Ireland are planning to appeal the ruling, but the EU has become increasingly confident in taking on multinationals. Not that the fine will affect Apple much; the company currently has over $230 billion stored in offshore accounts.

6 Uzbekistan’s Brutal Dictator Did Or Didn’t Die

Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov is the Schrodinger’s Cat of international politics: There’s an equal chance that he’s alive or dead. On August 29, reports circulated that the tyrant had died. His daughter took to Instagram, claiming that he was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage but alive. As of August 31, the Uzbek government has refused to say which version is right. If Karimov is dead, few will miss him. The dictator was a Soviet holdover who enslaved children, had thousands of protestors shot, and ordered two political prisoners to be boiled alive. Despite this, he was regarded as a friend by the West, which used his country as a base for adventures in neighboring Afghanistan. Karmiov never named a successor. If he has died, the economic basket case that is Uzbekistan will go through a disorderly transition, with Russia, China, and the US scrambling to protect their interests.

5 Gawker Disappeared (Thanks To Hulk Hogan)

On August 22, 2016, Gawker disappeared. The gossip site was one of the most visited and most hated sites on the Internet. It had previously championed the Bill Cosby rape case. It had also publicly outed gay men for perceived “hypocrisy.” It was this last one, plus a sex tape, that sank the website. After Gawker outed PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel in 2007, the tech billionaire swore revenge. He funded a range of lawsuits against the site, finally hitting paydirt with one involving Hulk Hogan. Gawker had published a sex tape of Hogan, who sued for breach of privacy. Thiel backed Hogan, who won the case. The settlement bankrupted Gawker. There had been hopes that a new owner would save the site. Univision Communications did indeed end up saving all of Gawker’s subsidiaries (Jezebel, io9, Deadspin, etc.) but decided that the gossip site wasn’t worth the controversy. Gawker itself is dead.

4 Brazil Began Proceedings To Impeach Its President

Brazil in the news this August meant one thing—the Olympics. But away from the sporting successes and Ryan Lochte controversies, a bigger storm was brewing. At the start of the month, Brazil officially began the process to impeach its president. Elected in 2010, President Dilma Rousseff is a leftist who once held 79 percent approval ratings. By March this year, though, they’d collapsed to 10 percent. She is accused of moving money between different government budgets in order to plug funding gaps, which is illegal under Brazilian law. While the senate has yet to vote, if she’s found guilty, Rousseff will be removed from office and barred from politics for life. Rousseff denies the charges and claims that her impeachment is a backdoor coup. But nothing is simple in Brazilian politics. In a twist, many of the senators leading the charge against Rousseff have themselves come under investigation for corruption.

3 The ICC Formally Charged An Islamist With Cultural Destruction

Ahmad Al Faqi al-Mahdi isn’t the sort of jihadi you’d expect to see before the International Criminal Court (ICC). A minor member of the Islamic militia that occupied Timbuktu in 2012, he didn’t murder anyone, didn’t rape anyone, and he didn’t mutilate civilians. What he did do was order the destruction of cultural monuments in Timbuktu, including an ancient door that locals believed could only be opened at the apocalypse. For this callous wiping out of heritage, Ahmad became the first person in history to be tried for cultural destruction as a war crime. This sets an important precedent in international law. Previously, any ISIS members who destroyed Syrian and Iraqi monuments could only be charged in national courts. From August onward, they can be prosecuted by the ICC for war crimes. Ahmad pleaded guilty at his trial. By September 27, we should know what sort of sentence cultural destruction brings.

2 Two Devastating Quakes Smashed Two Countries On Consecutive Days

On August 25, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Bagan region in central Myanmar. The shaking killed four people and devastated villages. It also destroyed nearly 200 ancient temples and damaged another 500. It was the worst disaster to hit Myanmar’s Bagan heritage in centuries. Bagan has been compared to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. Its temples are hundreds of years old and of breathtaking beauty. In just a few short seconds, many of them were reduced to dust. Sadly, it wasn’t the only quake to hit this August. Only a day later, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy, around the town of Amatrice. Like the Bagan region, Amatrice was full of ancient buildings. Unlike in Myanmar, those buildings were full of people. Around 300 locals and tourists were killed when their houses collapsed.

1 A Canadian Town Lost A Hilarious Battle With Political Correctness

Finally, a lighter story to end this mixed bag of a month. After a decades-long campaign, the Western Canadian town of Tisdale was forced to change its slogan. The politically incorrect slogan that got everybody’s knickers in a twist? “Tisdale. The Land of Rape and Honey.” Tisdale is a major rapeseed producer. The “rape” in the slogan referred to this profitable local crop. Obviously, though, many visitors didn’t see it this way. Back in 2015, the town started a consultation to see if the name might be “insensitive.” By August 2016, they’d finally decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of keeping their non-PC slogan and updated it to “Opportunity Grows Here.” This isn’t the only time that Canada has offended PC sensibilities. The village of Climax got in trouble for a sign at the town limits telling visitors to “Come Again!” Unlike Tisdale, though, Climax elected to keep its racy slogan.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Stephanie Kelly”

10AIDS Immunity Became A Thing

60 percent of children who contract HIV die within 2.5 years—except for the ones that don’t even get sick. This September, a South African study analyzed 170 children who had HIV. They found that 10 percent of them had an immunity to AIDS. HIV attacks the immune system, resulting in AIDS, but that hasn’t happened to these kids. Instead, their bodies just kept on ticking over like normal, despite their bloodstreams being clearly infected with HIV. One of the researchers, Prof Philip Goulder, believes these children may hold the key to rebalancing the immune systems of all AIDS patients, children and adults alike.

9NASA Discovered Water Plumes On Europa

Jupiter’s moon Europa is possibly our best shot at finding life in the solar system. It has a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, where organisms could potentially survive. Until recently, the big challenge was how to get down there and find out. On September 26, NASA revealed a simple solution: Fly a craft through Europa’s gigantic water plumes. Water plumes were noticed exploding out of Europa in 2012, but since then, the moon has been silent. Then NASA pointed Hubble at it. The images that came back confirmed the existence of plumes. Aside from making exploration easier, the plumes change what we know about habitable planets. It had been assumed planets had to be Earth-like for life to evolve. Europa is about as unlike Earth as you can get . . . yet it still has water. This could vastly increase the number of habitable planets in our galaxy.

8Colombia Formally Ended Its 52-Year Civil War

Since 1964, Colombia has been engaged in a civil war with leftist rebels FARC that left 250,000 dead and over six million internally displaced—the highest number outside Syria. This July, the government and FARC finally reached a deal to halt the killing. On September 27, both sides formally signed the agreement. Over half a century of fighting ended with the flick of a pen. The deal still has to be ratified by the Colombian people in an October 2 referendum. Polls predict a victory for the pro-peace side. At that point, FARC will transform from one of the world’s deadliest terror groups to a political party. In a further piece of good news, both the smaller left-wing rebel group ELN and the right-wing paramilitary force ACG have announced their own desire for peace talks. You can read our explainer on Colombia’s peace deal here.

7Elon Musk Announced His Mars Colonization Plans

September 27, 2016, may go down in human history. That was the day Elon Musk of SpaceX announced his plans to build a million-strong human colony on Mars. In typical Musk-fashion, the plan was both breathtakingly simple and borderline insane. Musk thinks SpaceX technology, such as reusable rockets and deep-space refueling, will cut the price of a trip to Mars from $10 billion to $200,000, the median US house price. Once that happens, he wants to start sending fleets of rockets to the red planet every 27 months, when Earth and Mars are at their closest. Those who go would work on creating a colony that will be completely self-sustaining by 2100. The plan has attracted criticism for being underfunded. Musk believes billionaires and governments will step in to pick up the tab. He also believes we’ll soon be able to go beyond Mars, maybe all the way to Pluto.

6New York Got Extremely Lucky

Between September 17 and 19, four bombs attacks hit New York and New Jersey. The devices were extremely sophisticated IEDs filled with shrapnel, well above the technical capability of the Boston Marathon bombs that killed three and injured 264. Yet the New York bombs killed nobody and only injured 31, none seriously. What happened? In short: New York got insanely lucky. The New Jersey pipe bomb exploded while there was no one in the area. The second Manhattan bomb and the Elizabeth Station bomb failed to detonate. The Chelsea bomb did explode, but it had been placed in a metal dumpster. Rather than destroy the dumpster and create yet more shrapnel, the force of the bomb was channeled upward, out the lid, and into empty sky. A suspect has been arrested. For once, a US terrorism story seems to have had a happy ending.

5Congress Voted To Let 9/11 Families Sue Saudi Arabia

Fifteen years after hijackers killed 3,000 people in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania, Congress voted to let the victims’ families sue Saudi Arabia. President Obama vetoed their decision, but in a first, Congress overrode his veto. In doing so, they opened a diplomatic can of worms. Some believe Saudi Arabia had a role in financing 9/11. Until now, US courts have refused to hear the case, citing a global agreement that stops citizens from suing foreign governments not on the “state sponsors of terrorism” list (a list that includes only Iran, Sudan, and Syria). That barrier has now been removed. Supporters say it will allow 9/11 families their day in court. Opponents say it will open the US to retaliatory lawsuits, such as by the families of those killed in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Defense chiefs are also concerned the bill will affect counterterrorism cooperation with Saudi Arabia, seen as a key ally in fighting ISIS.

4North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions Got Scary

In early September, North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test. It came less than a year after the regime detonated a hydrogen bomb, the DPRK’s two closest tests in history. This fifth bomb was supposedly small enough to mount on a missile and had a yield slightly larger than the Hiroshima bomb. It suggests we need to start taking the DPRK’s nuclear program very seriously. North Korea is often characterized as an evil but incompetent regime. This latest test shows they’ve finally ditched the “incompetent” bit. The DPRK’s stated goal has long been to build a nuke that can hit the US mainland. Experts now think they’re well on their way. No other country has conducted five tests without mastering miniaturization technology for mounting on warheads. The DPRK probably isn’t an exception. Strange as it seems, we may need to start treating North Korea as a nuclear power.

3Russia Got (Repeatedly) Accused Of War Crimes

Aleppo, Syria, is hell on Earth. There’s no water, no medicine, little food, and constant death. During September’s partial ceasefire, the Red Cross desperately tried to get trucks of supplies in to the starving people. Their plan was aborted after Russian jets destroyed the convoy, killing 20 aid workers. The UN and US have called this a war crime. The US has accused Russia of “barbarity.” They allege Russia deliberately targeted the aid workers to help Assad starve the rebel-held city into submission. If true, Russia’s actions could have far-reaching consequences. On top of that, this month saw the Netherlands release its report into the downing of flight MH17 over rebel-held Ukraine in 2014 that killed nearly 300 people. They concluded the missile was fired from Russian-held territory. Russia has dismissed the entire investigation, putting the Kremlin on collision course with the US, EU, and UN.

2Clinton And Trump’s First Debate Broke Records

Despite being the two least popular presidential candidates in US history, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s first TV debate broke records. At least 80.9 million Americans turned in to watch, the highest viewership ever. Despite this, it was considered a disappointment. CNN had previously estimated it’d net 100 million viewers. When Vox.com ranked all the televised debates since 1976 by percentage of voters who watched, they found the Trump/Hillary debate came near the middle. 33 percent of voters watched, more than the 18.7 percent who tuned in in 1996, but way under the 50 percent who watched Reagan and Carter duke it out in 1980. The debate was disappointing on many levels. Trump’s campaign accused the moderator of bias, while Hillary’s campaign accused Trump of talking over her 51 times.

1India Started A Shooting War With Pakistan

A month ago, we told you how India and Pakistan’s territorial brinkmanship in Kashmir could lead to the world’s first nuclear war. Horrifyingly, it may happen sooner than we expected. On September 29, India carried out strikes over the Pakistan border, killing two people. The identity of these two people is disputed. India says they were militants. Pakistan claims they were soldiers in its army. The strike comes weeks after militants slaughtered 18 at an Indian army base, an attack India says was orchestrated by Pakistan. This is serious. India and Pakistan have both war-gamed nuclear first-strikes against one another. Even if the conflict doesn’t escalate to such a degree, a flare-up in the Kashmir region could easily see thousands killed. With tensions already at boiling point, we can only pray cooler heads prevail in Delhi and Islamabad.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-09” author: “Brittany Kuykendall”

October saw kings fall, currencies nose-dive, storms batter the Caribbean, and a bunch of creepy clowns scare the stuffing out of people. But amid all this madness, 10 stories stood out as potentially the craziest of all.

10 The World’s Longest-Reigning Monarch Died

On October 13, King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away in Bangkok. He’d ruled Thailand for 70 years, a longer reign than any other current monarch. His death threw the entire country into a state of meltdown. Thais are so passionate about their royals that they make the British look like guillotine-happy revolutionaries. It is illegal to insult the royal family, including pets, and doing so will get you a 15-year sentence. Unsurprisingly, Adulyadej’s death brought the entire nation to a standstill. Thousands massed to chant, “Long live the king!” Vigilante groups attacked those who were seen smiling or not wearing black in public. In the halls of government, members of the military junta began to whisper about civil war. Thailand is a deeply fractured society. Adulyadej was the glue that held it together. With his unpopular son, Vajiralongkorn, next in line, many are worried that those cracks will now split wide open.

9 The British Pound Hit An All-Time Low

A few short months ago, British sterling was one of the safest currencies in the world. Then Brexit happened, sending the pound into free fall against the dollar. This month, it finally hit rock bottom. October 11 saw the pound reach its weakest level in recorded history. Measured against other global currencies, sterling has never been so worthless. Official figures from the Bank of England only go back to the mid-1970s, but London’s Financial Times estimated this slump was unprecedented in the past 166 years of British history. At the time of this writing, only currencies like the Argentine peso, the South African rand, and the Venezuelan bolivar are consistently performing worse than the beleaguered pound. Interestingly, no one in the UK can really agree if this devaluation is a good thing or not. Brexit supporters say that it will help exports. Brexit opponents say that it will cause living standards to plummet.

8 The Oregon Bundy Militia Was Acquitted

Back in the ice and chill of January, armed members of the Bundy militia seized a federal refuge in Oregon in protest over land grazing rights. The ensuing standoff eventually saw one of the occupiers gunned down on a lonely stretch of road and everyone else arrested. The FBI assumed that it was an open-and-shut case. They were wrong. On October 27, a Portland jury acquitted the entire militia. Reactions were mixed, to say the least. On the one hand, land rights supporters celebrated a surprise victory. On the other, left-wing groups suggested that the jury had let a bunch of antigovernment terrorists free because they were white. Still others blamed the FBI for getting cocky. In an open letter, four jury members claimed that they would have happily convicted the Bundys of trespassing but the Feds had foolishly pushed for the much harder-to-prove charge of sedition and conspiracy.

7 Japan Was Hit By A Shocking Suicide Bombing

On October 23, three sharp explosions in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, destroyed a car park, killed one man, and injured three others. Almost immediately, news organizations everywhere were asking, “Why?” Japan isn’t fighting in the Middle East. It’s one of the few countries that ISIS hasn’t directly told its supporters to attack. There are no right-wing militias, its ultra-leftists only target US bases (and then only rarely), and the country’s only homegrown terror group—the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo—was smashed by authorities after gassing the Tokyo subway in 1995. The answer was perhaps even more shocking than the blasts. Toshikatsu Kurihara, 72, a former Japanese Defense Force officer, apparently destroyed his own car and then blew himself up as part of an elaborate suicide linked to family matters. His selfish actions left three others in the hospital, two with serious injuries.

6 Colombia Rejected Peace

In last month’s roundup, we told you how Colombia was finally on the verge of peace. After years of negotiations, the government had reached an agreement with Marxist terrorists FARC to end a civil war that had lasted 52 years and killed around 250,000. At the time, we noted that the deal still had to be ratified by referendum, adding that “polls predict a victory for the pro-peace side.” How wrong they were. On October 2, Colombians voted by 50.2 percent to reject the peace deal. The rejection was a hammerblow to Colombian politics. The “No” campaign was led by former president Alvaro Uribe, who used the referendum as a crude weapon to attack President Juan Manuel Santos. At the time of this writing, Santos, the FARC, and Uribe are desperately trying to thrash out a compromise that will save the deal and end the prospect of a renewed civil war.

