Coronavirus: The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly took the world by storm and still we haven’t found the end to it. Hardly any country has been spared the brunt of the Covid pandemic. Over 82 million people worldwide have been infected, and the number of deaths has crossed 1.8 million. The economic impact of the pandemic will take long to mitigate.
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Joe Biden defeats Trump: Creating history, President-Elect Joe Biden set a record for the highest number of votes for a winning presidential candidate, and President Donald Trump has also notched a high-water mark of the most votes for a losing candidate. Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge he lost with the help of Republicans willing to support his unsubstantiated claims also made news.
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Black Lives Matter: Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people. The Black Lives Matter movement brought hidden racial biases within many countries to the forefront – countries that vehemently denied racism was ever a problem, just a far-fetched thing that happens “over there in America”.
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Beirut explosion: On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded, causing at least 204 deaths, 6,500 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless.
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Megxit: On 8 January 2020, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced on Instagram their decision to "step back as 'senior' members" of the British royal family; splitting their time between the United Kingdom and North America, and to become financially independent.
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Farmers’ protest: A set of three laws passed in September aims to deregulate India’s enormous agriculture sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said they will “liberate” farmers from the tyranny of middlemen. As a result, the farmers have taken to the streets in the biggest such protests in years. The demonstrations ramped up last week when several thousand protesters from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana set out to converge on the capital, New Delhi. Police blocked them at the city’s borders, denying them permission to gather in a place of their choice.
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India’s Covid-induced lockdown: Coronavirus is, not surprisingly, one of the most searched words on Google in India this year. While there are many aspects to the virus and the pandemic that it has caused, it also led to the world’s biggest lockdown in India, with a country of 1.3 billion people coming to a grinding halt.
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Australia’s forest fire: Australia's bush fires were the worst in the country's recorded history. Millions of acres were burnt, creating dangerous levels of air pollution, displacing nearly 90,000 people and killing a billion animals.
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UK exits EU: The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, following on a public vote held in June 2016. However, the country benefits from a transition period to give time to negotiate a trade deal between the UK and the EU.
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Empty stadiums and arenas: Blockbuster sports rivalries, normally played out before choc-a bloc stands, being staged in empty arenas. Limited sporting activities resumed with strict Covid protocols after a (presumed) thaw in the virus spread, but spectators, barred from the grounds, were the biggest losers. The Summer Olympics stand deferred for the first time since World War II, Wimbledon cancelled, and IPL was forced to find a temporary home in UAE.
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