The year started with muted celebrations across the globe. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we didn’t see the massive gatherings we are used to seeing on January 1.
Vaccines were still in the early stages of distribution. But they offered hope for many, and it seemed as though things might soon be getting back to normal.There was nothing normal, however, about the events that took place in Washington, DC, less than a week later. In a stunning insurrection, supporters of President Donald Trump breached the US Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The Capitol was put on lockdown, and it took several hours for it to be secured. Five people died as a result of the chaos that day.
Congress returned that evening to certify Biden’s victory, but the country was shaken. A week later, Trump was impeached by the House and charged with “incitement of insurrection.” That made him the first president in US history to be impeached twice.
Trump, who likened the impeachment push to a “witch hunt,” skipped Biden’s inauguration on January 20. It was the first time in 150 years that an outgoing US president had skipped his successor’s inauguration.
January 1: Confetti falls on a mostly empty Times Square in New York. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there weren’t many mass celebrations. Many cities canceled their fireworks shows. Corey Sipkin/AFP
January 3: Nurses Naomi Balzan and Nanette Azzopardi administer painkillers and sedatives to Rebecca Zammit Lupi, a 15-year-old cancer patient, as her mother, Marisa Ford, is by her side at the Mater Dei Hospital in Msida, Malta. This photo was taken by Rebecca’s father, Reuters photographer Darrin Zammit Lupi. It was the last photo he took of her while she was still alive. She died about an hour later. Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters
January 4: Motorists wait in lines for Covid-19 tests outside of Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP
January 4: Agnes Keleti, a former gymnast who won five Olympic gold medals, reacts as fireworks go off on her birthday cake in Budapest, Hungary. She turned 100 a few days later. Laszlo Balogh/AP
January 4: US Senate candidates Jon Ossoff, left, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock bump elbows during a rally in Atlanta. The two candidates went on to win their runoff elections in Georgia, giving the Democratic Party control of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade. Jim Watson/AFP
January 6: Supporters of US President Donald Trump participate in a rally near the White House in Washington, DC. Later that day, Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College’s votes for president and vice president. Multiple Senate Republicans were planning to raise objections to the count as Trump continued to push false conspiracy theories that the election was rigged against him. At the rally, Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the US Capitol to challenge the final certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he said during his speech. John Minchillo/AP
January 6: Trump supporters gather outside the US Capitol. Tayfun Coskun
January 6: Trump supporters try to breach the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify the electoral votes. Many got in, and the Capitol was put on lockdown. The certification vote was paused. Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
January 6: Police clash with pro-Trump rioters who had entered the Capitol. This was the first time the Capitol had been breached since the British attacked and burned the building in August 1814, during the War of 1812. It took several hours for the Capitol to be secured. Vice President Mike Pence was moved to a safe location, as was congressional leadership. Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency
January 6: US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman confronts protesters as they storm the building. Five people died as a result of the riot, including a woman who was fatally shot by police and three people who died of apparent medical emergencies. Among those who died was Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered strokes and died of natural causes a day after responding to the insurrection. Ashley Gilbertson/VII/Redux
January 6: Congressional staffers put up a barricade inside the Capitol after the building was breached. Amanda Voisard/The Washington Post
January 6: Police draw their guns as rioters try to break into the House chamber. “I kept my lens focused on that door and waited for the breach,” said Associated Press photographer J. Scott Applewhite, the only journalist in the House chamber at the time. “When the mob began to break the glass in the door, I could barely see the face of one of the rioters. The cops and a new congressman with a law enforcement background tried to de-escalate the situation. Their guns were drawn and pointed at the hole in the glass. The growl of the mob could be heard on the other side.” J. Scott Applewhite/AP
January 6: US Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, comforts US Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, while taking cover in the House chamber. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
January 6: A Trump supporter carries a Confederate battle flag in the Capitol Rotunda after rioters breached the building. During the Civil War, the closest any insurgent carrying a Confederate flag ever came to the Capitol was about 6 miles, during the Battle of Fort Stevens in 1864. Saul Loeb/AFP
January 6: A man hangs from a balcony in the Senate chamber. Rioters also invaded the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It took several hours for the Capitol to be secured. Lawmakers returned that night and resumed the vote count.
