JANUARY

Jan 1: Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres becomes United Nations Secretary General.

Jan 12: Former U.S. President Barack Obama awards Vice President Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Jan 17: Nigerian military mistakenly bombs refugee camp killing more than 70 in Rann, Borno state.

Jan 17: Search for missing aircraft MH370 over the Indian Ocean is called off.

Jan 20: Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America and Mike Pence as the 48th Vice President.

Jan 21: More than 2 million people protest worldwide in the 'Women's March' against Donald Trump, with 500,000 marching in Washington D.C.

Jan 28: Serena Williams beats sister Venus Williams to win 105th Women's Australian Open.

Jan 29: Attack on mosque in Quebec kills 6 and injures 17, shooter is a French-Canadian student.

Jan 29: Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal in the 105th Men's Australian Open, also winning his 18th Grand Slam.

FEBRUARY

Feb 1: British MPs vote in favour of the European Union Bill, allowing the government to begin Brexit.

Feb 6: Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to reign for 65 years with Sapphire Jubilee.

Feb 6: Qatar Airways achieves the longest-ever commercial flight in service after a 16 hour and 23 minutes flight from Doha to Auckland.

Feb 9: Second season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) begins.

Feb 12: North Korea conducts a solid fuel ballistic missile test from Bangyon air base.

Feb 16: Suicide attack on shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, kills 72, Islamic State claims responsibility.

Feb 17: Discovery of a new mostly underwater continent Zealandia in the South Pacific announced in research journal GSA Today.

Feb 20: Famine is declared in Unity State, South Sudan, affecting 4.9 million.

Feb 21: Plane crashes into shopping centre in Essendon, Melbourne, Australia killing five people on board.

Feb 22: Discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting star Trappist-1 announced in Journal Nature, raising possibility of alien life.

MARCH

Mar 5: Peshawar Zalmi won the season 2 of PSL, which was held in Lahore.

Mar 6: U.S. President Donald Trump signs his second executive order barring travellers from 6 mostly-Muslim countries for 90 days but leaves out Iraq.

Mar 14: European Court of Justice rules in favour of companies banning staff from wearing religious symbols, including headscarves.

Mar 15: French fashion house Givenchy appoints its first female designer, Englishwoman Clare Waight Keller.

Mar 22: Arctic records its lowest ever winter ice cover according to U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, 5.5 mil square miles.

Mar 22: Tomb of Jesus reopens after restoration in Jerusalem.

Mar 22: Terrorist attack on London's Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament kills 4 including a police officer and injures 40.

Mar 26: Carrie Lam is first woman elected to lead Hong Kong by Beijing-influenced electoral commission.

Mar 29: UK Prime Minister Theresa May signs Article 50, sends to the EU, formally triggering Brexit.

APRIL

Apr 1: Bob Dylan receives Nobel Prize for Literature at a private ceremony in Stockholm.

Apr 1: Chinese leaders announce plans to build city in Xiongan New Area, 3x size of New York.

Apr 2: Attack on visitors to Muslim shrine by a custodian and others in Sargodha, leaves 20 dead.

Apr 10: Edward Enninful is announced the new editor of British Vogue – its first male and black editor.

Apr 16: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the country's prime minister declare victory in a referendum on a new constitution that hand him sweeping powers.

Apr 18: British Prime Minister Theresa May announces she will seek a "snap" election.

Apr 21: Taliban attack army base at Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, killing more than 100.

MAY

May 7: Emmanuel Macron wins France's presidential election defeating Marine Le Pen.

May 7: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion becomes the highest grossing Indian box office film ever earning $120 million.

May 10: Apple becomes the first company to be worth more than $800 million.

May 13: 22-year-old UK blogger halts spread of global ransomware cyber-attack by accidentally identifying "kill switch".

Mar 14: Pakistan's sixth census begins.

May 22: Suicide bombing at Manchester Arena, England, after Ariana Grande concert kills 22 and injures 59.

May 25: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg receives an honorary degree from Harvard University, after dropping out in 2004.

May 27: FA Cup Final: Arsenal defeat Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley, London.

May 27: In Bangalore, India, white puffy toxic foam begins spilling out of Varthur Lake onto city streets.

May 30: Car bomb outside ice cream shop in Baghdad kills 17, Islamic State claim responsibility.

May 30: Large suicide bomb in the diplomatic quarter of Kabul, Afghanistan kills more than 150 and injures 400.

JUNE

Jun 2: U.S. President Donald Trump announces the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Jun 5: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt sever ties with Qatar.

Jun 7: Suicide bombers attack Iranian parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Jun 8: British General Election results in a hung parliament, Prime Minster Theresa May and the Conservative party lose their majority.

Jun 11: Rafael Nadal beats Stan Wawrinka in the 116th Men's French Open.

Jun 14: Fire in Grenfell Tower London, England kills 79 and injures 37.

Jun 18: Pakistan defeat India to win ICC Champions Trophy 2017 at the Oval in London by 180 runs.

Jun 25: Tanker carrying fuel bursts into flames near Ahmedpur East Tehsil, Bahawalpur District, killing more than 200 people.

Jun 27: Petya malware cyber-attack affects organisations in more than 64 countries.

JULY

Jul 1: Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary.

Jul 8: Leisure League featuring world renowned football players officially commences in Karachi and concludes the next day in Lahore.

