Major events that left their mark on 2018 (7)

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

- JULY -

July 1

- Hailed as the world’s oldest temple, Gobeklitepe in southeastern Turkey has been added to UNESCO World Heritage list.

July 2

- Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been elected the new president of Mexico.

- Germany’s coalition government is brought to the verge of collapse as the ultra-conservative Christian Social Union turned down Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent proposals for an EU-wide solution to the refugee crisis.

- Mount Agung, which is located in Bali’s eastern Karangasem Regency, erupts once again, sending a 2,000-meter-high of volcanic ashes into the air.

July 3

- The Israeli parliament has passed a bill that would allow cutting funds to the Palestinian Authority by the amount it pays to detainees and families of those killed by Israeli forces.

July 5

- Fans and supporters of Turkey's first female aerobatic pilot Semin Ozturk bid farewell to the 27-year-old daredevil before she takes off for Romania where she is scheduled to participate in the Aeromania Aviation Festival with her 360hp Pitts S2-B plane.

- The Macedonian parliament ratifies for the second time an agreement signed with Greece to change the former's name after its president temporarily blocked the deal.

- The worst heat wave in decades has claimed 21 lives in Canada with scorching temperatures and related smog.

July 6

- A diver has died while trying to rescue 12 boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand.

- Syria’s armed opposition has agreed with Russia to surrender its heavy weapons in the southern part of the country.

- Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is sentenced to 10 years in jail in a corruption case.

- An international chemical weapons watchdog says the Assad regime used chlorine gas in Syria’s Douma in April that killed 78 civilians.

July 7

- Sheep breeders in Tatvan in Turkey’s eastern province of Bitlis take thousands up the high pastures of Mount Nemrut day after day.

July 8

- Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel forces his way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, for the first such tour by an Israeli official since 2015.

- Renowned Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz visits Syria's northwestern Azaz region to examine children, who were affected by bombings.

July 9

- After taking presidential oath of office, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses to a host of Turkish and foreign dignitaries saying that Turkey is making a fresh start after the country officially switched to a new presidential system of government.

- Boris Johnson resigns as Britain’s secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, becoming the third senior minister to resign from Theresa May’s government in less than 24 hours.

July 10

- Italian football heavyweights Juventus transfers Real Madrid's Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

- The current world population of 7.7 billion is expected to reach 10 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

July 11

- NATO will continue to monitor and assess ballistic missile threat to Turkey from Syria, according to the declaration issued after the first day of NATO Summit in Brussels.

- A German court sentences neo-Nazi Beate Zschaepe to life in prison for the terrorist group NSU’s murders and bomb attacks targeting Turkish immigrants.

- Two mining company executives are sentenced in the trial of Turkey's deadliest mining disaster, which claimed the lives of 301 people in May 2014 in the western town of Soma.

- Iran will not use the U.S. dollar for trading with the countries -- including China, France, Germany, Russia, and the U.K.

- Croatia advance to their first ever World Cup final after beating England 2-1.

July 12

- The Turkish parliament elects former Prime Minister and Justice and Development (AK) Party's lawmaker Binali Yildirim as its new speaker.

- A Turkish court sentences 84 defendants to aggravated life imprisonment in a major case concerning the 2016 defeated coup, centered around deadly confrontations on one of Istanbul’s major bridges.

July 13

- Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $4.7 billion in punitive damages by a jury in a case linking talc powder in the company’s products to several cases of cancer.

- At least 133 people are killed and over 150 injured in a suspected suicide blast in an election rally in northwest Pakistan.

- A U.S. grand jury indicts 12 Russian intelligence officers for alleged hacking related to the 2016 presidential election.

July 14

- Turkish TV broadcaster TRT staff is briefly detained in the Greek city of Alexandroupolis.

July 15

- France win the World Cup title after beating Croatia 4-2 in the final, the first since the 1998 championship.

- Thousands of people flock to the July 15 Martyrs Bridge in Istanbul to mark the second anniversary of the defeated coup attempt in 2016. The names of 251 martyrs are read out one by one and the Quranic verses are recited. Holding Turkish flags, some people chant slogans such as “Martyrs do not die, the country is not divided”, “Every Turk is born a soldier” and “We do not want PKK in the parliament".

July 18

- Turkey lifts its two-year-old state of emergency. The government declares a state of emergency for the first time on July 20, 2016, following a deadly coup attempt orchestrated by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

- The European Commission imposes a €4.34 billion ($5.06 billion) fine on Google for breaching the EU’s antitrust rules through Android.

July 19

- Turkey slams a new Jewish nation-state law passed by Israel's Knesset, saying it "disregards" norms of universal law.

- Spain’s Supreme Court drops international arrest warrants for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and five other separatist politicians who fled abroad after a botched independence attempt in Catalonia last year.

July 20

- Turkey and the Netherlands have decided to normalize their bilateral relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says.

- Using tanks, warplanes, and artillery fire, the Israeli army launches a major attack on the Gaza Strip, allegedly in response to gunfire towards its soldiers along the border.

- U.S. President Donald Trump's long-time lawyer secretly records a conversation with Trump in which they discussed a possible payment to a former Playboy model who alleges an affair with Trump.

July 21

- A fugitive Turkish businessman Hamdi Akin Ipek, who was arrested on May 23 in London, is released on bail, according to the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service.

Jul. 22

- Turkey’s 19-year-old recurve archer Mete Gazoz wins gold medal in the 2018 Archery World Cup in Germany.

July 23

- Hatidza Mehmedovic, a vocal activist seeking justice for victims of the Srebrenica massacre, dies at the age of 66 in capital Sarajevo. After losing her husband and two sons in the massacre, the head of Mothers of Srebrenica Association dedicated her life to raising awareness on the massacre and became a symbol of resistance.

- A book of spectacular bird’s-eye view shots of Turkey is now available for sale through online outlets. Turkey from Sky (Gokyuzunden Turkiye), spotlighting photos taken by Anadolu Agency photojournalists using drones, is being offered at online book retailers.

- Iraq's human rights commission reports 14 people were killed and more than 700 injured by Iraqi security forces during weeks of protests over economic woes and government’s mismanagement.

July 24

- Pakistanis heads to the polls to elect a new government for the next five years. Some 32 people are killed and 30 injured in a suspected suicide attack outside a polling station in southwestern Balochistan province.

- American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who is facing terror charges in Turkey, has been put under house arrest.

- The U.S. and the European Union reach a new pact on trade after retaliatory tariffs.

July 26

- Around 800 migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan storm the border fence, separating Spain from Morocco, resulting in dozens of injuries.

July 27

- The number of tourists visiting Turkey in the first half of 2018 surges by 30 percent year-on-year.

- Dozens of Palestinians are injured when Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque and began attacking Muslim worshipers, according to a Palestinian official.

- Two people are dead from a massive wildfire sweeping across Northern California, where dry conditions and triple-digit temperatures are expected to hamper efforts by firefighters to battle the blaze.

July 28

- Palestinian protest icon Ahed al-Tamimi is released from an Israeli prison after serving an 8-month sentence for slapping an Israeli soldier.

- The number of migrants, who were held while trying to reach Europe from Turkey using illegal routes, increases by 60 percent this year, according to data from the Coast Guard Command.

July 30

- Populist leader Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerges as the single-largest party in the July 25 elections, scrambles to garner a simple majority in the parliament to form a new government.

July 31

- A roadside bombing by the PKK terrorist organization kills the wife and baby of a Turkish soldier in the southeastern province of Hakkari, according to the local governor’s office.

- Mars makes its closest approach to Earth, registering 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers) at its closest point.