A medical worker takes swab from a woman for COVID-19 testing in Samut Sakhon province of Thailand (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) 1. COVID-19 pandemic rages, triggers global crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which first appeared in China’s Wuhan city, spread rapidly around the world, infecting more than 78 million people and claiming over 1.7 million lives. It has pushed many countries into a twin public health and economic crisis.
The pandemic has intensively and extensively affected every aspect of the socio-economic life, changed the way people work, live, and communicate, and forced the world to adapt to a “new normal” state. The “race” to seek and develop COVID-19 vaccines has seen considerable progress, with some countries having begun to conduct vaccination programmes. The pandemic remains complex and unpredictable, however, as a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been found in Europe during the final days of the year.
2. Abnormal US presidential election
The “race to the White House” took place amid the COVID-19 outbreak, but nearly 160 million US voters - a record turnout - cast ballots. With more than 81 million votes and 306 out of 538 electoral votes, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the US. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, became the first female Vice President in the country’s over-200-year history.
Joe Biden (L) and Kamala Harris (Photo: AFP/VNA) 3. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed
After eight years of negotiations, 10 ASEAN member nations and five partners on November 15 signed the RCEP agreement, forming the world’s largest free trade area, with 2.2 billion consumers, or more than 30 percent of the global population, and a combined GDP of about 27 trillion USD, or 30 percent of the global economy.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh at the RCEP signing ceremony on November 15 (Photo: VNA) 4. Global economy experiences worst recession since World War II
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the global economy will contract by 4.4 percent in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. Lockdown and border shutdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus have led to trade stagnation and disruptions in supply chains, triggering a wave of business bankruptcies worldwide, especially in the aviation, tourism, and retail sectors.
Lines at a supermarket in Berlin, Germany, to help shoppers keep social distancing amid the COVID-19 outbreak (Photo:Xinhua/VNA) 5. Israel normalises relations with four Arab countries
Over the course of four months, Israel set up diplomatic ties with four Arab nations: the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, shaping a new geopolitical complexion in the Middle East.
Officials of Morocco and Israel at the singing ceremony for an agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relationship in Rabat, Morocco, on December 22 (Photo: VNA) 6. Wave of racial, religious protests, violence
The protests against racial discrimination across the US, which followed the death of African-American man George Floyd from police violence, spread around the world. The Black Lives Matter movement resonated in a number of cities in France, Germany, Belgium, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Thailand, involving hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. Many protests in the US turned into riots, leading to a serious racial crisis.
Demonstrators march in Montreal, Canada, to protest against racial discrimination after the death of African-American man George Floyd (Photo: AFP/VNA) 7. Armed conflict re-emerges in Nagorno-Karabakh region
The military clash between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region re-emerged and escalated late in the year. The month of hostilities led to thousands of casualties and jeopardised security and stability across the Caucasus.
The scene of an area following the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region (Photo: DPA/VNA) 8. UK, EU reach historic post-Brexit trade deal
After nearly nine months of tough talks, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) struck an agreement reshaping their trade relations in the future after the transition period ends on December 31, 2020. The agreement will provide the legal foundation for the UK and the EU to avoid a “chaotic” breakup and ensure that the flow of goods worth hundreds of billions USD will continue between the UK and 27 EU members.
The EU flag flies near the Elizabeth Tower in London, the UK (Photo: AFP/VNA) 9. Many countries move to strictly “manage” tech giants
Tech platforms with billions of users, like Facebook, Google, and Twitter, have been investigated or sued in many countries for not acting strongly enough to prevent the spread of wrong information or illegal content.
A large number of major businesses have joined a campaign to boycott advertising on Facebook and Twitter, to put pressure on them to fight hazardous misinformation. Facebook and Twitter have also faced an array of charges of personal data leaks, privacy policy violations, and unfair competition. Australia and France requested the tech platforms pay domestic media outlets for reusing news content.
The logos of Facebook and Twitter (Photo: AFP/VNA) 10. Sudden death of football legend Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, one of the greatest footballers of all time, passed away suddenly on November 25 at the age of 60. Argentina held three days of national mourning, with tens of thousands of people coming to pay tribute to him, while many events were held worldwide in his name. Argentina decided to rename the Argentine Professional League Cup the Diego Maradona Cup, while Napoli city in Italy, where he once played, renamed its San Paolo Stadium the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Fans grieve over the death of football legend Diego Maradona (Photo: AFP/VNA) VNA
