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2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued in 2021. Most major events scheduled for 2020 that were postponed due to the pandemic were hosted in 2021, including the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (held in Glasgow, Scotland), Expo 2020 (held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates), and sporting events such as UEFA Euro 2020 (held across 11 European countries), the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics (both held in Tokyo, Japan), as well as the 2021 Copa América (held in Brazil).[1]
2021 additionally witnessed numerous advancements in space exploration, particularly by the United Arab Emirates, NASA and SpaceX, including the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Civil unrest grew in 2021, with coups occurring in Sudan, Myanmar, Mali and Guinea, and insurrections occurring in Armenia and the United States.
Events
[edit]January
[edit]- January 1
- The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect.[2]
- The normal/global variant of Adobe Flash Player has been deprecated.[3]
- January 4 – The border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopens.[4]

Crowd outside the US Capitol on January 6 - January 6 – Supporters of US President Donald Trump attack the US Capitol, disrupting certification of the 2020 presidential election, and forcing Congress to evacuate. Five people die during the ensuing riot.[5] The event is classified as a domestic terrorist attack, and draws international condemnation.[6]
- January 9 – Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashes north of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 62 people on board.
- January 10 – Kim Jong Un is elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, inheriting the title from his father Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.[7]
- January 13 – In Lyon, France, the first transplant of both arms and shoulders is performed on an Icelandic patient at the Édouard Herriot Hospital.[8]
- January 14 – The 2021 Ugandan general election is held. Incumbent president Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986, wins re-election.[9][10][11]
- January 15
- The Lao People's Revolutionary Party elects Thongloun Sisoulith as its new General Secretary, replacing retiring chief Bounnhang Vorachith. Sisoulith is elected for a five-year term as top leader in Laos.[12]
- COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 passes 2 million.[13]
- January 20 – Inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States amid tight security in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
- January 22 – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement comprehensively to prohibit nuclear weapons, comes into effect.[14]
- January 24 – 2021 Portuguese presidential election: Incumbent president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is reelected.[15]
- January 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide.[16]
- January 27
- A near-total ban on abortion comes into effect in Poland.[17]
- The GameStop short squeeze reaches its peak of $483 per share, as the result of influence from the online community, r/wallstreetbets, drawing international attention.[18]
- January 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The European Union invokes Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol following a row over COVID-19 vaccine supplies before reversing the decision.[19]
- January 31 – Nguyễn Phú Trọng is re-elected for a third five-year term as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.[20]
February
[edit]- February 1
- A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule leading to widespread demonstrations across the country.[21][22][23]
- Kosovo officially establishes diplomatic ties with Israel and announces plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem.[24]
- COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 100 million.[25][26]
- February 4 – US President Joe Biden announces that the United States will cease providing weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for use in the Yemeni Civil War.[27]
- February 9
- COVID-19 pandemic: A joint WHO–China investigation into the source of the outbreak concludes. Investigators deem a Wuhan laboratory leak to be "extremely unlikely", with a "natural reservoir" in bats being a more likely origin.[28]
- The UAE's uncrewed Hope spacecraft becomes the first Arabian mission successfully to enter orbit around Mars.[29]
- February 13–February 17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.[30]
- February 18
- Malaysian court orders Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak to enter defence on all three graft charges.[31]
- NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.[32]
- February 19 – The United States officially rejoins the Paris Agreement, 107 days after leaving.[33]
- February 20 – 2020–21 H5N8 outbreak: 7 people test positive for H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm in southern Russia, becoming the first known human cases.[34]
- February 22 – Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is murdered near Goma.[35]
- February 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative delivers its first vaccines, delivering 600,000 doses for healthcare workers in Ghana.[36]
- February 25 – The Armenian military calls for prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Pashinyan accuses the military of attempting a coup d'état.[37][38]
- February 28 – 2021 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nuevas Ideas party wins 56 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.[39]
March
[edit]- March 6
- Pope Francis meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. It is the first-ever meeting between a pope and a grand ayatollah.[40]
- 2021 Ivorian parliamentary election: The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace coalition wins 137 out of 255 seats in the National Assembly.[41]
- March 15–March 17 – The Dutch general elections for the House of Representatives of the Netherlands take place.[42]
- March 19
- North Korea severs diplomatic ties with Malaysia due to a Malaysian court's ruling that a North Korean citizen could be extradited to the United States to face money-laundering charges. Malaysian authorities order North Korean officials to leave the country in 48 hours.[43]
- Samia Suluhu Hassan is sworn in as president of Tanzania following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli.[44]
- March 20 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces his country's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the first country to do so.[45]
- March 21 – Clashes in Apure between Colombian FARC dissidents and the Venezuelan Armed Forces cause at least six casualties, as well as displacing 4,000 Venezuelans.[46][47]
- March 23
- The Israeli general elections take place, the fourth Knesset election in two years.[48]

Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the Suez canal on 24 March 2021 - Ever Given, one of the largest container ships in the world, runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade.[49] The ship is freed on March 29.[50]
- The Israeli general elections take place, the fourth Knesset election in two years.[48]
- March 25 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 500 million.[51]
April
[edit]- April 2
- Russia warns NATO against sending any troops to aid Ukraine, amid reports of a large Russian military build-up on its borders.[52]
- 2021 Hualien train derailment: In Taiwan, a Taroko Express train collided with a truck that rolled down a slope and derailed, resulting in 49 deaths and 202 injuries.[53]
- April 4
- The 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election is held.[54]
- More than 270 people are killed in Indonesia and East Timor after Cyclone Seroja strikes East Nusa Tenggara and the island of Timor.[55]
- April 9 – Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-18 mission, carrying three Expedition 65 crewmembers to the International Space Station.[56]
- April 11
- Peru holds a general election, with Pedro Castillo and the left-wing Free Peru party winning.[57]
- Iran accuses Israel of "nuclear terrorism" and vows revenge after a large explosion destroys the internal power system of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.[58]
- Hideki Matsuyama wins the 2021 Masters Tournament, becoming the first man from Japan to win a major golf championship.[59]
- April 13 – Japan's government approves the dumping of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years, with full support of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The decision is opposed by China, South Korea, and Taiwan.[60]
- April 15 – Scientists announce they successfully injected human stem cells into the embryos of monkeys, creating chimera-embryos.[61]
- April 17
- COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 3 million.[62]
- The Czech government concludes that the Russian GRU was responsible for the blast of two ammo warehouses in Vrbětice in 2014. 18 Russian diplomats and alleged spies are subsequently expelled.[63]
- The Soyuz MS-17 mission concludes, returning three crewmembers of Expedition 64 to Earth from the International Space Station.[64]
- April 18
- Twelve football clubs, including three from La Liga and leading clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, agree to join a new breakaway European Super League, prompting international condemnation.[65] Two days later, following major protests from supporters, other clubs and politicians, Manchester City withdraw from the league; this prompts all the remaining Premier League clubs and three others to do the same.[66]
- The 2021 Cape Verdean parliamentary election is held.[67]
- April 19
- NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, performs the first powered flight on another planet in history.[68][69]
- Raúl Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, ending more than 62 years of rule by the Castro brothers in Cuba.[70]
- April 20 – Idriss Déby, President of Chad, is killed in clashes with rebel forces after 30 years in office. The constitution is suspended and a Transitional Military Council is established to govern the country for 18 months.[71]
- April 22 – World leaders mark Earth Day by hosting a virtual summit on climate change, during which more ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions are proposed, including a 40% cut by 2030 for the United States.[72]
- April 23
- SpaceX launches the Crew-2 mission, carrying four crew members of Expedition 65 and 66 to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour.[73]
- UEFA announces that due to a lack of guarantees regarding spectators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland would be removed as a tournament host for the UEFA Euro 2020.[74]
- April 24
- Following an international search and rescue effort, the Indonesian navy reports the sinking of KRI Nanggala with 53 crew members, the largest loss of life aboard a submarine since 2003.[75]
- COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 1 billion. Half of these doses have been administered in just three countries (the United States, China and India).[76]
- April 25 – Albania holds parliamentary elections.[77][78][79]
- April 28
- At least 55 people are killed and nearly 50,000 more are displaced in one of the most serious clashes in Central Asia following border disputes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.[80]
- The European Union approves the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, governing the relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit.[81]
- April 29 – The China National Space Administration launches the first module of its Tiangong space station, named Tianhe, beginning a two-year effort to build the station in orbit.[82]
May
[edit]- May 2 – The SpaceX Crew-1 mission ends, returning four crew members of Expedition 64 and 65 to Earth from the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Resilience.[83]
- May 3 – Mexico City Metro overpass collapse: 26 people were killed and 98 people were injured when a Mexico City Metro train bridge collapsed when a train passed it.[84]
- May 11 – 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis: Israel hits the Gaza Strip with airstrikes as Hamas increases rocket fire.[85] This follows tensions over the possible eviction of several Palestinians due to a long-standing property dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.[86]
- May 12 – COVID-19 pandemic in India: The country's death toll exceeds 250,000.[87] Delhi cremation grounds were running out of places[88] while hundreds of bodies were reported washed up on the banks of the Ganges.[89]
- May 14 – The China National Space Administration lands its Zhurong rover at Utopia Planitia on Mars, making China the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the planet and only the second to land a rover.[90][91]
- May 15 – Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants continues to escalate, as the death toll exceeds 150. An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise office building in Gaza occupied by Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other media outlets.[92]
- May 17 – Discovery, Inc. agrees to buy media conglomerate WarnerMedia and all of its subsidiaries from AT&T for US$43 billion. The merger is set to be complete the following year.[93]
- May 18–May 22 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after the cancellation of the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[94][95] The contest is won by Italian entrants Måneskin with the song "Zitti e buoni".[96]
- May 20 – Following international pressure, and nearly 250 deaths, Israel agrees to a ceasefire deal to end the conflict with Gaza militants, effective the next day at 2:00 am local time.[97]
- May 23 – Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.[98]
- May 24
- A coup d'état in Mali removes interim president Bah Ndaw and the acting prime minister, Moctar Ouane, from power and restores military rule leading to the country being suspended from the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, as well as France suspending its military operations in the country.[99][100]
- The Government of Guillermo Lasso is formed in Ecuador.[101]
- May 26
- Shell becomes the first company to be legally mandated to align its carbon emissions with the Paris climate accord, following a landmark court ruling in the Netherlands.[102]
- The 2021 Syrian presidential election is held.[103]
- May 28
- The New York Times breaks the story on a Canadian Indian Residential School Cemeteries announcement, incorrectly reporting a discovery of "mass graves" of Indigenous children at a former school site. The reporting would help "spawn a new holiday, Truth and Reconciliation Day, prompt an official visit by Pope Francis, and result in Canadian flags being kept at half-mast for a record-breaking five consecutive months.”[104][105]
- May 29 – 2021 UEFA Champions League Final; Chelsea become champions, defeating fellow English club Manchester City 1–0 to win the UEFA Champions League for the second time.[106]
- May 30 – The 2021 Cypriot legislative election is held.[107][108]
June
[edit]- June 2 – The 2021 Israeli presidential election is held, and won by Isaac Herzog.[109][110] In order to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, Naftali Bennett agrees to form a coalition with the Israeli opposition as a rotation government that will come to take effect after eleven days.[111]
- June 5 – The G7 agrees on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% intended to prevent tax avoidance by some of the world's biggest multinational companies.[112]
