Stories that made headlines around the world in 2019 Jan: Brazil dam collapse Mar: Mozambique cyclone Mar: NZ massacre Apr: Sri Lanka bombings Apr: Notre-Dame blaze Jun: Hong Kong protests Jul: PM Boris Aug: Kashmir status Aug: Amazon wildfires Sep: Trump Ukraine storm Oct: Catalan leaders jailed Oct: Turkish Syria incursion Nov: Kartarpur Corridor Jan 1: NASA’s New Horizons probe makes a successful flyby of Ultima Thule, in the Kuiper belt, the most distant object yet visited by a spacecraft Jan 25: A dam collapse at an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, triggers a mudflow that leaves more than 270 people dead Feb 1: The U.S. suspends the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987, citing Russian non-compliance. Russia says it will also withdraw Feb 12: Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is found guilty of 10 criminal charges in the U.S., and is later jailed for life Feb 12: The Republic of North Macedonia formally comes into being, ending a 27-year naming dispute with Greece Mar 13: Boeing grounds its entire 737 MAX passenger fleet after a software fault causes two deadly crashes within five months Mar 15: A gunman kills 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, the deadliest attack in New Zealand’s history Mar 15: Cyclone Idai devastates Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, impacting over 2.6m people. Mozambique’s port city of Beira is 90% destroyed Mar 23: U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 election concludes it did not find any evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump broke the law Apr 11: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is arrested and removed from the Ecuador embassy in London where he took refuge in 2012 Apr 11: Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is deposed in a coup after nearly 30 years in office Apr 15: A major fire engulfs the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The spire and roof collapse but the bell towers and valuable treasures are saved Apr 21: Multiple bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka kill more than 250 people and injure 500 Apr 21: Comic actor Volodymyr Zelensky is a surprise winner of Ukraine’s presidential election May 1: Emperor Naruhito of Japan accedes to the Chrysanthemum Throne after the abdication of his father, Akihito May 6: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcome their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, but their relationship with the British press sours over the year Jun 9: Mass protests begin in Hong Kong over plans to allow extradition to mainland China. The bill is later withdrawn but increasingly violent demonstrations continue throughout the year Jul 17: The Ebola outbreak in D.R. Congo worsens, with deaths soon topping 2,000 Jul 19: Tensions between Iran and the West increase over the summer with a number of seizures and attacks aimed at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz Jul 24: Boris Johnson becomes UK prime minister, replacing Theresa May whose failure to deliver Brexit forces her resignation Jul 25: Germany and France record temperatures of 42.6C as heat records tumble across Europe Aug 5: India’s government revokes disputed Kashmir’s special status and deploys thousands of troops to the Muslim-majority region Aug 10: U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein is found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges Aug 20: Multiple wildfires in the Amazon rainforest destroy vast tracts of land and darken skies over major cities across Brazil Sep 1: Hurricane Dorian slams into the Bahamas, causing damage estimated at $3.4bn, over 25% of GDP Sep 23: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 16, attends the UN climate summit in New York after crossing the Atlantic in a zero-carbon racing yacht. She refuses to fly because of toxic aviation emissions Sep 24: The U.S. House of Representatives launches impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, accusing him of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation into his Democratic rival Joe Biden Sep 25: Beijing Daxing International Airport, the world’s biggest single-building airport terminal, opens in China Oct 9: Turkey invades northeast Syria following President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of the region Oct 14: Spain’s Supreme Court jails nine Catalan separatist leaders, prompting major protests in Barcelona and beyond Oct 18: Mass protests spread through Chile over rising living costs and growing inequality Oct 27: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, fugitive leader of Islamic State, kills himself after U.S. forces track him down in Syria Nov 9: The Kartarpur Corridor opens, allowing Indian Sikhs visa-free access to a holy site just inside Pakistan for the first time since partition in 1947 Nov 10: Bolivia’s President Evo Morales is forced to resign amid accusations of electoral fraud Nov 21: Firefighters battle 200 fires across Australia, with New South Wales particularly hard hit Dec 1: Ursula von der Leyen of Germany takes office as the first female President of the European Commission Dec 12: UK voters head to the polls in an election dominated by the Brexit impasse Pictures: Associated Press, Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS