Toronto — The COVID-19 pandemic, historic anti-racism protests and a tumultuous U.S. election dominated headlines over the past year. CTV News looks back at some of the events that made 2020 a year unlike any other.
JANUARY
IRANIAN GENERAL QASEM SOLEIMANI KILLED
Protesters chant slogans while holding up posters of Gen. Qassem Soleimani during a demonstration in front of the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
WUHAN GOES INTO LOCKDOWN
People wearing face masks walk down a deserted street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Arek Rataj)
HARRY AND MEGHAN DROP ROYAL BOMBSHELL
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leave Canada House in London, Jan. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
176 PEOPLE KILLED IN IRAN PLANE CRASH
Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
AUSTRALIA BATTLES WILDFIRES
Fire burns in the grass along the road as firetrucks pass by near Bumbalong, south of the Australian capital, Canberra, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
KOBE BRYANT KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH
People gather at a memorial for Kobe Bryant near Staples Center Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, in Los Angeles. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash. AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker
FEBRUARY
SENATE ACQUITS TRUMP IN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a newspaper that reads "Trump acquitted" during an event celebrating his impeachment acquittal, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Washington. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
HARVEY WEINSTEIN CONVICTED OF RAPE AND OTHER CHARGES
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for jury deliberations in his rape trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York.
Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault against two women and was immediately handcuffed and led off to jail, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
U.S. SIGNS PEACE DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the Brady press briefing room of the White House in Washington. Feb. 26, 2020.
More than 18 years since the conflict began in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, the United States and the Islamists it toppled from power in Afghanistan signed a peace deal. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
MARCH
WHO DECLARES COVID-19 A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, declares the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic, March 11, 2020. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus/Twitter
ITALY GOES INTO NATIONAL LOCKDOWN
Italian soldiers patrol the square facing Duomo gothic cathedral in downtown Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 22, 2020. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte told the nation he is tightening the lockdown to fight the rampaging spread of coronavirus, shutting down all production facilities except those that are "necessary, crucial, indispensible to guarantee" the good of the country. AP Photo/Antonio Calanni
POPE DELIVERS URBI ET ORBI BLESSING IN EMPTY ST. PETER'S SQUARE
Pope Francis, white figure standing alone at centre, delivers an Urbi et orbi prayer from the empty St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Friday, March 27, 2020. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
JUSTIN TRUDEAU SELF-ISOLATES AFTER WIFE TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference at Rideau cottage in Ottawa, on Friday, March 13, 2020.
The prime minister went into two-week self-isolation after his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, tested positive for COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand.
NORTHERN ITALY HIT HARD BY COVID-19
Paramedics work at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, March 12, 2020. AP Photo/Luca Bruno
STOCK MARKET CRASHES
A trader has his head in his hand on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, March 12, 2020. The stock market had its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987 as fears of economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis deepened. The Dow industrials plunged more than 2,300 points, or 10 per cent. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus. AP Photo/Richard Drew
HARRY AND MEGHAN'S LAST APPEARANCE AS SENIOR ROYALS
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 9, 2020. AP Photo/Frank Augstein
COLOMBIA PRISON RIOT
Inmates display a sign reading in Spanish "More than 30 dead" at La Modelo jail in Bogota, Colombia, March 22, 2020. AP Photo/Ivan Valencia
APRIL
SIX CAF MEMBERS KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH OFF GREECE
From top left: Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough and Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald. From bottom left: Capt. Kevin Hagen, Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke and Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin. Credit: Department of National Defence
22 PEOPLE KILLED IN NOVA SCOTIA RAMPAGE
A couple pays their respects at a roadblock in Portapique, N.S. on Wednesday, April 22, 2021. RCMP say at least 22 people are dead after a man, who at one point wore a police uniform and drove a mock-up cruiser, went on a murder rampage in Portapique and several other Nova Scotia communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
MAY
KIM JONG UN SPECULATIONS
People in a park watch news broadcasted on a giant screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the opening ceremony of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory Saturday, May, 2nd. 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he may be seriously ill. AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