- June 7
- June 9
- The 2021 Mongolian presidential election is held.[116][117]
- The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador passes legislation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the country, becoming the first country to adopt the cryptocurrency alongside the U.S. dollar.[118][119]
- June 10 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from Canada, Greenland, the North Pole, and the Russian Far East.[120]
- June 11–July 11 – The delayed UEFA Euro 2020, hosted by 11 different countries, is held,[121] and is won by Italy after beating England on penalties in the final.[122]
- June 11–June 13 – World leaders meet at the 47th G7 summit, hosted by the United Kingdom, with topics of discussion including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the corporate taxation of multinationals.[123]
- June 12 – The 2021 Algerian parliamentary election is held to elect all 407 seats in the People's National Assembly.[124]
- June 13 – Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister of Israel, is voted out of office; Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel and as Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, respectively.[125]
- June 13–July 10 – The 2021 Copa América, hosted behind closed doors by Brazil, is held,[126] and is won by Argentina.[127]
- June 17 – The China National Space Administration sends its first three astronauts to occupy the Tiangong Space Station, the country's first space station.[128]
- June 18 – The 2021 Iranian presidential election is held.[129]
- June 20 – 2021 Armenian parliamentary election: Acting PM Nikol Pashinyan wins the country's snap election, with his Civil Contract party gaining 54% of the vote.[130]
- June 23 – 2021 ICC World Test Championship Final: New Zealand wins the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship.[131]
- June 24 – Surfside condominium collapse: A portion of the Champlain South Towers condominium building collapses in Surfside, Florida, United States, leaving 98 people dead.[132][133][134] One survivor was pulled from the wreckage while 35 others were evacuated from the uncollapsed section of the building.[135]
- June 25 – Derek Chauvin is convicted and sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison, for the murder of George Floyd. Despite this, the civil unrest still goes on.[136]
- June 28 – Tigray War: The Tigray Defense Force seizes the Tigrayan capital Mekelle shortly after the Ethiopian government declares a ceasefire.[137]
- June 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 3 billion.[138]
July
[edit]- July 3 – Over 130 wildfires, fuelled by lightning strikes, burn through Western Canada following a record-breaking heatwave in North America that results in over 600 deaths.[139][140][141][142]
- July 5 – More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers flee to neighbouring Tajikistan after clashing with Taliban militants.[143]
- July 7 – Assassination of Jovenel Moïse: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is shot to death by unidentified gunmen at 1:00 am local time in his home. First Lady Martine Moïse is injured and hospitalized.[144]
- July 8 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 4 million.[145]
- July 10–August 1 – The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup is held in, and is won by, the United States.[146][147]
- July 11
- Thousands of Cubans, most of them young, attend a rare anti-government protest in San Antonio de los Baños to protest the increased food and medicine shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.[148][149]
- Moldova holds a parliamentary election, with the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) obtaining a majority of seats.[150]
- Bulgaria holds a parliamentary election, with the party There Is Such a People (ITN) leading.[151]
- July 12 – 2021 European floods: Heavy rain causes flooding in the border region of Germany and Belgium, resulting in 229 deaths, including 184 in Germany, 42 in Belgium with 1 person still missing there,[152] and 2 in Romania.[153] The event is attributed to a slowed jetstream caused by climate change.[152]
- July 13 – After the Supreme Court declares his incumbency unconstitutional, KP Oli is succeeded by Sher Bahadur Deuba as 43rd Prime Minister of Nepal.[154]
- July 18 – An international investigation reveals that spyware sold by Israel's NSO Group to different governments is being used to target heads of state, along with thousands of activists, journalists and dissidents around the world.[155][156]
- July 19
- Blue Origin successfully conducts its first human test flight, with a reusable New Shepard rocket delivering four crew members into space including its founder Jeff Bezos.[157][158]
- Leftist schoolteacher Pedro Castillo is confirmed as President of Peru over a month after the 2021 Peruvian general election.[159]
- Day of Hajj: Women are permitted to attend without a male guardian (mehrem) provided they go in a trustworthy group.[160]
- July 23–August 8 – The 2020 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 24 July–9 August 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[161]
- July 23 – The Court of Appeal of Samoa deemed the swearing-in of Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa and her government as constitutional, ending a three-month constitutional crisis.[162]
- July 25 – Tunisian president Kais Saied formally takes power in the country, suspending the parliament and sacking the prime minister.[163]
- July 28 – The first direct observation of light from behind a black hole is reported, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity.[164][165]
- July 29
- Roscosmos' Nauka laboratory docks with the International Space Station following a protracted seventeen-year development and launch on 21 July. Hours after docking, a malfunction of its thrusters causes a temporary loss of control of the station, spinning it up to 45 degrees from its normal orbital attitude.[166]
- The oil tanker Mercer Street is attacked off the coast of Oman.[167][168]
August
[edit]- August 3
- The oil tanker Asphalt Princess is hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.[169]
- Wildfires in Greece begin.[170]
- August 4
- 2020 Summer Olympics: Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is given political asylum in Poland through a humanitarian visa after attempts by the Belarus Olympic Committee to repatriate her against her will.[171]
- COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpasses 200 million worldwide.[172]
- August 5 – Tigray War: The Tigray Defense Forces seize the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lalibela.[173]
- August 9 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report, which concludes that the effects of human-caused climate change are now "widespread, rapid, and intensifying".[174][175][176]
- August 12 – The 2021 Zambian general election is held.[177][178]
- August 14 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti, killing more than 2,500 people.[179]

UK coalition forces assist a child during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul - August 15 – 2021 Taliban offensive: The Taliban capture Kabul; the Afghan government surrenders to the Taliban.[180]
- August 24–September 5 – The 2020 Summer Paralympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 25 August–6 September 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[181]
- August 26 – 2021 Kabul airport attack: At least 182 people are killed, including 13 U.S. service members, in a suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport.[182][183]
- August 27 – The United States launches an airstrike that it claims killed the Islamic State member who was believed to have planned the Kabul airport bombings.[184] However, the U.S. Defense Department later acknowledged that the strike instead killed ten civilians, including seven children, and that no terrorists were killed.[185]
- August 29 – Hurricane Ida strikes New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, after having caused devastation in Venezuela.[186]
- August 30
- The UN Environment Programme announces that leaded petrol in road vehicles has been phased out globally, a hundred years after its introduction.[187][188]
- The United States withdraws its last remaining troops from Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, ending 20 years of operations in Afghanistan.[189][190]
September
[edit]
- September 5 – 2021 Guinean coup d'état: Guinea's President Alpha Condé is detained by an elite military unit led by a former French legionnaire, Lt. Col. Mamady Doumbouya, claiming to have seized power.[191]
- September 7 – El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as an official currency.[192]
- September 13
- Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the main Malaysian opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, sign a confidence and supply agreement ending the 18-month political crisis that has led to the fall of two successive governments in Malaysia.[193]
- The 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election is held.[194]
- September 14
- North Korea demonstrates two short-range ballistic missiles that land just outside Japan's territorial waters; and then only hours later South Korea demonstrates its first submarine-launched ballistic missile.[195]
- The inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, the third tier of European club football, kicks off with Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv winning 4–1 against Armenian club FC Alashkert.[196]
- September 15
- AUKUS: A trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is formed, to counter the influence of China. This includes enabling Australia to build its first nuclear-powered submarine fleet.[197]
- Several ministers of the Argentine president Alberto Fernández's cabinet resign after the government's defeat in the primary elections, triggering a political crisis in the country.[198][199]
- September 16 – Inspiration4, launched by SpaceX, becomes the first all-civilian private spaceflight, carrying a four-person crew on a three-day orbit of the Earth.[200] Sian Proctor becomes first female commercial astronaut spaceship pilot and Hayley Arceneaux becomes first astronaut with a prosthesis.[201][202]
- September 19 – The 2021 Russian legislative election is held, with the United Russia party winning nearly 50% of the vote.[203][204]
- September 20 – The 2021 Canadian federal election is held, with Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party retaining a minority government.[205]
- September 25 – The 2021 Icelandic parliamentary election is held.[206]
- September 26 – The 2021 German federal election is held, with Olaf Scholz and the Social Democratic Party beating out Armin Laschet's CDU/CSU coalition and Annalena Baerbock's Green Party.[207][208]
October
[edit]- October 1 – The 2020 World Expo in Dubai begins. Its opening was originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[209]
- October 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners publish a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from 14 financial services companies known as the Pandora Papers, revealing offshore financial activities that involve multiple current and former world leaders.[210]
- October 4 – Fumio Kishida becomes the 100th Prime Minister of Japan, succeeding Yoshihide Suga.[211]
- October 5
- Microsoft releases the desktop operating system Windows 11.[212][213]
- Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-19 mission, which carries an Expedition 66 crewmember and two Channel One Russia personnel to the International Space Station. The two Channel One crew will perform principal photography on the film Vyzov aboard the station.[214][215]
- October 6 – The World Health Organization endorses the first malaria vaccine.[216]
- October 6–October 10 – The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals is held in Italy, and is won by France. They were originally scheduled for 2–6 June 2021, but were moved following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[217]
- October 8–October 9 – The 2021 Czech legislative election is held, with the main opposition coalition alliance of SPOLU and Pirates and Mayors gaining a legislative majority.[218][219]
- October 9 – Sebastian Kurz announces his resignation as Chancellor of Austria as a result of a corruption probe launched against him.[220]
- October 16 – The Lucy spacecraft is launched by NASA, the first mission to explore the Trojan asteroids.[221]
- October 17–November 14 – The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup is held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and is won by Australia.[222]
- October 23 – Colombia's most wanted drug lord, Dario Antonio Úsuga, whose Gulf Clan controls many smuggling routes into the US and other countries, is captured by Colombia's armed forces.[223][224]
- October 24 – The 2021 Uzbek presidential election is held.[225]
- October 25 – The Sudanese military launches a coup against the government. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is placed under house arrest. President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declares a state of emergency and announces the dissolution of the government.[226]
- October 31
- The 2021 Japanese general election is held, with Fumio Kishida and the Liberal Democratic Party along with its coalition partner Komeito retaining a majority government.[227][228]
- October 31–November 13 – The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Glasgow, after being postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19.[229] A deal is agreed by world leaders, which includes a "phasedown" of unabated coal power, a 30% cut in methane emissions by 2030, plans for a halt to deforestation by 2030, and increased financial support for developing countries.[230][231]
November
[edit]- November 1 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 5 million.[232]
- November 5
- Tigray War: The Tigray People's Liberation Front forms a coalition with eight other rebel groups with the aim of defeating the Ethiopian government "by force or by negotiations."[233][234]
- A crowd crush at the Astroworld Festival hosted by Travis Scott in Houston, Texas, kills 10 people and causes 300+ injuries.[235]
- November 11 – SpaceX launches the Crew-3 mission, carrying four Expedition 66 crew members to the International Space Station.[236][237]
- November 13 – Five Indian soldiers and two civilians are killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen in Churachandpur, Manipur. The People's Liberation Army of Manipur(PLA) claimed responsibility for the attack.[238]
- November 14
- The 2021 Argentine legislative election is held.[239]
- The 2021 Bulgarian general election is held.[240]
- November 16 – Russia draws international condemnation following an anti-satellite weapon test that creates a cloud of space debris, threatening the International Space Station.[241]
- November 21 – The 2021 Chilean general election is held.[242]
- November 24
- NASA launches the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first attempt to deflect an asteroid for the purpose of learning how to protect Earth.[243]
- Magdalena Andersson resigns as Prime Minister-elect of Sweden hours after the Riksdag voted her in as Sweden's first female prime minister. She was due to take office on 26 November.[244] Instead, she takes office on 30 November.[245]
- November 24–December 12 – Magnus Carlsen beats Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2021 World Chess Championship. Magnus has been World Chess Champion since 2013.
