Coup leader Prayuth Chan-Ocha delivers a speech after receiving a royal command to appoint him chief of the National Council for Peace and Order in Bangkok on May 26 (XINHUA)

Thai Military Coup

Armed Forces of Thailand, led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, launched a coup on May 22 following a seven-month-long political crisis in the country. It marked the country's 19th military coup since a change of rule from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy in 1932.

Prayuth Chan-ocha was elected prime minister in August. Afterward, the political situation in the country calmed down.

A publicity photo released on November 13 by the European Space Agency shows a view of the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko around the point of probe Philae's final touchdown (CFP)

First Comet Landing

The European Space Operations Center announced on November 12 in Darmstadt, Germany that probe Philae successfully landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Before landing, Philae had been flying with its mother ship Rosetta for over 10 years and nearly 7 billion km in pursuit of the Comet 67P.

Philae made history as the first human-made object to achieve a soft landing on a comet nucleus. By studying Comet 67P's makeup with the help of the 10 scientific instruments onboard Philae, scientists hope to unlock secrets of the solar system and even the origins of life.

Traders talk after the close of the New York Stock Exchange on October 29 when the U.S. Federal Reserve announced the end of its quantitative easing stimulus (CFP)

U.S. QE Exit

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on October 29 that it would end the third round of its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus, as it sees the economy is on track to improving from the worst financial crisis in decades. To salvage the world's largest economy from the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, the Fed has kicked off three rounds of QE stimulus since the end of 2008, injecting trillions of dollars of liquidity to boost the sagging economy.

The QE exit will further speed up the international capital outflows from emerging economies, having a negative effect on their domestic economic development. But from another perspective, the economic recovery of the United States also means new opportunities for emerging economies.

Cheng Liping, whose husband was onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that disappeared on March 8, shows a family photo in an interview in Beijing on July 24 (CFP)

Missing Aircraft

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people onboard lost contact on March 8 while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

After the incident, more than 20 countries including China, Malaysia, Australia and the United States carried out a massive search. However, the aircraft wreckage has not been detected and it is believed that no one on board the plane survived.