Crime & Justice in the 21st century

395 sourced entries, 2000 CE to 2025 CE, oldest first. Also see Crime & Justice across every century or everything else in the 21st century.

2000January 6 – The last naturally conceived Pyrenean ibex is found dead, presumed to have been killed by a falling tree.source
2000January 14 – The United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of more than 100 Bosnian Muslims.source
200026 March – A 22-year-old man opens fire from his apartment in Chur, killing a police dog and wounding two officers as they respond to the attack. In the only such case in Swiss police history, officers authorize a sniper to shoot the suspect to death.Switzerland source
2000April 4: Former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghyan leaves Armenia while police investigates charges on him for murder.Armenia source
2000The UN Security Council suspends the international air embargo and other sanctions against Libya after two suspects for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing trial are handed over.Libya source
200013 May - first murder committed by serial killers Ludwig Tolumov and Ivan SerafimovBulgaria source
200024 June – Reminiscencias dance club shooting: Juan de Jesús Lozano Velásquez kills 11 people and injures seven at the Reminiscencias dance club in Bogotá after opening fire with a machine gun.Colombia source
2000July 9 - Mary MacMakin, a U.S. aid worker in her 70s who has spent the last 30 years in Afghanistan, is arrested in Kabul on suspicion of espionage. The U.S. government calls the accusations "ridiculous."Afghanistan source
200011 August – S. M. A. Rob, Khulna City Corporation mayoral candidate of the Awami League, was shot dead in front of his home.Bangladesh source
2000September 16 – Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.source
2000Susanthika Jayasinghe won a bronze medal in the women's 200m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the first Olympic medal won by a Sri Lankan woman. Subsequent investigations revealed that the bronze medal won by Susanthika Jayasinghe was converted to a silver medal due to Marianne Jones, an American who won the gold medal in that event, being found guilty of a prohibited stimulant offense.Sri Lanka source
200116 January – President Laurent-Desire Kabila is shot and killed by a bodyguard.Democratic Republic of the Congo source
20011 April – Arrest in Belgrade of deposed president Slobodan Milošević.Montenegro source
20019th - 126 football supporters die at the Accra Sports Stadium.Ghana source
2001June 7 – Former Argentinian president Carlos Menem is arrested on suspicion of illegal arms sales.source
2001July 20–22 – The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations, drawing an estimated 200,000 people, are held against the meeting by members of the anti-globalization movement. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is killed by a policeman, and several others are injured.source
2001August 24 – Heino murders: Four teenagers murdered businessman Martti Heino and his wife Elise Heino in Loppi.Finland source
2001September 11 – Suicide attacks on the U.S. kill more than 3,000 people and destroy the two towers of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, using three hijacked passenger airliners as cruise missiles, with a fourth, also hijacked, crashing in a field in Pennsylvania. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered on Saudi-born terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who was living in and working from Afghanistan. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan leaders condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.Afghanistan source
2001September 11: Korean Air Flight 085 false alarm hijackingSouth Korea source
2001September 15 – Meir Weisshaus, 23, of Jerusalem, was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting on the Ramot-French Hill road.Palestine source
2001United States Secretary of State Colin Powell confirmed that Osama bin Laden was a suspect, but not the only suspect, for the September 11th attacks. Powell was in contact with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf to build cooperation in fighting terrorism and to discuss the possibility of U.S. usage of Pakistani air space. Powell also announced that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would soon travel to Moscow for talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov about Afghanistan.Afghanistan source
2001December 2 – Haifa bus 16 suicide bombing: A Hamas militant carries out a suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel, killing 15 people.source
2001Date unknown - 2001 Lao LeagueLaos source
2002February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.source
2002February 14 – The International Court of Justice rules in favor of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 case.source
2002February 23 – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnap the presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt, holding her captive for the next six years.source
200223 February – Presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt and her campaign manager Clara Rojas are kidnapped by the FARC near San Vicente del Caguán.Colombia source
2002Miss Thailand Universe 2002 took place on March 23. Janjira Janchome was the winner of the beauty contest.Thailand source
2002April 12 – Augustin Bizimungu is arrested for his involvement in the Rwandan genocide.source
2002April 15 – Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti is captured by the Israel Defense Forces in Palestinian Authority administered city of Ramallah.Palestine source
2002May 10 – American FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life in prison for espionage.source
2002June 12 – The ImClone stock trading case begins when ImClone Systems CEO Samuel D. Waksal is arrested for insider trading.source
2002July 11 – Former Argentine junta leader Leopoldo Galtieri is arrested for the kidnap, torture, and murder of 20 leftist guerillas during the Dirty War.source
2002July 23 – Salvadoran generals José Guillermo García and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova are found liable for torture in an American court.source
2002September 11 – Yemeni al-Qaeda operative Ramzi bin al-Shibh is arrested in Pakistan for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He will later be found unfit to stand trial.source
2002October 2 – Former Republika Srpska president Biljana Plavšić pleads guilty to crimes against humanity for her involvement in the Bosnian genocide.source
200212 October – Heshu Yones, murder victim. (b.1986)Iraq source
2002October 24 – The culprits of the D.C. sniper attacks are arrested after they kill ten people in the United States over the previous three weeks.source
2002U.S. special forces shot and killed a gunman who fired on them near the central Afghan town of Deh Rawod. The forces were helping an Afghan policeman who had been fired on when two attackers in civilian clothing opened fire on the U.S. forces with AK-47 assault rifles. The soldiers returned fire, killing one man. The other escaped.Afghanistan source
2002A United Nations panel recommended sanctions against 29 companies, including the George Forrest Group, for the way their operations did business in the DR Congo. The panel also recommended sanctions against 54 individuals.Democratic Republic of the Congo source
2002Kuwaiti Premier League 2001–02Kuwait source
2002Benjamin Kimutai wins the Amsterdam MarathonNetherlands source
2003January 23 – The 1492 painting Descent into Limbo by Andrea Mantegna sells for $28.6 million.source
2003February 27 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić is sentenced by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to 11 years in prison for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War.source
2003March 1 – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of al-Qaeda is captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.source
2003March 11 – The International Criminal Court begins operations.source
2003April 20 – The North Korean ship Pong Su is seized by the Royal Australian Navy for smuggling heroin into the country.source
2003May 25 — A Boeing 727 aircraft is stolen from an airport in Luanda, Angola triggering an international terrorist investigation by the FBI and CIA. The aircraft and its pilots were never found.source
2003May 26 – Georges Rutaganda becomes the first person to be convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and his previous charges are upheld.source
2003May 30 – Opposition figures and peace activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are arrested in Myanmar.source
2003May 31 - 18 Tibetan asylum-seekers are forcibly returned to China despite international appeals.Nepal source
