World Bulletin / News Desk

-JANUARY-

Jan. 1

- Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres officially takes office as the new United Nations secretary-general for a five-year term.

Jan. 2

- During a prison riot in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas, over 100 inmates are killed while dozens escape.

Jan. 3

- A woman, the first baby of 1980 in Iceland, gives birth to the first baby of 2017.

Jan. 4

- American singer Janet Jackson gives birth to her first child at age 50.

Jan. 5

- The U.S. secretary of state designates Hamza bin Laden, a son of Osama bin Laden, as a global terrorist.

Jan. 7

- Osman Bayezid Osmanoglu, a third-generation descendant of the 31st Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid Han, dies at age 93 in New York.

- At least 60 civilians are killed in a car bomb attack in the town of Az’az in Syria’s Aleppo province.

Jan. 9

- La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, makes history after winning seven awards at the 74th Golden Globe Awards.

- Eighty people die in Hungary due to extreme cold.

Jan. 15

Sudan announces it extended a six-month cease-fire in the country's regions mired in civil war.

Jan. 16

- Thirty-seven people are killed when a cargo plane crashes in a residential area in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek.

- A Bangladeshi court sentences 26 people to death over political killings in 2014.

Jan. 21

- Twenty people killed in bombing attack in Khyber province along Pakistani-Afghan border.

Jan. 26

- Greek Supreme Court refuses to extradite eight fugitive Turkish soldiers accused of having links to the July 2016 defeated coup attempt.

Jan. 30

- Nazi propaganda minister and war criminal Joseph Goebbels’s former secretary Brunhilde Pomsel dies at 106.

- Morocco rejoins the African Union after 33 years.

Jan. 31

- U.S. President Donald Trump fires Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates for not enforcing his travel ban on passengers from seven majority-Muslim countries.

-FEBRUARY -

Feb. 1

-The British government publishes proposals for its Brexit strategy a day after MPs moved a bill forward authorizing Prime Minister Theresa May to start the process of leaving the EU.

The strategy in the document outlines the government’s desire to strike an early deal during the exit talks with the EU’s 27 remaining members on the rights of EU nationals living in the U.K. and British citizens living in EU member states.

- Google becomes the world's most valuable brand, pushing Apple to second place, reports independent consultancy Brand Finance.

Feb. 2

- Hundreds of people are killed during military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, the United Nations human rights office says.

- High Court blocks a fresh legal challenge to the U.K. government’s strategy for leaving the single market and the European Economic Area.

Feb. 5

- Over 40 people confirmed dead as snowstorms wreak havoc on various parts of Afghanistan.

- A heavy rainstorm and winds in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo leave over 1,000 people homeless after torrential rains destroy their houses, inundate their crops, and kill their livestock.

Feb. 6

- Qatar Airway’s Boeing 777 passenger plane performs the world’s longest non-stop flight with 16 hours 23 minutes.

- The number of Kenyans facing starvation rises to 2.7 million in 2017 compared to 1.7 million in 2016, the government announces.

Feb. 7

- Twenty people die, 37 others are injured in suicide attack in the parking area of constitutional court in the Afghan capital Kabul.

- The Assad regime has executed up to 13,000 people, mostly civilians, in mass hangings since 2011, says Amnesty International.

- Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy is to stand trial over spending allegations linked to his 2012 bid to remain president.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin ratifies a pipeline deal to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe via Turkey.

Feb. 8

-In Columbia, 45 days of uninterrupted peace negotiations begin between the government and revolutionist National Liberation Army.

- The United Nations launches a record international appeal for $2.1 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million Yemenis faced with starvation due to famine.

- Israeli authorities approve the construction of hundreds of new Jewish settlement units in Israeli-occupied West Bank.

- 328 lawmakers elect Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo Somalia's president.

- Britain’s parliament passes a bill giving Prime Minister Theresa May the power to begin the country's official exit process from the European Union.

Feb. 10

- A hundred and thirteen people are murdered during a 6-day-long police strike in Espirito Santos, a southeastern Brazilian state.

Feb. 11

- Ten-year-old Talya Ozdemir becomes the youngest Turk to address the UN General Assembly at an event marking International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

- South Korea forced to cull over 33 million poultry since its latest avian influenza outbreak began last November, according to the government.

Feb. 12

- Frank Walter Steinmeier, a popular Social Democrat politician, is easily elected Germany’s new president.

- La La Land is the big winner at the BAFTA awards, clinching the best picture as well as winning in four other top categories.

- British pop star Adele wins big at the Grammys in Los Angeles, bagging five awards in total, including the coveted Record of the Year Award for her song Hello and the Album of the Year Award for 25.

Feb. 13

- North Korea claims it successfully tested a new medium-range missile last weekend, leaving South Korea mulling retaliatory measures.

Feb. 14

- Palestinian resistance group Hamas elect Yahya Sinwar the new leader of the movement in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

- CENTCOM confirms the U.S. used thousands of depleted uranium rounds in two 2015 air raids in Syria.

Feb. 15

- Russia will not return Crimea to Ukraine, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announces.

- India successfully launches 104 satellites in a single flight, setting a world record for launching the largest number of satellites in one go, the government announces.

Feb. 16

- Eighty people are killed and dozens injured in a suicide blast inside the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar -- a famous Sufi saint -- in the town of Sehwan in the Sindh province, southern Pakistan.

- The current deployment of NATO troops in the Baltic region is a clear warning to any power considering doing harm, says the alliance’s chief in Brussels.

Feb. 18

- Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, founder and spiritual leader of the Egyptian Gamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group) movement, dies in a U.S. prison.

- Former CIA chief David Petraeus labels the PYD group in Syria the “cousin” of the terrorist PKK.

Feb. 19

- Spacecraft and rocket producer Space X launches its Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, where Saturn V rocket, carrying Neil Armstrong and his friends to the moon, was launched in 1969.

Feb. 21

- At least 2,000 children were forcefully conscripted as combatants by Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants in 2016 alone, says UNICEF.

Feb. 22

- Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is inaugurated as Somalia's new president amid tight security in the country's capital Mogadishu.

Feb. 23

- Bosnia and Herzegovina makes an official appeal to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICTY) in The Hague to revive a genocide case against Serbia.

- Fourth round of Syria peace talks takes place in Geneva, Switzerland.

- Iraqi anti-terrorism forces on Thursday captures the southwestern Al-Maamoun district in their first victory in western Mosul.

Feb. 24

- Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces take control of all neighborhoods in Syria’s Al-Bab.

- The Royal Bank of Scotland, a British state-owned bank, reports a giant loss of £7 billion ($8.77 billion) for 2016.

Feb. 26

- The 89th Academy Awards are presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles, including a notorious flub in which La La Land was initially named Best Picture, rather than the real winner, Moonlight.

- Mahershala Ali wins Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Moonlight, becoming first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

- Moonlight wins Best Picture at the Academy awards in a ceremony marked by firsts, setting off a deluge of commentaries on social media.

Feb. 27

- Bangladesh’s government recognizes the independence of the southeastern European state of Kosovo.

Feb. 28

- Egyptian authorities ban a leader from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group from entering the country.

- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) calls for urgent action to help over 20 million people facing famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and northeastern Nigeria.

- Russia and China block a UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on the Syrian regime over chemical weapons attacks.