The World in 2019
The Mongol Messenger
The National news agency of Mongolia MONTSAME names ten highlight events that took place in the world throughout of 2019.
1.Japanese New Emperor
Japanese Emperor Akihito stepped
down from his throne this year and the Crown Prince Naruhito ascended the
throne as the new Emperor of Japan, marking the beginning of the Reiwa era
which interpreted as “beautiful harmony”.
Representatives of 174 countries, of which 70 of them are the royals or the heads of governments attended the enthronement ceremony which was held on October 22. In addition to the representatives, more than 2000 people including ministers, judges, former PMs, governors, scholars, poets, athletes, businessmen etc. attended the ceremony. Representing Mongolia, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh and his spouse L.Bolortsetseg took part in this honorable ceremony.
2. Hong Kong protests
Demonstrations
opposing the extradition bill that the Hong Kong authorities attempted to adopt
have been held since June 9. Hong
Kong has signed mutual extradition agreements with 20 countries but no such
agreements have been reached with mainland China. The citizens took to the
streets primarily due to their suspicion that Hong Kong’s judiciary might fall
into China’s hands after the bill by Carrie Lam is adopted. The protest
organizers have claimed that around two million citizens participated in the
June 16 protest and this makes it the biggest protest in Hong Kong.
So far, there have been two deaths, over 2.600 injuries, and 6,000 arrests. Also, the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act by the United States complicated and suspended the U.S.-China trade talks.
3.Trump becomes first sitting U.S. president in history to cross border into North Korea
U.S
President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un met for the second time in
Hanoi, Vietnam on February 26-27, 2019. But the meeting failed to provide a
clear roadmap for North Korea’s denuclearization.
As agreed, Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the third time at the border village of Panmunjom in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on June 30 during his visit to the Republic of Korea, made directly after his participation in the G20 Osaka Summit.’ International observers consider it ‘historic meeting’ as Trump has become the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea when he crossed over the military demarcation line in the village into the North before he turned back to the southern side together with Kim.
Former U.S. President Obama visited the DMZ in March 2012, but did not cross into North Korea.
4. Black hole and Far side of the Moon
An extraordinary event happened in the history of astronomy
as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration reported on April 10, 2019
that they could capture an image of black hole, which has not been taken by any
astronautics team before.
A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting
gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing - no particles or even
electromagnetic radiation such as light can escape from it. The supermassive
black hole is at the core of elliptical galaxy Messier 87, in distance of 55
million lights years away from our planet.
Over 200 scientists took part in EHT project to capture an image of the black hole and eight radio telescope facilities have been used in different locations such as Antarctica, Chili and Spain. Aside from it, in aims of studying geological structure of the far side of the moon, China’s Chang’e 4, robotic spacecraft launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province of China on December 8, 2018 and successfully landed on the backside of the Moon on January 3.
It became a historic event that the spacecraft took the first image of backside of the Moon, which is the only natural satellite of the Earth. Not only taking its image, Yutu-2 rover, a part of Chang’e 4 spacecraft made research on 271 m area in 7 months period. ‘Chang’e’, a series of spacecraft is named after Chang’e, the Chinese Moon goddess
5. Will the U.K election decide the fate of Brexit?
The
United Kingdom general election took place on December 13 this year, with the
Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson sweeping the snap
election.
Of
the 650-member House of Commons, 364 seats were won by the Conservative Party
in the election, marking their biggest victory since 1987. With this, it has
become clear that the policy of the Conservative Party, of which motto during
the election was ‘Get Brexit Done’, to manage the issue of Brexit with
parliamentary support by the end of January 2020 will receive endorsement.
Observers have also all agreed that the election served as a form of referendum for the membership of U.K in the European Union.
6.Islamic State leader eliminated
On
October 27, U.S. President Trump announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head
of the Islamic State, died during an operation of the U.S. special force in
Syria. It was considered as a turning point in the fight against
terrorism.
Within the Rewards for Justice, a counterterrorism rewards program being implemented by the U.S. Department of State since 1984, a Reward of USD 25 million was offered for Baghdadi by the U.S. State Department for information or intelligence on his whereabouts to enable capture, dead or alive. The U.S. administration called Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the most brutal international terrorist.
7. Lionel Messi reaches the highest milestone of football
Argentina footballer, Barcelona
forward Lionel Messi set a historical record by winning the most prestigious
award of FIFA the “Ballon D’Or” for his sixth time.
Despite the fact that he became the
first athlete scored 15 seasons in a row in Champions’ League history, he also
led the highest-paid athlete ranking by Forbes. Moreover, he set another record
by winning the highest number of matches while playing as a starter in
Barcelona and renewed the La Liga all-time scoring record by making his 400th
successful goal.
8. World grounds Boeing 737 MAX 8
Ethiopian
Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which took off from the capital of Ethiopia
crashed on March 10, killing all 157 people aboard, and this accident led the
world to say no to the aircraft.
The reason is that it was the most sought after model’s second crash in five months. In late October, an aircraft of the exact same model crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia. Following the second crash in Ethiopia, world leading airlines grounded the aircraft and more than 40 countries banned the aircraft from flying in their airspace in 2019.
9. U.S withdraws from nuclear missile treaty
After
the announcement was made that the U.S will pull out of the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, President of Russia Vladimir Putin also announced
that Russia is also withdrawing from the treaty, and signed the corresponding
law on July 3.
Thus, the U.S officially announced its withdrawal on August 2. With this, the treaty that saved humanity from nuclear war during the Cold War becomes ineffective. The end of the treaty’s effectiveness not only creates risk for global peace and security, but also brings back the nuclear arms race once again, putting the current arms monitoring system at risk of collapse.
10. Greta Thunberg - Person of the Year
‘Time’ American weekly news magazine named Swedish teenage
climate change activist Greta Thunberg Person of the Year. She became the youngest
individual, who has been awarded with the title, in 92 years of selection of
Person of the Year.
Greta Thunberg first became known for her activism organized in 2018 outside the Swedish Parliament to call for stronger action on global warming. During the United Nations Climate Change Summit 2019, she chastised world leaders for failing to take strong measures to combat climate change.
‘Time’ magazine
editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal highlighted that she became the biggest voice
on the biggest issue facing the planet this year.