current event essay 2021

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130 + best current event essay topics & current event essay example, bob cardens.

• July 29, 2022

This article covers a list over 130 Current Event Essay Topics and a Current Event Essay Example. It also discusses the ho to choose a Current Event Essay Topic that best fits your interests.

Current events essays are common assignments given by English professors which means learning to write them is a key to passing and succeeding in English class. Writing an essay may seem like a simple assignment, but when it is due tomorrow, a blank word document and piles of books can seem paralyzing.

What You'll Learn

Current Event Essay

A current events essay is a written description of a recent situation, issue, or happening. Current events essays are often assigned by English professors as a way to teach students about the research, writing, and editing process.

Properties of Current Events Essays

• Are written in standard essay format
• Include in-text citations and follow a specific citation format
• Summarize a recent or upcoming event known to the public

You may also be interested to read about Argumentative business essay topics

How to choose your topic

Sometimes a current events essay assignment will provide specific instructions about what topic to write about.

Other times, students will have more flexibility in choosing a topic. Be sure to carefully review your assignment’s rubric and instructions.

If you will be choosing your own topic, make note of the following before you narrow down topic choices:

1. Do the instructions place any time constraints on your topic? In other words, does your current event have to be something that happened within the last year or can it be something that happened five years ago?

2. Does your topic need to relate to a specific industry or genre such as politics, sports, or business?

3. Are there any analytical components that are supposed to be addressed by your essay or are it purely descriptive?

How to Research Efficiently

Tackling the research process can, no doubt, feel a bit intimidating. Here are some basic steps for getting started:

1. Know how many sources you will need  so that you can allow enough time to research.

2. Choose credible sources.  This will depend on the instructions you are given. some professors allow business or media articles while others will only want scholarly sources.

3. Know exactly what you are looking for  before you start your research. Jot down three or four main bullet points of what you will be looking for while you are researching.

Think of these points like a road map. They will guide your reading so you know what passages will be relevant to your paper.

Usually, you will be looking for information that relates to the  What, Where, When, Who, Why,  and  How  aspects of your topic.

Best Current Event Essay Topics

Politics current event essay topics.

• How will Black Lives Matter affect the 2020 elections?
• Should the police be defunded?
• How is the Trump presidency changing international relationships?
• How should the U.S. respond to cyber hacking by Russia, China, and other countries?
• Should the United States raise the minimum wage for workers?
• How can cities in the U.S. be better designed to create a safer and more economically productive community?
• Is the U.S. economy becoming stronger or weaker?
• How will COVID-19 change working in America? Around the world?
• Getting “off the grid” is a current trend. What is the benefit of becoming self-sufficient? Is it worth the cost?
• Does better health care for everyone make a better and stronger economy in the U.S.?
• Does it make sense to give U.S. citizenship to all babies born in the United States?
• Gallup polls show that Americans view Unemployment and the economy as the top problem in the United States. Does evidence suggest they are right?
• What are the different sides of the current debate over immigration reform in the U.S.?
• Does the United States have a good or a poor educational system compared to the rest of the world?
• How important is it to reduce the Federal budget deficit?
• What will be the most important issues in the next Presidential election cycle?
• What is causing the increasingly high cost of healthcare in the United States?
• Should the U.S. continue using drone strikes against terrorists?
• How is the current U.S. drought going to affect the fire season and food supply?
• Should the death penalty be outlawed throughout the U.S.?
• Should the U.S. aggressively work to change towards alternative energies like solar and wind power?
• What is the best way to create new jobs in the United States to get people back to work?
• Is the United States responsible for keeping peace around the world? What role should the U.S. play in preventing or intervening in wars and abusive governments?
• Should the United States fund college education more for people? What should be the rules for the repayment of loans?
• Should the United States make it easier for educated people or people with valuable skills to immigrate to the United States?
• How can the Borders of the United States be made more secure? How important is border security?
• Should it be easier for people to become United States citizens?
• What infrastructure projects should be the top domestic priority in the United States?
• How has the high incarceration rate in the United States affected the economy? What Federal and State policies have driven up this incarceration rate?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected the debate about racism in the United States?

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Sports Current Event Essay Topics

• Should sports teams play to empty stands rather than not play at all?
• How will COVID-19 affect sports in the future?
• Should college football players receive a salary or other compensation for their playing?
• Should the owner of a professional team be held accountable for the comments he makes in a private conversation?
• Is it worth it for a city to invest in building a bigger and better stadium for its professional sports team?
• What is the value of a college sports team for a college? How does this help the college in terms of getting financial support from alumni? Attracting students? Supporting the economy of their community?
• What is the difference between sports and entertainment?
• How have new technologies made by watching sports different? Is the experience of watching sports better or worse than it was before?
• Which is more interesting to watch, college or professional sports?
• What sports should be taken out or added to the Olympic games?
• Should performance-enhancing drugs be allowed in sports? What should be the rules about these drugs? Should athletes who used them in the past before they were outlawed be prevented from being entered into Hall of Fame?
• Is racism in sports a problem?
• Should athletes protest racism in America by not participating in the National Anthem or Pledge of Allegiance?
• Is participating in organized sports a good or bad idea for young people?
• Is it better for young people to specialize in one sport from a young age? Or should they try a variety of sports?
• Choose your favorite sport. What is the best way for coaches to identify the best talent in their specific sport? Are there better ways to pick a team?
• How much of a role do parents play in developing top talent in their children? What is the best way parents can help develop their children’s sports career? What are the worst mistakes parents make?
• Can fan-owned teams solve sports problems?

World Issues Current Event Essay Topics

• How will COVID-19 change the world economy?
• Is WHO and organization that provides the information we can trust?
• Is the International Space Station a good way to bridge differences between nations, or is it vulnerable to become a political tool?
• Are we heading towards a 3rd World War?
• Is N.A.T.O. and an effective organization?
• How can the International Community prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons? How important is it that Iran not be allowed nuclear weaponry?
• What is the effect on Africa on the fact that many children have been forced to be soldiers?
• Is the EU going to survive the current economic problems countries have been having? Should the EU nations separate their economies?
• Is violence along the border of Mexico getting better?
• How can ethnic killings be stopped in Sudan?
• Is China easing up in restrictions for Religion or not? Are human rights better or worse in China than in the past?
• Should women’s issues be more important in international affairs?
• Is China about to overtake the United States economically?
• What is the effect of piracy on the stability of world commerce? How important is it to stop African pirates?
• Is there a better way to fight the war against drugs internationally?
• Is China starting to deal with their pollution problem?
• How has social media helped positively influence the world?
• Is India a poor nation or an emerging superpower?
• How can we stop the world population from reaching 9 billion in 2050? Is it important to work to limit world population growth?
• Should the world follow Bhutan’s development model?
• How healthy is the Indian Judicial System?
• Why do African nations have so many civil wars?
• Has foreign aid hurt Africa more than helping it?
• How has the influence of western media hurt underdeveloped nations?
• Does Colonialism still affect the nations that were colonized? Pick a nation and explain the continuing problems in that nation due to the history of being colonized.

Health and Medicine Current Event EssayTopics

• What can we do to better prepare ourselves for pandemics in the future?
• What are the lessons the medical community will learn from COVID-19?
• Are E-Cigarettes less harmful than smoking?
• Why do people oppose the Affordable Care Act?
• Does spending time on media cause children to have mental health problems?
• How is the job of frontline health workers like pharmacists, nurses, and doctors going to change?
• Is it possible to get AIDS infection rates to zero?
• What is preventing the world from eradicating polio?
• How are new technologies changing health care?
• What are the current trends in research about helping people break out of addictive behaviors?
• Traditional Chinese Medicine birth practices like eating the placenta (which in Western countries is usually encapsulated by being steamed dried and ground into pills) are becoming popular among some celebrities. What is the benefit of this practice? Is there any scientific evidence it works?
• Does making a city a “no smoking zone” really benefit health? Does it stop people from smoking, or help them quit? Does it result in fewer smokers in that city?
• What is the best diet for people with heart disease in their family history?
• The length of the average life continues to increase. What does current research say about the best lifestyle for someone who wants to live to be 100?
• Research is finding that what we think a medicine or food will do sometimes affects the way our body reacts. What is the evidence that our mind controls our body?
• Current health food trends include eating “superfoods” or going “gluten-free.” Take a current food trend and investigate the scientific evidence that this helps people have better health.
• What is the benefit of taking a daily low dose of Aspirin for older people?

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Media and Entertainment Current Event Essay Topics

• How has Twitter changed Entertainment news? What are the most recent scandals made bigger because of Tweets?
• Is it inevitable that teenage stars eventually turn to drugs, alcohol, or other destructive behavior?
• Are female stars fighting back effectively against being judged by their looks, and especially by their weight?
• Which celebrity does the best job of seeming to be authentic? Is there a celebrity who seems to be as nice as they appear? How can fans know?
• How have shows like “Project Runway” influenced fashion? Have they motivated people to become more creative and personal in what they wear?
• In what way does the attention of the media on religious figures like The Pope affect the way they behave?
• Are the recent Christian movies helping win the culture wars?
• Why are cooking shows like “Chopped” popular?
• What is the best recent film adapted from a novel?
• What are the best movies in the current year? Do the Academy Awards winners reflect the very best movies?
• Is recap culture hurting television?
• Recently, scripts from pro-wrestling have been released showing that the storyline is written even though the wrestling is improved. Analyze how pro-wrestling is similar to other forms of live or taped entertainment.
• Which current actors from Bollywood or other film industry outside of the U.S. seem most likely to make it big in Hollywood?
• Does getting involved in a scandal hurt or help a celebrity’s career?
• Does being on American Idol, The Voice or other singing contest help an artist’s career? Do winners do better than other contestants?
• Pick one of the current Reality T.V. shows to investigate. How “Real” are these shows? What is done for entertainment value more than for depicting real life? Do these shows hurt or help the people on them?

