Year of Variants: Stubborn virus marks momentous 2021
Anadolu Agency presents a rundown of the top moments of 2021 in a 12-part series as the world has tried to make an arduous comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic as the delta and omicron variants marked the past year
ANKARA
Anadolu Agency presents a rundown of the top moments of 2021 in a 12-part series as the world has tried to make an arduous comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic as the delta and omicron variants marked the past year.
JANUARY
Jan. 1
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces country's aim to make 2021 a year of recovery and reforms in various domains.
Jan. 2
- At least 100 civilians killed after terrorists attack two villages near the Malian border in southwestern Niger.
- Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living person, celebrates her 118th birthday; she was born on Jan. 2, 1903.
Jan. 3
- A shooting at a church in the US state of Texas leaves one dead and multiple people injured.
Jan. 4
- Britain rolls out the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine as an 82-year-old man with underlying health conditions becomes the first person to receive the jab.
- Faustin-Archange Touadera wins second term as president of the Central African Republic.
Jan. 5
- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt sign a reconciliation deal with Qatar during the Gulf Cooperation Council summit after a feud that lasted more than three years.
Jan. 6
- Pro-Donald Trump rioters storm the US Capitol as lawmakers were set to sign off on President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory in what was supposed to be a routine process heading to Inauguration Day.
- Sudan signs a US-sponsored deal to normalize relations with Israel.
Jan. 7
- President-elect Joe Biden formally becomes 46th president of the US after Congress certifies votes of the Electoral College.
- American electric carmaker Tesla CEO Elon Musk surpasses Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become world's richest person.
Jan. 8
- SpaceX launches a Turkish communications satellite into orbit.
- 2020 recorded as warmest year in Europe, according to European Union's climate monitoring service.
Jan. 9
- An Indonesian passenger aircraft with 62 people on board crashes into the sea after taking off from the capital Jakarta.
- US lifts self-imposed restrictions on executive branch agencies’ interactions with counterparts from Taiwan.
Jan. 10
- Kyrgyzstan’s former Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov wins presidential elections, according to unofficial results.
- Talks fail between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the filling and operations of Ethiopia’s dam on the Nile River.
Jan. 11
- The leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia sign a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region after they met two months after a cease-fire was declared for the Caucasus' Nagorno-Karabakh region, ending the conflict.
Jan. 12
- In an apparent parting shot to its conservative base, the Trump administration re-designates Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, claiming Havana grants safe harbor to international terrorists.
Jan. 13
- The House of Representatives votes to impeach President Donald Trump on a single article of incitement of insurrection, making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice.
- Hundreds of demonstrators gather in Brussels to protest the death of Ibrahima Barrie, who was killed in police custody.
Jan. 14
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
- Just days before leaving office, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveils plans to designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels a foreign terrorist organization.
Jan. 15
- A new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile is among the weapons displayed at a military parade in North Korea.
- The Dutch government resigns, rocked by a childcare benefit scandal.
- At least 90 people are dead and more than 600 injured after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake strikes Majene city in Indonesia’s West Sulawesi province.
Jan.16
- A team of Nepali mountaineers becomes the first to summit K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, in the winter.
Jan. 17
- Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who received treatment in Germany after an alleged poisoning, is arrested in Moscow upon his return.
Jan.18
- China announces imposing sanctions on US officials for enhanced engagements with Taiwan.
- Brazil’s Sao Paulo state administers COVID-19 vaccine on the first person in the country following approval of emergency use of AstraZeneca and CoronaVac.
Jan. 19
- US accuses China of committing “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” in its treatment of Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the autonomous Xinjiang region.
- US death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 400,000.
Jan. 20
- US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris officially sworn into office.
Jan. 21
- At least 32 people killed in twin suicide attack that rocks busy commercial market in Baghdad.
Jan. 22
- Uganda People’s Defense Forces claims it killed 189 al-Shabaab fighters in an operation in Somalia.
Jan. 23
- A Turkish cargo ship with 19 crew members is hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.
Jan. 24
- US aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX successfully launches 143 small satellites into space, setting a new record for a single rocket.
Jan. 25
- Nationwide demonstrations in the Netherlands against new measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus spark clashes between protesters and police.
Jan. 26
- At least one protester is dead and more than 80 police officers injured as farmers protesting agricultural reforms break through police barricades to storm the historic Red Fort in the Indian capital.
- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte submits resignation.
Jan. 27
- Angry coronavirus lockdown protesters and police clash in Lebanon, leaving one dead and 235 wounded.
- Israeli army destroys natural reserve and uproots at least 10,000 trees in military campaign in northern West Bank.
Jan. 28
- US lawmakers criticize broker application Robinhood after it restricts users from trading stocks that were pushed to unprecedented high levels by individual retail investors.
Jan. 29
- With Mexico becoming the third country in terms of the number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, the Americas surpass dramatic milestone of 1 million casualties.
- Hungary becomes first EU state to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed in China.
Jan. 30
- At least 12 security personnel killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.
- Amid constant opposition and concerns by international communities and rights defenders on safety grounds, Bangladesh relocates a fourth batch of Rohingya refugees to a remote island in its southern sea.
Jan. 31
- More than 5,000 people are arrested in new protests across Russia demanding the release of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
- At least 20 people are killed, including children, and others wounded in terrorist attacks in Syria’s northern towns of al-Bab, Afrin and Azaz.
FEBRUARY
February 1
- Myanmar's military declares state of emergency, seizes power and said it will rule the country for at least one year after detaining top political leaders.
- Azerbaijan’s National Assembly approves agreements allowing passport-free travel between Azerbaijan and Turkey and the establishment of a joint media platform between the two countries.
- Kosovo and Israel officially establish diplomatic relations through a special virtual ceremony.
Feb. 2
- Moscow City Court sentences Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny to two years and eight months in prison for violating parole.
Feb. 3
- Kyrgyzstan appoints Ulukbek Maripov new prime minister, bringing a long-running political crisis to a close.
Feb. 4
- The International Criminal Court convicts Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier-turned rebel commander, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- President Joe Biden formally ends US support for a Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.
Feb. 5
- Mohammad Younes Menfi becomes president of Libya’s interim government, Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah prime minister in the Presidency Council during voting in an unnamed location in Switzerland.
- Central African Republic extends state of emergency for six months across the war-torn country as the fight against rebel groups continues.
Feb. 6
- Canadian theater, film, and television actor Christopher Plummer dies in the US at the age of 91.
- Chadian diplomat, Moussa Faki Mahamat receives sweeping vote of confidence among African leaders to serve as chairman of the African Union Commission for another four-year term.
Feb. 7
- South Africa’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announces temporarily halting the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine due to a new study that revealed the vaccine is less effective against the South African variant of the virus.
Feb. 8
- Germany, Poland and Sweden declare Russian diplomats persona non grata in retaliation for similar measures taken last week by Moscow.
- One week after carrying out a coup, Myanmar's military junta imposed a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew following protests in several cities.
Feb. 9
- Turkey unveils its national space program, a roadmap based on realistic and competitive goals, according to the country's president.
- Algeria declares a state of emergency after the World Organization for Animal Health's announcement of a H5N8 bird flu outbreak in the east.
