2019: A look back at a year of turmoil
A man stops on his way to the top of what once was the Okjokull glacier, in Iceland, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019. With poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists, and others bade goodbye to the first Icelandic glacier to disappear. (AP File Photo/Felipe Dana)
PARIS — The year 2019 saw an explosion of demonstrations across the world as people demanded an overhaul of entrenched political systems and action on climate change.
Here is a look back at these and other events that marked the year.
Protests sweep Latin America
On January 23, Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido declared himself interim president, escalating a long-running political and economic crisis.
He is recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States. But the army had backed President Nicolas Maduro and he remained in his post.
In mid-September, major demonstrations erupted in Haiti after fuel shortages, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise. Violence claimed more than 40 lives.
A metro ticket hike in Chile’s capital mid-October was the trigger for protests that claimed more than 20 lives before a referendum on reforms was agreed.
Bolivia was gripped by three weeks of demonstrations after President Evo Morales claimed to win a fourth term on October 20. Dozens were killed. Morales resigned on November 10 and flew into exile as the government works on new elections.
Ecuador was paralyzed by nearly two weeks of protests in October and in Colombia, strikes and demonstrations against the right-wing government started mid-November.
North Africa/Mideast fury
On February 22, unprecedented protests broke out in Algeria against a fifth term for frail President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years.
He lost the army’s backing and resigns on April 2. But demonstrations continued, demanding an overhaul of the entire political establishment and rejecting new president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected on December 12 in polls marked by record abstention.
In Sudan, the military on April 11 ended Omar al-Bashir’s three decades in power, a key demand in four months of nationwide protests.
Demonstrations continued until a hard-won agreement in August set up a joint governing council to oversee a transition to civilian rule. More than 250 people are killed, according to protesters.
In Iraq, mass demonstrations erupted October 1 against unemployment, corruption, and poor public services, degenerating into violence that claimed more than 460 lives.
On December 1, parliament accepted the government’s resignation.
In Lebanon, rolling mass protests started on October 17, triggered by plans for a messaging app tax and turning against the political elite. They continued even after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on October 29, with protesters rejecting new premier-designate Hassan Diab, an engineering professor backed by Hezbollah chosen on December 19 to form a government.
Iran saw an explosion of riots on November 15 after a fuel price hike. Authorities crushed the unrest but Amnesty International said more than 304 people were killed, most shot by security forces, a toll denied by the authorities.
This is a file image of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that was made from a video posted on a militant website last July 5, 2014. (AP File Photo/Militant video)
IS leader killed
After a five-year offensive to seize vast Islamic State (IS) territory in Iraq and Syria, the jihadists were driven out of their last bastion in March by Kurdish-led forces.
On October 27, President Donald Trump announced that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria, blowing himself up as he was pursued.
Boeing MAX grounded
A March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash led to the global grounding of Boeing 737 MAX planes. It followed a Lion Air crash involving the same model six months earlier, with 346 lives lost in the two incidents.
Boeing faced investigations and lawsuits and was forced to upgrade its systems, in a crisis that cost billions of dollars to the company.
In mid-December, the production of the plane was suspended. On December 23, Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg resigned.
Brexit saga
Britain’s March 29, 2019, deadline for leaving the European Union following a 2016 referendum was postponed three times, with the British parliament unable to agree to the divorce terms negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May with Brussels, nor a second accord negotiated by her successor Boris Johnson.
After widely winning early elections on December 12, Johnson got support at the first reading by the lower house for his accord. He sought final adoption on January 9, and to leave the EU on January 31, 2020.
First black hole photo
On April 10, astronomers unveiled the first photograph of a black hole, a phenomenon they were convinced existed even if it had never been seen before.
Drawn from mountains of data captured two years earlier by telescopes across the world, it showed a supermassive black hole 50 million lightyears away.
Notre Dame cathedral is pictured in Paris, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019. Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year’s fire. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Notre Dame burns
On April 15, flames destroyed the spire and roof of Paris’s beloved Notre-Dame cathedral, but firefighters managed to save the gothic building, while many of its arts, relics, and other treasures were rescued.
Amid a global outpouring of emotion, nearly one billion euros ($1.1 billion) was pledged for its reconstruction, which will take years. For the first time since 1803, Notre-Dame did not celebrate Christmas Mass.
