2017–2018 Honduran protests, Timeline
The TSE finally announced a winner on 17 December, giving Hernández the victory with 42.95% of the vote to Nasralla's 41.42%. The announcement sparked a new wave of protests across the country, with Mel Zelaya announcing a national strike. The country's two major cities - Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula - saw streets blockaded, their main exits blocked, and traffic between them severely reduced.


2017–2018 Honduran protests, Timeline
Organization of American States (OAS) election monitors, in their final report, documented widespread and numerous irregularities in the conduct of the voting and ballot tabulation, and doubted the validity of the official results. OAS secretary general Luis Almagro issued a statement following the TSE's announcement saying: "Facing the impossibility of determining a winner, the only way possible so that the people of Honduras are the victors is a new call for general elections." Hernández rejected the OAS's position, and his top aide accused of OAS of seeking "to try and steal the election" for Nasralla.


2017–2018 Icelandic Women's Basketball Cup
The 2017–2018 Bikarkeppni kvenna was the 44th edition of the Icelandic Women's Basketball Cup, won by Keflavík against Njarðvík. The competition is managed by the Icelandic Basketball Federation and the final four was held in Reykjavík, in the Laugardalshöll in January 2018. Brittanny Dinkins was named the Cup Finals MVP after turning in 16 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals.


2017–2018 Iranian protests
Public protests took place in several cities in Iran beginning on 28 December 2017 and continuing into 2018. The first protest took place in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city by population, initially focused on the economic policies of the country's government; as protests spread throughout the country, their scope expanded to include political opposition to the theocratic regime of Iran and its longtime Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The Iranian public has showcased their fury with a wide repertoire of chants aimed at the regime and its leadership. According to The Washington Post, protesters' chants and attacks on government buildings upended a system that had little tolerance for dissent, with some demonstrators even shouting "Death to the dictator! "—referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—and asking security forces to join them.


2017–2018 Iranian protests
The protests marked the most intense domestic challenge to the Iranian government since the 2009 presidential election protests. The year 2018 hosted the most serious and biggest opposition demonstrations since 2009, shaking the very pillars of this regime. However, these protests differ from the Green movement in participants, causes, goals, and chants. Unlike 2009, the 2017–2018 protests remain leaderless and disorganized.


2017–2018 Iranian protests
While some analysts suggest the protests are a result of unfavorable economic policies adopted by the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, others say that dissatisfaction with the theocratic regime and the Supreme Leader are the actual causes of the unrest. Rouhani acknowledged on 8 January 2018 that "people had economic, political and social demands".


2017–2018 Iranian protests
According to Iranian authorities, protests turned violent in some parts of the country, and Iranian state television reported that the protesters attacked police stations and military personnel and installations, and started fires. As of 2 January 2018, at least twenty-one protesters and two security force members had been killed. Additionally, 3,700 demonstrators were arrested according to Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist lawmaker from Tehran, though official figures were much lower. On 5 January 2018, four special rapporteurs of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Iranian government to acknowledge and respect rights of protesters and end its blocking of the Internet.


2017–2018 Iranian protests
In a backlash against the protests, thousands of government supporters staged pro-government rallies in more than a dozen cities across Iran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
The current Iranian regime came into power following the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the Pahlavi dynasty overthrown in favor of a theocratic Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
Since 1989, Ali Khamenei has ruled Iran as Supreme Leader, making him the second-longest serving head of state in the Middle East (after Oman's Sultan Qaboos), as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
The Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who was re-elected in 2017, had promised many changes such as a richer economy and open foreign policy but he has little power to change compared to Khamenei in the Iranian government.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
In 2006, following international concerns regarding the government's nuclear program, a comprehensive, international sanctions regime was imposed on Iran. In 2015, Iran negotiated a deal with the great powers of the world in exchange for economic relief. Many Iranians hoped relief from sanctions would result in economic prosperity; however, benefits have not reached the average Iranian. Instead, the benefit from sanctions relief mostly went to state firms and Setad controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, estimated by Reuters at $95 billion in 2013.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
In 2017, according to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, 33% of Iranians lived below the poverty line, and the gap between the rich and poor has deepened. CNN's Hamid Panah argued that these distributional developments in the economy helped stoke the protests. Recent economic hardships have appeared to incite economic protests and shine light on government corruption.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
"The initial spark for the protests was a sudden jump in food prices. It is believed that hard-line opponents of Rouhani instigated the first demonstrations in the conservative city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, trying to direct public anger at the president. But as protests spread from town to town, the backlash turned against the entire ruling class."


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
In order to deflect criticism about the economy, Rouhani had been complaining for several weeks about government money going to religious institutions, which are seen as the power base of the hardliners; according to international media reports, analysts believe that hardliners started the protests as a means to embarrass Rouhani. For many Iranians, development had been slow despite the president's promise to restore the economy.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
Protesters registered their opposition to cuts to fuel and cash subsidies, contained in the 2018 budget proposal unveiled in mid-December, which caused widespread anger, with the hashtag #pashimanam ("we regret" [i.e., we regret our vote for Rouhani]) going viral across the country. The generous government funding of the Revolutionary Guards remained unaffected, and there were large increases for religious foundations, which are not required to declare how they spend their funds, and are "tied closely to powerful clerics and often serve as machines for patronage and propaganda to build support for their authority." Furthermore, protesters sought an explanation as to why the government had spent a lot of money elsewhere in the Middle East.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Background
The 2017–2019 events are the largest protest in Iran since the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline
The protests began in Mashhad on December 28, 2017, and spread to over 140 cities in every province in Iran over a two-week period.. The demonstrations were started by crowds protesting across Iran, including in Mashhad, the second-most populous city. Protests spread to over 70 towns and cities, including Nishapur, Kashan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Kashmar, Rasht, Isfahan, Arak, Bandar Abbas, Ardabil, Qazvin, Hamedan, Sari, Babol, Amol, Shahinshahr, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Khorramabad, Zanjan, Gorgan, Zahedan, Urmia, Dorud, Yazd and Shahrud. According to CNBC, there was widespread protest in 80 cities in Iran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline
In some demonstrations, protestors provocatively chanted "Reza Shah, bless your soul", a reference to Reza Shah, the leader of Iran during 1925–41 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty that was deposed in the 1979 revolution that led to establishment of the current government. Protestors also shouted slogans praising the (deceased) deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his son and former heir-apparent, the exiled Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran. The protesters called for Khamenei to step down, as well as tore down and set fire to posters of Khamenei in Tehran. Protesters also shouted: "Khamenei, shame on you, leave the country alone!" and "death to the dictator". Protesters also chanted "People are paupers while the mullahs live like gods."