- Team of international experts from the World Health Organization and China say there is insufficient evidence that the coronavirus spread in Wuhan before December 2019.
Feb. 10
- China's first Mars probe mission successfully enters orbit.
- 20 UN peacekeepers wounded in central Mali in an attack on their base.
Feb. 11
- Prominent British scientist Sharon Peacock warns that the Kent variant of the coronavirus is likely to spread across the world.
Feb. 12
- China celebrates its Lunar New Year with week-long public holidays amid measures to avoid contracting the coronavirus.
- Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori resigns because of sexist comments made at a meeting where he said, "women talk too much."
Feb. 13
- The US Senate votes to acquit former President Donald Trump on a sole impeachment article following the Jan. 6 insurrection carried out by his supporters.
- Former central banker Mario Draghi formally accepts the challenging task to forge Italy’s next government, unveiling a mixed Cabinet of technocrats and politicians from a broad coalition of support.
Feb. 14
- Portion of the Nanda Devi glacier, India’s second-highest mountain, breaks off in the Tapovan area of Uttarakhand state, damaging the Rishiganga hydropower project, killing 51 and leaving 150 missing.
- Former Argentine President Carlos Menem dies at Los Arcos Sanatorium in the capital of Buenos Aires at 90 following long-term health issues.
Feb. 15
- The West African country of Guinea declares a new Ebola virus outbreak.
- Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala becomes the first woman and African to head the World Trade Organization that has been hobbled by dissent in recent years.
- Sama Lukonde Kyenge becomes the new prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Feb.16
- France’s National Assembly approves a controversial bill that has been criticized for targeting Muslims.
Feb. 17
- Zanzibar’s First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad, 77, dies. He had been undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in hospital.
- A cold front with record-level snowfall causes major problems in transportation, power, and water supplies in most parts of the Attica region of Greece.
- Israel demolishes an Arab Bedouin village in the southern Negev region for the 183rd time.
Feb. 18
- Millions of residents in the US state of Texas continue to struggle without power amid frigid and icy conditions as yet another snowstorm nears the state.
- Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announces his resignation.
- NASA’s Perseverance rover lands safely on Mars, beginning what is slated to be an almost two-year search for ancient life on the red planet.
Feb. 19
- Heavy clashes erupt between security guards of opposition leaders and government forces near Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu, with several people feared dead.
- EU renews its arms embargo and assets freeze against Zimbabwe Defense Industries, citing a lack of substantial reforms and continued human rights violations in the southern African nation.
- A woman, 20, dies 10 days after she was shot in the head during an anti-coup protest in Myanmar’s administrative capital.
Feb. 20
- A Moscow court rejects an appeal by Navalny of his suspended sentence being replaced by prison time, but further trimmed his time behind bars.
- At least five people are killed in the Afghan capital of Kabul in back-to-back blasts caused by sticky bombs during the morning rush hour.
Feb. 21
- Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic wins his ninth Australian Open title with a 3-0 set victory against Daniil Medvedev in the 2021 men's singles final.
- A devastating fire in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka destroys more than 100 shanties.
- Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha survives an assassination attempt.
- The World Health Organization calls on Tanzanian authorities to release COVID-19 data and implement public health measures to break the chain of transmission of the deadly virus.
Feb. 22
- Canada votes to label the Chinese human rights abuse of Uyghur Muslims as genocide -- a deliberate attempt to obliterate a group of people.
- Canadian parliament votes 229-29 to lobby the Olympic committee to move the Games if China does not stop the genocide.
- Daft Punk breaks up. The iconic Parisian electronica duo’s pop-infused funk and futurist aesthetics brought nearly three decades of hits to international audiences.
- Spanish police arrests at least 160 protesters after six nights of sometimes-violent protests triggered by rapper Pablo Hasel's jailing.
Feb. 23
- Niger elects Mohamed Bazoum as president in the second round of polls.
- Georgia’s parliament votes to approve new Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the Cabinet he put forward.
- At least 50 inmates die in clashes in Ecuador in what authorities describe as a "concerted action" of criminal gangs.
Feb. 24
- Ghana becomes the first African country to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility as 600,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca doses arrived in the capital, Accra.
- World’s largest cricket stadium with a capacity o110,000 opens in India, with the hosts facing England in the third Test of their ongoing four-match series.
- Hungary becomes the first European Union member state to use the Chinese vaccine against COVID-19.
- A Turkish court hands down jail terms to three people who were accused of aiding former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan to Lebanon via an airport in Istanbul.
Feb. 25
- Chinese President Xi Jinping declares “complete victory” in eradicating absolute poverty in the world’s most populous country, local media reports.
- The Armenian military demands the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, saying the call was not made under any pressure.
- Australia’s parliament passes a controversial law that forces digital giants like Google and Facebook to pay local media for news content they display on their platforms.
- The militaries of India and Pakistan agree to a cease-fire along the disputed Kashmir border.
Feb. 26
- More than 400 inmates escape and 25 people die in a prison break in Haiti
- More than 300 schoolgirls are kidnapped in Nigeria in the wee hours, according to witnesses who said armed men attacked their school.
- US rolls out what it is calls the "Khashoggi Ban" -- a new visa restriction policy under existing law meant to punish governments who work to silence dissents abroad.
Feb. 27
- Amnesty International reports Eritrean troops fighting in Tigray systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of Axum on Nov. 28-29, 2020.
- Thousands of Ennahda supporters demonstrate in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, demanding a solution to the ongoing political crisis.
Feb. 28
- Jordan’s King Abdullah II accepts the resignation of the interior and justice ministers for violating coronavirus measures.
- American film Nomadland wins the Best Picture Award in Drama at the 78th Golden Globes. Its director Chloe Zhao becomes the first woman to win the Best Director Award since 1984.
MARCH
March 1
- A French court sentences former President Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison for corruption and influence-peddling in an infamous eavesdropping case, though he is unlikely to serve any time in prison.
- Protesters storm the government building in Yerevan, Armenia's capital.
March 3
- French forces “tortured and murdered” Algerian lawyer and freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during his country’s war on independence, France's president admits, nearly six decades after his death was ruled as a suicide.
March 4
- At least 11 Turkish soldiers, including a senior officer, are killed and two others are injured as a military helicopter crashes in eastern Turkey.
March 5
- Pope Francis carries out the first-ever papal visit to Iraq from March 5 to 8, covering five cities, including Baghdad, Erbil, Mosul, Najaf, and Nasiriyah. The pontiff also holds a historic meeting with Al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shia cleric.
- Russia extends a ban on entry to Crimea until 2034 for Mustafa Abdulcemil Kirimoglu, national leader of the Crimean Tatar people and Ukrainian lawmaker.
March 6
- NASA's Perseverance rover makes its first drive on Mars' surface, measuring 6.5 meters (21.3 feet).
March 7
- Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, accuses the British Royal Family of instilling such intense racism in her that she considered suicide while pregnant with her first child.
March 8
- Equatorial Guineans observe three-day national mourning to pay tribute to the victims of explosions that claimed at least 105 lives and injured over 600 people.
March 9
- US State Department spokesman Ned Price says his country's position on genocide against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China's northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region has not changed.
March 10
- More than 131,000 people are displaced in 39 accessible areas of Ethiopia's Tigray region and neighboring Afar and Amhara.
