Soyuz-2.1a Sends Progress 95 (MS-34) on 49-Hour Flight to ISS
On 25 Apr 2026 at 22:21 UTC Russia launched the uncrewed Progress 95/MS-34 freighter from Baikonur, starting a two-day journey to dock with the ISS on 27 Apr.
Technology & Science
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Curiosity’s last wet-chemistry run frees 21 complex organics from 3.5-billion-year-old Gale Crater clay
On 21 Apr 2026, NASA’s Curiosity rover used its final TMAH wet-chemistry cup to heat a Mary Anning drill sample to 550 °C, releasing 21 distinct organic compounds—seven never before detected on Mars—showing that intricate carbon structures endured in subsurface rock for billions of years.
U.S. Orders Global Diplomatic Warning on Chinese ‘Distillation’ of AI Models
On 24 Apr 2026 the U.S. State Department dispatched a confidential cable instructing all embassies to urge foreign governments to beware of Chinese firms—chiefly DeepSeek—allegedly cloning proprietary American AI through model ‘distillation,’ and foreshadowing sanctions and export-control moves.
Berlin Opens Espionage Probe into Russia-Linked Signal Phishing of 300 German Officials
On 26 April 2026, Germany disclosed that a state-sponsored phishing campaign—attributed to Moscow—hijacked hundreds of lawmakers’ Signal accounts and triggered a formal federal espionage investigation.
OpenAI Rolls Out GPT-5.5 Agentic Model to Paid ChatGPT & Codex Users
On 24 Apr 2026, OpenAI officially released GPT-5.5—an upgraded large-language model that autonomously plans and executes multi-step tasks while matching GPT-5.4’s latency, immediately reaching all Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise customers in ChatGPT and Codex.
Tesla Begins Slow-Ramp Production of Steering-Wheel-Free Cybercab Robotaxi at Giga Texas
Continuous production of Tesla’s purpose-built, driverless Cybercab started in April 2026 at Giga Texas after initial pilot builds in February, signaling the company’s first attempt to manufacture a fully autonomous, control-less vehicle for commercial use.
DeepSeek Debuts V4 LLM Preview Optimized for Huawei Ascend Chips
On 24 April 2026 DeepSeek released preview versions of its V4 language model—its first flagship tuned for Huawei’s Ascend 950 hardware—signaling a pivot away from Nvidia dependence while slashing usage prices.
OpenAI Unveils GPT-5.5, First Agentic LLM Deployed to Paid ChatGPT Tiers
Between 23–24 April 2026, OpenAI began rolling out GPT-5.5 to ChatGPT Plus/Pro, Codex and select API users, advertising autonomous planning and tool-use that shift the model from autopredictive text to end-to-end task completion.
Microsoft Commits A$25 B to Australian AI & Cloud Build-Out Through 2029
On 23 April 2026, Microsoft announced its largest-ever Australian outlay—A$25 billion (~US$18 billion) to expand Azure capacity, cybersecurity cooperation and AI skills programs through 2029, eclipsing its 2023 pledge and cementing Australia as a strategic AI hub.
Sony’s ‘Ace’ Robot Clinches First Official Wins Over Elite Human Table-Tennis Players
In a peer-reviewed Nature paper released 22 Apr 2026, Sony’s AI-trained robot ‘Ace’ became the first machine documented to defeat elite and professional humans under International Table Tennis Federation rules.
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