5 Haiti Suffered Another Cataclysmic Disaster

Impoverished Haiti still hasn’t fully recovered from the 2010 earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, killing 230,000. This October, it suffered yet another body blow from Mother Nature. Hurricane Matthew swept over the country, killing some 1,000 and leaving 800,000 homeless. Half a month on, things are in danger of going from bad to worse. After the 2010 earthquake, poor sanitation caused a cholera outbreak that killed another 10,000. Since Hurricane Matthew hit, nearly 3,500 new cholera cases have been documented. Sanitation services are failing, infrastructure has collapsed, and hundreds of thousands are cut off without access to safe water. As such, everyone is terrified of a repeat of 2010. At the time of this writing, aid agencies are scrambling to inoculate the population against cholera before it’s too late.

4 The Universe Got Really, Really Big

October 13 marked a galactic milestone. After two decades of saying our universe contained 200 billion galaxies, scientists abruptly revised the figure upward. It’s now claimed that the universe houses two trillion galaxies, 10 times more than previously thought. Ninety percent of all galaxies are effectively unknown to us because most are too faint and far away to be seen by current telescopes like Hubble. Scientists were only able to determine their existence by doing crazy-advanced calculations to work out the masses of all visible galaxies. To make the numbers add up, they realized that there must be a further 90 percent of galaxies that we currently can’t see. Luckily, these galaxies won’t remain invisible for long. In 2018, we launch the James Webb Space Telescope. It will be powerful enough to study at least some of them.

3 Anti-‘Rasputin’ Protests Swept South Korea

A century ago, Tsar Nicholas II fell under the spell of a religious maniac—a spooky figure named Rasputin who wielded outsize power. Rasputin dictated government policy behind closed doors and caused ordinary people to take to the streets in protest. Fast forward to the present, and his female equivalent may be about to topple the president of South Korea. Like Rasputin, Choi Soon-sil has been linked to a creepy religious cult. Like Rasputin, she is said to have near-total control over the country’s leader, Park Geun-hye, dictating everything from defense policy to what Park wears. And like Rasputin, Choi has become a figure of hate. Since October 29, thousands have been demonstrating for an investigation into Park and Choi’s relationship. Park’s approval ratings have hit an all-time low, and opposition politicians are clamoring for her impeachment. On October 31, Choi was placed under emergency arrest in a detention facility in Seoul. She can be held for as long as 48 hours without a warrant from a court.

2 The US Election Went Insane

In 2012, it was fashionable to say that America deserved better than a choice between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney for president. The 2016 election is fate laughing at our naivety. Obama and Romney were statesmanlike, debated serious ideas, and only got involved in trivial scandals. Clinton and Trump, on the other hand, spent October going from bad to worse to utterly despicable. To recap, Trump was repeatedly accused of sexual assault, refused to say that he’d accept the result of the election, and was accused of having ties to the Kremlin. Meanwhile, Clinton had her email investigation reopened after the FBI discovered thousands of previously “lost” emails. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid responded by accusing FBI Director James Comey of violating the Hatch Act to aid Trump—a very serious charge.

1 The Battle Of Mosul Became The Battle For Iraq’s Soul

Since mid-2014, the city of Mosul has been ISIS’s de facto capital in Iraq. As the rest of ISIS’s territory crumbled, Mosul stood strong. But the tide may finally be turning. On October 17, Iraqi special forces joined with Iranian Shiite and Kurdish militias to retake Islamic State’s last Iraqi holdout. At the time of this writing, the apocalyptic battle is still raging. The Mosul offensive is the largest operation in Iraq since the 2003 US invasion. Air strikes have pounded ISIS targets as jihadi car bombs blow advancing troops to pieces, all under the never-ending chatter of machine guns. If Mosul falls, ISIS will effectively disappear from Iraq. Inevitably, ISIS isn’t going down without a fight. Jihadists are using civilians as human shields, booby-trapping the town, and committing hideous massacres. Up to one million refugees are expected to flee. Mosul may fall, but the task of clearing up ISIS’s hideous mess is only just beginning.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-05” author: “Pierre Vassallo”

You can read our hot take on Trump’s dramatic win here. But for now, we’re gonna focus on the crazy reports outside the US that The Donald pushed off the front page.

10 Fidel Castro Died

In a year of notable deaths, Fidel Castro’s may have been the most notable of all because of what he represented. Castro was the last surviving slice of the Cold War in the Americas. With his death at age 90, the long story of the 20th century finally came to a belated end. To many on the left and in Latin America, Castro was a hero. To those on the right and in the West, he was a psychopath who killed over 10,000 people. As the news of his long-awaited end finally broke, it seemed like everyone had an opinion on the man . . . except, oddly, those in Cuba. According to the BBC, young Cubans marked the dictator’s passing with little more than a shrug. Even in the country he once ruled, Castro was already seen as a relic of the distant past.

9 Two Major Pedophilia Scandals Hit The UK

Since the story of celebrity pedophile Jimmy Savile broke, the UK has been battered by a string of sex scandals involving the country’s elite. November 2016 saw another two explode—one involving the nation’s soccer players and the other involving a former prime minister. On live TV, four former soccer players claimed that they’d been raped as kids by coaches on prominent children’s teams. The youngest was around 12 at the time. Since then, at least 10 more ex–child soccer stars have come forward. It’s believed that the total number of victims could stretch into the hundreds. Around the same time, Wiltshire police revealed that they had arrested two people in connection with possible sex crimes by former PM Edward “Ted” Heath. Heath, now dead, is suspected of soliciting sex from underage boys. Supporters claim that Heath, recently revealed as having been gay, is being deliberately smeared by homophobic police officers.

8 McDonald’s Sued The Italian City Of Florence

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its preserved Renaissance core is almost unmatched in elegance and architectural importance. So when McDonald’s applied to open a restaurant in the heart of the unspoiled Piazza del Duomo, Florence authorities gave a polite but firm “no.” McDonald’s responded by suing them for $20 million. McDonald’s is claiming that the rejected application has damaged their business. The mayor of Florence is claiming that a tacky fast-food joint would have damaged his irreplaceable city. To be clear, the proposals were monitored by a team that was specifically tasked with preserving Florence’s historical buildings. They declared that the company’s plans would destroy hundreds of years of history. At the time of this writing, the case is still ongoing.

7 India Scrapped Its Major Banknotes Overnight

Imagine waking up to find that any dollar bills you had were completely worthless. That’s what happened in India on November 8. Without any warning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes had been scrapped. The bills are the most commonly used throughout India. Almost immediately, the country was plunged into a major currency crisis. India is a cash economy. Half of its 1.25 billion people don’t have bank accounts. Many people’s life savings exist only in paper form. In the blink of an eye, those savings were wiped out. The idea was to crack down on untaxed transactions and get more people to open bank accounts. However, 300 million Indians lack the required documentation to join a bank. The result has been major panic, and the economy remains in turmoil. Cash-based businesses are crashing, and tempers are fraying. What happens next is impossible to predict.

6 The Czech Republic Tried To Make Insulting Its Drunk President Illegal

Lese-majeste laws make it illegal to insult the head of a state. Although they are popular in dictatorships, they are relatively rare in liberal democracies. Apparently, the Czech Republic didn’t get the memo. On November 16, 60 MPs tabled a motion to make insulting the president a criminal offense. There are a couple of reasons why this is a terrible idea. One is that the Czech Republic previously had these laws when it was a Communist dictatorship. The other is that Czech president, Milos Zeman, is the easiest-to-insult leader in the entire world. A raving drunk who likes to turn up at state functions sloshed and spew swearwords at bystanders, Zeman is like Rob Ford crossed with Boris Yeltsin. He has nonexistent approval ratings. He gets pelted with eggs wherever he goes. If this law gets passed, expect 90 percent of Czechs to be arrested within the first week.