March 11
- US President Joe Biden signs into law a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.
March 12
- The family of George Floyd and the city of Minneapolis reach a $27 million settlement to end a lawsuit filed against the city administration and four former police officers involved in Floyd's fatal arrest. Floyd's last words, “I can't breathe,” became a rallying cry for worldwide protests.
March 14
- Singer Beyonce becomes the most Grammy-winning female artist in history, with more awards than any male or female performer.
March 16
- The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reports that Iran and Russia are attempting to influence the outcome of the US presidential elections.
March 17
- US President Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin a "killer" in a pre-recorded interview, saying his Russian counterpart would pay a price for interfering in US affairs.
March 18
- The Netherlands' conservative People's Party of Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, claims its fourth term election victory, winning 35 seats in parliament.
March 19
- Samia Suluhu Hassan is sworn in as Tanzania's president, making history as the first female leader of the east African nation.
- China is sending children of exiled members of oppressed Uyghur minority to orphan camps, according to Amnesty International.
March 22
- EU foreign ministers agree to sanction China for human rights violations against Uyghur minority, followed by US announcement of new sanctions against Chinese government officials. Australia and New Zealand also welcome sanctions imposed on China by several western countries.
March 23
- The 400-meter ship Ever Given runs aground in the Suez, blocking international trade through the critical waterway and stranding more than 320 ships, including oil tankers, at its entrances.
March 25
- More than 347,000 people in Eswatini, including 180,000 children, face acute food shortages due to COVID-19-related job losses and high food prices, Save the Children warns in a statement.
March 26
- The European Council lifts sanctions against the former prime minister of Libya's unrecognized General National Congress.
March 27
- Iran and China sign a much-anticipated 25-year strategic cooperation agreement, as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
March 31
- Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny goes on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his imprisonment.
APRIL
April 1
- France bans the consumption of alcohol on public roads and gatherings of more than six people amid coronavirus.
- Myanmar’s military, which overthrew the country’s elected government in a coup in February this year, declares a month-long cease-fire.
April 2
- At least 51 people are killed, and 146 others are injured in a train accident in eastern Taiwan.
- The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are administered in Turkey.
April 4
- Exit polls in Bulgaria show that Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party is winning the general elections.
- Kosovo’s parliament elects Vjosa Osmani as the country’s new president.
April 5
- Russian President Vladimir Putin signs legislation allowing him to serve another two terms in office.
April 6
- At least 182 people are killed, dozens are missing, and thousands are displaced as a tropical cyclone strikes Indonesia and neighboring East Timor.
April 7
- Turkey reports more than 54,700 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily count since the pandemic began.
- Serdar Karagoz succeeds Senol Kazanci as Chairman of the Board and Director General at Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s leading news source.
April 8
- A police officer is injured in Northern Ireland violence, bringing the total number of police injuries to 74. Rioters in the Tigers Bay Area launch missiles and petrol bombs at police before ramming a burning car into police vans.
April 9
- Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, dies, says a Buckingham Palace statement.
April 10
- At least 80 civilians in Myanmar are killed during protests in the Bago region against the Feb. 1 military coup, according to media reports.
April 11
- The head of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority says the Ever Given container ship, which ran aground in the waterway for almost a week, will not be allowed to sail until compensation is paid.
April 12
- Muslims around the world begin the holy month of Ramadan with the first Tarawih prayer.
April 13
- Johnson & Johnson announces a halt to the rollout of its coronavirus vaccine in Europe, following a request from US health regulators for an immediate stop in use.
April 14
- US President Joe Biden officially announces that American troops will return from Afghanistan on Sept. 11, saying, "It is time to end the forever war."
April 15
- Medical charity group Medecins Sans Frontieres warns of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Brazil in the face of the federal government’s “failed COVID-19 response.”
April 16
- US President Joe Biden announces new sanctions against Russia, including the expulsion of 10 diplomats for alleged presidential election interference and hacking.
April 17
- The Czech Republic expels 18 Russian diplomats for alleged links to an explosion in 2014, Prime Minister Andrej Babis announces.
April 18
- At least 11 people are killed and 98 others are injured when a train derails just north of the Egyptian capital Cairo.
April 19
- NASA conducts the first helicopter flight on planet Mars.
- Several major football clubs, including AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, announce reaching an agreement to establish a new mid-week competition – the Super League – despite earlier objections by UEFA, European football's governing body.
April 20
- Chadian president dies during military operations that pitted the country’s armed forces against rebels in the north over the weekend.
April 21
- Olympic champion Turkish wrestler Taha Akgul wins gold in the 2021 European Championships in Warsaw.
April 22
- Mentioning Turkey's action plans and strategies to stem the effects of climate change at the virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country expects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 21% by 2030.
April 23
- At least 172 people are believed to have drowned in three separate shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean Sea, and the number of drownings in the world's deadliest crossing more than doubles this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
April 24
- The US begins the process to remove military armaments from Afghanistan as it prepares to withdraw all of its forces from the war-torn country.
April 25
- Chloe Zhao's neo-western drama Nomadland wins the best picture at the Academy Awards, becoming the second woman to receive the best director award in the Oscars' 93-year history.
- Bangladesh experiences its highest temperature in seven years, reaching 41.2 degrees Celsius (106.2 F).
April 26
- Turkey announces full lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19.
- The European Commission sues AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, for failing to deliver vaccines, an EU official says.
April 27
- Four Venezuelan soldiers are killed and eight others are wounded during operations along the border against a Colombian criminal group.
April 28
- Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies at the age of 90 after a "valiant" fight with cancer, his family says.
April 29
- American troops begin withdrawing from Afghanistan as part of the Biden administration's plan to fully exit the war-hit country after 20 years of conflict.
- The tally of coronavirus cases across the world surpasses a grim 150 million milestone, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.
April 30
- A stampede at a Jewish religious festival in northern Israel kills at least 44 people and injures 103 others.
- At least 39 people are killed, including a 13-year-old girl, and 134 others are wounded in two days of clashes along a disputed section of the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border over control of the local water distribution network.
MAY
May 1
- India records 401,993 daily cases, Health Ministry figures show, setting a new global record.
- The land border between Spain and Portugal reopens for the first time in more than three months.
May 2
- Police in Berlin arrest at least 354 people who took part in May Day demonstrations that turned into full-scale riots.
May 3
- Democratic Republic of Congo announces the end of the 12th Ebola outbreak – three months after the first case was reported in the North Kivu province.
- German authorities uncover one of the largest child porn platforms in the darknet with four people arrested in the case, the Federal Criminal Office said in the southwestern city of Wiesbaden.
May 4
- Turkey’s new communications satellite Turksat 5A enters into orbit, the country's transportation minister announces.
May 5
- Former US President Donald Trump launches a new website to communicate with his supporters after being banned from top social media platforms.
May 6
- Tensions between the government and civil society continue to escalate as Colombia marks its eighth day of protests.
- A police officer and 24 people are killed in a clash that broke out in a Brazilian slum during an operation against illegal groups.
May 7
- Israeli police attacked Muslim worshippers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City.
- World Health Organization gives green light to China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, approving the vaccine to be rolled out globally.
- Muslim worshippers suffer an Islamophobic attack outside an Islamic center in east London.
May 8
- The number of injured rose to 205 in Israeli attacks at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Damascus Gate of the Old City and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
- At least 58 people, mostly schoolgirls, are killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.
May 9
- Israeli police used stun grenades to disperse Palestinians gathered at the Damascus Gate in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.
- Spain lifts state of emergency, putting an end to nightly curfews for the vast majority of Spaniards and allowing travel across the country for the first time in more than six months.
- Debris from China's Long March rocket, announced to be out of control earlier, falls to Earth in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.
May 10
- COVID-19 cases and deaths are falling in most regions, including the worst affected Americas and Europe areas, but the "shocking global disparity" in vaccine access is one of the biggest risks to ending the pandemic, the World Health Organization chief said.
May 11
- Latest census figures released by Beijing show China's population has exceeded 1.41 billion.
- Bangladeshi Mohammed Shajahan's photo titled "Mom Love" wins the Photo of the Year Award in the Istanbul Photo Awards, the seventh edition of the annual international photography contest held by Anadolu Agency to support photojournalists.
May 12
- Uganda’s 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni is sworn in for a sixth term.
May 13
- Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is celebrated worldwide under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Sierra Leone launches the Ebola vaccination campaign to prevent a new outbreak in the West African country.
May 14
- Representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government resume intra-Afghan negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha.
- Mali's Prime Minister Moctar Ouane resigns, and subsequently reappointed as transitional president, the Malian Presidency announces.
May 15
- China’s Zhurong lands on Mars, the Chinese National Space Agency announces.
May 16
- A 15-day period of gradual lifting of COVID-19 restrictions starts in Turkey as infections fall thanks to a strict lockdown.
- As France gears up to lift restrictions and welcome tourists in summer, it offers free PCR tests to foreigners to detect COVID-19, says Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune.
May 17
- Portugal reopens its borders to non-essential travel with most European nations, including the UK.
- At least 37 people have been killed in torrential rains in the southwestern and western Indian states, while Cyclone Tauktae has been forecast to hit one of the country's coastal states.
May 18
- US Central Command (CENTCOM) announces that efforts to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan by September are 20% complete.
- Spain deploys its army in the African enclave of Ceuta to deal with the surge of migrants flowing into its territory.
- At least 3,000 children, including 1,424 girls, have been out of school since the end of March following recent intercommunal clashes in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
May 19
- EU member states agree on a coordinated approach to open the bloc’s borders to vaccinated non-EU nationals.
- India reports its highest daily figure for deaths from the coronavirus with 4,529 fatalities. The nationwide tally stands at 283,248.
May 20
- At least 254 Palestinians, including 66 children and 39 women, have been killed and more than 1,900 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since May 10, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.
- To give a new impetus to its vaccination drive, Turkey finalizes a deal to buy 60 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with an option for an additional 30 million.
- EU institutions reach a political agreement on digital COVID certificates. The document, proposed in March by the European Commission, is meant to facilitate travel within the bloc by waiving quarantine or test requirements for those who hold the pass.
- A UN report reveals that YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK terror group, continues to recruit and exploit children in the conflict-hit country.
May 21
- Personal data of at least 279 million Indonesians are allegedly leaked and sold on a hacker platform in May.
- More than a million people in Madagascar are experiencing the worst drought in 40 years due to the devastating famine in the southern part of the country.
May 22
- Nyiragongo, one of the world's most active volcanoes, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, erupts and forces thousands of residents in North Kivu’s Goma to flee to Rwanda.
- Italy's rock band Maneskin wins the 65th Eurovision song contest held in Rotterdam.
- A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein that contains his famous E=mc2 equation is sold at auction for more than $1.2 million.
May 23
- The coronavirus pandemic is worsening in Latin America and the Caribbean with more than 1 million fatalities registered as deaths and infections continue to decline in North America and Europe.
- At least 16 people are killed and five others missing during a 100-kilometer (62-mile) mountain marathon cross-country race in northwest Gansu Province, China, according to media reports.
- Citing a “bomb threat,” a Belarusian MIG-29 fighter jet forces a Ryanair plane passing through Belarus’ airspace to land, and then detains passenger Roman Protasevich, a journalist wanted for his involvement in "terrorist incidents."
May 24
- Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi attends a court hearing, according to local media reports, in her first public appearance after being detained in a military coup this February.
- World Health Organization estimates that at least 115,000 healthcare workers have lost their lives in the fight against coronavirus, the WHO chief said on the opening day of the 74th World Health Assembly.
May 25
- Mali's military arrests the country's interim president, premier and defense chief, transporting them to a military base, news outlets reported.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Israel on the first stop of his first Middle East tour since taking office. Blinken later visits Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan.
May 26
- Gunman opens fire at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail maintenance yard in San Jose, California, killing at least eight people.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser accuses the government of “disastrously” failing the public by reacting slowly to the spread of the coronavirus.
- Some 154 people have died following a boat mishap in Kebbi State of Northwest Nigeria.
May 27
- France played a role in and bears political responsibility for the 1994 Rwandan genocide of ethnic Tutsis, says the French president in the African country.
- Remains of 215 children are found at a Canadian residential school, an Indigenous band confirmed.
May 28
- European Medicine Agency authorizes the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use in children aged 12-15.
- Germany officially acknowledges that it committed “genocide” against Herero and Nama people in what is called Namibia today at the start of the 20th century.
- 215 unmarked graves of more Indigenous children are discovered at a British Columbia residential school in Canada.
May 29
- Austria’s Integration Ministry launches a controversial website “Islam map,” providing details of the country’s 620 mosques and Islamic associations, with the location, address, and names of officials.
- Colombian President Ivan Duque deploys troops to the western province of Valle del Cauca and its capital Cali, as four people died in demonstrations against a government tax reform.
May 30
- One person has been killed and more than 100 students have been kidnapped in an armed attack on an Islamic school in central Nigeria’s Niger state.
- US actor Joe Lara, best known for starring in the American TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, dies over the weekend along with six other passengers in a plane crash in the state of Tennessee.
May 31
- China further relaxes its family planning policy and allows couples to have three children, the state-run media says.
- Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland holds its long-awaited parliamentary and local elections.
- The number of coronavirus cases in Southeast Asian countries exceeds 4 million, including 78,515 fatalities and more than 3.6 million recoveries, according to official figures.
JUNE
June 1
- Uganda’s former Transport Minister Gen. Katumba Wamala, his daughter, and driver killed in gun attack in capital Kampala.
- Death toll hits 50 in anti-government protests raging in different parts of Colombia since late April.
June 2
- Isaac Herzog elected new president of Israel, succeeding Reuven Rivlin.
- Number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in European Union tops 250 million.
June 3
- NASA unveils plan to launch two new missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030.
- Number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide crosses 2 billion.
June 4
- Turkey announces new discovery of 135 billion cubic meters of natural gas in Black Sea.
- Hong Kong bans annual vigil for victims of China’s crackdown on 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for second year, thousands of police patrol streets to deter gatherings.
- Deforestation in Amazon breaks record for third straight month.
June 5
- Some 160 civilians killed in terrorist attack on village in northern Burkina Faso.
- Taliban overrun five districts in various parts of Afghanistan as violence escalates.