2003July 11 – Zahra Kazemi, Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer murdered by the Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi. (born 1949)Iran source
2003July 31 – Milomir Stakić receives the first life sentence issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.source
2003August 11 – Riduan Isamuddin, head of the Indonesian Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah, is arrested in Ayutthaya, Thailand.source
2003August 19 – Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills at least 18 people in a bus bombing in Jerusalem.source
200330 August – The FARC releases a second proof of life to the family of kidnapped French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.Colombia source
2003A report issued by the United Nations stated that Afghanistan had re-emerged as the world's leading source for opium and heroin. The report estimated that 500,000 people were involved in Afghanistan's trafficking chain and estimated an annual income at $25 billion.Afghanistan source
2003September 10 – Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri release their first video statement since 2001.source
2003September 26 – A Palestinian Arab gunman enters a home in Negohot, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank near Hebron, and murders seven-month-old Shaked Avraham and 27-year-old Eyal Yeberbaum, and wounds both of the baby girl's parents as they are celebrating the Jewish New Year. The gunman is later killed by Israeli security forces. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack.Palestine source
2003September 29 – The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime comes into force.source
2003October 16 – Argentine General Antonio Domingo Bussi is detained for crimes committed in the Dirty War.source
2003October 27 – Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky is arrested. Critics allege that this is a political action by the government to control Russian oligarchs.source
2003November 26 – Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi General, tortured to death by the USA Army personnel while in prison.Iraq source
2003December 5 – Trial of Stanislav Galić: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentences Stanislav Galić to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity.source
2003December 13 – Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army.source
2003The South African national cricket team toured Bangladesh in April and May and played a two-match Test series against the Bangladeshi national cricket team. South Africa won the Test series 2–0.Bangladesh source
20032003 Belizean general electionBelize source
2004January 14 - A 45-year-old Sudanese man travelling from Washington Dulles International Airport to airport Dubai is arrested en route at London's Heathrow Airport on suspicion of carrying five bullets in his coat pocket.United Arab Emirates source
2004March 29 - Maoist leader Mohan Baidya is arrested in Siliguri, India.Nepal source
2004March 31 – The International Court of Justice rules in the Avena case that the United States had violated its obligations to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations when prosecuting Mexican nationals.source
2004April 6 – A military tribunal tries 13 people accused of conspiring to overthrow President Compaore the previous year.Burkina Faso source
2004April 17 – Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.source
2004April 24 – Ukrainian boxer Vitali Klitschko becomes the WBC world heavyweight champion after defeating his opponent Corrie Sanders.source
2004June 1 – Nguyễn Quang Thường, Deputy General Director of PetroVietnam, was arrested.Vietnam source
2004July 1 – Saddam Hussein appears in court for his charges to be read.source
2004August 29 - The IOC officially stripped Adrián Annus of his Hammer Throw gold for the doping scandalHungary source
2004August 31 – Former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević stands trial for crimes against humanity.source
2004September 22: Experts and officials from Interpol and 19 countries met Tuesday in Burkina Faso to elaborate a strategy to combat terrorism and crime in Africa. Countries participating included Chad.Chad source
200417 to 28 September - Hong Kong at the 2004 Summer ParalympicsHong Kong source
2004October 29 – Osama bin Laden releases a video taking credit for the September 11 attacks.source
2004Kuwaiti Premier League 2004–05.Kuwait source
2005January 20 - Italian police have arrested number of people connected to smuggling of illegal immigrants from Libya.Libya source
2005January 23 - Yusuf Ahmed Sarinle, the police chief in the capital, Mogadishu, is shot dead. The new Somali government is slated to begin relocating from Kenya on February 1.Somalia source
200519 April – The first part of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being taken by Mussolini to Rome in 1937.Ethiopia source
200515 May - Murder of Alabi Hassan OlajokuNigeria source
2005A man with mental illness is shot fatally outside the Israeli embassy in the capital of Tashkent, with government sources alleging him to be a suicide bomber.Uzbekistan source
2005October 19 – The trial of Saddam Hussein begins.source
2005October 27 - The police arrests 4 persons suspected to be part of an Islamic extremist terrorist cell planning suicide attacks. The arrests are reported to be connected to other arrests made in Bosnia; weapons and explosives have been found in Sarajevo . The following day two more Danes were arrested in Denmark .Denmark source
2005November 11 – In Kazakhstan, Zamanbek Nurkadilov, former mayor of Almaty, government minister and a political opponent of Nursultan Nazarbayev is found dead at his family compound.source
2005November 11 – oppositionist Zamanbek Nurkadilov is found dead in his apartment in Almaty.Kazakhstan source
200531 December – 2005 Palu market bombing.Indonesia source
2005Amari Saifi ("Abderrezak el-Para), a leading member of the GSPC captured in Chad in October 2004, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Algiers. He failed to turn up to his trial, sparking speculation. (Reuters).Algeria source
2006January 20 – Bùi Tiến Dũng, General Director of PMU18, was arrested in PMU 18 scandal.Vietnam source
2006January 30 – Jennifer San Marco goes on a killing spree in Goleta, California, United States, that leaves seven people dead before she takes her own life.source
2006February 14 - Kenyan police instruct 20 leading figures not to leave the country as investigations into two corruption scandals, the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals continue. Among the people told to hand in their passports is George Saitoti whose resignation as education minister was announced by President Mwai Kibaki yesterday. Meanwhile, 80 Members of Parliament have demanded the resignation of Deputy President Moody Awori, who is accused of involvement in the Anglo-Leasing scandal.Kenya source
2006April 4 – The Faddoul Brothers, kidnapped on February 23, 2006, in Caracas, Venezuela, are found dead, causing outrage and mass protests against insecurity in the country.source
200627 April - the Bus Uncle viral video is filmedHong Kong source
2006July 1 - A man is arrested after crashing a car into the gates of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's residence in Auckland, New Zealand.Tonga source
2006July 6 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, serial shooter Martín Ríos opens fire against passers-by on Cabildo Avenue, killing an 18-year-old and injuring six others.source
2006August 28 – Armenian tennis champion Andre Agassi played at the U.S. Open. It was the last opportunity for tennis fans to see Agassi in the Association of Tennis Professionals play live. He faced Romania's Andrei Pavel in the first round.Armenia source
2006Gabriel Rufyiri, head of the anti-corruption group OLUCOME, is imprisoned on libel charges after denouncing government corruption.Burundi source
2006September 21 - Komiljon Usmanov is on trial for "threatening Uzbekistan's constitutional order and public security," and is accused of allegedly leading the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. Usmanov was sentenced in 2001 to 10 years in jail on similar charges, but was freed under an amnesty. He maintains his innocence.Uzbekistan source
2006November 5 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He is later executed by hanging for crimes against humanity on December 30.source
20062006 Belizean municipal electionsBelize source
2007January 31 – Boston, Massachusetts, United States faces a hoax bomb scare, as a result of LED placards of Ignignokt and Err from Aqua Teen Hunger Force being mistaken as an improvised explosive device.source
2007April 10: Serbia's war crimes court has jailed four Serb paramilitaries who were filmed as they shot dead six captured young Bosnian Muslims.Bosnia and Herzegovina source
