Russia invades Ukraine
In a military move not seen since the end of World War II, Russia invaded Ukraine in February, leading to a global food and energy crisis, as well as the displacement of millions of people, the death of thousands of innocent civilians, and the growing threat of a nuclear world war.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission (OHCHR) estimates that as of December 18, 6,826 civilians were killed in Ukraine during the war, including 428 children. 10,769 people were injured. The United States' latest assessment of the battlefield is about 100,000 Russian soldiers and a number A similar number of Ukrainian soldiers were killed.
Russia's plan, led by President Vladimir Putin, to invade Ukraine, stemmed from his desire to ensure that Ukraine does not join the NATO alliance, and perhaps even replace the regime in the country. On February 21, Putin announced the recognition of the independence of the separatist republics in Ukraine. Under the pretext of helping the republics, which he claims the Ukrainian regime "A bully", and of protecting their residents from "attacks" by the Ukrainian army, Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is, in the eyes of the international community, a serious violation of world order and international law. However, NATO countries and declared in advance that they would not take military action in response.
Therefore, the most significant action of the Western countries is the provision of military aid to Ukraine - at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky - and financial and other sanctions, which aim to create economic and diplomatic damage that will deter Russia from expanding its operations, and perhaps cause it to withdraw its forces.
Ukrainian soldiers in Behemoth on the front line (Photo: Reuters)
President of Ukraine Zelensky visiting Behemoth (Reuters)
The federal right to abortion is defunct in the US
In a controversial ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States on June 24 overturned the historic "Roe v. Wade" ruling from the 1970s, which gave women the right to have a safe abortion nationwide.
The ruling returned the power to determine the legality of abortion to the individual states, and immediately harmed millions of women and their ability to decide about their bodies.
Huge demonstrations in the United States against the reversal of "Roe v. Wade" (Photo: Reuters)
On video: protest across the US against the abortion ban (Photo: Reuters)
Climate Change: Hot Summer;
frozen winter
Climate change has caused extreme and historic weather around the world in the past year.
Europe suffered from unprecedented temperatures this summer, and in England they reached a peak of 40 degrees Celsius.
The heat wave was accompanied by the worst drought in 500 years in Europe.
In China, large and important rivers dried up, and factories were forced to close due to the inability to transport goods.
In Pakistan, heavy rains led to flooding that lasted from June to August.
More than 1,790 people were killed and $30 billion worth of damage was caused to property, crops, businesses and infrastructure, after a third of the country was flooded.
The year also ended with a particularly powerful storm - "a once-in-a-generation storm" - in the United States and Canada, with temperatures down to minus 50 degrees, strong winds, heavy snow, heavy rain, flooding, power outages for millions of households and fatal car accidents.
Huge fires in France (Photo: GettyImages)
On video: fires rage across Europe, Britain breaks heat records (Photo: Reuters)
"Once-in-a-generation storm" in the United States (Photo: Reuters, Blake Rafferty)
Snowstorm causes dangerous road conditions - delays at Washington airport, USA (Reuters)
death of the queen
Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. Her eldest son, Prince Charles, became King Charles III at the age of 74. Queen Elizabeth II ruled the throne for 70 years, and entered the pages of history as the second longest-serving monarch most.
For four days, an endless stream of Britons lined the streets of London for eight miles to watch the coffin make its way from Scotland to Westminster Abbey in the capital.
About 250 thousand waited about 30 hours to pass by the coffin.
5,949 soldiers and more than ten thousand policemen took part in the funeral events that lasted ten days.
The Queen's funeral procession was watched by an estimated 4.1 billion people worldwide (28 million in the UK alone) - the most watched televised event in the world.
The coffin in London (Photo: Reuters)
In video: Queen Elizabeth II's funeral (Photo: Reuters)
An unprecedented popular protest in Iran
22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting her family in Tehran when she was arrested in September by the police unit responsible for enforcing the modest dress code for women, which includes the obligation to cover the head in public.
Amini, according to the claim, violated the law.
She died in hospital a few days after the arrest.
The police claimed that Amini suffered a heart attack after being taken to the station, but the young woman's relatives denied that she suffered from medical problems.
The tragic death almost immediately sparked protests in the streets of Iran and condemnation from celebrities, athletes, intellectuals and cultural figures and other well-known figures in the Islamic country, who were not afraid to make their voices heard despite the fear of the regime's backlash.