5 The UK Returned Censorship To The Victorian Era

The Brits have a reputation for being uptight about stuff like sex. A new law passed in November shows why. As part of the government’s Digital Economy Bill, it became illegal to watch “non-conventional” sex acts online. The bill effectively cuts everyone in Britain off from Internet pornography. The bill’s restrictions are Victorian in their morality. Watching someone get spanked is now illegal. Things that are legal for consenting adults to do are now illegal for consenting adults to watch other consenting adults doing online. The bill gives the government the power to shut down any website that hasn’t had all its videos individually classified by the British Board of Film Classification. When it takes effect, it will de facto block every adult site.

4 A US Mayor Called Michelle Obama An ‘Ape In Heels’

Until recently, almost no one had heard of the West Virginia town of Clay (pop. 491) or its mayor, Beverly Whaling. Then Whaling took to Facebook to share her thoughts on Trump’s victory in the US election. What followed was one of the biggest race controversies in recent years. Whaling liked a post by her fellow Clay County resident, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, comparing Melania Trump and Michelle Obama. “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels,” it read. The post caused a firestorm after it was noticed by local news outlet WSAZ. Comparing black people to apes has a long and ignoble tradition among racists, and the idea that a mayor would approve shocked many. After 85,000 people signed a petition calling for her to step down, Whaling was forced to resign.

3 New Zealand Was Smashed By A Massive Earthquake

On November 14, New Zealand’s South Island was struck by a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake. Centered around the tourist town of Kaikoura, it caused buildings to collapse and tsunamis to batter the coast. It also triggered around 100,000 landslides. Kaikoura was completely cut off. Over two weeks later, it’s still isolated. The quake itself was followed by a powerful series of aftershocks that caused yet more damage. Although the death toll was mercifully low, it still brought back memories of the devastating 2011 quake that leveled the town of Christchurch, killing nearly 70. Following the Kaikoura quake, the New Zealand Crown Research Institute for geophysics and nuclear science estimated that the country was entering a long cycle of earthquakes that could last for years. Disturbingly, they also gave a 32 percent chance of a 7-magnitude quake hitting in the next month. Sadly, New Zealand’s earthquake woes may be just beginning.

2 Zimbabwe Issued Its First Currency In Seven Years

In 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar collapsed. Hit by the worst hyperinflation in recorded history, the government scrapped the currency when 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars were needed to buy one US dollar. Since then, the country has used US dollars as the official currency . . . until now. On November 28, Harare issued its first new note in seven years. The note had to be issued as the country is running out of US dollars. The government has also insisted that it is not a currency but a bond note that has parity with the dollar. However, the mere idea of this new note has already caused a run on Harare’s banks and the biggest protests that the Mugabe regime has seen in a decade. If the new note gets caught up in the old hyperinflation loop, it’s entirely possible that subsequent riots could topple the Zimbabwean government.

1 Leonard Cohen Died

It’s not often that we have to bookend one of these columns with two significant deaths, but 2016 seems determined to kill as many iconic figures as possible. Bowie died in January. Prince died in April. Then, on the eve of the US election, another music legend bit the dust. Following a nasty fall at his home, Leonard Cohen, 82, was pronounced dead. Cohen had already lived a full life and had his greatest work behind him. But his death still sent shock waves across the world. Here was one of the few singers left that you could seriously call an icon. He stood up there alongside Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. With his death, the tiny number of surviving 20th-century musical geniuses got even smaller. Here’s hoping we get to the end of next month’s roundup without adding another name to this depressing list.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “Steven Bane”

In a month that’s traditionally dominated by seasonal goodwill, December 2016 managed to be a nonstop cavalcade of depressing, terrifying, and world-changing news. Like a snapshot of the year as a whole, it featured terror attacks, political upheaval, humanitarian disasters, and celebrity deaths by the bucketload. Here’s what was happening while you were busy chowing down on turkey:

10 A Horrifying Assassination Pushed Us Closer To World War III

On December 19, Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, stood up to give a speech at an art gallery in Ankara. Seven minutes later, he was dead, assassinated by a Turkish police offer who shouted, “Don’t forget Aleppo,” as he opened fire. The incident was captured in a graphic video. If you were playing “causes for World War III” bingo, the assassination would be a full house. The murder came at a time of tension between Russia and Turkey. In late 2015, Turkey blew a Russian fighter jet out of the sky. The two countries are at loggerheads over Syria, where Russian bombing of civilians is shoring up the ailing Assad regime. As a NATO member, Turkey could pull Europe and the US into any potential conflict. This web of alliances has eerie parallels with the situation in 1913. The next year’s assassination of an Austrian archduke was enough to send the planet spiraling into war.

9 Major Terror Attacks Rocked Three Continents

December 10–11 marked one of the bloodiest 24-hour periods for terrorism in recent memory. In Turkey, a car bomb was detonated next to a group of police officers guarding the Besiktas soccer stadium, killing 38 and wounding 166. The attack was claimed by Kurdish separatist group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), an offshoot of the notorious PKK. Only hours later, 12 kilograms (26 lb) of TNT were detonated inside a Coptic Cathedral in Egypt, killing 25 women and children. The attack, one of the worst on Egypt’s Christians in years, was claimed by ISIS. Yet it was a later attack in Germany that generated the most headlines. As the Russian ambassador was dying in Ankara, an ISIS-inspired migrant hijacked a truck, killed its Polish driver, and rammed it into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12. After two near misses over the summer, this represented ISIS’s first fatal attack on German soil. We can only pray it’s the last.

8 Global Politics Went Nuts

It says something about December 2016 when, at any other time, all these major political changes would get their own entry here, but we simply don’t have space. So, in extremely truncated form, here’s how politics went nuts last month: First, French president Francois Hollande announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2017. This is the first time a French president has voluntarily stepped down after a single term in modern history, but the story was quickly trumped by New Zealand’s prime minister John Key (pictured above) unexpectedly resigning after eight years in office. Meanwhile, half a world away, South Korea voted to impeach its president. Back in Europe, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi resigned after losing a referendum, while on the same night, Austria rejected its first far-right presidential candidate, electing his Green party–backed rival instead. Finally, in South America, Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez on corruption charges. And we haven’t even gotten to the big political story from Africa yet . . . 

7 The Gambia Voted Out Its Crazy Dictator

For 22 years, The Gambia has been ruled by a man crazier than a sack full of meth-addicted cats. Yahya Jammeh claims that he can cure AIDS, includes “admiral of Nebraska” among his titles, says Allah told him to rule “for a billion years,” thinks witches are cursing him, and has promised to execute gay tourists to his country. When he announced elections after decades of despotic rule, no one expected him to lose. But he did. Adam Barrow, a former store security guard, took 45.5 percent of the vote to Jammeh’s 36.7 percent. Immediately, things went nuts. Although Jammeh conceded defeat, he later claimed that the election was rigged. The country’s army, which initially swore loyalty to the incoming Barrow, switched allegiance back to Jammeh. At the time of this writing, Jammeh is refusing to step down. The West African Regional Group (Ecowas) has said that it will send in troops to enforce the election result if Jammeh is still in power by January 19.

6 Trump Set A Collision Course With China

Donald Trump may still only be US president-elect, but already he’s pushing Obama firmly off the world stage. At the start of the month, the incoming president took a phone call from Taiwan’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen. Since Nixon visited China in the 1970s, it has been US policy to have only informal ties with Taiwan, officially recognizing it as a province of China. Needless to say, Beijing hit the roof. From the Chinese perspective, this was kind of like Xi Jinping unilaterally deciding to recognize the Confederacy. To Beijing, there’s no question about whether Taiwan is part of its territory. It just is, same as the Florida Keys are part of the US. When Trump followed up by appointing China hawk Peter Navarro to his trade team, Beijing threatened retaliation. So far, all this is just diplomatic posturing. But it signals that Washington and Beijing are gonna be at loggerheads from January 20. Where this will lead, no one really knows.

5 We Finally Got an Ebola Vaccine

In 2013, West Africa became the epicenter for the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. 11,300 people died, while over 28,000 suffered a sickness most of us can’t even begin to imagine. Since then, the outbreak has rumbled on, claiming lives even as the worst of the emergency is over. Until now. Following on from work done in 2015, scientists finally completed the world’s first major trial of an Ebola vaccine. 5,837 people in Guinea who were at risk of infection were given the shot. Not a single one of them got infected. By contrast, the no-vaccine control group of 4,507 saw 23 cases of the virus. In other words, the new vaccine appears capable of stopping one of the nastiest diseases known to man in its tracks. Scientists still don’t know how long it protects people for. But in the Ebola-affected areas of West Africa, this vaccine could mean the difference between life and death.

