Moscow. December 31 .. The Vatican got a new pope, the Egyptian army - a new president, Edward Snowden - political asylum, Great Britain - the heir to the throne, Angelina Jolie - a new breast. Interfax recalls what the world talked about the most in 2013.
Pope of Argentina
The Vatican has a new pope. Instead of the retired Benedict XVI, the Roman Catholic Church was headed by Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name Francis. Pope Francis became the first Pope from a South American country.
Francis immediately won the favor of the whole world, making a number of unexpected statements. It turned out that the new pope, in the future, allows the abolition of celibacy for priests, and also dreams that the Roman Catholic Church will again become the church of the poor.
At the end of 2013, Time magazine named Francis Man of the Year. The head of the Vatican became the new "voice of conscience", taking the papal throne out of the palace into the streets, the editorial board of the influential magazine decided.
Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden
In early June, former CIA and NSA officer Edward Snowden told The Guardian and The Washington Post classified information about the activities of the American special services, which, as it turned out, regularly read correspondence and tapped the phones of both mere mortals and the powerful. In particular, the NSA telephone conversations 35 heads of various states, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In the United States, Snowden was charged with espionage and theft of government property. The informant fled to Hong Kong, from where to Russia. For more than a month Snowden lived in the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport. In August, Russia gave him a temporary refuge. In December, Snowden announced that his mission had been accomplished.
Hugo Chavez passed away
Photo: Sergey Guneev, RIA Novosti
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on March 5 after a long and unsuccessful fight against cancer. The banner of the Bolivarian revolution is the closest associate of the late Vice President Nicolas Maduro. After the death of 58-year-old Chavez, Venezuela is in line with expert forecasts into the abyss of an economic crisis.
Chelyabinsk meteorite
Photo: Alexey Bulaev, RIA Novosti
February 15 in the sky over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia a meteorite. As a result of the fall of the superbolid, more than 1.6 thousand people were injured. The blast wave broke glass in houses, destroyed the roofs of buildings in both the residential sector and industrial and social facilities. The total damage is over 1 billion rubles. In terms of the number of victims, the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite has no analogues in the world documented history. On October 16, from the day of Lake Chebarkul, the largest fragment of a celestial body was raised.
Syrian crisis
On August 21, 2013, chemical weapons were used in a Damascus suburb of Ghouta. The UN investigation only confirmed the use of the nerve gas sarin, but has not found out who is responsible. There is also no exact data on the number of victims of the attack. According to various estimates, from 281 to 1729 people died. The Syrian authorities and the opposition continue to exchange accusations. The United States and about 35 other countries blame the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Syria, Russia and Iran - on the Syrian opposition.
America threatened to launch a missile strike on Syria, but the crisis succeeded diplomatically. At the suggestion of Russia, the international community adopted an agreement on Syria's accession to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. According to the plan adopted by the OPCW, the chemical weapons were removed from the territory of Syria no later than February 5, 2014 and destroyed by June 30, 2014. The United States agreed to refrain from military intervention if Syria does not violate its obligations.
Boston attack
In April, there were two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon with a difference of 12 seconds. Three people died, more than 280 were injured. As it turned out, the attack was organized by the Chechens - the Tsarnaev brothers. They were born in Kyrgyzstan, and until 2002 they lived in Dagestan. 26-year-old Tamerlane was shot dead by the police during his arrest, 19-year-old Dzhokhar was hospitalized, after which he went to prison. He was charged with 30 counts. In 17 of them, he faces life imprisonment or the death penalty. His late brother was found to have killed three people in Waltham, Massachusetts in September 2011.
Military coup in Egypt
In July 2013, the Egyptian army was ruled by President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. He was first placed under house arrest and later officially detained. After he was removed from the post of head of state, many leaders of the movement were arrested. This provoked numerous unrest in the country, the Egyptian society was divided into two parts: some support the ousted president and the Islamists, others - the army. In mid-August, the military defeated the camp of Mursi's supporters, as a result of which more than 500 people were killed and more than 3 thousand were injured. There is a state of emergency in the country. In December, the government of the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization and banned any activity of the Islamist movement.
Scientists have printed a bionic ear
Engineers at Princeton University have 3D printed a bionic ear containing living cartilage cells and an antenna that is sensitive to radio waves. Scientists created a model of the auricle in a computer program, after which it was "printed" on a 3D printer. The result was a shape that mimics the geometry of a real human ear. It was created from a hydrogel, inside of which scientists printed polymer channels containing silver nanoparticles. Upon completion of printing, the blank was incubated with a culture of bovine cartilage cells. After 10 weeks, the cell colony has grown to the required size, forming an auditory organ around the radio receiver.
Islamists seize a shopping center in Nairobi
On September 21, 2013, militants of the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab, Westgate shopping center in Nairobi, where they held more than 200 hostages for four days, victims of the confrontation between terrorists and Kenyan special forces, including six members of the security forces. According to the Kenyan authorities, the shopping center seized at least 15 people, including citizens of the United States, Canada, Norway, Great Britain and Finland. The American intelligence services rejected the version of their Kenyan colleagues, stating that there were only four militants and that, perhaps, all of them are still alive.
Francis Bacon's triptych sold for $ 142 million
The work of British artist Francis Bacon "Three Sketches for a Portrait of Lucian Freud" was sold at Christie's in New York for $ 142.4 million and became the most expensive work of art in the world.
The triptych, created by the British Expressionist in 1969, was put up for auction for the first time with a pre-sale estimate of $ 85 million. Bidding lasted six minutes. Christie's auction house did not reveal the identity of the buyer.
The previous record belonged to the painting "The Scream" by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, which went under the hammer for almost $ 120 million last year at Sotheby's.
Angelina Jolie removed her breasts
Photo: Ekaterina Chesnokova, RIA Novosti
American actress Angelina Jolie underwent breast surgery due to the high risk of developing cancer. The actress herself wrote about this in an article for the New York Times.
The actress's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of breast cancer at the age of 56. Having learned that this disease can be caused by a gene mutation, inherited, Jolie decided to "take a proactive position and minimize the risk" of developing breast cancer in her.
According to Jolie, doctors diagnosed her with an 87% chance of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. The actress decided to start treatment with the breast, since in this case the risk of developing the disease is higher, and the operation is more difficult. The entire double mastectomy process took three months and was completed on April 27th. Instead of the removed glands, the doctors put implants to the actress.
Jolie noted that the decision to go for breast removal was not easy for her, but now she is happy that she did it. The actress wants to take care of her children and grandchildren as long as possible.
Prince George is born
Duchess of Cambridge Catherine of the heir to the British throne - the boy was born at the St. Mary's Hospital in London. The newborn was named George Alexander Louis.
Prince George was third in line for the British crown after his grandfather Prince Charles and father Prince William. If it comes to his turn to take the throne, he will become King George the Seventh. According to Prince William, his son is "a little prankster."