RUNNERS HONOUR AHMAUD ARBERY WITH 2.23 MILES
People react during a rally to protest the shooting of an unarmed black man, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Brunswick Ga. Two men were charged with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. AP Photo/John Bazemore
FATAL CANADIAN FORCES SNOWBIRDS CRASH
Signs are attached to the fence of the Kamloops airport to show respect for the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in Kamloops, B.C., Monday, May 18, 2020. Capt. Jenn Casey died after the Snowbirds jet she was in crashed shortly after takeoff. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD IN MINNEAPOLIS
Malaysia Hammond, 19, places flowers at a memorial mural for George Floyd at the corner of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. AP Photo/John Minchillo
PROTESTS ERUPT AFTER DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD
Protestors demonstrate outside of a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody Monday, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. AP Photo/John Minchillo
PLANE CRASHES INTO CROWDED NEIGHBOURHOOD IN KARACHI
Volunteers and soldiers look for survivors of a plane crash in a residential area of Karachi, Pakistan, May 22, 2020. AP Photo/Fareed Khan
MICHIGAN DAM BURSTS
People photograph the floodwaters of the Tittabawassee River that encroached on downtown Midland, Mich., Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Floodwaters forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from communities in central Michigan. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
SPACEX LAUNCHES NASA ASTRONAUTS INTO SPACE FOR THE FIRST TIME
SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, Saturday, May 30, 2020 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The two astronauts are on the SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. For the first time in nearly a decade, astronauts blasted towards orbit aboard an American rocket from American soil, a first for a private company. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
LOCUSTS SWARM INDIA
This May 10, 2020 photo shows locusts swarming over city and nearby area in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. AP Photo/Deepak Sharma
JUNE
PROTESTERS DEMAND JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR
Signs are held up showing Breonna Taylor during a rally in her honor on the steps of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Thursday, June 25, 2020. The rally was held to demand justice in the death of Taylor who was killed in her apartment by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department on March 13, 2020. AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley
TRUMP VISITS CHURCH AMID NATIONWIDE UNREST
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests the night before. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
PM TRUDEAU TAKES A KNEE AT ANTI-RACISM PROTEST IN OTTAWA
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes a knee during an 8 minute and 46 second silence as he takes part in an anti-racism protest on Parliament Hill during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Friday, June 5, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
GIANT 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' MESSAGE PAINTED ON ROAD TO WHITE HOUSE
The Washington Monument and the White House are visible behind the words Black Lives Matter sign Saturday, June 6, 2020, that has been painted in bright yellow letters on the 16th Street, in Washington. Khalid Naji-Allah/Executive Office of the Mayor via AP
JULY
STONEHENGE MYSTERY SOLVED
Huge shafts found almost 5 metres underground may help uncover the mysteries of Stonehenge.
DEADLY FLOODING IN JAPAN
Streets are flooded following a heavy rain in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture, southern Japan Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Floodwaters flowed down streets in southern Japanese towns hit by heavy rains. Kyodo News via AP
CHINA GOES TO MARS
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket carrying the Tianwen-1 Mars probe lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province, Thursday, July 23, 2020. Cai Yang/Xinhua via AP
AUGUST
MASSIVE EXPLOSION ROCKS BEIRUT
Port workers run to the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Massive explosions rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital. AP Photo/Hussein Malla
JAPAN'S LONGEST-SERVING PM RESIGNS
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacts during a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. Japan's longest-serving prime minister Abe said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was "gut wrenching" to leave so many of his goals unfinished. Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP
PROTESTS ERUPT IN BELARUS AFTER ELECTION
Tens of thousands gather for a protest in Minsk, Belarus, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020. More than 100,00 protesters demanding the resignation of Belarus' authoritarian president are rallying in a vast square in the capital, continuing the massive outburst of dissent that has shaken the country since dubious presidential elections two weeks ago. AP Photo/Sergei Grits
ERIN O'TOOLE WINS CPC LEADERSHIP
Newly elected Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has his hand hoisted by outgoing leader Andrew Scheer as he stands his wife and children after delivering his winning speech following the Conservative party of Canada 2020 Leadership Election in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
BILL MORNEAU RESIGNS AS CANADA'S FINANCE MINISTER AMID 'WE' SCANDAL
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announces his resignation during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
