The events that made news in the world during this 2022

The war in Ukrainethe death of the Queen isabel IIthe overall inflationextreme weather, scientific advances and the farewell to two great tennis players are part of the summary of the main news that occurred this 2022.

This is the summary of TIME.

War in Ukraine: the return of the conflict to European soil

On February 24 of this year, the world was rocked by the unthinkable. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “military operation” in Ukraine to defend separatists in the east of that country. The decision resulted in the worst conflict in Europe since the Balkan war in the 1990s.

The Russian army began to encircle the main Ukrainian cities, but was met with fierce resistance, armed by NATO and the US, which dashed Moscow’s attempts to achieve a lightning victory. Putin’s war provoked almost worldwide rejection, harsh sanctions were imposed that isolated Moscow, but unleashed an upward escalation in fuel and cereals.

Although the sides keep the death toll secret, US intelligence puts casualties at around 100,000 soldiers per side. The UN says that the total number of people who have fled Ukraine amounts to almost 8 million. Eleven months later, no way out is in sight.

2022, ‘annus horribilis’ for the United Kingdom

On September 8, the United Kingdom brought an era to a close with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history (70 years). After her death, the country entered a period of mourning that lasted until the day of her funeral, celebrated with all solemnity. She will succeed her her son Carlos hers.

The historic event added to the political crisis that led the country to have three prime ministers in one year.

Pressed by the scandals, Boris Johnson had to leave office to give way to the conservative Liz Truss, who later became the most fleeting premier with only 45 days in power. Her departure then allowed the rise of Rishi Sunak, the first president from an ethnic minority.

The death of a young woman shakes the Iranian regime

The death in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl who died in custody detained by the Morale Police for not wearing the Islamic headscarf properly, triggered an unprecedented wave of protests in Iran.

After three months of mobilizations, more than 400 deaths and thousands of detainees in the country, the demonstrators call for the end of the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Ruholá Khomeini in 1979, while the authorities began to execute demonstrators to try to deactivate some mobilizations carried out above all by young people and women who ask for more freedoms.

A record number for the migration of people

The world has witnessed an unprecedented wave of migration. According to UN data, between January and October 2022, 211,355 migrants crossed the Darien Gap towards the US, setting a record for these in transit in the area.

At the same time, 2,378,944 undocumented immigrants, 125,172 of them Colombians, were arrested at the US southern border, constituting an unprecedented number of migrant detentions

. And in Europe, almost 45,000 people tried to cross the English Channel from France to the English coast in a dangerous journey that has left at least 205 dead or
missing since 2014.

Global inflation to the limit, legacy of the pandemic

The global logistics crisis, a legacy of the pandemic, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had a hard impact on the planet’s economy.

Freight prices skyrocketed, raw materials and inputs for food production began to become scarce, and the value of a barrel of oil returned to US$100, all of which hit people’s pockets. Strong economies in Europe, as well as the US, registered inflation not seen in four decades and today they have the central bank raising its rates to the limit in years.

Extreme weather marked almost the entire planet

Extreme heat waves in Europe that only in Portugal and Spain left more than 1,700 dead. The strongest drought China has experienced in the last 60 years. A third of all Pakistan flooded and more than a thousand dead. Three years in a row of the La Niña phenomenon.

This 2022 was marked by milestones, events beyond the normal, the average weather. This is a reflection of how climate change is completely changing the way we live and relate to the planet.

The universe as seen through the James Webb telescope

In July, US President Joe Biden released the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian (CSA).

Since that first revelation, the most powerful space observatory ever built has continued to amaze the world with its images and provide scientists with invaluable data that will help to learn more about the universe.

Two tennis greats hung up the racket

2022 marked the end of an era, with the retirement of two figures who took tennis to another level and increased its popularity. First left the American Serena Williams, who played her last match on September 2, when she fell in the third round of the US Open.

He left with 39 Grand Slam titles, among other achievements. 13 days later, the Swiss Roger Federer (photo) announced that he was ending his career. His last tournament was the Laver Cup. He won 20 grand and spent 310 weeks at the top of the world rankings.

Peru and its ‘eternal’ crisis

Peruvians added to the long political crisis a new record: having six presidents in six years. On December 7, Pedro Castillo tried to carry out a “self-coup” by announcing the closure of Congress, but the decision was rejected by his allies and the judiciary.
Parliament decided to remove him from the position of president, which led his ‘vice’, Dina Boluarte, to replace him, being the first woman in the position in its history. Little does one think the period will end.

Ecuador and the shadow of the ‘narco’

In Ecuador, violence and prison massacres have intensified during 2022, especially in Guayaquil, a coastal city where gangs are fighting for control of the drug trade. The riots —which have become more and more frequent— were added to the violence in the streets. In Guayaquil, between January and October, at least 1,200 homicides were registered, 60 percent more than in the same period in 2021.

Reversal of abortion in the US uu.

The conservative US Supreme Court annulled on June 24 the historic ruling ‘Roe v. Wade’, which since 1973 guaranteed the right to abortion in that country. The Supreme Court ruling that struck down abortion protections changed everything: from the political debate to the lives of millions of American women, whose rights now depend on the state in which they live. In 18 of them, abortion is now almost completely prohibited.

Kim’s War Games

It is estimated that North Korea carried out at least 44 missile and projectile launches this year, practically double compared to the maximum that the Kim Jong-un regime had added in 2016 or 2017.

With that record number and the military responses from Washington, Seoul or Tokyo, a situation of maximum tension is drawn in the Far East and with the possibility of a miscalculation that ends up unleashing a war disaster.