January 6: People put on emergency hoods as they take shelter in the House chamber. Lawmakers, aides and journalists were told to put on the hoods after tear gas had been deployed in the Capitol. Andrew Harnik/AP
January 6: Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi preside over the joint session of Congress that officially certified Joe Biden’s electoral win. “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win,” Pence said. “As we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism in this Capitol.” Erin Schaff/The New York Times
January 9: Laborers unload coal from a cargo ship in Gabtoli, Bangladesh, on the outskirts of Dhaka. Kazi Salahuddin Razu/NurPhoto
January 11: Officials in Jakarta, Indonesia, carry body bags containing the suspected remains of passengers from Sriwijaya Air Flight 182. The passenger jet crashed into the ocean minutes after takeoff on January 9. There were 62 passengers on board. Ulet Ifansasti/The New York Times
January 11: Coffins — mainly containing Covid-19 victims — pile up at the city crematorium in Meissen, Germany. Meissen is in the state of Saxony, which at the time had the highest Covid-19 infection rate in all of Germany. Maja Hitij/
January 13: Health workers wear personal protective equipment at a drive-thru testing center in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Malaysia's king had declared a nationwide state of emergency to curb the spread of Covid-19. Samsul Said/Bloomberg
January 15: Samantha Bailey takes a selfie with a staff member dressed like a raptor at the Jurassic Quest dinosaur park in Pasadena, California. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
January 17: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny takes his seat on a Moscow-bound plane before taking off from Berlin. Navalny was detained by police moments after landing in Russia and five months after he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny had been placed on the country's federal wanted list in December 2020 for violating terms of probation related to a years-old fraud case. He said the case is politically motivated. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP
January 18: A couple of US Marines hold Capitol doors — still damaged from the January 6 riot — during a rehearsal for Joe Biden’s inauguration. Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Pool/AP
January 20: American flags are seen on the National Mall on the morning of Joe Biden’s inauguration. The Presidential Inaugural Committee planted more than 191,500 flags on the Mall to represent the people who couldn’t attend the inauguration. Allison Shelley/Reuters
January 20: US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One for the final time. Trump, still bitter about the election, skipped Biden's inauguration and many of the time-honored traditions that come with the peaceful transfer of power. It was the first time in 150 years that the outgoing president had boycotted his successor's inauguration. Mandel Ngan/AFP
January 20: Marine One flies past the Washington Monument as Trump leaves the nation’s capital. Will Lanzoni/CNN
January 20: Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, arrive at his inauguration. Biden pledged to be a president for all Americans — even those who did not support his campaign. "Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation," he said in his inaugural address. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times/Pool/AP
January 20: Joe Biden is sworn in as president of the United States as Covid-19 patient Cornel Iordache is prepared to move to another bed in the critical care unit of the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England. Lynsey Addario
January 20: Kamala Harris greets former US President Barack Obama before she was sworn in as vice president. Harris is the country's first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president.
January 20: US Sen. Bernie Sanders sits in the Capitol bleachers while waiting for Biden to be sworn in. The photo quickly became a meme. Sanders ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016 and 2020. Brendan Smialowski/AFP
January 20: The Bidens, seen on the right, are joined by their family as they watch fireworks from the White House balcony on the night of the inauguration. Adam Schultz/The White House
January 22: Mining rigs mine the Ethereum and Zilliqa cryptocurrencies at the Evobits crypto farm in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. "We're seeing a shift in the industry where Bitcoin went from being 75% of the overall cryptocurrency market cap to about 50%," Michael Pinsker, founder and president of wealth management tech firm Docupace, said about the drop inBitcoin's market share since 2017. "That percentage should come down even further." Ethereum is the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency. Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
January 23: Health workers wear protective gear inside a locked-down residential area as they try to contain a Covid-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. Tyrone Siu/Reuters
January 25: Haris Seferovic, a soccer player with the Portuguese club Benfica, hides his head under his jersey at the end of a league match against Nacional. The match in Lisbon ended 1-1. Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP
January 25: Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez has Joe DiMeo demonstrate the flexibility and strength in his hands, six months after DiMeo became the recipient of the world’s first successful face and hands transplant. Rodriguez, who led the surgical team in New York, was amazed to see that DiMeo has been able to master skills like zipping up his jacket and putting on his shoes. "There's always light at the end of the tunnel," DiMeo said. "You never give up." Mark Lennihan/AP
January 25: House Sergeant at Arms Tim Blodgett and House Clerk Cheryl Johnson are trailed by the House impeachment managers as they carry an article of impeachment to the US Senate. The House had voted to charge former President Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection, making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice. Trump likened the impeachment push to a "witch hunt." He said the speech he gave to his supporters on January 6, the day the US Capitol was breached, was "totally appropriate." Susan Walsh/AP
January 26: Public health workers from Oregon's Josephine County administer leftover doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to some motorists who, like them, were stranded in a snowstorm. The workers had six leftover doses and wanted to use them before they expired. Josephine County Public Health
January 30: Sandra Fogel watches a movie alone during the Gothenburg Film Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. Most fans watched the movies online this year. Fogel applied to be one of the few allowed to see a movie in person. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/
January 31: A man carries a young victim of a car bomb blast in Azaz, Syria. The ongoing conflict in Syria began following an uprising in March 2011 that spiraled into civil war. Since then, hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions of people have been displaced by fighting in the region. Nayef Al-Aboud/AFP/
FEBRUARY
The month of February started with a violent coup in Myanmar. Security forces, made up of police and military personnel under the command of Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, launched a countrywide crackdown that included enforced disappearances and the shooting of peaceful protesters.
The coup took place after months of increasing friction between the civilian government and the powerful military, known as the Tatmadaw. Military regimes ruled Myanmar from 1962 until 2011.
In the United States, Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial ended like his first: with an acquittal. The Senate vote was 57-43 in favor to convict, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in voting guilty. But a two-thirds majority was needed for conviction.