SEPTEMBER
100 NIGHTS OF PROTESTS IN PORTLAND, ORE.
Police use chemical irritants and crowd control munitions to disperse protesters during the 100th consecutive day of demonstrations in Portland, Ore., Sept. 5, 2020. AP Photo/Noah Berger
CALIFORNIA'S WORST WILDFIRE SEASON IN HISTORY
Firefighter Ricardo Gomez, of a San Benito Monterey Cal Fire crew, sets a controlled burn with a drip torch while fighting the Creek Fire, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, in Shaver Lake, Calif. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
'BLACK PANTHER' STAR CHADWICK BOSEMAN DIES
A man stops to shoot a picture of a mural by artist Shane Grammer of late actor Chadwick Boseman's character T'Challa from the 2018 film "Black Panther" Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Los Angeles. Boseman died Aug. 28 at age 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
RUTH BADER GINSBURG DIES
The flag-draped casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, carried by Supreme Court police officers, arrives in the Great Hall at the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Ginsburg, 87, died of cancer on Sept. 18. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
OCTOBER
ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Explosions are seen behind the mountains during a military conflict outside Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. AP Photo
DONALD TRUMP TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, on Marine One helicopter after he tested positive for COVID-19. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is at second from left. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
FIRE RIPS THROUGH SOUTH KOREA HIGH-RISE
An apartment building is engulfed in a fire in Ulsan, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. A fire spread through the high-rise apartment building in the port city early Friday, causing minor injuries to scores of people, officials said. Kim Yong-tae/Yonhap via AP
DEADLY POLICE BRUTALITY PROTESTS IN NIGERIA
Burning barricades set by protesters against police brutality in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020. After 13 days of protests against alleged police brutality, authorities have imposed a 24-hour curfew in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, as moves are made to stop growing violence. AP Photo/Sunday Alamba
RARE BLUE MOON SEEN ON HALLOWEEN
An airplane flies in front of a moon that has just begun to wane from full, as it rises on Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, near Graham, Wash. Saturday marked the first time since 1944 that a blue moon has been visible in all time zones on Halloween. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS IN THAILAND
Pro-democracy activists march close to Government House, the prime minister's offices during a protest march in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Thailand's prime minister on Wednesday pleaded with his countrymen to resolve their political differences through Parliament, as student-led protests seeking to bring his government down continued for an eighth straight day. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
NOVEMBER
JOE BIDEN WINS U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
From left, Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Harris, President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden on stage together, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
DOZENS OF ANCIENT SARCOPHAGI DISCOVERED
People look at ancient sarcophagi on display, discovered in a vast necropolis in Saqqara, Giza, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. Egyptian antiquities officials announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and around 40 gilded statues south of Cairo. AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty
'JEOPARDY!' HOST ALEX TREBEK DIES
A shrine to the late "Jeopardy!" quiz show host Alex Trebek is pictured near his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, in Los Angeles. Trebek died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at age 80. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
TYPHOON VAMCO SLAMS PARTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
A young resident negotiates a road full of muddied belongings damaged by floods a week ago as Typhoon Vamco hit the area of Nangka, Marikina city, Philippines on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. Some areas are still covered with mud as the local government steps up cleaning efforts from damages brought by Typhoon Vamco which left dozens of people dead as it hit the country last week. AP Photo/Aaron Favila
DECEMBER
HUGE RADIO TELESCOPE IN PUERTO RICO COLLAPSES
This photo provided by Aeromed shows the collapsed Radio Telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The already damaged radio telescope that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century completely collapsed, falling onto the northern portion of the vast reflector dish more than 400 feet below. Yamil Rodriguez/Aeromed via AP
FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE ADMINISTERED IN THE U.K.
90-year-old Margaret Keenan, the first patient in the UK to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, administered by nurse May Parsons at University Hospital, Coventry, England, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020. Jacob King/Pool via AP
SCALLOP BOAT WITH 6 FISHERS ON BOARD SINKS IN BAY OF FUNDY
Members of a ground search and rescue team walk along the shore of the Bay of Fundy in Hillsburn, N.S. as they continue the to look for five fishermen missing after the scallop dragger Chief William Saulis sank in the Bay of Fundy, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