2007April 26–27 – "Bronze Night": Ethnic Russian riot in Tallinn and other cities in Estonia against the moving of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet World War II memorial statue. 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia begin.source
200717 June: Sierra Leone lost to Mali 0-3 in BamakoSierra Leone source
2007June 22–June 24 – Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit commits a double-murder suicide on his wife and youngest son at their home in Fayetteville, Georgia, United States.source
2007July 5 – Eight Kenyan cattle raiders have been killed by the Uganda People's Defence Force.Kenya source
2007July 21 - Two Rwandan men wanted for their role in the 1994 genocide are arrested in France.Rwanda source
2007August 6 - The Lebanese government claim that the police have killed Abu Hureira, the second in command of Fatah al-Islam.Lebanon source
2007August 22: The U.S. Campaign for Burma claims that Myanmar's military government has arrested at least nine leaders of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students.Myanmar source
2007October 12 - United States evangelical missionary Steve Goldbold is kidnapped by MDJT rebels in the Tibesti region. The MDJT leader Aboubakar Choua Dazi accuses Goldbold to be "in the service of the regime in N'Djamena to create division in the center of the movement".Chad source
2007October 14: 2007 Togolese parliamentary electionTogo source
2007December 20 – The Pablo Picasso painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, together with Candido Portinari's O Lavrador de Café, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.source
2007Mauritania is the last country to criminalise slavery (officially abolished in 1981), making the practice illegal everywhere in the world.source
2008January 18 - An editor of an independent newspaper who reproduced the controversial cartoons of Muhammad was jailed for three years.Belarus source
2008January 18 – The director of radio FM Liberté is released, but charged with defamation and incitement to tribal hatred.Chad source
2008January 30 - FBI director Robert Mueller visits Vietnam and Cambodia on a mission to expand legal cooperation. In Phnom Penh, he is to open a new FBI office.Cambodia source
2008April 29 – Grand Theft Auto IV is released worldwide, selling over 3.6 million units and earning $310 million during the first day, becoming not only the highest grossing video game release of all time, but also the highest grossing entertainment product release ever.source
2008May 12 – The mummified body of Hedviga Golik is found in her apartment in Zagreb, Croatia 42 years after her death.source
2008July 1: A court in Oran overturned the 2006 defamation conviction of a reporter and her newspaper supervisor. Salima Tiemcani and Omar Belhouchet were each fined approximately $790 after an investigation into drug trafficking in the western region of Algeria, which was considered defamatory. The overturning of their sentence after an appeal filed on June 7 is a first in the annals of Algerian justice.Algeria source
2008July 11 – South Korea suspends all trips to North Korea's Mount Kumgang after a 53-year-old South Korean tourist is shot and killed by a North Korean sentry.source
2008July 21 – Radovan Karadžić, the first president of the Republika Srpska, is arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on allegations of war crimes, following a 12-year-long manhunt.source
2008September 5 - Pamela Jelimo wins the IAAF Golden League jackpotKenya source
2008September 7: 2008 Hong Kong legislative electionHong Kong source
2008September 21 - 2008 Slovenian parliamentary electionSlovenia source
2008November 26–29 – 2008 Mumbai attacks: Ten terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror group, carry out four days of coordinated bombing and shooting attacks across Mumbai, killing 166 people. One terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was captured alive and executed in 2012.source
2008December 11 – Bernard Madoff is arrested for securities fraud after he was turned in by his sons for operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, later known as the Madoff investment scandal.source
2008December 18 – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Théoneste Bagosora and two other senior Rwandan army officers guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences them to life imprisonment for their role in the Rwandan genocide.source
2008December 18 - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Théoneste Bagosora guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences him to life imprisonment.Rwanda source
2009January 1 – A Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer shoots and kills Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, at Fruitvale station in Oakland, United States. The event becomes one of the inciting incidents for the global Black Lives Matter movement.source
2009January 21 – Virginia Tech student Zhu Haiyang decapitates Yang Xin in the first campus murder since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.source
2009January 26 – The first trial at the International Criminal Court opens. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage and rape.source
2009February 18: Al-Jazeera aired a recording by members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in which they claim to have kidnapped two Canadian diplomats, one of them a former advisor to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The men were abducted in Niger in December 2008. Salah Abu Mohammed, spokesman for the Algerian/North African group, also claimed responsibility for the capture of four European tourists in January 2009. The four were kidnapped in Mali, and are a British citizen, two Swiss, and a German.Algeria source
2009February 18: Togolese security forces shoot and kill three serial robbers of patrons of the Lomé International AirportTogo source
2009February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.source
2009March 4 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.source
2009April 8 - April 12 – Maersk Alabama Hijacking occurs, the ship being taken over by Somalian pirates off the coast of Somalia.source
2009April 14 - Somali pirates hijack the MV Irene of Greece and MV Sea Horse of Lebanon. They also attempted to hijack the MV Safmarine Asia.Somalia source
2009July 4 – Steve McNair, former NFL quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, is shot and killed by his girlfriend in Nashville, Tennessee.source
2009October 6 - One of the most wanted suspects involved in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Idelphonse Nizeyimana, is arrested in the Ugandan capital Kampala.Rwanda source
2009October 15 – It is revealed the company Trafigura has been using a super-injunction to stop The Guardian from reporting about the 2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic dumping incident, which Trafigura was responsible for.source
2009October 20 – WikiLeaks leaked the membership listing of a radical political group known as the British National Party.source
2009November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 58 people are abducted and killed in the province of Maguindanao, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists called the single deadliest attack on journalists in history.source
2009Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom Ltd is decided March 18Belize source
20092008–09 Lithuanian Football CupLithuania source
2009Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009Slovakia source
2009Regina Chiluba, wife of former President Frederick Chiluba, was arrested on charges of fraud. On 3 March, she was sentenced to three and half years for illegally receiving government funds and properties.Zambia source
2010January 6 - Yemen arrests three suspected al-Qaeda members, including one leader, northwest of the capital Sana'a.Yemen source
2010February 19 – the court case Philip Morris v. Uruguay begins.Uruguay source
2010March 1 - 63-year-old former President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ejup Ganić is detained at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the UK to escape charges of war crimes.Bosnia and Herzegovina source
2010March 22 – Four-year-old Paulette Gebara Farah disappears from her family's home located in Huixquilucan, State of Mexico.source
2010April 5 – Julian Assange leaks footage of a 2007 airstrike in Iraq titled "Collateral Murder" on the website WikiLeaks.source
2010May 20 – Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.source
2010August 14–26 – Lithuania achieved 19th place in 2010 Summer Youth Olympics with 5 medal (3 golden and 2 bronze)Lithuania source
201030 August – The 2010 Bratislava shootingSlovakia source
2010September 20 - France sends dozens of soldiers equipped with Breguet Atlantique and Mirage aircraft to Niamey in its search for 7 kidnapped hostages.Niger source