June 6
- Four members of Muslim family killed, 9-year-old boy injured in premeditated vehicle attack in Ontario, Canada.
- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, ruling Morena party retain power after mid-term elections in Mexico.
June 7
- Russian scientists discover microscopic worm-like creatures that survived for at least 24,000 years in Siberian permafrost.
- At least 63 people killed, over 100 injured after two passenger trains collide in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
- President Vladimir Putin signs law authorizing Russia’s withdrawal from Open Skies Treaty.
June 8
- Over 3,300 people, including 2,000 children and more than 500 women, forced to flee their homes after terrorist attack in Burkina Faso’s northeastern Sahel region.
- Turkey launches massive operation to clear mucilage from Sea of Marmara.
- President Emmanuel Macron slapped by a citizen during an official visit in southeastern France.
- UN court upholds 2017 conviction, life sentence of former Serbian commander Ratko Mladic for role in Bosnian genocide.
June 9
- El Salvador approves adoption of cryptocurrency Bitcoin as legal tender.
- Albanian parliament dismisses President Ilir Meta for “serious violations” of constitution.
June 10
- Zahid Quraishi, an American of Pakistani descent, becomes first Muslim to serve as US federal judge.
- Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleads guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
June 11
- G7 Summit kicks off in England with leaders of world’s richest economies and three guest countries.
- Council of EU adopts legislation on EU digital COVID-19 certificate, paving the way for system to become operational as of July 1.
- Protests break out in capital Beirut over economic crisis plaguing Lebanon.
June 12
- YPG/PKK terrorists attack hospital in northwestern Syria, killing 14 civilians and injuring over 32.
- Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 95th birthday with scaled back ceremonies due to coronavirus restrictions.
June 13
- Naftali Bennett secures parliament votes to become Israel’s new prime minister, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year run.
- Around 25,000 people take to streets of Madrid to protest Spanish government’s plan to pardon several jailed Catalan leaders.
- Algeria revokes accreditation of French state-run news channel France 24.
- American actor Ned Beatty, known for roles in hit 1970s films Network, Deliverance, and Superman, dies at the age of 83.
June 14
- NATO increases “tailored assurance measures” for Turkey.
- Arlene Foster steps down as Northern Ireland’s first minister.
- Court in Egypt upholds death sentence for 12 members of Muslim Brotherhood.
June 15
- EU and US return to “excellent” trade relations after ending 17-year dispute over Airbus-Boeing aircraft subsidies.
- At least 36 people injured in car bomb explosion at military base in Colombia’s northeastern Cucuta city, near border with Venezuela.
June 16
- US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet face-to-face in Geneva for the first time.
June 17
- Turkey administers over 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccine shots in 24-hour period.
- US President Biden signs legislation making Juneteenth, or June 19, a federal holiday to mark end of slavery.
- China successfully sends three astronauts into space in first manned mission in five years.
- Montenegro’s Parliament adopts resolution recognizing Srebrenica genocide, dismisses country’s justice minister for controversial remarks on issue.
June 18
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed for second five-year term by UN General Assembly.
- Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro expresses desire for negotiations with US President Joe Biden’s administration, easing diplomatic and trade tensions.
June 19
- Ebrahim Raisi elected new president of Iran.
- COVID-19 death toll in Brazil crosses grim mark of 500,000, second-highest in the world after the US.
June 20
- Libya reopens main coastal road linking country’s eastern and western parts.
- Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party wins early parliamentary elections.
June 21
- Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pardons nine jailed Catalan leaders.
- EU extends economic sanctions against Russia over illegal annexation of Crimea for another year.
- Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven loses no-confidence vote in parliament.
- Number of COVID-19 deaths in Colombia passes 100,000.
June 22
- Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to jail anyone refusing COVID-19 vaccines.
June 23
- Russia fires warning shots and drops bombs to stop British Royal Navy destroyer that it accused of entering its waters in the Black Sea.
- Second Libya conference concludes in Berlin with final declaration stressing need for holding elections and withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from North African country.
June 24
- Residential building partially collapses in Miami, US, killing at least 97 people.
- Hundreds of unmarked graves found at a former residential school for Indigenous children in western Canada.
June 25
- Mt. Merapi volcano in Indonesia erupts three times in 24 hours.
- US court sentences former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 22.5 years in prison for murder of George Floyd.
June 26
- British Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigns after breaking COVID-19 rules by hugging and kissing an aide.
- Study of wastewater finds the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland topped the lists for use of marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs in Europe.
June 27
- Turkey discovers new ancient sites near famed Gobeklitepe in southeastern Sanliurfa province.
- Lytton, a village in British Columbia, records Canada’s highest ever temperature of 46.1 C (121.2 F).
- Over 270 police officers in Germany face investigation over links to far-right groups and involvement in far-right extremism and crimes.
June 28
- Ethiopian government declares unilateral cease-fire after months of fighting with rebel forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
June 29
- South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
- Kenya’s government declares 3 million people at risk of starvation due to severe drought in country’s northern regions.
- Hong Kong suspends flights with UK due to spread of coronavirus delta variant.
June 30
- Bangladesh imposes weeklong lockdown to curb surge in infections driven by delta strain.
- 182 human remains discovered in unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Eugene’s Mission School in British Columbia, Canada.
- WHO lists coronavirus delta strain as a variant of concern.
JULY
July 1
- Princes William and Harry unveil a new statue of their late mother Princess Diana at Kensington Palace on what would have been her 60th birthday.
July 2
- Kartal Tibet, a distinguished Turkish actor and screenwriter, dies at the age of 83.
- The EU's Single-Use Plastic Directive takes effect, banning common items made with single-use plastics.
July 3
- The Iraqi government says at least seven people are killed and 11 others injured in attacks on power plants.
July 4
- Azerbaijan hands over 15 Armenian detainees in exchange for maps of 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation in the Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.
July 5
- A Philippine military plane carrying 96 people on board crashes, killing at least 50.
July 6
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirms lifting of nearly all remaining coronavirus restrictions in the country, despite a surge in cases and warnings from senior scientists.
- Canada appoints first Indigenous governor general, Mary Simon, in its 154-year history.
July 7
- Haitian President Jovenel Moise is assassinated at his residence while the first lady is injured.
July 8
- The US military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31, says President Joe Biden.
July 11
- British billionaire Richard Branson and five crewmates complete a much-hyped trip to the edge of space.
July 12
- For the first time in Cuba's history, thousands of people demonstrate in Havana and other cities of the island against severe blackouts, food shortages, the coronavirus outbreak, and an economic crisis exacerbated by US sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump.
- The EU extends economic sanctions against Russia for six more months, accusing Moscow of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.
July 13
- Serbia joins the Russian-anchored Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) trade bloc, opening the country to a market of 180 million people for about 99% of its goods of domestic origin.
- More than 160 children's graves are found on the grounds of a former residential school in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.
July 14
- The United Arab Emirates opens an embassy in Israel.
July 15
- Death toll from Germany's worst floods in more than 200 years reaches at least 58 as dozens of people remain missing.
July 17
- The global weather office World Meteorological Organization says Scandinavian heatwaves, lethal Western European rainfall, Siberian smoke, and record North American heat causing devastating wildfires top catastrophes that include "human-made climate change."