4 Fake News Became Frighteningly Real

“Fake news” could be the phrase of 2016. Over the year, dozens of sites sprang up, claiming everything from Hillary Clinton assassinating her rivals to Donald Trump having been born in Pakistan. But it wasn’t until December 5 that it became frighteningly real. That was the day an armed gunman entered the Comet pizza joint in Washington, DC, and opened fire. The Comet had spent most of the year being targeted by fake news stories claiming that Clinton campaign chief John Podesta was running a child sex ring from its back rooms. The gunman read these stories and set out to investigate for himself. Although he discharged his rifle, no one was hurt, thankfully. The incident showed just how crazy fake news has become in the US. Future national security adviser General Mike Flynn, for example, had retweeted the Comet story as fact. In the febrile, post-election atmosphere, such stories are enough to set some on a path to violence.

3 The UN Voted To Condemn Israeli Settlements

For many years, the UN has routinely called votes condemning Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. The US has just as routinely used its veto to torpedo these motions, standing by the Jewish state. Then came December 2016. For the first time in history, the US abstained from a vote. The Israelis could only look on as a UN motion passed to officially condemn their government. The vote was originally brought by Egypt, which dropped it when President-Elect Trump intervened on Israel’s behalf. An identical motion was then brought by New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal, and Venezuela. In what was seen as retaliation for Trump’s interference, Obama ordered the US representative to abstain, giving the vote a clear path. The diplomatic ramifications are enormous. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told New Zealand the vote was “a declaration of war.” US-Israeli ties hit their lowest point in decades. How this will affect the peace process remains to be seen.

2 Yet More Beloved Celebrities Died

We ended last month’s roundup by uneasily noting the number of dead celebrities in 2016 and praying we wouldn’t have to cover any more deaths in December. No such luck. After a year that had already killed off innumerable childhood heroes, December 2016 seemed determined to finish the job. First to go was singer George Michael. Aged 53, the star passed away on Christmas Day, amid rumors of a devastating heroin addiction. One day later, comedian Ricky Harris joined him in the afterlife, dead at 54. The day after that, Richard Adams, author of the children’s classic Watership Down, died at age 90. The biggest death of all also came on December 27: Following a heart attack, Carrie Fisher—aka Princess Leia—passed away at 60. For Star Wars fans, it was almost like witnessing the destruction of Alderaan firsthand. Then, the very next day, Fisher’s mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, also died. She was 84.

1 Aleppo Fell

In years to come, the name “Aleppo” will carry as much weight as Rwanda or Sarajevo. After four years in rebel hands, the ancient Syrian city fell to the Assad regime. As Russian bombers roared overhead, Iranian-backed militias marched into the city alongside regime forces. Rebels hunkered down among civilians. ISIS joined the fray. Aleppo became a moral black hole. To read the reports is to enter a world without humanity. Russian bombs targeted civilian districts, mutilating women and children. Civilians fleeing rebel areas were executed on the spot. Dozens of children were burned alive. Scores of women committed suicide to save themselves from being raped. Hundreds were herded into brutal internment camps. Many miles away, the regime celebrated victory by dropping Sarin gas on surrounding villages. The international stage acted with indifference. Although the UN vaguely condemned the war crimes committed by regime forces and rebels alike, no one stood up and said “enough.” No one came to save Aleppo’s children. As in Bosnia, as in Rwanda, the world simply sat back and watched as evil quietly triumphed.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-25” author: “Susan Heath”

After a terrifying end to 2016, things may finally be starting to pick up. There were at least two major scientific breakthroughs in January. A corrupt dictator was finally deposed. A regional conflict was avoided. While there was plenty of doom and gloom around, last month was probably the least terrifying we’ve covered for a while now. Here’s what happened:

10 President Trump Had A Crazy First Week

We might as well get this one out of the way. On January 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. He immediately began shaking up Washington in a way that was deeply cheering to his supporters and deeply worrying to his detractors. There’s no space to explain each controversy, so we’ll merely give you a flavor of what went down. First, an argument about inauguration crowd sizes saw the White House get into a spat with the press. 24 hours later, women’s rights protestors marched on several cities in the biggest mass demonstrations since the 2003 Iraq War protests. In quick succession, Trump then scrapped the unloved TPP trade deal, defunded pro-choice groups, placed a hiring freeze on federal workers, restarted the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, signed an executive order to build a wall on the Mexican border, claimed millions had voted illegally in the election, and finally placed a travel ban on anyone from seven Muslim-majority countries and halted the country’s Syrian refugee program. Phew. The reaction that Trump’s orders generated outside of the US was interesting, to say the least. For each policy dumped, another country seemed to offer to replace it. The Dutch promised to support defunded pro-life groups. Canada offered to take America’s quota of Syrian refugees. Australia revived the TPP deal as “TPP minus one.” It’ll be interesting to see if this sets the tenor of the world’s relations with the 45th US president.

9 Scientists Created Synthetic DNA

Since the dawn of time, every single living thing has had DNA composed of four letters: G, A, T, and C (aka guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine). You, your cat, your cat’s fleas, the bugs living inside your cat’s fleas—all of them have been made up of this limited code . . . until now. On January 24, scientists from the Scripps Research Institute announced that they’d created cells with two extra letters: X and Y. This isn’t the first time the team had successfully grafted extra letters onto DNA. But it is the first time that the resulting microbes haven’t died faster than you can say “Gattaca.” The new cells are capable of holding the synthetic DNA indefinitely and have lifespans no shorter than their unmodified counterparts. Although they are incapable of reproducing in the wild, they are essentially the same as any cell with only four letters. The age of synthetic DNA is here. This is essentially the leaping-off point for the future. Soon, we’ll likely be able to create synthetic organisms designed for specific purposes. There’s no telling where this research may eventually lead us.

8 Scientists Also Created Successful Pig-Human Hybrids

Only two days after synthetic DNA made headlines, scientists announced that they’d created the world’s first animal-human hybrids. Researchers from the Salk Institute successfully created a pig embryo that contained living, growing human cells. Such chimeras have been made before but never using human cells. This research is at the very boundaries of ethical limits, and public funding of it is banned worldwide. But, aside from providing nightmare fuel for thousands of casual readers, pig-human hybrids also offer something perhaps less expected: hope. The goal of the Salk Institute is to one day use this technique to grow human organs. At the moment, a person is added to the organ donor waiting list every ten minutes. Every 24 hours, 22 people die for lack of a donated organ. The aim is to create spare organs for those people completely from scratch, saving thousands of lives. This research, as nightmarish as it sounds in principle, is an important first step in that direction.

7 Cyprus Reunification Talks Entered Their Final Stages

If you’re not au fait with the history of Cyprus, here’s a quick crash course: Once a British colony, Cyprus was granted independence from London in the 1960s. Barely was the ink dry before the island’s Greek and Turkish communities started killing each other in a decade-long ethnic conflict, which left 10,000 dead and the island divided into a Turkish-controlled north and an independent, mainly Greek south. Fast forward to 2017, and South Cyprus is now in the EU, while North Cyprus is an autonomous state recognized only by Turkey. 30,000 Turkish troops still guard the north, while British forces are stationed in the south. For a long time, the situation has been similar to the deadlock between North and South Korea, only without a crazy fat guy threatening to nuke everyone. Then, this January, the unthinkable happened. Reunification talks between the two sides entered their final stages. If this goes ahead, it’ll be the biggest such event since East and West Germany joined back together in 1990. While Cyprus has been here before, only to see talks collapse, everyone seems confident that a deal could finally be achieved this time.

