Major events that left their mark on 2018 (5)

ANKARA (AA) - Here are the main developments of the year day by day, and month by month:

-MAY-

May 1

- Turkey's Riza Kayaalp wins gold medal at the European Wrestling Championships in Kaspiysk in Russia's northern Caucasus Republic of Dagestan.

- The administration of President Donald Trump announces it would delay tariffs set to be imposed on aluminum and steel imports from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico.

- At least 408 civilians are killed in war-torn Syria in April, according to a Syrian human rights non-governmental organization.

- The U.S. says Canada wants changes to a border agreement to help manage asylum seekers after more than 26,000 crossed into Canada over the past 15 months.

May 2

- The Basque terrorist group ETA says it has “completely dissolved its structures” and “terminated its political initiative”, formally ending a decades-long insurgency that killed hundreds in Spain.

- A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Iran, according to Tehran University’s Seismology Center.

- More than 70 people are killed when a high-intensity squall with sandstorms replaced by thundershowers hit parts of northern India.

May 3

- Up to 30 people are injured in an explosion during a Jewish ceremony in North London when a bonfire went wrong, due to an old cellphone in the fire.

- Ending a four-year closure, Pakistan formally reopens the Ghulam Khan pass, its third major trade route with Afghanistan.

- Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party officially nominates President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a second term.

- At least 27 people are killed when a bus caught fire after it fell into a gorge in India’s eastern state of Bihar.

May 4

- Nobel Prize for Literature will not be awarded this year amid a sexual assault scandal, the organization that gives the award announces.

- Apple Inc. sees its share value hit a record high following comments by American billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

May 5

- NASA successfully launches a spacecraft that will study the interior of Mars.

May 6

- Turkish VakifBank women's volleyball team wins the CEV Champions League Final Four after beating the host Romanian team CSM Volei Alba 3-0 in the capital Bucharest.

May 7

- Dozens of structures, including at least nine homes, have been destroyed by scorching lava flows following a massive volcano eruption on Hawaii's Big Island.

- Vladimir Putin has been sworn in as Russian president in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, marking the official commencement of his fourth term in this position.

- Germany and France will remain committed to the nuclear agreement with Iran, even after a possible move by U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap the deal next week, foreign ministers of both countries say.

- Nestle announces it struck a $7.15 billion deal with coffee chain Starbucks to sell the latter’s famed coffee across the world.

May 8

- Bucking pressure from the U.S.'s closest European allies, President Donald Trump withdraws the U.S. from its participation in the landmark nuclear agreement that world powers struck with Iran in 2015.

- The Democratic Republic of Congo confirms two cases of the Ebola virus in the northwestern town of Bikoro, the World Health Organization says.

May 9

- A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocks northern and northwestern parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

- Walmart announces it has bought a 77 percent majority stake in Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer, for $16 billion.

May 10

- At least 41 people are confirmed dead in Kenya after the Patel Dam in the town of Nakuru located in the Great Rift Valley region burst as a result of heavy rains that have been pounding the region, police said.

May 11

- At least 770,000 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo due to conflict, the United Nations Children's Fund says.

- The U.S. will help North Korea with its economy if Pyongyang gets rid of its nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says.

May 12

- The UN International Atomic Energy Agency chief inspector resigned, the agency says, days after the U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.

May 13

- Hundreds of Russians takes part in a "Free Internet" demonstration in the capital Moscow, protesting the blocking of the messaging app Telegram.

May 14

- At least 64 Palestinians are martyred and hundreds more injured by Israeli forces along the Gaza border amid protests marking the Nakba anniversary and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

- U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman officially announces the relocation of Washington’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem’s Arnona district.

May 15

- Turkey becomes the 17th member state in the Vienna-based International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

- Turkey asks the Israeli ambassador to leave the country following indiscriminate violence and killings by Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border.

May 16

- The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday tells Israel's Consul General in Istanbul Yosef Levi Sfari to leave the country "for a while".

- North Korea threatens to pull out of a planned summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump unless Washington stops pushing Pyongyang to denuclearize.

May 17

- President Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA is confirmed to take the post despite concerns about her history with the agency's enhanced interrogation program, which has been roundly criticized as torture.

May 18

- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan describes the Israeli killings of scores of Palestinians as "thuggery, atrocity and state terror."

- After being seriously injured in a nerve agent attack in England this March, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is discharged from hospital.

May 19

- Galatasaray become the champions in Turkish Super League after beating Goztepe 1-0 in western Izmir province.

- Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle tie the knot in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

May 20

- Real Madrid become the Turkish Airlines Euroleague champions after beating Fenerbahce Dogus 85-80 in the finals at the Serbian capital Belgrade.

May 21

- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won a second term in office, election officials announces, amid claims of vote-rigging.

- More than 60 people die from a blistering heatwave that gripped the port city of Karachi -- the country’s commercial capital -- in three days.

May 22

- Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has been found guilty of covering up child abuses in Australia.

- At least 16 people are killed and more than 30 others wounded following a blast in a shipping container allegedly by the Taliban in the country's second-largest city, Kandahar.

- The European Union decides to start negotiations for free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.

- A U.S.-North Korea summit planned for June 12 in Singapore may be delayed amid heightened tensions, President Donald Trump suggests.

- Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg appears in front of leading lawmakers of the European Union, apologizing for allowing third parties to access and misuse the personal information of millions of Facebook users.

May 23

- Japan has the "most powerful" passport in the world, according to Henley Passport Index.

- U.S. President Donald Trump cannot block Twitter critics from accessing his feed, a federal judge in New York rules.

- The American football league announces it would impose fines on teams should their players choose to kneel in protest during the national anthem.

May 24

- Spain’s ruling party has been fined and 29 business people and politicians have been sentenced to a total of 351 years in prison for involvement in a massive kickback scheme, the high court ruled.

- The Ebola virus has killed at least eight people while 30 cases of the deadly disease have been detected in Equateur province since May 8.

May 25

- The Netherlands and Australia hold Russia responsible for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014 that killed all 298 people on board.

May 26

- Irish people vote in favor of repealing their country’s constitutional ban on abortions.

May 27

- At least 23 people are killed in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in southern Oromia region of Ethiopia.

May 28

- Heightened tensions between armed local Arab groups and the U.S.-backed YPG/PKK terror organization in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah turn into clashes.

May 29

- A ship carrying 20 Palestinians sets out from the Port of Gaza in hopes of breaking Israel’s decade-long maritime embargo of the Gaza Strip.

- George Soros is to launch a campaign to secure a second Brexit referendum to save the U.K. from “immense damage,” the Hungarian-American philanthropist and financier announces in Paris.

May 30

- Iraq's official electoral commission annuls all votes cast at 1,021 out of 53,000 ballot boxes used in the country’s May 12 parliamentary polls.

May 31

- Zinedine Zidane announces that he will not be managing Real Madrid next season.

- More than 100 civilians are freed from the Taliban during operations in southern Helmand province, Afghan military says.

- Italy’s populist parties agree to form a coalition government, nearly three months after an inconclusive March 4 general election.