Controversial Issues Current Event Essay Topics

• Affirmative Action
• Alternative medicine
• America’s global influence
• Artificial intelligence
• Assisted suicide
• Bilingual education
• Capital punishment
• Charter schools
• Childhood obesity
• Civil rights
• Climate change
• Cryptocurrency
• Cyber bullying
• Drug legalization
• Eating disorders
• Factory farming
• Foreign aid
• Freedom of speech
• Genetic engineering
• Health insurance
• Immigration
• Labor unions
• Minimum wage
• Nuclear energy
• Organic food
• Offshore drilling
• Outsourcing
• Racial profiling
• Reparations
• Screen addiction
• Self-driving cars
• Sex education
• Smart speakers
• Social security
• Standardized testing
• Urban agriculture
• Violence in the media
• Women’s rights
• Zero tolerance policies

Current Event Essay Example

The negative social impacts of “tomorrowland music festival” essay.

“Tomorrowland” is among the biggest global music events that were first launched in 2005. Despite the benefits of this festival for the local community, such as increased economic activity and employment, “Tomorrowland” has also been criticized for the presence of drugs on-site, the issues with cleaning up the location after the festival, local community’s quality of life, and noise pollution.

According to Turner (2017), during events such as Tomorrowland, “police generally occupy a low-key role at festivals with a focus on the seizure of drugs, rather than arrests” (241). Hence, the youth attending this event is exposed to drugs and seeing people around them be under the influence.

Another issue with Tomorrowland is the effect that this festival has on the local community. According to Pavluković et al. (2018), the governments and organizers of festivals usually cite the economic benefits of these events but fail to acknowledge the discomfort the locals feel. An obvious environmental impact is trash left behind by the visitors, which requires the administration of the festival to invest in clearing the site after “Tomorrowland” is over.

Adbulredha et al. (2017) argue that major music festivals generate substantial quantities of solid waste, an estimated “0.89 kg per guest” (p. 388). This problem affects the environment negatively since this waste includes non-recyclable objects or items that need to be collected and send for recycling.

Finally, noise pollution due to the powerful sound systems used by “Tomorrowland’s” performers, which can affect the hearing of the people attending the festival and cause discomfort to the community members, is also a problem.

Overall, although “Tomorrowland” is an important cultural event that has multiple benefits, it also endangers the youth and the environment and causes discomfort for the locals.

Abdulredha, M., Al Khaddar, R., Jordan, D., Kot, P., Abdulridha, A., & Hashim, K. (2018). Estimating solid waste generation by hospitality industry during major festivals: A quantification model based on multiple regression.  Waste Management, 77 , 388-400. Web.

Pavluković V., Armenski T., Alcántara-Pilar J.M. (2019) The impact of music festivals on local communities and their quality of life: Comparation of Serbia and Hungary. In A. Campón-Cerro A., J. Hernández-Mogollón, & J. Folgado-Fernández (Eds.), Best practices in hospitality and tourism marketing and management. Applying quality of life research (pp. 217-237). Springer.

Turner, T. (2017). Space, drugs and Disneyfication. An Ethnography of British youth in Ibiza. [Doctoral dissertation, Coventry University]. CURVE.

You can also check out Best Classification Essay Topics 

Related FAQs

1. what are the components of a current events essay.

A well-written, “current events essay” has four main components: Research: Make sure that you’re getting your news from a reputable source. Online news sources like Google News and any national news syndication Web site are good, convenient sources from which to gather reputable information and compile research data.

2. How to write a narrative discussion analysis article about current events?

The eply a narrative discussion analysis article, Current Event, include: (1)’s significance, relevance, relationship PUBLIC ADMINISTATION, (2) student’s opinion article’s public administration issue / problem, (3) supported (4) -text reference citations pages text 300 words.

3. How to write an essay about a recent event?

Select a recent article. Your task is to write about a current event; therefore, you have to choose the material that is one or two days old, maximum, one week old. The topic must be appropriate.

4. How to write a summary for a current event assignment?

Choose an article that is fresh since the assignment is to write about a current event. In addition, choose an article on the correct topic and make sure that the article gives enough information. Prepare to write the summary by reading the entire article.

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Nonfiction Books » Essays

The best essays: the 2021 pen/diamonstein-spielvogel award, recommended by adam gopnik.

WINNER OF the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay

Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich

Every year, the judges of the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay search out the best book of essays written in the past year and draw attention to the author's entire body of work. Here, Adam Gopnik , writer, journalist and PEN essay prize judge, emphasizes the role of the essay in bearing witness and explains why the five collections that reached the 2021 shortlist are, in their different ways, so important.

Interview by Benedict King

Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader by Vivian Gornick

Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays by Robert Michael Pyle

Terroir: Love, Out of Place by Natasha Sajé

Maybe the People Would be the Times by Luc Sante

1 Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich

2 unfinished business: notes of a chronic re-reader by vivian gornick, 3 nature matrix: new and selected essays by robert michael pyle, 4 terroir: love, out of place by natasha sajé, 5 maybe the people would be the times by luc sante.

W e’re talking about the books shortlisted for the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay . As an essayist yourself, or as a reader of essays, what are you looking for? What’s the key to a good essay ?

Let’s turn to the books that made the shortlist of the 2021 PEN Award for the Art of the Essay. The winning book was Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara Ehrenreich , whose books have been recommended a number of times on Five Books. Tell me more. 

One of the criteria for this particular prize is that it should be not just for a single book, but for a body of work. One of the things we wanted to honour about Barbara Ehrenreich is that she has produced a remarkable body of work. Although it’s offered in a more specifically political register than some essayists, or that a great many past prize winners have practised, the quiddity of her work is that it remains rooted in personal experience, in the act of bearing witness. She has a passionate political point to make, certainly, a series of them, many seeming all the more relevant now than when she began writing. Nonetheless, her writing still always depends on the intimacy of first-hand knowledge, what people in post-incarceration work call ‘lived experience’ (a term with a distinguished philosophical history). Her book Nickel and Dimed is the classic example of that. She never writes from a distance about working-class life in America. She bears witness to the nature and real texture of working-class life in America.

“One point of giving awards…is to keep passing the small torches of literary tradition”

Next up of the books on the 2021 PEN essay prize shortlist is Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader by Vivian Gornick.

Vivian Gornick is a writer who’s been around for a very long time. Although longevity is not in itself a criterion for excellence—or for this prize, or in the writing life generally—persistence and perseverance are. Writers who keep coming back at us, again and again, with a consistent vision, are surely to be saluted. For her admirers, her appetite to re-read things already read is one of the most attractive parts of her oeuvre , if I can call it that; her appetite not just to read but to read deeply and personally. One of the things that people who love her work love about it is that her readings are never academic, or touched by scholarly hobbyhorsing. They’re readings that involve the fullness of her experience, then applied to literature. Although she reads as a critic, she reads as an essayist reads, rather than as a reviewer reads. And I think that was one of the things that was there to honour in her body of work, as well.

Is she a novelist or journalist, as well?

Let’s move on to the next book which made the 2021 PEN essay shortlist. This is Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays by Robert Michael Pyle.

I have a special reason for liking this book in particular, and that is that it corresponds to one of the richest and oldest of American genres, now often overlooked, and that’s the naturalist essay. You can track it back to Henry David Thoreau , if not to Ralph Waldo Emerson , this American engagement with nature , the wilderness, not from a narrowly scientific point of view, nor from a purely ecological or environmental point of view—though those things are part of it—but again, from the point of view of lived experience, of personal testimony.

Let’s look at the next book on the shortlist of the 2021 PEN Awards, which is Terroir: Love, Out of Place by Natasha Sajé. Why did these essays appeal?

One of the things that was appealing about this book is that’s it very much about, in every sense, the issues of the day: the idea of place, of where we are, how we are located on any map as individuals by ethnic identity, class, gender—all of those things. But rather than being carried forward in a narrowly argumentative way, again, in the classic manner of the essay, Sajé’s work is ruminative. It walks around these issues from the point of view of someone who’s an expatriate, someone who’s an émigré, someone who’s a world citizen, but who’s also concerned with the idea of ‘terroir’, the one place in the world where we belong. And I think the dialogue in her work between a kind of cosmopolitanism that she has along with her self-critical examination of the problem of localism and where we sit on the world, was inspiring to us.

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Last of the books on the shortlist for the 2021 Pen essay award is Maybe the People Would Be the Times by Luc Sante.

Again, here’s a writer who’s had a distinguished generalised career, writing about lots of places and about lots of subjects. In the past, he’s made his special preoccupation what he calls ‘low life’, but I think more broadly can be called the marginalized or the repressed and abject. He’s also written acute introductions to the literature of ‘low life’, the works of Asbury and David Maurer, for instance.

But I think one of the things that was appealing about what he’s done is the sheer range of his enterprise. He writes about countless subjects. He can write about A-sides and B-sides of popular records—singles—then go on to write about Jacques Rivette’s cinema. He writes from a kind of private inspection of public experience. He has a lovely piece about tabloid headlines and their evolution. And I think that omnivorous range of enthusiasms and passions is a stirring reminder in a time of specialization and compartmentalization of the essayist’s freedom to roam. If Pyle is in the tradition of Thoreau, I suspect Luc Sante would be proud to be put in the tradition of Baudelaire—the flaneur who walks the streets, sees everything, broods on it all and writes about it well.

One point of giving awards, with all their built-in absurdity and inevitable injustice, is to keep alive, or at least to keep passing, the small torches of literary tradition. And just as much as we’re honoring the great tradition of the naturalist essay in the one case, I think we’re honoring the tradition of the Baudelairean flaneur in this one.

April 18, 2021

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Adam Gopnik

Adam Gopnik has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1986. His many books include A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism . He is a three time winner of the National Magazine Award for Essays & Criticism, and in 2021 was made a chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur by the French Republic.

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Tips for writing an Excellent Current Events Essay or Research Paper

Let's face it, writing a current events essay can be challenging if you are not adequately prepared. It is a laborious process, especially if you are to select a current event issue, formulate a topic, plan, write, and polish your essay within a tight deadline.

The bitter truth is that no professor will teach you how to write one. Well, at least not as deep as our detailed guide here will do in the next less than a quarter an hour of your time. Yet it is an assignment assigned at grades 6-8, high school, college, university, and sometimes even at Ph.D. levels.

In most cases, your role is to present points or concrete arguments about the event in question. In essence, you need to plan, research, and engage your best writing, critical thinking, and creativity skills. Good analysis, organization, and presentation are necessary more like when writing a synthesis essay or expository essay .

With all that in mind, let's find the way out. You can read this article and scoop some ideas on the elements that make a good current events paper, even if you are writing it for the first time.

What is a current events essay?

A current events essay describes a recent issue, situation, phenomenon, or happening that is interesting, drawing the attention of many people, shocking, or fascinating. In some cases, current event essays describe an event that is yet to happen. It helps relate what you have learned in class to the real-world situations that occur around you. Most current event essays are five-paragraph essays.

In a current events essay, you are to address the historical context, current state, and the potential short- and long-term effects of a given aspect of a current issue or phenomenon that has a global impact. In most cases, the topics will relate to concepts from the law, politics, international relations, technology, science, sociology, medicine and health, and other controversial societal issues. You will take a current event or issue and present it in its context.

It is a common assignment for students taking English writing classes, which is meant to assess writing, editing, and research skills. It also informs students about important occurrences across the world.

When writing one, you are to reflect on and form opinions about social justice and also learn how to spot publication bias. And as you write it, you get to hone your reading comprehension, summary, creativity, and critical thinking skills.

As well, writing an essay on current events helps you to develop your argumentative and persuasive skills.

Now that we know what a current events essay or the paper is let's explore the various steps you should take to write one successfully.

Steps to Write a Current Events Essay

Before everything else, let us show you the steps you need to follow when writing a current events essay. Although there is no one single proven way to approach such an essay better, these steps can help you avoid writer's block and write a current events essay that becomes your teacher's favorite. To write a current events essay, follow these steps:

1. Select a topic you find interesting

Although some professors or educators provide specific instructions about what topic to choose or write about, others leave it up to you (the student) to choose one. When allowed the flexibility of selecting a current events essay topic, you need to be very careful.

Check whether the instructions have specific time constraints on the topic you are to select. For instance, the instructions could stress that you focus on current events within the last year, one month, or five years.

You must also check whether your topic relates to a specific area, field, or industry. For example, understand whether it relates to education, banking, investments, technology, sports, business, religion, discrimination, gender, or politics.

Finally, check whether you need to choose a topic with some analytical aspects. This step should help you choose a topic that will not end up with a descriptive tone.

To choose a fit essay topic , you can focus on your notes, ask for insights from classmates and peers, or consult with your teacher. And as you select a topic, remember to choose one that is interesting, easy to find information about, and one you can write a complete 5-10 page essay on.

Suppose you are unsure and cannot get enough help from your teacher. In that case, you can engage an essay writing service for topic selection and further guidance.

Related Reading:

• Informative Speech topics to consider.
• Writing a descriptive essay the right way.
• Good topics and ideas for persuasive essays.
• Current and interesting argumentative essay topics.
• Tips for writing an informative essay.

2. Choose a reputable news source and select an article

Some of the good places to find topics and articles for a current events essay include New ELA, NY Times , National News, Local news websites, Sports News, The Atlantic , BBC News , Daily Mail, The Economist, The Guardian, Investopedia, Forbes, TIME Magazine, The Harvard Business Review, National Public Radio (NPR), CNN News , USA Today, The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post , and other credible news outlets.

The source you select should be reliable, reputable, and credible. It should write well-researched, verified, and trustworthy news. After finding the source, research a fresh article as you write about a current event. Besides, choose an article on the correct topic and ensure it has the right information for your current events paper.

If you are writing a current events paper for a politics class, use the section of the major newspapers that deals with political matters. In the same way, if you are writing on science topics, target the science and technology section of the newspaper for appropriate articles.

Consider choosing from scholarly sources such as empirical journal articles, scholarly books, government documents, or peer-reviewed articles.

3. Read the selected article and take notes

After you have selected the article, read through it severally. In the first few instances, skim through the article to have a rough idea of its contents, then subsequently read as you take notes.

When reading, highlight the critical points within the article. If you are unsure of some vocabulary in the article, use a dictionary and note the contextual meaning of the words.

 You should then use the highlighted notes to identify the 5 Ws: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Answer briefly the questions below:

• What happened?
• Where did it happen?
• When did it happen?
• Who was involved?
• Why did it happen?
• How did it happen?

Determining these aspects helps you develop an angle of analysis, develop lead sentences, craft a strong thesis statement , and develop claims and arguments necessary for your current events paper. You can also document your thoughts about the article and its content.

4. Develop a thesis statement and hook for your essay

With the notes, you can develop a thesis statement and choose a good hook for your essay . A current events essay needs to be captivating, which means supporting the main arguments with credible evidence. Therefore, develop a strong thesis that each body paragraph will support using evidence.

If you are writing a current events essay on human trafficking during COVID-19, you can use the hook and thesis below:

Hook: In a study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) , it emerged that the COVID-19 pandemic had had a devastating impact on the victims and survivors of human trafficking, with an increased targeting and exploitation of children and women.

Thesis Statement: It is time for world leaders, investigative agencies, and law enforcement agencies to come together and develop a platform that would curb human trafficking, especially during challenging times such as pandemics and natural disasters.

5. Select the sources you are going to use to support the thesis

Research is the most critical yet intimidating part of writing any paper. However, to set yourself up in the right direction, consider doing this:

• Understand the number of sources you are to use to determine the scope of your research
• Choose credible sources. This primarily depends on the instructions. Some professors and teachers will allow you to use media and business articles. At the same time, some will only accept essays written with scholarly sources.
• Know the scope of your research or paper before commencing research. Try to write down the main points that you will use to support the thesis then research.

These are blueprints for your research as you seek to expound on the 5Ws and H of your current events essay paper.

The sources should help you fortify your position. Find and quote from experts, public figures, and scholars in the field.

When researching, look for relevant passages. Then, skim and read the documents with the 5Ws and H in your mind. If a section has ideas, consider them and highlight the significant points. You can also use the organizing tools to organize ideas from the sources.

6. Create an outline

A current events essay follows the five-paragraph essay format:

Introduction

• Body paragraphs

The body section is where the rubber meets the road as you provide evidence to support the thesis. For example, you can use subheadings in the body corresponding to the 5Ws and H.

Below is a breakdown of what should go where:

• What is the event?
• What happened or is yet to happen?
• What are the consequences?
• Which media has covered the event, and when did it do so?

The answers to these questions should be brief. Your current events essay introduction aims to give the reader insight into the event. Brevity helps you to sound reliable, knowledgeable, and engaging. The introduction should not exceed five to six sentences in most cases unless it is a very long essay.

Body Paragraph 1

• Give a history of the event
• What factors led to the event, and who was involved

Body Paragraph 2

• Explain the two sides people can take regarding the event (one side agrees, the other disagrees)- give adequate reasons.

Body Paragraph 3

• Explain the significance of the event
• As yourself, "who will the event impact?"
• What will happen?
• What roles do the people involve play?
• What can be done to change things, and by who?
• Summarize the crucial details of your essay
• Discuss the possibility of bias in the article
• Reflect on how bias informs you of the way the article was created
• Tell your readers why the event is significant enough to cover in an essay.

Works Cited Page

• List of the sources used in the essay

7. Write the first draft

It is now time to make the outline count with the outline completely. Then, you can start organizing your research and developing ideas in your essay. We advise that you begin by writing the body paragraphs, then the introduction, finally winds up with the conclusion. We are of the opinion that writing the introduction last ensures that it is excellent, composed, and consistent.

Regardless of the process, even if you begin writing chronologically (from introduction to conclusion), only focus on writing and not perfection when developing the first draft.

Select from the important passages you read evidence that support your thesis. Paraphrase, quote, and summarize from the sources, then provide an appropriate citation. Write the respective headings, subheadings, and paragraphs, and use transitions to maintain a good flow.

Your first draft should be rough, which means writing and not editing. Then, when writing the conclusion , it should be a recap of your essay. It should have a rephrased thesis and some important points of your research.

To avoid writer's block, ensure you systematically complete the paper when you have the will and zeal to write. Do not wait until later. Instead, plan your essay and complete it in phases before the deadline.

8. Proofread and edit the essay

With everything completed, it is time to refine the first draft and turn it into a final draft. First, edit your essay for the flow of ideas and sentence structure. Check whether there are ambiguous sentences, run-on sentences, or sentences that don�t make sense and are correct. If essay phrases have been misplaced, replace them with the best ones.

Proceed to proofread your essay for spelling and grammar errors. To conclude the polishing process, countercheck the sources cited in your essay. Check if the citations are done per the preferred format and that sources used in the in-text citations appear in your list of references in the correct format.

If possible, have another person read your essay. Trust our online proofreaders to read your essay, highlight mistakes, and make necessary corrections. You will get a smart paper that explains the significance of these changes. Your essay sells ideas to your professor or markers and anticipates the best Grade.

Tips when writing a current events paper

Use the following tips to perfect your current events essay.

1. Always read, understand, and analyze the essay question or the essay prompt

Check the limiting terms that define the scope of the topic, the content terms specific to the task, and the directive terms that define what your essay will be about. Directive terms include discussing, evaluating, comparing, illustrating, or exploring.

2. Define your arguments as you plan to write the essay

Ensure you have claim statements , thesis statements, and good hooks related to the main topic. Make an informed opinion, position, or point of view on the topic.

3. Use evidence, reasoning, and scholarship.

Evidence should offer data and facts to support your claim. It could be statistics, examples, quotations, and facts. Reasoning helps connect the evidence to your main argument. You will have to use reason when evaluating the evidence to show how it fits in the context of your paper. The scholarship aspect helps show how your arguments relate to what you have cited.

4. Ensure that your essay has an excellent organization

Use good essay hooks and thesis statements, and write befitting background information in your introduction. Next, organize the body paragraphs using different paragraphing techniques for a good flow. Finally, let your conclusion leave the readers yearning for more from you. It should show how the topic fits a broader context of your discipline, the significance of your findings, and factors you have covered that might interest your readers.

5. Have an essay plan

An essay plan will help you avoid writer's block. It will also help break down the writing process's parts, making it easier to concentrate, focus, and achieve more.

6. Have an essay checklist to help you refine and polish the paper

Develop the checklist from the rubric or marking scheme if one is provided. If not provided, consider some factors for a successful essay and mark your paper against the checklist.

7. Cite sources and evidence in your essay

Check whether each of the in-text citations is done as per the requirements. Equally, ensure that your list of references is up-to-date and formatted correctly in MLA, APA , Chicago, or Harvard formats.

8. Do not plagiarize

Ensure that every piece of information you use is well-cited. Acknowledge others for their credible information as you use their evidence, findings, and data to write your essay. This also means referring to verified sources such as authoritative newspapers, government journals, company data, images, and scholarly articles.

9. Be impartial

When writing, describe an event objectively without taking a subjective position. Look at the causes, factors, and other background details of the event that are not accessible. Choose not to guess or misrepresent ideas. Instead, analyze the chosen issue or event critically. And if you are writing about an event yet to occur, write what is expected based on evidence. Make good predictions and offer rationale or justifications to support your arguments. Your current event essay must be objective, convincing, informative, and educative.

These current essay tips can be the only determinant for getting the best Grade off your current events essay. Perfect and polish your writing, reading and comprehension, analytical, and organization skills because that is what is being tested. Avoid using complicated vocabulary. Instead, focus on the simplicity required in scholarly writing.

Current Event Topics

We have brainstormed, researched, and developed various current event essay topics you can choose and write about. Alternatively, these topics can be a great starting point for brainstorming and developing an appropriate topic.

• How Twitter is a significant political tool
• The USA uses drone strikes to attack terrorists; how accurate is the move?
• Causes of the high cost of healthcare in the USA
• Shortage of nurses and healthcare workers in the USA
• Wildfires in Australia
• Is the WHO trustworthy?
• Is Big Pharma taking us around with COVID-19 vaccines?
• Controversies about green energy
• Ballooning student loans in the USA
• Is social media to blame for rising teenage suicides?
• Is TikTok better than Google?
• Trump's presidency and international relations
• Afghan women's rights under Taliban 2.0
• The Black Lives Matter Movement in America
• How COVID-19 changed the global politics
• Are mandatory vaccination laws legal?
• Should the USA reduce its strictness to illegal immigrants considering its built on the same workforce?
• Should children above 15 years be allowed to vote?
• Should the government be representative?
• Should developed nations stop funding corrupt developing countries?
• Should rich people be exposed?
• Do rich people control the world
• Are wars a tool to thwart developing nations?
• The war in Syria is a creation of selfish leaders
• Why America and Russia are not on good terms
• Should North Korea stop nuclear weapons manufacturing?
• Relationship between North Korea and the USA
• The impacts of COVID-19 on the Tokyo Olympic
• Eliud Kipchoge's 1:59 marathon Record
• Should NFTs be banned?
• Is Blockchain the next big thing for the world?
• Nations should negotiate with North Korea
• Causes of global hunger and poverty
• Is NATO an effective organization
• Did COVID-19 change the global healthcare system?
• Is it possible that we are headed for a third world war?
• Is China an observer of human rights?
• Is China the new world's superpower?
• China is the world's kitchen, a chief polluter
• Is the Indian Judicial system better?
• Foreign aid has hurt Africa for ages
• African leaders are mainly corrupt, and dictators
• Should Africa be recolonized
• Is China using loans and foreign aid to recolonize Africa?
• Is cycling better than football?
• Covid-19 and the Olympic games
• How covid-19 has affected sports
• Should euthanasia be legalized
• The endless destruction of Amazon and what governments are doing
• Sex work should be legalized
• Women's rights in Afghanistan
• Mental healthcare for the LGBTQ people
• How COVID-19 Exposed the Flaws of America's Private Health Insurance System
• Why should Korea not forgive Japan for its past war crimes?
• Did History Repeat Itself in Afghanistan?
• The Afghanistan-Taliban scandal
• Is Dubai a hub for international organized financial crimes?
• Social isolation of prisoners during covid-19?
• Was the media skewed in telling lies during the pandemic?
• The no-mask mandate in England
• Why is it time to lift COVID-19 restrictions?
• Mandatory vaccinations and global travel
• Was the alarm around COVID-19 necessary?
• Housing shortage in China
• Gender reveal parties are a waste of time
• Is democracy doing any good?
• Social distancing distanced people all over the world
• Vaccine equality
• Science and lies during the covid-19
• Politics behind climate change
• Fascism in the contemporary society
• Can Trump make it back in 2024?
• Covid-19 and property pricing in New York
• Media censorship and oppression
• The media only sings the tunes of the rich
• Effects of covid-19 on financial stabilities of families
• Being a Muslim in China
• Are electronics the ultimate weapons?
• Are the media houses making us more divisive through the news?
• The third hand in Myanmar chaos
• Africa and its ballooning foreign debts
• Why do African countries store their money abroad?
• Immigration and covid-19
• Access to food and water during the pandemic
• Should TikTok be banned?
• Is TikTok a tool that has enabled LGBTQ people to come out?
• Is universal basic income attainable?
• Are trade unions any better in contemporary society?
• Who runs the world?
• Role of the New Silk Road from China to Pakistan
• Justice in a divided country
• Is Kim Jong-Un displaying his insecurity by flexing his nuclear muscles?
• Is Trump among the best Presidents the USA has ever had?
• Is Medical marijuana a promise for terminally ill patients?
• Can medical marijuana be used to manage COVID-19 symptoms?
• Deepwater Horizon Explosion and the environment
• Walmart and gun ordinances
• Consumer behavior in the age of social media
• Nissan's CEO a wanted man
• The latest breakthroughs in Fusion power
• Elizabeth Holmes and her Theranos ideas
• Is Next-Gen Graphics the next big thing?
• Using CRISPR to reverse blindness
• Silicon valley's greatest disaster
• Thorium as the future of energy
• Apple's M1 Chip as a game-changer
• Rise of bank fraud
• Ponzi schemes in the 21 st Century
• The rise and fall of HTC
• Humanoid robots and the future

List of Current Events to Write About

We have listed elsewhere social issues that you can also look into as possible topics and titles for your current event essay. Apart from those, here are suggestions of recent events that you can check and pick an appropriate topic. First, focus on what is in the news pertaining to these areas, then choose your angle of analysis.

• Airline travel
• Artificial intelligence
• Assisted suicide
• Bilingual education
• Black lives matter
• Blockchain technology
• Border Security
• Capital punishment
• Charter schools
• Childhood obesity
• Citizen scientists
• Civil rights
• The civil war in Ethiopia
• Climate change
• Concussions and injuries in football
• Cyberbullying
• Cyber security
• Cybersecurity
• Digital divide
• Drug trafficking
• Early childhood development
• Early voting
• Electric vehicles
• Electronic voting
• Environmental laws
• Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam
• Executive order
• Factory farming
• Food security
• Fast food advertisements
• Flint water issues
• Foreign aid
• Freedom of speech
• Genetic engineering
• Gerrymandering
• Green energy
• Green New Deal
• Global Recession
• Hate crimes
• Hate speech
• Health insurance
• Healthcare access
• Heart diseases among footballers
• Human trafficking
• Immigration
• Investigative journalism
• Israel-Palestinian relations
• Land ownership
• Land use and management
• Lead and copper rule
• Lead toxicity
• Machine learning
• Me Too movement
• Minimum wage
• Misinformation
• Money laundering
• National elections
• Natural disasters (Tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, snowing, storms, etc.)
• Net neutrality
• Nuclear energy
• Offshore drilling
• Online anonymity
• Organic food
• Organized crimes
• Outsourcing
• Police reforms
• Police shootings
• Poor governance
• Racial profiling by law enforcement
• Russian hacking
• Scientific Research
• Self-driving cars
• Sex education
• Shale gas exploration
• Slacktivism
• Smart devices
• Social security
• Space exploration
• Stimulus packages
• Supreme Court
• Taliban and Afghanistan
• Trade tariffs
• Transgender rights
• Transnational crimes
• Ukraine and Russia
• Voter fraud
• Voting laws
• Water resources
• Water rights
• Water supply regulation
• White nationalism
• White privilege
• Women's rights
• World cycling tours
• Zero tolerance policies

Final Remarks

Now you understand how to write and what to include in a current events paper. We hope you are inspired to write one on your own following the steps, structure, and examples outlined above.

Related Read: Titling an article in an essay.

Although this guide is the surest way to write a quality paper, you can always look at samples of current event papers written in the past. You can also consult with peers and professors for the best ideas. Finally, you can choose from our list of topics and develop further ideas from our list of current events.

If you are not satisfied or confident with your research and writing skills, you are welcome to seek the help of our essay writing experts . We offer 24/7 professional support that can help you when stuck. Do not hesitate to contact us and ask us to write your current events paper.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

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Articles in 2021

Audio long-read: The secret lives of cells — as never seen before

Imaging techniques are revealing unprecedented details about the inner workings of cells.

• Benjamin Thompson

Activity of convalescent and vaccine serum against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron

Sera from unvaccinated, vaccinated, and previously infected and vaccinated individuals show reduced neutralizing and spike protein-binding activity towards the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV-2 compared to other variants.

• Juan Manuel Carreño
• Hala Alshammary
• Florian Krammer

Our podcast highlights of 2021

The Nature Podcast team select some of their favourite stories from the past 12 months.

• Shamini Bundell
• Nick Petrić Howe

Webb telescope blasts off successfully — launching a new era in astronomy

Hundreds of engineering steps must now take place as the observatory unfurls and travels to its new home.

• Alexandra Witze

A ‘chisel’ of light carves solid shapes out of a liquid

Ultraviolet light controls the emergence of solid particles from a fluid, creating coral- and blossom-shaped structures.

Mars mission is China’s ‘first step’ in planetary exploration

Nature talks to Zhang Rongqiao, architect of the China National Space Administration’s Tianwen-1 mission, which landed the Zhurong rover on Mars.

• Smriti Mallapaty

Researchers fear growing COVID vaccine hesitancy in developing nations

Scientists worry that pools of unvaccinated people could be a source of new variants, such as Omicron.

Cardiovascular diseases disrupt the bone-marrow niche

The production of blood cells, including some immune cells, relies heavily on the bone-marrow microenvironment. Cardiovascular diseases are now found to corrupt this niche, leading to imbalances in blood-cell production.

• Tomer Itkin
• Shahin Rafii

A grave matter of ancient kinship in Neolithic Britain

An investigation into the nature of genetic connections between individuals interred in the same chambers of an ancient tomb in Britain about 5,700 years ago sheds light on kinship in an early society.

• Neil Carlin

Omicron escapes the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies

A high-throughput yeast display platform is used to analyse the profiles of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) that enable escape from antibodies, and suggests that most anti-RBD antibodies can be escaped by the Omicron variant.

• Yunlong Cao
• Xiaoliang Sunney Xie

Striking antibody evasion manifested by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

The B.1.1.529/Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is resistant to neutralization by serum not only from patients who recovered from COVID-19, but also from individuals vaccinated with one of the four widely used COVID-19 vaccines.

• Sho Iketani
• David D. Ho

Time-resolved structural analysis of an RNA-cleaving DNA catalyst

Using high-resolution NMR characterization, the kinetics and dynamics of the catalytic function of a DNAzyme are shown.

• Jan Borggräfe
• Julian Victor
• Manuel Etzkorn

Evolution of enhanced innate immune evasion by SARS-CoV-2

The SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant suppresses innate immune responses more effectively than isolates of first-wave SARS-CoV-2, and this is a result of mutations outside of the spike coding region that lead to upregulation of viral innate immune antagonists.

• Lucy G. Thorne
• Mehdi Bouhaddou
• Nevan J. Krogan

Broadly neutralizing antibodies overcome SARS-CoV-2 Omicron antigenic shift

Pseudovirus assays and surface plasmon resonance show that the Omicron receptor-binding domain binds to human ACE2 with increased affinity relative to the ancestral virus, and that most neutralizing antibodies are considerably less potent against Omicron.

• Elisabetta Cameroni
• John E. Bowen
• Davide Corti

SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging white-tailed deer

More than one-third of wild deer tested in northeast Ohio showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection of human origin.

• Vanessa L. Hale
• Patricia M. Dennis
• Andrew S. Bowman

Considerable escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron to antibody neutralization

An isolate of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 was completely or partially resistant to neutralization by all nine clinically approved monoclonal antibodies tested.

• Delphine Planas
• Nell Saunders
• Olivier Schwartz

Omicron extensively but incompletely escapes Pfizer BNT162b2 neutralization

Plasma from individuals vaccinated with BNT162b2 exhibits 22-fold less neutralization capacity against Omicron (B.1.1.529) than against an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain but residual neutralization is maintained in those with high levels of neutralization of ancestral virus.

• Sandile Cele
• Laurelle Jackson

Broadly neutralizing antibodies target a haemagglutinin anchor epitope

A distinct class of broadly neutralizing antibodies to the influenza virus target a membrane-proximal anchor epitope of the haemagglutinin stalk domain.

• Jenna J. Guthmiller
• Julianna Han
• Patrick C. Wilson

The future of global health, and mapping the unseen: Books in brief

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week’s best science picks.

• Andrew Robinson

Single-year radiocarbon dating anchors Viking Age trade cycles in time

Disturbances in the radiocarbon record anchor a precisely dated archaeological stratigraphy of a medieval trading emporium in Denmark in time, revealing that the Viking expansion was associated with competition for trade routes rather than with raids.

• Bente Philippsen
• Claus Feveile
• Søren M. Sindbæk

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2021 Current Events

• Disaster News
• Science & Technology News

Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.

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2021 Events

By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 21, 2021 | Original: December 20, 2021

In 2021, the United States—and the world—continued to confront the consequences of the momentous events of 2020, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in which former Vice President Joe Biden defeated the incumbent President Donald Trump .

COVID-19's Continued Toll

As the year began, the nation was still firmly in the grip of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that first emerged in late December 2019 and spread around the world in 2020, prompting lockdowns, a global recession and upheaval on an unprecedented scale. 

In what became a record for the fastest vaccine development in history, vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna were authorized for emergency use by December 2020 and distribution of the shots increased by the start of 2021. By year’s end, more than 200 million Americans would be fully vaccinated, as use of the vaccines was expanded to cover first adolescents and later children aged five and over.

Amid loosening mandates for mask-wearing and social distancing measures, the arrival of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus dampened hopes for a return to pre-pandemic life. Vaccine hesitancy among many Americans proved a factor in the steady growth of the COVID-19 death toll in the United States, which surpassed 800,000 by mid-December, with global deaths topping 5 million. With the emergence of yet another highly contagious variant, Omicron, toward the end of the year, the U.S. government authorized and endorsed boosters of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for all adults.

U.S. Election Fallout

January 6 Insurrection

On January 6, a mob of pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Five people died in the chaos either shortly before, during or following the event, including a Capitol police officer. Lawmakers from both political parties, including Vice President Mike Pence, were forced to flee the congressional chamber for safety. Accused of inciting his supporters to riot, Trump became the first president to be impeached (and acquitted) twice. More than 600 people were later charged for their role in the insurrection, and the House established an independent committee to investigate this attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

Biden and Harris Inaugurated

Biden was inaugurated on January 20 as the 46th president of the United States. Kamala Harris became the nation’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president. Shortly after taking office, Biden spoke at a candle-lighting ceremony to mark 500,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19. In March, he signed into law a $1.9 trillion economic relief package designed to support workers, families, small businesses and schools struggling to recover from the pandemic’s impact.

Battle Over Voting Rights

Amid Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, numerous states with Republican-led legislatures passed laws in 2021 that introduced new voting limits. Critics accused such efforts as unfairly targeting people of color, and Democrats in Congress fought for passage of comprehensive voting rights legislation named for the late Georgia congressman John Lewis which would restore key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and protect voting rights in states with a history of racial discrimination.

Global Events

U.S. Rejoins Paris Climate Accord and WHO

In his first hours as president, Biden signed a letter signaling the return of the United States to the global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, adopted by nearly 200 nations in Paris in 2015. The nation had officially withdrawn from the Paris accord in late 2020, after Trump began the process soon after taking office. Biden also renewed U.S. support for the World Health Organization (WHO), a leader in efforts to combat COVID-19 worldwide.

U.S. Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan

In April, President Biden announced a plan for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks . As the withdrawal proceeded, the Muslim fundamentalist group the Taliban took advantage of a crumbling Afghan government to seize control of much of the country. After a chaotic final stretch in which some 120,000 people were evacuated to safety, the last U.S. military forces left Afghanistan on August 30, ending the nearly 20-year-long conflict that resulted in the deaths of 2,500 U.S. service members and more than 100,000 Afghans, including many civilians.

Notable Foreign Leaders Out of Power

The year saw a number of important transfers of power around the globe, beginning with the military coup in Myanmar that toppled the popularly elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and imprisoned the former Nobel Prize winner on corruption and other charges. In April, Raul Castro stepped down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of leadership that began with his brother Fidel Castro ’s victory in the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu , Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, formed a loose coalition to oust him from power in June. Finally, Germany’s Angela Merkel left office after 16 years at the helm, becoming the first chancellor in the nation’s history to leave power on her own terms.

Repression of Political Opposition in Russia

Alexey Navalny, an outspoken opponent of Vladimir Putin who had been recovering in Germany after being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, returned to Russia in January and was immediately detained by police. A Moscow court handed down a hefty prison sentence in February for violating probation in an earlier case, sparking mass protests in Russia and widespread condemnation from the United States and other foreign governments. By year’s end, further tensions were mounting over threats by Putin’s Kremlin to mount a major offensive against neighboring Ukraine.

Upheaval in Haiti

In July, gunmen masquerading as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents burst into the home of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti, killing him and seriously wounding his wife. Barely a month later, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Haiti, followed by flash floods, leaving more than 2,200 people dead and injuring or displacing thousands more in a nation already suffering from widespread poverty and hunger. In September, after tens of thousands of Haitian refugees gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. government drew criticism for its response, including border agents rounding migrants up on horseback and mass deportations back to Haiti.

Cultural Moments

Juneteenth Becomes a Federal Holiday

In June, President Biden signed legislation officially establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The new holiday marks the anniversary of the date in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, under the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

Olympics in Tokyo

After being postponed in 2020, the Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan, though no spectators were allowed after Japan declared a new state of emergency due to COVID-19. Multiple gold medal-winning U.S. gymnast Simone Biles emerged as the biggest story of the games when she withdrew from the individual all-around competition, fueling a growing conversation about the importance of athletes’ mental health.

Meghan and Harry Sit Down with Oprah

In March, TV audiences tuned in for Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex , and Prince Harry near their new home in Southern California. The royal couple discussed their decision to leave royal life, as well as their tensions with Harry’s family and racism against Meghan in the British press. In June, Meghan gave birth to the couple’s second child, whose name—Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor—honored both Harry’s mother, Princess Diana , and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II (whose family nickname is Lilibet).

Pop Culture Highlights

In September, audiences returned to Broadway theaters in New York City for the first time in 18 months, with pandemic precautions including mask-wearing and proof of vaccination. The year also saw the release of the three-part documentary series The Beatles: Get Back , featuring never-before-seen footage of the iconic band working to create their final album , released in 1970. When it debuted in November, pop singer Adele’s fifth album, 30 , quickly became the fastest-selling album of the year in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Professional Sports Highlights

In the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay on February 7, the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs, 31-9—the first time a team has won the game in its home stadium. Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady earned his fifth Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award and seventh Super Bowl ring, both records. The crowd for the big game was limited to 25,000 because of COVID-19 restrictions.

In Game 6 of the NBA Finals on July 6, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points in a 105-98 win over Phoenix, giving the Milwaukee Bucks their first championship since 1971. "This is for my mom," he said, fighting off tears.

Disasters & Violence

Mass Shootings in Atlanta and Boulder

Two mass shootings within a week of each other in March—at three spas in the Atlanta area on March 16 and a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on March 22—proved a devastating reminder of the ongoing scourge of gun violence in the United States. Of the eight people killed in Atlanta, six were Asian women, fueling outrage and fear over the increase in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic.