- France imposes stricter measures on unvaccinated travelers from European countries where the delta variant of coronavirus is spreading fast, along with recognizing the efficacy of an Indian-manufactured vaccine.
July 18
- More than 500 Israeli settlers force their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex amid tensions over a planned settler incursion into the flashpoint site.
July 19
- Half of Spain's population have been fully immunized against the coronavirus, the government says.
- Many Muslim countries mark the first day of the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday.
July 20
- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his crew blast off into space on a successful visit.
July 21
- Death toll in South Africa rises to 276 after riots and looting break out over the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma and his beginning to serve 15 months for contempt of court.
- Germany's worst flooding in decades claim 171 lives, injure more than 760 people while causing widespread devastation in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
July 22
- Iran inaugurates oil terminal in the Sea of Oman, bypassing the restive Strait of Hormuz, to neutralize the impact of US sanctions on oil shipments overseas.
- The US sanctions Cuban Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Havana's Special Forces Brigade for efforts to quell pro-democracy protests on the island nation.
July 24
- EU countries adopt new measures and tighten existing restrictions to stem COVID-19.
July 26
- Tunisian President Kais Saied announces fully assuming executive authority in addition to suspending parliament.
- Scientists discover traces of water vapor in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, for the first time.
July 28
- Pedro Castillo takes office as president in Peru after waiting for election results for more than a month.
July 30
- First flight evacuating Afghan nationals who aided the US military and diplomats during the 20-year war arrive on the US soil with over 200 people on board.
AUGUST
Aug. 1
- Myanmar's military regime leader Min Aung Hlaing names himself prime minister, pledges to hold elections by August 2023.
Aug. 2
- Australia deploys soldiers to patrol the streets of the city of Sydney, going door-to-door to advise residents against going outside as New South Wales recorded 207 new locally transmitted cases.
Aug. 3
- Wildfires in east Russia spread over a territory of over 1 million hectares.
Aug. 4
- Wildfires spread to many parts of the world, including most of North and South America, the African plateau, northern Arabian Peninsula, and Mediterranean coast of Europe as well as northern and eastern Europe.
Aug. 5
- Pharmaceutical company Moderna announces its coronavirus vaccine is 93% effective six months after injection.
Aug. 7
- Advancing Taliban marches on at least three more provincial capitals in the north of Afghanistan, a day after capturing Sheberghan, the capital of the Jawzjan province.
Aug. 8
- Dixie Fire, burning for three weeks in California, is declared the second-largest fire in the US state's history.
- More than 50 people have been killed as armed assailants launched simultaneous attacks on four villages in Ouatagouna, Mali.
Aug. 9
- The scale of the world’s unprecedented current warming trend is producing irreversible changes to the planet, a sobering new UN climate report has warned.
- A total of 816 people in Nigeria have died of a cholera outbreak since the beginning of the year.
Aug. 10
- Ethiopia abrogates the previous cease-fire in place since June 29 that unilaterally ended a government offensive on Tigray rebels in the country's north.
Aug. 11
- German police arrests an employee of the British Embassy on charges of spying for Russia.
Aug. 12
- All wildfires in Turkey are under control, authorities suspend hunting activities in the fire-affected areas of southern Antalya and southwestern Mugla provinces for two years.
Aug. 13
- July 2021 was the warmest month ever recorded as concerns continue to mount about the ravaging effects of climate change.
Aug. 14
- Magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti, leaving at least 2,207 people dead and more than 12,268 injured.
- As a heat wave that brought the hottest temperature ever recorded to Spain comes to an end, firefighters are scrambling to contain dozens of forest fires across the country.
Aug. 15
- Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani leaves the country as the Taliban marched on the capital Kabul.
- Canada announces an early federal election to be held on Sept. 20.
Aug. 19
- Thirty-nine irregular migrants have died as their boat sank off Spain's Canary Islands.
Aug. 20
- Malaysia’s king names Ismail Sabri Yakoob as the nation’s new prime minister.
- The death toll from floods in Turkey's Black Sea region rises to 79.
- The US extends land border restrictions with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel, including tourism, for at least another month amid the spread of the coronavirus and its delta variant.
Aug. 21
- Thousands of Afghans remain at the airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, anxiously waiting for a chance to leave the country after the Taliban takeover.
Aug. 22
- At least 22 people were killed while search and rescue efforts continued for 45 missing after flash floods swept through the US state of Tennessee.
Aug. 23
- US Food and Drug Administration gives full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, nine months after it rolled off assembly lines under a special emergency use authorization.
Aug. 24
- Rolling Stones drummer Charles Robert “Charlie” Watts dies at the age of 80.
Aug. 26
- Multiple explosions shake Kabul, including two outside the airport serving the city, killing dozens and wounding over 100.
Aug. 27
- A total of 150 civilians were massacred in the Gida Kiramu locality in the East Wollega zone in Ethiopia's most populous regional state of Oromia.
Aug. 29
- At least 40 government soldiers were killed in a Houthi missile attack on a military base in southern Yemen.
- The US takes responsibility for a blast in Kabul, saying an airstrike targeted a vehicle that reportedly posed an “imminent” threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport from the ISIS-K, the Deash/ISIS terror affiliate.
- The US announces withdrawal completion of its forces from Afghanistan, bringing to an end to the longest war in American history.
Aug. 31
- Scientists in South Africa detect new COVID-19 variant known as C.1.2 in all nine provinces across the country.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1
- Top Kashmiri pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Geelani dies at age of 91.
Sept. 2
- Ireland's data privacy watchdog fines popular messaging platform WhatsApp for breaching EU data protection rules for a record €225 million ($267 million).
Sept. 3
- Russian security forces arrest the deputy head of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly.
Sept. 5
- Guinean forces detain President Alpha Conde and dissolve Guinea's parliament.
- Professional race and stunt pilot Dario Costa breaks the world record for longest tunnel flight by plane, going through two tunnels on the Northern Marmara Highway in Istanbul's Catalca district.
- A son of Libya's ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi was released from prison in the capital Tripoli.
- Hundreds of people throng to a currency exchange market in the Afghan capital that reopened over the weekend after being shut since the Taliban seized control of Kabul on Aug. 15.
Sept. 6
- Famous French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo passes away at 88. Belmondo jumped into fame in 1959 with his starring role in director Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless.
- The Taliban claims complete control of Afghanistan after saying they took over Panjshir Valley, the only province the group had not seized during its sweep last month.
- Six Palestinian prisoners escape from Israel's northern Gilboa Prison.
Sept. 7
- The Taliban announces an “interim government” in Afghanistan to be led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund.
- El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as the legal tender.
Sept. 9
- The number of COVID-19 vaccine jabs given in Turkey tops 100 million since it launched an immunization campaign in January.
Sept. 10
- After months of political deadlock, Lebanon's president and prime minister-designate sign a decree to form a new government in the country.
Sept. 13
- Tanzania's president appoints the country's first-ever woman defense minister, a move local analysts said could boost the region's counter-terrorism efforts.
Sept. 15
- Australia announces plans to acquire a nuclear submarine fleet following the formation of a trilateral defense pact with the US and UK as China becomes increasingly assertive in the Indo-Pacific.
- Elon Musk's SpaceX venture launches the first all-civilian crew into space at night for an historic step forward in space tourism.