2010September 22 – Anonymous initiates Operation Payback, a coordinated cyberattack on multiple corporations, law firms, and politicians over the banning of file-sharing websites such as LimeWire and The Pirate Bay and also the politicians and financial institutions against WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website.source
2010November 13 – Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her house arrest after being incarcerated since 1989.source
2010Hundreds of people are alleged to have been abducted since the election according to the UN.Ivory Coast source
2010Gang Suppression Unit is foundedBelize source
2011January 7 – A Bangladeshi teenage girl Felani Khatun, was shot dead by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on the Anantapur border area under Phulbari upazila in Kurigram. Her body was hanging from the fence for four and half hours. Global human rights organizations, including the media, became protesters.source
2011January 20 - Somali pirates seize a Mongolian bulk carrier off the coast of Oman.Oman source
2011January 24 - Yemen frees a female activist accused of inciting disorder after protests demanding her release.Yemen source
2011Ivory Coast security forces kill at least six women marching in support of Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan.Ivory Coast source
2011April 11 – Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested in his home in Abidjan by supporters of elected President Alassane Ouattara, with support from French forces; this effectively ends the 2010–11 Ivorian crisis and civil war.source
2011April 15 – The Mexican town of Cherán is taken over by vigilantes in response to abuses from the local drug cartel. The new government is strongly focused on crime reduction and preserving the local environment.source
2011April 25 - Hundreds of people demonstrating during a "day of rage" against the regime of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz are tear gassed by police, while others are arrested and opposition MPs deterred from joining the protests.Mauritania source
2011May 12 - The International Criminal Court asks the United Nations Security Council to take action over Djibouti's failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was indicted by the court on charges of war crimes.Djibouti source
2011May 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.source
2011June 22 – Former Winter Hill Gang leader James "Whitey" Bulger is arrested in Santa Monica, California following an anonymous tip.source
2011July 20 – Goran Hadžić is detained in Serbia, becoming the last of 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.source
2011August 2: Second major teacher's strike.Honduras source
2011October 20 – Basque separatist militant organisation ETA declares an end to its 43-year campaign of political violence, which has killed over 800 people since 1968.source
2011Organization for Security and Co-operation in EuropeLithuania source
2012February 26 – Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, Florida.source
2012March 15 – Communist party chief of Chongqing Bo Xilai, well known for his neo-Maoist leanings and policies, is removed from his post after a large scandal involving the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood and an incident involving the Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun.source
201228 March: Ghazi Beji and Jabeur Mejri are sentenced to imprisonment for "transgressing morality, defamation and disrupting public order" after posting naked caricatures of Muhammad to Facebook.Tunisia source
2012March 31 - Ahmed Ismail Hassan, a journalist and videographer, was shot and killed by security forces.Bahrain source
2012April 25 – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War.source
2012May 13: Valletta F.C. wins their 21st title of the Maltese Premier League.Malta source
20128 June – Jamaican "drug lord" Christopher "Dudus" Coke is sentenced to 23 years in a U.S. prison.Jamaica source
2012July 15 – South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style.source
2012July 31: The wife of the Finance Minister Hector Guillén is arrested in Tegucigalpa with one million Lempiras (about $50.000).Honduras source
2012October 3 – Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal: Mark Williams-Thomas presents the ITV documentary which exposes Jimmy Savile as a paedophile. The revelations of Savile's prolific sexual abuse crimes results in widespread shock and disgust across the country, resulting in a national scandal, a police investigation into Savile's crimes, and all television episodes featuring him being removed from syndication.source
2012October 14 - Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, shot by troops yesterday, is flown to France.Mauritania source
2012October 16 – Seven paintings worth $25 million are stolen from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.source
2012October 28 – Jorge Lorenzo becomes the World Champion of the 2012 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.source
20129 November – Milan Čič, lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Slovak Socialist Republic from 1989 to 1990 (born 1932).Slovakia source
201229 November: A UN war crimes tribunal acquits former Kosovan Prime Minister and former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes, prompting Serbia to denounce the court.Kosovo source
2012December 14 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Adam Lanza kills his mother before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School, shooting dead twenty students and six teachers before killing himself in Newtown, Connecticut. It becomes the deadliest school shooting at a K-12 school in U.S. history.source
2012December 16 – The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, otherwise known as the Nirbhaya case, occurred on the night of December 16, 2012. The case involved the fatal assault of a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern by a group of six men in a moving bus.source
201313 January - Pădurea Domnească case is made public.Moldova source
2013February 11 – The Emergency Alert Systems of five different television stations across the U.S. states of Montana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico are hijacked, airing a false "Zombie apocalypse" hoax. It is amongst one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in EAS history.source
2013A 16-year-old is shot dead at close range in Al-Daih, a village west of Manama.Bahrain source
2013April 13 – Venezuelan presidential election: Nicolás Maduro is declared winner with a narrow victory over his opponent Henrique Capriles Radonski. Protests continue to October.source
201321 July – Murder of Dwayne JonesJamaica source
20137 September – Marek Špilár, football player (born 1975)Slovakia source
2013September 17 – Grand Theft Auto V earns more than half a billion dollars on its first day of release.source
20132 November - Two French journalists are abducted—and later executed—in Kidal by AQIM-linked armed jihadists.Mali source
2013November 12 – Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a series of portraits of Lucian Freud by the British painter Francis Bacon, sells for US$142.4 million in a New York City auction, setting a world record for an auctioned work of art.source
2013Lithuania at the 2013 Summer UniversiadeLithuania source
2013Arafat Mohammad flees Myanmar by boat to Malaysia after being targeted for assisting assault victims.Myanmar source
2013Ongoing: 2012–2013 Slovenian protestsSlovenia source
2014February 16 – A riot breaks out at the Australian-administered Manus Regional Processing Centre in Manus Province, killing 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati and injuring 70 more. Two men are later found guilty of the murder of the man, each sentenced to 10 years in prison, with 5 years of that term suspended.Papua New Guinea source
2014March 6 - Niger deports Saadi al-Gaddafi, son of Muammar al-Gaddafi, to Libya.Niger source
2014April 14 – Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping: an estimated 276 girls and women are abducted from a school in Nigeria and held hostage.source
2014May 5 – Boko Haram militants kill approximately 300 people in a night attack on Gamboru Ngala in Nigeria.source
2014May 21 - Ten men convicted for producing poisoned alcohol that killed more than 30 people in 2012 have been sentenced to prison by a court in the Czech Republic, including 2 life sentences.Czech Republic source
2014July 8–August 26 – Amid growing tensions between Israel and Hamas following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June and the revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in July, Israel launches Operation Protective Edge against Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip starting with numerous missile strikes, followed by a ground offensive a week later. In seven weeks of fighting, 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis are killed.source