- November 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization convenes 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.[246]
- November 30–December 18 – The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup is held in Qatar, and is won by Algeria.[247]

The Governor-General of Barbados Sandra Mason is sworn in as the country's first President - November 30 – Barbados becomes a republic on its 55th anniversary of independence while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.[248]
December
[edit]- December 4 – The 2021 Gambian presidential election is held and incumbent president Adama Barrow is reelected.[249]
- December 6 – The United States announces a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in response to China's human rights record.[250] Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia join shortly after.
- December 9 – A truck crash in Chiapas, Mexico, kills 55 migrants who were being smuggled in it from Guatemala through Mexico to its border with the United States.[251]
- December 9–December 10 – The Summit for Democracy, a virtual summit, is hosted by the United States "to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad".[252][253]
- December 10–December 11 – A late season tornado outbreak occurs in the Southern and Midwestern United States, causing major damage and killing at least 94 people. One of the longest-tracked tornadoes in history occurred, which impacted western Kentucky, particularly Mayfield.[254]
- December 11 – New York City FC defeat the Portland Timbers at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, and win MLS Cup title for the first time in their history.[255]
- December 12
- The 2021 New Caledonian independence referendum is held.[256]
- Max Verstappen won his first Formula One World Championship and the first for a Dutch driver, driving for Red Bull Racing at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
- December 16 – Typhoon Rai, also known as Typhoon Odette, hits the Philippines and caused destruction to agriculture, establishments, and houses, and caused many injured and deaths.
- December 19
- The 2021 Hong Kong legislative election, originally scheduled for 6 September 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is held.[257]
- The second round of the 2021 Chilean presidential election is held; leftist candidate Gabriel Boric is elected President.[258][259]

Artistic conception of the James Webb Space Telescope
- December 25 – NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.[260]
Births and deaths
[edit]Nobel Prizes
[edit]
- Chemistry – Benjamin List and David MacMillan[261]
- Economics – David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens[262]
- Literature – Abdulrazak Gurnah[263]
- Peace – Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov[264]
- Physics – Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi[265]
- Physiology or Medicine – David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian[266]
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External links
[edit]Events
January
On January 1, the United States reached 20 million confirmed COVID-19 cases amid a winter surge driven by increased transmission and holiday gatherings.[11] The United Kingdom formally exited the European Union's single market and customs union, ending the Brexit transition period and implementing new trade barriers with the EU bloc.[12] On January 5, Georgia held runoff elections for its two U.S. Senate seats after no candidate secured a majority in November 2020. Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue with 50.6% of the vote to 49.4%, while Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler with 51.0% to 49.0%, granting Democrats a 50-50 Senate majority with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote.[13][14] These outcomes shifted Senate control from Republicans, who had held it since 2015, enabling the incoming Biden administration greater legislative leverage.[15] On January 6, thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump rallied in Washington, D.C., protesting the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory amid unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud, which had been rejected by courts and state officials.[16] Trump addressed the crowd, repeating fraud allegations and calling for a march to the Capitol to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."[17] The rally escalated as a mob breached security barriers, entered the Capitol building, and clashed with law enforcement, disrupting the joint session of Congress certifying electoral votes.[16] The breach resulted in five deaths: one Capitol Police officer from injuries sustained, one protester shot by police, and three others from medical emergencies among the crowd.[17] Congress reconvened that evening under enhanced security and completed certification, confirming Biden's 306-232 electoral win.[18] The event prompted Trump's second impeachment by the House on January 13 for incitement of insurrection, though Senate acquittal followed in February.[16] On January 20, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, with Kamala Harris sworn in as the 49th Vice President, becoming the first woman, first Black American, and first person of South Asian descent to hold the office.[18] Biden's administration immediately issued executive orders reversing several Trump-era policies, including rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and halting the Keystone XL pipeline.[18] Throughout January, the global COVID-19 pandemic intensified, with the U.S. recording over 95,000 deaths—the highest monthly toll to date—exceeding December's figure, as new variants emerged and vaccination efforts accelerated but lagged behind case surges.[19] By month's end, worldwide cases exceeded 100 million, with vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna distributed in limited quantities primarily to high-risk groups.[20] On January 7, Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world's richest individual, with a net worth of $186 billion driven by Tesla's stock performance.[12]
February
On February 1, the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, seized power in a coup d'état, detaining State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other officials from the National League for Democracy (NLD), which had won a landslide in the November 2020 elections.[21] The military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, claimed the election was marred by widespread fraud and irregularities, justifying the imposition of a one-year state of emergency under Vice President Myint Swe, who transferred power to the commander-in-chief.[22] The action halted Myanmar's decade-long transition toward democracy following the 2011 reforms, prompting immediate international condemnation from the United States, European Union, and United Nations, though China and Russia expressed support or restraint.[21] The coup triggered mass civil disobedience and protests across Myanmar, with millions participating in strikes and demonstrations by mid-February, met by escalating military violence including arrests and lethal force that killed dozens.[23] Independent observers noted the military's pretext of electoral fraud lacked substantiation from international monitors, who had deemed the vote largely free and fair despite some documented issues, underscoring the Tatmadaw's historical dominance and reluctance to fully cede control.[22] From February 11 to 20, Winter Storm Uri struck Texas and parts of the southern United States, delivering record-low temperatures as cold as -2°F in Dallas, heavy snowfall up to 6 inches in some areas, and freezing precipitation that crippled infrastructure.[24] The storm caused the failure of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, leading to rolling blackouts that left over 4.5 million customers without power for days amid subfreezing conditions, exacerbating water shortages from burst pipes and resulting in at least 223 deaths statewide, primarily from hypothermia and carbon monoxide poisoning.[24] [25] Economic damages exceeded $195 billion, marking it as the costliest weather disaster in Texas history and highlighting systemic vulnerabilities in the state's isolated grid, which prioritized renewable intermittency and deregulation over winterization, as later investigations by ERCOT and federal regulators confirmed.[24] [25] The U.S. Senate convened the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on February 9, charging him with incitement of insurrection for his remarks preceding the January 6 Capitol breach.[26] House managers presented video evidence of the violence and Trump's statements urging supporters to "fight like hell," while Trump's defense argued the trial was unconstitutional post-tenure and that his speech constituted protected political rhetoric.[27] On February 13, the Senate voted 57-43 to acquit Trump on the single article, with seven Republicans joining Democrats but falling short of the two-thirds threshold required for conviction under Article I of the Constitution.[27] [28] Ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the United States administered over 66 million doses by late February, prioritizing healthcare workers and elderly amid supply constraints and distribution bottlenecks, though the Texas storm delayed shipments and appointments nationwide.[29] The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines demonstrated efficacy rates of around 95% against symptomatic infection in real-world data from early recipients, supporting expanded eligibility to those over 65 in most states.[30] Globally, the COVAX initiative began delivering initial doses to lower-income countries, though inequities persisted with wealthier nations securing the majority of supplies.[31]March
Protests against Myanmar's military coup of February 1 intensified throughout March, with security forces employing lethal force against demonstrators. By early March, the death toll from the crackdown reached at least 61, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. On March 14, in Yangon's Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, junta troops and police encircled protesters, opening fire and killing dozens in what became known as the Hlaing Tharyar Massacre; security forces used live ammunition, grenades, and slingshots against crowds demanding the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Amnesty International documented the deployment of notorious battalions equipped with assault rifles and other weaponry to suppress the civil disobedience movement, which included strikes by workers and widespread participation across ethnic groups.[32][33][34] In the United States, two mass shootings occurred within a week. On March 16, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long killed eight people at three spas in the Atlanta metropolitan area; six victims were women of Asian descent, prompting initial concerns of anti-Asian bias amid rising attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, though Long attributed the attacks to his personal struggles with sex addiction and told authorities the shootings were not racially motivated. Long, who surrendered to police after the rampage spanning Cherokee County and Atlanta, faced state murder charges, with federal hate crime enhancements pursued later. Six days later, on March 22, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, carried out a shooting at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, killing ten people, including a responding police officer; Alissa, who had a history of mental health issues, used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle and was charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder.[35][36][37] The Suez Canal faced a major disruption when the container ship Ever Given, a 400-meter-long vessel operated by Evergreen Marine, ran aground on March 23 due to strong winds and a sandstorm, becoming wedged across the narrow waterway and halting all traffic in one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The blockage stranded over 400 vessels and delayed an estimated $400 million in goods per hour, with total trade losses reaching billions over the six-day obstruction until the ship was refloated on March 29 through combined efforts of dredgers, tugboats, and ballast adjustments. The incident underscored vulnerabilities in global supply chains, already strained by pandemic-related disruptions, as the canal handles about 12% of world trade.[9][38][39] Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, significant vaccination milestones were achieved. The United States administered its 100 millionth vaccine dose on March 19, reflecting accelerated rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines under the Biden administration's push for equitable distribution. Globally, new cases rose for a fifth consecutive week, exceeding 3.8 million reported infections, driven by variants and uneven vaccine access, as noted in World Health Organization epidemiological updates. France imposed a new nationwide lockdown on March 31, closing schools for three weeks in response to surging infections.[40][41][42]April
On April 9, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and consort to Queen Elizabeth II, died at Windsor Castle at the age of 99, following a month of hospitalization for an infection and heart procedure. His death marked the end of a 73-year marriage and prompted a period of national mourning in the United Kingdom, with limited ceremonial arrangements due to COVID-19 restrictions. On April 14, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, extending the timeline set by the Trump administration's February agreement with the Taliban while citing the need to end America's longest war after 20 years and over 2,400 U.S. military deaths. The decision shifted focus to over-the-horizon counterterrorism capabilities, amid concerns from military leaders about Taliban resurgence and risks to Afghan allies. On April 19, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet during the Mars Perseverance mission, hovering 3 meters above the surface for 39 seconds in the Jezero Crater. This demonstration validated vertical flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, paving the way for future aerial exploration to scout terrain inaccessible to rovers. April 20 saw two major developments: In the United States, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted by a Hennepin County jury on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for kneeling on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds during an arrest on May 25, 2020, an act ruled by medical examiners as causing Floyd's death by cardiopulmonary arrest due to restraint and neck compression.[43] [44] The verdict, reached after 10 hours of deliberation by a diverse 12-person jury, followed testimony from over 45 witnesses including medical experts attributing Floyd's death to police actions rather than solely drug intoxication or heart disease.[45] Concurrently in Chad, President Idriss Déby, who had ruled since seizing power in a 1990 coup, died from wounds sustained while commanding troops against Fact rebels near the Libyan border, ending his 30-year tenure marked by authoritarian governance and key roles in regional counterterrorism against Boko Haram and other jihadists.[46] [47] The army declared a transitional military council led by Déby's son, Mahamat, suspending the constitution and promising elections in 18 months amid risks of instability in the Sahel.[48]May
On May 1, India reported a record 401,993 new COVID-19 cases in a single day amid its second wave, driven by the Delta variant and strained healthcare infrastructure, including shortages of oxygen and hospital beds.[49] The wave, peaking in early May with over 400,000 daily cases, resulted in excess mortality estimates far exceeding official figures, with independent analyses suggesting underreporting by factors of 3 to 10 due to limited testing and overwhelmed cremation facilities.[50] By month's end, India had administered over 200 million vaccine doses but faced supply constraints, exporting vaccines earlier despite domestic needs.[51] On May 7, the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45% of the U.S. East Coast's fuel, shut down operations following a ransomware attack by the DarkSide group, originating from a compromised VPN account without multifactor authentication.[52] The incident disrupted fuel distribution for six days, leading to panic buying, gasoline shortages in 17 states, and price spikes up to 25 cents per gallon in affected areas; the company paid a 4.4 million dollar ransom, later partially recovered by the FBI.[53] This highlighted vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, prompting executive orders on cybersecurity and scrutiny of operational technology isolation practices.[54] Tensions escalated in the Middle East on May 10 when Hamas launched rockets from Gaza toward Israel in response to clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, prompting Israel's Operation Guardian of the Walls, which involved airstrikes killing 256 in Gaza, including 66 children, over 11 days.[55] The conflict displaced over 72,000 Palestinians and drew international condemnation for civilian casualties, with Hamas firing over 4,000 rockets and Israel intercepting 90% via Iron Dome; a ceasefire took effect on May 21 after U.S. mediation.[10] Casualty figures varied by source, with Gaza's Health Ministry reporting higher numbers unverified independently due to restricted access. Other notable events included widespread protests in Colombia starting May 1 against a tax reform bill, resulting in at least 26 deaths amid police clashes and leading to the bill's withdrawal.[55] In space exploration, SpaceX's Crew-2 mission launched on May 5, successfully docking the first operational Dragon capsule with international partners to the ISS.[56] In the U.S., the CDC updated mask guidance on May 13, allowing fully vaccinated individuals to forgo masks indoors in most settings, reflecting emerging data on vaccine efficacy against transmission.[57]June
On June 6, Peru held the second round of its presidential election, pitting leftist teacher and union leader Pedro Castillo of the Peru Libre party against conservative Keiko Fujimori of Popular Force; with nearly all votes counted by mid-month, Castillo held a slim lead of about 50,000 votes, prompting Fujimori to challenge the results on grounds of alleged irregularities, though electoral authorities upheld the tally.[58][59] The UEFA European Football Championship, branded as Euro 2020 despite the postponement, began on June 11 across 11 host cities in Europe, featuring 24 national teams in a format delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic; the tournament ran through July 11, drawing millions of viewers amid strict health protocols.[60] From June 11 to 13, leaders of the G7 nations convened in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, where they endorsed a global initiative to distribute one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to low-income countries by year-end, reaffirmed commitments to counter China's economic practices, and advanced discussions on infrastructure investment via the Build Back Better World partnership as an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative. On June 13, Naftali Bennett of the Yamina party was sworn in as Israel's prime minister after his diverse eight-party coalition secured a 60-59 Knesset confidence vote, ousting Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 consecutive years in power; Bennett, a former Netanyahu aide and advocate for West Bank annexation, agreed to serve two years before yielding to Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid.[61][62] The NATO summit occurred on June 14 in Brussels, where allies endorsed a new strategic concept emphasizing competition with Russia and China, enhanced defense spending targets, and support for Ukraine; U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed transatlantic unity post-Afghanistan withdrawal plans. On June 16, Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva for talks on arms control, cybersecurity, and Ukraine, yielding no major breakthroughs but agreements to resume strategic stability dialogue and return ambassadors amid strained relations. President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, establishing June 19 as a federal holiday commemorating the 1865 emancipation announcement in Galveston, Texas, and the end of slavery in the U.S.; the legislation passed Congress unanimously in the Senate following House approval.[63][64] In response to Belarus's May 23 diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978 to Minsk for the arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, the U.S., EU, UK, and Canada imposed coordinated sanctions on June 21 targeting Belarusian officials, entities, and aviation bans, escalating economic pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko's regime.[65][66][67] At 1:22 a.m. EDT on June 24, the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed, killing 98 of its 136 residents and prompting investigations into structural failures like concrete deterioration and pool deck issues; rescue efforts lasted over a week amid concerns over adjacent buildings.[68][69]July
On July 7, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his private residence in Pétion-Ville by a group of about 28 armed men, many of whom spoke English and French and claimed to be from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.[70] The assailants, including Colombian mercenaries and Haitian-Americans later charged in the U.S., killed Moïse and wounded his wife Martine; the plot involved plans to arrest Moïse and install an interim government, amid Haiti's ongoing instability from gang violence and disputed elections.[71] The United Nations condemned the killing as "abhorrent" and called for justice.[72] Widespread protests erupted across Cuba beginning July 11, marking the largest anti-government demonstrations since the 1959 revolution, driven by acute shortages of food, medicine, and electricity amid economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic.[73] Thousands participated in over 50 cities, chanting for freedom and an end to Communist Party rule, with social media amplifying calls via hashtags like #SOSCuba.[74] The government responded with internet blackouts, mass arrests exceeding 1,300 people, and violent crackdowns, including beatings and politically motivated prosecutions under laws criminalizing "enemy propaganda."[75] Catastrophic flooding struck western Europe from July 12-15, triggered by over 150 mm of rainfall in 24 hours in parts of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, causing rivers like the Ahr to swell catastrophically.[76] The disaster killed at least 243 people, with 196 deaths in Germany alone—primarily in the Ahr Valley where inadequate warning systems and rapid water rise contributed to the toll—and 39 in Belgium.[77] Damage exceeded €30 billion in Germany, with landslides and infrastructure failures exacerbating losses.[78] A persistent heat dome over the Pacific Northwest from late June into early July set numerous all-time temperature records, including 116°F (47°C) in Portland, Oregon, on June 28 and 121°F (49.4°C) in Lytton, British Columbia, on June 29, followed by wildfires that destroyed the town.[79] The event, made at least 150 times more likely by human-induced climate change, caused over 1,400 excess deaths across the region and strained power grids.[80] On July 20, Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket completed its first crewed suborbital flight from Van Horn, Texas, carrying founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviator Wally Funk, and student Oliver Daemen to an altitude above the Kármán line (100 km).[81] The 11-minute mission, the company's inaugural with humans aboard, highlighted private space tourism amid competition from Virgin Galactic.[82] The Tokyo Summer Olympics opened on July 23 after a year-long postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proceeding under strict protocols with no spectators and limited athlete interactions.[83] The United States led the medal tally with 113, followed by China with 89, across 339 events; notable performances included U.S. gymnast Simone Biles withdrawing from several finals citing mental health concerns.[84] Global surface temperatures for July 2021 reached 0.93°C above the 20th-century average, marking it as the hottest month since records began in 1880, per NOAA data incorporating land and ocean measurements.[85] This exceeded prior records set in July 2019 and 2016, reflecting ongoing warming trends.[86]August
The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan reached its culmination in August 2021, as insurgent forces captured the capital Kabul on August 15 following a swift offensive that overran provincial capitals in the preceding days. This collapse occurred after the United States completed most of its troop withdrawal, originally scheduled under the February 2020 Doha Agreement negotiated during the Trump administration and extended by President Biden to August 31. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country amid the advance, enabling Taliban fighters to enter Kabul with minimal resistance from security forces.[87][88][89] The fall of Kabul triggered a humanitarian crisis, with thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals converging on Hamid Karzai International Airport seeking evacuation. U.S.-led Operation Allies Refuge facilitated the airlift of over 120,000 people in the ensuing weeks, though scenes of desperation included civilians clinging to departing aircraft. On August 26, an ISIS-K suicide bombing at the airport's Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghan civilians, marking the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since 2011. The Biden administration concluded the evacuation on August 30, leaving behind an estimated 100-200 U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghan allies, as the Taliban consolidated power and declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan restored.[90][91] In public health, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant dominated global caseloads, with approximately 4.4 million new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported worldwide during the week of August 23-29. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for individuals aged 16 and older on August 23, shifting from emergency use authorization and prompting expanded mandates, such as California's requirement for healthcare workers. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence released an unclassified assessment on August 27 concluding that the virus most likely originated from natural exposure to an infected animal, though a lab leak remained plausible without consensus among agencies.[92][93][94] Natural disasters struck multiple regions, including a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti on August 14 that killed 2,248 people, injured over 12,000, and displaced tens of thousands, exacerbating vulnerabilities from the prior year's political instability. In Zambia, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema secured a landslide presidential victory on August 12, ending incumbent Edgar Lungu's tenure amid allegations of electoral irregularities by the ruling party.[95][96]September
On September 1, remnants of Hurricane Ida triggered catastrophic flash flooding across the Northeastern United States, particularly in New York City and New Jersey, where up to 9 inches of rain fell in hours, overwhelming basements, subways, and streets. The event resulted in at least 46 deaths in the New York City area alone, with many victims drowning in illegal basement apartments amid failures in urban drainage infrastructure and emergency warnings.[97][98] In Texas, Senate Bill 8, known as the Heartbeat Act, took effect the same day, prohibiting abortions after the detection of embryonic cardiac activity—typically around six weeks of gestation—through a novel enforcement mechanism allowing private citizens to sue providers or aiders for at least $10,000 per violation, while shielding defendants from liability for fetal viability.[99] The California gubernatorial recall election occurred on September 14, where voters rejected the effort to remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom by a margin of 61.9% to 38.1%, with Newsom securing over 7.4 million "no" votes amid high turnout driven by mail-in ballots and opposition to Republican-led initiatives.[100] Internationally, the AUKUS security pact was announced on September 15 by the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, committing to enhanced military cooperation including the provision of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, which prompted the abrupt cancellation of a $66 billion conventional submarine contract with France and elicited strong diplomatic protests from Paris over perceived betrayal of alliance trust.[101] In Afghanistan, the Taliban unveiled an all-male interim government on September 7, composed exclusively of its members and excluding women or representatives from other ethnic groups, despite prior assurances of inclusivity, as the group consolidated control following the August U.S. withdrawal.[102] On September 20, an 18-year-old student at Perm State University in Russia carried out a mass shooting, killing six people and wounding at least 28 others with a shotgun before being subdued by police; the attacker, who professed ideological grievances, later died from injuries sustained in the confrontation.[103]October
