Well, we all know what this year has been like…so let’s get to it.
January
- January 3 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia ends its 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.
- January 10 – Died – David Bowie, English singer, songwriter and actor (b. 1947)
- January 14
- Died – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager for Celine Dion (b. 1942)
- Died – Alan Rickman, English actor and director (b. 1946)
- 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.
- January 18 Died – Glenn Frey, American musician (b. 1948)
- January 26 – Died – Abe Vigoda, American actor (b. 1921)
- January 28 – The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.
- January 28 – Died
- Paul Kantner, American singer and musician (b. 1941)
- Signe Toly Anderson, American singer (b. 1941)
February
- February 7 – North Korea launches a long-range rocket into space, violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
- 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 split in 1054.
February Deaths
- February 3
- Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (b. 1952)
- Maurice White, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
- February 4 – Edgar Mitchell, American astronaut (b. 1930)
- February 13 – Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1936)
- February 15 – George Gaynes, Dutch-born American actor (b. 1917)
- February 16 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the UN (b. 1922)
- February 19 – Harper Lee, American writer (b. 1926)
- February 22 –Douglas Slocombe, British cinematographer (b. 1913)
- February 23 –Donald E. Williams, American astronaut (b. 1942)
- February 25 – Tony Burton, American actor (b. 1937)
- February 28 – George Kennedy, American actor (b. 1925)
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.
- March 22 – Three coordinated bombings in Brussels, Belgium kill at least 32 and injure at least 250. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attacks.
- 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.
- March 27 – A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore kills 75 people and injures around 340 others with a millitant Sunni Islamic organization claiming responsibility for targeting Christians celebrating Easter.
March Deaths
- March 5 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer (b. 1941)
- March 6 – Nancy Reagan, American actress, First Lady of the United States (b. 1921)
- March 23 – Ken Howard, American actor (b. 1944)
- March 24
- Roger Cicero, German jazz and pop musician (b. 1970)
- Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (b. 1947)
- Garry Shandling, American actor and comedian (b. 1949)
- March 26 – Raúl Cárdenas, Mexican footballer and coach (b. 1928)
- March 29 – Patty Duke, American actress (b. 1946)
April
- April 2 – Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani military in Nagorno-Karabakh kill at least 193 people, which becomes the heaviest breach of the 1994 ceasefire.
- April 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publishes 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 Deaths
- April 2
- Amber Rayne, American pornographic actress (b. 1984)
- April 6 – Merle Haggard, American country singer (b. 1937)
- April 12
- Balls Mahoney, American professional wrestler (b. 1972)
- April 17 – Doris Roberts, American actress (b. 1925)
- April 19
- Patricio Aylwin, 32nd President of Chile (b. 1918)
- Ronit Elkabetz, Israeli actress and film director (b. 1964)
- Walter Kohn, Austrian-born American Nobel physicist (b. 1923)
- April 20 – Chyna, American professional wrestler (b. 1969)
- April 21 – Prince, American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (b. 1958)
- April 24
- Billy Paul, American singer (b. 1934)
- Papa Wemba, Congolese singer (b. 1949)
May
- May 19 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes with 66 people on board over the Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo.
- 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 convicted a former ruler of a country within its jurisdiction.
May Deaths
- May 2 – Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, mother of Tupac Shakur (b. 1947)
- May 4
- Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, 2nd President of Burundi (b. 1946)
- Bob Bennett, American politician (b. 1933)
- May 19
- Alan Young, English-Canadian actor (b. 1919)
June
- June 1 – The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world’s longest and deepest railway tunnel, is opened following two decades of construction work.
- June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.[18]
- June 28 – ISIL claims responsibility for attacking Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, killing 45 and injuring around 230.
June Deaths
- June 3
- Muhammad Ali, American boxer (b. 1942)
- June 5 – Jerome Bruner, American psychologist (b. 1915)
- June 6
- Kimbo Slice, Bahamian-born American mixed martial artist (b. 1974)
- June 10
- Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1928)
- Christina Grimmie, American singer (b. 1994)
- June 23
- Michael Herr, American writer, journalist and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- Ralph Stanley, American bluegrass musician (b. 1927)
- June 27
- Bud Spencer, Italian actor (b. 1929)
- Alvin Toffler, American writer and futurist (b. 1928)
- June 28
- Scotty Moore, American guitarist (b. 1931)
- Pat Summitt, American basketball coach (b. 1952)
July
- July 1 – Latvia becomes the 35th member of the OECD.
- 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 22 – The final videocassette recorder is manufactured by the Japanese company Funai.
- July 26 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.