Sept. 17
- A newly discovered sketch of famous artist Vincent Van Gogh is unveiled in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.
Sept. 20
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially inaugurates the Turkevi Center, or Turkish House, in New York City, calling the landmark skyscraper a "masterpiece."
- US pharmaceutical Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announce positive results from trials of their COVID-19 vaccine in children age 5-11.
Sept. 21
- Turkey's biggest aerospace and technology festival TEKNOFEST kicks off in Istanbul.
- The Sudanese army foils a coup attempt in the country.
- Two Turkish-German scientists win the most prestigious medicine award in Germany for their achievements in the use of mRNA technology for preventive and therapeutic purposes.
Sept. 23
- Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia who fled Spain after leading a botched independence attempt, is arrested on the Italian island of Sardinia.
Sept. 25
- Egyptian and Syrian foreign ministers meet for the first time in the last 10 years in a meeting as part of the 76th UN General Assembly in New York.
Sept. 28
- A riot at a prison in Ecuador’s coastal city of Guayaquil left 116 inmates dead and 48 injured.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1
- Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is detained following his return to the country after eight years.
Oct. 2
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces his retirement from politics when his term ends.
Oct. 3
- Algeria closes its airspace to French military aircraft.
Oct. 4
- Fumio Kishida, the president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is elected the country's 100th prime minister in an extraordinary session of the House of Representatives.
- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali takes office for another five-year term.
- Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services go down in what marks an apparent worldwide outage for many users.
Oct. 5
- Russia launches Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft carrying a filmmaking crew to the International Space Station to make the first movie ever shot in space.
- In a stunning revelation, an independent commission says there were 216,000 cases of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in France between 1950 and 2020.
Oct. 6
- Two scientists jointly win the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of "asymmetric organocatalysis."
- The Turkish parliament ratifies the Paris Agreement to contribute to the global efforts against climate change.
Oct. 7
- Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "uncompromising and compassionate" coverage of elects of colonialism.
- Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov receive the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their "courageous fight for freedom of expression" in the Philippines and Russia.
- The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to three scientists, Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe, German scientist Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi from Italy, for "groundbreaking" discoveries concerning Earth's climate.
- American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian win the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch."
Oct. 8
- Sebastian Kurz steps down as Austrian chancellor in the wake of corruption allegations.
Oct. 11
- Three US-based economists jointly win the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics for their contributions to labor economics and analysis of causal relationships.
Oct. 13
- William Shatner, who spent a career playing the high-flying space adventurer Captain Kirk on the Star Trek television series, goes to space, becoming the oldest person taking that trip.
Oct.14
- Cautious calm descends over Beirut after nearly four hours of violence in the Lebanese capital leaves at least six people dead and more than 30 wounded.
Oct. 18
- Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies due to complications from COVID-19.
Oct. 20
- Barbados elects its first-ever president, Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason, ending 396 years of British rule.
Oct. 21
- Famous US actor and producer Alec Baldwin, 68, fatally shoots a cinematographer and injures a film director with a prop gun on a movie set.
Oct. 25
- Sudan's military head Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan declares a state of emergency and dissolves transitional sovereign council and government, following the arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and ministers in the civilian government.
Oct. 27
- Amnesty International says 1 million people at risk of starvation in Madagascar because of drought, urging the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to combat the effects of drought in the East African country.
Oct. 28
- Facebook renames itself to Meta as it faces a growing litany of controversy. Meta unites Facebook's apps and technologies, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and its Oculus virtual reality division in what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes as a "metaverse."
- Around 1,300 French nursing students resign due to fatigue and exhaustion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to staff shortages at hospitals.
Oct. 29
- Saudi Arabia bans all imports from Lebanon until further notice after Lebanese Information Minister George Kurdahi criticized the Saudi-led war in Yemen against armed Houthi rebels.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1
- The number of people who died by coronavirus exceeds 5 million worldwide in less than two years, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Nov. 2
- Former police captain Eric Adams, a Democrat, wins New York City's mayoral election and becomes the second black mayor in the country's most populous city's history.
Nov. 3
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives final approval for Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11.
Nov. 4
- Every country in Europe and Central Asia face the risk of a COVID-19 resurgence, the World Health Organization’s Europe region head tells and voices “grave concern” as cases again reach record levels.
Nov. 5
- A Russian diplomat allegedly connected to Russia's FSB secret service is found dead on the sidewalk in front of the embassy building in Berlin.
Nov. 6
- At least 131 people are killed and more than 100 injured when a fuel tanker explodes in Sierra Leone, officials and the central mortuary confirm one day after the accident.
Nov. 7
- Iraqi officials confirm that a drone with explosives targets the residence of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, but he survives with no injuries.
Nov. 8
- US reopens its borders to Canadians after being mothballed for almost 20 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nov. 9
- Thousands of irregular migrants face desperate conditions at the Polish-Belarusian border, hoping to cross onto EU soil. Tensions between Poland and Belarus escalate after nearly 4,000 migrants, mainly from the Middle Eastern countries, arrive at the Polish border and attempt to cross.
- Japan's parliament re-elects Fumio Kishida as prime minister after his Liberal Democratic Party wins general elections in the country in October.
Nov. 10
- A crew of three Americans and one German blast off at night from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the latest mission in billionaire Elon Musk's private-company race to space.
Nov. 11
- Over a week of heavy rain lashes Sri Lanka, causing floods that kill at least 22 people and displace over 5,000.
Nov. 12
- A Los Angeles judge officially ends the controversial conservatorship that ruled over pop star Britney Spears' life for nearly 14 years.
- Active COVID- 19 cases in Germany hit a record high of 395,300, official data shows.
Nov. 13
- COP26 concludes as all participating countries reach a new climate deal that will try and keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
Nov. 14
- Russia starts supplying the S-400 air defense system to India.
Nov. 15
- Tens of thousands of people globally stage demonstrations against the Cuban government, with more rallies taking place outside Cuba than on the island.
Nov. 16
- Daesh/ISIS terror group claims responsibility for a deadly attack in Uganda's capital that kills six people and injures 33.
Nov. 17
- Thousands of people forced to flee their homes in British Columbia, Canada, due to catastrophic flooding caused by historic rainfall.
Nov. 18
- Two men convicted of assassinating Malcolm X are exonerated after doubts raised in the killing of the civil rights icon.
Nov. 19
- A jury in the US state of Wisconsin acquits Kyle Rittenhouse on all counts in a closely watched trial following the fatal shootings of two protesters and the wounding of a third.
Nov. 20
- Around 50,000 Austrians take to the streets to protest a national lockdown to be implemented as of Monday, due to surges in coronavirus cases in the country.
Nov. 21
- Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu wins the top stop in the 2021 Superbike World Championship title in Indonesia.
- China downgrades its diplomatic relations with Lithuania after the Baltic state allows Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there.
Nov. 22
- Despite protests against restrictions, Austria implements a 20-day national lockdown to stem a surge in coronavirus cases.
Nov. 23
- At least 46 people burn to death in a bus accident in Bulgaria.
- US space agency unveils the first planetary defense system test mission, launching a spacecraft that will strike an asteroid in the hopes of causing a measurable change.