2014July 20 – Monty Python Live (Mostly) closes in London, ending the famous British comedy group Monty Python, active since 1969.source
2014August 7 – Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of crimes against humanity and are sentenced to life imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.source
2014August 8 – Five Nights at Freddy's is released by Scott Cawthon.source
2014September 26 – Forty-three male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College are forcibly abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. They were allegedly taken into custody by local police officers in collusion with organized crime. The mass kidnapping caused international protests and social unrest, leading to the resignation of Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero.source
2014September 28 - A Buddhist monk accused of inciting violence against Muslims in Burma says he is joining forces with the Bodu Bala Sena group in Sri Lanka in order to combat a "serious threat from jihadist groups".Myanmar source
2014November 10 - Prosecutors in Lithuania charge an employee at the state air navigation company for spying for Belarus over civilian and military air operations.Belarus source
201418 November – Jamaica win the 2014 Caribbean Cup defeating Trinidad and Tobago in the final following a penalty shootout.Jamaica source
2014December 2 - The Lebanese government arrests a wife and daughter of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.Lebanon source
2014December 18 - A former US intelligence officer identifies Rolando "Rollie" Sarraff Trujillo as the Cuban Interior Ministry spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency, who was swapped in exchange for members of the Cuban Five.Cuba source
2014African-American teenage boy George Stinney Jr.'s conviction of murdering two white girls back in 1944 is vacated due to him having received an unfair trial.source
20152 January - Boko Haram militants attack a bus in Waza killing eleven people and injuring six.Cameroon source
201510 January – A suicide attack by al-Nusra Front at a café in Tripoli kills at least seven people.Lebanon source
2015February 9 - Boko Haram launch a raid on a prison in the town of Diffa in Niger. Authorities repel the attack.Niger source
2015February 14–15 – A lone gunman leaves 2 people dead in a terrorist attack in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
201524 February – The Uherský Brod shootingCzech Republic source
2015March 12 – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant becomes allies with fellow jihadist group Boko Haram, effectively annexing the group.source
2015May 11–12 – Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger by Pablo Picasso sells for US$179.3 million at Christie's auction in New York, while the sculpture L'Homme au doigt by Alberto Giacometti sells for US$141.3 million, setting a new world record for a painting and for a sculpture, respectively.source
2015May 29 - Cuba is officially removed from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list.Cuba source
2015Nineteen of the victims are revealed to be from other countries; fifteen from the United Kingdom and one each from Belgium, Portugal, Germany and Ireland.Tunisia source
2015August 3 - Pierre Claver Mbonima a human right activist was shot in the face and neck in Bujumbura, after facing numerous death threats and fled to Belgium for urgent medical care. On 9 October 2015, unidentified armed persons killed his son in law Pascal Nshimirimana, a month later the son of Pierre, Welly Nzitonda was arrested and later found dead on a roadside.Burundi source
2015September 18 – Automaker Volkswagen is alleged to have been involved in worldwide rigging of diesel emissions tests, affecting an estimated 11 million vehicles globally.source
20152015 C.D. Primeiro de Agosto seasonAngola source
2016January 8 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.source
2016March 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.source
2016March 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.source
201619 April – Authorities burn 2,000 seized elephant tusks as part of operations to combat the illicit ivory trade.Cameroon source
2016May 28 – Harambe, a western lowland gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, is shot and killed after a three-year-old boy enters his enclosure.source
2016May 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 has convicted a former ruler of a country within its jurisdiction.source
2016June 10 – Christina Grimmie is shot dead while signing autographs and taking pictures with her fans following a concert performance at the Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida.source
2016June 12 – A gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State opens fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others.source
20169 July – Coins for £1 SSP and £2 SSP are released to complete the coin series of the South Sudanese pound.South Sudan source
201618 July – Ruslan Kulikbayev, a 26-year-old Salafi jihadist and ex-convict, shot and killed 10 people, including 8 police officers and 2 civilians, at a police station in Almaty, Kazakhstan before being apprehended in a chase and shootout with law enforcement.Kazakhstan source
201616 August: Gabriela Hermélyová, 92, swing musician.Slovakia source
2016October 14 – American missionary and aid worker Jeff Woodke is kidnapped in Abalak, Niger by militants. He would not be freed for six years.source
2016November - Murder of Elly Warren, an Australian woman who was staying near Tofo Beach, Inhambane province.Mozambique source
2016December 29 – The Helsinki District Court gives Jari Aarnio, the former head of anti-drugs police, to ten-year prison sentence for drug crimes as part of a rare police corruption scandal in Finland.source
2016Police arrested Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia, brother of former President Fernando Romeo Lucas García, and 13 others on 7 January on suspicion of involvement in the murders of 558 people during the Guatemalan Civil War.Guatemala source
2016Extirpator of Idolatries by Manuel Siles.Peru source
20162016 Trinidadian local electionsTrinidad and Tobago source
2017January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 39 people and injuring 79 others.source
20171 January - Environmental minister, Emmanuel Niyonkuru, is gunned down in Bujumbura.Burundi source
201726 January – Former interior minister, Ousman Sonko, is arrested in Geneva, Switzerland for human rights abuses.Gambia source
201724 April – In the early hours of the day a suspected Brazilian gang of robbers stole 11.7 million dollars from a security vault in Ciudad del Este, leaving one police officer dead. It is the biggest heist in Paraguay's history.Paraguay source
20179 June – 59 individuals and 12 groups with links to Qatar are issued on a "terror list" by Saudi Arabia.Qatar source
2017July: Guinea passed a law that criminalized torture and abolished the death penalty.Guinea source
2017August 17 – 2017 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.source
201727 August: The 2017 Liga Dominicana de Fútbol Final (Club Atlético Pantoja vs Atlántico FC) is held in Santo Domingo, Atlántico wins after a penalty shoot-out.Dominican Republic source
201721 November – Disappearance of Azory Gwanda, a journalist for Mwananchi Communications Ltd in Dar es Salaam.Tanzania source
2017November 22 – The International Court of Justice finds Ratko Mladić guilty of genocide committed in Srebrenica during the 1990s Bosnian War, the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. He is sentenced to life in prison.source
2017Date unknown – Two U.S. Navy SEALs and two Marines are accused of murdering U.S. Army Green Beret Logan Melgar while serving on an undisclosed mission in Mali.Mali source
20185 January – The Tbilisi City Court sentences the former President Mikheil Saakashvili to three-year imprisonment in absentia for abusing power in pardoning the former Interior Ministry officials convicted in the 2006 Sandro Girgvliani murder case. Saakashvili, the opposition United National Movement party, and the incumbent President Giorgi Margvelashvili denounce the decision.Georgia source
2018January 10 – Hundreds of protesters are arrested as protests against economic conditions continue to spread across the country. 49 police officers are injured during clashes. A Jewish school is also firebombed on the island of Djerba.Tunisia source
201813 February – Former President Alvaro Colom and his entire cabinet were arrested for alleged involved in corruption cases being investigated by the CICIG and detained at the Mariscal Zavala Military Center.Guatemala source