The protest was also joined by business owners who sat in solidarity with the millions of demonstrators who demand a change in the Islamist-extremist regime.
According to the United Nations, the official number of demonstrators who were murdered during the popular protest is more than 300, including 40 children. This is in addition to thousands of arrests - according to estimates, about 12 thousand. Recently, the regime even began to use the most brutal and threatening tool of repression - To
kill the demonstrators by public hanging.
However, a hundred days later, to the surprise of the regime, the protest still continues. Women in Iran are still burning their head coverings in the streets, shouting "women, life, freedom" and daring to oppose armed militia soldiers and the Iranian dictatorship even at the cost of their lives.
A protester in Iran carries a picture of Mahsa Amini (Photo: Reuters)
On video: The protests across Iran enter their fourth week (Reuters)
The world population has reached 8 billion
In 1803, the world population reached one billion people.
More than 200 years later, on November 15, the world's population reached 8 billion people, according to a UN report.
According to the World Population Prospects 2022 report, by 2030 there will be 8.5 billion people in the world, 9.7 by 2050 and 10.4 billion people by 2080. The report also estimated that by the end of 2023, India will overtake China as the world's most populous country.
According to the United Nations estimate , the population has tripled since 1950 - then there were 2.5 billion people.
According to the United Nations, the population will continue to grow but at a slower rate. This is due to the demographic inequality in different regions around the world. Over the years, the growth rate has slowed down; between 1962-1965 it was 2.1%, and in 2020 it dropped to 1%. 2050, it may drop below 0.5%.
Children in China (Photo: Reuters)
Armageddon averted
Two weeks after an unmanned NASA spacecraft crashed into an asteroid in order to divert it from its orbit, the American space agency, NASA, defined the experiment as a success.
This is the first time that an asteroid has been diverted from its orbit in space.
Laurie Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA, said that the experiment was carried out to test a scenario of an asteroid deflection that could hit Earth. "For the first time in history, humanity has changed the orbit of a planetary object," she said. They will be able to better assess whether and how such a mission can be used in the future - to help protect the Earth from a collision with an asteroid, should we ever discover that one is headed our way."
The spacecraft approaches the asteroid (Photo: Reuters)
The moment of impact with a dimorphous asteroid (NASA)
Disaster in Seoul
151 people have been killed in a mass stampede in Seoul, the South Korean capital, after a large crowd was pushed into the city center to celebrate Halloween.
82 other people were injured in the incident, 19 of them seriously.
The scene of the disaster (Photo: Reuters)
On video: disaster in Seoul (Reuters)
Corona protest in China
A public protest broke out in November in China following the draconian corona restrictions in the country, after three years of a raging epidemic.
The security agency that oversees law enforcement throughout China immediately called for the suppression of the "hostile forces" protest against the Corona restrictions, which broke out in various cities.
Police were poured into the streets and protest sites and the government monitored the social media accounts of residents to find out if they had participated in the protests in order to arrest them.
Footage of the protests and the fire was removed from the web, but circulated on Twitter, as the use of this social network is banned in China.
In the demonstrations, the protestors called "No to PCR tests - we want freedom", and even demanded the resignation of the President of China, Xi Jinping.
These calls came against the backdrop of Xi's historic election to a third term as the country's president during the Communist Party's annual congress.
After about two weeks of demonstrations, the Chinese government ordered an easing of the closures, which raises questions about the strength of the popular protest's impact on the dictatorial regime, which claims that there is no connection between the change in the Corona policy and public pressure.
A demonstrator carries a white sign as a sign of protest (Photo: Reuters)
On video: Protest against the corona restrictions in Shanghai, China (Reuters)
World Cup in Qatar
The soccer world cup, the World Cup, was held in Qatar.
The competitions were held between November 20 and December 18.
The tournament was the first held in the Arab world and only the second held in Asia, after the 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan.
In the final, Argentina, the South American champion, beat France, the reigning world champion, at the end of extra time in a penalty shootout.
In the match for third place, Croatia, the reigning runner-up, defeated Morocco.
Lionel Messi was chosen as the best player of the tournament and Kylian Mbappe was crowned the top scorer of the tournament.
Messi with the trophy (Photo: GettyImages, Visionhaus)
The Argentina national team returns after the World Cup (video editing: Nir Chen)
It was a controversial World Cup due to Qatar's treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBT community, a ban on the sale of alcohol, allegations of bribery during the auction and allegations of wider FIFA corruption.
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