Nov. 24
- Germany’s center-left, environmentalist, and liberal parties reach an agreement to form a three-party coalition government.
- Sweden’s first female Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson resigns hours after she takes the office.
Nov. 25
- The European Medicines Agency recommends the use of the BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 and up.
- A boat capsizes off the French coast of Calais, killing at least 31 migrants in one of the worst disasters to occur during the dangerous crossings to the UK.
Nov. 26
- The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the new COVID-19 variant from southern Africa and names it omicron and declares it a "variant of concern."
Nov. 27
- Thousands of police officers and their supporters fill the streets of Madrid to protest the Spanish government’s proposed amendments to controversial security law.
Nov. 28
- Barbados becomes a republic, removing Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.
Nov. 29
- Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro becomes the first woman to lead Honduras.
- Jack Dorsey confirms stepping down as Twitter’s CEO effective immediately, and names Parag Agrawal his replacement.
Nov. 30
- Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday after she pleads guilty to crimes related to her husband's Sinaloa drug cartel.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1
- European Union unveils strategy to mobilize up to €300 billion (some $340 billion) global infrastructure plan to counter China.
- International Energy Agency forecasts new renewable power capacity additions to rise by 290 gigawatts globally, surpassing the previous all-time high set in 2020.
- Brazil announces two citizens testing positive for the omicron COVID-19 variant, marking the first confirmed cases in Latin America.
- US reports its first case of the omicron coronavirus variant in the state of California.
Dec. 2
- Hong Kong's imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai and the staff of his Apple Daily newspaper receive the Golden Pen of Freedom award.
- Germany's federal and state governments agree on tougher coronavirus restrictions for the unvaccinated as the country battles the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Dec. 3
- Austria's Interior Minister Karl Nehammer was tapped to become the country's next chancellor following former government head Sebastian Kurz's earlier resignation.
- Brazil's Supreme Court opens probe into remarks by President Jair Bolsonaro, who argued that coronavirus vaccines might raise the chance of contracting AIDS.
Dec. 4
- Turkish pool player Semih Sayginer wins 3-cushion Sharm El Sheikh World Cup 2021.
- At least 34 people were killed and 16 went missing after Indonesia's Semeru volcano erupted, belching out thick clouds of smoke and ash that blanketed villages.
- Police in Pakistan arrest close to 120 people believed to be involved in the lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager over allegations of blasphemy.
- More than 40,000 people in the Austrian capital protest against the ongoing lockdown and plans to make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory from next year.
Dec. 5
- Tensions running high in India's northeastern state of Nagaland after over a dozen civilians were gunned down by soldiers who mistakenly believed some of them were militants.
- Gambia's incumbent leader Adama Barrow secures landslide victory in his bid for a second term.
Dec. 6
- Military court in Myanmar sentences Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's deposed leader, for four years in prison.
- Authorities require all private sector employers in New York City to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate by Dec. 27.
- France orders nightclubs and discotheques to close for one month beginning Dec. 10 to stem a surge in coronavirus cases.
Dec. 7
- Car bomb explosion kills at least seven civilians in the southern Iraqi province of Basra.
- A fire ravages Burundi central prison in the capital Gitega, leaving at least 38 people dead and 69 others wounded.
- US President Joe Biden threatens to respond with "strong" economic measures if Russia escalates military aggression against Ukraine.
Dec. 8
- Deqa Dhalac becomes the first Black-Muslim American mayor in South Portland, a small city on Maine's southern coast with a 90% white population.
- Olaf Scholz swears in as Germany's new chancellor, ending Angela Merkel's historic 16-year tenure.
- WHO says the new omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in 57 countries so far.
Dec. 9
- At least 55 migrants killed and dozens injured after the cargo truck they were traveling in crashes into a bridge in Chiapas, southern Mexico.
- New Zealand unveils a plan to end tobacco smoking in the country with some truly unique measures, including a lifetime ban for youngsters.
- The omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads to seven more countries on the African continent, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces.
Dec. 10
- Death toll stands at 74 from a wave of tornadoes that hit the US state of Kentucky last week, with 100 people still missing, authorities report.
- Nicaragua officially ends diplomatic relations with Taiwan and announces that it had switched allegiance to Beijing.
- The US won an appeal case against a decision that blocks the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
- Fire in Western Australia's Margaret River region destroys over 6,000 hectares of forestry area.
Dec. 11
- Special court in Benin's capital Porto-Novo sentences Reckya Madougou, opposition leader and former justice minister, to 20 years in prison over terrorism charges.
- Turkey reports the first six cases of the new omicron variant of coronavirus.
Dec. 12
- Red Bull's driver Max Verstappen becomes the F1 world champion for the first time after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
- Iconic Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez, known as the "King of Rancheras," died at the age of 81.
- Four Hamas members killed in an armed attack during a funeral at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
Dec. 13
- Time Magazine names electric carmaker Tesla and space technologies firm SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as "Person of the Year" for 2021.
- EU passes sanctions against Russian paramilitary company the Wagner Group for its actions in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and the Central African Republic.
- Four more bodies found in the rubble of buildings wrecked in an earlier explosion in Sicily, raising the death toll to seven.
Dec. 14
- World Meteorological Organization announces a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 F) in Verkhoyansk, Russia, on June 20, 2020, which has been recognized as a new Arctic temperature record.
- At least 75 people die when a gasoline tanker overturns and explodes in Haiti.
Dec. 15
- NASA spacecraft enters the solar atmosphere, making a piece of human technology touch the sun for the first time in history.
- A South African court rules former President Jacob Zuma to be returned to prison because his medical parole was granted unlawfully.
- The former Minneapolis police officer, convicted in the murder of George Floyd, facing the prospect of more years behind bars after pleading guilty to separate federal charges in Floyd's death.
Dec. 16
- Super Typhoon Rai hits the eastern Philippines with winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles), killing at least 375.
- Seven passengers and two crew members killed when a private aircraft crashes in the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo.
- EU drug regulator says an experimental pill developed by Pfizer to treat COVID-19 can be used in bloc's countries despite its full review is still pending.
Dec. 17
- At least 24 people die in a fire at a medical clinic in western Japan.
- The conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region expands to other areas and forces at least 2 million people from their homes.
- European countries accelerate vaccination of children aged 5-11 amid surging cases of the coronavirus.
Dec. 18
- The Netherlands announces a four-week lockdown amid concerns over the omicron coronavirus variant.
- Voters in Taiwan begin to cast ballots amid that country's first standalone national referendums.
- At least 11 people killed in Pakistan and more than a dozen injured in an explosion that shakes the southern port city of Karachi.
Dec. 19
- US aerospace company SpaceX launches Turkey's new telecommunication 5B satellite into space.
- Thousands of Sudanese rally in the capital Khartoum to mark the third anniversary of a popular uprising that swept long-serving President Omar al-Bashir from power.
- Gabriel Boric wins Chile's presidential election, becoming the country's youngest leader at the age of 35 after his rival conceded defeat.
Dec. 20
- French police say two women were taken hostage by a knife-wielding man at a shop in Paris.
- More than 3.3 million people lost their lives to COVID-19 this year – more deaths than from HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined in 2020, WHO head says.
- First legislative elections in Hong Kong, with the poll taking place under new "patriots only" rules imposed by China.
