2016, like every year, had its ups and downs and, now that it’s over, today I will be
recapping last year’s events in 5 minutes.
On January 16th, Tsai Ing-wen was elected President of Taiwan, becoming the first female
president and the second president from the Democratic Progressive party.
She won 61% of the vote, beating out her main competitor Eric Chu who had 31% of the vote.
Also on January 16th, Iran dismantled its nuclear program, causing the UN to lift sanctions
on the nation immediately.
On January 28th, the World Health Organization announced an outbreak of the zika virus.
On February 7th, North Korea launched its first long range rocket into space, sparking
condemnation around the world.
South Korea began discussing a missile defense system with the US due to fears over the countries
developing nuclear program.
On February 11th, Scientists announced that they had recorded audio of two black holes
colliding.
It was the first evidence of gravitational waves, proving the final unproven parts of
Einstein’s general theory of relativity, these unproven parts being that space and
time are connected and changeable.
On March 14th, The European Space Agency and the Roscosmos State Corporation, Russia’s
space agency launched the joint ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on a mission to Mars.
The orbiter will conduct atmospheric research on the Red Planet, with a large focus on better
understanding methane and other trace gases in the atmosphere.
It also included Schiparelli, designed to demonstrate technology that could be used
for future soft landings on the planet, as well as a very limited selection of science
tools.
On March 24th, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić was sentenced to 40 years
prison after being found guilty of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during
the Bosnian war, a war between Bosnia and Herzegovina that took place between 1992 and
1995.
On April 2nd, conflict between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in Nagorno- Karabakh resulted
in the death of at least 193, becoming the largest breach of the Bishkek Protocol, a
ceasefire that terminated the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
On April 3rd, the Panama Papers were leaked, revealing how some of the world’s richest
people funnel their assets through the small Central American country via secretive shell
companies set up in lightly regulated jurisdictions.
On May 21st, President Obama confirmed that the leader of the Afghan taliban was killed
in a U.S. drone strike on his car in Pakistan.
However, a new leader with no military experience was named after 4 days.
On May 21st through the 25th, U.S. President Obama visited Vietnam with plans to create
a stronger relationship between the nations. This happened a day after the U.S. lifted its embargo on
the sales of lethal weapons to the country.
On June 1st, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world’s deepest and longest railway tunnel
opened after two decades of construction.
It is 55.8 kilometers long and runs through the Swiss Alps.
On June 5th, former Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won the popular vote in the Peruvian Presidential election.
On June 23rd, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a 52% majority vote
On July 1st, Latvia became the 35th member of the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group founded in 1961.
On July 4th, NASA’s Juno Spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter and began a 20 month
survey after a five year long journey through space.
On July 26th, the Swiss made Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar-powered aircraft
to circumnavigate the world.
On August 5th, the 2016 Summer Olympics began in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and ended on August
21st.
On August 1st, the CDC issued a warning about the Zika Virus in Florida as 10 additional
people had been infected with the virus since July.
On September 3rd, the U.S. and China, contributors of 40% of the world’s carbon emissions both
ratified the Paris global climate agreement.
The agreement is meant to reduce carbon emissions by 40% worldwide by 2030.
On September 8th, NASA launched OSIRIS-REx, the agency’s first asteroid return mission
which will return with samples from Bennu, a 492 meter diameter asteroid that has a 1
in 2,7000 chance of impacting Earth in the late 22nd century.
Starting on October 1st, Nobel Prizes were awarded to 11 people, including Juan Manuel
Santos, the current President of Columbia, due to his efforts to end the country’s
50 year civil war.
On October 13th, the Maldives announced the decision to leave the Commonwealth of Nations,
a group made up of 52 states, most of which were once territories of the British Empire.
On November 8th, Dolan Trump became the President-elect of the United States, receiving 74 more electoral
votes than Clinton despite losing the popular vote by 2.6 million votes.
On November 18th, the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft carried the next crew, including a Russian
commander and a French and American flight engineer, to the International Space Station.
On December 19th, a truck drove through a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing
11 and injuring 49 others.
On December 20th, President-elect of the United States Donald Trump was officially elected
President when the electoral college confirmed his win.