Get set for the year ahead: Here’s your quick-take guide to navigating 2017
A lowdown of global events, which could grab headlines in 2017
Bloomberg News reporters in more than 100 cities will cover the stories that matter most in 2017. Here’s a selection of key events for the year. QuickTakes highlight the underpinnings of complicated subjects, providing a concise, fun-to-read entry point to current debates.
January
• Donald Trump will be sworn in as US president on 20 January.
• The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 17-20 January .
• Finland begins a test of a universal basic income by offering 2,000 unemployed adults €560 a month.
• US companies will be required to disclose pay ratios comparing the compensation of their chief executive officer to the median pay of employees, in the year starting 1 January.
• Cigarette plain-packaging law comes into effect in France.
• The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision aims to complete an overhaul of capital standards by 8 January.
• France is gathering dozens of foreign ministers in Paris 15 January to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
February
• Judges may rule as early as February in a US patent dispute determining who invented the gene-editing technique known as Crispr-Cas9.
• US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen gives the first of her twice-yearly reports to Congress.
• Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which runs the daily London gold auction, will start trading a futures contract for the metal in the US, part of a battle for control of the world gold market.
• The number of influenza cases typically peaks this month in the US.
March
• ChemChina aims to complete its $43 billion purchase of Syngenta, a record acquisition by a Chinese company, by the end of the first quarter.
• UK prime minister Theresa May plans to trigger the legal process for Britain’s exit from the European Union, starting a two-year countdown for Brexit.
• Hong Kong’s Election Committee chooses the city’s next chief executive.
• SpaceX plans to launch the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V moon rocket program ended in 1973.
• A general election in the Netherlands will be held on 15 March.
• Samsung is expected to unveil its Galaxy S8 smartphone.
• India Post is expected to start operations of its postal banking system.
April
• The European Central Bank is scheduled to begin scaling back its quantitative easing programme, reducing monthly bond buying to €60 billion.
• The French presidential election’s first round is 23 April, with the second and final round two weeks later.
• India will introduce its first national sales tax, or GST.
• Golf’s Masters Tournament takes place 6-9 April in Augusta, Georgia.
May
• G-7 meets in Sicily. First meeting for US president Trump.
• Iran’s presidential election is to be held on 19 May.
• Pope Francis visits Fatima, Portugal, 13 May for the 100th anniversary of the day on which three children said the Virgin Mary first appeared to them.
• The Eurovision song contest will be held in Kiev after Ukraine’s Susana Jamaladinova, who uses the stage name Jamala, won the contest in 2016.
• College graduates say farewell to school and, in the US, hello to an average of more than $30,000 in debt.
June
• Deadline for South Korea’s constitutional court to rule whether to remove President Park Geun-hye from power, triggering a presidential election within 60 days.
• Roaming charges for mobile phones will be abolished in the European Union on 15 June.
• The US Federal Reserve typically releases results of its annual bank stress tests.
• The 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War.
• The Confederations Cup, a practice run for hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is held on 17 June to 2 July in Russia.
• Spotify plans to sell shares in an initial public offering by mid-year.
July
• Canada Day, 1 July, marks 150 years since the British colonies were federally united into the Dominion of Canada.
• The Group of 20 nations meets in Hamburg, 7-8 July.
• US banks face a 21 July deadline for divesting their investments in private equity and hedge funds.
August
• Kenya holds an election 8 August.
• The Perseid meteor shower will peak 12-13 August.
• Earliest date possible for the German federal election is 27 August. In recent years, elections have taken place in September.
September
• Russia will hold its annual strategic military exercises in its western regions.
• Catalonia’s regional president, Carles Puigdemont, has vowed to hold a referendum this month on splitting from Spain.
• Bloomberg will open its new European headquarters in London before the end of the year. The site includes a museum for the archaeological remains of a temple dedicated to the Roman god Mithras.
• London trial opens for six traders accused of manipulating Euribor.
• Norway will hold a parliamentary election 11 September.
• Apple typically unveils new technologies for its iPhones in September.
• US meat producer Tyson Foods pledged to end the use of antibiotics in its chickens this month.
October
• Nobel Peace Prize is announced. Colombia’s president won in 2016.
• Annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, 13-15 October.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping may narrow the field of potential successors at the party congress, expected in October or November.
November
• If the US Affordable Care Act is still in place, its open enrollment period will run from 1 November to 31 January 2018.
• China celebrates Singles’ Day 11 November. It’s the largest online shopping day.
• New Zealand’s general election must be held by 18 November.
• Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meet in Vietnam.
December
• Deadline to hold South Korean presidential election is 20 December.
• South Africa’s ruling African National Congress will choose a new leader at its party conference to replace President Jacob Zuma.
• Thailand’s junta promises that a new, elected government will be able to assume power this month.
• A loophole that’s allowed US hedge fund managers to avoid taxes on performance fees parked offshore expires 31 December.
• New Year’s Eve brings the usual resolutions to lose weight.
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