2016

• International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
• International Year of Global Understanding by the International Council for Science, the International Social Science Council, and the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences.

  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 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, 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 became the 14th President for Taiwan, and also became the first female leader in China.
• January 28 - The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.

  February

• February 6 - An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
• February 7 - North Korea launches a reconnaissance satellite named Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into space, it is condemned internationally 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 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 and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publish the "Panama Papers", 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.
• April 8 - Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia is published in the Vatican; it appears to amend the Roman Catholic Church's position on the availability of sacraments to Catholics who have divorced and contracted a civil remarriage.
• April 16 - An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 strikes northwestern Ecuador killing 676 people and injuring over 6,000. Widespread damage was caused across Manabí Province, with structures hundreds of kilometres away from the epicenter collapsing.
• April 23 - American singer-songwriter Beyoncé releases her sixth studio album Lemonade.

  May

• May 2 – Leicester City are officially confirmed Premier League Champions against 5000:1 odds at the start of the season.
• May 9 - Rodrigo Duterte is elected the President of the Philippines.
• May 10–14 - The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is held in Stockholm, Sweden, and is won by Ukrainian entrant Jamala with the song "1944".
• 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 President of the Republic of China.
• May 28 - Harambe, a western lowland gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, is shot and killed after a three-year-old boy enters his enclosure.
• 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 has 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 10 - Christina Grimmie is shot dead while signing autographs and taking pictures with her fans following a concert performance at the Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida.
• 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, triggering the so-called Brexit.
• June 28 - 2016 Atatürk Airport attack: ISIL is suspected to be responsible for attacking Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 44 people and injuring over 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 3 – Emirates Flight 521 crashed at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 1 person was killed and 39 people were injured.
• August 5-21 - The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first time in South America.
• August 24 - An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 hits central Italy, killing 299 people.
• August 31 - The Brazilian Senate votes 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 visited Bennu from 2018 to 2021 and would return samples to Earth on September 24, 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 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 3 - Hurricane Matthew makes landfall in Haiti as a category 4 hurricane, killing 842 and causing $2.8 billion in damages.
• October 7 - Three events that will play a significant role in the 2016 United States presidential election all take place on the same afternoon: U.S. intelligence agencies publicly accuse the Russian government of using computer hacking to interfere with the U.S. election process; The Washington Post releases a videotape showing candidate Donald Trump privately bragging about sexual improprieties; WikiLeaks releases 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 14 - American missionary and aid worker Jeff Woodke is kidnapped in Abalak, Niger by militants. He would not be freed for six years.
• October 15 - 150 nations meet at the United Nations Environment Programme summit in Rwanda and agree to phase out hydrofluorocarbons as an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.