Since World War II, no singular phenomenon has dominated the news in the world like the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Other events of enormous international repercussion were the presidential elections and the wave of protests against racial injustice, both in the United States.
Several dramatic events were somewhat secondary: the Chinese crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong; an apocalyptic explosion in Beirut; the death in a helicopter crash of basketball idol Kobe Bryant and his daughter, among others.
Certain events at the beginning of the year seem like events far back in time, such as the impeachment of President Donald Trump, or the announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that they were no longer occupying prominent places in the British royal family. Weeks later, the expected Brexit, the formal British exit from the European Union, took place.
While most of the world battled COVID, armed conflicts broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in the Ethiopian region of Tigray. Afghanistan’s never-ending war dragged on as the warring parties began cautious peace talks. Massive protests challenged the regimes in Belarus and Thailand.
Powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison and the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy, in both cases on allegations of sexual assault and sexual abuse.
Other big events of 2020:
Iran: The year ended as it began, with tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States accentuated by the assassination of a senior official. On June 3, an American drone killed General Qassem Soleimani of the Revolutionary Guard. Iran responded with a missile that wounded dozens of US soldiers in Iraq. In December, a mysterious attack near Tehran killed a nuclear scientist who the United States and others considered the organizer of Iran’s attempts to make a nuclear weapon 20 years ago. Iran accused Israel.
Immigration: Throughout 2020, the Trump administration pushed for the extension of a wall on the border with Mexico, while enforcing immigration policies that angered human rights advocates. Some of those affected were unaccompanied children seeking refuge in the country; Hundreds were detained in hotels before being evicted. The government tried to suspend the DACA program that protects certain young immigrants from deportation. But a federal judge ruled that new applications to join the program must be accepted.
Hong Kong: China imposed a comprehensive national security law in Hong Kong. The repression of dissent violated the Chinese promise to respect the rights granted to Hong Kong for 50 years after the handover of British colonial territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The arrest of opposition leaders and the expulsion of legislators ”before which he resigned all opposition, caused numerous countries to restrict legal cooperation with Hong Kong.
Opioids: Purdue Pharma, a manufacturer of the powerful pain reliever OxyContin, pleaded guilty to three criminal counts, meaning it formally assumed responsibility for having contributed to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans over two decades. Purdue acknowledged hindering attempts to combat the addiction crisis. The settlement included the payment of $ 8.3 billion, but victims’ advocates feared that the Sackler family, who own Purdue, would keep their fortune intact.
Notable deaths: For sports fans around the world, 2020 began and ended with the death of two superstars: 41-year-old basketball player Kobe Bryant and 60-year-old soccer player Diego Maradona. Along with Bryant, his daughter Gianna died. 13-year-old promising athlete. Other revered personalities who have died include American civil rights leader John Lewis; guitarist Eddie Van Halen; actors Chadwick Boseman and Sean Connery. Many admirers of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not only mourned her death but deplored that the liberal justice’s successor was the conservative Amy Coney Barrett.
The Beirut explosion: The Lebanese capital was shaken in August by one of the largest known non-nuclear explosions. A fire detonated almost 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse. The blast ripped through Beirut, smashed homes and smashed windows for miles around. More than 200 people died and thousands were injured in a nation already affected by mass protests and the collapse of the economy.
France-Muslims: The beheading of a teacher by an 18-year-old Chechen on the outskirts of Paris, followed by the murder of three people by a Tunisian migrant in Nice, led to France declaring the maximum alert. The attacks came while the 2015 massacre trial was taking place at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The teacher, vigorously defended by President Emmanuel Macron, had shown the cartoons to his students in a class on freedom of expression. Muslim countries called for a boycott of French products, and some French Muslims expressed disgust at the security measures.
Hurricanes: There were so many hurricanes that the list of names was exhausted and meteorologists had to turn to the Greek alphabet. In the United States, the state of Louisiana was the most affected, with three hurricanes and two tropical storms. Several Central American countries were hit by two Category 4 hurricanes. In Tennessee in March, a series of tornadoes killed 25 people.
Israel-Diplomacy: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a diplomatic victory in September by signing historic agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the Banking House. Then Sudan and Morocco promised to strengthen relations with Israel. They were a series of achievements that Netanyahu was able to showcase amid criticism for his handling of the pandemic and his corruption trial.
Wildfires: Thousands of wildfires in the western United States caused dozens of deaths, destroyed thousands of homes and created apocalyptic scenes of orange skies and poisoned air. Extreme temperatures and gusts of up to 160 kph fueled some of the most destructive flames in the region’s history. Scientists say climate change is the cause of frequent and destructive events such as storms, droughts, floods and fires, including fires that burned for months in Australia.
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