Deadly Condominium Collapse in Florida

In the early morning hours of July 8, the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed. Ninety-eight people were killed in the incident, which was attributed to structural damage in the concrete building that had first been reported several years earlier.

Winter Storms and Power Failures in Texas

In February, storms bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain combined with frigid temperatures to wreak havoc in Texas, causing road closures, widespread power outages and loss of heat, electricity and water for millions of people. The death toll from the winter storms was later tallied at more than 200 people, and experts predicted it could become the costliest weather-related disaster in the state’s history.

Historic Heat in the West

In late June, the U.S. Pacific Northwest experienced the most extreme heat wave in its recorded history, with temperatures reaching highs of 116 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland, Oregon and 108 degrees in Seattle, Washington. The excruciating heat, which extended into British Columbia in Canada, was due to a heat dome, a massive high-pressure zone hovering on the U.S.-Canada border. Historically expected to occur only once every several thousand years on average, experts say such rare weather events have become far more probable due to climate change.

Hurricane Ida

Making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds on August 29, Hurricane Ida claimed the lives of more than 30 people in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, becoming the most damaging storm to hit the region after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina . After weakening to a tropical depression, Ida wreaked unexpected havoc in the Northeast, killing at least 60 people in six states and causing widespread flooding of streets, neighborhoods, houses and even the New York City subway system.

In the Courts

Verdicts in Three Prominent Murder Trials

In April, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd , which sparked protests against systemic racism and police violence in more than 2,000 U.S. cities and 60 countries around the globe in 2020. 

In another trial related to Black Lives Matter protests, teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after claiming self-defense in the killing of two people and wounding of another during the unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Finally, a jury in Georgia convicted three white defendants of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man whom they confronted while he was jogging through their neighborhood. As with Floyd and Blake, Arbery’s killing—and the slowness of local law enforcement to make arrests—had fueled anger and outrage among protesters condemning racial injustice and demanding change.

Two Men Exonerated of Malcolm X killing

In November, a New York judge granted the motion to vacate the convictions of Muhammad A. Aziz and the late Khalil Islam for the 1965 assassination of Black nationalist and religious leader Malcolm X . The two men’s exoneration more than 50 years after they were convicted came after an investigation found that crucial evidence pointing to their innocence, including FBI and New York Police Department documents, had been withheld at the time of their trial.

Verdicts in #MeToo cases

After decades of allegations of sexual abuse of women and underage girls, R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted by a jury in New York of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in September; he faces a possible life sentence. Meanwhile, in a blow to supporters of sexual assault victims and the #MeToo movemen t, a Pennsylvania court threw out the conviction of Bill Cosby and released him from prison after ruling that his due process rights had been violated.

Britney Spears Gains Her Freedom

In November, fans and activists in the #FreeBritney movement celebrated the decision of a Los Angeles judge to end the 13-year conservatorship controlling the personal and professional life of pop star Britney Spears. Begun in 2008 when the singer was struggling with mental health issues and a custody battle over her children, the conservatorship had been controlled for much of that time by her father. At a court hearing over the summer, Spears spoke publicly about the conservatorship for the first time, and called for it to be terminated.

Space & Tech

NASA Rover Lands on Mars

Launched in late July 2020, the NASA rover Perseverance spent months traveling through space, covering some 292.5 million miles before touching down on Mars on February 18. As the space agency’s most sophisticated rover yet, Perseverance spent the rest of the year exploring Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake, collecting rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth and probing for evidence of whether life ever existed on the planet.

SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Make Civilian Space Travel a Reality

After sending U.S. astronauts into orbit for the first time in nearly a decade in 2020, space exploration company SpaceX, founded by the eccentric billionaire Elon Musk, went into overdrive in 2021. In addition to launching two more operational missions to the International Space Station (ISS), the company’s spacecraft ferried four non-astronauts on a three-day extraterrestrial voyage in September, in the first-ever flight into Earth’s orbit by civilian space tourists. 

Less than a month later, the rocket company Blue Origin, owned by ex- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, launched Star Trek actor William Shatner and three others just beyond the boundary marking outer space, making the 90-year-old Shatner the oldest space traveler in history.

Bumpy Year for Facebook

Amid ongoing concerns about its struggles to adequately protect data and limit hate speech, misinformation and other disreputable content, the world’s largest social network confronted a flood of issues this year, beginning with the Capitol insurrection and its subsequent decision to indefinitely suspend then-President Trump. Troves of documents later leaked by former Facebook employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed more damaging information about the impact of the company’s platforms on young users’ mental health. Finally, Facebook announced that it was rebranding itself as Meta to reflect a focus on the metaverse, a virtual reality space where users interact with each other amid a computer-generated environment.

In Memoriam

Among the notable people we lost in 2021 was Colin Powell , the celebrated military leader who became the nation’s first Black secretary of state, who died in October of complications from COVID-19 while suffering from multiple myeloma, a blood cell cancer that suppresses the immune system, as well as Parkinson’s disease.

Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974 and whose own record of 755 home runs stood until 2007, died in January; so did the trailblazing stage and screen star Cicely Tyson. Prince Philip , who as husband to Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-serving royal consort in British history, died in April at the age of 99.

The year also saw the loss of the beloved authors Beverly Cleary and Anne Rice, as well as former U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole. Longtime TV and radio host Larry King and the talk radio star and conservative media hero Rush Limbaugh also passed away this year, while the entertainment world mourned the loss of Oscar-winning actors Christopher Plummer and Olympia Dukakis and musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim .

Amy McKeever, “U.S. surpasses 800,000 COVID-19 deaths as Omicron looms.” National Geographic , December 15, 2021.

CNN Editorial Staff, “Covid-19 Pandemic Timeline Fast Facts.” CNN , November 23, 2021.

Mark Hosenball and Sarah N. Lynch, “FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated.” Reuters , August 20, 2021.

Devan Cole and Paul LeBlanc, “An inauguration like no other: Notable moments of a momentous day.” CNN , January 21, 2021.

Horus Alus, “​​Republican-Led State Legislatures Pass Dozens of Restrictive Voting Laws in 2021.” U.S. News & World Report , July 2, 2021.

Savannah Behrmann, “Republicans block John Lewis Voting Rights Act in Senate vote.” USA Today , November 3, 2021.

The U.S. War in Afghanistan: 1999-2021. Council on Foreign Relations .

Amanda Macias, “U.S. ends 20-year war in Afghanistan with final evacuation flights out of Kabul.” CNBC , August 31, 2021.

“Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar democracy icon who fell from grace.” BBC News , December 6, 2021.

Andrea Rodríguez, “Raul Castro resigns as Communist chief, ending era in Cuba.” ABC News , April 16, 2021.

Oliver Holmes, “Israeli coalition ousts Netanyahu as prime minister after 12 years.” The Guardian , June 13, 2021.

Geir Moulson, “Merkel prepares to step down with legacy of tackling crises.” AP News , September 2, 2021.

Mary Ilyushina, Fred Pleitgen, Angela Dewan and Ivana Kottasová, “Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny handed jail term, prompting protests across Russia.” CNN , February 2, 2021.

Edward Alden and Alex Tippett, “Why Are Haitian Migrants Gathering at the U.S. Border?” Council on Foreign Relations , October 1, 2021.

Kate Sullivan and Maegan Vazquez, “Biden signs bill into law making Juneteenth a national holiday.” CNN , June 17, 2021.

Alice Park, “How the Tokyo Olympics Changed the Conversation About Athletes' Mental Health.” Time , August 8, 2021.

Mike Baker, Anjali Singhvi and Patricia Mazzei, “Engineer Warned of ‘Major Structural Damage’ at Florida Condo Complex.” New York Times , June 26, 2021.

Mark Norris, “Texas’ February 2021 winter storm death toll up to 210; 35 in North Texas.” Fox 4 News , July 14, 2021.

Jason Samenow and Ian Livingston, “Canada sets new all-time heat record of 121 degrees amid unprecedented heat wave.” Washington Post , June 29, 2021.

CNN Editorial Research, “2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season Fast Facts.” CNN , December 3, 2021.

Annika Kim Constantino, “Atlanta spa shooter who targeted Asian women pleads guilty to four of eight murders.” CNBC , July 27, 2021.

Jorge L. Ortiz and Sady Swanson, “'Sad day for Boulder': Gunman kills 10 at Colorado supermarket, including police officer, in second US mass shooting in a week.” USA Today , March 22, 2021.

Ray Sanchez and Eric Levenson, “Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years in death of George Floyd.” CNN , June 25, 2021.

Becky Sullivan, “Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted of all charges in the trial over killing 2 in Kenosha.” NPR , November 19, 2021.

Merrit Kennedy and Jaclyn Diaz, “3 white men are found guilty of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.” NPR , November 24, 2021.

Sonia Moghe, “R. Kelly convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking by a federal jury in New York.” CNN , September 28, 2021.

Maryclaire Dail, “Bill Cosby freed from prison, his sex conviction overturned.” AP News , June 30, 2021.

Sonia Moghe, Brynn Gingras, Ray Sanchez and Lauren del Valle, “Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X exonerated.” CNN , November 18, 2021.

Anastasia Tsioulcas, “Britney Spears' conservatorship has finally ended.” NPR , November 12, 2021.

Mars 2020 Mission: Perseverance Rover. NASA .

CNN Editorial Research, “Human Spaceflight Fast Facts.” CNN , November 3, 2021.

Michael Sheetz, “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launches crew with William Shatner to space and back. CNBC , October 13, 2021.

Queenie Wong, “Facebook's crises reach new heights in 2021.” CNET , December 7, 2021.

Bernard McGhee, “Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2021.” AP News , December 10, 2021. 

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The Year of Endurance

Hope and uncertainty amid a pandemic that wouldn’t end.

In 2021, the pandemic forced us all to think hard about who we do and don’t trust

Introduction by david rowell.

As a nation, we are supposed to be built around trust. Look at the back of the bills in your wallet. “In God We Trust.”

Trust the system.

Trust yourself.

Trust but verify.

Trust your instincts.

