Nepalis confronted one of nature's extreme fury on April 25, when a powerful earthquake shook their capital. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Kathmandu shortly after noon, killing almost 8,400 people and leaving thousands injured and homeless.

The quake waves touched a vast expanse of the subcontinent, setting off avalanches around Mount Everest and swaying buildings in Tibet and Bangladesh.

Just as people were recovering from the trauma, another temblor plunged them back into panic 17 days later. The 7.3 magnitude quake killed at least 200 more and left thousands in need of aid.

A tragedy they were. But one of the most disturbing and ugliest impacts of the earthquakes was the emotional and financial disintegration of Nepali families.

An immediate consequence of this was a spurt in the number of girls trafficked from their homes. According to The Guardian, between 12,000 and 15,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal each year, with the majority ending up in Indian brothels.

The earthquake just worsened the situation. With one or both parents dead and food and money scarce, a lot of children have ended up in streets and from there in the hands of traffickers, according to accounts given by rescued girls.

Life is still difficult in Nepal. But the country has started showing signs of a comeback. Hospitals are being rebuilt, there is better management in distribution of international aid, and most of all, presence of hope is palpable.

Vast number of people have made their way across the Mediterranean to Europe in 2015, sparking a migrant crisis as countries struggle to cope with the influx.

What is the crisis?

The struggle of Europe to figure out how to receive the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing unrest in the sub-Saharan and African countries.

Is it a refugee or a migrant crisis?

It's a bit of both. Refugees are forced to flee home. Migrants leave home voluntarily to improve their lives with a new job or education.

How many people are coming to Europe?

More than 7,50,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived by sea so far this year. Exact numbers are unclear. Though not all of them seek asylum, 7,00,000 have already done so.

Where do they come from?

Mostly Syria. Violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, abuses in Eritrea and poverty in Kosovo are the other biggest drivers of migration.

Why Europe?

The developing countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, are overwhelmed. They are already sheltering 3.6 million Syrian refugees. Many would rather attempt the dangerous journey to Europe than subsist in impoverished, overcrowded refugee camps.

Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal on July 14, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East.

US President Barack Obama hailed the deal as a step towards a "more hopeful world" and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said it proved that "constructive engagement works". But Israel pledged to do what it could to halt what it called a "historic surrender".

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the west has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.

Iran will mothball for at least a decade the majority of its centrifuges used to enrich uranium and sharply reduce its low-enriched uranium stockpile.

The agreement is a political triumph for both Obama, who has long promised to reach out to historic enemies, and Rouhani, a pragmatist elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the isolation of his nation of 80 million people.

Horrific scenes unfolded outside Islam's holiest site, Mecca, on September 24, when hundreds of people were crushed to death in the deadliest disaster during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in a quarter of a century.

Panic broke out when two groups of pilgrims preparing for one of the last major rites of their trip collided at the intersection of two narrow streets.

The disaster revived questions about Saudi Arabia’s ability to manage the world’s largest annual migration, and the tragedy turned political as officials and diplomats began trading blames even before rescue operations had wound up.

Although the exact cause of the stampede is still unclear, reports said it was linked to the arrival of Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud and his large security entourage. According to reports, the prince, accompanied by 350 members of the security forces, arrived at Mina for a meeting with his father. The stampede reportedly occurred when the one-way traffic directions were reversed to allow the prince’s convoy to get through. Saudi Arabia, however, has denied it.

The November 8 general election in Myanmar was truly historic for the fact that it was the first reasonably free and fair election there since 1990. Five days later, when the results were announced, democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) claimed a staggering majority in parliament, ending half a century of dominance by the military.

Though Myanmar emerged from the brutal military rule in 2011, years of mismanagement, combined with international sanctions and isolation, had turned it into one of the world's poorest and most neglected nations. The infrastructure is in shambles and public services are virtually nonexistent. That means, challenges galore for the Noble-laureate in days ahead.

A series of coordinated terror attacks took the lives of at least 129 people in Paris on the night of November 13. Six different sites, including a football stadium and a concert venue, were targeted.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation of the French airstrikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian who is believed to have orchestrated the attacks, was killed in a raid in the Paris suburb of St Denis. Seven of the attackers have died.

French police have carried out more than 150 raids across the country, as the search for suspects continues. Raids have also taken place in the Belgian city of Brussels.

The attacks were the deadliest on France since World War II and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on November 24, saying the jet had violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century.

It is the first time a Russian aircraft has crashed in Syria since Moscow launched airstrikes against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in September.

Russia's defence ministry said one of its Su-24 fighter jets had been downed in Syria and that "for the entire duration of the flight, the aircraft was exclusively over Syrian territory". Turkey, however, denied it and said it has footage that shows incursion on its airspace.

Angered, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree imposing a raft of punitive economic sanctions against Turkey on November 28.