Iran escalation
On May 8, Tehran announced its first step back from the 2015 nuclear accord – exactly a year after the United States quit the deal and reimposed sanctions.
Over the next months, Iran re-engaged components of its nuclear program that it had halted, including uranium enrichment.
Tensions mounted when Washington blamed Tehran for a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf from mid-May.
On September 14, Iran was again blamed when major Saudi oil facilities were attacked by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, which it supports. It denied involvement.
In six months, Tehran has surpassed the stock of enriched uranium, the level of enrichment and heavy water reserves fixed by the accord and modernized its centrifuges.
Hong Kong erupts
June 9 saw the start of the biggest crisis in the former British colony of Hong Kong since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, with almost-daily pro-democracy protests.
Demonstrations were initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland but developed into a popular revolt against Beijing’s rule.
On November 24, pro-democracy campaigners won a landslide victory in local elections.
Protesters walk past a protest slogan during a rally on Christmas Eve in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019. More than six months of protests have beset the city with frequent confrontations between protesters and police. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Hottest month ever
July temperatures were the hottest ever recorded, US and European Union authorities announced in August.
Temperature records rose in Europe and the North Pole, and in August, Iceland lost its first glacier to climate change.
Fires ravaged Brazil’s Amazon and Australia, while Venice was swamped by flooding not seen in decades.
The extreme weather raised climate concerns and rallied for action, initiated by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, spread worldwide.
US disengagement
On August 2, the US officially quit the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) with Russia.
President Donald Trump’s “America First” regime also struck out alone by pursuing trade wars with China and the EU. It also withdrew from the Paris accord on climate change and its troops from northeastern Syria.
Trump impeachment bid
On September 24, the Democrats in Congress launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump after claims he pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, a rival in his 2020 reelection bid.
Trump was impeached in a historic rebuke by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on two counts of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress, but conviction is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate in a trial expected to begin in January.
Turkey moves into Syria
On October 9, Turkey launched an offensive into northern Syria to push back from the border Kurdish fighters it considers “terrorists”.
Two days earlier, Trump had announced the withdrawal of US troops in the area, leading to charges that Washington had abandoned Kurdish allies who were vital in the battle against Islamic State jihadists.
Turkey halted its operation on October 23 after the US and Russia agreed in separate deals to ensure the fighters leave the border region.
Men dressed with the firefighters uniform wave flags of the French trade union General Confederation of Labour (Confederation Generale du Travail – CGT) and burn flares as they take part in a demonstration in Paris, on December 17, 2019 to protest against French government’s plan to overhaul the country’s retirement system, as part of a national general strike. – Tens of thousands of protesters prepared to hit streets across France on December 17, 2019 over a pensions overhaul that has sparked a crippling transport strike, though government officials insist they will not give in to union demands they drop the plan. Pressure on French President is growing after the top official overseeing the pension negotiations was forced to resign over a salary scandal. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
Men dressed with the firefighters uniform wave flags of the French trade union General Confederation of Labour (Confederation Generale du Travail – CGT) and burn flares as they take part in a demonstration in Paris, on December 17, 2019 to protest against French government’s plan to overhaul the country’s retirement system, as part of a national general strike. – Tens of thousands of protesters prepared to hit streets across France on December 17, 2019 over a pensions overhaul that has sparked a crippling transport strike, though government officials insist they will not give in to union demands they drop the plan. Pressure on French President is growing after the top official overseeing the pension negotiations was forced to resign over a salary scandal. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
Big Tech tackled
On July 24, US regulators fined Facebook a record $5 billion for data protection violations amid mounting concerns about the dominance of it and other internet giants Apple, Amazon, and Google.
Criticized for failing to protect consumers as well as over tax and advertising issues, the tech titans came under pressure to reform, with threats of investigation, fines, and even dismantlement.
Social crisis in France
France was confronted from December 5 by a three-week standoff between French transport workers and the government over pension reforms, which caused havoc to Christmas travel.
Workers at the national SNCF and Parisian RATP rail and public transport companies walked off the job to protest at the government’s plan to meld France’s 42 pension schemes into a single points-based one, which would see some public employees lose certain privileges, including early retirement.
