The highest temperature, the worst crisis, the most expensive elections. A journey through 2020 in ten records in the climate, health, economic, political and sports sectors.
– Highest temperature –
On August 16, a temperature of 54.4 ° C was recorded in Death Valley, California, the highest temperature measured on earth after records dating back to 1913 and 1931.
In a new sign of global warming, 2020 is heralded as the warmest year after 2016 and the past decade is “the warmest ever on record,” according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
– Epidemic of records –
The covid-19 pandemic, which emerged in China at the end of 2019, has set records for the rapidity of its geographical spread and its devastating effects on human activity.
On April 2, three months after the epidemic started, more than 3.9 billion people, half of humanity, were forced or called into confinement, according to an AFP count.
– The biggest recession –
The blow that the health crisis dealt to the economy and the wave of lockdowns resulted in a brutal recession in the spring, compared by violence to the crisis of 1929.
In April, 20.5 million jobs were destroyed in the United States and the unemployment rate rose to levels comparable to those that followed the 1929 stock market crash.
– The worst balance? –
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on November 14 a record number of 700,000 new cases of covid-19 in 24 hours.
However, the human balance of the pandemic despite the million and a half deaths is lower than that of other epidemics: the so-called “Spanish flu” of 1918-19 killed 50 million people and the Black Death eliminated half of the population European in the late Middle Ages.
– Record of humanitarian needs –
Due to covid-19, the number of people in need of humanitarian aid will rise to a level never before reached with 235 million people.
“The photo we present is the bleakest we have ever exhibited in terms of humanitarian needs,” lamented UN Humanitarian Affairs Officer Mark Lowcock.
– Rain of bills for the US elections –
$ 14 billion. Never before has so much money been spent on US elections. The election campaign candidates for the November 3, 2020 presidential and legislative elections in the United States spent twice as much as in the 2016 elections and three times as much as in the 2000 elections, according to the independent institute Center for Responsive politics. .
– F1: stronger than “Schumi” –
British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton broke the record for Grand Prix victories held by German Michael Schumacher to date by claiming the 94th trophy in November in Turkey.
Hamilton equals the mythical “Schumi” in the number of world crowns, with seven world champion titles.
– Faster, higher –
Athletics registered several records in 2020: the Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei became the fastest to cover the 10,000 meters, in 26 minutes and 11 seconds, in October in Valencia (Spain) while the Swedish perteguista Armand Duplantis surpassed the legend of the Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, rising to 6.15 meters in September in Rome.
– The worst defeat –
By losing 6-0 to Spain, the German soccer team, four-time world champion, suffered the worst defeat in Seville on November 18 since 1931. The setback did not prevent Joachim Löw, the Mannschaft coach since 2006, from continuing in its position at least until the Euro in 2021.
– The price of pigeons through the roof –
A Chinese in November paid 1.6 million euros for the New Kim carrier pigeon, bred in Belgium, in an electronic auction.
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