2018February 18 – Kizlyar church shooting: a man carrying a knife and a double-barreled shotgun opens fire on a crowd at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, Dagestan, killing five women and injuring several other people; the perpetrator is shot and killed by police.source
201821 February – Murder of Ján KuciakSlovakia source
2018April 18 – In Nicaragua, protests begin against announced reforms of Social Security which would decrease retirement pension benefits. An estimated number of 34 protesters are killed by police.source
201821 April - A local journalist, Miguel Angel Gahona, was shot dead in the city of Bluefields, allegedly by a police sniper.Nicaragua source
2018April 23 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 others in Toronto, Canada. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.source
20188 May – Bosnian prosecutors appeal the acquittal of Naser Orić, former commander of the Bosnian Army in Srebrenica, who was accused of killing Serb prisoners.Bosnia and Herzegovina source
20188 June - NCGUB was officially delisted as a terrorist group and unlawful association, along with its members by Ministry of Home Affairs.Myanmar source
2018September 6 – The Supreme Court of India decriminalises homosexuality.; Brazilian congressman Jair Bolsonaro is stabbed in the stomach at Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, during a rally while running for the presidency.source
2018September 7 – Aljaž Tower, a symbol of Slovenia, is removed from the summit of Triglav for the first time in 123 years and transported to Ljubljana for repairs.Slovenia source
2018October 26 – Red Dead Redemption II is released on PS4 and Xbox One. It would become the 8th best selling video game of all-time with 50,000,000+ copies sold.source
2018December 1 – The Oulu Police informed the public about the first offence of the much larger child sexual exploitation in Oulu, Finland.source
2019January 28 – The U.S. Justice Department charges Chinese tech firm Huawei with multiple counts of fraud, raising U.S.–China tensions.source
20194 February – 25-year-old Australian footballer and refugee from Bahrain, Hakeem al-Araibi, is ordered to defend an extradition order back to Bahrain in a Bangkok court, after being detained upon arrival in Thailand for his honeymoon with his wife in November 2018. International community is treating it as a human rights issue; a campaign to free al-Araibi and return him to Australia is growing.Bahrain source
2019March 5 – A second case of sustained remission from HIV is reported, ten years after the Berlin Patient.source
2019April 11 – WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London.source
2019April 29 – Elusive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears in undated footage released by the group, his first appearance on video since 2014.source
2019May 13 – Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape allegation investigation against Julian Assange. Swedish prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the U.K. after he has served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.source
20199 June – Shooting of David Ortiz in Santo Domingo EsteDominican Republic source
2019July 17 – United States v. Guzmán: Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, which became the biggest supplier of drugs to the U.S., is sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.source
201922 July – FIFA fines and bans former Botswana Football Association secretary general Mooketsi Kgotlele on charges of match fixing and accepting bribes.Botswana source
2019July 29 — Journalist Adama Gaye (Kapital Afrik, Jeune Afrique, France 24, TV5Monde, and Al Jazeera) is arrested and charged with acting to compromise public security and offending the president.Senegal source
201919 August: Republic of the Congo at the 2019 African Games.Republic of the Congo source
2019August – Lesotho at the 2019 African GamesLesotho source
2019September 2 – Iranian woman Sahar Khodayari sets herself on fire after being arrested for attending a soccer game in Iran. She dies a week later.source
2019October 14 – Trial of Catalonia independence leaders: The Supreme Court of Spain sentences nine Catalan independence movement leaders to 9 to 13 years of prison for sedition and misuse of public funds. Three others are disqualified for 1 year and 8 months for disobedience. Violent protests erupt across Catalonia.source
2019October 14: The Ernesto Ramos Antonini public housing residence, located near the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, was the site of a mass killing with more than 1000 shots fired and six people dead.Puerto Rico source
2019October 16 – Venezuelan councilman and opposition politician Edmundo Rada is reported missing. He is found dead the following day on the side of the road out of Petare, Caracas, burned and with two coup de grâce shots in the back of his neck.source
2019October 17 – Shootouts erupt in Culiacán, Mexico, after the arrest of El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzmán López, on an arrest warrant for drug dealing in the United States. Eight people are killed and 56 convicts escape from prison; 7 are recaptured by October 18. Guzmán López is released in an effort to restore peace and to prevent more bloodshed.source
2019October 23 – The bodies of 39 people are found in a truck container in Essex, England. A 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland is arrested on suspicion of murder.source
2019November 4 – Amnesty International alleges that Bangladesh killed 466 people in 2018 under the guise of an anti-drugs campaign in what appears to be a wave of extrajudicial executions.source
2019November 7 – Former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the longest sentence ever handed down by the International Criminal Court.source
2019November 21 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.source
2019December 19 – A court in the Philippines convicts Andal Ampatuan Jr., his brother Zaldy Ampatuan and 31 others including three members of the Ampatuan clan, of 57 counts of murder and sentences them to life imprisonment without parole for their role in the Maguindanao massacre.source
2019December 23 – Five men are sentenced to death and another three face 24 years in prison for their roles in the murder of dissident journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.source
2019December 30 – Chinese authorities announce that He Jiankui, who claimed to have created the world's first genetically edited human babies, has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 3 million yuan (US$430,000) for his genetic research efforts.source
2019Intendant of Valparaíso Region: Jorge Martínez DuránSolomon Islands source
2020January 16 – The first impeachment trial of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, begins in the U.S. Senate. He was acquitted on February 5.source
2020February 20 – Former prime minister Thomas Thabane, 80, of Lesotho is to be charged with his wife's 2017 murder.Lesotho source
2020February 23 – Police in Port-au-Prince violently protest against money being spent on a carnaval celebrations instead of their salaries.Haiti source
2020April 18 – 44 suspected Boko Haram members are found dead, apparently due to poisoning, inside a prison in N'Djamena, Chad.source
2020April 26 – King Salman issues a royal decree, declaring that people will no longer be executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes they were convicted of when they were minors.source
2020May 16 – Félicien Kabuga, a Rwandan businessman responsible for supporting the Rwandan genocide, is arrested in Asnières-sur-Seine, France, after 26 years as a fugitive.source
2020May 26 – Protests caused by the murder of George Floyd break out across hundreds of cities in the U.S. and around the world. These are followed by further protests and rallies on June 6 against racism and police brutality around the world.source
2020July 28 – Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak is found guilty of all seven charges in the first of five trials on the 1MDB scandal, being jailed 12 years and fined RM210 million as a result.source
202018 August – Former president Mohamed uld Abdel Aziz (2008-2019) is arrested on charges of corruption.Mauritania source
2020August 25 – Guyvanho, nicknamed "the butcher of Nouabale Ndoki", was sentenced to 30 years in prison for ivory trafficking and attempted murder of park rangers.Republic of the Congo source
202031 August – Authorities break up a gang that falsified Spanish passports to facilitate emigration.Dominican Republic source
202031 August – Rwandan genocide: Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the 1994 movie Hotel Rwanda, is arrested on terrorism charges.Mauritius source
202010 September – It is announced that former Prime Minister Charlot Salwai is set to stand trial for November 23, charged with ten counts of bribery and corruption.Vanuatu source