6 The Philippine Drug War Took A Deadly New Twist

Seven months ago, the Philippines elected Rodrigo Duterte on a promise to execute drug dealers and users. 7,000 people have since been killed by paramilitary and police forces, all without trial. Last month, things spun even further out of control. It came to light that police officers had abducted and murdered a South Korean businessman. The killing happened in October, but the shocking details only recently emerged. Jee Ick Joo was snatched in broad daylight. He was tortured and murdered in the National Police Headquarters. Officers served the dead man a warrant for a nonexistent drugs case and extorted $100,000 from his wife under the pretext that he would be released. In response, Duterte has been forced to disband the country’s antidrug units while an investigation takes place. But those hoping for a stop to the random killings were to be disappointed. The president announced that the crackdown would be extended from the initially promised six months to five whole years.

5 Horrifying Riots Paralyzed Brazil’s Prison System

56 people are decapitated before horrified onlookers, their heads lined up in a row. 33 prisoners are mutilated, their bodies piled up in a heap. Messages are scrawled in human blood. Helpless men are burned alive. It sounds like a report from deep inside the Islamic State, but these horrific massacres didn’t occur in Syria. They didn’t even occur in a war zone. They happened in a peaceful democracy that counts itself among the US’s closest allies. Welcome to Brazil, where a series of deadly prison riots are threatening to send the whole country spiraling out of control. The massacres are the work of rival drug gangs. Most are based inside Rio’s favelas (slums), but their members are incarcerated around the country and number in the tens of thousands. As the situation in the prisons gets worse, there’s a worrying chance violence will erupt on the streets. Already, there have been four major prison massacres in 2017. If things don’t change soon, the favelas of Brazil could erupt into a conflict as dangerous as that gripping Mexico.

4 Dylann Roof Became The First Person Sentenced To Death For A Federal Hate Crime

In summer 2015, Dylann Roof drove to a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. There, he sat in on a prayer meeting that lasted two hours. At the end of it, he drew a gun and murdered nine people. The case became probably the biggest federal hate crime trial in history. It divided the US, sparking protests about the Confederate flag. On January 10, it also ended on a darkly historic note: Roof became the first person in US history to be sentenced to death following a federal hate crime trial. The jury unanimously supported death for Roof. However, it is unlikely that the federal government will be the ones to carry out the execution. Roof is facing a murder trial in South Carolina, which has executed 41 people since 1988. By comparison, the federal government has executed only three: a drug lord, a man who murdered an Army private, and Timothy McVeigh. But even if South Carolina passes a death sentence, experts believe that appeals mean it may be decades before Roof faces justice.

3 Three Shocking Attacks Laid Bare Society’s Divisions

It’s no news that society is polarized. But three shocking attacks in January showed just how deep those divisions are and how badly left and right have turned on each other. In the first, a mentally handicapped white man was abducted by three black classmates. He was tied up, racially abused, and horrifically tortured for 48 hours. The motivation appeared to be that he was a Donald Trump supporter, making the abuse a sickening attack on both decency and democracy. In the second, Canadian student Alexandre Bissonnette walked into a crowded Quebec mosque and opened fire, killing six people, including a professor at his own university. Bissonnette was inspired by online far-right hate speech, the same kind that motivated both Anders Breivik and Dylann Roof. Finally, in Melbourne, Dimitrious Gargasoulas plowed his car into a crowd, killing six people. Awful as that was, what came next was even worse. People from both sides of the debate immediately set about trying to “prove” their own pet theories of what motivated the attacker. Even as the death toll mounted, trolls simply used the bloodshed for cheap political point-scoring. It was a disgusting spectacle and one which should make everyone involved feel deeply ashamed. Don’t count on it, though.

2 A Dispute Over A Train Brought Serbia And Kosovo To The Brink Of Conflict

In 1999, the Kosovo War ended the bloody fighting that had paralyzed the former Yugoslavia. Since then, both Kosovo and Serbia have existed in a state of uneasy truce. This month, a dispute over a train brought them back to the brink of armed conflict. The train was the first to run from Belgrade into Kosovar territory. It was meant to show cooperation between the two nations. At least, it would have, were the train not in the colors of the Serbian flag. If that wasn’t enough, “Kosovo is Serbia” had been painted on the side in 20 languages. Serbia sees Kosovo as part of it. Since 2008, Kosovo has claimed itself to be an independent nation. The train brought all that simmering tension to the boil. Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic threatened to invade Kosovo. The city of Pristina responded by preparing their heavily armed citizens for guerilla war. At the time of this writing, the situation still isn’t fully resolved, a reminder that, in the Balkans, even the tiniest thing could one day trigger a renewed wave of violence.

1 West Africa’s Last Dictator Finally Fell

For 22 years, Yahya Jammeh ruled Africa’s tiniest mainland country with an iron fist. Then, he lost an election to Adam Barrow. Jammeh refused to step down. Everyone predicted a crackdown and a return to the oppression of previous decades. And then a strange thing happened: As The Gambia lurched toward crisis, the West African regional block (Ecowas) threatened to intervene, and they really meant it. In no time at all, Jammeh found himself the target for an international butt-kicking. So he did the only thing he could. He fled into exile, taking $11 million, stolen from the nation’s coffers, with him. Against all odds, democracy had triumphed. This is great news. Jammeh was the last old-school dictator in the whole of West Africa. Just as the South American dictators of old all faded away in the 1990s, Jammeh’s flight into exile marked the passing of the classic West African strongman. It was a signal of hope for a region long blighted by war and dictatorship. And it was a signal that maybe, just maybe, 2017 won’t be so bad after all.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-05” author: “Kevin Ramirez”

10Romania Was Wracked by the Biggest Protests since the Fall of Communism

The history of Romania is one of rulers pressing their boots down onto ordinary people’s faces. But it is also a history that shows you can only screw with regular Romanians so long. In 1989, Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu found that out the hard way. Now, 28 years later, it is the turn of Romania’s leftwing PSD government to learn the lesson. After passing emergency legislation that would have got the party’s leader off a much-deserved corruption charge, the PSD found themselves on the receiving end of the biggest protests since the 1989 revolution. An estimated 300,000 Romanians took to the streets in sub-zero temperatures, calling for PSD politicians to be locked up. Ordinary people turned out en masse to show their hatred of political corruption. The PSD went into panic mode. Although the government reversed the legislation in mid-February, protests are continuing, albeit on a smaller scale. As of February 28, 5,000 protesters were still camped out in Bucharest, demanding the government’s resignation.

9North Korea Carried out a Terrifying Assassination

Now would be a good time to take a moment to thank God you have never encountered VX. A nerve agent from the same family as Sarin, VX is the deadliest chemical weapon known to man. Classified as a weapon of mass destruction, it causes convulsions, paralysis, blindness, and a very, very painful death. It is the sort of weapon you would not want a friendly state to have in its arsenal, let alone a rogue one. On February 13, North Korea used it to assassinate Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother Kim Jong-Nam at a Malaysian airport. Nam was once first in line for the North Korean throne. After being caught trying to sneak into Tokyo Disneyland with a fake passport he was passed over for succession. Since his father’s death, Nam had been highly critical of Kim Jong-Un, likely paving the way for his brutal murder. Twisted as it is, this story could have been even scarier. The assassin—a North Korean woman wearing a “LOL” t-shirt—sprayed VX straight into Nam’s face. In even tiny doses, VX can kill astonishing numbers of people. It is sheer luck the nerve gas did not take out any bystanders.

8A New Dead Sea Scrolls Cave Was Found

In 1947, a shepherd boy wandered into a cave on the north shore of the Dead Sea and stumbled over one of the greatest discoveries in history. The Dead Sea Scrolls were an ancient collection of manuscripts detailing previously unknown fragments of Jewish, Christian, and Middle Eastern history. They included early versions of Biblical books, giving a unique insight into the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Between 1947 and 1967, 11 such caves were uncovered. Fast forward to 2017, and we may have just found a twelfth. The new cave was uncovered by a joint team from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Liberty University in Virginia, the first such find in 60 years. Unfortunately, it was empty. Although there were pots that had clearly once contained scrolls, the parchments themselves had apparently been looted by Bedouins decades before. Yet the story does not end there. The team believes there are many more caves out there, with potentially dozens of scroll caves still uncovered. Their find could be the start of a process that will one day reveal yet more priceless Dead Sea Scrolls.

