January
January 6: Supporters of Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol building.
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images -
Jon Cherry/Getty Images
January 20: Joe Biden brings the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Agreement.
January 26: The world surpasses 100 million recorded COVID-19 cases.
Changing of the guard
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Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20 | Drew Angerer/Getty Images -
Mario Draghi becomes Italy’s prime minister on February 13 | Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
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Raúl Castro resigns, ending six decades of Castro rule in Cuba, April 19 | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images -
Olaf Scholz wins Germany’s election and takes over from the retiring Angela Merkel | John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
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Austria’s Sebastian Kurz resigns as chancellor, October 9 | Hans Klaus Techt/APA/AFP via Getty Images -
Magdalena Andersson becomes Sweden’s first female prime minister, November 24 | Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images
February
February 1: The world surpasses 100 million COVID-19 vaccines administered.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is sentenced to prison on February 2, and loses an appeal against the decision on February 20.
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Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
In memoriam
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Marielle de Sarnez, former MEP and French EU affairs minister, January 13 | Benjamin Cremel/AFP via Getty Images -
Prince Philip, April 9 | WPA pool photo by Yui Mok/Getty Images
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Donald Rumsfeld, American politician, June 29 | Mark Wilson/Getty Images -
British MP David Amess, October 15 | Zoe Norfolk/Getty Images
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Colin Powell, former U.S. secretary of state, October 18 | Stephen Chernin/Getty Images -
South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, December 26 | Scott Barbour/Getty Images
March
March 23: The ship Ever Given gets stuck in the Suez Canal for six days.
April
April 7: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is relegated to a sofa in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
May
May 14: The Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system (left) intercepts rockets (right) fired by Hamas towards southern Israel.
May 23: Belarus forces a Ryanair plane carrying journalist Roman Protasevich to land in Minsk, where the activist is arrested.
June
The UK hosts the G7 summit in Cornwall.
July
Several European countries are hit by severe flooding.
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Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images
Tokyo finally gets to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
August
The Taliban make rapid gains in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal, resulting in Western nations scrambling to evacuate embassy staff and civilians.
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Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images -
Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images -
Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images
September
German elections are held on September 26, with Olaf Scholz’s SPD winning 25.7 percent of the vote.
October
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) begins in Glasgow on October 31.
November
Poland beefs up security on its border with Belarus after hundreds of migrants head toward the border.
December
The Omicron coronavirus variant sweeps across the world and results in further restrictions. Below, people sunbathe in Lima, Peru.