February 3: Newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is embraced by his husband, Chasten, after being sworn in by US Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House. Buttigieg is the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
February 3: US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick lies in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda. Sicknick, 42, died in January, a day after defending the Capitol from pro-Trump rioters who breached the building. He suffered strokes and died of natural causes, according to Francisco Diaz, Washington DC's chief medical examiner. Diaz told The Washington Post that "all that transpired" on January 6 "played a role in his condition.” Kevin Dietsch/Pool/
February 7: Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is tackled by Tampa Bay’s Jason Pierre-Paul, right, and Devin White during Super Bowl LV. Mahomes was under heavy pressure all night as Tampa Bay won 31-9. Patrick Smith/
February 7: The Weeknd marches with backup dancers during the Super Bowl LV halftime show. Ben Liebenberg/NFL/AP
February 9: Protesters use plastic sheets to protect themselves from possible water cannons in Yangon, Myanmar. A week earlier, the country's military seized power in a coup and anti-coup protesters were met with deadly force. The New York Times/Redux
February 10: Members of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's staff, who sheltered in their office during the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, watch new footage of the attack as it was presented during Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. The Senate voted 57-43 in favor to convict, but Trump was acquitted because a two-thirds majority was needed for conviction. Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
February 10: Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady throws the Vince Lombardi Trophy to teammates on another boat as they celebrate their Super Bowl title during a boat parade in Tampa, Florida. It was Brady’s seventh Super Bowl title, extending his own record. No other player in NFL history has even been to seven Super Bowls. Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers
February 11: Michelle Melton, 35 weeks pregnant, receives a Covid-19 vaccine at the Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. Hannah Beier/Reuters
February 11: People wait after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center set up inside Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England. Dan Kitwood/
February 12: A butterfly lands on tennis star Naomi Osaka during a match at the Australian Open. Osaka went on to win her second Australian Open title later that month. But at the French Open in May, she withdrew from the tournament, citing her mental health. She also sat out Wimbledon before returning to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Paul Crock/AFP/
February 14: Cars catch fire after a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500. None of the drivers was seriously hurt. James Gilbert
February 16: Camilla Swindle sits in a shopping cart as she and her boyfriend wait in a long line to enter a grocery store in Austin, Texas. Winter storms wreaked havoc in much of the country that week. In Texas, hundreds of thousands of people struggled for heat and water after the deep freeze crippled utilities. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux
February 16: In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, watch a performance marking the birthday of Kim's father, the late Kim Jong Il. It was the first time in over a year that Ri had appeared in North Korea's state media. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP
February 18: US Sen. Ted Cruz pulls his luggage in Cancun, Mexico, before boarding a plane back to the United States. Cruz said that flying to Cancun while a winter disaster in his home state of Texas left millions without power or water "was obviously a mistake" and that "in hindsight I wouldn't have done it." Reuters
February 18: Perseverance, NASA's most sophisticated rover to date, landed on the surface of Mars and sent back its first images of the landing site. This image, taken during the spacecraft’s descent, captures the rover in midair just before its wheels touched down. The perspective has never been seen before on previous missions. Perseverance will search for signs of ancient life on Mars. It will also study the planet’s climate and geology and collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth by the 2030s. JPL-Caltech/NASA
February 21: The Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers play a hockey game at Lake Tahoe in Nevada. The NHL played two games there that weekend.
February 23: Members of the Wenatchee High School band practice in small enclosures as they follow Covid-19 precautions in Wenatchee, Washington. Don Seabrook/Wenatchee World
February 23: Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of Tiger Woods' rollover crash in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The golf icon sustained serious leg injuries in the accident. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Woods had apparently meant to hit the brakes but instead slammed on the gas as he approached a curve in the road. Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/Shutterstock
February 24: Anna, a resident of the Villa Sacra Famiglia Nursing Home, holds her daughter's hand in the Rome facility's "hug room.” The room allows residents and their families to touch one another while staying safe from Covid-19. Antonio Masiello/
February 26: In this photo, taken with a slow shutter speed, Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes competes in a ski jumping event in Oberstdorf, Germany. Matthias Hangst/
February 27: Political consultant Roger Stone, left, dances in a pro-Trump music video outside of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. Trump commuted Stone’s prison sentence last year after Stone had been convicted of seven charges, including witness tampering and lying to Congress. Octavio Jones/Reuters
MARCH
One of the Biden administration’s earliest challenges — the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border — intensified in March with numbers that hadn’t been seen in the last 20 years. Those in custody included thousands of unaccompanied children, alarming advocates.
A couple of mass shootings also made headlines this month. Eight people were killed after shootings at three spas in the Atlanta area on March 18. Five days later, 10 people were killed in a shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
At the end of the month, a massive container ship blocked traffic for almost a week in Egypt’s Suez Canal, one of the busiest waterways in the world. The ship had run aground, and it took six days for it to be fully dislodged and refloated.
March 4: A flock of starlings resembles a massive bird over Lough Ennell, a lake in Northern Ireland. The photo was on the front page of The Irish Times newspaper.
