2020 so far: 6 Major events that took place at the beginning of this decade

The year 2020 is the beginning of a new decade and needless to say, it has been a rocky start. It has not even been a month and the news headlines every day has been a daunting one. Let us take a small recap.

1. Iran and the US conflict

Iran and US conflict have been going on for decades now. It began as early as 1953 when the US government overthrew Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader in Iran. What was the reason? Oil. Mossadegh had moved to nationalize the oil fields of Iran and that would have seriously impacted the US economy. Starting here, the US and Iran conflict grew and included various issues such as nuclear power issues, the Iran hostage crisis, Iran- Iraq war and many more.

The recent issue began when US forces attacked facilities related to pro-Iranian militants in Syria and Iraq. After this, the US embassy was attacked in Baghdad. To this, the US replied by killing one of the most important persons in Iran and the Middle East- Qasem Soleimani. Iran retaliated by firing missiles on the US base in Iraq. After this, Trump said that Iran and US tension is cooling off now and they are open to talks.

India would be severely impacted if this issue escalated further as it would impact the oil import and prices, remittances from people living abroad and the life of huge Indian diasporas living in the Gulf.

2. Australia forest fires

One of the worst tragedies has been the Australian wildfires that have destroyed around 10.7 million hectares! It has destroyed around 5,900 buildings and also killed a lot of people. Around 1 billion animals were killed due to this. It is feared that some endangered animals might have now become extinct. The amount of carbon being released by the fires is as big as the size of the United States! To help the animals affected by the fires, the US fire-fighters along with Australian fire-fighters have begun Operation Rock Wallaby- where they are dropping carrots, sweet potatoes for the animals. After facing a lot of criticism, the Australian PM Scott Morrison finally took some blame for his actions.

3. 170 people died in a plane crash

After Iran finally admitted to the shooting down of the Ukraine plane that killed 170 people, Iran has seen a lot of protests. Iran shot the plane using a surface to air missile after it mistook the flight as a threat. As Iran is seeing a lot of protests due to this, Trump warned the country by tweeting- “To the leaders of Iran — DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS.”

4. The ongoing protests against CAA and violence in JNU

It began with protests over the new citizenship act, but it has now become a much larger issue that is questioning a lot of policies. Also, how violence penetrated an educational institution like JNU. It has been close to a month now that people have been protesting against CAA, NRC, and even NPR. JNU violence is a dot of shame that has become heavily politicized. With some saying that the violence was done by the Left and some saying that it was done by ABVP. People are divided. The basic tenet of our democratic world is shaken and being questioned.

5. The royal couple take a step back

In what was seen as a huge shock to the Royal Family, Prince Harry, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex decided to take a step back as “senior members of the Royal Family”. They said that they would work for some financial independence, but continue to “honor our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages”. A meeting is being held by the Royal Family to discuss the details of this historical move

6. TESS finds a new exoplanet

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of NASA has become successful in finding an exoplanet that is almost the size of Earth. Named as TOI 700 D, this planet falls in the Goldilocks zone (habitable zone) and is neither too hot nor too cold to allow liquid water on a planets’ surface. More information and exploration would be needed to know if it can sustain life.

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