The United States leaves Afghanistan, China threatens Taiwan, among other world events of 2021

During this 2021 there were many events that captured world attention. From political events to sporting events to scientific research and even royal affairs. Here are some of the topics that captured the world’s attention in the year that ended.

Taking of the Capitol

On January 6, 2021, some 10,000 people – most of them supporters of then-President Donald Trump – marched towards the Capitol and about 800 broke into the building to prevent Joe Biden’s victory over Trump from being ratified in the November elections of 2020.

The assault on the Capitol was organized on social media. Just after 1:00 p.m. that day, when the US president finished his speech to protesters in Washington asking them to march on Congress, his online supporters made hundreds of calls to storm the building.

On social media sites requested by the far-right, such as Gab and Parler, comments were exchanged about which streets to take to avoid the police and what tools to bring to help open doors. At least a dozen people gambled on carrying guns in the halls of Congress.

Five people died and about 140 officers were attacked.

Perseverance reaches Mars

The landing of NASA’s Perseverance robotic rover marked the end of a nearly seven-month journey from Earth to Mars on February 18, 2021, and the beginning of the search for earlier life on the Red Planet with the help of innovative instruments. technological.

The US agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission successfully overcame the dangerous descent into the rugged Jezero crater after traveling some 470 million kilometers since its July 2020 departure from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The robot, NASA’s fifth on Mars after Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity, began rolling over Martian soil seamlessly with the task of searching for ancient life, taking samples, studying the geology and climate of the red planet, and preparing the way for a manned trip.

With a problematic weight, the space vehicle overcame a risky descent at full speed, in the most difficult terrain chosen by NASA so far and with the uncertainty caused by the delay of more than eleven minutes of the communications between both planets.

The arrival of Perseverance, larger and heavier than Curiosity, the other robot that still rolls on Mars, was automatic, as programmed by the JPL scientists, who had to endure the delay in the signal to jump for joy and celebrate wisely in the midst of the pandemic.

Meghan Markle accuses royal family of racism

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, accused the British royal family of worrying about how dark her first child’s skin would be, during an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey broadcast on March 7, 2021. There, she also confessed that she had suicidal thoughts from the way she was treated after her wedding to Prince Henry.

During the interview broadcast in the United States and the United Kingdom, whose progress had millions of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic in suspense, Markle, who is African American, said that her husband revealed his family’s concerns about Archie’s skin tone. , as well as the security to which he would be entitled, before his birth on May 6, 2019.

“In those months when she was pregnant (…) we had a series of conversations about ‘she would not be given security, she would not be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark her skin would be when she was born”, said the Duchess.

The former star of Suits She also confessed that she and Henry were secretly married three days before the official ceremony, revealing that they exchanged vows in private before the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welsby prior to the televised show on May 19, 2018 at Windsor Castle.

“Nobody knows. But we called the archbishop and said: ‘Look, this, this show is for the world, but we want our union with each other.’

Suez blocked

The giant container ship Ever Given, which was heading from Yantian (China) to Rotterdam, was stranded on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in the middle of the Suez Canal, one of the main trade routes in the world. He came from entering the road from the Red Sea in the south, and faced a “lack of visibility” due to a sand wind, a phenomenon common in Egypt in this period.

Dozens of ships were blocked behind, but the historic part of the canal, located in the central segment, was able to open in both directions of navigation, indicated a source in the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Eight tugs were dispatched to the scene to try to unlock and get this impressive ship back on track.

Inaugurated in 1869, the Suez Canal later underwent several phases of expansion and modernization to accompany the evolution of maritime trade.

The link between Asia and Europe, it drastically reduces distances: 6,000 km less between Singapore and Rotterdam for example. That is, one to two weeks of travel time gained in relation to going around Africa.

UK sacks the Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Felipe, husband of Elizabeth II, died on Friday April 9 at the age of 99 after a life in which he put his strong and controversial personality at the service of the queen and the Crown.

Become the longest-lived consort of the British monarchy after 73 years of marriage, the Duke of Edinburgh left an indisputable legacy as a pillar of Elizabeth II, who had already sealed his transcendence in history: “It has simply been my strength and my medium”.

He was never the most appreciated character in the House of Windsors. His lewdness amused some and irritated even more. But no one disputed the importance of her role in the shadows for a queen who, at 95 years old, has almost reverential respect in the country.