March 5: The wife of Phoe Chit, a protester who died during an anti-coup demonstration in Myanmar, cries over her husband's coffin during his funeral in Yangon. Protesters were being met with deadly force in Myanmar, where the military seized power in a coup on February 1. At least 38 people were killed March 3 after security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters in towns and cities across the country. AFP/
March 5: Models present new creations from Versace during Milan Fashion Week. Versace/Handout/Reuters
March 6: A child tosses a surgical mask into a fire during a mask-burning event at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise. People gathered in at least 20 cities across the state to protest Covid-19 restrictions. Nathan Howard/Getty Images
March 7: Pope Francis, surrounded by the remains of destroyed churches, attends a prayer in Mosul, Iraq. Francis called for "harmonious coexistence" of people from different backgrounds and cultures. "Here in Mosul, the tragic consequences of war and hostility are all too evident," he said. The Pope was in Iraq for four days. It was the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, and it was Francis' first trip outside Italy since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Andrew Medichini/AP
March 7: Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are pictured during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. It was their first sit-down appearance since leaving Britain last year. Meghan said life as a royal was so isolating and lonely at one point that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore,” and she described herself as the victim of an image-obsessed Buckingham Palace. Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions
March 8: A priest pleads with anti-government protesters in Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon, asking them to let him pass with his vehicle. The makeshift roadblock was set up by the protesters, who were frustrated about the country’s dire economic conditions. Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images
March 8: First-grader Sophia Frazier does her schoolwork behind a plastic divider at Two Rivers Elementary School in Sacramento, California. The dividers were in front of the desks that were closest to the teacher’s desk. The first-graders returned to class a week earlier. It was the first day for students in grades 3 through 5. Daniel Kim/Sacramento Bee/Zuma
March 11: Musicians Albert Skuratov and Samuel Palomino play a Mozart mini-concert for Covid-19 patients at an intensive care unit in Madrid. Bernat Armangue/AP
March 12: Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old Filipino American, poses for a portrait near his home in Brooklyn, New York. Quintana, who was on the subway when he was slashed across the face with a box cutter, is among the members of the Asian community who have faced a string of racist attacks in recent months in New York City and across the country. Anti-Asian hate crimes surged in early 2021, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino. Ahmed Gaber
March 13: Patsy Stevenson is detained by two police officers while attending a vigil for Sarah Everard in London. The Metropolitan Police was facing widespread criticism after officers were seen storming the stage at the vigil, pinning women down to the ground and handcuffing them before dragging them into police vans. Officers had earlier told them that they were breaching Covid-19 regulations and had to leave. Everard, 33, went missing on March 3 after leaving a friend's house in London. Her remains were found nearly two weeks later in Kent, England, and a 48-year-old police officer, Wayne Couzens, was charged with kidnapping and murdering her. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Everard's death reignited a national debate in Britain on women's safety and sexual assault. Hannah McKay/Reuters
March 14: Faces of Covid-19 victims are projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge during a memorial service in New York. The event included a virtual performance by the New York Philharmonic. Spencer Platt/
March 14: Actress and activist Angelina Jolie is covered in honeybees for a photo shoot ahead of World Bee Day, which is in May. The image, shot by Dan Winters for National Geographic, was an homage to photographer Richard Avedon’s famous “Beekeeper” portrait and used the same queen bee pheromone to attract the bees. Winters said Jolie “was some kind of fearless.” She posed with the bees for 18 minutes and didn’t receive a sting, he said on Instagram. Dan Winters
March 14: Taylor Swift performs a medley of "Cardigan," "August" and "Willow" for the Grammy Awards show. Swift's "Folklore" won album of the year. TAS Rights Management 2021/
March 15: Matt James talks to Rachael Kirkconnell on the season finale of "The Bachelor.” James, the show's first Black lead bachelor, chose Kirkconnell as the winner. But during the "After the Final Rose" ceremony, James said that he had broken up with Kirkconnell after photos of her surfaced at an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018. They later got back together, but the controversy led to the franchise’s longtime host Chris Harrison stepping down after remarks he made defending Kirkconnell. Craig Sjodin/ABC
March 18: Cynthia Shi and her boyfriend, Graham Bloomsmith, embrace outside the Gold Massage Spa in Atlanta. Eight people were killed after shootings at three spas in the Atlanta area. Robert Aaron Long, 21, pleaded guilty to four of the killings and was sentenced to life in prison, but he still faces the possibility of the death penalty. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times/Redux
March 20: A remote-controlled robot takes a throat swab at a hospital in Tanta, Egypt. The robot prototype is part of a project to assist physicians in testing patients for Covid-19. Khaled Desouki/AFP/
March 23: Four students from the University of Colorado embrace one another outside the grocery store where 10 people were killed in a shooting a day earlier in Boulder, Colorado. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the 21-year-old suspect, was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder. Evaluators declared him incompetent to stand trial, court documents state, but prosecutors were granted a second hearing to evaluate his competency. Rachel Woolf/The Washington Post/
March 23: Damian Lillard is reflected on plexiglass as he warms up for an NBA game in Portland, Oregon. Steph Chambers
March 25: Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon is placed into the back of a patrol car after being arrested at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. She was arrested after knocking on the office door of Gov. Brian Kemp as he was signing an elections bill that tightens voting procedures. Critics say the legislation greatly restricts voting access. Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP
March 26: Kathy Poss salvages items from the Ragan Chapel United Methodist Church in Ohatchee, Alabama. A wave of deadly tornadoes devastated parts of the South. Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
March 29: Members of the French cycling team are seen training in the background as a woman receives a Covid-19 vaccine at the National Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. The velodrome had been turned into a mass vaccination center. Christophe Ena/AP
March 30: Yoshia Uomoto, 98, reacts as her son Mark Uomoto and niece Gail Yamada surprise her at her assisted-living facility in Seattle. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, it was their first in-person visit in a year. Lindsey Wasson/Reuters
March 30: Migrant children lie inside a pod at a federal holding facility in Donna, Texas. The Biden administration allowed a few members of the media to tour the temporary facility, which was well over capacity. Of the 4,100 migrants at the facility, 3,400 were unaccompanied children. Dario Lopez Mills/Pool/AP
APRIL
The murder of George Floyd last year sparked widespread protests in the United States. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, and his last moments — with police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck — were caught on video.
Chauvin was convicted in April and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The verdict brought tearful celebrations in the city, but another police shooting in Minnesota just days earlier — leading to the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright — reignited conversations about policing and the use of force.
April 2: A protester takes cover behind a tree as police use a water cannon to clear a group of people in the Bois de la Cambre park in Brussels, Belgium. A day earlier, violent clashes broke out between Brussels police and people gathering to attend a fake April Fool’s Day festival that violated coronavirus restrictions. Francisco Seco/AP
April 6: Washington’s Alex Ovechkin is checked against the boards during an NHL hockey game in Uniondale, New York. Al Bello
April 6: Lightning strikes near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street, also known as George Floyd Square, in Minneapolis. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed in police custody in May 2020. His death sparked widespread protests and rekindled the Black Lives Matter movement. It also elevated a national conversation about race, police brutality and social injustice. Joshua Lott/The Washington Post
April 7: The cast of the TV show “Friends” meets for a reunion special that premiered in May. The hit sitcom aired from 1994-2004. Terence Patrick/HBO Max
April 8: Lee Elder acknowledges applause as he joins Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as honorary starters at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. In 1975, Elder became the first Black golfer to ever play in the Masters. He died in November. Matt Slocum/AP
April 13: Two of Ebonie McMillan’s children prepare for bedtime as National Guard troops stand guard outside their apartment, which is across the street from police headquarters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Law enforcement officers were clashing with protesters who were denouncing the police shooting of Daunte Wright. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was killed during a routine traffic stop. Police described it as an accidental shooting, saying the officer, Kim Potter, intended to deploy a Taser but instead fired a gun. She was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Ed Ou/The New York Times/Redux
April 14: White House press secretary Jen Psaki is seen in the glasses of a stenographer during a White House briefing. Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
April 17: The coffin of Britain’s Prince Philip is carried in the back of a modified Land Rover — one that he helped design — during his funeral procession in Windsor, England. Philip, the longtime husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died April 9 at the age of 99. Hannah McKay/PA Wire/AP
April 17: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat at her husband’s funeral, which was held at St. George’s Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. She sat alone to adhere to Covid-19 safety restrictions. Jonathan Brady/WPA Pool/
April 20: People in Houston, George Floyd’s hometown, await the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was convicted on all three charges in Floyd’s murder, and he was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
April 20: A man reacts outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis after former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the death of George Floyd. Carlos Barria/Reuters
April 21: Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is joined by his miniature horse, Whiskey, and his miniature donkey, Lulu, at his home in Los Angeles. Tracy Nguyen/The New York Times/Redux
April 22: Katie and Aubrey Wright, the parents of Daunte Wright, cry as they speak during his funeral service in Minneapolis. The 20-year-old was fatally shot by a police officer on April 11. Julio Cortez/Pool/AP
April 23: Bodies arrive at a mass cremation site in New Delhi. A second wave of Covid-19 was devastating India, killing thousands of people each day and setting world records for daily infections. Atul Loke/The New York Times/Redux
April 24: Volleyball players from the University of Kentucky celebrate after they defeated Texas to win the national title. It was Kentucky’s first championship in volleyball. Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA/Getty Images
April 25: A Covid-19 patient receives oxygen in a parked car while waiting for a hospital bed to become available in New Delhi. Atul Loke/The New York Times/Redux
April 26: A visitor peeks inside an optical illusion installation at the Illusion Museum in Erbil, Iraq. Sadin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images
April 26: Actress Olivia Colman poses for a photo while attending an Oscars screening in London. Many award nominees were in Los Angeles for the show, but some appeared remotely because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Alberto Pezzali/Pool/Getty Images
April 28: US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, greets House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with an elbow bump before President Joe Biden's address to Congress. It was the first time in history that two women were seated behind the President for a joint address. Jim Watson/Pool/Getty Images
April 28: President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, only a limited number of lawmakers were in the House chamber. Biden's speech focused on the administration's accomplishments thus far and unveiled key components of his next legislative push. Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Pool/Getty Images
April 29: President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter at the Carters' home in Plains, Georgia. The photo grabbed people's attention on social media because of what appeared to be a significant size difference between the two couples. Many experts theorized that it was the result of a wide-angle lens. Adam Schultz, the chief official White House photographer, declined to explain when reached by The New York Times. Adam Schultz/The White House
April 29: A gravedigger walks among buried Covid-19 victims at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. Brazil had just passed 400,000 deaths due to Covid-19, which at the time was the second-highest death toll behind the United States. It’s now over 600,000. Michael Dantas/AFP/Getty Images
April 29: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell looks at quarterback Trevor Lawrence after Lawrence was drafted No. 1 by the Jacksonville Jaguars The draft took place in front of a live audience in Cleveland, but Lawrence watched the draft with friends and family in South Carolina. Kirby Lee/USA Today Network
MAY
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians escalated in early May as Palestinian militants in Gaza fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which in turn ramped up airstrikes across Gaza.
It was one of the area’s worst rounds of violence since the 2014 Gaza War. Hundreds of people, most of them Palestinians, were killed before the two groups agreed to a ceasefire.
In Mexico City, an overpass carrying a subway train collapsed on May 3, killing 26 people. Mexico's foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, called it "the most terrible accident we've ever had in the public transport system.”
May 1: People attend the funeral of Menachem Knoblowitz, who was one of the 45 people killed in a stampede during a religious festival at Israel's Mount Meron. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people had crowded onto the mountain to celebrate the Lag B'Omer holiday. Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/Redux
May 1: Horses race around the first turn of Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby. The attendance was 51,838, and NBC commentators said it was believed to be the most attended sporting event in the United States since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
May 2: A US soldier sits aboard a Chinook helicopter over Kabul, Afghanistan. US President Joe Biden announced in April that he would be withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan before September 11. “I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats,” Biden said. “I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth.” Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times/Redux
May 3: An overpass carrying a subway train collapsed in Mexico City, killing 26 people and injuring dozens more. Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, called it “the most terrible accident we’ve ever had in the public transport system.” A preliminary investigation found that construction flaws led to the collapse. Hector Vivas/
May 4: Tim Brehmer, dressed as the title character from "The Mandalorian," celebrates Star Wars Day at the Scum and Villainy Cantina, a bar in Los Angeles. Jae C. Hong/AP
May 8: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, second from left, appears in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch with cast members Mikey Day, Chris Redd and Melissa Villaseñor. Musk hosted the show. Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
May 10: Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. For several weeks up until that point, Jerusalem had seen repeated confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police across the city. One of the main sources of growing unrest was the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. On May 9, Israel’s Supreme Court postponed an appeal hearing on the decades-long legal case. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians escalated further on May 10 as Palestinian militants in Gaza fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which in turn ramped up airstrikes across Gaza. The militants said they fired their rockets in response to the actions of Israeli police who fired stun grenades inside the mosque. Mahmoud Illean/AP
May 11: US Rep. Liz Cheney sits in her office as she prepared to give a speech on the House floor. The next day, House Republicans voted her out as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Capitol insurrection in January. The Wyoming lawmaker has since continued to be outspoken about Trump's election lies, highlighting a rift in the party that led to her ouster as the GOP leadership's third-ranking member. "I am absolutely committed — as I said last night, as I said just now to my colleagues — that we must go forward based on truth,” she told reporters. “We cannot both embrace the ‘big lie’ and embrace the Constitution." See behind-the-scenes photos of Cheney that week. David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona/Getty Images
May 14: The Al-Tanani family mourns family members who were killed in an airstrike in Beit Lahia, Gaza. Over 11 days, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a devastating aerial bombardment of Gaza while the Palestinian militant group Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Hundreds of people, most of them Palestinians, were killed before the two groups agreed to a ceasefire. Hosam Salem/The New York Times/Redux
May 14: Israel’s Iron Dome system intercepts rockets that were launched from Gaza toward southern Israel. Anas Baba/AFP/Getty Images
May 15: People take cover at a shelter in Ramat Gan, Israel, as a siren warns of incoming rockets from Gaza. Oded Balilty/AP
May 17: A Brood X cicada hangs on a tree next to a molting nymph in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The cicadas, who had spent the last 17 years underground, were just starting to emerge in parts of the eastern United States. Carolyn Kaster/AP
May 21: People spread out for a commencement ceremony at the University of Maryland. Julia Nikhinson/The Diamondback
May 22: Phil Mickelson hits a shot during the third round of the PGA Championship. Mickelson, 50, went on to win the event and become the oldest golfer ever to win a major championship. David J. Phillip/AP
May 22: World champion gymnast Simone Biles became the first woman in history to land a Yurchenko double pike vault in competition when she pulled off the move during the GK US Classic in Indianapolis. Amy Sanderson/Zuma
May 22: Stefania performs for Greece during the Eurovision Song Contest. Italian punk-rock rock band Måneskin won this year’s competition. Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters
May 24: A gibbon walks amid miniature models of vehicles at a zoo in Bakhchisaray, Crimea. Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters
May 25: Palestinians hold a candlelight vigil amid rubble in Gaza City. It was after a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hamas. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
JUNE
A 12-story residential building partially collapsed June 24 in the South Florida community of Surfside. A side of the building crashed to the ground, leaving huge piles of debris. Almost 100 people were killed.