On October 3, the Pandora Papers, a leak of nearly 12 million confidential documents from offshore service providers, were published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, implicating over 330 politicians and public officials, including 35 current or former heads of state, in using secretive financial arrangements to hide assets worth billions. The revelations prompted investigations in multiple countries but faced criticism for lacking evidence of illegality in many cases, with some figures like Jordan's King Abdullah II defending their use as legitimate tax planning. The Nobel Prizes for 2021 were announced in early October, recognizing advancements in science, literature, peace, and economics. On October 4, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries of receptors responsible for temperature and touch sensation, enabling understanding of how the nervous system converts physical stimuli into electrical signals.[104] The Physics Prize on October 5 went to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for modeling Earth's climate and linking rising temperatures to human activity, alongside Giorgio Parisi for contributions to complex systems theory. In Chemistry on October 6, Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan received the award for developing asymmetric organocatalysis, a method using metal-free small molecules to accelerate chemical reactions with high precision, impacting pharmaceutical synthesis.[105] The Literature Prize on October 7 was given to Abdulrazak Gurnah for his exploration of colonialism's enduring effects on individuals and societies, drawing from his East African heritage. The Peace Prize on October 8 honored journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia for defending freedom of expression amid authoritarian pressures, with Ressa facing legal harassment over Rappler's reporting and Muratov funding independent media after Novaya Gazeta colleague Anna Politkovskaya's 2006 assassination.[106] The Economics Prize on October 11 was shared by David Card for empirical analysis of labor markets, such as the minimum wage's employment effects, and Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens for methodological advances in causal inference from natural experiments.[107] On October 6, the World Health Organization recommended the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine as the first against malaria, based on pilot programs in sub-Saharan Africa showing a 30% reduction in severe cases among children, though efficacy wanes over time and requires multiple doses alongside mosquito control. In the Czech Republic, parliamentary elections on October 8-9 resulted in a narrow victory for the center-right SPOLU coalition and the anti-corruption STAN-Pirates alliance, ousting Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's ANO party after eight years amid corruption allegations. Sudan's military seized power on October 25, detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and dissolving the civilian-led transitional government, citing political deadlock but triggering widespread protests and international condemnation as a reversal of the 2019 democratic transition post-Bashir. The coup leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, justified the move by accusing civilians of undermining security, though evidence pointed to military frustration over reforms limiting their influence. On October 30, Barbados transitioned to a republic, removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and installing Dame Sandra Mason as its first president, with Prime Minister Mia Mottley emphasizing sovereignty while retaining Commonwealth ties and a constitutional monarchy abolished via parliamentary vote. The G20 summit in Rome on October 30-31 committed to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, phasing down unabated coal power, and providing $100 billion annually in climate finance to developing nations, though specifics on enforcement remained vague amid criticisms of insufficient ambition relative to IPCC warnings.November
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) convened in Glasgow, Scotland, from November 1 to 13, hosting representatives from nearly 200 countries to negotiate advancements under the Paris Agreement.[108] The summit culminated in the Glasgow Climate Pact, which for the first time explicitly called on nations to phase down unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, while urging stronger commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.[109] Over 100 countries pledged to halt deforestation by 2030, and more than 40 nations agreed to transition away from coal, though critics noted the language's softening from "phase out" to "phase down" amid opposition from major coal producers like India and China.[110] On November 1, the global COVID-19 death toll exceeded 5 million, according to World Health Organization data, amid ongoing vaccination efforts and variant concerns.[111] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11 on November 3, expanding eligibility to approximately 28 million young Americans based on clinical trial data showing 90.7% efficacy against symptomatic disease.[111] A terrorist attack in Niger on November 2 killed at least 69 soldiers at a military camp in Inates, claimed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, highlighting persistent jihadist threats in the Sahel region.[111] In the United States, a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on November 19 of all charges, including two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of attempted homicide, stemming from the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz during unrest on August 25, 2020; the defense successfully argued self-defense under Wisconsin law, supported by video evidence and witness testimony.[112] [113] On November 24, three white men—Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan—were convicted in a Georgia federal court of murder and other charges in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man chased and shot while jogging; the verdict followed presentation of video footage and evidence of racial animus, with sentencing set for February 2022 under hate crime enhancements.[114] [115] Protests erupted across Europe on November 21 against new COVID-19 restrictions, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates, resulting in clashes in cities like Rotterdam, Vienna, and Brussels, with at least one fatality in the Netherlands from police gunfire during unrest.[116] In Ethiopia, the government declared a nationwide state of emergency on November 4 amid advances by Tigrayan forces toward Addis Ababa, exacerbating the Tigray War that had displaced millions and caused famine warnings.[117]December
A deadly tornado outbreak struck the central and southern United States on December 10–11, generating at least 70 confirmed tornadoes across eight states, including multiple violent EF4 and EF3 tornadoes that caused widespread destruction.[118] The event resulted in 89 fatalities, primarily in Kentucky where an EF4 tornado, known as "The Beast" devastated Mayfield and caused the collapse of a candle factory, killing nine workers, and Edwardsville, Illinois, where six died in an Amazon warehouse;[119] it remains the deadliest December tornado outbreak on record.[118] Unusual December warmth and atmospheric instability fueled the supercell thunderstorms responsible.[118] The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, first identified in late November, accelerated its global spread throughout December, prompting renewed travel restrictions and public health measures in numerous countries.[120] By December 14, the World Health Organization reported Omicron circulating in at least 77 nations with an unprecedented transmission rate, though early data suggested milder severity compared to prior variants in hospitalized cases from South Africa.[120] The variant's numerous spike protein mutations raised concerns over vaccine efficacy, leading to booster campaigns and enhanced surveillance, while detections surged in Europe, North America, and Asia by mid-month.[120] [121] Geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensified as Russian forces amassed over 90,000 troops near the border, prompting U.S. intelligence assessments of a potential large-scale offensive involving up to 175,000 personnel by early 2022.[122] On December 17, Russia issued formal demands to NATO and the United States, including a ban on Ukraine's NATO membership, withdrawal of alliance forces from Eastern Europe, and restrictions on military deployments near Russian borders, framing them as prerequisites for de-escalation.[123] Ukrainian and Western officials rejected the proposals as undermining sovereignty, while President Vladimir Putin asserted Russia had "nowhere to retreat" amid the standoff.[124] NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a collaborative project with the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency, launched successfully on December 25 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, marking a milestone in infrared astronomy to observe distant galaxies and exoplanets.[125] The $10 billion observatory, equipped with a 6.5-meter primary mirror, unfolded its sunshield during transit to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, where it would conduct observations over its 10-year mission lifetime.[125] On December 29, a federal jury in New York convicted Ghislaine Maxwell on five of six counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, for her role in recruiting and grooming underage girls for abuse by financier Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004.[126] Prosecutors presented testimony from four victims detailing Maxwell's facilitation of Epstein's crimes, leading to her detention pending sentencing; she was acquitted on one charge of enticing a minor to travel for illegal sex acts.[126] The verdict followed a month-long trial highlighting Epstein's network, with Maxwell maintaining her innocence and planning an appeal.[126]Public Health and Pandemic Response
Vaccine Rollouts and Efficacy Data
In the United States, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA on December 11, 2020, with initial doses administered starting December 14, 2020, primarily to healthcare workers; by January 2021, distribution expanded to priority groups amid supply constraints and cold-chain requirements.[40] The Moderna vaccine followed with EUA on December 18, 2020, and the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine gained EUA on February 27, 2021, enabling broader rollout phases targeting the elderly and high-risk populations.[40] Globally, the United Kingdom initiated the Pfizer vaccine rollout on December 8, 2020, achieving over 10 million first doses by early February 2021, while Israel launched a rapid nationwide campaign in December 2020, vaccinating nearly 50% of its population with at least one dose by March.[127] By mid-2021, over 2 billion doses had been administered worldwide, though uneven distribution persisted, with high-income countries vaccinating faster than low-income ones.[40] Clinical trials reported high efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 from the original SARS-CoV-2 strain: the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine demonstrated 95% efficacy in a phase 3 trial involving over 43,000 participants, with 162 cases in the placebo group versus 8 in the vaccine group.02183-8/fulltext) The Moderna mRNA vaccine showed 94.1% efficacy in its phase 3 trial of approximately 30,000 participants, reducing symptomatic infections from 185 in placebo to 11 in vaccinated.[127] Adenovirus-vectored vaccines like AstraZeneca exhibited 70-90% efficacy depending on dosing intervals, while Johnson & Johnson reported 66% efficacy against moderate to severe disease in its multinational trial.[127] These figures represented relative risk reduction; absolute risk reduction was lower (e.g., ~0.84% for Pfizer), reflecting low baseline infection rates in trials, though vaccines substantially lowered severe outcomes across groups.[127] Early real-world data corroborated trial results but revealed waning protection against infection over time. In Israel, following mass Pfizer vaccination, effectiveness reached 94% against symptomatic disease and 92% against severe outcomes by March 2021, based on nationwide surveillance of over 5 million vaccinated individuals.02183-8/fulltext) A UK study of the Pfizer vaccine showed 88% effectiveness against hospitalization persisting up to 6 months post-second dose, though protection against infection dropped from 90% initially to around 65% after 180 days.02183-8/fulltext) The emergence of the Delta variant in mid-2021 reduced two-dose efficacy against infection to 60-80% for mRNA vaccines, per UK Health Security Agency data, but maintained 80-90% effectiveness against hospitalization and death.[128] Transmission reduction was partial, with vaccinated individuals still shedding virus loads comparable to unvaccinated during Delta breakthrough infections.[129] Safety monitoring via systems like VAERS identified rare adverse events: mRNA vaccines were linked to myocarditis/pericarditis, primarily in young males, with incidence rates of 12.6 cases per million second doses in males aged 12-17 per CDC analysis through June 2021.[130] Adenovirus vaccines faced scrutiny for thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), occurring in about 3-4 cases per million doses for Johnson & Johnson, prompting temporary pauses in April 2021.[40] Overall, serious adverse events remained below 0.01% of doses administered, with benefits against severe COVID-19 outweighing risks in population-level assessments, though underreporting in passive systems like VAERS limited precise causality attribution.[131] The FDA granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for ages 16+ on August 23, 2021, amid ongoing data reviews.[40]| Vaccine | Type | Efficacy vs. Symptomatic (Original Strain, Trials) | Efficacy vs. Severe Disease (Delta, Real-World) | Key Rare Adverse Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pfizer-BioNTech | mRNA | 95%02183-8/fulltext) | 88% (hospitalization)02183-8/fulltext) | Myocarditis (~1/100,000 young males)[130] |
| Moderna | mRNA | 94%[127] | 93% (hospitalization)[128] | Myocarditis (similar to Pfizer)[130] |
| AstraZeneca | Viral Vector | 70-90%[127] | 80-90% (hospitalization)[128] | TTS (~1/100,000)[40] |
| Johnson & Johnson | Viral Vector | 66% (moderate/severe)[127] | ~70% (infection)[128] | TTS (3-4/million)[40] |
Lockdown Policies and Societal Costs
In early 2021, numerous countries maintained or reintroduced stringent lockdown measures amid resurgent COVID-19 waves, even as vaccines became available. For instance, England entered a national lockdown on January 4, 2021, closing schools and non-essential businesses until restrictions began easing in April.[132] Australia extended lockdowns in cities like Melbourne, accumulating over 200 days of restrictions by mid-year. In the United States, state-level policies varied, but many imposed renewed closures and capacity limits through spring, with full reopenings delayed until summer in places like California.[133] These policies aimed to curb transmission but persisted despite evidence of diminishing returns, as initial lockdowns in 2020 had already flattened curves in many areas without preventing subsequent surges driven by behavioral factors and variants. Economic repercussions were profound, with lockdowns correlating to sustained GDP contractions and elevated unemployment. Global analyses estimated a 2.1% GDP decline attributable to pandemic restrictions in 2020-2021, with developing economies facing steeper drops of 2.5%.[134] In the US, civilian employment fell by an additional several million jobs into early 2021, exacerbating a total pandemic-related loss of 8.8 million positions, particularly in service sectors shuttered by mandates.[135] Empirical studies using Gallup data across countries linked stricter suppression measures to higher rates of job and income loss, with low-income workers hit hardest due to inability to telework.[136] These costs stemmed from direct closures and indirect effects like reduced consumer spending, outweighing benefits in cost-benefit assessments that pegged lockdown harms at 5 to 50 times the lives saved in wellbeing-adjusted terms.[137] School closures, a hallmark of 2021 lockdowns, inflicted widespread learning losses, equivalent to 0.18 standard deviations on average across 19 countries with 15 weeks of closure, translating to months of stalled progress.[138] Longitudinal data showed losses up to 1.1 years of education per year closed, with disparities amplifying for disadvantaged students—up to 60% greater impacts in low-income households due to limited home resources.[139][140] Recovery remained incomplete by late 2021, as evidenced by persistent test score deficits in math and reading, underscoring causal links between prolonged remote learning and cognitive setbacks without commensurate reductions in child transmission rates.[141] Mental health deteriorated under lockdowns, with meta-analyses of longitudinal studies revealing spikes in anxiety, depression, and loneliness, particularly during initial and repeated restrictions.[142] One systematic review found heightened depressive symptoms and stress prevalence, affecting 10% of populations severely, with effects lingering post-easing due to social isolation and economic strain.[143] Non-COVID health burdens compounded this, as excess deaths from other causes—such as delayed treatments for heart disease and cancer—reached 97,000 annually in the US through 2021, driven by overwhelmed systems and avoidance of care.[144] These outcomes challenged lockdown rationales, as empiric reviews indicated marginal mortality reductions overshadowed by broader harms, including iatrogenic effects on routine services.[145][146] Critiques of 2021 policies highlighted overestimation of benefits in early models, with over 95 studies critiqued for undercounting costs like civil liberty erosion and social disconnection while inflating efficacy claims.[147] A 2024 meta-analysis across jurisdictions concluded lockdowns yielded insufficient returns given their scale, recommending against future indiscriminate use.[148] Sweden's lighter-touch approach, avoiding nationwide school closures, provided a comparator, showing comparable per-capita outcomes to stricter regimes but with fewer collateral damages.[149] Overall, empirical data underscored that while short-term suppression occurred, long-term societal tolls—economic, educational, and psychological—demanded reevaluation of proportionality.Origins Hypothesis and Scientific Debates
