Towards the end of every year many people like to look back on that year’s events. 2020 has certainly been an eventful year with a global pandemic and a historic presidential election. Here’s a recap of some of the major events from 2020.
Jan. 1: China announced an investigation over a respiratory disease in the province of Wuhan.
Jan. 3: The U.S. launched a drone strike on Iranian General Qasem Solamani who had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers in the Middle East.
Jan. 8: Newlywed royals Prince Harry Windsor and Megan Markle announced that they will step back from royal duties.
Jan. 26: Basketball legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash.
Jan. 31: The U.S. banned all travel to and from China, and Brexit was finally official with the UK beginning to leave the EU.
Feb. 2: The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.
Feb. 9: Parasite won best picture.
Feb. 29: The U.S. and the Taliban reach a historic peace agreement.
March 3: Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden pulled off huge upset on Super Tuesday, winning 10 states.
March 11: The WHO declared the Coronavirus a pandemic. Following this, the NBA and yearly video game conference and convention E3 were both postponed. On the same day,disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
March 13: President Trump declared coronavirus a national emergency. Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her home in Louisville.
March 16: The largest single-day drop in Dow history
March 20: The Olympics were suspended, and the UK and India went into lockdown.
March 26: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was diagnosed with coronavirus.
April 8: Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee after Bernie Sanders dropped out.
April 18: A man impersonating a police officer killed 22 people in Nova Scotia, marking the worst shooting in Canadian history.
May 25: George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, sparking protests and riots across the world against police brutality and racial injustice
May 30: SpaceX launched the first commercial manned rocket into orbit.
June 15: The Supreme Court declared employers cannot discriminate because of sexual orientation or gender identity
June 28: Coronavirus passed 10 million cases.
July 2: Jeffery Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested
July 30: NASA launched the 2020 Mars Rover Mission in hopes of finding ancient life and gathering information for possible manned missions to the planet.
Aug. 2: Emirati and Iranian leaders held rare talks about how to solve COVID-19 in their region.
Aug. 4: Two explosions were set off at the port of the Lebanese Capital, Beirut, leaving over 300,000 homeless.
Aug. 11: Vladimir Putin approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine
Aug. 25: Africa was officially declared Polio-free.
Sept. 3: Sudan officially became a secular state.
Sept. 4: Israel strengthened relations with Serbia and Kosovo while normalizing relations with Bahrain.
Sept. 16: The UN accused Venezuela of crimes against humanity. Yoshihide Suga became the new prime minister of Japan.
Sept. 29: COVID deaths passed 1 million.
Oct. 1: The EU sued the UK over breaking international law during Brexit withdrawal.
Oct. 26: NASA confirmed water on the moon.
Nov. 3: U.S. Presidential election pits Democratic challenger Joe Biden against Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Nov. 4: The US formally leaves the Paris Climate agreement.
Nov. 11: Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is proven to be 92% effective.
Nov. 12: Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy lawmakers resign en masse essentially giving up complete control of the nation to China.
Nov. 16: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is proven to be 94.1% effective.
Nov. 18: Pfizer’s vaccine is proven to be 95% effective.
Dec. 2: The UK approved the Pfizer vaccine.
Dec. 5: Russia began mass vaccination.
Dec. 8: The UK began mass vaccination. Nepal and China reached a historic agreement on Mount Everest’s height.
Dec. 10: Morocco and Israel to normalize diplomatic relations .
Dec. 15: Electoral College affirms Biden’s win to become 46th President of the United States of America.
