The New Year is normally a time to consider how we might change our lives for the better. This year we learnt something different: how to deal with events entirely outside our control
Few will miss much about 2020. Despite the trauma it inflicted, reflecting on this historic period helps us to learn from it and move on. It will fortify us for the future.
Covid-19 dominated the year. But even before it emerged as a global catastrophe in February, the year had an eventful start. Much of this took place in our region. Only three days into the year, the US killed leader of the Iranian Quds Force Qassem Suleimani, in retaliation to Iranian provocation. Tensions surged again after Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.
On the other hand, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey intensified his confrontational foreign policy, moving into the Eastern Mediterranean on the pretense that he was asserting Turkey's right to energy resources in the disputed waters, angering the country's old rival Greece and the wider EU – an institution already undermined by Brexit, which was concluded only last week. At home, Mr Erdogan challenged the secular identity of modern Turkey, choosing to embolden political Islam and convert the Hagia Sophia – a former Byzantine cathedral, then mosque, then secular monument – back into a mosque. Such actions are ideologically-driven, but also partly to distract from the downward spiral in which Turkey's economy is trapped.
Longstanding regional wars dragged on tragically in Syria and Libya. Other states experienced a more rapid decline. Political corruption in Lebanon culminated in the Beirut blast, an entirely avoidable accident that caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, killing hundreds and making much of the city's population homeless. Five months on, the situation is still not resolved, nor is the government being held sufficiently to account. In Iraq, Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi was appointed. His desire to unite the country, battle corruption and restore trust in the state, is impressive. But with Covid-19, and influential militias opposed to his programme, he confronts a major challenge.
The UAE's Mars orbiter Amal, or Hope, lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, southern Japan. AP
For the privileged, are there some silver linings to be gleaned from the burden of life channeled through zoom?
But geopolitics was not all bleak. The Abraham Accords saw the UAE and Bahrain establish diplomatic ties with Israel, breaking a decades-long deadlock in the Middle East. This was quickly followed by Sudan and Morocco establishing links with Israel.
The UAE had a better year than most countries. Its pandemic response was swifter and more decisive than most other nations, leading to higher testing rates, lower case numbers, stricter but less costly lockdowns, as well as timely stimulus packages. Covid-19 vaccine science was advanced in the country with the trial of the Sinopharm inoculation. The UAE also launched its Amal – or Hope – Mars probe in July, which will study the planet's atmosphere. Back on earth, the country made significant reforms ranging from the legal system to its business environment.
This year, reasons to be optimistic globally have not been in abundance. Millions have lost loved ones and jobs. Uncertainty led to difficult situations for people all over the world. But, in an age where many have become used to year-on-year progress in its typical sense, is it only bad that we learned to deal with life dramatically altered? Many people endure intolerable conditions. For those privileged not to do so, are there some silver linings to be gleaned from the burden of life channelled through zoom? The Classical philosophy of Stoicism, centred on the teaching that true happiness comes from accepting that which one has no control over, had little traction in the comfortable quarters of yesterday's world. Not so in 2020.
When people set New Year's resolutions, they are, in one sense, exercising a privileged ability to change their lives for the better in almost limitless ways. This year, the luckiest of us were forced to practise something valuable and largely forgotten: how to keep our heads in a world suddenly imposing change on us, not the other way round.
SERIES INFO
Schedule:
All matches at the Harare Sports Club
1st ODI, Wed Apr 10
2nd ODI, Fri Apr 12
3rd ODI, Sun Apr 14
4th ODI, Sun Apr 16
UAE squad
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Zimbabwe squad
Peter Moor (captain), Solomon Mire, Brian Chari, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Craig Ervine, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Tony Munyonga, Elton Chigumbura
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
An arms embargo
A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024. It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine. Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages]. The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts. With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians. Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved. Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world. The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
