Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared from radar over the South China Sea shortly after 1 a.m.

Israel began a major military offensive in Gaza after rocket fire from Hamas, launching seven weeks of airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-supplied missile, killing all 298 people aboard.

The European Space Agency's Philae probe makes the first-ever soft landing on a comet, touching down on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a ten-year journey.