“This is a horrific catastrophe,” Surfside Mayor Charles W. Burkett said. “In the United States, buildings just don’t fall down.”
June 1: A tranquilized and blindfolded bear named Arthur is prepared for a helicopter flight so that he can be released into the wilderness near Bella Coola, British Columbia. Researchers in the province have been tracking orphan grizzly cubs, reared in a shelter, to see whether they can thrive back in the wild. Alana Paterson/The New York Times/Redux
June 4: Projections of Vincent Van Gogh works are displayed at a preview of the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit at New York’s Pier 36. John Minchillo/AP
June 5: Former US President Donald Trump speaks at a Republican convention in Greenville, North Carolina. During his speech, Trump baselessly claimed that his election defeat was “the crime of the century.” Travis Dove/The New York Times/Redux
June 6: Glenda Valdez, left, is reunited with her daughter Emely in Austin, Texas. It had been six years since Valdez left for the United States, saying goodbye to her daughter in Honduras. Then in May, she identified Emely when watching an Associated Press story on young people crossing the Mexican border alone. Eric Gay/AP
June 10: Softball players from the University of Oklahoma pile on top of pitcher Giselle Juarez after the final out of the Women’s College World Series. It is Oklahoma’s third national title since 2016. Sarah Stier/Getty Images
June 10: Jill Biden, the first lady of the United States, turns around to reporters to show the word“love”on her blazer. Biden and her husband were in England ahead of the G7 summit. “We’re bringing love from America,” she said. Patrick Semansky/AP
June 11: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II uses a sword to cut a cake at a charity event in St. Austell, England. She was joined by Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, left, and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Oli Scarff/WPA Pool/
June 11: In this aerial photo, boys swim off a jetty that’s surrounded by marine mucilage, aka “sea snot,” in Kocaeli, Turkey. The coastline of Turkey’s Sea of Marmara has been covered with the thick layer of slime, threatening undersea life. The mucilage is mostly made up of bacteria and phytoplankton’s mucous secretions. Pollution causes an excess of nutrients in the water that acts as a catalyst for these massive blooms, as does the man-made climate crisis. Chris McGrath/
June 12: Danish soccer players join arms around teammate Christian Eriksen as paramedics work to resuscitate him during a Euro 2020 match. Eriksen collapsed in the middle of the match and had to be resuscitated with CPR and a defibrillator. Wolfgang Rattay/AFP/
June 13: People attend the funeral of Waseem Ahmed, a police officer who was killed in a shootout with Kashmiri rebels on the outskirts of Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Two civilians and two police officials were killed in the clash, police said. Dar Yasin/AP
June 16: A security officer asks the media to step back at the start of a summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Seated from left are US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden, Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The summit, held in Geneva, Switzerland, was the first meeting of Biden and Putin since Biden was elected President. Denis Balibouse/Pool/AFP/
June 19: People celebrate the Juneteenth holiday at the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC. A couple of days earlier, President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Kenny Holston/The New York Times/Redux
June 20: A woman in Thailand’s Hua Hin district found an unexpected visitor in her house in the middle of the night — a wild Asian elephant. “I have seen elephants roaming around our town looking for food since I was young,” Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon said of the close encounter. “But this is the first time they actually damaged my house.” The elephant came into the kitchen because it smelled food, the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a Facebook post. Ratchadawan’s house is also located next to the entrance of a national park where elephants live, said Prateep Puywongtarn, a staff member at the Huay Sat Yai Subdistrict Administration Organization in Hua Hin. Radchadawan Peungprasopporn
June 21: Women grieve during the viewing of 10-year-old Justin Wallace, who was fatally shot earlier that month in Queens, New York. A 29-year-old man was charged with homicide in Justin's shooting. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
June 22: Angry parents and community members protest after a Loudoun County School Board meeting was halted by the school board because the crowd refused to quiet down in Ashburn, Virginia. Chaos erupted at the meeting over a proposed transgender policy and claims that critical race theory is being taught in the classroom. Critical race theory centers on the idea that systemic racism is part of American society and that institutions function to give White people dominance in society. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
June 22: An injured resident of Togoga, Ethiopia, arrives at a hospital in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, after a government airstrike hit a Togoga market. There was international condemnation over the airstrike, which killed dozens of people as fighting intensified between Tigray's ruling party and forces aligned with Ethiopia's military. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/
June 24: Water-level lines are seen on the rocky banks of Utah’s Lake Powell. Much of the Western United States has been experiencing a historic and unrelenting drought, the worst in the region in at least 20 years. Justin Sullivan
June 24: Debris is piled up after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in the South Florida community of Surfside. Nearly 100 people were killed in the collapse. Chandan Khanna/AFP
June 25: Students attend a graduation ceremony at the Harriet Tubman Early Childhood Education Center, a preschool in the Bronx, New York. Amir Hamja/The New York Times/Redux
June 26: Former US President Donald Trump holds his first post-presidency rally at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio. Maddie McGarvey