7We Discovered a Whole New Solar System

Forty light years away, the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 burns with a fraction of the intensity of our sun. First discovered by a Chilean observatory in 2016, this tiny, almost-lifeless star was suspected of having as many as two exoplanets in its orbit. Then NASA pointed their Spitzer telescope at it, and we discovered this was an underestimate. Orbiting TRAPPIST-1 was an entire new solar system, one NASA considers capable of supporting life. The seven planets are so close to their star that orbits would last only a matter of days. They would be incapable of turning, showing one permanently-burning face to TRAPPIST-1, and one permanently-frozen face to the inky void of space. Yet along the line between day and night, a habitable zone would exist, a place of liquid water and stable temperatures, surrounded by a sea of ice and fire. For any life that does exist in the system, looking upwards would mean looking into a world of wonders. TRAPPIST-1 would hang on the horizon, bigger than our moon—while the six other planets rumbled overhead, so large they dominated the sky.

6A Crazy Russian Millionaire Tried to Bring Back the Romanov Empire

On July 16, 1918, the deposed Romanov family was taken to the basement of a house in Russia and executed by the Bolsheviks. The massacre marked the end of Russian Imperial rule and ushered in the age of Communism. But the dream of reestablishing the monarchy did not die there. Fast forward to 2017, and millionaire Anton Bakov is in advanced talks to revive the long-dead Romanov Empire. Bakov’s plan falls into the “so crazy it might just work” category. Using his vast fortune, the businessman and former Russian MP intends to buy up three islands from Pacific nation Kiribati and transform them into a new Romanov outpost. The islands would be an autonomous state, have their own infrastructure, university, and amenities for Russians fed up of Putin’s rule. Ever desperate for money, the government of Kiribati is on the verge of giving the deal a possible go-ahead. At least, they were. Between initial writing of this article and publication, the government of Kiribati rejected Bakov’s proposal. Bakov has vowed to try and continue his empire-building project elsewhere.

5The US Dropped its Commitment to a Two-State Solution

For decades, the central pillar of US-Middle East diplomacy has been a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Sometimes, this has seemed a realistic goal. At others, an impossible fantasy. But a commitment to the idea of two states has always been there . . . until now. This February, President Trump signaled an end to US interest in a two-state solution. It is no exaggeration to say this is the biggest shakeup of US foreign policy since Nixon made his game-changing trip to China. All US diplomacy in the region has been focused towards establishing a Palestinian state and recognizing Israel as a separate, Jewish nation. Ending this push has the potential to change how every country deals with the Israel-Palestine conflict. It also has the potential to fundamentally change Israel. Although the current government backs a one-state solution, demographics mean that Jews would become a minority. It has been said that this state could therefore be either Jewish or democratic, but likely not both.

4The Internet’s Two Biggest Provocateurs got Dramatically Shut Down

Just one month ago, YouTube star PewDiePie and controversial conservative media personality Milo Yiannopoulos were the kings of internet provocation. Then, in less than 30 days, both saw their careers go into a tailspin for similar reasons. First, PewDiePie got into trouble over anti-Semitic comments. If you do not know him, the 27-year old Swede is YouTube’s biggest star, with 53 million subscribers and a Disney contract. He is a fan of provocative humor, which recently included paying two men in India to hold up a sign saying “Death to All Jews”. While PewDiePie claims he was doing it for the lolz, neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer began using his name to promote anti-Semitism. The controversy proved toxic enough to lose PewDiePie millions and send him tumbling from grace. Only days later, former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos got smashed for apparent pro-pedophilia comments. A professional provocateur, Yiannopoulos makes outrageous comments as a way of exercising his right to free speech. His history of liberal-baiting remarks was enough to get him invited to speak at the respectable Republican CPAC conference. But when his remarks strayed into the sort of territory that outraged conservatives, CPAC suddenly discovered they were not so keen on unfettered free speech after all. Yiannopoulos’ speech was canceled, he quit his job at Breitbart, and there are now, ironically, calls for him to be deported to his native Britain.

3Indonesia Stared into the Abyss

Indonesia is home to over 200 million Muslims, from a total population of nearly 250 million. Its constitution defines it as a secular state, and Islam is intended to be separate from governance. Until now. As Gubernatorial elections got underway in the capital, Jakarta, the very notion of Indonesian democracy was seemingly put on trial. It started when hardline Muslim clerics began saying that non-Muslims should not be allowed to hold office in Indonesia. Jakarta’s current governor, the Chinese-Christian Ahok, said these clerics were deceiving voters. In no time at all, he was arrested on blasphemy charges and massive anti-Ahok, pro-Islam protests were sweeping the capital. Ahok’s supposedly-centrist rivals jumped on the bandwagon, raising the prospect of hardline, populist Islam taking root in one of the world’s most-populous countries. Luckily for believers in democracy, Ahok won the highest share of the February vote, despite facing a vicious anti-Christian, anti-Chinese campaign against him. While he will still go through to a run-off against an Islamist rival, commentators have suggested the result shows Jakarta’s residents are more interested in multiculturalism than they are in turning their country into an intolerant, theocratic state.

2We Captured the First Light of a Dying Star

Supernovae are one of the biggest, most destructive forces in the universe. Caused when a dying star runs out of fuel and dramatically explodes, they can briefly burn bright enough to outshine all the other stars in their home galaxy. Until recently, it was considered remarkable to capture readings from one week after it blew. From February 2017, that will have to be revised. Researchers managed to capture a full-spectrum reading only three hours after a distant star erupted. The blast occurred in the spiral galaxy NGC 7610, a twisting wheel of light rotating in the darkness some 160 million light years away. Within minutes, astronomers had noticed what was happening. Less than three hours later, telescopes across the planet were trained on SN 2013fs, collecting reams of data on the ancient death of this distant star. From a scientific perspective, this was all kinds of incredible. Not only was it a “first!” moment, it gave us new insight into what happens when a star blows its top. Thanks to some excellent luck, new secrets of the universe were revealed in this one incredible flash of light.

1We Saw the Horrors of Syria’s Worst Slaughterhouse

In future years, Syria’s Saydnaya prison may be as infamous as Cambodia’s hideous S24 genocide jail. Owned by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Saydnaya has long been known as perhaps the civil war’s worst torture camp. On February 7, Amnesty International suggested it was even worse than we thought. After interviewing over 80 former guards, prisoners, judges, and regime defectors, they revealed Saydnaya was the focal point of an extermination program designed to execute as many of Assad’s enemies as humanly possible. The numbers are shocking. As many as 13,000 people are believed to have been executed in Saydnaya, their bodies dumped on the outskirts of Damascus in the middle of the night. Those who were not murdered were tortured and starved, eventually succumbing to disease. Their bodies were buried in mass graves. The Amnesty interviews cover the period of the war up to 2015 and it is thought thousands more have since been killed. Disturbingly, Saydnaya is just one of Assad’s many slaughterhouses. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that at least 60,000 have been tortured to death in regime prisons since the start of the conflict, a figure that does not include the 13,000 executed at Saydnaya. The brutality is equal to anything Kim Jong-Un could dream up. Sadly, the world seems unwilling to do a single damn thing about it.

title: “10 Mind Blowing Things That Happened Last Month” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “John Wolf”

10 Scottish Independence Came Roaring Back

September 2014. After the citizens of Scotland voted 55 percent to 45 percent in favor of staying in the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron declared the question of Scottish independence settled “for a generation.” March 2017. The Scottish parliament passes a bill authorizing a new independence referendum. That’s probably the shortest “generation” in history. So what happened? The same thing driving everything in British politics: Brexit. When the UK voted to leave the EU, the Scottish voted firmly to remain, by 62 percent to 38 percent. One of the biggest anti-independence arguments in 2014 had been that seceding would take Scotland out of the EU. With Scotland now being dragged out anyway, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon felt compelled to call “indyref2.” Scotland doesn’t actually have the power to authorize a referendum. That’s London’s job, and Prime Minister Theresa May has said it won’t happen until after Brexit. But given the strength of feeling in Scotland, it seems she won’t have much choice. We’re calling it now: Scotland will be the world’s next sovereign state. (Sorry, Catalonia.)

