Year 2016
Events
January
January 3 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr
al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia and several other countries end their diplomatic
relations with Iran.
January 4–5 – The highest ever recorded individual cricket score, 1,009
not out, is made by Pranav Dhanawade.
January 8 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful
drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum
security prison in Mexico.
January 12 – Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the
Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
January 16
The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that Iran has
adequately dismantled its nuclear weapons program, allowing the United
Nations to lift sanctions immediately.
30 people are killed and 56 injured in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso, targeting a hotel and a nearby restaurant. A siege occurs
and 176 hostages are released afterwards, by government forces.
In the general election of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the
Democratic Progressive Party, led by Tsai Ing-wen, secured a majority in
the Legislative Yuan, resulting in the first majority by a non-KMT party
and the first majority won by the DPP. Tsai become the 14th President
for Taiwan, and also become the first female leader for China.
January 28 – The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the
Zika virus.
February
February 7 – North Korea launches a reconnaissance satellite named
Kwangmyongsong-4 into space, condemned as a long-range ballistic missile
test.
February 12 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical
Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic
and Russian Orthodox Churches since their schism in 1054.
March
March 9 – A total solar eclipse was visible from Indonesia.
March 14 – The ESA and Roscosmos launch the joint ExoMars Trace Gas
Orbiter on a mission to Mars.
March 21
The International Criminal Court finds former Congolese Vice President
Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the
first time the ICC convicted someone of sexual violence.
Barack Obama visits Cuba, marking the first time a sitting US president
has visited the island nation since president Calvin Coolidge visited in
1928.
March 22 – 2016 Brussels bombings: Suicide bombing attacks at Brussels'
Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station kill 35 people and injure
300 more.
March 24 – Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić is sentenced to 40
years in prison after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against
humanity committed during the Bosnian War.
April
April 1–5 – 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: Clashes occur along the
Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact with the Artsakh Defense Army, backed
by the Armenian Armed Forces, on one side and the Azerbaijani Armed
Forces on the other. The US State Department estimates that a total of
350 people have been killed in the clashes, which have been defined as
"the worst" since the 1994 ceasefire.
April 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ) and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publish a set of
11.5 million confidential documents from the Panamanian corporate
Mossack Fonseca that provides detailed information on more than 214,000
offshore companies, including the identities of shareholders and
directors including noted personalities and heads of state.
May
May 19 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea en route
from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board.
May 20 – Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in as the 14th President of the Republic
of China (Taiwan).
May 28 – Harambe, a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla, is shot and
killed after a boy falls into its enclosure, causing worldwide
controversy.
May 30 – Former Chadian President Hissène Habré is sentenced to life in
prison for crimes against humanity committed during his tenure from 1982
to 1990, the first time an African Union-backed court convicted a former
ruler of a country within its jurisdiction.
June
June 1 – The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest and deepest
railway tunnel, is opened following two decades of construction work.
June 10 – July 10 – France hosts the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament,
which is won by Portugal.
June 12 – A gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State opens fire
at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring
53 others.
June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European
Union.
June 28 – 2016 Atatürk Airport attack: ISIL is suspected to be
responsible for attacking Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing
45 people and injuring around 230 others.
July
July 1 – Latvia becomes the 35th member of the OECD.
July 2 – 2016 Australian federal election: Malcolm Turnbull's
Liberal/National Coalition Government is narrowly re-elected, defeating
the Labor Party led by Bill Shorten.
July 5 – NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter and begins a
20-month survey of the planet.
July 6 – The augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go is released,
breaking numerous records in terms of sales and revenue.
July 12 – The Philippines wins the arbitration case they filed at the
Permanent Court of Arbitration regarding the legality of China's
"Nine-Dash Line" claim over the South China Sea under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea.
July 14 – 2016 Nice truck attack: 86 people are killed and more than 400
others injured in a truck attack in Nice, France, during Bastille Day
celebrations.
July 15–16 – In Turkey, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that
organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council, unsuccessfully stages
a coup against the state institutions, resulting in the deaths of at
least 240 people and triggering a series of unprecedented purges
throughout the country.
July 22 – The final videocassette recorder is manufactured by the
Japanese company Funai.
July 26 – Swiss Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft
to circumnavigate the Earth.
August
August 5–21 – The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, the first time in a South American nation.
August 24 – A 6.2 earthquake hits central Italy, killing 299 people.
August 31 – The Brazilian Senate votes (61–20) to impeach the President
of Brazil Dilma Rousseff. The Vice President of Brazil, Michel Temer,
who had assumed the presidential powers and duties as Acting President
of Brazil during Rousseff's suspension, takes office for the remainder
of her term.
September
September 1 – An annular solar eclipse was visible from Gabon, Congo,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.
September 3 – The US and China, together responsible for 40% of the
world's carbon emissions, both formally join the Paris global climate
agreement.
September 8 – NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return
mission. The probe will visit Bennu and is expected to return with
samples in 2023.
September 9 – The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and
reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with
South Korea calling it "maniacal recklessness".
September 28
International investigators conclude that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
was shot down by a Buk missile that came from an area controlled by
pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Global CO
2 levels exceed 400 ppm at the time of year normally associated with
minimum levels. A 400 ppm level is believed to be higher than anything
experienced in human history.
September 30 – Two paintings by Vincent van Gogh with a combined value
of $100 million, Seascape at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the
Reformed Church in Nuenen, are recovered after having been stolen on
December 7, 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
October
October 7 – Three events that played a significant role in the U.S.
Presidential election all took place on the same afternoon: (1) U.S.
intelligence agencies publicly accused the Russian government of using
computer hacking to interfere with the U.S. election process; (2) the
Washington Post released a videotape showing candidate Donald Trump
privately bragging about sexual improprieties; (3) WikiLeaks released
thousands of private emails from inside the political campaign of
candidate Hillary Clinton.
October 13 – The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the
Commonwealth of Nations.
October 15 – 150 nations meet at the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) summit in Rwanda and agree to phase out
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
November
November 2 – The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time
since 1908, ending the longest championship drought in American sports
history.
November 8 – Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United
States as a Republican after running a campaign widely characterized as
populist.
November 24 – The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia—People's Army sign a revised peace deal, bringing an
end to the Colombian conflict.
November 28 – LaMia Flight 2933 crashes into a mountain near Medellín,
Colombia, killing 71 of the 77 people on board, including members of the
Brazilian Chapecoense football squad.
December
December 19 – Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is
assassinated by an off-duty Turkish police officer at an art exhibition
in Ankara.
December 22 – A study finds the VSV-EBOV vaccine against the Ebola virus
between 70–100% effective, and thus making it the first proven vaccine
against the disease.
December 23 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2334
condemning "Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied
since 1967".
December 25 – 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash: A
Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner of the Russian Defence Ministry crashes into the
Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport,
Russia, while en route to Khmeimim Air Base, Syria. All 92 people on
board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir of the
Russian Armed Forces, are killed.
December 31 – United States troops withdraw from Afghanistan after 15
years.
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