June 26: Kristian Sbaragli and Bryan Coquard, seen in the foreground, were among the dozens of cyclists who got caught in a massive crash during the first stage of the Tour de France. The crash was caused by a female spectator who was holding up a big sign on the side of the road. The sign knocked down German cyclist Tony Martin, starting a chain reaction in the closely clumped group. Days after the crash, the spectator was identified and arrested. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Pool/
June 27: Rapper Lil Nas X kisses one of his backup dancers while performing at the BET Awards. The kiss won him a standing ovation from some members of the audience. Bennett Raglin/
June 27: An employee sets a table at a restaurant on the Celebrity Edge cruise ship, the first revenue-earning cruise to depart from the United States since the start of a pandemic-induced hiatus. The ship left the coast of Florida to travel to Costa Maya, Mexico. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images
June 28: People rest at a cooling center that was set up at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. A record-breaking heat wave was searing the Pacific Northwest, making life miserable for many. Kathryn Elsesser/AFP/Getty Images
June 29: Tennis star Serena Williams wipes away tears during her first-round match at Wimbledon. The seven-time Wimbledon champion suffered a hamstring injury during the first set and had to pull out of the tournament. The injury also caused her to miss the US Open in August. Julian Finney/Getty Images
June 30: Comedian and actor Bill Cosby appears in front of the media in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after he was released from prison. Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying his due process rights were violated. Bastiaan Slabbers/EPA-EFE/Shuuterstock
JULY
The rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant — a more transmissible strain that had quickly become dominant in many countries — led to new face mask guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recommended in July that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors when in areas with “substantial” and “high” transmission of Covid-19 — that is, nearly two-thirds of all US counties. Before that, the guidance was that most fully vaccinated people could go without masks indoors.
In Japan, there was mounting pressure from health experts, business leaders and the public to call off the Tokyo Olympic Games, which had already been postponed a year because of Covid-19. But the Games went ahead as planned, although very few fans were allowed to attend.
July 2: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II drives her Range Rover as she attends the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, England. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
July 7: A visitor takes pictures of a sculpture during the International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid. Samuel de Roman/Getty Images
July 8: Confetti falls on Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, after she won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She's the first African American contestant to ever win the event. Scott McIntyre/The New York Times/Redux
July 10: Soccer star Lionel Messi lifts the trophy after Argentina defeated Brazil to win the Copa America. It was Messi’s first international title and Argentina’s first major title in 28 years. Amanda Perobelli/Reuters
July 10: The Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, consumes a home in Doyle, California. It's the second time in less than a year that the small town has been ravaged by a wildfire. Noah Berger/AP
July 10: UFC fighter Conor McGregor is carried off on a stretcher after he broke his leg in a bout against Dustin Poirier. Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports
July 11: Novak Djokovic falls to the ground in celebration after he defeated Matteo Berrettini in the Wimbledon final. It was the Serbian's 20th grand slam title, tying him with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most grand slam singles titles ever by a man. Florian Eisele/AELTC/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
July 11: A member of the Afghan Special Forces drives a Humvee during a combat mission against the Taliban. The Taliban were moving rapidly to take over districts in northern Afghanistan. Danish Siddiqui, the Reuters photographer who took this photo, was killed a few days later during clashes in Afghanistan. Siddiqui had been a photographer for Reuters since 2010, and he was the news agency's chief photographer in India. He was also part of a Reuters team that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography covering Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
July 11: Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, carries Sirisha Bandla on his shoulders while celebrating their historic spaceflight. Branson became the first billionaire to travel to space aboard a spacecraft he helped fund. Bandla is the second woman born in India to fly to space. Andres Leighton/AP
July 12: Zacharia Mutai, the head rhino keeper at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya, checks on Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos alive on the planet. Scientists have been working on advanced reproduction technologies to try to save the species from extinction. Ami Vitale
July 13: Messages of love and support cover a mural of soccer star Marcus Rashford in Manchester, England. It had been defaced with racist graffiti after Rashford was one of the England players who missed a penalty in the Euro 2020 final against Italy. He and a couple of his Black teammates were also targeted with racial abuse on social media. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
July 14: Spanish model Marta Lozano walks the red carpet during a screening at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
July 17: Jutta Schelleckes sits in the living room of her apartment, which was destroyed by flooding in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany. More than 200 people in western Europe were killed in severe flooding that was caused by historic rainfall. Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
July 17: Tokyo's new National Stadium is seen from the observation tower of a nearby skyscraper just days before the start of the Summer Olympics. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times/Redux
July 19: People drink on the dance floor of The Piano Works in London's Farringdon district. England’s Covid-19 restrictions had