Jul 4: North Korea tests first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into Sea of Japan.

Jul 5: Volvo Cars becomes first automaker to announce that all new models by 2019 will be either hybrids or battery powered.

Jul 7: Tesla Motors produces its first mass-market car, the Model 3.

Jul 9: English footballer Wayne Rooney announces he has left Manchester United after 13 years to rejoin Everton.

Jul 19: Despacito by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee becomes the most streamed song ever.

Jul 23: England beat India to win Women's Cricket World Cup at Lords in London.

Jul 24: Taliban suicide bomber on a motorbike kills at least 26 and injuries 50 in Lahore, Pakistan.

Jul 25: Ram Nath Kovind becomes 14th President of India.

Jul 28: Pakistan Supreme Court rules corruption accusations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enough to remove him from office.

AUGUST

Aug 1: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is sworn in as successor to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Aug 2: Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, aged 96 makes his final solo public appearance before retiring from public engagements.

Aug 3: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is elected for his second term as President.

Aug 12: "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville, Virginia turns violent when car rams protesters killing 1, injuring 19.

Aug 14: Pakistan celebrates 70th Independence Day.

Aug 15: Barack Obama's tweet in response to Charlottesville violence becomes most-liked tweet ever.

Aug 17: Malala Yousafzai accepted to study at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Aug 21: Total solar eclipse visible from North America.

Aug 21: London's parliament clock Big Ben chimes for the last time before a four-year restoration process for its tower starts.

Aug 22: India's highest court outlaws instant divorce for Muslim men.

Aug 23: World's driest place, the Atacama Desert in Chile blooms after unexpected rainfall.

Aug 30: Floods across Bangladesh, Nepal and India kills more than 1200 people and damage 697,000 houses.

Aug 31: International Organization for Migration states 18,500 Rohingya Muslims have fled from violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Aug 31: Investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is completed.

SEPTEMBER

Sep 7: Magnitude 8.2 earthquake hits south-west of Pijijiapan, Mexico killing at least 90, strongest Mexican quake in a century.

Sep 11: Hurricane Irma leaves more than 6 million homes in Georgia and Florida out of power.

Sep 12: Apple unveils premium iPhone X costing $999, along with iPhone 8.

Sep 19: U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the United Nations vowing to “totally destroy North Korea” if threatens the U.S.

Sep 19: Magnitude 7.1 earthquake south east of Mexico City kills over 300.

Sep 23: Women are allowed in King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh for the first time during Saudi Arabia's 87th anniversary celebrations.

Sep 26: Saudi Arabia lifts ban on women driving.

OCTOBER

Oct 1: 58 people die during a concert in Las Vegas, in the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

Oct 5: The New York Times publishes investigation into sexual harassment behaviour by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Oct 6: Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

Oct 12: Kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children born in captivity have been freed in Pakistan, nearly five years after the couple was abducted in Afghanistan.

Oct 24: Crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman vows to return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam after announcing the launch of $500bn independent economic zone.

Oct 26: Jacinda Ardern is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, becoming the world’s youngest female leader.

Oct 27: First operation to separate conjoined twins joined at the head in India completed in New Delhi.

NOVEMBER

Nov 4: Saudi Arabia arrests 11 princes and other ministers on corruption charges, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Nov 4: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns in a shock TV broadcast from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Nov 5: Tehreek-e-Labaik, an Islamist party led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, staged protests in Islamabad and demanded the resignation of the Federal Minister of Law and Justice.

Nov 5: Paradise Papers are leaked.

Nov 12: Deadly 7.3 earthquake hits near Halabjal, Iraq.

Nov 15: The Zimbabwean Army detains Robert Mugabe and the first family.

Nov 15: Pakistan unveils remains of 1,700 year-old sleeping Buddha in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Nov 21: Mt Agung on the Indonesian island of Bali erupts.

Nov 24: Militant gunmen attack a Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed, Egypt, killing 305 people.

Nov 27: Federal Minister of Law and Justice Zahid Hamid eventually resigned amidst protests in Islamabad.

Nov 27: Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce their engagement.

Nov 27: Pope Francis begins a three-day trip to Myanmar, amid the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Nov 28: India's Supreme Court rejects appeal to block global release of controversial film Padmavati.

DECEMBER

Dec 4: Indian actor Shashi Kapoor dies at 79.

Dec 6: U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, announcing plans to move U.S. embassy there.

Dec 6: Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, visits Pakistan as part of his campaign LondonIsOpen, to strengthen trade and investment links, as well as promote cultural exchange.

Dec 7: Virtual currency Bitcoin rises in value, surpassing $18,440 on some exchanges.

Dec 9: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declares victory over the Islamic State in Iraq.

Dec 11: Saudi Arabia announces an end to its 35 year ban on cinemas.

Dec 11: Rahul Gandhi is elected leader of the Indian National Congress.

Dec 17: Terrorist suicide attack on a Methodist church in Quetta, kills nine.

Dec 17: Star Wars: The Last Jedi generated more than $450m worldwide in its opening weekend, 2nd largest opening worth $220m in North America.

Dec 17: Brazilian footballer Kaka retires.

Dec 18: Australia regain the Ashes in Perth.

Dec 21: UN General Assembly votes 128 to 9 to denounce US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.