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
The protests in Iran erupted on 28 December 2017. Several crowds were seen protesting across Iran, including in Mashhad, the second most populous city, as well as a several hundred person protest in Tehran, the capital. There were also protests in Neyshabour, Kashmar, Yazd and Shahroud. The protests were allegedly organised on social media messaging apps. Crowds were seen chanting "We don't want an Islamic Republic! ", "death to Rouhani", as well as "death to the dictator".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
The protests were initially for economic woes, against the high price of goods and commodities, but has "quickly changed" to protesting Iranian involvement in the Middle East, and the government itself.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Demonstrations continued on Friday past sunset. Protests spread to several major cities including Rasht, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Qom, Sari, Zahedan, and Qazvin. A small number of people were arrested in Tehran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
On 30 December the protests escalated, as three were killed and others wounded in shooting by Revolutionary Guards during night protests in central Iran. As Saturday coincided with the anniversary of 30 December 2009 pro-government rally in Iran, some 4000 people attended a pro-government rally in Tehran. According to state television, pro-government rallies were held in 1200 towns and cities in all. At the same time, anti-government riots spread to Tehran for the first time, where students in Tehran University chanted anti-government slogans before getting dispersed by riot police. Posters of Khamenei were torn down at Tehran University. Internet access was shut down in parts of the country, including many areas in Tehran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Iran's interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli warned that those who "disrupt the order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price". Rahmani Fazli said in a statement on state television that "fear and terror will definitely be confronted." VOA Persian's service identified the victims as Hamzeh Lashni and Hossein Reshno after a reporter spoke to the victims' families.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Anti -government protests continued for a fourth day. Some scattered demonstrations in Tehran and families of arrested protesters gathering outside Evin prison. 200 people were arrested in Tehran on Sunday, and another 10 were arrested in West Azerbaijan province.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Rouhani, in his first comments after days of anti-government demonstrations said people have the right to protest but stressed violence, vandalism and inflammatory political slogans must be avoided as these only worsen the conditions of the people.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
According to Iran's State media accounts, which could not be confirmed by independent sources, some armed demonstrators tried to take control of police stations and military bases but were repulsed by security forces. It was confirmed that 10 people had been killed during clashes Sunday night.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Protests continued on Monday in Tehran and other cities throughout the country. State media reported that one member of the government security forces was shot and killed during protests on 1 January.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Clashes overnight between protesters and security forces killed nine people. State television reported that six of these deaths occurred after rioters tried to storm a police station in Qahdarijan with the intention of stealing weapons. Additionally, an 11-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were killed in the town of Khomeinishahr, and a Revolutionary Guard member was killed in Najafabad. All three were killed with hunting rifles. 550 people had been arrested since the start of protests. 90 percent of those arrested are younger than 25 years old.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
On 3 January, there were sporadic demonstrations throughout Iran. In the city of Malayer demonstrations started after sundown and their chants targeted the Supreme Leader. Videos online also showed demonstrations in the northern city of Noshahr, with protesters shouting "death to the dictator". Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, dispatched forces to the provinces of Hamadan, Isfahan and Lorestan, but he later stated that "the sedition" and the number of protestors was around 1500 in individual locations and around 15,000 nationwide. Iranians living outside of Iran staged demonstrations in support of the protests in Iran. These rallies took place in cities such as Stockholm, Athens, Bern, and Cologne.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
According to an Iranian intelligence ministry announcement on 4 January, three IRGC members were killed dismantling an anti-government "terrorist cell" in northwestern city of Piranshar. Per IRGC, the "terrorist cell", which possessed weapons and explosives, was said to have been assigned with bombings and murder of innocents in Iran in order to escalate the unrest. On Thursday, 4 January, anti–government demonstrations were held in the cities of Sanandaj, Bukan, Kamyaran, Dezful, Ahvaz and Rasht.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
UN human rights experts urged Iran to respect rights of protesters, and end the Internet crackdown.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that Iran's people and security forces, including the Basij, police, and Intelligence Ministry, had defeated the unrest. The IRGC said the United States, Britain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, People's Mujahedin of Iran, and monarchists were responsible for the unrest. For the fifth day, staged rallies were held against the anti-government protests. However, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, signs of unrest remain, with dozens of videos circulating in social media showing the burning of government documents.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
According to a report in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have been arrested in Iran and kept under house arrest with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, for "inciting violence", after he criticized the current government of Iran during the protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Sina Ghanbari, a 23-year-old man arrested during the protests, was reported to have died at Evin prison from unspecified causes. Iranian MP Tayebeh Siavoshi said the protester committed suicide in prison.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, December–January
Thousands of demonstrators holding placards with pictures of Reza Pahlavi II marched in Los Angeles, home to a large Iranian expatriate community, to show support for anti-regime protests in Iran. Some 2,000 protesters in Westwood, California, rallied in support of the protesters in Iran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, August
On 1 August, protests occurred in several Iranian cities. The protests began in Isfahan and continued in Karaj. In videos that circulated on social media, purportedly filmed in the town of Gohardasht, a suburb of Karaj, dozens of demonstrators were seen in the streets setting fire to police vehicles and shouting "Death to the dictator". Police responded with tear gas. The authenticity of the videos could not immediately be verified.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, August
Protests broke out on August 2 across several Iranian cities, including Mashhad, Kara, and Shiraz, and Tehran. Chants during demonstrators included "death to the dictator".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, August
On 3 August, street protests took place in the capital Tehran, and nine other cities: Ahvaz, Hamedan, Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Shiraz, Urmia and Varamin. Some citizen journalist reports said Iranian security forces tried to break up the demonstrations with tear gas and by beating and arresting protesters. But, there were no credible reports about how many Iranians were hurt and detained by the authorities. Protesters also targeted a religious school in Karaj province near Tehran.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, Pro-government rallies
The December protests coincided with the annual rally commemorating the 9 Dey rally, 4,000 people attended to support the government.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, Pro-government rallies
On 3 January, thousands of counter protesters marched in pro-government rallies which were broadcast on national television, against alleged US involvement in the unrest. According to The Washington Post, the rallies appeared like "state-organized gatherings", while the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars News Agency described them as "the revolutionary outburst of Iranian people against lawbreakers".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Timeline, Pro-government rallies
Pro -government rallies continued in the following days in several Iranian cities. Reuters described these rallies as "staged".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties
In the first four days of protests, 12 protesters were killed in clashes with security forces. On 1 January, state media reported the death of a security force member in Tehran, after he was shot with a hunting rifle. As of 2 January, a total of 21 protesters have been killed. State television reported that six were killed following a failed raid on a police station. Included among the dead are five people in Qahderijan and six in Tuyserkan. Some journalists reported that security forces attempted beating the protesters and using tear gas, according to VOA News.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties
On 9 January 2018, The Guardian and Amnesty reported that 3 detainees had died while in custody in Tehran's Evin Prison. Amnesty reported a further two detainees having died in custody in Arak and Dezfoul respectively. Iranian judiciary officials confirmed the Arak death and one Evin death, and said that the deaths were suicides. The local prosecutor in Arak told the Mizan news agency that video footage, which was not released, showed the dead protester stabbing himself with a knife.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties
Many Iranians, including a number of lawmakers, have called into question the declaration by Iranian authorities that two deaths in custody were "suicides" and that another death was a "terrorist" who died in clashes with security forces. According to ISNA, a group of lawmakers called for an investigation into these deaths, saying relatives and eyewitnesses had questioned the official line.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties
According to French newspaper Le Monde, 25 people at all died during these demonstrations.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties, Torture allegations
According to Fox News, hundreds of protesters, including family members of detainees, protested outside of Evin Prison demanding information on their loved ones who according to the protesters were being tortured inside. The US White House described reports of torture and death in prison as "disturbing".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Casualties, Torture allegations
In mid-December 2018 family of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri a political prisoner in Qom prison in Iran, told reporters that he had died. Nasiri had been on hunger strike for weeks before he died in prison. Vahid Sayadi Nasiri was arrested in 2015 for insulting the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On 13 December 2018 a spokesman for United States Department of States, Robert Palladino, announced that United States condemns Iranian regime for the "unconscionable" death of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri who was on hunger strike in jail. Nasiri was forcefully arrested 4 months ago and had no access to lawyer.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Damage to public property
On 30 December 2017, Tasnim News Agency reported that fifty protesters damaged Tehran Bus Rapid Transit stations and broke the handrails in Ferdowsi Square, Tehran. According to the report of the Tehran mayor, Mohammad Ali Najafi, the damage to the public properties in Tehran "was not that serious" and only some of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations and a number of garbage cans were burned.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Damage to public property
In Dorud, according to Mehr News Agency, on 31 December 2017 protesters attacked the staff and damaged the fire trucks. In another incident, also in Dorud, two people died when a hijacked fire truck collided with a car, according to the state media. The Washington Post reported that in some cases protesters had attacked police stations and government buildings. The Islamic Republic News Agency said that weapons and military uniforms among protesters were taken into custody by Iranian security guards.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, English banned in primary school
Primary schools in Iran suspended the teaching of English after the mass protests. Khamenei had previously claimed that it paved the way for "cultural invasion" of Western values, expressing deep concern in 2016 over the spread of English to "nursery schools,".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship
In statements by the Iranian Minister of Interior Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said that the improper use of social media was "causing violence and fear", further stating that "such behavior will be smashed". Iranian state news channel Islamic Republic of Iran News Network was banned from covering the protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship
Reports by independent media organizations in Iran was restricted. However, Iran's state media covered Rouhani's comments about the protests which said "people have the right to criticize" but the authorities would not tolerate antisocial behavior and that criticism is "different from violence and destroying public properties".


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Internet
In some regions, Iran's internet service providers, which are either directly owned by or closely tied to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, blocked internet access in several cities as protests continued. Previously, several satellite networks in Iran were jammed, and internet and telephone in some areas were cut. VPNs, which had offered a backdoor to the internet, were also turned off.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Internet
According to OpenDNS's BGP Stream, on 1 January 2018 Iran's internet traffic dropped by nearly 50%. Meanwhile, the number of Iranians making use of TOR has increased significantly during the protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Telegram
Telegram messenger played a major role in spreading the news about the protests and served as the primary platform to unify the protesters. On 30 December, the Iranian government requested the closing of a Telegram channel called "Amad News" (AMAD standing for Agaahi, awareness, Mobaareze, combat & Democracy) operated by Roohollah Zam which called for use of handmade explosives against the security forces. The request was accepted by Telegram since it also violated their terms of service and policies, and its CEO Pavel Durov received criticism for complying with the request.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Telegram
The channel was reinstated on the next day with a different title (Sedaye Mardom, lit. Voice of People) after the admin who published the post calling for violence was dismissed. On 31 December, the Iranian government blocked access to Telegram after it had refused to ban another channel. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov tweeted that "Iranian authorities are blocking access to Telegram for the majority of Iranians after our public refusal to shut down telegram.me/sedaiemardom and other peacefully protesting channels."


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Telegram
The government lifted restrictions on Telegram on 13 January 2018. but again applied permanent restrictions after late April 2018. Iranian government created another version of the app that works beside telegram called Talagram or Telegram Golden and one more clone called Hotgram with overhauled censorship and features.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Media coverage and censorship, Instagram
Iran blocked Instagram on 31 December 2017. The access was restored on 6 January 2018.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Arrests and executions
By 14 January, over 440 protesters who were arrested during the Tehran riots had been released, according to Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Arrests and executions
On 19 February, Iranian MP, Mohammad Kazemi claimed that a lower court in Malayer had sentenced a fifteen-year-old boy to five years in prison for pulling down the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a city square during the protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Government response, Arrests and executions
Mostafa Salehi, a protester accused of killing an Iranian paramilitary during the 2017-2018 protests, was executed in 2020 in the Isfahan Province.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
Conservative Iranian politician and economist Ahmad Tavakkoli blamed the protests on economic conditions experienced by the poor, for which he blamed the Rouhani administration, the policies of International Monetary Fund, and problems experienced by depositors due to non-regulation of financial institutions. Sadegh Zibakalam, a reformist Iranian academic and pundit, blamed the protests on the lost hopes of young educated unemployed Iranians, who he said felt betrayed given the Rouhani administration's earlier promises of change.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
He also opined that use of monarchist slogans was only the youths' way of expressing their anger at the establishment, not an indication of real support for the Pahlavis; he said he could understand the grievances of the protestors but considered them counterproductive. As deposited by the guardian, the protest mostly comprises Iranian workers under the age of 25.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
Iranian author Majid Mohammadi posited three causes for the protests: government corruption, economic hardships, and religious authoritarianism. In his opinion, religious authoritarianism was the most salient target of the protests since protesters had come to believe that the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist was determined to preserve the status-quo and not susceptible to reform.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
According to Trita Parsi, the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, the main participants in these protests were different from those involved in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests. Parsi suggested that the protesters were mainly those disillusioned with the Iranian reform movement or who never supported it. He said Iranian Reformists had been surprised by these protests and had not come out in support of the protestors.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
American journalist and political commentator Bret Stephens wrote that "real democracies don't live in fear of their own people", referring to the crackdown on protesters, and the Internet. He said that one of the reasons the protesters called for Khamenei to step down was frustration over his control of a financial organisation called "Setad" that was worth at least $95 billion in 2013 (according to a report from Reuters). According to Aljazeera, the leaders of Iran have pointed fingers at foreign media for overstating the extent of the protest.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
The New York Times columnist and commentator on Iranian politics Roger Cohen, argued that "Trump Is Right, This Time, About Iran", writing that even if Trump's support of protestors "sounds hollow", he is right to tweet that the "wealth of Iran is being looted" by a "brutal and corrupt Iranian regime."


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
Whereas Philip Gordon, senior fellow in US foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in the same newspaper that the best thing the President could do to support Iranians was "Be quiet and do nothing", arguing that if "Mr Trump blows up the deal and reimposes sanctions, he will not be doing the opposition a favor but instead giving Iranians a reason to rally to – rather than work against – the government they might otherwise despise."


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
Elliott Abrams, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Reagan administration, criticized The New York Times on 31 December for what he said was misleading coverage of Iran's protests. In his view, the news coverage diminished the value of Iran's protests, limiting it to the economic sphere, while the slogans suggested that the political dimension of the demonstrations was also significant.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
According to Scott Waldman, climate change may have helped spark the protests as Iran has been suffering from a cycle of severe droughts from the 1990s, suffers from dust storms, and mismanaged water resources. The rising temperatures may be an underlying cause for economic difficulties that led to the protests.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Opinions
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, suggested that Iranian June protests were "orchestrated" from outside the country. He said: "those protests are not happening spontaneously. They are happening because of many of our people in Albania [which hosts an MEK Iran compound] and many of our people here and throughout out the world." Some Iranian watchers believe that the protests were constituted by traditional Iranian Politicians, according to Vox.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Reactions, Security Council meeting
On Friday 5 January 2018, following a request by Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., an emergency meeting was held at the UN Security Council about the violations of the human rights of the Iranian protesters. According to Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, videos posted on social media platforms showed protesters being beaten, and government buildings, banks and religious centres burning. Over 1,000 protesters had been arrested. Nikki Haley stated the events that happened during the previous week in Iran needed the attention of the world.


2017–2018 Iranian protests, Reactions, Security Council meeting
Although the US overcame Russian attempts to block a UN security council discussion of the Iranian protests, it lost European support to act against Iran. While the UK, France and Germany agreed with the US on protection of protesters' rights, they used the debate to reject American efforts to undermine the nuclear deal with Iran. French representative François Delattre said that the event was not a threat to international peace and security and said, "It is up to the Iranians, and to the Iranians alone, to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue." China, Russia and some other nations considered the protests as internal issue which did not relate to the security council.


2017–2018 Israel Football League season
The 2017–2018 Israel Football League season was the 11th season of the Israel Football League. Only seven teams competed this season, with the Ramat HaSharon Hammers going on hiatus. The season concluded with the Jerusalem Lions defeating the Petah Tikva Troopers, 28-20, in Israel Bowl XI.


2017–2018 Israel Football League season, Regular season
The regular season consisted of ten games, with the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs. The Lions earned the top seed in the playoffs with an undefeated record.


2017–2018 Israel Football League season, Playoffs
The Troopers defeated the Silverbacks while the Pioneers upset the Underdogs in the Wild Card Round. In the Semifinals, the Lions defeated the Pioneers and the Troopers upset the Rebels. Israel Bowl XI took place on March 22, 2018 at the Kraft Family Sports Campus, with the Lions defeating the Troopers 28-20 and David Abell being named Israel Bowl MVP for the second year in a row.


2017–2018 Massachusetts legislature
The 190th Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 2017 and 2018 during the governorship of Charlie Baker. Harriette L. Chandler served as president of the Senate and Robert DeLeo served as speaker of the House.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests
The 2017–2018 Moroccan protests, or more commonly known as Hogra (Arabic: هجر أ) was mass demonstrations, popular protests and strike actions carried out by activists, civilians and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Moroccans in Morocco, staring in the town of Jerada protesting the deaths of 2 miners.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Background
The Hirak Rif Movement was a popular movement and civil uprising that echoed from peaceful opposition unrest to violent street protests and consisted of nonviolent grassroots marches and strike rallies in Morocco after the Death of Mouhcine Fikri in October 2016; his swordfish cart was confiscated. The incident triggered an uprising demanded justice and an end to police brutality but turned into demands for better public services, social infrastructure/developments and jobs. The movement was met with high police repression by the military as they suppressed the movement. Protesters also called on the release of Nasser Zefzafi, the leader of the protest movement who was arrested after interrupting Friday prayers in May. After the killing of 2 miners, civilians took to the streets once again.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Protests
On 27 December, thousands demonstrated following the deaths, prompting solidarity echoes nationwide. Strikes and unrest broke out and police clashed with demonstrators. Protests erupted in Zagora despite 3 months of thirst demonstrations in inspiration from the rallies in Jerada. Around ten thousands demonstrators gathered for the next couple of days despite a police Crackdown on protesters. Mass demonstrations broke out on other towns and attended funerals of the two miners in the shuttered area.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Protests
Scattered protests and anger over the killings and impoverishment in the nation sparked widespread violence and civil unrest, in protest at the government. Protesters also rallied for justice and better conditions in poor areas, port towns and rural areas of the country. Countrywide protests would lead to crackdowns, and it certainly did. After intensifying protests and large-scale protests, the police was sent in to disperse protesters and protests grew larger amid widespread voices in opposition to the current regime. In Zagora, water demonstrations was dispersed by police.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Protests
Protests continued into the new year, a wave of experienced and precedented protests hit the country. Big rallies and huge marches occurred in January, February and March, when demonstrations escalated after the death of another coal miner amid growing street protests and opposition demonstrations against low jobs, unemployment and impoverishment. Protests was met with violence as demonstrators threw stones at Riot police as anger and renewed protests resumed. Scores were left injured when police vans recklessly drove over protesters during intensive protests in Jerada.


