2020 Review: Top 10 international news stories

In 2020, this extremely extraordinary year, there will be many more international news that affects people’s hearts and shocks the world.

In previous years, major international news may have affected certain people in a certain region. However, in 2020, there will be many major global events that affect almost everyone.

1 ：Coronavirus Outbreak

In 2020, people’s livelihoods and economies around the world will be greatly impacted by the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 pandemic.

As of December 2020, the new crown virus continued to spread throughout the world, affecting 190 countries, causing 70 million infections and more than 1.5 million deaths.

Although researchers from all over the world are scrambling to develop a new crown vaccine, several vaccines have already been approved for release to the public by December, but the World Health Organization still warns that the launch of the vaccine will not solve all problems immediately and it will take time to end the epidemic day.

In 2020, the annual hot words of the three major English dictionaries in the English-speaking world, without exception, select words related to the epidemic: lockdown, isolation, social distance…The use of the term pandemic (global infectious disease pandemic) alone has increased by more than 57,000% in 2020.

In 2020, Japan has designated the annual Chinese character as “密”, reflecting that due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, the government warned the public to avoid “confined spaces”, “dense crowds” and “close contact” in order to prevent the epidemic.

2 ：Australian bushfires

Australian bushfires have spread from 2019 to 2020, the same as the new coronavirus virus

The Australian bushfire that began in September 2019, due to the continuous hot and dry weather after the southern hemisphere entered the summer, did not go out until February 2020 after heavy rain fell.

According to statistics, this century’s fire destroyed more than 110,000 square kilometres of jungles, forests and parks, killing at least 33 people and burning more than 1 billion animals to death.

Scientific research reports pointed out that global warming has increased the risk of hot and dry weather, and the risk of bushfires has increased by at least 30%.

A report written by the World Weather Attribution consortium pointed out that if the global temperature rises by 2 degrees Celsius, the frequency of drought and hot weather will increase at least four times.

3：Global Climate Warming Problem
2020 is another year with the highest temperature ever since 2016 and 2019.

In fact, since 1850 since the record of global temperature, there have been six years with the highest temperature in the past 170 years, that is, six years since 2015, of which 2020 will be the top three warmest years.

The most significant temperature rise occurred in Siberia near the Arctic, where the average temperature rose by 5 degrees Celsius.

Scientists have always emphasized that greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities are the cause of global warming.

This has accelerated the melting of icebergs, rising sea levels and severe weather more frequently. The number and intensity of tropical storms have increased dramatically; forest fires have appeared in more extensive areas and have become more violent, and floods have spread in more and more areas.
All these natural disasters have displaced large numbers of people and endangered the food security of millions of people.
In the opinion of scientists, leaving fossil fuels underground, using renewable energy as much as possible, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be the first step in the right direction to solve the problem of climate warming.

4：Basketball superstar Bryant and Football star Maradona pass away

In early 2000, basketball superstar Kobe Bryant crashed and died and veteran football player Diego Maradona died of a heart attack at the end of the year. This has become a turbulent international political event that has made fans all over the world. We feel sad and shocking news.

On January 26, 2020, 41-year-old Kobe died after a private helicopter crashed near Calabasas, California.

Bryant played only one team for the Los Angeles Lakers throughout his professional basketball career. He has won five NBA championships on behalf of the team and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in basketball history.

On November 25, 2020, Argentine superstar Maradona, known as the “Generation King” and one of the greatest players in football history, died of cardiac arrest at the age of 60.

He has represented Argentina in the World Cup four times, playing 91 times and scoring 34 goals.

5：U.S. presidential election
2020 is the four-year election year in the United States.

The current US presidential election is a battle between the incumbent US President Donald Trump and the Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden (Joe Biden).

With the spread of the new crown virus epidemic in the United States, the number of infections and deaths has soared, and the economy has been hit hard, Trump’s public support rate has been declining, and the competition with Biden has become increasingly fierce.

On November 3, people across the United States actively participated in the vote. According to statistics by experts, the high turnout rate this time set a record for the United States in the past 120 years, reaching 66%. Trump and Biden each received more than 70 million votes, more than any former US president.

Towards the end of 2020, Biden’s action to form a government has been in full swing, nominating candidates for the heads of various key departments, and there is a tendency that “everything is ready, but the wind is owed.”

Although the dust has not yet settled in the US general election, this political race that affects the hearts of the world is expected to come to an end soon.