The two principal hypotheses debated in 2021 for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 were natural zoonotic spillover from an animal reservoir and a laboratory-associated incident, primarily linked to research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The zoonotic hypothesis emphasized transmission from bats, possibly via an intermediate host like those traded at Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where early cases clustered and environmental samples tested positive for the virus and animal DNA. Genetic features, such as receptor-binding domain adaptations, were argued to align with natural evolutionary processes observed in other coronaviruses, though no intermediate host species was conclusively identified despite extensive sampling efforts by that point.[150][151] The laboratory incident hypothesis posited an accidental release of a pre-existing or enhanced virus during gain-of-function experiments at the WIV, which housed the world's largest collection of bat SARS-like coronaviruses and had documented biosafety lapses. Circumstantial indicators included the institute's location three miles from the outbreak's epicenter, U.S. intelligence reports of WIV researchers falling ill with COVID-like symptoms in autumn 2019, and the abrupt offline status of a WIV database containing over 22,000 viral sequences in September 2019. Unique genomic traits, notably the furin cleavage site absent in closely related sarbecoviruses like RaTG13 (sharing 96.2% sequence identity), fueled arguments that serial passaging or engineering could explain features without natural precedents, though direct evidence of manipulation remained absent.[152][153] Scientific contention peaked with the March 2021 World Health Organization (WHO)-China joint report, which rated zoonotic spillover as "likely to very likely" while deeming a lab leak "extremely unlikely," based on limited fieldwork and restricted raw data access granted by Chinese authorities. The assessment faced immediate scrutiny for its deference to Beijing's narrative control, including exclusion of independent lab audits and reliance on post-hoc interviews, potentially undermining objectivity amid geopolitical pressures.[150][154] In response, U.S. President Joe Biden commissioned a 90-day intelligence review in May 2021, yielding an August declassified assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence revealing no consensus: most agencies favored natural exposure with moderate confidence, but four elements and the National Intelligence Council assessed a lab-associated origin more likely with low confidence, citing WIV's risky research on viruses with high human pandemic potential but finding no bioweapon intent or genetic engineering evidence. Emergence was pegged no later than November 2019 via small-scale exposure. The split underscored data gaps, particularly China's withholding of early case records and lab logs, while private emails from virologists like Kristian Andersen—initially alarmed by lab-like traits before publicly endorsing natural origins—exposed tensions between empirical anomalies and institutional incentives favoring zoonosis, often tied to funding from entities like the U.S. National Institutes of Health that supported WIV work.[152][152][155]Variant Emergence and Global Spread
In early 2021, the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020, drove significant surges across Europe and North America, with detections reported in at least 114 countries by mid-year; its enhanced transmissibility, estimated at 50% higher than prior strains, contributed to increased case rates before vaccines scaled up.[156] The Beta variant (B.1.351), originating in South Africa around May 2020, and the Gamma variant (P.1), detected in Brazil in November 2020, also circulated globally as variants of concern designated by the World Health Organization in January 2021, though their spread was more regionally contained compared to Alpha, with Beta showing partial immune escape from early vaccines in laboratory studies.[157] These variants displaced wild-type strains in many areas, prompting renewed restrictions, but empirical genomic surveillance data indicated they were eventually outcompeted by later lineages due to superior replication fitness.[158] The Delta variant (B.1.617.2), initially detected in India on October 5, 2020, emerged as the dominant global strain by mid-2021 after its designation as a variant of concern by WHO on May 11; in India, it rose from 4% of sequenced samples in early March to over 90% by May, fueling a wave with over 400,000 daily cases at peak in April-May, overwhelming healthcare systems and contributing to excess mortality estimates of 4.7 million during that period.[159] Delta's transmissibility was approximately 60% higher than Alpha, with a reproductive number (R) estimated at 5-8 in household settings, and it achieved over 50% prevalence in regions like the UK and US within 7-13 weeks of introduction, reaching 98.7% global prevalence by late August.[160] This rapid expansion occurred despite vaccination campaigns, as Delta partially evaded immunity from prior infection or early vaccines, with breakthrough infection rates 2-4 times higher than with Alpha in observational data from Israel and the UK.[161] By November 2021, the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first identified in specimens collected on November 11 in Botswana and November 14 in South Africa, with WHO designating it a variant of concern on November 26 due to over 30 spike protein mutations potentially enhancing transmissibility and immune escape.[162] Initial spread was swift, with cases detected in multiple countries within weeks, including the first US confirmation on December 1 from a traveler returning November 22; genomic data showed Omicron's exponential growth outpacing Delta in South Africa, where it comprised 12% of sequences by November 25 and dominated by early December, signaling a shift toward higher evasion of vaccine-induced antibodies while causing milder severe outcomes in population-level studies.[163][164]Political and Geopolitical Developments
United States Internal Politics
On January 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol during the joint session of Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election results, disrupting proceedings and leading to clashes with law enforcement that injured approximately 140 police officers.[165] The Federal Bureau of Investigation classified the event as an act of domestic terrorism.[165] Five individuals died in connection with the riot, including one shot by Capitol Police and others from medical emergencies.[16] The House of Representatives impeached Trump on January 13, 2021, on a single article of incitement of insurrection, passing 232-197 with ten Republicans joining Democrats.[166] The Senate trial occurred from February 9 to 13, 2021, resulting in acquittal by a 57-43 vote, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction.[167] Joseph R. Biden Jr. was inaugurated as the 46th President on January 20, 2021, following his victory in the 2020 election certified by 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.[168] In his first 100 days, Biden issued over 60 executive actions, including reversals of Trump-era policies on immigration, environmental regulations, and public health.[169] The 117th Congress, with narrow Democratic majorities, passed the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, 2021, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package providing direct payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, and expansions to child tax credits and Medicaid, enacted via budget reconciliation without Republican support.[170] Later in the year, bipartisan negotiations yielded the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law on November 15, 2021, allocating $1.2 trillion for transportation, broadband, and water infrastructure improvements.[168] Off-year elections on November 2, 2021, saw Republicans gain the Virginia governorship as Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe by 2.1 percentage points, signaling voter backlash against Democratic policies on education and COVID-19 mandates.[171] In New Jersey, incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy narrowly retained the governorship against Jack Ciattarelli by 3.2 points after a recount. Democrats also held New York City's mayoralty with Eric Adams' victory, but losses in local races underscored partisan polarization.[171] Several Republican-led states enacted voting laws in response to 2020 election disputes, including stricter ID requirements and limits on mail-in voting, measures Democrats criticized as suppressive while proponents argued enhanced election integrity.[172] Mainstream media outlets, often aligned with Democratic perspectives, framed these reforms predominantly as restrictive, though empirical analyses showed varied impacts on turnout.[172]Afghanistan Withdrawal and Taliban Advance
On April 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, extending the timeline set in the February 2020 Doha Agreement negotiated by the Trump administration, which had stipulated a U.S. exit by May 1, 2021, contingent on Taliban commitments to prevent terrorist attacks and engage in peace talks.[173][174] The Doha deal had included the release of approximately 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government under U.S. pressure, contributing to the insurgents' strengthened position.[174] Withdrawal operations commenced on May 1, 2021, reducing U.S. troop levels from around 2,500 to zero by the deadline, amid ongoing Taliban offensives that intensified as Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) lost U.S. logistical and air support.[87] The Taliban launched a nationwide offensive on May 1, 2021, exploiting the U.S. drawdown to capture rural districts and border crossings, followed by provincial capitals in July and August.[175] By early August, the insurgents controlled over half of Afghanistan's districts, with ANDSF morale collapsing due to unpaid salaries, corruption, and dependency on foreign aid rather than sustained combat capability. Key provincial falls included Zaranj on August 6, marking the first capital seized; Sheberghan, Kunduz, and Sar-e Pol on August 7-8; and a rapid succession on August 11-12 of Taluqan, Aybak, Ghazni, and Gardez, among others.[176][177] U.S. intelligence assessments had projected Kabul's fall in one to three months, but the government's rapid disintegration outpaced predictions, attributed to internal ANDSF desertions and lack of unified resistance.[178] On August 15, 2021, President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul amid advancing Taliban forces, who entered the city with minimal fighting as Afghan security units surrendered or disbanded.[179] The Taliban declared victory, establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and halting their offensive. U.S.-led evacuation efforts at Hamid Karzai International Airport airlifted over 120,000 people, including U.S. citizens, allies, and Afghan civilians, but operations were marred by chaos, with crowds overwhelming perimeter security.[180] A suicide bombing by ISIS-K on August 26 at Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians, highlighting vulnerabilities in the non-combatant evacuation.[181] The final U.S. military flight departed Kabul on August 30, 2021, ending the 20-year presence that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks.[87] The withdrawal left behind an estimated $7 billion in U.S.-provided military equipment to the ANDSF, including aircraft, vehicles, and weapons, much of which was captured by the Taliban due to the government's collapse.[182] No U.S. combat deaths occurred during the drawdown prior to the airport attack, though the operation exposed systemic failures in Afghan force sustainability and U.S. planning for a swift Taliban resurgence.[180]Other International Elections and Shifts