July Deaths
- July 2
- Michael Cimino, American screenwriter and film director (b. 1939)
- Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born American Nobel writer and political activist (b. 1928)
- July 16 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (b. 1941)
- July 19
- Garry Marshall, American film director, television producer and actor (b. 1934)
- Anthony D. Smith, British historical sociologist (b. 1939)
- July 24 – Marni Nixon, American vocalist (b. 1930)
- July 25
- Dwight Jones, American basketball player (b. 1952)
- Tim LaHaye, American evangelist and author (b. 1926)
- July 27
- Jerry Doyle, American talk show host and actor (b. 1956)
- July 30 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress (b. 1925)
August
- August 5–21 – The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- August 31 – The Brazilian Senate votes (61–20) 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.
August Deaths
- August 14
- Fyvush Finkel, American actor (b. 1922)
- August 15
- Bobby Hutcherson, American jazz musician (b. 1941)
- August 23
- Steven Hill, American film and television actor (b. 1922)
- August 25
- Sonia Rykiel, French fashion designer (b. 1930)
- Rudy Van Gelder, American recording engineer (b. 1924)
- August 28
- Mr. Fuji, American professional wrestler and wrestling manager (b. 1934)
- Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
- August 29 – Gene Wilder, American actor (b. 1933)
September
- September 3 – The US and China, together responsible for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions, both ratify the Paris global climate agreement.
- September 9 – The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with the South 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.
- Global CO2 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, Seascape at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, stolen on December 7, 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam are recovered, with a combined value of $100 million.
September Deaths
- September 1 – Jon Polito, American actor (b. 1950)
- September 5
- Hugh O’Brian, American actor (b. 1925)
- Phyllis Schlafly, American writer and political activist (b. 1924)
- September 7
- Norbert Schemansky, American weightlifter (b. 1924)
- Joseph Keller, American mathematician (b. 1923)
- September 11 – Alexis Arquette, American actress (b. 1969)
- September 24
- September 25
- Arnold Palmer, American golfer (b. 1929)
- September 26 – Herschell Gordon Lewis, American film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- September 28
- Shimon Peres, 9th President and 8th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1923)
- Jamshid Amouzegar, 71st Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1923)
October
- October 13 – The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations.
- October 15 – 150 nations meeting at the UNEP summit in Rwanda agree to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), as an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
October Deaths
- October 20
- Michael Massee, American actor (b. 1955)
- October 23
- Pete Burns, British singer (b. 1959)
- October 24
November
- November 8 – The United States experienced an unimaginable pain with the election (or selection) of a bonafide idiot as President elect of the country.
November Deaths
- November 7
- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, songwriter and poet (b. 1934)
- Janet Reno, American lawyer (b. 1938)
- November 8 – the souls of black folks, hispanics, asians, native americans and the few white folks that got some sense and decency
- November 11
- Robert Vaughn, American actor (b. 1932)
- November 13
- Leon Russell, American musician (b. 1942)
- November 14 – Gardnar Mulloy, American tennis player (b. 1913)
- November 15
- Mose Allison, American jazz musician (b. 1927)
- November 23 – Andrew Sachs, German-born British actor (b. 1930)
- November 24
- Florence Henderson, American actress (b. 1934)
- November 25
- Fidel Castro, 16th Prime Minister and 17th President of Cuba (b. 1926)
- Ron Glass, American actor (b. 1945)
December
- December 19 – Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is assassinated in Ankara.
- December 22 – A study finds the VSV-EBOV vaccine against the Ebola virus between 70-100% effective, and thus making it the first proven vaccine against the disease.
- December 23 – United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2334 condemning “Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967“.
- December 29 – President Obama drop kicks Russian fuckers up out the country in retaliation for hacks that led to a blithering numbskull as his successor in office.
December Deaths
- December 2 – Sammy Lee, American Olympic diver (b. 1920)
- December 4 – Gotlib, French comic artist (b. 1934)
- December 8
- John Glenn, American aviator, astronaut and politician (b. 1921)
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- Joseph Mascolo, American actor (b. 1929)
- December 13
- Alan Thicke, Canadian actor and songwriter (b. 1947)
- December 17 – Henry Heimlich, American physician (b. 1920)
- December 18 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (b. 1917)
- December 20 – Michèle Morgan, French actress (b. 1920)
- Piers Sellers, British-American astronaut and meteorologist (b. 1955)
- Vesna Vulović, Serbian air disaster survivor (b. 1950)
- December 24
- Richard Adams, British author (b. 1920)
- Rick Parfitt, British musician (b. 1948)
- Liz Smith, British actress (b. 1921)
- December 25
- George Michael, British singer (b. 1963)
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- Vera Rubin, American astronomer (b. 1928)
- December 27
- Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer (b. 1956)
- December 28
- Debbie Reynolds, American actress (b. 1932)