2020September 14 – Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak is listed on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) online database of corruption offenders convicted locally. His name at the top of the first page of the MACC Corruption Offenders Database.source
2020September 19 – A 1634 edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, the last play by English playwright William Shakespeare, is discovered at the Royal Scots College's library in Salamanca, Spain. It is believed to be the oldest copy of any of his works in the country.source
20204 October – Eight migrants are dead, while 12 more are missing, after three unidentified smugglers hijacked their boat off the coast of Djibouti, according to eyewitnesses and the International Organization for Migration. The agency reports that the migrants had attempted to reach Saudi Arabia via Yemen, but were forced to return to the Horn of Africa due to COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions.Djibouti source
2020December 2 – Three activists in Hong Kong were jailed for their roles in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, with Joshua Wong getting the heaviest at 13.5 months.source
2020December 10 – The Nicolas Sarkozy corruption trial concludes in France.source
20214 January – Musu Bakoto Sawo, 30, ("Think Young Women") is chosen as 2020 Daily Trust "African of the Year". She lectures at the Faculty of Law, University of the Gambia.Gambia source
2021January 12 – Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz denies corruption or forgery linked to mining rights for Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). Swiss prosecutors allege Steinmetz won the mining rights by bribing the wife of former president Lansana Conté (2006–2010).Guinea source
2021January 16 – The Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (PNAB) reports a 47.5% decrease in illegal fishing from 2019 to 2020.Mozambique source
2021January 29 – A Vanuatu patrol boat detains two Chinese fishing vessels near the Torres Islands in the Coral Sea for suspected illegal fishing.Vanuatu source
202126 February – Six gunmen open fire on a World Food Programme convoy in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio, a carabiniere and their driver.Republic of the Congo source
2021June 11–July 11 – The delayed UEFA Euro 2020, hosted by 11 different countries, is held, and is won by Italy after beating England on penalties in the final.source
2021June 25 – Derek Chauvin is convicted and sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison, for the murder of George Floyd. Despite this, the civil unrest still goes on.source
2021July 18 – An international investigation reveals that spyware sold by Israel's NSO Group to different governments is being used to target heads of state, along with thousands of activists, journalists and dissidents around the world.source
2021August 3 – The oil tanker Asphalt Princess is hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.source
2021September 25 – Mali recruits Russia's PMC Wagner Group to fight Islamic terrorism in the country, according to a news outlet citing Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.Mali source
2021October 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners publish a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from 14 financial services companies known as the Pandora Papers, revealing offshore financial activities that involve multiple current and former world leaders.source
2021October 23 – Colombia's most wanted drug lord, Dario Antonio Úsuga, whose Gulf Clan controls many smuggling routes into the US and other countries, is captured by Colombia's armed forces.source
202126 November – A gunman opened fire in central Kosovo on a bus carrying students, killing two of them, a boy and a girl, and the driver. In addition, a 14-year-old was injured but his condition is stable. According to local media, the gunman wore a mask and was armed with an AK–47 submachine gun. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani condemned the attack and asked the police to find the culprits as soon as possible and bring them to justice. "Hitting a bus with students is a blow to security and order," she wrote on Facebook.Kosovo source
2021December 6 - Three of 17 missionaries who were kidnapped by a street gang in October are released.Haiti source
2022February 15 – Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is arrested in Tegucigalpa after the U.S. requested his extradition on charges of drug trafficking.Honduras source
202229 April – A high court in Malawi convicts five people of killing an albino man and seven more people of selling the man's body parts. The body parts are desired by some local residents, who believe that they can bring luck and wealth.Malawi source
2022May 18 – Around 200 anti-government militants block a road in Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, which links the country to China. Some of the militants, armed with firearms and petrol bombs, later ambush a security convoy on the same road. Eight militants and one officer are killed, while 13 officers are injured and more than 70 militants are arrested. The Tajik interior ministry later say the attack was an attempt to "destabilise the social and political situation" in the region.Tajikistan source
2022May 21 – An elderly Italian couple and their son are kidnapped by jihadists in Southern Mali. A Togolese citizen is also reported to have been kidnapped along with the Italians, but authorities say that they are unable to confirm if this is true.Mali source
2022May 24 – Uvalde school shooting: 18-year-old Salvador Ramos fatally shoots 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.source
2022June 6 – Orlando Jorge Mera, the Environmental Minister for the Dominican Republic and son of former President Salvador Jorge Blanco, is shot dead in his office. The perpetrator was identified by a presidential spokesman as Miguel Cruz, a childhood friend of the minister. He was later taken into custody.Dominican Republic source
2022August 12 – Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie is stabbed multiple times as he is about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States.source
2022October 12–October 13 – 2022 Bratislava shooting, killing 3 (including the perpetrator) and injuring one. The shooting occurred outside of a gay bar in Bratislava known as Tepláreň. Two people (excluding the perpetrator) died as a result of the shooting. Juraj Vankulič, a non-binary person, and Matúš Horváth, a bisexual man. The perpetrator (Juraj Krajčík) was found dead due to a self-inflicted gunshot the morning after the attack.source
2022October 29 – A double car bombing by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, Somalia kills at least 121 people and injures around 300.source
202212 December – Bahamian authorities arrest FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and begin the process of extraditing him to the United States.Bahamas source
202215 December – Police in Zambia arrest a truck driver alleged to have transported 27 Ethiopian migrants found dead on the outskirts of Lusaka on Sunday. The bodies were dumped in a farm.Zambia source
202221 December - Four soldiers are arrested after an alleged coup attempt the previous day.Gambia source
20239 January – Prague's municipal court acquitted Andrej Babiš of charges of subsidy fraud.Czech Republic source
202320 February – A Rescue mission begins after a number of foreign citizens and local guides are kidnapped in a remote region of the country.Papua New Guinea source
20235 March - A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison.Mauritania source
2023March 17 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, marking the first arrest warrant against a leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.source
202311 April – Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera pardons 200 prisoners, including a former minister convicted of corruption, his office says.Malawi source
2023May 3 – A school shooting occurs in Belgrade, Serbia. A second mass murder occurs the next day near Mladenovac and Smederevo. These events leave 19 people dead, causing the government to increase regulations on gun ownership and mass anti-government protests to begin.source
2023August 10 – Tapestry, the holding company of Coach New York and Kate Spade, announces it will acquire Michael Kors' Capri Holdings, which also owns Versace and Jimmy Choo.source
20238 September – Greece and North Macedonia, alongside the European Centre for Byzantine Monuments, sign a deal to save Byzantine frescoes from the 12th century. The fresco paintings were found inside St George's church in North Macedonia and are an example of Byzantine art in the Balkan region.North Macedonia source