2017–2018 Moroccan protests, Protests
Protests occurred in June 2018, but on a small magnitude. Protesters marched in a large-political earthquake the month after, amid widespread social protests, demanding the release of political prisoners and protesters jailed during the Hirak Rif Movement in 2016-2017. The rights group says Moroccan authorities used excessive, disproportionate force in dealing with economic protests.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis
The 2017–18 North Korea crisis was a period of heightened tension between North Korea and the United States throughout 2017, which began when North Korea conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests that demonstrated the country's ability to launch ballistic missiles beyond its immediate region and suggested that North Korea's nuclear weapons capability was developing at a faster rate than had been assessed by the U.S. intelligence community.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis
This, as well as a regular joint U.S.–South Korea military exercise undertaken in August 2017 and U.S. threats, raised international tensions in the region and beyond. During 2017, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in early September, and heated rhetoric was exchanged, stoking fears about a possible war.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis
While the tensions were mostly with the United States, North Korea threatened Australia twice with nuclear strikes throughout 2017, accusing them of siding with the U.S. and 'blindly' following them.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis
By the beginning of 2018, however, tensions began to ease dramatically, with North Korea announcing the restoration of the Seoul–Pyongyang hotline and agreeing to hold talks with South Korea about participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Diplomatic activity flourished during the next few months, with the suspension of nuclear and missile tests by North Korea, and the 2018 inter-Korean summit in late April which culminated in the signing of the Panmunjom Declaration on 27 April 2018. An unprecedented bilateral summit between Kim and Trump was held in Singapore on 12 June 2018.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis
It resulted in a joint declaration calling for the "full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula". A second summit between Kim and Trump took place in Hanoi, Vietnam on 27–28 February 2019. Though talks there broke down, a third summit took place in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on 30 June 2019, with Trump becoming the first US leader to visit North Korea. Follow-up talks later in 2019, however, broke down within hours.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, North Korea's nuclear weapons program
In his New Year's Day speech on January 2, 2017, Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, said that the country was in the "last stage" of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, North Korea's nuclear weapons program
On May 3, North Korea issued a rare and harshly worded criticism of its chief ally, China, stating that "One must clearly understand that the D.P.R.K. 's line of access to nukes for the existence and development of the country can neither be changed nor shaken[...] And that the D.P.R.K. will never beg for the maintenance of friendship with China, risking its nuclear program which is as precious as its own life, no matter how valuable the friendship is...


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, North Korea's nuclear weapons program
China should no longer try to test the limits of the D.P.R.K. 's patience[...] China had better ponder over the grave consequences to be entailed by its reckless act of chopping down the pillar of the D.P.R.K.-China relations." The harsh commentary also accused the Chinese media (which is tightly controlled by the government) of dancing to the tune of the U.S.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, North Korea's nuclear weapons program
In early August 2017, The Washington Post reported an assessment, made by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in July 2017, which said that North Korea had successfully developed nuclear warheads for missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland (a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles).


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, Sanctions on North Korea; trade with China
Since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006, the UN Security Council had passed a number of resolutions that imposed various sanctions on the DPRK, including restrictions on economic activity. Nevertheless, North Korea's gross domestic product grew by an estimated 3.9 percent in 2016, to about $28.5 billion, the fastest pace in 17 years; the progress was largely attributed to continued trade with China, which accounted for more than 90% of North Korea's international trade.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, Sanctions on North Korea; trade with China
In late February 2017, following North Korea's February 12 test of the Pukkuksong-2 medium-range ballistic missile, China, which regards its trade with North Korea and the putative missile threat to the U.S. as separate issues, said it would comply with UN Resolution 2321 and halt all coal imports (North Korea's main export) from North Korea. The halt notwithstanding, in April 2017, China said that its trade with North Korean had expanded. In July 2017, China's trade with North Korea, while the ban on North Korean coal was said to have slowed imports from the DPRK, was worth $456 million, up from $426 million in July 2016, the year-to-date trade being up 10.2 percent at $3.01 billion.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, Sanctions on North Korea; trade with China
In 2017, North Korea was sanctioned several times by the UN Security Council. The latest ones were imposed on December 22, 2017. According to this resolution, oil supplies to the DPRK are prohibited, and all countries have decided to expel North Korean labor migrants from the territories of the countries where they work within 24 months.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, Sanctions on North Korea; trade with China
China has been opposed to secondary sanctions that may be imposed on Chinese firms that do business with North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, Imprisonment of U.S. citizens
American university student Otto Warmbier was freed from North Korea in June 2017, while in a coma after nearly 18 months of captivity. Warmbier died without regaining consciousness on June 19, 2017, six days after his return to the United States. Some U.S. officials blamed North Korea for his death. In July 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorized a "Geographical Travel Restriction" which banned Americans from entering North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Background, THAAD in South Korea
Ostensibly to counter North Korea's missile threat, United States Forces Korea (USFK) had been planning deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea, which is designed to detect and destroy intermediate- and medium-range ballistic missiles (not intercontinental ballistic missile). The deployment had faced strong oppositions from China, Russia, and North Korea. In late April 2017, it was reported that while THAAD had originally been scheduled to become operational by the end of 2017, this could occur sooner. According to U.S. Forces Korea's announcement, THAAD stationed in South Korea had reached initial operating capability (IOC) on May 1, 2017.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, USS Carl Vinson's movements: April 2017
Following North Korea's test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile from its eastern port of Sinpo into the Sea of Japan on April 5, which came a month after four ballistic missiles were fired towards the Sea of Japan, tensions increased as U.S. president Donald Trump had said the U.S. was prepared to act alone to deal with the nuclear threat from North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, USS Carl Vinson's movements: April 2017
On April 9, the U.S. Navy announced it was sending a navy strike group headed by the  supercarrier USS Carl Vinson to the West Pacific ("to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8"), but due to apparent miscommunication inside the U.S. administration, the naval move was presented as one towards the Korean peninsula. This information was backtracked by the U.S. government a few days later.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, USS Carl Vinson's movements: April 2017
The April 9 announcement by the Navy led to a "glitch-ridden sequence of events". On April 17, North Korea's deputy United Nations ambassador accused the United States of turning the Korean peninsula into "the world's biggest hotspot" and the North Korean government stated "its readiness to declare war on the United States if North Korean forces were to be attacked." In reality on April 18, Carl Vinson and its escorts were 5,600 kilometres (3,500 mi) from Korea engaged in scheduled joint Royal Australian Navy exercises in the Indian Ocean.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, USS Carl Vinson's movements: April 2017
On April 24 the Japanese destroyers Ashigara and Samidare participated with Carl Vinson in tactical training drills near the Philippines; North Korea threatened to sink her with a single strike. Carl Vinson had been in the South China Sea in 2015 and again in February 2017 on routine patrols. In late April 2017, Trump stated that "[t]here is a chance that we [the United States] could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, USS Carl Vinson's movements: April 2017
On April 24, North Korea marked the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army by what was said to be "its largest ever military drill," conducted in Wonsan. The following day, it was reported that the United States and South Korea had begun installing key elements of the THAAD missile defense in South Korea's Seongju County.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, ICBM test-flight on 4 July
On July 4 North Korea conducted the first publicly announced flight test of its ICBM Hwasong-14, timed to coincide with the U.S. Independence Day celebrations. This flight had a claimed range of 933 kilometres (580 mi) eastwards into the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea) and reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometres (9,193,000 ft) during a 39-minute flight.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, ICBM test-flight on 4 July
The U.S. government experts classified the missile launch as a big step in Pyongyang's quest to acquire a nuclear-tipped weapon capable of hitting the U.S. North Korea declared it was now "a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, ICBM test-flight on 4 July
USFK said in a statement dated July 4, 2017: "Eighth U.S. Army and Republic of Korea (ROK) military personnel conducted a combined event exercising assets countering North Korea's destabilizing and unlawful actions on July 4." South Korea's Hyunmoo-2B and U.S. Army Tactical Missile System missiles were launched during the drill.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 8, 2017, President Donald Trump warned that North Korean nuclear threats would "be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which the world has never seen before," after the mass media reported that a US intelligence assessment had found that the country had successfully produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead capable of fitting inside its missiles. President Trump also remarked of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un: "He has been very threatening beyond a normal state." Within hours, North Korea responded by announcing that it was considering attacking U.S. military bases in the US territory of Guam.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 10, 2017, North Korean Lt. Gen. Kim Rak-gyom responded to Trump's speech of "fire and fury," saying his words were "nonsense" and asserting that "reasonable dialogue" wasn't possible with Trump as president of the US. The North Korean governmental news agency KCNA reported that Kim Jong-un's military was considering a plan to fire four ICBMs, type Hwasong-12, into the Philippine Sea just 30–40 kilometers away from the island Guam. The flight time of missiles was estimated to be exactly 17 minutes and 45 seconds.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
A report by the KCNA suggested the plan would be put into operation in mid-August. U.S. officials stated that Joseph Y. Yun, the US envoy for North Korea policy, and Pak Song-il, a senior North Korean diplomat at the country's UN mission, were making regular contact during this dispute, through a conduit of communication they called the New York channel.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 11, Trump wrote on Twitter: "Military solutions are now fully in place,[ ]locked and loaded,[ ]should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!" Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta stated that the standoff between the U.S. and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program was comparable to the Cuban Missile Crisis.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
Bob Woodward, in his 2020 book Rage, quoted Mike Pompeo as saying the national security team "never knew whether it was real, or whether it was a bluff", and reported that Jim Mattis slept fully dressed due to concerns about a North Korean attack.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 14, Ukraine's Chairman of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov denied that it had ever supplied defense technology to North Korea, responding to an article in the New York Times that said North Korea might have purchased rocket engines from Ukrainian factory Yuzhmash, who have also denied the report.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 15, the North Korean leader said he was delaying a decision on firing missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam while he waits to see what Trump does next.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
From August 21–31, the U.S. and South Korea conducted the 2017 Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise that was billed by U.S. Forces Korea as slightly smaller than the previous year's, with 17,500 U.S. troops participating; an editorial carried by North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper condemned the drills as "the most explicit expression of hostility against us."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017
On August 25, North Korea fired three missiles from Kangwon Province in the southeastern part of the country. According to Cmdr. Dave Benham of US Pacific Command, one of the missiles exploded on launch while the other two suffered critical failures in flight, splashing down in the Sea of Japan after flying a distance of 250 kilometers (160 mi).