In Germany, the federal election on September 26 resulted in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), led by Olaf Scholz, securing 25.7% of the vote and 206 seats in the Bundestag, narrowly ahead of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) alliance with 24.1% and 197 seats.[183][184] The Greens obtained 14.8% and 116 seats, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) gained 11.5% and 92 seats, enabling a traffic-light coalition of SPD, Greens, and FDP that installed Scholz as chancellor on December 8, marking the end of Angela Merkel's 16-year tenure and a shift toward more progressive climate and social policies.[185] Canada's federal election on September 20 produced another minority government for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, which won 32.6% of the popular vote and 160 of 338 House of Commons seats, down slightly from 2019 despite pandemic-related spending.[186][187] The Conservatives under Erin O'Toole took 33.7% of the vote but only 119 seats, reflecting regional divides, while the NDP and Bloc Québécois gained limited ground; voter turnout was approximately 62.3%, with the outcome reinforcing Trudeau's leadership amid economic recovery debates.[187] In Latin America, Chile's presidential runoff on December 19 saw leftist Gabriel Boric defeat conservative José Antonio Kast with 55.9% to 44.1%, becoming the country's youngest president at age 35 and signaling a leftward pivot following 2019 protests, though Boric moderated promises on economic reforms to address inflation concerns.[188][189] Peru's June 6 runoff delivered a razor-thin victory for Pedro Castillo of the leftist Peru Libre party over Keiko Fujimori, 50.1% to 49.9%, amid fraud allegations from Fujimori's camp that were dismissed by electoral authorities, leading to Castillo's inauguration and policies challenging neoliberal orthodoxy.[190] Honduras elected Xiomara Castro on November 28 with 51.1% of the vote, ending the National Party's 12-year rule and marking the first female presidency, with Castro pledging anti-corruption measures and ties to leftist allies like Venezuela.[190] Russia's parliamentary elections from September 17 to 19 bolstered President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party with 49.8% of the vote and a supermajority in the State Duma, though international observers from the OSCE noted restrictions on opposition, including the barring of Alexei Navalny's allies and electronic voting discrepancies favoring incumbents.[190] In Japan, the October 31 lower house election saw Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party retain power but lose its outright majority, securing 261 seats with coalition partner Komeito, prompting reliance on smaller parties for legislative stability amid economic stagnation.[190] Significant non-electoral shifts included military coups: Myanmar's on February 1, when the Tatmadaw detained Aung San Suu Kyi and nullified her party's 2020 landslide, sparking widespread protests and armed resistance that evolved into civil conflict.[22] Guinea's September 5 coup ousted President Alpha Condé, with Colonel Mamady Doumbouya's junta citing constitutional overreach, leading to ECOWAS sanctions and a transitional government promise.[10] Sudan's October 25 military takeover dissolved the civilian-military power-sharing accord post-2019 revolution, installing Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as leader and prompting international condemnation for undermining democratic transition.[10] Barbados transitioned to a republic on November 30, removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and installing Governor-General Sandra Mason as president under Prime Minister Mia Mottley, symbolizing post-colonial realignment without altering governance structure.[190]Economic and Environmental Events
Global Economic Recovery Efforts
In 2021, governments worldwide implemented expansive fiscal stimulus packages to counteract the COVID-19-induced recession, with developed economies accounting for nearly four-fifths of total global outlays aimed at supporting jobs, income, and business liquidity.[191] The United States enacted the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, providing direct payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, and aid to state and local governments, which contributed to a projected U.S. GDP growth of 5.1 percent for the year.[192] In Europe, the European Union's NextGenerationEU recovery fund, approved in July 2020 but with disbursements accelerating in 2021, allocated €806.9 billion in grants and loans for green and digital transitions across member states.[193] These measures, tracked by the IMF's fiscal policy database, emphasized short-term relief but raised concerns over long-term debt sustainability, as public debt-to-GDP ratios in advanced economies exceeded 120 percent on average.[193] Central banks maintained highly accommodative monetary policies throughout 2021 to facilitate credit flow and economic rebound, with interest rates held near zero and asset purchase programs expanded. The U.S. Federal Reserve continued quantitative easing at a pace of $120 billion per month until tapering announcements later in the year, supporting strong growth amid vaccination progress and reopening.[194] The European Central Bank extended its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme through March 2022, purchasing €1.85 trillion in bonds to stabilize eurozone markets, while the Bank of Japan and others sustained yield curve control to prevent deflationary pressures.[195] These actions, as analyzed in comparative studies, prioritized aggregate demand stimulation over immediate inflation risks, which began emerging mid-year due to supply bottlenecks, though central banks largely viewed price pressures as transitory at the time.[196] International coordination amplified recovery efforts, with the IMF providing approximately $170 billion in new financing to 90 countries during 2020-2021, including rapid disbursements under existing facilities to low-income nations facing debt distress.[197] The G20 extended the Debt Service Suspension Initiative until June 2021 for 48 eligible poorest countries, suspending $12.9 billion in payments, and transitioned to the Common Framework for Debt Treatments, with initial implementations for Zambia and others later in the year.[198] At the G20 Rome Summit on October 30-31, leaders endorsed strategies for inclusive digital infrastructure and sustainable growth, projecting global GDP expansion of 5.9 percent for 2021 amid uneven regional recoveries—stronger in advanced economies but lagging in emerging markets due to vaccine access disparities.[199][198] The World Bank highlighted that while trade volumes surged 8 percent, driven by merchandise demand, low-income countries risked divergence without enhanced multilateral support.[200]Supply Chain Disruptions and Inflation Pressures
![Container Ship 'Ever Given' stuck in the Suez Canal, Egypt - March 24th, 2021 cropped.jpg][float-right] Global supply chains faced severe disruptions in 2021, primarily stemming from the ongoing effects of COVID-19 lockdowns, which caused factory shutdowns in key manufacturing hubs like China and led to shortages of raw materials, components, and finished goods.[201] These issues were compounded by surging post-pandemic demand for consumer goods, resulting in port congestion and skyrocketing ocean shipping costs throughout the year.[202] A notable incident occurred on March 23, 2021, when the container ship Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking the vital waterway for six days and delaying an estimated $9.6 billion in daily global trade, which accounts for about 12% of worldwide shipping volume.[203] The blockage exacerbated existing bottlenecks, contributing to broader delays in Europe-Asia trade routes.[39] The semiconductor shortage, intensified by pandemic-related demand shifts and production constraints, severely impacted the automotive sector, leading to a projected global revenue loss of $110 billion for automakers in 2021.[204] This crisis resulted in the idling of assembly lines and a production shortfall of 9.5 to 11 million light vehicles worldwide, as manufacturers prioritized higher-margin models or cut features to conserve chips.[205] [206] Labor shortages, driven by health restrictions and shifts in workforce participation, further strained logistics and manufacturing, with supplier delivery times lengthening significantly in both Europe and the United States.[207] These supply constraints played a key role in generating inflationary pressures, as reduced output met recovering demand fueled by fiscal stimulus, pushing up input costs for goods production.[208] In the United States, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers rose from 1.4% year-over-year in January 2021 to 7.0% by December, with core goods prices particularly affected by chain disruptions.[209] Empirical analysis indicates that a one-standard-deviation supply chain shock reduced real GDP and increased unemployment by about 0.2 percentage points while elevating retail prices through cost-push effects.[210] Global supply pressures also influenced inflation expectations, amplifying price increases beyond immediate shortages.[211] While demand-side factors contributed, evidence underscores the causal link from supply bottlenecks to sustained price rises in 2021.[212]Natural Disasters and Climate Patterns
In 2021, the world recorded 432 natural disaster events, exceeding the annual average of 357 from 2001–2020, resulting in 10,492 deaths and affecting 101.8 million people.[213] These included floods (219 events), storms (110), earthquakes (27), and wildfires, with geophysical and meteorological hazards dominating losses estimated at $280 billion globally, of which $120 billion was insured.[214] In the United States, 20 confirmed billion-dollar weather and climate disasters occurred, the second-highest annual total on record, totaling $145 billion in damages and surpassing the previous record set in 2020.[215] Key drivers included severe storms (10 events), tropical cyclones (5), winter storms (2), wildfires (1), drought (1), and flooding (1), reflecting heightened exposure from population growth and infrastructure in vulnerable areas rather than solely increased event frequency.[216] Hurricane Ida, forming on August 26 in the Atlantic, intensified rapidly to Category 4 strength before making landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on August 29, with winds up to 150 mph and storm surge exceeding 10 feet in places. It caused 115 deaths across the U.S., including 91 in Louisiana and New York from flash flooding, and inflicted $75 billion in damages, the costliest U.S. event of 2021.[216] The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season featured 21 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes, above average activity influenced by warm sea surface temperatures. Globally, floods devastated regions including western Europe in July, where over 200 died in Germany from Ahr River overflow following 6–9 inches of rain in hours, and China, where Henan province floods in late July killed 398 and displaced millions.[217] A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on August 14, triggering landslides and killing 2,248, exacerbating vulnerabilities from prior instability. Wildfires burned over 7.1 million acres in the western U.S., the third-worst season since 2000, with California's Dixie Fire alone consuming 963,000 acres from July to October due to prolonged drought and high winds. The February 2021 Texas winter storm, a rare polar vortex intrusion, brought sub-zero temperatures, freezing precipitation, and power outages affecting 4.5 million, resulting in 246 deaths and $24 billion in damages from grid failures and infrastructure strain. Globally, 2021 saw elevated wildfire activity in Siberia and Australia, linked to dry conditions. Climatically, 2021 ranked as the sixth-warmest year globally since 1880, with combined land and ocean surface temperatures 0.76°C (1.37°F) above the 20th-century average, despite La Niña conditions emerging in October 2020 and persisting through the year.[218] La Niña, characterized by cooler-than-average eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures, typically suppresses global heat slightly but did not offset the underlying trend, as evidenced by the Northern Hemisphere's sixth-highest annual temperature at 1.09°C (1.96°F) above average.[219] Precipitation patterns varied, with La Niña enhancing Atlantic hurricane activity while contributing to drier conditions in the U.S. Southwest and Australia. Arctic sea ice extent reached seasonal minima near or below average, continuing multi-decadal decline, though satellite records show natural variability alongside long-term reduction. These patterns underscore the interplay of oscillatory modes like ENSO with persistent anthropogenic influences on baseline temperatures, per observational data from NOAA and NASA.[218]Cultural and Social Dynamics
Social Media Censorship Incidents
In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol, major social media platforms implemented widespread suspensions and content removals, citing violations of policies against incitement to violence and glorification of such acts. Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump's account (@realDonaldTrump) on January 8, 2021, after he posted videos and statements that the company deemed to carry a risk of further incitement, following two weeks of prior temporary locks.[220] Facebook imposed an indefinite suspension on Trump's accounts on both Facebook and Instagram the day prior, on January 7, 2021, determining that his posts praising the events posed a threat to public safety.[221] Similar actions followed across other platforms, including YouTube's indefinite suspension of Trump's channel on January 12, 2021, and Snapchat's permanent ban, collectively limiting his reach to hundreds of millions of followers.[222] These measures extended to alternative platforms perceived as hosting similar content. Parler, a social network popular among conservatives for its lighter moderation policies, was removed from Apple's App Store on January 8, 2021, and Google's Play Store on January 9, after both companies cited insufficient efforts to prevent posts inciting violence related to the Capitol events.[223] Amazon Web Services then terminated Parler's hosting services on January 10, 2021, effectively taking the site offline until it secured alternative infrastructure, an action Parler contested as discriminatory given the platform's claimed 15 million users prior to the shutdown.[223] Critics, including Parler's CEO, argued these coordinated deplatformings represented selective enforcement, as comparable violent rhetoric on mainstream platforms faced less severe consequences, while defenders maintained they were necessary to mitigate real-world harms.[224] Throughout 2021, platforms intensified removals of COVID-19-related content labeled as misinformation, including discussions of alternative treatments like ivermectin and origins theories such as the lab leak hypothesis. Facebook, under pressure from public health authorities, removed over 20 million pieces of content between February and November 2021 for violating policies on false claims about vaccines and cures, often in coordination with fact-checkers.[225] Twitter suppressed accounts and tweets promoting vaccine hesitancy or unproven therapies, with internal documents later revealing algorithmic deboosting of dissenting views to prioritize authoritative sources.[226] In July 2021, President Joe Biden publicly stated that social media companies were "killing people" by allowing such content, prompting platforms to accelerate compliance amid government communications flagged as potentially coercive.[226] These efforts, while aimed at curbing harmful disinformation during a public health crisis, drew accusations of overreach from free speech advocates, who highlighted suppressed empirical data on vaccine side effects and treatment efficacy from peer-reviewed studies that contradicted official narratives at the time.[227] The year's incidents fueled debates on platform neutrality, with Republicans viewing them as evidence of anti-conservative bias—evident in disproportionate actions against right-leaning figures and views—while Democrats and company executives framed them as proportionate responses to existential threats like election denialism and pandemics.[228] Empirical analyses, such as those from Freedom House, noted a decline in U.S. internet freedom for the fifth consecutive year, attributing it partly to private-sector content controls amid polarized enforcement.[229] Facebook's Oversight Board, in upholding Trump's suspension in May 2021, recommended time-limited bans over indefinite ones to balance safety and expression, underscoring ongoing tensions in self-regulation.[230]Identity Politics and Cancel Culture Cases
