World Photography day: Understanding the world of 2020 through pictures

Here's a look at what the world has weathered so far through pictures

1 / 10

Australia is no stranger to bushfires however, the 2019-2020 season proved to be unprecedented in many ways. The first major bushfires began even before the official arrival of spring in June, followed by a series of out-of-control fires in the months that followed. All of the fires were either extinguished or contained by March 4, 2020 – nine months after the first ones began.

2 / 10

On January 8, a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board. It came in the midst of escalating tensions between the US and Iran. After days of denial, Iran admitted it had shot the Boeing plane down "unintentionally".

3 / 10

Iran’s top security and intelligence commander Qassim Suleimani, was killed early on January 3 in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that was authorised by US President Trump. Soleimani was the architect of nearly every significant operation by Iranian intelligence and military forces over the past two decades, and his death was a staggering blow for Iran at a time of sweeping geopolitical conflict.

4 / 10

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus on April 13, thousands of migrant workers gathered near a railway stations and bus stands in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Delhi and other states. They demanded that authorities arrange transport to send them back to their hometowns and villages so they could be with their families.

5 / 10

St. Peter's Square at the Vatican is normally swarming with tens of thousands of visitors hoping to get a glimpse of Pope Francis as he delivers his Sunday remarks. But on March 20, the square stood eerily empty as Italy remained on lockdown due to the novel coronavirus. Once seen as the world's worst hotspot, Italy has now managed to bring the virus to heel, as has much of the rest of Europe.

6 / 10

On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man outside a shop in Minnesota, after a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that Floyd had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Footage of the arrest on 25 May showed a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck while he was pinned to the floor. He died of suffocation. George Floyd's death reignited a national conversation about race, police brutality and social injustice.

7 / 10

An invasion by desert locusts hit large swathes of India Pakistan and East Africa in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Large and aggressive swarms of these crop-devouring short-horned insects have invaded more than two dozen districts covering more than 50,000 hectares of desert areas of western India. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are the worst affected states. In neighbouring Pakistan, authorities declared a nationwide emergency in February, saying locust numbers were the worst in more than two decades.

8 / 10

"On April 5, Sunday, at 9 pm, I want 9 minutes from all of you. Turn off all the lights in your homes, stand at your doors or balconies and light candles, diya (lamp) or mobile flashlights for 9 minutes. We must all together, challenge the darkness spread by the coronavirus crisis, introducing it to the power of light", Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a video message.

9 / 10

The prime minister, in a televised address to the nation, announced a ‘Janata Curfew’ from 7 am to 9 pm on March 22, to stop the spread of coronavirus that had already claimed four lives in the country and infected at least 169 others by then. Currently, the virus has infected over 2.7 million people and claimed over 50,000 lives in India.

10 / 10

Currently, flood situation remained grim in North Karnataka due to heavy rainfall in catchment areas of Krishna river and its tributaries. Bheema, Cauvery and Lakshmanatheertha rivers are flowing at a high level while the Sayi layout and Kuvempu layout Kushalnagar is inundated and the affected residents were shifted to safer location. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team is deployed at the flood-hit districts.