Chia-jung Tsay

Germany Marks Its First Permanent Troop Deployment Since WWII After Germany And Lithuania Agreed On A Historic Deployment Of 4,800 German Troops To Lithuanian Cities Of Kaunas And Vilnius By 2027. The Plan, Motivated By Regional Security, Aims To Bolster NATO Defense, With Lithuania Committing Infrastructure And Funding.

HBO’s Longest Running Scripted Comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Created By Larry David Of Seinfeld Fame, Wraps Up Its 24-Year Run With Season 12. This Final Installment, Airing Feb 4 – Apr 7, 2024, On HBO Max, Concludes David’s Fictionalized Life Saga And Marks The End Of A Legendary Comedic Era On TV.

The World’s Biggest Iceberg, A23a, Stuck For 37 Years In The Weddell Sea, Is Now Moving From Antarctica. A23a Is More Than Twice The Size Of Greater London, 400m Thick, And Set Adrift Due To Natural Conditions. Its Journey May Disrupt Animal Habitats In South Georgia But Contributes Nutrients Upon Melting, Which Is Vital For Ocean Life.

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Nepal Saw Its First Same-Sex Marriage Between Maya Gurung, 35, And Surendra Pandey, 27, In The Lumjung District On Nov. 29, 2023. Following Nepal’s Supreme Court Order Allowing The Registration Of Such Marriage 5 Months Prior, This Marks A Significant Stride, With Taiwan Being The Sole Other Asian Region To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage.

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Norse Atlantic Airways, For The First Time On An Antarctica’s Ice Runway In Queen Maud Land, Landed The Largest Aircraft, A Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Carrying Scientists And Gear For The Norwegian Polar Institute, The Flight Departed Oslo, Stopped In Cape Town, And Showcased The Aircraft’s Efficiency, Marking A Milestone For Antarctic Research Efforts.

Missy Elliott Became The First Female Rapper Inducted Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Queen Latifah Introduced Her, Highlighting Her Impact On Music And Her Barrier-Breaking Role For Women In Hip-Hop. Afterward, Elliott Performed Iconic Hits Like “Get Ur Freak On,” & “Work It.” And Shared Her Gratitude & Reflections In Her Acceptance Speech.

The World’s Largest Hindu Temple, Outside India, Was Inaugurated In Central New Jersey. The Hindu Temple, Akshardham, Is The Second Biggest Globally, Spanning Over 183 Acres And Taking Over 10 Years To Construct. The Temple Involved Extensive Stone Extraction, Skilled Artisan Work, And Over 12,000 Volunteers Dedicating Millions Of Hours To Its Creation.

Stella Terra, An SUV Created By TU/e Students, Is The World’s First Off-Road Solar Vehicle. The Solar Panels On Its Roof Charge The Battery, Enabling Long-Distance Travel Without Charging Stations, Up To 710 Km On Roads & 550 Km Off-Road In Sunny Conditions, With A Top Speed Of 145 Km/H. The Goal Is To Inspire Sustainable Vehicle Innovation.

Simone Biles, Aged 26 And A 19-Time World Champion, Made History As The First Woman To Nail A Highly Challenging Vault, Yurchenko Double Pike, With A 6.4 Difficulty Score At The 2023 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships In Antwerp, Belgium, Following A Two-Year Hiatus Due To Mental Health Concerns. Her Team Is Favored To Win The Women’s Team Final.

Harvard University Inaugurated Claudine Gay As Its First Black And Second Female President. Gay, The 30th President In Harvard’s History, Is A 1998 Distinguished Harvard Alum And Accomplished Political Scholar. Gay’s Tenure Follows Her Role As Dean Of The Faculty Of Arts And Sciences And Founding Chair Of The Inequality In America Initiative.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Released A Capsule 63,000 Miles From Earth. The Capsule, Containing The First Asteroid Sample Collected In Space By NASA, Landed In Utah, On 9/24/2023, After A 4-hr Journey. OSIRIS-REx Will Now Divert To The Asteroid Apophis, With The Same Mission To Better Understand Similar Asteroids From The Early Solar System.

Geneticists, For The First Time, Have Extracted RNA From An Extinct Animal—A 130-Yr-Old Tasmanian Tiger. This Achievement Offers Insights Into The Genetic Functioning Of Thylacine, Which Vanished 2k Years Ago, Except In Australia, Where It Went Extinct Primarily Due To Hunting. This Research Could Aid Thylacine De-Extinction Efforts.

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A 127 Myr-Old Fossil Of A Side-Necked Turtle (SNT), Said To Be UK’s First SNT, Was Discovered On The Isle Of Wight. SNT Is Known For Retracting Its Neck Sideways When Threatened. The Fossil, Dubbed ‘Burby,’ Missing Only The Skull, Was Radiometrically Dated & Analyzed Via Micro CT Scan. The Findings Were Donated To The Dinosaur Isle Museum.

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A Live Invasive Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH) Was Spotted For The First Time In The US, Near Savannah, GA. YLHs, Native To SE Asia & Cousin To Murder Hornet, Pose Major Threats To Honeybees & Agric, As They Are More Predatory Than Native Hornets, Jeopardizing Honey Prod. & Pollination, Valued At $15 B. Efforts Are Underway To Eradicate Them.

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A Spotless Female Reticulated Giraffe Was Born At Brights Zoo, Tennessee, On July 31, 2023—A Rarity Seen Only Once Before In A 1970s Japanese Birth. The Public Is Helping To Name The Calf From 4 Swahili Name Options. Reticulated Giraffes’ Population, In The Wild, Has Declined From 36,000 To 16,000 In 35 Years, Raising Conservation Concerns.

India Made History, With Its Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft, As The First Country To Successfully Land On The Moon‘s Unexplored South Pole. This Achievement, Under Modest Budgets, Also Marks The 4th Lunar Landing After Russia, The U.S., And China. The South Pole’s Significance Lies In Recent Water Ice Discoveries, Potentially Fueling Future Space Exploration.

Spain Makes History By Winning Its First Women’s World Cup Title, In 2023, In A Final (1- 0) Against England. Yet, Their Path Was Marred By Year-Long Internal Conflicts Involving Players, Coach Jorge Vilda, Technical Staff, And The Soccer Federation. Key Player Boycotts Due To Disputes Highlight Off-Field Discord, Despite On-Field Success.

Heba Saadieh, 34, Is The First Palestinian, Male Or Female, To Officiate In A FIFA Women’s World Cup In 2023. She Honed Her Skills In Various Countries, Received International Recognition, And Became An Inspiration To Women, Like Yasmine Nairoukh, In Palestine And Beyond. Her Success Highlights The Progress Of Gender Inclusion In Sports.

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Larry Fitzgerald Solidified His NFL Status As A Top Wide Receiver (WR) With An Unmatched Earning Of $182,490,000, After A 16-Year Career At Arizona Cardinals. This Earning Surpasses Julio Jones, The Second-Highest Paid WR, By $36,170,956. Calvin Johnson Is The Only Other WR To Exceed $100 M While Playing For A Single Team, Detroit Lions.

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Singapore Executed Its First Woman In 18 Years For Drug Trafficking, Since Yen May Woen In 2004. Saridewi Binte Djamani, 45, Was Hanged For Possessing 30.72 Grams Of Heroin. But Anti-Death Penalty Advocates Argue That Such Law/Punishment Is Inhumane And Doesn’t Deter Drug Use Or Availability, As A Study In The Philippines Has Found.

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