There was no shortage of international events dominating headlines in 2016, with elections, impeachments, wars, terror attacks, the Brexit vote and EU in-fighting all vying for readers' attention.

Here are the 5 most read world news stories on timesofmalta.com throughout 2016, in reverse order. 

5. Donald Trump defies the odds to win US election

2016 was Mr Trump's year, with the property tycoon forcing naysayers to eat their own words as he romped to the US presidency. 

Donald Trump will assume the presidency on January 20. Photo: Reuters/Carlo Allegri

4. Crash landing at Dubai airport as Emirates plane catches fire

Video showed a tower of flame bursting from the front of the aircraft, and then a thick black plume of smoke rising into the sky. Readers from America, Australia and even the UAE read about the event on Times of Malta. 

Smoke bellowed out the Emirates plane. Photo: Twitter/@FlightAlerts777

3. Hijacked EgyptAir flight lands in Cyprus

Panic turned to relief as authorities discovered the hijacker had no clear demands and a suicide belt that was fake. A few months later, Malta would experience something similar.

A bus carrying some passengers from the hijacked EgyptAir aircraft drives by the plane at Larnaca Airport. Photo: Petros Karadjias, AP

2. Dozens dead as truck rams into Bastille Day crowds in Nice

What was meant to be a celebration turned into carnage, as terror struck the French Riviera. Reports of the attack came in late on a weeknight, but that did not deter horrified readers. 

The Bastille Day attacks shook France. Photo: Reuters

1.  Carnage in Brussels as two bombs rip through airport

A Maltese man was among those injured, and the fact that so many locals have friends or family who work in or commute to the Belgian capital meant readers from all walks of life tuned in to follow news of the terror attacks. 

Blasts at the airport and a metro station killed more than 30 people. Photo: Reuters