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017, Missile test over Japan on 29 August
On August 29, just before 6 am JST, North Korea launched a missile which flew over Hokkaido, Japan. The missile reached an altitude of 550 km (340 mi) and flew a total distance of around 2,700 km (1,700 mi) before crashing into the Pacific. The missile was not shot down by the Japanese military. This was the third time, with two prior events in 1998 and 2009, that a North Korean missile had passed over Japanese territory. However, in both of those prior cases, North Korea had claimed that they were launching satellites.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017, Missile test over Japan on 29 August
The missile prompted activation of the J-Alert warning system in Tohoku and Hokkaido, advising people to seek shelter. The launch was scheduled on the 107th anniversary of the Japan-Korea annexation treaty, and KCNA said that it was "a bold plan to make the cruel Japanese islanders insensible on bloody August 29." The missile launched was said to have followed a much flatter trajectory than those tested earlier in 2017.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017, Missile test over Japan on 29 August
An emergency UN Security Council meeting was called for later that day to discuss the event. In a statement issued by the White House in response to the launch, US President Donald Trump said that "All options are on the table" regarding North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017, U.S. response at the end of August
On August 30, President Trump issued a statement via Twitter saying "The U.S. has been talking to North Korea and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" However, when asked by reporters at a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-Moo whether diplomacy was off the table, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated that "We're never out of diplomatic solutions" and "We always look for more. We're never complacent."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Rhetorical escalation in August 2017, U.S. response at the end of August
On August 31, the US flew a squadron of bombers, including two B-1Bs and four F-35s, and conducted bombing drills in what US Pacific Command described as a "direct response to North Korea's intermediate range ballistic missile launch," referring to North Korea's IRBM launch on August 29.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
On September 3, at 3:31 am UTC, the United States Geological Survey reported that it had detected a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in North Korea near the Punggye-ri test site. Given the shallow depth of the quake and its proximity to North Korea's primary nuclear weapons testing facility, experts concluded that the country had conducted a sixth nuclear weapon test since the country first exploded a nuclear device in 2006. North Korea claimed that they had tested a hydrogen bomb capable of being mounted on an ICBM. The independent seismic monitoring agency NORSAR estimated that the blast had a yield of around 120 kilotons. An official KCNA statement of September 3, also claimed North Korea's ability to conduct a "super-powerful EMP attack".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
On the same day, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis speaking on behalf of the White House, warned there would be "a massive military response" to any threat from North Korea against the United States, including Guam, or its allies.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
Early on September 4, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) conducted a ballistic missile exercise that involved the South's Hyunmoo ballistic missile and the F-15K fighter jets, which was billed to be in response to North's detonation. The state news agency Yonhap said the South's military had carried out a live-fire exercise simulating an attack on the North's nuclear site, hitting "designated targets in the East Sea".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
On the same day, the UN Security Council convened to discuss further measures against North Korea; the leaked draft the relevant UNSC resolution prepared by the U.S. was said to call for an oil embargo on North Korea, ban on the country's exports of textiles, on the hiring of North Korean workers abroad as well as personal sanctions against Kim Jong-un. Despite resistance from China and Russia, the United States on 8 September formally requested a vote of the United Nations Security Council on the U.S. resolution. UNSC 2375 passed on September 11 as a significantly watered-down version of the United States' request.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
In an interview on September 4, Liu Jieyi, China's ambassador to the United Nations, called for dialogue, saying that the issue needed to be resolved "peacefully". He said, "China will never allow chaos and war on the peninsula."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
President Vladimir Putin speaking to the Chinese press on September 5, 2017, described U.S. proposals for further sanctions on Pyongyang as "useless"; he said, "Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it's a dead end." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has likened the war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to a kindergarten fight between two children, saying "Together with China we'll continue to strive for a reasonable approach and not an emotional one like when children in a kindergarten start fighting and no-one can stop them."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
A plan proposed by both China and Russia calls for a joint freeze (freeze-for-freeze) – of North's missile tests, and U.S. and South Korean military exercises; the next step would be starting talks. The joint initiative of Russia and China envisages the involved parties' commitment to "four nos": concerning regime change, regime collapse, accelerated reunification, and military deployment north of the thirty-eighth parallel.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
On September 6, Donald Trump, after a telephone conversation with China's Xi Jinping, said that the United States would not tolerate North Korea's provocations, although military action was not his "first choice".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017
On September 10, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with BBC television: "The reckless behavior of North Korea is a global threat and requires a global response and that of course also includes NATO"; when asked whether an attack on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam would trigger NATO's Article 5, he said: "I will not speculate about whether Article 5 will be applied in such a situation."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Missile test over Japan on September 15
On September 14, North Korea issued a threat to "sink" Japan, and turn the US to "ashes and darkness". The statement drew strong condemnation from Yoshihide Suga, who described the speech as "extremely provocative and egregious". The next day, an IRBM was fired from near Pyongyang and flew over Hokkaido, Japan before splashing down in the western Pacific about two thousand kilometers off Cape Erimo at about 7:16 am local time.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Missile test over Japan on September 15
The missile traveled 3,700 kilometers (2,300 mi) achieving a maximum apogee of 770 kilometres (480 mi) during its 19-minute flight. It was the furthest any North Korean IRBM missile has gone above and beyond Japan. On September 18, North Korea announced that any further sanctions would only cause acceleration of their nuclear program.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, U.S. and China agree on "pressure"
On September 18, the White House said president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping had discussed North Korea's continued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests and committed to "maximising pressure on North Korea through vigorous enforcement" of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea; North Korea said the sanctions would accelerate its nuclear program.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
On September 19, Donald Trump, in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, said that the United States: "if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man [Kim Jong-un] is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States are ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary." Also, without mentioning it by name, Donald Trump criticized China for maintaining relations with NK, calling it "an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
On September 20, U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order that further toughened U.S. sanctions against North Korea: the U.S. Treasury was thereby authorized to target firms and financial institutions conducting business with NK. Commenting on the executive order, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or North Korea, but not both."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
On September 21, responding directly for the first time to President Trump's threat, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un in his capacity of Chairman of State Affairs of DPRK called Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard" (Korean: 늙다리 미치광이, romanized: Neukdari michigwangi, lit. 'Old man lunatic') and vowed the "highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history." (The ad hominem insults aside, no reference was made to the "hostile policy" of the United States, a staple of North Korean statements otherwise.) Foreign minister Ri Yong-ho likewise alluded to Trump as a barking dog, and furthermore remarked that North Korea might be considering the largest test of a hydrogen bomb ever in the Pacific Ocean, which would constitute the first atmospheric nuclear test in the world since 1980 (last performed by China).


