Arkiv-Global View

In an achievement hailed as astounding, scientists have detected ripples made in the fabric of the universe just after the Big Bang, providing definitive evidence that that the universe underwent a fast and incomprehensibly massive growth spurt in its earliest infancy.

If the new findings are confirmed, they could very well earn the Nobel Prize for the scientists behind the research, says astrophysicist Xavier Siemens of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

"This is an amazing discovery," he said. To find such strong evidence of these waves "is really just astounding."

SERBIA’S political landscape is not the same any more. On March 16th Aleksandar Vucic (pictured), the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), won an overwhelming electoral victory, shattered the opposition and cleared out several veterans from the Serbian parliament. “We thought it would be good, but didn’t even dare hope it would be as good as this,” said Braca Grubacic, a senior member of SNS.

There is something very levelling about seeing a major Hollywood star walking past Primark. And not just any Hollywood star but Scarlett Johansson, twice crowned Esquire's "Sexiest Woman Alive", three times Woody Allen muse, Bafta winner, noted beauty. Yet, there she is, in her latest film, in a pair of stonewashed jeans and a fake fur coat, walking down a busy shopping street in Glasgow and, well, blending in. She looks normal. Ordinary, even.

At the beginning of the 1970s Greenpeace was a motley band of peaceniks and environmentalists living in our home province of British Columbia in Canada. Now the Amsterdam headquarters of Greenpeace manages a multimillion-dollar brand, with scores of branches worldwide, thousands of employees, and millions of financial supporters.

Just two weeks after Russian troops seized their peninsula, Crimeans voted Sunday to leave Ukraine and join Russia, overwhelmingly approving a referendum that sought to unite the strategically important Black Sea region with the country it was part of for more than two centuries.

The vote was widely condemned by Western leaders, who planned to move swiftly to punish Russia with economic sanctions.

Mark Kramer is director of Cold War Studies and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Davis Center.

«Meno rughe per tutti!», strillava uno dei manifesti finti che ridevano delle promesse del Cavaliere. E poi «Più dentiere per tutti», «Meno tosse per tutti», «Più Totti per tutti»... Un diluvio. Figuratevi quindi cosa sarebbe successo se fosse andato lui, in tv, a promettere come ha fatto Renzi, «Una casa per tutti». Apriti cielo! Quello slogan, per gli amici ma più ancora i nemici, è la prova: Matteo si muove nel solco di Silvio. Sull’età, a dire il vero, tra il giovane Silvio degli esordi e il giovane Matteo di oggi non c’è gara.

US investigators are examining whether missing Flight MH370 was “intentionally diverted” from its planned route after new data revealed the plane may have flown for a further four hours from the point of its last confirmed location.

A report in the Wall Street Journal said US counter-terrorism officials are examining the possibility the plane’s course was changed “with the intention of using it later for another purpose” and that its transponders were intentionally turned off to avoid radar detection.

It was once impossible to watch television without encountering the idea that we all need improvement.

Fat, badly dressed people with horrible houses and appallingly behaved children were all taken to task, shown the error of their ways and then allowed to re-appear as groomed, beautifully dressed individuals. Our bodies, our ways of life, our attitutudes to food, the décor of our houses: all were up for critique. Watching these programmes suggested that we live lives of squalor and all forms of misbehaviour. 

UNHEALTHILY, the campaign for Crimea's secession referendum, due on March 16th, is more about the vote's legality than its merits. Russia and America are trading hastily concocted arguments over the legitimacy of the republic's probable split with Ukraine. Vladimir Putin insists that "the steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law". Barack Obama, on the other hand, rejects the referendum.