Love may be the emotion we like to think ultimately propels us, but it’s trust that informs how we go about our daily lives. And yet. Our level of trust, our very foundation, has been crumbling for a long time now. Scandals, abuse and corruption in the major pillars of our society — religious institutions, education, business, military, government, health care, law enforcement, even the sports world — have made us a wary people.

When the pandemic came, first as murmurs that were easy to tune out, then as an unbounded crisis we couldn’t tune into enough, our relationship to trust was newly infected with something we didn’t fully understand. And before long, who and what we trusted — or didn’t — in the form of elected leaders, scientists and doctors became one more cause of death here and all over the world. In this way, distrust was a kind of pandemic itself: widely contagious and passed by the mouth.

As the first American casualties of covid-19 were announced, President Trump kept insisting it would disappear “with the heat” or “at the end of the month” or “without a vaccine.” Like a disgraced, fringe science teacher, he entertained this idea at one coronavirus news conference: “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?” With leadership like this, the country was receiving an injection — of chaos.

The pandemic ripped through the rest of 2020, and America was not only more splintered than ever, but also a dangerous place to be. Some politicians declared to the public, “I trust the science,” as if that were an unprecedented and heroic stance.

As we navigated our way into 2021, questions about what to believe led — painfully and predictably — to doubts about the most reliable way we had to stay safe: wearing masks. With the return to schools looming, the debate about masks and children — masks as protectors, or masks as educational folly — played out like a plague of rants. No one seemed to trust others to do the right thing anymore, whatever that was. By summer’s end, trust felt like the latest variant to avoid.

Trust takes lots of forms, but can we actually see it in a photograph the way we can identify a cloud or a wave, or an overt moment of joy or sadness? The photo essays that follow capture a full tableau of human responses in year two of the pandemic — trepidation, but also a sense of renewal; celebration, but caution as well. And despite rancor and confusion still being in as steady supply as the vaccine itself, the permutations of trust have their own presence here, too, if we’re open enough to seeing them.

When Jay Wescott went on tour with rock band Candlebox, he was documenting one of the many performing acts that returned to the road this summer, after the long hiatus. On tour there’s a lot variables you can control, and just as many, if not more, that you can’t — and in the time of covid, control and trust form their own essential but perilous interplay. The picture of the band’s drummer, Robin Diaz, who is vaccinated but unmasked, setting up his kit in such proximity to road manager Carlos Novais, vaccinated and masked, not only captures that still-odd dynamic that goes into making any live performance happen right now; it is also a welcome contrast to all the images of masked and unmasked protesters screaming at each other about what and whom to trust. On tour with Candlebox, Westcott observed how trust is carrying the band forward, creating harmonies on and off the stage.

Much farther away, in Michael Robinson Chavez’s pictures from Sicily, we bear witness to religious celebrations as part of saint’s days, which were canceled last year because of the pandemic. The celebrations resumed, though stripped down, this September, with vaccines readily available, but then, as Chavez notes, the people of Sicily were vaccinated at lower numbers than those in other regions of the country. In one image, we see a tuba player, his mask down below his chin as he blows his notes out into the world. Behind him are masked adults and maskless children. And, perhaps all through the festival, a trust in God to watch over them.

Lucía Vázquez trained her lens on the eager crowds of young women who descended upon Miami, a city known for its own style of carnival-type celebrations, though decidedly less holy ones. These women have left masks out of their outfits and are trusting something not quite scientific and not quite political, but more personal: their guts. Such a calculation comes down to a conviction that either you won’t get the coronavirus, or, if you do, you’ll survive. It means placing a lot of trust in yourself.

As a visual meditation, the pictures in this issue offer a portrait of a historical moment in which trust and distrust have defined us. Ultimately, the photographs that follow, reflecting various realities of the pandemic, are tinted with hope that we can reclaim our lives. Not exactly as they were in the past, but in a way that still resembles how we had once imagined them for the future. These images remind us that even in our fractured, confused and suffering world, it remains possible that where we can find trust again, we can be healed.

Ready to Rock

Unmasked fans and mayflies: on tour with the band candlebox, text and photographs by jay westcott.

I n February 2020, after a dear friend passed away (not from covid), all I could think about was getting on the road with a band so I could lose myself in the work and create something that would bring joy to people. The world had other plans, though.

Sixteen months later, I headed out on tour with Candlebox. Almost 30 years has passed since the Seattle hard-rock group released its debut album and saw it sell more than 4 million copies. Frontman Kevin Martin and his current lineup invited me along to document the first part of their tour. I packed up my gear, drove west, and met the band at Soundcheck, a rehearsal and gear storage facility in Nashville, as they prepared for the tour.

Whenever people learn that I photograph musicians, inevitably they ask me what it’s like on a tour bus. I tell people it’s like camping with your co-workers from the office where you all sleep in the same tent. For weeks on end. That sours their midlife fantasies about digging out that guitar from the garage and hitting the road to become a rock star.

The people who do tour and play music, build the sets, mix the sound, sell the merch and lug the gear night after night are some of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met. They are a special breed of artists, deep thinkers, poets, masters of their instruments. Music has the ability to make you move and stop you in your tracks, to change your mood, make you smile, cry, think. The goal is the same: Put on a great show. Every night. Play like it could be your last show.

It’s easy to sit back and armchair quarterback on social media about the risks of holding festivals and rock concerts amid the pandemic, but this is what people do for a living. Few people buy albums or CDs or even download music anymore. It’s all about streaming and grabbing viewers on social media now. Touring and merch sales are about the only way musicians have to make money these days. Music is meant to be performed in front of people, a shared experience. With everybody on the bus vaccinated and ready to go, we headed to Louisville for the first of a 49-show run.

The crowd of mostly older millennials and GenXers were ready for a rock show. They knew all the words to the hits in the set — especially Candlebox’s mega-hit from the ’90s, “Far Behind” — and were into the band’s new songs too. It felt good. Then came the mayflies, in massive swarms.

The next stop on the tour was a festival along the Mississippi River in Iowa. I was up early, and as soon as we pulled in you could see mayflies dancing in the air all around us. As the day wore on, the flies intensified, and by nightfall any kind of light revealed hundreds upon hundreds of them, dancing in their own way like the crowd of unmasked fans below them. Also there were Confederate flags everywhere. Boats tied together on the river flew Trump flags in the warm summer breeze.

I was asleep when we crossed the river and made our way to St. Louis, the third stop on the tour and my last with the band. A great crowd: Close your eyes and you can easily picture yourself at Woodstock ’94. But it’s 2021 and Kevin Martin and company are still here.

Jay Westcott is a photographer in Arlington.

‘He Gave Me Life’

A cuban single mother reflects on isolation with her son, text and photographs by natalia favre.

S ingle mother Ara Santana Romero, 30, and her 11-year-old son, Camilo, have spent the past year and a half practically isolated in their Havana apartment. Just before the pandemic started, Camilo had achieved his biggest dream, getting accepted into music school. Two weeks after classes began, the schools closed and his classes were only televised. A return to the classroom was expected for mid-November, at which point all the children were scheduled to be vaccinated. According to a UNICEF analysis, since the beginning of the pandemic, 139 million children around the world have lived under compulsory home confinement for at least nine months.

Before the pandemic, Ara had undertaken several projects organizing literary events for students. After Havana went into quarantine and Camilo had to stay home, her days consisted mainly of getting food, looking after her son and doing housework. As a single mother with no help, she has put aside her wishes and aspirations. But Ara told me she never regretted having her son: “He gave me life.”

Natalia Favre is a photographer based in Havana.

Life After War in Gaza

A healing period of picnics, weddings and vaccinations, text and photographs by salwan georges.

A s I went from Israel into the Gaza Strip, I realized I was the only person crossing the border checkpoint that day. But I immediately saw that streets were vibrant with people shopping and wending through heavy traffic. There are hardly any working traffic lights in Gaza City, so drivers wave their hands out their windows to alert others to let them pass.

Despite the liveliness, recent trauma lingered in the air: In May, Israeli airstrikes destroyed several buildings and at least 264 Palestinians died. The fighting came after thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, where at least 16 people died. Workers were still cleaning up when I visited in late August, some of them recycling rubble — such as metal from foundations — to use for rebuilding.

I visited the city of Beit Hanoun, which was heavily damaged. I met Ibrahim, whose apartment was nearly destroyed, and as I looked out from a hole in his living room, I saw children gathered to play a game. Nearby there is a sports complex next to a school. Young people were playing soccer.

Back in Gaza City, families come every night to Union Soldier Park to eat, shop and play. Children and their parents were awaiting their turn to pay for a ride on an electric bike decorated with LED lights. In another part of town, not too far away, the bazaar and the markets were filled ahead of the weekend.

The beach in Gaza City is the most popular destination for locals, particularly because the Israeli government, which occupies the territory, generally does not allow them to leave Gaza. Families picnicked in the late afternoon and then stayed to watch their kids swim until after sunset. One of the local traditions when someone gets married is to parade down the middle of a beachfront road so the groom can dance with relatives and friends.

Amid the activities, I noticed that many people were not wearing face coverings, and I learned that the coronavirus vaccination rate is low. The health department started placing posters around the city to urge vaccination and set up a weekly lottery to award money to those who get immunized.

I also attended the funeral of a boy named Omar Abu al-Nil, who was wounded by the Israeli army — probably by a bullet — during one of the frequent protests at the border. He later died at the hospital from his wounds. More than 100 people attended, mainly men. They carried Omar to the cemetery and buried him as his father watched.

Salwan Georges is a Washington Post staff photographer.

Beyond the Numbers

At home, i constructed a photo diary to show the pandemic’s human toll, text and photographs by beth galton.

I n March 2020, while the coronavirus began its universal spread, my world in New York City became my apartment. I knew that to keep safe I wouldn’t be able to access my studio, so I brought my camera home and constructed a small studio next to a window.

I began my days looking at the New York Times and The Washington Post online, hoping to find a glimmer of positive news. What I found and became obsessed with were the maps, charts and headlines, all of which were tracking the coronavirus’s spread. I printed them out to see how the disease had multiplied and moved, soon realizing that each of these little visual changes affected millions of people. With time, photographs of people who had died began to appear in the news. Grids of faces filled the screen; many died alone, without family or friends beside them.