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
On September 25, North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho accused Trump of declaring war on his country, referring to Trump's recent tweet that North Korea "won't be around much longer." The White House responded that the United States has not declared war.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
On September 30, Rex Tillerson stated while on a trip to China, that the U.S. and North Korea were in "direct contact". "We have lines of communications to Pyongyang" he said, "We're not in a dark situation". He further stated that the U.S. was "probing" the possibility of direct talks. "So stay tuned". The Associated Press has claimed that a long-used back-channel has been re-opened in the past months, the 'New York Channel', facilitating communication between Washington and Pyongyang. The next day however, Trump made a series of posts on Twitter which seemed to undermine Tillerson's efforts, claiming that Tillerson was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea and that "we'll do what has to be done".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Trump's speech at UN GA, and Kim Jong-un's response
Former CIA Director John O. Brennan, during a Q&A session at Fordham University on October 18, remarked that "I think the prospects of military conflict in the Korean peninsula are greater than they have been in several decades... I don't think it's likely or probable, but if it's a 1-in-4 or 1-in-5 chance, that's too high."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Argument about nuclear armament of South Korea and Japan
An argument emerged in both South Korea and Japan about the nuclear option, driven by worry that the United States might hesitate to defend the countries if doing so might provoke a missile launched from the North at major U.S. cities. In South Korea, polls show that 60 percent of the population favors building nuclear weapons, and that nearly 70 percent want the United States to reintroduce tactical nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn in 1991.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Argument about nuclear armament of South Korea and Japan
In October, Hong Jun-pyo, one of the leading South Korean opposition figures, argued "only by deploying tactical nuclear weapons on South Korean territory can we negotiate with North Korea on an equal footing." Republican Senator John McCain urged that the U.S. should consider deploying nuclear weapons to South Korea. Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger mentioned "If North Korea continues to have nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons must spread in the rest of Asia."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Armistice violation in early November 2017
On November 13, North Korean soldiers unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Oh Chong-song, a defector from crossing the border in the Joint Security Area. The UN Command stated that North Korean soldiers had violated the armistice agreement by firing more than 40 shots in the demilitarized zone and in the case of one soldier by briefly crossing the military demarcation line.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Sixth nuclear test and aftermath: September 2017, Re-listing as State Sponsor of Terrorism
On November 20, 2017, Trump officially announced re-listing North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, which called the move as a "serious provocation".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017
On November 28, North Korea conducted its third intercontinental ballistic missile test, marking the end of a two-month span in which no missile tests were conducted. Photos of Hwasong-15 show the missile's booster engines are two Hwasong-14 engines bundled for its first stage, as agreed by three separate analysts, Tal Inbar, Kim Dong-yub, and Chang Young-Keun. The missile was said to have flown to a record altitude of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) and landed in the Sea of Japan into the exclusive economic zone, a distance of 1,000 kilometres (600 mi). breaking up into three pieces.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017
Initial assessments made by the Pentagon and subsequent analysis suggested that it was an ICBM judging by the height it traveled and, if fired on a normal trajectory, would more than be able to reach anywhere in the continental United States. The South Korean and Japanese defense ministries also concluded that an ICBM was likely launched and that it had traveled in a lofted trajectory.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017
Japanese defense minister Itsunori Onodera also added that the missile broke apart into at least three pieces before it crashed into the waters located within the exclusive economic zone, indicating that the re-entry vehicle failed to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. It  was launched from a larger launcher vehicle, with 9 axles, as opposed to the 8-axle vehicles purchased from China. Each of the three ICBMs launched so far have been launched from three different locations.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017
In a press conference shortly after the launch, President Trump said regarding North Korea's ICBM launch that "we'll handle it".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017, Reports of sanction violations in December 2017
In late December 2017, it was reported that Chinese and Russian-flagged tanker ships had been observed conducting at-sea transfers of oil and petroleum products to North Korean ships over the course of the previous year, violating sanctions imposed by the US and United Nations. In posts on Twitter, Trump blasted China for defying the sanctions and continuing to support North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017, Reports of sanction violations in December 2017
One of these vessels, Lighthouse Winmore registered out of Hong Kong with 23 Chinese crew members, was seized by South Korean officials after reportedly delivering 600 tons of oil illegally to the North Korean vessel Sam Jong 2 in a part of the West Sea, between China and South Korea back in October.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Third ICBM test and aftermath: November 2017, Reports of sanction violations in December 2017
Executive Order 13722 blocks, among other items, the export of laborers which benefit the government of North Korea, or the Worker's Union Party. On 1 January 2018 The New York Times reported that as many as 147,000 workers from North Korea now work abroad, and that the Worker's Union Party of Pyongyang garnishes from 30 to 80 percent of the workers' wages. The specific businesses reported included a shipyard, a shipping container manufacturer, and greenhouses in Poland.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018
The crisis had caused concern about the safety of the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang in South Korea. It is widely believed that if North Korea participates in the Games, the risk of escalation diminishes. This theory was later put to the test when North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un signaled a possibility to send athletes to the Games after all in his New Year's speech for 2018, saying "North Korea's participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to showcase the national pride and we wish the Games will be a success.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018
Officials from the two Koreas may urgently meet to discuss the possibility". The announcement was followed by South Korean agreement to participate in the first high-level talks with the North since December 2015. The talks were scheduled for 9 January 2018. North Korea is also prepared to talk to the IOC that week. In preparation for the North–South talks, the two countries restored the Seoul–Pyongyang hotline, which had been inactive for almost two years, and exchanged related documents via fax.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018
After these developments, North Korea's IOC member Chang Ung said that the participation of North Korean figure skaters again looked likely. The possibility of North Korean participation has stirred up talk about a possible Olympic boycott by the United States, after the administration of President Donald Trump, who has been at loggerheads with Kim Jong-un, has issued mixed messages. After discussions on 9 January 2018, North Korea announced they would send athletes to compete along with a delegation to attend the Winter Olympics.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018
North and South Korea marched together in the Olympics opening ceremony and fielded a united women's ice hockey team. As well as the athletes, North Korea sent an unprecedented high-level delegation, headed by Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, and President Kim Yong-nam, and including performers like the Samjiyon Orchestra. The delegation passed along an invitation to President Moon to visit North Korea.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018
According to North Korea expert Sung-Yoon Lee, North Korea's policy toward the Olympics is to enhance North Korea's status: "One doesn't need to be a genius to see that this is what North Korea does: After having created a war-like, crisis atmosphere, (Kim [Jong-un]) takes a small step back and there's a collective sigh of relief that there's no war. It does wonders for North Korea's image."


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018, False alarms in Hawaii and Japan
Residents and tourists in the U.S. state of Hawaii were briefly thrown into a panic when an emergency alert was issued January 13, 2018, advising of an imminent ballistic missile threat. Another message was sent out about 40 minutes later describing the first alert as a false alarm.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018, False alarms in Hawaii and Japan
Three days later in Japan, broadcasting agency NHK also accidentally sent an alert about a North Korean missile launch in error. The error was corrected in minutes.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018, 2018 State of the Union Address
In his first State of the Union address, President Trump devoted much time to North Korea, stoking fears that an American strike was under serious consideration and not mere saber-rattling, particularly given the withdrawal of Dr. Victor Cha as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and its similarity to George W. Bush's Axis of Evil 2002 State of the Union Address.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Winter Olympics "détente" and further developments: January–February 2018, Speculation about attack on North Korea
In mid-February, as the Olympics were ongoing, after previous media reports, the Trump administration denied considering a so-called preemptive "bloody nose" attack on North Korea's nuclear program. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton confirmed that the administration's policy remains one of "maximum pressure" via economic sanctions in order to get North Korea to negotiate on eliminating its nuclear weapons. Thornton however reiterated that military options are still "on the table" and that Pyongyang would be forced to give up its nuclear weapons "one way or another".


