About: A break free commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the news of the world. Any comments beyond the story, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a run from 15 April 2025 to 22 April 2025: Boeing on China ground; making the West great again; war & peace; death of a Pope; roof collapse; the biology of sex; and possible new life in our Universe.

Boeing in China: Stuck on the Ground

US President Donald Trump rockets up the Tariff War imposing an astounding 250% tariff on Chinese goods entering America. Earlier in a tit-for-tat, Tom & Jerry play, China plainly cancelled its Plane Orders on Boeing. China’s Airlines were ordered not to take further deliveries of Boeing’s jet planes made in America. China’s top three Airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines are due to take delivery of 45, 53, and 81 Boeing jets respectively between 2025 and 2027. Now, this could result in Boeing flying-out these planes to other countries. The COVID pandemic had set the Aircraft Industry years behind in manufacturing aircraft and this was a comeback period.

Boeing’s rival Airbus, based in Europe, holds a dominant position in the Chinese market. But Airbus is not in a position to meet all of China’s Orders.

China should take a Boeing flight to Washington with a hand-shake plan and negotiate a deal with Trump to shake up the skies.

Make the West Great Again

Then it was the turn of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – she’s a superstar-to catch a flight to Washington, for trade talks. Was the European Union looking? And was it on a Boeing or an Airbus?I missed that part of the flight!

Meloni called on Trump to form a historic alliance between Italy and the US. She acknowledged the rift between the US and Europe, but said now’s the time to fix it. Then came the invitation: “I want to thank President Trump for having accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to Rome, and consider the possibility in that occasion to meet also with Europe.” And she closed with the line that said it all: “The goal for me is, ‘Make the West Great Again.’

Talk straight, drop the drama, and find common ground. Is China listening?

I reckon the Oval Office must be wearing-out thin-with all that inflow and outflow of footfalls!

Wars

With Donald Trump being inaugurated in January this year, his promises on ending the Israel-Hamas War and the Russia -Ukraine War seemed to be working in the beginning. And cheers could be heard. But in a near about a U turn, for the worse, the wars have got into a ‘cushy slot’ (for the perpetrators – Hamas & Russia)and are progressing at their own sound pace.

Sudden: Easter Peace

The United States is almost giving up on bringing about a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine War after negotiations were not translating into tangible outcomes. Ukraine had previously offered a 30-day ceasefire, which was shrugged-off by Russia, and it went on with the fighting as if it heard nothing.

Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a brief Easter ceasefire: a declaration met with skepticism in Ukraine as the war enters a crucial phase, and US-led negotiations stall.

The timing, the brevity, the sudden, unilateral nature of it all seemed just a knee-jerk effort. If Ukraine and its allies needed proof of Moscow’s wild cynicism when it comes to peace, the announcement provided just that.

Putin said ‘all hostilities’ would halt between 6 pm, Moscow time on 19 April, Saturday and midnight on 21 April, Monday. ‘We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,’ he said, adding that the truce would help Russia determine how sincere Ukraine is about wanting to reach a ceasefire. However, just hours after the announcement, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of ‘not-stopping’ and continuing the fighting.

Unwavering Israel

Yet again, Hamas has rejected Israeli’s most recent ceasefire offer, instead calling for a comprehensive proposal to end the war. The rejection prompted Israeli lawmakers to issue calls for an immediate escalation in Gaza, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unleash ‘hell’ and pursue ‘complete victory’.

The Israeli ceasefire proposal did not guarantee an end to the war and called for a disarmament of Gaza, both of which have been red lines for Hamas. The terrorist organization refuses to give up its weapons and demands that any proposal includes a ‘permanent end’ (that’s awfully hard to define?) to the war.

The Israeli plan called for a 45-day truce, during which the two sides would aim to negotiate a permanent ceasefire. Under the proposal, the remaining 59 hostages would be released in stages, starting with American-Israeli Edan Alexander on the first day of the truce as a ‘special gesture’ to the US. A further nine Israeli hostages would be released in two stages in exchange for 120 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and more than 1,100 detainees held without charge since 7 October 2023. The proposal also demands that Hamas provide information about the remaining living Israeli hostages. This in exchange for information about the Palestinian detainees, and the release of the bodies of 16 deceased Israeli hostages, for the remains of 160 deceased Palestinians held by Israel.

In keeping with its style of working, The United Nations issued a dire warning over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying lifesaving supplies were nearing ‘total depletion’ due to Israel’s blocking of aid entering the Gaza.