In March 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization managing the author's legacy, announced it would cease publication and licensing of six books—"And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "The Cat's Quizzer"—citing portrayals of people deemed "hurtful and wrong," including racial stereotypes.[231][232] The decision followed an internal review by educators and experts, but drew accusations of self-censorship driven by cultural pressures, with sales of remaining Dr. Seuss titles surging over 300% in response.[233][234] On February 10, 2021, actress Gina Carano was fired by Lucasfilm from the role of Cara Dune in The Mandalorian after posting on Instagram a meme implying that conservatives in the U.S. faced treatment akin to Jews under Nazi persecution, amid prior shares questioning election integrity and mask mandates.[235] Lucasfilm stated the post was "abhorrent and unacceptable," leading to her exclusion from future Star Wars projects, though supporters argued it reflected broader deplatforming of dissenting political views rather than targeted hate speech.[236] Piers Morgan resigned from ITV's Good Morning Britain on March 9, 2021, following intense backlash over his skepticism of Meghan Markle's claims of suicidal ideation during her Oprah Winfrey interview, which he described as inconsistent with her public behavior.[237] The remarks prompted over 41,000 Ofcom complaints alleging bullying and racism toward the Duchess of Sussex, prompting an investigation, though Morgan defended his right to free speech and criticized "cancel culture" for stifling debate on mental health and media narratives.[238] In education, identity politics manifested in the San Francisco Unified School District's January 27, 2021, vote to rename 44 historic schools, targeting figures like Abraham Lincoln (linked to Native American displacement) and George Washington (slave ownership), as part of a reckoning with "colonialist" legacies, despite ongoing pandemic-related school closures.[239] The process, accelerated without full historical vetting, prioritized racial equity criteria over academic reopening, sparking public recall efforts and leading the board to rescind the plan on April 7, 2021, amid admissions of procedural errors.[240][241] The promotion of critical race theory (CRT) in K-12 curricula fueled national debates, with 26 states introducing legislation in the first half of 2021 to restrict teachings portraying concepts like systemic racism or white privilege as inherent truths, often framed by proponents as essential for addressing historical inequities and by critics as divisive indoctrination prioritizing group identity over individual merit.[242] At least 12 such measures passed, reflecting parental protests at school boards against materials emphasizing racial guilt or hierarchy.[243]Entertainment and Media Milestones
The film industry in 2021 experienced a partial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic's disruptions, with global box office revenue reaching approximately $21.4 billion, an increase of 78% over 2020's totals.[244] In the United States and Canada, domestic earnings totaled $4.48 billion, reflecting a 112% rise from the prior year, though still far below pre-pandemic levels of $11.4 billion in 2019.[245] This rebound was driven by the resumption of theatrical releases amid vaccine rollouts and varying regional reopenings, alongside hybrid models combining cinema and streaming distribution. A standout achievement was Spider-Man: No Way Home, released on December 17, which grossed $1.921 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-earning film of the year and the first pandemic-era release to surpass $1 billion globally.[246] The film's success, fueled by multiverse cameos from previous Spider-Man actors and strong international performance, underscored audience demand for event cinema, with its domestic opening weekend alone generating $260 million.[247] In television and streaming, Netflix's Squid Game set viewership benchmarks upon its September 17 premiere, accumulating 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days and reaching 142 million subscriber households, marking the platform's biggest debut series at the time.[248] The South Korean survival drama's global phenomenon status highlighted the surge in non-English content consumption, topping charts in 94 countries and propelling Netflix's international expansion. Music milestones included Adele's 30, released November 19, which achieved the largest U.S. debut week for any album since 2015 with 839,000 equivalent album units, predominantly from physical and digital sales.[249] The album sold over 600,000 copies in the UK in its first week alone and was certified as 2021's top-selling record worldwide by the IFPI, emphasizing a resurgence in traditional album formats amid streaming dominance.[250][251] Other notable media developments involved high-profile legal resolutions, such as the termination of Britney Spears' 13-year conservatorship on November 12, following public testimony and the #FreeBritney campaign, which drew widespread media scrutiny to celebrity autonomy and mental health protocols.[252] Additionally, comedian Dave Chappelle's Netflix special The Closer, released October 5, ignited debates on content moderation after employee protests over its transgender-related humor, resulting in a walkout and underscoring tensions between artistic expression and platform policies.[253]Awards and Recognitions
Nobel Prizes
The Nobel Prizes for 2021 recognized advancements in understanding complex systems, molecular construction, sensory reception, literary exploration of colonialism, defense of free expression, and causal analysis in economics. Awards were announced between October 4 and 11, with ceremonies held virtually or in limited formats due to ongoing global health considerations.[254] In Physics, the prize was divided, with half jointly awarded to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming," and half to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales." Manabe's work at Princeton and NOAA in the 1960s-1970s developed models showing greenhouse gas effects on climate, while Hasselmann's stochastic models distinguished natural variability from human-induced changes. Parisi's statistical physics contributions enabled predictions in disordered systems, applicable to climate and materials.[255] The Chemistry prize went jointly to Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and David W. C. MacMillan of Princeton University for developing asymmetric organocatalysis, a precise method using small organic molecules as catalysts to build molecules with specific three-dimensional structures, advancing pharmaceuticals and materials without rare metals or high energy. List's 2000 proline-catalyzed intermolecular reaction and MacMillan's intramolecular variant demonstrated broad applicability, reducing reliance on enzymatic or metal-based catalysis.[256] In Physiology or Medicine, David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco, and Ardem Patapoutian of Scripps Research shared the award for discovering receptors for temperature and touch, identifying TRPV1 for heat and capsaicin response via capsaicin library screening, and Piezo1/Piezo2 ion channels for mechanical stimuli through a pressure-sensitive cell line. These findings elucidated somatosensation mechanisms, informing treatments for chronic pain and related conditions.[257] Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian-born novelist residing in the UK, received the Literature prize "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." His works, including Paradise (1994, Booker-shortlisted) and By the Sea (2001), examine displacement and identity in East Africa and post-colonial Britain.[258] The Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Maria Ressa, founder of Rappler in the Philippines, and Dmitry Muratov, editor of Novaya Gazeta in Russia, "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." Ressa faced legal harassment under the Duterte administration for investigative journalism on corruption and extrajudicial killings, while Muratov continued independent reporting amid threats following Navalny's poisoning and Russia's Ukraine policy shifts.[259] The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was split, with half to David Card of the University of California, Berkeley, "for his empirical contributions to labour economics," particularly natural experiments like the 1992 Mariel Boatlift's minimal wage impact on Miami's low-skilled labor market. The other half was jointly to Joshua D. Angrist of MIT and Guido W. Imbens of Stanford "for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships," via instrumental variables estimating local average treatment effects in quasi-experiments, enhancing policy evaluation in education and employment.[260]| Category | Laureate(s) | Key Contribution Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Physics | Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, Giorgio Parisi | Climate modeling and complex systems disorder.[255] |
| Chemistry | Benjamin List, David W. C. MacMillan | Asymmetric organocatalysis for stereoselective synthesis.[256] |
| Physiology or Medicine | David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian | Receptors for temperature and touch.[257] |
| Literature | Abdulrazak Gurnah | Penetration of colonialism and refugee experiences.[258] |
| Peace | Maria Ressa, Dmitry Muratov | Safeguarding freedom of expression.[259] |
| Economic Sciences | David Card; Joshua Angrist, Guido Imbens | Empirical labor economics and causal inference methods.[260] |
Other Major Awards
The 93rd Academy Awards, recognizing films released in 2020, were held on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao winning Best Picture as well as Best Director for Zhao, marking her as the second woman and first woman of color to receive the latter honor.[261] Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for The Father at age 83, becoming the oldest recipient, while Frances McDormand earned Best Actress for Nomadland, her third such award.[262] The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards took place on March 14, 2021, in Los Angeles, where Beyoncé received the most wins with four, including Best R&B Performance for "Black Parade" and Best Music Video for the same track, bringing her career total to 28 and surpassing Alison Krauss as the most-awarded woman in Grammy history.[263] Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for Folklore, her third in the category and making her the first woman to achieve this feat.[264] The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring television programs from June 2020 to May 2021, occurred on September 19, 2021, at the Microsoft Theater, with Ted Lasso securing Outstanding Comedy Series and The Crown winning Outstanding Drama Series.[265] The Queen's Gambit took Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, while performers including Olivia Colman for The Crown and Kate Winslet for Mare of Easttown received acting honors.[266] The Pulitzer Prizes for 2021, awarded on June 11 for work primarily from 2020, recognized excellence in journalism, letters, drama, and music, with Louise Erdrich winning Fiction for The Night Watchman, a novel based on her grandfather's experiences as a Chippewa tribal chairman.[267] In journalism, The New York Times staff won Investigative Reporting for coverage of the Trump administration's family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, and Ed Yong of The Atlantic received Explanatory Reporting for his series on the COVID-19 pandemic.[268]Notable Births and Deaths
Notable Births
Princess Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born on June 4 in Santa Barbara, California, as the daughter of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; she is seventh in line to the British throne.[269][270] Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, born on September 18 to Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, became the first child of a king's granddaughter in the direct line of succession since 1905.[271][272] Elon Musk and Claire Boucher (known professionally as Grimes) welcomed their second child together, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, via surrogate in December; the birth added to Musk's growing family amid his prominence in technology and space exploration.[273][274] Other births to public figures included Ori, the third daughter of actress Gal Gadot and Jaron Varsano, born in August, and a son to comedian John Mulaney and actress Olivia Munn on December 24.[272][275] These events drew media attention due to the parents' fame in entertainment and sports, though the infants themselves have not yet achieved independent notability.[276]Notable Deaths
In 2021, numerous influential individuals from diverse fields succumbed to various ailments, including advanced age, cancer, infections, and substance-related issues, reflecting the year's toll on public figures amid ongoing global health challenges.[277] Prominent losses included royalty, political leaders, entertainers, athletes, and musicians whose contributions shaped modern history.- January 22: Henry "Hank" Aaron, Hall of Fame baseball player who held the major league record for career home runs (755) until 2007 and broke Jackie Robinson's color barrier in the National League, died at age 86 from natural causes at his home in Atlanta, Georgia.[278][279]
- January 23: Larry King, pioneering broadcast journalist who hosted CNN's Larry King Live for 25 years and interviewed over 60,000 guests, died at age 87 from sepsis secondary to underlying conditions including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease; he had tested positive for COVID-19 but his widow stated the infection was unrelated to his death.[280][281]
- January 28: Cicely Tyson, trailblazing actress known for roles in Sounder (1972) and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which earned her multiple Emmys, died at age 96; the cause was not publicly disclosed.[282][283]
- April 9: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and consort to Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years, who supported numerous royal duties and founded the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, died at age 99 at Windsor Castle from old age following recent heart issues.[284][285]
- April 9: Earl Simmons, known professionally as DMX, influential rapper whose debut album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998) topped the Billboard 200 and who won a Grammy for his collaboration on "Party Up (Up in Here)," died at age 50 from a cocaine-induced heart attack leading to brain hypoxia after cardiac arrest.[286][287]
- August 24: Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963 whose steady rhythm defined hits like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," died at age 80 in a London hospital from squamous cell carcinoma.[288][289]
- October 18: Colin Powell, first Black U.S. Secretary of State (2001–2005) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), died at age 84 from COVID-19 complications exacerbated by multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that compromised his immune system despite full vaccination.[290][291]
- November 26: Stephen Sondheim, composer and lyricist whose works like West Side Story (lyrics), Sweeney Todd (1979), and Into the Woods (1987) revolutionized musical theater with complex narratives and earned him eight Tony Awards, died at age 91 from cardiovascular disease at his Connecticut home.[292][293]
- December 5: Bob Dole, long-serving U.S. Senator from Kansas (1969–1996), Senate Majority Leader, and 1996 Republican presidential nominee who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1997, died at age 98 after a battle with lung cancer.[294][295]





