8 things happening in the world that you need to know about

These are the most important things happening in the world right now…

(Photo: Reuters)

Europe and Russia have launched a joint mission to Mars in a bid to sniff out potential life on the red planet. The launch is part of the ExoMars Programme and the rocket took off from Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan today, starting its 7-month journey.

(Photo: Reuters)

The United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, yesterday said that he is due to announce further cuts to public spending in order to protect his austerity plan from a weakening of the economy. The cuts will be 50p per £100.

The past year has seen banks hike the bonuses given to their junior workers by as much as 150% in a bid to keep them happy within the company. At the same time, senior members of the same companies have had their bonuses slashed and a director-level job took a 33% hit moving from, on average, £150,000 t0 £100,000.

The second suspected perpetrator of the car bombing that happened yesterday in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, is a female member of the outlawed left-wing Kurdistan Worker Party (or the PKK). The car bomb killed 37 people and was the second strike in the city this month.

(Photo: Reuters)

The North African branch of Al Qaeda yesterday rampaged through a beach resort on the Ivory Coast of Africa where they killed 16 people. This is the latest in a series of terrorist attacks taking place across the West Coast of Africa. Six members of the terrorist group targeted hotels on a beach at Grand Bassam, a popular weekend retreat 25 miles east of Abidjan.

The American President, Barack Obama, is due to come to the United Kingdom in April in a bid to urge British voters to stay within the EU so that he can help maintain his post-war transatlantic partnership, amongst other things.

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the Dunblane shootings in Scotland, where Thomas Hamilton opened fire on the primary school on March 13, 1996. He killed teacher Gwen Mayor and 16 of her Primary 1 pupils (aged 5 to 6 years old).

Last year, a Germanwings co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, locked his pilot out of the cockpit and plummeted the jet into the alps, killing all 150 people on board. Yesterday, the severity of Lubitz’s health issues were revealed after a doctor recommended he seek two weeks treatment in a psychiatric ward. Following this investigation comes talks of whether pilot/doctor confidentiality should be relaxed.

Image: Concept of ExoMars by ESA/ATG