The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes near Smolensk, Russia 2010 FIFA World Cup The first 24-hour flight by a solar-powered plane is completed by the Solar Impulse. Instagram creation WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked "secret" or "confidential" The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern winter solstice and Southern summer solstice since 1638 takes place. The European Union agrees to a €78 billion rescue deal for Portugal. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. South Sudan secedes from Sudan, per the result of the independence referendum held in January. NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons. The United States formally declares an end to the Iraq War. While this ends the insurgency, it begins another. After 246 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia. Seven paintings worth $25 million are stolen from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Barack Obama is reelected President of the United States In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020 242 young people (range between 18 and 25) die in a nightclub fire in the Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons. In a study published in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from Oregon Health & Science University in the United States describe the first production of human embryonic stem cells by cloning. Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union Iran agrees to limit their nuclear development program in exchange for sanctions relief The XXII Olympic Winter Games are held in Sochi, Russia. Slopestyle events are introduced for the first time. The Donetsk People's Republic unilaterally declares its independence from Ukraine. The Roman Catholic Church beatifies Pope Paul VI. U.S. President Barack Obama announces the resumption of normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore crashes into the Java Sea just southwest of Borneo, killing all 162 people on board The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas. A second major earthquake in Nepal, measuring 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale, results in 153 deaths in Nepal, 62 in India, 1 in China and 2 in Bangladesh with a total of 218 deaths. Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations Scientists announce the discovery of Homo naledi, a previously unknown species of early human in South Africa. The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) is held in Paris, attended by leaders from 147 nations 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. EgyptAir Flight 804 with 66 people on board crashes into the Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo. The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union. The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first time in a South American nation. Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is assassinated in Ankara Donald Trump, a Republican New York City businessman, is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Trump is the first person to be elected President of the United States who was neither a political office holder or a military general Morocco rejoins the African Union. March 2017 North American blizzard, a major late-season blizzard, affects the Northeastern United States, New England and Canada, dumping up to three feet of snow in the hardest hit areas. An Islamic terror attack outside the Palace of Westminster in London, England, kills five people and injures more than fifty others. The 2017 World Expo is opened in Astana, Kazakhstan The Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, is destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. A series of cyberattacks using the Petya malware begins, affecting organizations in Ukraine. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is voted for by 122 states. A total solar eclipse (nicknamed "The Great American Eclipse") is visible within a band across the entire contiguous United States of America, passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. A new species of orangutan is identified in Indonesia, becoming the third known species of orangutan as well as the first great ape to be described for almost a century. Scientists in China report in the journal Cell the creation of the first monkey clones using somatic cell nuclear transfer, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua. Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa after nine years in power. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England. UK counter-terrorism police investigate amid speculation the Kremlin was behind the incident. The world's last male northern white rhinoceros dies in Kenya, making the subspecies functionally extinct. Miguel Díaz-Canel is sworn in as President of Cuba, marking the first time since 1959 that Cuba has had a president other than Fidel or Raúl Castro. The U.S. announces that it will extend its tariffs on imported steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) to include the EU, Mexico and Canada, starting at midnight. The 2018 FIFA World Cup is held in Russia and is won by France. Scientists report the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap and extending sideways about 20 km (12 mi), the first known body of water on the planet. The 2018 Kivu Ebola outbreak begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It becomes the second-deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus on November 29, surpassed only by the 2013 West African Ebola virus epidemic. A fire destroys the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro Canada legalises the sale and use of cannabis, becoming the second country in the world to do so, after Uruguay in 2013 Chinese scientist He Jiankui, at a public conference in Hong Kong, announces that he has altered the DNA of twin human girls born earlier in the month to try to make them resistant to infection with the HIV virus. France experiences its worst civil unrest since the protests of 1968 due to the yellow vests movement. Protests in Paris morph into riots, with hundreds of people injured and thousands arrested; over 100 cars are burned. 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Thousands of people protest in favor of disputed interim President Juan Guaidó. SpaceIL launches the Beresheet probe, the world's first privately financed mission to the Moon Cyclone Idai makes landfall on Mozambique, causing at least 1,073 fatalities, as well as causing mass flooding and power outages in southern Africa. WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London. The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 takes place in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is won by Dutch entrant Duncan Laurence with the song "Arcade".