He liked to joke, always between slyness and bitterness, with his supporting role at Buckingham Palace – “I am the most expert plate developer in the world” – although behind the scenes, he helped weather some of the worst storms ever. has faced the monarchy.

There are few who, in view of their delicate health, missed their presence in the recent crisis caused by accusations of racism made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, William and Meghan, in an interview.

Lasso settles in Carondelet

On the morning of Monday, May 24, 2021, Guillermo Lasso was sworn in as the new president of Ecuador, after defeating Correísmo in the April ballot. The inauguration took place in the premises of the National Assembly, in Quito, which was attended by authorities and distinguished representatives from various countries.

The taking of the oath was in charge of the president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, who also imposed the presidential sash and the decoration of the Great Necklace of the National Order of Merit, the highest award of the Ecuadorian State.

Lasso, 65, thus replaced Lenín Moreno, who left power after four years as president of a country burdened by an acute economic and health crisis, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For his four-year term, the leader of CREO promised a “government of the encounter” that will seek to overcome the polarization between correísmo and anticorreísmo, and a fierce fight against corruption.

The Pandemic Games

Emperor Naruhito officially declared the Tokyo 2020 Games “open” on July 23, 2021, a year later than planned, in a ceremony without an audience at the Olympic Stadium and with restrictions on the traditional parade of athletes.

The ceremony took place before less than 1,000 personalities and leaders to minimize the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a stadium with a capacity for 68,000 people.

“I declare the Tokyo Games open,” Emperor Naruhito solemnly pronounced, according to the formula consecrated for the occasion, in what has already been dubbed ‘the Pandemic Games’.

The athletes, subjected to daily anticovid controls, paraded with restrictions: masks, without being able to jump or dance, and leaving the stadium without being able to stay until the end of the ceremony.

Ecuador collected three medals in these games: Neisi Dajomes and Richard Carapaz got gold in the 76 kilograms of weights and road cycling, respectively. While Tamara Salazar reached silver at 87 kilograms.

The US Withdraws From Afghanistan; taliban seize power

The Taliban regained control of Kabul on August 15 after nearly twenty years of war, with their fighters entering the capital without encountering resistance. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan to avoid “bloodshed” among the population.

After a week in which the insurgents were taking one after another almost all of the 34 Afghan provincial capitals, that Sunday the 15th dawned with the news that the Taliban had positioned themselves to the north, west and south of the limits of Kabul .

Panic then broke out in the capital, with the Afghan authorities asking all officials to leave their jobs and go home, while shops and banks were closed, with traffic paralyzed by heavy traffic jams.

The US military withdrew completely from Afghanistan on August 30. In Kabul, the Taliban and their supporters celebrated that historic moment, painful for US President Joe Biden, with gunfire, fireworks and shouts of joy.

The United States implemented a gigantic airlift that surpassed the one deployed in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, although it failed to evacuate all the people who had worked for Westerners. The operation allowed out 123,000 Afghan aliens and civilians, surpassing the 55,000 evacuated from southern Vietnam in 1975.

Threat from China to Taiwan

In early October, China carried out more than 50 incursions by military aircraft in 24 hours into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, reclaiming its power just two weeks after the announcement of a military pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States against Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping assured on Saturday, October 9, 2021 that his country “can and will achieve” reunification with Taiwan.

“Complete reunification of our country can and will be achieved,” Xi said at the end of a speech commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution (1911), which ended centuries of dynastic power and led to the de Republic of China.

Although on previous occasions Xi did not rule out the use of force to integrate Taiwan into the People’s Republic – considered by Beijing a rebel province – on this occasion he assured that they will follow the “basic principle of ‘peaceful reunification'”.

The Chinese president called on “compatriots both from the (Taiwan) Strait” to “get on the right side of history,” warning that those promoting Taiwan’s independence are “the biggest obstacle” to reunification and a “grave danger”.

New variant with multiple mutations

A new variant of COVID-19, potentially more contagious and with multiple mutations, was detected in South Africa, which may face a new pandemic wave, scientists reported Thursday, November 25, 2021.

The variant, identified as B.1.1.529., Has more than thirty mutations and some of them are, according to South African scientists, a cause for concern due to its possible impact on transmissibility and its potential ability to evade immunity or prior protection.

The discovery of this variant came in an analysis on November 23, from samples taken between November 14 and 16 after a rise in the number of cases detected in Johannesburg and Pretoria. (I)