What happened in 2017

World6

• Feb 26An annular solar eclipse is visible from Pacific, Chile, Argentina, Atlantic, Africa. It is the 29th eclipse of the 140th saros cycle (descending node), which started with a partial solar eclipse visible in the Southern Hemisphere on April 16, 1512, and will conclude with another partial solar eclipse visible in the Northern Hemisphere on June 1, 2774.
• AprCrypto bubbleIn April, Japan's revised Payment Services Act took effect and recognized virtual currencies as a means of payment. Bitcoin rose from around 1,000 dollars at the start of the year to nearly 20,000 dollars in December.
• May 12WannaCry ransomware attack: Computers around the world are hit by a large-scale ransomware cyberattack, which goes on to affect at least 150 countries.
• Aug 17The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars (GW170817) is hailed as a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected. Data from the event provided confirmatory evidence for the r-process theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.
• Sep 6Hurricane Irma, at peak intensity, would make the first of many powerful landfalls along the Caribbean islands and the United States. Damages would total $77.2 billion (2017 USD), and 134 would be killed by the storm.
• Sep 19Just two weeks after Hurricane Irma struck the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria strikes similar areas, making landfall on Dominica as a Category 5 hurricane, and Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. Maria caused over 3,000 deaths and damages estimated in excess of $91.6 billion (2017 USD).

Japan1

• Mar 3Nintendo releases the Switch worldwide.

North America11

• Jan 21Millions of people worldwide join the Women's March following the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. 420 marches were reported in the U.S. and 168 in other countries, becoming the largest single-day protest in American history at the time.
• Jan 27U.S. President Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. Protests against the immigration order erupt nationwide for about two weeks.
• Jan 29A gunman opens fire at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, killing 6 and injuring 19 others.
• Jun 24The Goodwin Fire, a wildfire, starts in Yavapai County, Arizona near Mayer and forces evacuations of more than a hundred people.
• Jul 7The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is voted for by 122 states.
• Aug 12The Unite the Right rally is held in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, by a variety of white nationalist and other far-right groups; Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, is killed after being hit by a car.
• Aug 25Hurricane Harvey strikes the United States as a Category 4 hurricane, causing catastrophic damage to the Houston metropolitan area, mostly due to record-breaking floods. At least 108 deaths are recorded, and total damage reaches $125 billion (2017 USD), making Harvey the costliest natural disaster in United States history, tied with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
• Sep 26Fortnite Battle Royale releases, becoming one of the biggest video games in the world and a cultural phenomenon.
• SepUnited States Passports become invalid to travel to North Korea, in response to the death of Otto Warmbier.
• Oct 160 people are killed and 867 more injured when Stephen Paddock opens fire on a crowd in Las Vegas, surpassing the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting as the deadliest mass shooting perpetrated by a lone gunman in U.S. history.
• Nov 5Sutherland Springs church shooting: A gunman opens fire in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, United States, killing 26 people and injuring 20 more. It was the deadliest shooting in an American place of worship in modern history, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015 and the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991.

Europe16

• Apr 15Emma Morano, an Italian supercentenarian, becomes the last known person born in the 19th century to die.
• Apr 27The 2017 storming of the Macedonian Parliament occurs.
• May 72017 French presidential election: Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! wins the second round of the French presidential election decisively, defeating Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN).
• May 9The Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is won by Portuguese entrant Salvador Sobral with the song "italic=no".
• May 22An ISIL terrorist bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, kills 22 people and injures more than 500 others.
• Jun 3London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police. ISIS claims responsibility for the attack.
• Jun 32017 Turin stampede: During a screening of the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, pepper spray is discharged by individuals attempting to rob soccer fans in the square, causing the crowd to panic. There are 3 deaths and 1,672 people wounded.
• Jun 14The Grenfell Tower Fire in West London claims the lives of 72 residents, making it the worst UK residential fire since World War II.
• Jun 25The World Health Organization estimates that the 2016–17 Yemen cholera outbreak has over 200,000 cases.
• Jun 272017 cyberattacks on Ukraine: A series of cyberattacks using the Petya malware begins, affecting organizations in Ukraine.
• Aug 172017 Barcelona attacks: 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drives a van into pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others.
• Aug 18The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two people and injures eight others. Islamic terrorist Abderrahman Bouanane, a Moroccan man carried out the ISIS-inspired attack in southwest Finland.
• Oct 16Maltese investigative journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia is killed by a car bomb outside her home in Bidnija.
• Oct 27Based on the results of a previously held referendum, Catalonia declares independence from Spain, but the Catalan Republic is not recognised by the Spanish government or any other sovereign nation.
• Nov 5The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publishes 13.4 million documents leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby, along with business registries in 19 tax jurisdictions that reveal offshore financial activities on behalf of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders. The newspaper shared the documents with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and asked it to lead the investigation.

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Asia7

• Jan 16Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a cargo flight en route from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, crashes in a residential area while attempting to land at Manas International Airport, Bishkek, killing all four crew members on board and 35 people on the ground.
• Feb 13Assassination of Kim Jong-nam: Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the half-brother of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is killed after being attacked by two women with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
• Jun 10The 2017 World Expo is opened in Astana, Kazakhstan.
• Aug 25ongoing – A military operation targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Sep 3North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
• Oct 25At the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping assumes his second term as General Secretary (China's paramount leader), and the political theory Xi Jinping Thought is written into the party's constitution.
• Dec 5Russia is banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee, following an investigation into state-sponsored doping.

Middle East9

• Jan 1Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 39 people and injuring 79 others.
• JanJanuary 8 – 2017 Jerusalem truck attack: A Palestinian assailant entered the road where the Israeli defense forces were located with a truck, killing 4 people and injuring 15 others.
• Apr 7In response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, the U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage U.S.–Russia ties.
• Apr 13In the 2017 Nangarhar airstrike, the U.S. drops the GBU-43/B MOAB, the world's largest non-nuclear weapon, at an ISIL base in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan.
• Jun 5The Qatar diplomatic crisis of 2017–18 starts, as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries block Qatari access to their seas and air.
• Jun 7Two terrorist attacks are simultaneously carried out by five Islamic State (ISIL) terrorists against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 more wounded.
• Sep 25The Kurdistan Region votes in a referendum to become an independent state, in defiance of Iraq; by October 15, the crisis escalates into a short-lived armed conflict over disputed territories.
• Nov 12A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the border region between Iraq and Iran leaving at least 530 dead and over 70,000 homeless.
• Nov 24A mosque attack in Sinai, Egypt kills 305 worshippers and leaves hundreds more wounded.

Latin America1

• Sep 19Twelve days after another powerful earthquake, and on the 32nd anniversary of the deadly 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico, killing 370, leaving up to 6,000 injured and thousands more homeless.

Africa5

• Jan 192016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) launches a military intervention in the Gambia after Yahya Jammeh refuses to cede power following the 2016 presidential elections.
• Jan 212016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis: Following the military intervention of ECOWAS, President Yahya Jammeh resigns from office after 23 years in power and flees into exile to Equatorial Guinea; the democratically elected Adama Barrow assumes office as President of The Gambia.
• Aug 5Mauritania holds a constitutional referendum for approval of proposed amendments to the constitution.
• Oct 14A massive blast caused by a truck bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia kills at least 587 people and injures 316 others.
• Nov 15Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is placed under house arrest, as the military take control of the country. He resigns six days later, after 37 years of rule.