Roof Collapse

In one of the deadliest non-natural disasters in the history of the Dominican Republic, the roof of the iconic Jet Set Nightclub in Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of 10 April 2025 morning, with at least 500 people inside. Over 200 died and another 150 were injured-about 190 were rescued alive. The collapse happened during a performance of merengue (a Caribbean style of dance, music) artist Rubby Perez and his orchestra. The dead included Perez whose body was recovered from the scene. Two former Major League Baseball players are also among the victims.

The Jet Set Nightclub Building began as a movie theatre in 1973 and was converted into the Nightclub in 1994. It underwent renovations in 2010 and 2015 featuring 2-storey high ceilings over an expansive open dance floor, which could hold 1000 standing and 700 seated visitors. The building had large air-conditioners and electric generators on the roof-top and large stage lighting and loudspeakers mounted in the ceiling. Top Heavy? In the year 2023, the roof caught fire after lightning struck an electric generator, but was deemed structurally safe by firefighters. Experts say that the roof was inadequately supposed by columns on the sides, and could have collapsed under its own weight.

Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, an island country in the Caribbean Sea, and one of the Caribbean’s oldest cities.

The Pope Dies

The head of the Roman Catholic Church and the spiritual leader of catholics worldwide, Pope Francis died at the age of 88, on 21 April 2025, Easter Monday, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. He had been the ‘Peoples Pope’ for a reformative 12 years. And in recent times, he was going through a prolonged period of illness, struggling to carry out God’s work.

Roman Catholics believe the Pope represents a direct line back to Jesus Christ. And is considered a living successor to St Peter, who was chief among Christ’s initial disciples, the Apostles. That gives him unhindered power and to make decisions on issues of faith and morality over the entire Catholic Church. He is an important source of authority for the world’s roughly 1.4 billion Catholics.

In addition to consulting the Bible for guidance, Catholics also turn to the teachings of the Pope for finding their way through the vicissitudes of life.

About half of all Christians worldwide are Roman Catholics. Other divisions, including Protestants and Orthodox Christians, do not recognise the Pope’s authority. The Pope lives in Vatican City, the smallest independent state in the world, surrounded by the Italian capital, Rome. The Pope does not receive a salary, but all his travel and living expenses is paid for by the Vatican.

A papal funeral is traditionally an elaborate affair, but Pope Francis recently approved plans to make the whole procedure less complex. Previous Popes were buried in three nested coffins made of cypress, lead, and oak. Pope Francis has opted for a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc. He has also scrapped the tradition of placing the Pope’s body on a raised platform-known as a catafalque-in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. Instead, mourners will be invited to pay their respects while his body remains inside the coffin, with the lid removed. Francis will also be the first Pope in more than a century to be buried outside the Vatican. He will be laid to rest in the Basilica of St Mary Major, one of four major papal basilicas in Rome. A basilica is a church which has been granted special significance and privileges by the Vatican, and the major basilicas have a particular connection to the Pope.

The Pope’s death will set in motion a centuries-old ‘smoking’ process of electing a new Pope – chosen by the Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals: all men, appointed directly by the Pope and who are usually ordained Bishops. There are currently 252 Catholic Cardinals, 138 of whom are eligible to vote for the new Pope. The others are over the age of 80, which means they cannot take part in the election, although they can join in the debate over the selection.

During the time between the Pope’s death and the election of a new Pope, the College of Cardinals governs the Church.

The cardinals will be summoned to a meeting at the Vatican, followed by the Conclave, as the election is known, which is held in strict secrecy – no phones, no contact or communication with the outside world. The Conclave will be inside the famous Sistine Chapel – the ceiling and upper walls of which is painted by Michelangelo. The intent is that the Holy Spirit guides the election, free from politics or outside influence.

Individual cardinals vote for their preferred candidate until a winner is determined, a process, which can take several days. Each Cardinal writes the name of his chosen candidate on a ballot, folds it, and places it in a chalice on the altar. Then they pray, “ I call as my witness Christ The Lord who will be my judge”. A two-thirds majority is required to elect a Pope. After each round of voting, the ballots are burned. Chemicals are added to the smoke to signal the outcome. Black-no decision; white – we have a Pope. In previous centuries, voting has gone on for weeks or months. Some cardinals have even died during Conclaves.

The only clue on the progress of the election is the smoke that emerges twice a day from burning the cardinals’ ballot papers. Black smoke signals failure. The traditional white smoke means a Pope has been chosen. After the white smoke goes up, the new Pope normally appears within an hour on the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square. A senior cardinal participating in the Conclave will announce the decision with the words “Habemus Papam”-Latin for “We have a Pope”. He will then introduce the new Pope by his chosen papal name, which may or may not be his original given name. Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, but he chose a different name for his papacy in honour of St Francis of Assisi.

The Pope/Pontiff/Holy Father then gives his first blessing, Urbi et Orbi (to the City and to the World). The bells of St. Peter’s ring and Christians around the world rejoice.

Of the 266 Popes chosen to date, 217 have been from Italy.

I hope to see a new Pope who would be meaningfully conservative, following strict Church doctrine, spreading the teachings of the Bible, and diligently minding the welfare of ‘His Flock’ all over the world.

The Biology of Sex

We, modern humans, have been living on Earth for more than three hundred thousand years and often the basic definitions of male-who is a man, and female-who is a woman, become fuzzy, lost in translation, and get challenged, confusing too. To complicate things we have people sliding in-between calling themselves transgenders.

This April, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, tasked with the legal definition of a woman under the UK’s Equality Act, ruled that the law defines women as people born biologically female. Wonder what took them so long to get into the X & Y chromosomes of sex? The five judges sitting on judgement gave an unanimous decision – woman in the Equality Law refers to biological women-based on biological sex. That means holders of a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC)- trans women – are not women in the eyes of the law. It makes it awfully clear that if a space or service is designated as women only, a person who was born male but identifies as a woman does not have a right to use that space or service.

This is a huge win for ‘real’ women, ‘real’ men, and sanity in the UK and the West. And has far-reaching consequences for the transgender community-it could restrict trans women from single-sex spaces such as toilets, prisons, and rape centres. Also leading to change in gender rules in various sports.

Going back to the reason why we are here.

In the year 2018 a law passed by the Scottish Parliament called for 50% female representation on the boards of Scottish Public Bodies. Its definition included trans women whose gender is legally affirmed with a GRC. This resulted in a campaign by, ‘For Woman Scotland (FWS)’ to challenge the law in court saying the Scottish Govt had overstepped its powers by effectively redefining the meaning of a woman. The FWS lost the case, it had filed, in a Scottish Court in 2022, but was allowed to take the matter to the UK Supreme Court, which then made the ‘biological’ judgement. Science indeed works!

Harry Potter Author, J K Rowling, a prominent supporter of the Group, said the verdict protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. It took three extraordinary tenacious Scottish women of the FWS, with an army behind them, to get this case heard in the Supreme Court. And win. You better not mess with Scottish Women!

To refresh our Biology Lessons: Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 in total): one set comes from each biological parent. Out of the 23 pairs, one pair is the sex chromosomes, called the X and Y chromosomes. People with XX are assigned female at birth while people with XY are assigned male at birth. Though rare, other combinations of sex chromosomes are possible. The other 22 pairs are autosomes or non-sex chromosomes.

Biology has definitive answers to X and Y issues. No doubt at all.

Planet K2-18b

Biology is suddenly leaning-in everywhere. This real science is back with a bang?

Scientists, Astronomers in particular, are always up to crazy things. Inventing completely out-of-the-box or discovering something we never knew about.

In keeping with the science of things, a team of astronomers detected what they cautiously call the most promising signs to date of a possible bio-signature, or signs of past or present life linked to biological activity, on an Exoplanet named K2-18b. No definitive declaration as yet!

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, the team detected chemical fingerprints within the atmosphere of K2-18b that suggest the presence of Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) and potentially Dimethyl Disulfide (DMDS). On Earth, both molecules are only produced by microbial life, typically marine phytoplankton.

K2-18b, located 124 light-years from Earth, could be a Hycean world: a potentially habitable planet entirely covered in liquid water with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Leading the study is Nikku Madhusudhan, Professor of Astrophysics and Exoplanetary science at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. Madhusudhan and his colleagues first theorised the concept of Hycean worlds in 2021 after determining there may be liquid water oceans on K2-18b.

The planet is located within the habitable zone of its star, meaning that the world is at just the right temperature and distance from the star to host liquid water on its surface.

However, other experts believe that while the results promise excitement, confirming the existence of life beyond Earth-and even deciding what type of exoplanet K2-18b is-will take much more time and data. Astrophysicist Sara Seager, a professor of Physics, Planetary Science, Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said independent teams have completely different interpretations of the planet itself.

Hycean refers to a newly proposed type of exoplanet, a portmanteau of ‘hydrogen’ and ‘ocean’. These are thought to be planets with vast liquid water oceans, like Earth, but also have thick hydrogen-rich atmospheres. They are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, making them a type of super-Earth or mini-Neptune. Hycean worlds are envisioned as having a significant amount of water, potentially covering the entire planet, similar to Earth. However, they also have a much thicker hydrogen-rich atmosphere than Earth, which could be a significant factor in their habitability.

Meanwhile, how do we get to K2-18b? We need another kind of Elon Musk to get the job done.

More biologically revealing stories coming-up. Find your own space with white, ‘smoking hot’ Freewheeling.