After a staggering 26 years of negotiations, the European Union and the South American bloc Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) officially signed a landmark free trade agreement in Asunción, Paraguay. This historic pact creates one of the world’s largest free-trade zones, encompassing over 780 million people and a combined GDP of approximately $26 trillion.
By eliminating 90% of tariffs, the deal is seen as a strategic “growth booster” for European machinery and automotive sectors, while granting South American agricultural exporters unprecedented access to European markets. Crucially, the move serves as a geopolitical counterweight to rising global protectionism and shifting US trade policies under the current administration.
While trade deals were being signed on Earth, NASA took a giant leap toward the heavens. On the morning of January 17, 2026, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket—the most powerful in history—began its slow, meticulous 4-mile “rollout” from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. Carried by the massive Crawler-Transporter 2, the 322-foot-tall rocket arrived at the pad roughly 12 hours later.
This rollout sets the stage for the Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch as early as February 6, 2026. It will be the first time humans have ventured toward the Moon since 1972, carrying a crew of four—including the first woman and first person of color to fly a lunar mission—on a 10-day journey around the lunar far side.
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