6：Black Lives Matter
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the 46-year-old black George Floyd (George Floyd) was caught by police on suspicion of buying a pack of cigarettes with counterfeit money.

After a white police officer knelt down on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Freud passed away. Before he died, he said: “I can’t breathe.”

Freud was violently executed by white police officers, shocking the world and provoking a wave of strong protests in many places in the United States and abroad.

People all over the world have actively joined the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which has promoted the equal rights movement for black Americans that began in 2013 to the world.

In Europe, activists reflect on the history of African slave trade and slavery in the colonial powers in the past. Many sculptures of figures who participated in the history of slavery and slavery have been overthrown.

On the court, the athletes knelt down on one knee to show support to disadvantaged groups fighting for equal rights and protest against widespread racism.

7：Lebanon explosion 2020
On August 4, 2020, a violent explosion occurred in the port area of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, causing 200 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries.

An investigation found that It was caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the port for a long time. Ammonium nitrate can be mixed with fuel oil to make explosives, which arrived in Beirut by a cargo ship flying the Moldova flag as early as 2013.

As the cargo ship was involved in legal disputes such as arrears and unsuitable routes, the cargo ship was prohibited from leaving the port by the local authorities. In 2014, according to a court ruling, the cargo onboard the cargo ship was unloaded to the port warehouse.

The person in charge of the port and the customs said that they repeatedly warned against the potential dangers caused by ammonium nitrate and requested additional resettlement, but did not respond.

The disaster exacerbated Lebanon’s deep economic crisis, causing hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets and demand the removal of political elites suspected of corruption, mismanagement, and negligence.
On August 10, the then Prime Minister of Lebanon Hassan Diab announced the government’s collective resignation.

8：Diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Arab countries
In 2020, diplomatic relations between countries in the Middle East have repeatedly become major international events.

On August 13, Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached an agreement with the mediation of the United States, agreeing to achieve full normalization of relations.

On September 15th, on the South Lawn of the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu successively signed an agreement to normalize relations with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Zayeni.

This marks that 72 years after the founding of the state, Israel has finally achieved a zero breakthrough in diplomatic relations with the Gulf Arab countries.

On October 23, The United States, Israel, and Sudan issued a joint statement in which the leaders of the three countries agreed to normalize relations between Sudan and Israel.

On December 10, the US government announced that Morocco and Israel, a member of the Arab League located in the northwest corner of Africa, agreed to establish comprehensive diplomatic relations.

So far, Israel has normalized relations with six Arab League member states including Egypt and Jordan.

9：Thailand protest

The protests in Thailand have a long history. The protests in Thailand in 2020 have been intermittent from February to the end of the year. From the initial student protests, it has expanded to a series of deep-rooted social and economic inequalities in Thailand, and even royal reforms. Major issues.

In February, a Thai court ordered the dissolution of the new pro-popular opposition party, the Future Progress Party (FFP), triggering a new wave of protests.

By July, protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha.

In September, protesters gathered in Bangkok for the largest demonstration since the new government came to power in 2014.

On October 14, during the Bangkok protests, when the Queen of Thailand was riding in a car passing by a group of protesters, someone shouted “My tax” and made a three-finger gesture to show their dissatisfaction.

On October 16, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to protest in the business district of Bangkok.

In the past Thai political movements, few people dared to raise objections and criticisms of the monarchy. But in the eyes of the younger generation of activists, how the king spends money, someone must intervene and be questioned. ”

10：Britain leaves the European Union
Britain’s departure from the European Union will come to the end in 2020.
Since the United Kingdom held a referendum on Brexit on June 23, 2016, and decided to leave the European Union to fly solo, there have been many debates, discussions and opinions on how the United Kingdom will leave the European Union in the past three years.

On January 31, 2020, Britain officially withdrew from the European Union, and negotiations between the two sides on the future relationship began immediately. According to the regulations, there is an 11-month transition period for the breakup of the UK and the EU, and the original regulations will still be valid until the end of 2020.

When negotiations were difficult, free trade agreements were signed in Asia with Japan and Singapore in October and December respectively, bringing rare good news to the prospect of Brexit in the epidemic.

At the last moment before Christmas Eve in 2020, and about a week before the end of the Brexit transition period, the EU and the UK finally reached a package of agreements including a post-Brexit bilateral trade agreement. This marks a new chapter in the relationship between the UK and the EU.