2023September 9 – At the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi, the African Union is announced as the 21st permanent member of the G20.source
2023September 28 - The landmark Sycamore Gap Tree, beside Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, is illegally felled. A 16-year-old boy is subsequently arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.source
2023October 3 – Sam Bankman-Fried, an American entrepreneur and founder of cryptocurrency exchange company FTX, is put on trial and later convicted on 7 charges of fraud and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024.source
2023October 25 – 40-year-old Robert Card shoots and kills 18 people at two locations in Lewiston, Maine, making it one of the deadliest spree shootings in U.S. history.source
20234 November – Guinean commando forces forcefully remove former president Moussa Dadis Camara and several other officials from a central prison in Conakry amid gunfire. Camara is later taken back into police custody shortly after the alleged kidnapping attempt.Guinea source
2023December 15: An ECOWAS court orders former President Mohamed Bazoum to be freed from arrest and reinstated as president.Niger source
202320 December: Dési Bouterse, former president of Suriname, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for the December murders of 1982.Suriname source
2023December 21 – The European Court of Justice rules that threats by FIFA and UEFA to sanction football clubs that wish to join the European Super League are unlawful.source
2023December 21 – The deadliest mass shooting in the Czech Republic's history occurs at a Prague university, with 15 killed, including the perpetrator, and 25 others wounded.source
202427 March – Don Saunders, the deputy chair of the Free National Movement, is fatally shot in a robbery in Gambier Village, west of Nassau.Bahamas source
2024The Office of the Ombudsperson releases findings that at least 300 detainees at Maseru Correctional Centre had been tortured by Lesotho Correctional Services officers.Lesotho source
202415 May – Former interior minister Ousman Sonko is convicted and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment by a Swiss court for his role in murder, torture and other human rights abuses during the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh.Gambia source
2024May 20 – The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes.source
2024May 30 – Former United States President Donald Trump is found guilty on 34 counts in his hush money trial, the first time any American president had been found guilty of a crime.source
2024June 24 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves the United Kingdom after being freed from prison in a plea deal with the United States. He returns to his native Australia two days later.source
202415 July - Former MPs Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube are sentenced to lengthy prison terms under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act for allegedly inciting unrest during the 2021–2023 Eswatini protests.Eswatini source
2024July 31 – Moussa Dadis Camara, the former military ruler of Guinea, is found guilty of crimes against humanity in the massacres that occurred in 2009 and is sentenced to twenty years in prison by a Guinean court.source
2024July 31 - A court in Conakry convicts former military leader Moussa Dadis Camara of crimes against humanity over the killings of 157 people in the 2009 Guinean protests and sentences him to 20 years' imprisonment.Guinea source
2024August 13 – 2024 Kolkata rape and murder: Thousands of doctors and students take part in protests and rallies against domestic violence in cities across the world after the rape and murder of a 31 year old post-graduate trainee doctor in Kolkata on 9 August.source
2024August 23 – In Solingen, Germany, a Syrian immigrant stabs three people to death, which leads to the intensification of the debate on migration in Germany.source
202416 September – Two police officers are shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Alibori Department.Benin source
2024A journalist covering evictions of street vendors in Dili is briefly detained, and another journalist’s camera is seized.East Timor source
202411 November – Birth Anniversary of Fourth Druk GyalpoBhutan source
2024December 19 – The Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán has granted political asylum to Polish MP of Law and Justice Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted on the European Arrest Warrant for being accused of defrauding 100 million zł from the Fundusz Sprawiedliwości (Justice Fund) when he was deputy minister of justice during the PiS government.source
2024December 19 – Mazan rapes trial: The Judicial Court in Avignon, France, finds Dominique Pelicot guilty of the aggravated rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot and imposes the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The 50 other defendants in the case are also convicted of crimes ranging from attempted rape to aggravated rape, and receive prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years.source
2025January 25 – The Dacian-era Helmet of Coțofenești, on loan from the National History Museum of Romania, is stolen along with three other gold artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen by thieves who broke into the museum using explosives.source
202529 January – Authorities seize 10 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from a shipping container that arrived from the United States and arrest three people in what is reported as the "largest known drug smuggling operation" in the country.Samoa source
202530 January – A court in Cotonou convicts businessman Olivier Boko, his brother-in-law Rock Nieri, who is in hiding, and former sports minister Oswald Homeky of plotting a coup against President Patrice Talon and sentences them to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of 60 billion CFA francs ($95 million).Benin source
2025March 11 – The former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is arrested in the Philippines after being served an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.source
202528 March – Nineteen Filipino nationals are arrested for holding an unauthorized political demonstration in support of former President Rodrigo Duterte.Qatar source
2025April 3 – Hungary withdraws from the International Criminal Court after Israeli Prime Minister and accused war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu lands in Budapest for a state visit, in defiance of the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against him.source
202511 May – Lassy Mbouity, the leader of the opposition Les Socialistes Congolais party, is abducted in Brazzaville.Republic of the Congo source
202530 May – Three former paramilitaries are convicted of crimes against humanity for rape and other abuses committed against 36 Achi women in Rabinal from 1981 to 1985 during the Guatemalan Civil War and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.Guatemala source
20256 August – The statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Square in Port of Spain is removed amid criticism over its symbolism of colonialism.Trinidad and Tobago source
2025September 11 – The Supreme Federal Court convicts former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and sentences him to 27 years in prison for his involvement in the 2022 Brazilian coup plot.source
2025October 1 – Israel intercepts the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, in international waters, arresting 443 activists from 47 countries.source
2025October 13 – Gaza war: Hamas releases the last 20 living hostages in Gaza after they were kidnapped during the 2023 October 7 attacks. In exchange, Israel releases 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 detainees.source
2025October 19 – 2025 Louvre heist: Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are stolen during a robbery from the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre in Paris.source
2025October 26 – El Fashir massacre: Mass murder is reported during which an estimated 2,500 or more civilians have been executed by the Rapid Support Forces in the city of El Fashir, Sudan.source
20257 November – Mariam Cissé, a TikTok user known for praising the Malian Armed Forces, is abducted by armed men in Tonka, Tombouctou Region and executed in public.Mali source
2025November 17 – Former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is found guilty of crimes against humanity by a Bangladeshi tribunal and sentenced to death in absentia.source
202526 December – Silvinei Vasques, a former commander of the Brazilian Federal Highway Police wanted for evading his conviction on charges of involvement in the 8 January Brasília attacks in 2023, is arrested at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción and extradited to Brazil.Paraguay source