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Beginning of peace efforts, Inter-Korean summits
On April 27, the two leaders met at the Joint Security Area, with Kim Jong-un crossing the MDL in South Korean territory, the first time a North Korean leader has done so. President Moon also briefly crossed into the North's territory. Both Moon and Kim signed the Panmunjom Declaration, declaring the Korean conflict over and to sign a proper peace treaty by the end of the year. With that, Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang in the fall.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Beginning of peace efforts, Inter-Korean summits
On March 8, in a surprise departure from the hostile dialogue during 2017, Trump announced that he would meet with leader Kim Jong-un, and the two would meet likely by May. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that "in the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain." North Korea accepts South Korea's proposal to hold the high-level inter-Korean talks, which took place on March 29. On May 24, President Trump cancelled the planned meeting with Chairman Kim over "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Kim. On June 1, President Trump reversed the cancellation and confirmed that the summit would take place on June 12 as planned.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Beginning of peace efforts, Inter-Korean summits
Following their talks, both leaders signed a joint declaration titled "Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong-un of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the Singapore Summit". It states:


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Suspicion of continued nuclear program
In June 2018, NBC News reported that U.S. intelligence believed that North Korea was increasing production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and that, in addition to its known fuel-producing facility at Yongbyon, it had multiple secret nuclear sites. In August 2018, US officials said that North Korea could be continuing to build nuclear weapons, and days later the United Nations Security Council received reports that North Korea may not have stopped its nuclear program. The reports also claimed that North Korea was violating the UN sanctions.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Suspicion of continued nuclear program
In late September 2018, Trump claimed that North Korea had already stopped nuclear testing, and he said that the United States would not impose any required timeline for North Korea's total denuclearization. "I've got all the time in the world...we are not playing the 'time game.' If takes two years, three years, or five months, it doesn't matter," Trump said. He was responding to and denying U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claim that North Korea's denuclearization would be completed by January 2021. Trump maintained that sanctions against North Korea would stay in place until it had denuclearized.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, Suspicion of continued nuclear program
Satellite images obtained by CNN in December 2018 show that the Yeongjeo-dong long-range missile base (the existence of which was already public knowledge) remains active. The images also revealed continued construction on an underground facility and construction on a facility (the existence of which was previously unknown to the public) several kilometres from Yeongjeo-dong.


2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Timeline, 2019 Hanoi summit
A second summit between Kim and Trump  occurred on February 27–28, 2019.


2017–2018 Russian protests
The 2017–2018 Russian protests were a long series of countrywide street protest actions and demonstrations in the Russian Federation, which were primarily concerned with suppressing corruption in the Russian government (from 26 March 2017 through spring 2018) and abandoning the planned retirement age hike (from 14 June 2018 through the end of 2018).


2017–2018 Russian protests
The anti-corruption protests began in March 2017 but were joined by and overlapped the 2018 Russian pension protests. The anti-corruption protests were primarily led by Alexey Navalny, who was joined by well-known participants such as the Libertarian Party, Open Russia, and Artpodgotovka. They occurred as a result of the Russian financial crisis (2014–2016) aftermath, although they had their root in the corruption at the different levels up to the highest echelons of the Russian power.


2017–2018 Russian protests
The protests and demonstrations against corruption in the Russian government began in March 2017 after the release of the investigative film He Is Not Dimon to You by Navalny's Anti- Corruption Foundation, at a point when the country was already tense. Discontentment was triggered by the alleged corrupt activity of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as presented in the film, the inadequately planned demolition of apartments in Moscow and the protracted strikes of truck drivers related to the Platon toll system, which had been ongoing since 2015.


2017–2018 Russian protests
National protests against alleged corruption in Russia took place simultaneously in more than 100 cities across the country on 26 March 2017. They were caused by the dismissive response from the Russian authorities to the published investigative film He Is Not Dimon to You, which had garnered more than 23 million views on YouTube. By Sunday evening, riot police in body armor and helmets had detained more than 1000 demonstrators in central Moscow, as the crowd, numbering in the tens of thousands, cheered, whistled and chanted "Shame! ", "Medvedev, resign! ", and "Putin is a thief!" The Levada Centre survey showed that 38% of surveyed Russians supported the protests and that 67% held Putin "entirely" or "to a large extent" responsible for high-level corruption.


2017–2018 Russian protests
A new wave of mass protests occurred on 12 June 2017. After the arrest of Navalny on 29 September, hours before a planned rally in Nizhny Novgorod, a new wave of protests was announced for 7 October, the birthday of Putin. Protests and uprisings continued in 2018, with the tendency to radicalization, and a record number of protesters was detained on 5 May, two days before Putin's inauguration. Mass rallies were held in more than 60 cities all over Russia.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Background
In March 2017, Alexei Navalny and his Anti- Corruption Foundation launched the campaign He Is Not Dimon To You, accusing Dmitry Medvedev, the prime minister and former president of Russia, of corruption. The authorities both ignored the report produced by Navalny and commented that the report was issued by a "convicted criminal" and was not worth commenting on.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Background
On 26 March, Navalny organized a series of anti-corruption rallies in different cities across Russia. This appeal was responded to by the representatives of 95 of Russian cities, and four cities abroad: London, Prague, Basel and Bonn. In some cities, the rallies were sanctioned by the authorities, but in others, including Saint Petersburg, they were prohibited. Moscow authorities declined the event request by Navalny in the city centre, but did not suggest any alternative location. Navalny referred to a decision of the Constitutional court and declared the event for being permitted. The Moscow police said that 500 people had been detained, but according to the human rights group OVD-Info, 1,030 people were detained in Moscow alone, including Navalny himself.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Background
The Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs posted a message on its official website with a call to Moscow residents not to join the event. It said that the action in Moscow was not coordinated with the municipality and was illegal.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 26 March 2017
On 26 March, an estimated 60,000 people took part in anti-corruption protests across 80 Russian towns and cities and hundreds of protesters were detained, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny and employees of the Anti- Corruption Foundation.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 26 March 2017
According to Human Rights Watch, Russian authorities have harassed, intimidated, or threatened to expel schoolchildren and university students who participated in anti-corruption demonstrations on 26 March. 70 children were arrested in Moscow alone.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 26 March 2017
The United States Department of State condemned the detention of protesters, including Alexei Navalny, stating that "detaining peaceful protesters, human rights observers, and journalists is an affront to core democratic values."


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 29 April 2017
Action organized by the Open Russia civic movement led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky took place in dozens of cities all across Russia. Action was called "Fed up with" ("Nadoel" in Russian) with the aim to urge for changes in Russian political rule. Protestors called for Putin and government to resign. In Saint Petersburg, Tyumen, Kemerovo, Tula and several other cities rallies were suppressed by police, with a total of 200 people being detained countrywide. As a consequence, the Open Russia organization was labeled as "undesirable" by Russia's prosecutor general, so that it was officially banned from operating in the country and its website was blocked by official Media Authorities Roscomnadzor


