The pandemic became practically endemic,angry demonstrations in streets around the globe tested the limits of democracy – often with deadly results,and civil wars and coups inflicted further misery.
The fall of Kabul,as people stampeded to the airport to evacuate,marked the end of the 20-year occupation by the US.
Donald Trump did not go away after the Capitol riots and the British royal family was beset by death,lawsuits and infighting as the Queen retreated from public life for her own safety.
Meanwhile,extreme weather tested the endurance of people worldwide who battled soaring heat and record floods while world leaders debated future targets at the Glasgow climate summit.
And yet international diplomacy ramped up in 2021 after long months of sealed borders and national isolation,and while the worldwide vaccination rollout was flawed,the speed of vaccine development and use around the world remains a triumph of modern science.
Here are the world stories that made the biggest headlines in 2021:
Trump,riots and impeachment
The year began with a true bang when American “patriots” overran the US Capitol building on January 6 to challenge the result of the presidential election and support the outgoing president Donald Trump in his illegal bid to claim victory over Joe Biden. of that historic day and was read by more than 1.2 million people. All around the world,people were shocked such an insurrection could take place in the perceived capital of democracy and,in the months since, and instalments,. He has since walked even that back as he prepares for a return.
The Trump train continued to hoard headlines for the better part of the year,including when historians said he was,when and his hate speech,and when,only to.
Royal family
The British royal family graced the pages of theSydney Morning Herald,The Age and associated publications all year around. Our most read royal story was the live blog of where,half-way through,they claimed a senior family member had voiced worries about the colour of their son Archie’s skin.
,the Duke of Edinburgh on April 9,was our next most read of the year. A loyal companion to the Queen for 73 years,Philip’s passing,just weeks before his 100th birthday,. The photograph of held during strict COVID conditions will not be forgotten,regardless of readers’ republican or monarchic tendencies.
Our readers’ fascination with the royals also extended to the,with and hospital visit closely watched;to the court cases of Meghan () and of via his friend,the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Readers have also been glued to the,Epstein’s girlfriend and,according to accusers,“enabler”. was also noticed.
China,China,China
China and its relationship with Australia and other countries has featured in hundreds of headlines this year,but most telling is that President Xi Jinping has managed to cement himself as leader for life,. The celebrations of the provided him with an opportunity to rewrite history,as have his crackdowns on Hong Kong,Xinjiang and the perceived silencing of those who do not fix the controlled narrative,like tennis champion,then disappeared only to reappear to disavow her earlier claims.
Our most read China story this year was the question on everyone’s lips:
China’s fight against COVID-19 is a mystery story,however. The country continues to report,but many distrust the numbers.
Delta devastates India
,the fallout was felt across the globe. As funeral pyres lit up the country and hospitals ran out of oxygen,the world was asking? This was the surge that generated the Delta variant that would prove so infectious and deadly throughout the rest of the world,reminding everyone that the pandemic isn’t over until it is over for everyone.
The pandemic clearly has not been out of the headlines all year,but our most read COVID-19 world story of the year may surprise:it was the tale of,who died of COVID-19. At the time the Australian founder of the multinational church,Brian Houston,told CNN that COVID-19 vaccines were a “personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals”.
Harmon,when hospitalised,wrote:“Please pray y’all,they really want to intubate me and put me on a ventilator.” He later changed his mind and allowed the intubation to proceed. It was too late.
The end of one war
It wasn’t quite the end to the war in Afghanistan the United States wanted to crow about. In fact,as its Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The fall of Kabul and the resurrection of the Taliban as government in August was one of the biggest stories of the year and among our most read.
First was.
The suicide bombings,which terrorist group,came just days before the. The.
The beginning and continuation of others
The in mid-May,when The crisis began earlier with that were condemned the world over. They followed the potential eviction of Palestinians from,a neighbourhood in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. One of our biggest stories at the time was.
Ethiopia returned its,at the June election,while the country tore itself apart in,where soldiers burnt food stocks and massacred entire villages. Brave survivors who made it to safety across borders told stories of sadistic atrocities,while journalists and aid workers who ventured into war zones also became targets.
Closer to home,,surprised and alarmed many. Since then,the crackdown on dissent has worsened,the for a long time all but vanished and villages continues to burn as a result of the army’s operations.
That submarine decision
In September,the Australian government surprised France by announcing it was cancelling its $90 million submarine contract in favour of a. It was the biggest story in Australian foreign policy circles for a while,until Bevan Shields,then our Europe correspondent,now editor ofThe Sydney Morning Herald,asked French President Emmanuel Macron in November if he thought Prime Minister Scott Morrison had lied to him.
. The exchange and its fallout made headlines the world over and was our second most-read story of the year.
The extreme weather and its summit
By the time this year’s climate summit,COP26,started in November,the readers didn’t need convincing that the climate crisis was real – even if the Queen needed tobefore some world leaders agreed to attend.
The acceleration of global warming could be felt:residents of the United States,China,Nigeria,Germany and while hundreds perished in the heatwaves that bore down on north-western America. Fires were everywhere,from the redwoods of California to the Amazon rainforest to the Siberian tundra and the islands of Greece.
But one of our biggest climate stories of the year was a moment of hope:,committing to put their cold-war differences aside to tackle climate change. The summit finally ended with a nail-biter as nations such as India hemmed and hawed about signing the declaration committing to improve their emissions targets.
We will see next November in Cairo if anyone really will come back with new resolve.
Get a note direct from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world..