A year ago, headlines speculated that 2020 would be mentioned in history as the worst year ever but, believe it or not, many do think that 2021 has beaten it by huge margins.
There, indubitably, were some positive developments in the last 12 months, yet those bright spots remained insufficient to compensate for the terrible news the year witnessed.
Here are ProPakistani’s picks for the top global events in 2021. Since several of these stories are expected to continue after 2021, you might want to pay heed to what follows.
Saudi Arabia reopened its land and sea borders with Qatar, marking the first step toward resolving a diplomatic conflict that had polarized regional U.S. allies since 2017.
Since mid-2017, when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain began a blockade against Qatar, accusing it of backing militants in the area and having cordial relations with Iran. While the tiny Gulf state’s single land border remained mostly closed, Kuwait acted as a middleman between Qatar and the four Arab countries during the reconciliation proceedings.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, encouraged by him, swarmed the U.S. Capitol building as Congress met to confirm the results of the November 3 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
Hundreds of demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol with drawn firearms and tear gas, attempting to compel Congress to overturn President Donald Trump’s loss only hours after some of Trump’s fellow Republicans made a last-ditch effort to overturn the results.
A landmark was reached amid a vaccine roll-out. In some countries, there was a strong hope of vanquishing the outbreak, while in other parts of the world, it seemed like a far-off dream.
On January 20, Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, following Republican Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency regime.
Biden, 78, took oath in a solemn ceremony at the U.S. Capitol that took place in the midst of a raging coronavirus pandemic — snubbed by outgoing President Donald Trump
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, was the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination.
It was adopted on July 7, 2017, opened for signature on September 20, 2017, and became effective on January 22, 2021.
After detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders, Myanmar’s military took over. A one-year state of emergency was established, with troops patrolling the streets and a nighttime curfew in effect.
Aung San Suu Kyi was complicit in the atrocities conducted by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities.
This move was a first-of-its-kind modification to the U.S. defense strategy. Notably, it was also a move that Joe Biden promised throughout his election campaign.
In Iraq’s holy city of Najaf, Pope Francis met Grand Ayatullah Ali al-Sistani, one of Islam’s most senior Shia leaders, to give a message of peaceful coexistence, imploring Muslims to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority.
The historic meeting at Sistani’s house took months to plan, with every detail meticulously reviewed and negotiated between the Ayatullah’s office and the Vatican.
Evergreen, one of the largest container ships in the world, ran aground and obstructed the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade for days. The ship was freed on March 29.
Iran vowed to take revenge for an attack on an underground nuclear site near Tehran which was allegedly carried out by Israel.
Iranian officials said the Natanz uranium enrichment plant was the target of “nuclear terrorism” after initially reporting a power failure.
Twelve football clubs, including three from La Liga and top clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, agreed to join a new breakaway European Super League, drawing widespread criticism from around the world.
Manchester City withdrew two days later, following huge protests from supporters, other teams, and politicians; this inspired all of the remaining Premier League clubs, as well as three others, to do the same. It is pertinent to note that Spanish giants Real Madrid seemed reluctant to break away from the new project and engaged in a months’ long spat with the Union of European Football Association (UEFA).
Israel hit the Gaza Strip with airstrikes as Hamas retaliated with full force.
This occurred after Israel began displacing Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, drawing criticism from all over the world.
On May 20, following international pressure and nearly 250 deaths, Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal to end the conflict with Palestine, effective the next day at 2:00 a.m. local time.
Chelsea beat fellow English club Manchester City in the final by 1–0 to win the U.E.F.A. Champions League for the second time since first winning it in 2012.
In a historic first for digital assets, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador passed legislation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the country, becoming the first country to adopt the cryptocurrency alongside the U.S. dollar.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister of Israel, was voted out of office after Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid were sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel and as Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, respectively.
The Kiwis were crowned as ICC World Test Champions after beating India inside the final hour of a nail-biting final at Lord’s, wrapping up an eight-wicket win with a boundary from Ross Taylor.
Over 130 wildfires, fuelled by lightning strikes, burnt through Western Canada following a record-breaking heatwave in North America that resulted in over 600 deaths.
An astronomer from Stanford University made the first direct observation of light from behind a black hole, officially confirming Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Because black holes are known for sucking any surrounding matter and light, this finding was indeed unique and historic.
As the Afghan government crumbled and the US rushed its frantic evacuation, a takeover of the entire country seemed all but certain.
On August 15, Taliban fighters rushed into the Afghan capital amid disarray, bringing the Afghan government and the 20-year American tenure in the nation to an abrupt and unexpected end.
Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and a group of Afghan leaders, including former President Hamid Karzai, announced that they would assist in the transition process. In less than 24 hours, the insurgents had effectively sealed their authority over the entire country.
The 2020 World Expo in Dubai began on October 1. Its opening was originally scheduled for October 20, 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners published a set of 11.9 million documents, known as the Pandora Papers, leaked from 14 financial services companies, revealing offshore financial activities that involve multiple current and former world leaders.
It is worth mentioning that out of all the big names that popped up as a result of these documents, Pakistan’s newly appointed Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, also made the list.
Pakistan registered a convincing ten-wicket victory over India in their opening encounter of the 2021 T20 World Cup on this day.
This was Pakistan’s first win over their arch-rivals in World Cup history. Previously Pakistan had lost each of the 12 matches between the two sides in the ICC Cricket World Cup and the T20 World Cup.
The World Health Organization convened an emergency meeting in Geneva amid concerns over Omicron, a highly mutated variant of COVID-19 first identified in South Africa that appears more infectious than Delta.
In a ceremonial military send-off to mark the end of her 16 years as chancellor, Angela Merkel left her post with a message of Trust for all Germans.
The Summit for Democracy, a virtual summit, was hosted by the United States “to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad”.
However, in an interesting move, Pakistan, one of the 110 countries invited to U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy, skipped the event.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Got anything to add for the year 2021? Hit the comment section to let us know.
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