2022 in pictures: this year's biggest news stories

There are few years that have been as eventful as 2022. From global pandemics and political assassinations to killer inflation and unprecedented wars, we're counting down 41 of this year's biggest moments.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry survived an attempted assassination on January 1st during a celebration of Haiti's independence.

Israel reported the world's first case of flurona on January 2nd, it was believed to be a case of double infection of both COVID-19 and influenza in an unvaccinated pregnant woman.

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the Silicon Valley blood-testing start-up Theranos, was found guilty of four counts of fraud on January 3rd and was subsequently sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison for defrauding investors.

The 2022 Winter Olympics took place between February 4th and 20th and much of the games were mired in controversy over China's human-rights abuses, diplomatic boycotts, and the country's dystopian levels of industrial poverty.

Women's National Basketball Association star Brittany Griner was detained on February 17th at an airport near Moscow for the possession of illegal substances in her luggage.

On February 24th Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, a war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the largest refugee crisis the world has seen in generations.

Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky turned down an offer of evacuation from the American government on February 3rd and instead urged his country to fight and the world to provide Ukraine with ammunition and help.

Shortly after the February 24th invasion of Ukraine, several anti-war demonstrations and protests broke out all across Russia leading to thousands of arrests.

After Russia's unprecedented invasion of Ukraine, Western countries united on March 3rd and slapped Vladimir Putin's country with the toughest sanctions the world has ever seen.

On March 23rd, America's first female U.S. Secretary of State died of cancer at age 84. Albright served under President Bill Clinton for four years and was the highest-ranking woman in U.S. government history at that time.

The U.S. Senate confirmed the first Black female justice to the American Supreme Court on April 7th. Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed as a member of the Supreme Court by a confirmation vote of 53-47.

The Kremlin sustained a major blow to its war effort when the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet was sunk by a missile attack from Ukrainian forces on April 14th.

On April 18th, the United States lifted its federal mask mandate. Various European countries also lifted their mask mandate at this time but China has yet to lift its mask mandate under its Zero Covid policy.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, longtime neutral states Finland and Sweden announced their intentions to formally request to join the NATO alliance on May 15th and May 16th respectively.

After a grueling three-month siege and heroic defense by Ukrainian Azov Forces, the city of Mauripol was captured by Russia on May 18th. Over 21,000 civilians died during the siege according to the American news outlet Politico.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on May 24th.

Just when everyone thought the global pandemic was over, the World Health Organization announced on May 19th that nearly 200 cases of a new virus called "monkeypox" had been discovered in at least 20 countries.

On June 2nd, the foreign minister of the state of Turkey officially requested that the United Nations recognize the country under its new name, Turkiye.

Boris Johnson was forced to resign as British Prime Minister on June 7th after a string of scandals lead to a vote of no confidence from Conservative Party members who had lost faith in Boris' leadership.

Starting on June 14th and running until late October, flooding in Pakistan killed 1739 people and caused tens of billions in damage and economic losses.

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 28th for the role she played in helping Jeffery Epstein acquire his victims.

Starting in early July, the world suffered under an unprecedented heatwave that killed thousands. In Western Europe, the British news outlet the Guardian estimated that more than 20,000 were killed by temperatures that would have been impossible before without the recent changes in our climate.

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, one of Japan’s most powerful and longest-serving politicians, died after being shot on July 8th during a campaign speech.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on August 8th looking for classified documents that Trump allegedly removed from the Whitehouse while serving as President of the United States.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 17th, a move that increased tensions between Xi Jinping's China and the United States.

On August 30th, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 91. Gobachez was the last leader of the Soviet Union and is well known for attempting to modernize the USSR before its collapse.

After months on the defensive, Ukrainian forces launched a major counter-offensive on September 6th that broke Russian lines and allowed the country's armed forces to recapture most of Kharkiv Oblast.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss became the UK's next prime minister on September 6th after beating out Rishi Sunak in a party election. Truss would last just six weeks before her disastrous monetary policies lead to her resignation.

After 70 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth passed away on September 8th at Balmoral Castle. She was succeeded by her son, Charles.

After several disastrous defeats, Russain President Vladimir Putin announced on September 21st a partial mobilization of 300,000 Russian troops, a deeply unpopular move that send hundreds of thousands of Russians fleeing to neighboring countries to avoid the mobilization.

Between September 23-27, Russian authorities held four referendums in Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk Oblasts in order to complete their illegal annexation of captured Ukranian territory.

Burkina Faso's interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was removed from power on September 30th over his inability to deal with the country's Islamist insurgency problem. Military officer Ibrahim Traoré took over as interim leader of the country.

On September 16th, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini sparked major widespread protests in Iran over the country's morality police and their treatment of women.

On October 10th,  President Putin signed the final paperwork allowing Russia to legally annex four Ukrainian territories, an act that was in direct violation of international law.

On October 26th, Rishi Sunak took over as the 57th British Prime Minister. Sunak became the first British citizen of Indian descent to reach the country's highest office.

After bidding to buy Twitter and then attempting to exit the deal, Elon Musk was forced to purchase the company for $44 billion dollars and took control on October 28th.

Russia suffered another major defeat when its units on the right bank of the Dnieper river were forced to retreat to the left bank on November 9th after months of supply deficiencies. At this point in the war, it was estimated that Ukraine had recaptured about 50% of the land taken by Russia during the invasion.

On November 18th, North Korea conducted several intercontinental ballistic missile launches and was able to definitely prove the country had the ability to hit targets on the mainland U.S.

On November 15th, the world population surpassed 8 billion people.

The 2022 FIFA world cup took place in Qatar between November 20th and December 18th. The event was overshadowed by migrant workers and LGBTQ equality rights issues. Argentina ultimately won the tournament, the first time the country had done since 1986.

The Covid-19 pandemic coupled with the supply chain issues arising out of the war in Ukraine worked together to make 2022 one of the worst years for global inflation since the late 1970s and early 1980s.