9 Northern Ireland Slid Toward Chaos

From 1968–98, Northern Ireland was wracked by an urban guerrilla war between Irish Republican Catholics and Ulster loyalist Protestants that killed 3,600. In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement, a power-sharing executive was set up at Stormont on the condition that both sides would jointly rule at all times. In March 2017, Republicans Sinn Fein rejected postelection talks with the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). As a result, Northern Ireland’s government collapsed. The exact ins and outs are complicated. In the previous government, the DUP had been involved in a financial scandal linked to heating subsidies. Sinn Fein resigned in protest, triggering an election. The DUP narrowly beat Sinn Fein but wound up outnumbered by Stormont’s multiple Republican parties. Emboldened, Sinn Fein made things like gay marriage a red line in power-sharing negotiations. The DUP refused, prompting the walkout. With forming a government now impossible, Northern Ireland may return to direct rule from London. This would kick a hole through the Good Friday Agreement and raise the specter of a return to the darkest days of the conflict.

8 The Tasmanian Tiger Came Back From The Dead (Maybe)

In 1936, the last Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart Zoo, Australia. Or did it? Fast-forward to 2017, and a glut of sightings from credible witnesses has caused Australian researchers to face a tantalizing prospect. Far from being extinct, the Tasmanian tiger may be thriving. Sightings of thylacines are relatively common. By one count, at least 3,000 Australians alive today claim to have seen one. But what’s different here is who saw these creatures. One was a longtime camper and woodsman who knew his dingoes from his thylacines. Another was a ranger of the Queensland National Parks Service. Yeah, Queensland. Despite its name, the Tasmanian tiger may today be living on the Australian mainland. If thylacines were rediscovered, it would be an epic win for biodiversity. The good news is such precedents exist. In 2013, the night parrot was photographed in Western Australia almost 100 years after supposedly going extinct.

7 We Came Closer To Conquering Paralysis

For many of us, it would be the ultimate nightmare. To suffer a spinal injury and find ourselves suddenly unable to move or feel below our neck. Yet this medical horror may not plague us much longer. For the first time, a pioneering neuroprosthetic procedure has allowed a paralyzed man to move his arm just by thinking about it. Watch this video on YouTube To put it mildly, this is incredible. Previously, paralyzed patients had to use their remaining muscle movements—a twitch of an eyelid, say—to tell a computer what to do. Bill Kochevar, on the other hand, simply has to think about it. Following experimental surgery at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Kochevar has implants in his brain that can send signals to a computer, which then tells his arm to move. The process is painfully slow (it took Kochevar four months to train his brain), but still. This initial breakthrough could conceivably pave the way for a world without paralysis.

6 Spain’s Last Homegrown Terror Group Disarmed

The initials ETA were once as feared as those of the IRA. A Basque terrorist group, ETA waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations against Spain from 1968 until 2011. At their height, they were able to assassinate Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco and launch bomb attacks that claimed dozens of victims. Between 800 and 1,000 people died during their reign of terror. Although the group stopped fighting in 2011, they never actually disarmed. Until now. On March 17, 2017, ETA released a statement through nonviolent Basque independence group Bizi, saying that ETA was surrendering its weapons. Guns and bombs would be handed over to Bizi, who would in turn hand the arsenal over to the authorities by April 8. When that happens, Spain’s last homegrown terror group will have officially disbanded. Although ETA hasn’t engaged in any significant violence since 2006, this is still a major milestone in anti-terror history. As the world is consumed by more Islamist attacks, it’s comforting to know that even the hardiest terror groups cannot last forever.

5 The Dutch Elections Saw Populism Falter

2017 is a major year for European elections, and the script was meant to have already been written. Following the populist triumphs of Brexit and Trump, far-right Geert Wilders would sweep the Dutch elections, Marine Le Pen would become president of France, and Alternative fur Deutschland would finally unseat Angela Merkel. While two of those things could still happen, the first one spectacularly failed to materialize. After topping the polls for months, Wilders led his anti-immigration, anti-EU PVV into the Dutch elections . . . and promptly lost to Mark Rutte’s centrist VVD. This wasn’t a total failure for Wilders. The Netherlands proportions its 150 parliamentary seats according to the popular vote. So coming in second out of 10-plus parties is no mean feat. On the other hand, Wilders’s 20 seats was only one ahead of the centrist CDA and D66 parties, both with 19 seats each. Add the VVD, CDA, and D66 votes together, and it looks less like a triumph for populism and more like the Dutch simply voting for different flavors of moderates.

4 Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Greatest Pioneer Died

Without Chuck Berry, you don’t have modern popular music. It’s as simple as that. When the 1950s started, Berry was an ex-con working as a cosmetician and about to turn 30. Before the decade was over, he’d redefined music for an entire generation. He made black music not just palatable for white audiences but something they lapped up like crazy. He released records that captured the experiences of America’s rebellious postwar teenagers. He influenced countless artists. But most importantly of all, he made records that still stand up today. Chuck Berry’s death on March 18, 2017, wasn’t exactly a shock. The dude was 90. He’d lived as hard as anyone. Yet his passing still managed to cast a pall over the music-loving world. Berry had been more than just another singer. He’d been an innovator who changed everything. As John Lennon once said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.”

3 Egypt’s Revolutionary Dream Finally Ended

The last half-decade has been one of the craziest in Egyptian history. In 2011, a revolution ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak. A year after that, the Muslim Brotherhood won Egypt’s first free election in decades. A year after that, an armed coup overthrew the Brotherhood and installed new dictator General Sisi. His ascension was then followed by a brutal Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds. Like we said: crazy. Throughout all this mayhem, one factor has kept the revolutionary flame at least smoldering. Mubarak was still in jail. The hundreds who died or disappeared in 2011 had not gone in vain. Or so it seemed. In March 2017, a court finally freed Mubarak, allowing the 88-year-old strongman to return to his Cairo mansion. The last symbol of the Arab Spring had been cruelly shattered. For those who believe in holding dictators to account for their crimes, this is a sickening—if long expected—kick to the gut. Mubarak was a despot, a killer, and a crook. Yet he will now die a free man, while the families of his victims will get nothing.

2 Washington Was Rocked by Leaks, Counterleaks, And Looming Scandals

The stuff coming out of Washington last month was enough to fill this entire list (again). We don’t wanna go over every newsworthy tale of the new administration, but one story deserves your attention. Why? Because it suggests either the 45th or 44th US president is now sitting at the epicenter of a political storm that will make Watergate look like a gentle squall. The facts are these. The FBI is investigating coordination between the Trump team and Russia to influence the last election. At the same time, the White House is pushing Congress to investigate “abuse of power” by Obama because Trump claims he was wiretapped by Obama. We now know that members of Trump’s campaign were “incidentally” monitored during the Russia investigation. As more and more corroborating information comes to light, it’s starting to look like there are only two probable explanations. Either Obama illegally used the intelligence services as his own private goon squad or Trump colluded with Putin to sabotage US democracy. Either story would blow Watergate out the, um, water. Either has the potential to divide the country like nothing since the Civil War. And neither story looks likely to go away anytime soon.

1 Terror Returned To London

The last time a multiple-casualty terror attack was carried out in London, it was summer 2005. Four Islamists detonated suicide bombs on the London Tube and on a bus, killing 52. In the aftermath of 7/7, Britain dramatically improved its counterterrorism operations. New techniques were brought in. Special efforts were made to forge strong relationships with alienated Muslim communities. It worked. In nearly 12 years, London suffered only a single Islamist-related death when soldier Lee Rigby was brutally assassinated by two Al-Qaeda affiliates. Then came March 22, 2017, and that long peace was violently shattered. That afternoon, an Islamic extremist rammed a car into a crowd of tourists outside Westminster, killing three and injuring 50. He then stabbed a policeman to death outside the House of Commons before being shot and killed. The location of the attack was no accident. The House of Commons is the seat of British democracy, chosen for its symbolic value. Yet the response proved that British democracy is stronger than one scumbag. A week after the attack, thousands of Londoners gathered on Westminster Bridge for a vigil. Muslim schoolgirls, Jewish elders, black policemen, Asian students, white workers, and tourists from around the world all stood together to prove that London is a city that evil can’t ever hope to divide. In dark times, it’s comforting to know that we humans can still stand together.