2017 News Map: Faces of May

World
Europe

As 2017 comes to an end, CGTN has put together a twelve-episode special series "News Map 2017" to review the monthly events of the past year.

From December 18 to 29, CGTN will review the most stirring events, relive the most touching stories, and remember the most influential faces of 2017.

Here are some faces that grabbed the world's attention in May, 2017.

The month witnessed the inauguration of leaders, both new and old.

“I respect those who voted for Madame Le Pen, but I will do everything I can over the next five years to make sure there is no more reason to vote for the extremes," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

Emmanuel Macron becomes France's new leader. /VCG Photo

After taking office Macron had to act quickly to distinguish himself from his predecessor, Francois Hollande, whose approval rating went into free fall for failing to stop terror attacks and not creating enough jobs.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a promise to his people, "I take this office empty-handed, and I will leave the office empty-handed." The reassurance was important, and alluded to his predecessor Park Geun-hye who was impeached for a graft scandal involving big businesses such as Samsung and Lotte.

Moon also faced a growing threat from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) who had been advancing its weapons programs. Meanwhile, South Korea's largest trading partner China was upset and irritated by the country's deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system.

Moon Jae-in celebrates his victory in the S. Korean presidential election. /VCG Photo

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani thanked his supporters for helping him win re-election. “The people of Iran, you were the reason for the victory of this election," said Rouhani. However, Rouhani faces a tough battle as last year's unemployment rate in Iran was 11.3 percent, nearly twice the global average.

In May, US President Donald Trump threatened to decertify the Iran nuclear deal and place more sanctions on Tehran. The country was also accused by Arab states of backing Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Hassan Rouhani re-elected as Iran's president. /VCG Photo

The pressure was also on Ke Jie, the world’s number one Go player from China, who was poised to defend the dignity of humans against AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program developed by Google's DeepMind lab, in a best of three series. The results? AlphaGo 3, Ke Jie 0.

"Compared to last year, AlphaGo's understanding of Go has progressed so much. Last year it played in a human-like way, but this time, it's almost like the God of Go," said Ke after his defeat.

The game of Go was once regarded as an area where machines would never best humans, since the number of possible positions in a game of Go outnumber the atoms in the universe. But not anymore.

The world was shocked when an early version of AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol, a S. Korean Go grandmaster, 4-1 last year. Since then, developers have significantly improved the algorithm of the program. In this regard, Ke's defeat came as no surprise.

The triumph of AlphaGo shows the world the astounding development of artificial intelligence over the past few years. AI prowess that once existed only in science fiction is becoming reality.