Open conflict between US and Iran

In early 2020, the United States launched a sudden air strike on Baghdad. As a result, Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani was killed. Of course, Iran promised to take vengeance. A few days later, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US military forces. However, the reaction of the US President to Iran's retaliatory attacks was rather restrained. He just adopted tougher sanctions against Iran.

Boeing 737 crash near Tehran

No sooner had the world recovered from the US-Iran conflict than another catastrophe happened. On 8 January 2020, the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after a takeoff from the international airport of Tehran. The plane with 176 people on board crashed, leaving no survivors. According to Iranian authorities, the operator had mistaken the Boeing for a "cruise missile". After a lengthy investigation, the country was found to be responsible and forced to pay compensation. It has been the biggest aviation accident in the entire history of Ukraine.

First COVID-19 death 

January 2020 was full of negative events. In particular, on January 11, China's health authorities reported the first death from a new type of virus. As it became known later, the elderly man was previously admitted to hospital with pneumonia after he had bought seafood in a market in Wuhan, China. According to scientists, this is the city where the coronavirus infections began cropping up. A week and a half later, after the first outbreak, the country's authorities raised the alarm and began talking about the threat of a pandemic. This fact was later confirmed by the World Health Organization. At that time, the number of coronavirus cases was about 118,000 in 114 countries of the world. 

Brexit

At the very end of January, another global event took place. Brexit, or the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, caused a stir not only in the region, but throughout the world. The decision of the British authorities to withdraw from the EU came as no surprise, but it raised a number of problematic issues, which European leaders were trying to solve during the year. In particular, the UK had difficulties in reaching a consensus with the European Commission on their future trade relations after Brexit.

First-ever private human spacecraft launch

The outgoing year will also be remembered as a year of a great leap forward in science. In late May, SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, successfully launched a spacecraft with two astronauts on board to the International Space Station. Thus, SpaceX became the first private spaceflight company to send a crewed spacecraft to space. More than 16 million people around the world watched the historical event live.

US presidential election

At the end of the year, the world was awaiting another global event that influenced the balance of power - the US presidential election. The whole world was closely following the course of the presidential race between two main competitors - Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The elections came to an end on November 3, and Joe Biden won by a narrow margin. Notably, voter turnout in the latest election shattered previous highs. In addition, due to the dangerous coronavirus-related epidemiological situation, most Americans were able to vote by mail for the first time in history. However, Donald Trump refused to acknowledge Mr Biden's victory, claiming that the Democrats "cheated" in the election and that the results should be overturned. The fact how long this stand-off will last remains in question, but America will definitely have a new official leader next spring.