Asteroid Strike!

Le Monde - Ryland Stokes

March 8, 2025, 3:20 pm

Breaking News:

Two devastating asteroid strikes occurred this afternoon, with the first landing in a rural plains area in Slovenia that saw minimal casualties, and the second landing directly on the western areas of Beijing, a city of over twenty million people and the capital of China, causing massive destruction and a death toll estimated in the millions.

The CNES and NASA, along with other international space agencies, had previously been tracking a single asteroid hurling while it hurled towards the Earth, but had since been intercepted in the upper atmosphere by a rogue nuclear warhead originating from an unknown source, splitting the asteroid onto two separate courses that subsequently

resulted in this afternoon’s damage.

A United Nations Security Council committee on the status of outer space had met several weeks ago to discuss an international response to the impending asteroid, yet failed to come to a resolution following a diplomatic row between the Security Council’s delegates regarding the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons in Earth’s upper

atmosphere.

In an exclusive interview with Le Monde, the delegate from Malta asserted that “[the impending asteroid] is an international crisis” and he believed that the world “will come together” despite the factionalism seen previously in this UNSC committee.

This global unity did not occur however, and the UNSC committee remained divided between two competing resolutions, one proposed by the United Kingdom and the other by the People’s Republic of China, with one resolution being voted down and the other being struck down as per a veto levied by both China and the Russian Federation.

The UNSC committee met again today to discuss the aftermath of this crisis, spearheaded by an effort to provide humanitarian aid to those affected by the crisis and an increasing cynicism of the power of veto possessed by the five permanent UNSC members. The delegation of Malta first proposed that the committee “suspend the veto” of the

permanent members. This sentiment was reiterated by the delegation of China, who asserted that, in light of the devastation in their capital caused by the failure of international mediation, was “willing to give up their veto.”

Survivors from the asteroid crash in Beijing are reporting a greenish hue emanating from the asteroid impact site.

Details of what this green glow entails remain scarce at this time, and Le Monde is present at the scene to continue to provide credible and swift news coverage as the story continues to break.