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 12 June 2017
A new wave of protests with the same goals was announced by Navalny on spring. They took place in even more cities. They occurred in 154 towns and cities. According to Reuters and rights groups, tens of thousands of protesters attended and more than one thousand were detained. A Moscow court sentenced Navalny to 30 days in prison for calling people to the protest.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 12 June 2017
White House spokesman Sean Spicer condemned the arrest of protesters and called for their release. Russian authorities rejected US petitions and criticised the widening on the sanctions against Russia.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 7 October 2017
Protest actions against corruption in the highest echelons of the Russian government were held on 7 October 2017, on the day of the 65th anniversary of V.V. Putin in the form of rallies, processions and single pickets in 79 cities of Russia. At the rallies came from 2560 to 21,520 people, like the supporters of Navalny, and his opponents. The main rallies were rallies in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In Saint Petersburg, the action began on the Field of Mars, and in Moscow on Tverskaya Street. The reason for their conduct were facts of corruption V.V. Putin and his associates. 290 participants of the action were detained.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 5 November 2017
In Moscow, many police were present, the Okhotny Ryad station was closed. The police conducted selective searches of citizens, many were taken away in padded wagons. At 13:00 on the message OVD-Info in Moscow, 82 people were detained. 2 people were detained in Saint Petersburg, 4 in Krasnoyarsk. Also detained a representative of the "Echo of Moscow". Later in Saint Petersburg, another 10 people were detained near the Smolny Institute.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 5 November 2017
At 21:00 on the message OVD-Info, the number of detainees increased to 448 people. Most of the detentions took place in Moscow – 339, in Saint Petersburg 21 people, according to unconfirmed reports, 49 of them – minors. It remains to spend the night in the police departments, on the night of 6 November, about 112 people.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 28 January 2018
Protests within the framework of the "Strike of voters" were held on 28 January 2018 in the form of rallies, processions and solitary pickets in 118 cities of Russia. The reason was the refusal of the CEC to register at the election of Alexei Navalny, after which he announced a protest on 28 January, and urged all his supporters not to come to the elections and agitate others not to take part in them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated the number of participants in the shares of 3500–4500 people, the HROs – in 5000.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 28 January 2018
According to the supporters of Navalny, the participants were much more. The New Times, referring to eyewitnesses, reported 4,000–5,000 protesters in Moscow and 2,000–3,000 in Saint Petersburg. In Yekaterinburg, in an agreed action, Mayor Yevgeny Roizman and Navaly Head of Staff Leonid Volkov took part and spoke at the rally. The presidential candidate, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, spoke with several protestors on Tverskaya Street in Moscow. According to various estimates, about 15,000 people took part in the protests.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 30 April 2018
Approximately 13,000 people gathered in Moscow central Sakharov square for a protest rally to urge government to unblock Telegram Messenger. The app was blocked by Roscomnadzor, Russian media authorities who claimed it was used to coordinate terror attacks. Protesters denounced the block as the censorship act and freedom of speech violation.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, 5 May 2018
Mass protest actions and rallies took place in 90 towns and cities over the country against Vladimir Putin fourth inauguration. Alexey Navalny in his blog compared Vladimir Putin with a tsar. More than thousand people were arrested countrywide. The majority of people were detained in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Yakutsk, Krasnodar, Tolyatti, Krasnoyarsk, Voronezh, Astrakhan, Penza, Kaluga, Belgorod, Novokuznetsk, Vladimir and Samara.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, July–September 2018
From July, almost every weekend, protest rallies and demonstrations were organized against the planned retirement age hike. Such events occurred in nearly all major cities countrywide including Novosibirsk, St.-Petersburg and Moscow. Total number of participants exceeded 200 thousands, with maximal single-event attendance of about 15 thousands (in Moscow). These events were coordinated by all opposition parties with the leading role of the communists. Also trade unions and some individual politicians (among whom Navalny) functioned as organizers of the public actions.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Events, July–September 2018
The most noticeable street rallies, related with the retirement-age reform, proceeded on 1 July, 18, 28 July-29 July, 2 September and 9 September 2018. So, on 2 September, large-scale anti-reform manifestations were led by the Russian communists and some other left-wing oppositional political forces. A week later, on 9 September, the rallies were organized by Alexey Navalny all over Russia, over 800 people were detained.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Aftermath
The Anti- Corruption Foundation building was evacuated due to a bomb message, interrupting the webcast of the protest conducted from the office. Soon the staff of the Foundation were detained by police, who also began to conduct searches and seizure of equipment.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Aftermath
Some time later, Alexei Navalny was charged with organizing an unlawful meeting. An ACF employee and the head of the Moscow branch of the unregistered "Party of progress" Nikolay Lyaskin was detained for 25 days. Leonid Volkov, the head of Alexei Navalny's presidential campaign, was charged with extremism.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Aftermath
About 1,000 people were detained overall, most of whom were released on Monday. Many detainees were under 25 years of age. This protest is considered by critics of the Russian government to be the biggest since the March 2012 Bolotnaya protests for Moscow, which happened in reaction to Putin's election. Pro -government critics, however, linked Navalny's activities with appealing to the Russian youth, mainly by promoting "rebellious movements" as a way of spending free time.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Aftermath
An April 2017 Levada poll found that 45% of surveyed Russians support the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, while 33% opposed. Newsweek reported that "An opinion poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center indicated that 38 percent of Russians supported the rallies and that 67 percent held Putin personally responsible for high-level corruption". A May 2017 Levada poll found that 58% of surveyed Russians supported the protests, while 23% said they disapprove.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Aftermath
In May, Yury Kuly was sentenced to 8 months in jail, and on 24 May Alexander Shpakov was sentenced for 1.5 years in jail, both for alleged violence against the police on the 26 March rally in Moscow.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Protests across Russia
Protests, meeting and pickets have been erupted in 79-154 towns and cities. Some protests ended with mass arrests and clashes with police (such as Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg).


2017–2018 Russian protests, Protests across Russia, Chelyabinsk
On 5 May, an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 protests have taken to the streets, protesters clashed with police, which resulted in arrests of 164 to 200. There are no official figures.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
Russian state television completely ignored the protests on Sunday. Monday morning's bulletins were similarly blank. Pro -Kremlin newspapers also ignored the protests.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
Across the country, students have reported being press-ganged into lectures warning them of the perils of supporting those opposed to Putin. Some schools and universities have simply tasked teachers with persuading their students not to go to protests. A 13-year old student was quoted as saying: "They don't have the right to 'reeducate' us, to change our political views. I think they're doing this because they're afraid. They know that one day we'll be able to vote."


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
Alisa Vox, a Russian singer, appeared in the video for "Baby Boy", posted online on 15 May. It has amassed more than 2.1 million views and more than a quarter of a million 'dislikes', or downvotes.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
Navalny said Vox's video was a Russian government PR stunt to dissuade his supporters that she had received money for.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
In many cities, on the day of the protest, the public transport route was specially changed so that it was more difficult for people to get to the protest.


2017–2018 Russian protests, Government reaction
The protest actions on 12 June 7 October, 5 November 2017 and 28 January 2018 were not mentioned at all on state-owned TV channels and the media.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak
The 2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak was a widespread outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes food poisoning that resulted from contaminated processed meats produced by Enterprise Foods, a subsidiary of Tiger Brands, in Polokwane. There were 1,060 confirmed cases of listeriosis during the outbreak, and about 216 deaths. It is the world's worst ever listeriosis outbreak.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Investigation of the origin
Prior to 2017, an average of 60 to 80 listeriosis cases were confirmed in South Africa per year. The outbreak was first identified by doctors at Chris Hani and Steve Biko academic hospitals in July 2017, who notified the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) about an unusually high number of neonatal infections.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Investigation of the origin
Interviews conducted by the authorities with people who contracted listeriosis indicated that processed cold meats, most notably polony, was the likely cause of the outbreak. The source of the outbreak at the Enterprise Foods facility was only discovered after nine five-year-old children from Soweto were brought to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in mid-January 2018. Samples taken from Enterprise and Rainbow Chicken polony products at the crèche the children attended tested positive for the strain of listeriosis causing the outbreak and led investigators to the infected production facilities.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Investigation of the origin
On March 4, 2018, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced that the disease was traced to the Enterprise processed meats factory in Polokwane. Environmental samples from the factory were found to contain the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes strain ST 6, the strain responsible for the outbreak. Additionally, further samples from another Enterprise factory in Germiston and from a Rainbow Chicken factory in the Free State tested positive for Listeria, although which strain these samples tested positive for is not yet known.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Impact
Laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases started to rise in mid-2017 and peaked in December 2017, with 32 cases in a week. Gauteng was the province with the most cases, 58%, followed by Western Cape with about 13%. A report from the National Department of Health in July 2018 stated there had been 1,060 laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis, and 216 deaths.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Impact, Reactions after cause was known
Following the announcement, Tiger Brand's stock price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange dropped by 7%, resulting in a R5.7bn (equivalent to US$438.69 million) reduction in total value. At a press conference the next day, Tiger Brands CEO Lawrence MacDougall denied responsibility, stating "There is no direct link between any of the deaths and our products." When pressed by journalists, he refused to apologize.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Impact, Reactions after cause was known
The South African government issued a recall notice of all products of RCL Foods Limited and Enterprise Foods and Rainbow Chicken facilities on March 4. Tiger Brands reportedly admitted to knowing about the presence of listeria in some of its products eighteen days before the government recall.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Impact, Reactions after cause was known
On March 5, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia suspended all imports of processed meat from South Africa. Kenya followed suit on the next day.


2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak, Impact, Reactions after cause was known
In December 2018 the South Gauteng High Court granted a certification order opening up the process for class-action lawsuit against Tiger Brands for around 1,000 claimants. Each claimant might be eligible to seek between R100,000 and R2,000,000 in compensation for their losses due to the outbreak.


2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis
The 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis, also known as the Catalan crisis, was a political conflict between the Government of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya under former President Carles Puigdemont—the government of the autonomous community of Catalonia until 28 October 2017—over the issue of Catalan independence. It started after the law intending to allow the 2017 Catalan independence referendum was denounced by the Spanish government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and subsequently suspended by the Constitutional Court until it ruled on the issue. Some international media outlets have described the events as "one of the worst political crises in modern Spanish history".