This series reflects my emotions and thoughts through the past year and a half. By photographing data and images, combined with botanicals, my intent was to speak to the humanity of those affected by this pandemic. I used motion in the images to help convey the chaos and apprehensions we were all experiencing. I now see that this assemblage is a visual diary of my life during the pandemic.

Beth Galton is a photographer in New York.

Finding Hope in Seclusion

A self-described sickle cell warrior must stay home to keep safe, text and photographs by endia beal.

O nyekachukwu Onochie, who goes by Onyeka, is a 28-year-old African American woman born with sickle cell anemia. She describes herself as a sickle cell warrior who lives each day like it’s her last. “When I was younger,” she told me, “I thought I would live until my mid-20s because I knew other people with sickle cell that died in their 20s.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes sickle cell anemia as an inherited red blood cell disorder that causes those cells to become hard and sticky, and appear C-shaped. Healthy red blood cells are round and move through small blood vessels to carry oxygen, whereas sickle cells die earlier and transport less oxygen. The disorder can cause debilitating pain and organ failure.

In June 2020, Onyeka began preparing her body for a stem cell transplant — a new treatment — and underwent the procedure in April. She is now home in Winston-Salem, N.C., recovering from the transplant. Despite the positive results thus far, Onyeka’s immune system is compromised and she is at greater risk of severe illness or death from viruses.

I asked about her life during the pandemic. She told me: “My new normal includes video chat lunch dates. I have more energy now than ever before, but I have to stay indoors to protect myself from airborne viruses, among other things.” Onyeka believes she has been given a new life with endless possibilities — even though she is temporarily homebound.

Endia Beal is an artist based in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Baker’s Choice

A fun-loving, self-taught baker decides to open her shop despite the pandemic, text and photographs by marvin joseph.

T iffany Lightfoot is the owner and founder of My Cake Theory, where she merges her love of fashion with her gifts as a baker. Undaunted by the pandemic, she opened her first brick-and-mortar shop on Capitol Hill last year. Lightfoot, 41, combined the skills she learned as a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology with dozens of hours watching the Food Network and YouTube videos — and spun her self-taught baking into a business. With these photographs I wanted to show how much fun she has baking — while building a career she clearly loves.

Marvin Joseph is a Washington Post staff photographer.

Leap of Faith

Despite low vaccination rates, sicilians resume religious parades, text and photographs by michael robinson chavez.

T he island of Sicily has been overrun and conquered by numerous empires and civilizations. The year 2020 brought a new and deadly conqueror, the coronavirus. The lockdown was absolute — even church doors were shut tight. But in 2021, Sicilians brought life and traditions back to their streets.

Saint’s days, or festas, are important events on the Sicilian calendar. Last year, for the first time in more than a century, some towns canceled their festas. The arrival of vaccines this year seemed to offer hope that the processions would once again march down the ancient streets. However, a surge in summer tourism, while helping the local economy, also boosted the coronavirus infection rate.

Sicily has the lowest vaccination rate in Italy. Nevertheless, scaled-down celebrations have reappeared in the island’s streets. In the capital city of Palermo, residents gathered for the festa honoring the Maria della Mercede (Madonna of Mercy), which dates to the 16th century. Children were hoisted aloft to be blessed by the Virgin as a marching band played in a small piazza fronting the church that bears her name. Local bishops did not permit the normal procession because of the pandemic, so local children had their own, carrying a cardboard re-creation of the Virgin through the labyrinth of the famous Il Capo district’s narrow streets.

As the fireworks blossomed overhead and the marching band played on, it was easy to see that Sicilians were embracing a centuries-old tradition that seems certain to last for many more to come.

Michael Robinson Chavez is a Washington Post staff photographer.

Defiant Glamour

After long months of covid confinement, a fearless return to 2019 in miami beach, text and photographs by lucía vázquez.

O n Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive I’ve seen drunk girls hitting other drunk girls, and I’ve seen men high on whatever they could afford, zombie-walking with their mouths and eyes wide open amid the tourists. I’ve seen partyers sprawled on the pavement just a few feet from the Villa Casa Casuarina, the former Versace mansion.

I’ve seen groups of women wearing fake eyelashes as long and thick as a broom, and flashing miniature bras, and smoking marijuana by a palm tree in the park, next to families going to the beach. I’ve seen five girls standing on the back of a white open-air Jeep twerking in their underwear toward the street.

My photographs, taken in August, capture South Beach immersed in this untamed party mood with the menace of the delta variant as backdrop. They document young women enjoying the summer after more than a year of confinement. Traveling from around the country, they made the most of their return to social life by showing off their style and skin, wearing their boldest party attire. I was drawn to the fearlessness of their outfits and their confidence; I wanted to show how these women identify themselves and wish to be perceived, a year and a half after covid-19 changed the world.

Lucía Vázquez is a journalist and photographer based in New York and Buenos Aires.

A Giving Spirit

‘this pandemic has taught me to be even closer to my family and friends’, text and photographs by octavio jones.

M arlise Tolbert-Jones, who works part time for an air conditioning company in Tampa, spends most of her time caring for her 91-year-old father, Rudolph Tolbert, and her aunt Frances Pascoe, who is 89. Marlise visits them daily to make sure they’re eating a good breakfast and taking their medications. In addition to being a caregiver, Marlise, 57, volunteers for a local nonprofit food pantry, where she helps distribute groceries for families. Also, she volunteers at her church’s food pantry, where food is distributed every Saturday morning.

“I’m doing this because of my [late] mother, who would want me to be there for the family and the community,” she told me. “I’ve had my struggles. I’ve been down before, but God has just kept me stable and given me the strength to keep going. This pandemic has taught me to be even closer to my family and friends.”

Octavio Jones is an independent photojournalist based in Tampa.

First, people paused. Then they took stock. Then they persevered.

Text and photographs by anastassia whitty.

W e all know the pandemic has challenged people and altered daily routines. I created this photo essay to highlight the perspectives and experiences of everyday people, specifically African Americans: What does their “new normal” look like? I also wanted to demonstrate how they were able to persevere. One such person is Maria J. Hackett, 30, a Brooklyn photographer, dancer and mother of a daughter, NiNi. Both are featured on the cover.

I asked Maria her thoughts on what the pandemic has meant for her. “Quarantine opened up an opportunity to live in a way that was more healthy while taking on much-needed deep healing,” she told me. “It was my mental and emotional health that began breaking me down physically. ... I put things to a stop as my health began to deteriorate. I decided I will no longer chase money — but stay true to my art, plan and trust that things will come together in a healthier way for us. I focused more on letting my daughter guide us and on her remaining happy with her activities and social life.”

“Enrolling her in camps and classes like dance and gymnastics led me to develop a schedule and routine,” Maria explained, “opening room for me to complete my first dance residency in my return to exploration of movement. I made time to share what I know with her and what she knows with me.”

Jasmine Hamilton of Long Island, 32, talked in similiar terms. She too became more focused on mental health and fitness. She told me: “The pandemic has demonstrated that life is short and valuable, so I’m more open to creating new experiences.”

Anastassia Whitty is a photographer based in New York.

About this story

Photo editing by Dudley M. Brooks and Chloe Coleman. Design and development by Audrey Valbuena. Design editing by Suzette Moyer and Christian Font. Editing by Rich Leiby. Copy editing by Jennifer Abella and Angie Wu.

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10 key events and trends in the Middle East and North Africa in 2021

Paul Salem , Brian Katulis , Gerald M. Feierstein , Gönül Tol , Charles Lister , Ross Harrison , Alex Vatanka , Marvin G. Weinbaum , Khaled Elgindy , Mark A. Heller , Karen E. Young , Mohammed Mahmoud , Eliza Campbell

• A transition in America occurs as the landscape shifts in the Middle East

The GCC turns to diplomacy and dialogue to manage conflict

Facing long odds and growing pressure at home, erdoğan tries a new approach: diplomacy, the year of assad’s normalization.

• The catch-22 of civil wars in the Middle East
• Iran’s hardliners consolidate their hold on power
• The end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan
• The lessons of the May war in Gaza
• Israel’s new government lowers the temperature of the debate
• A year of reckoning in energy markets
• More climate change highs (and lows) for the Middle East

The implications of NSO Group

Looking ahead to 2022, 1) a transition in america occurs as the landscape shifts in the middle east.

Paul Salem President

Brian Katulis Vice President for Policy

The center of gravity for the Biden administration’s overall policy was on domestic issues, with a sharp focus on the pandemic and economic crisis at home. On the foreign policy front, the three C’s — China, climate change, and COVID-19 — along with efforts to rebuild ties with democratic allies in Europe and Asia, dominated the agenda.The transition of power in the United States from the Trump administration to the Biden administration was one of the year’s most important events for the broader Middle East and North Africa, as it resulted in significant shifts in U.S. policy that had ripple effects across the region. The most consequential of these moves were the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attempt to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. Nevertheless, many of the most important trends in the Middle East remain driven by its governments and people, as well as the impact of factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and migration on the regional landscape. Yet, for all of the talk about U.S. disengagement from the region and the rise of China and Russia, the United States remains the most influential outside actor, given its broad network of relationships and ability to influence dynamics.

The Biden administration signaled a more modest approach to the Middle East compared to the Trump administration, prioritizing diplomacy in its rhetoric and actions and stressing that it was moving “back to basics” in avoiding overpromising about the level of U.S. engagement. It worked to adopt a steadier, more predictable policymaking process than its predecessor had on the Middle East.

The Trump administration was focused on the military defeat of the Islamic State, the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, and efforts to forge normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. By contrast, the Biden administration’s initial stance has been to guard against the deep levels of engagement that had at times overwhelmed the broader agendas of the past three U.S. administrations. It appointed envoys on Yemen, Libya, and the Horn of Africa, and it reengaged Iran in international talks on its nuclear program in Vienna.

The May 2021 war between Israel and Hamas drew the Biden administration back into the Israeli-Palestinian issue more deeply than it had planned. The haphazard withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan caused a crisis of confidence among America’s partners in the Middle East and prompted more engagement with several of them, especially the Arab Gulf states, than the administration had initially intended.

But it was the common thread between the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations that made the biggest impression on the region: the desire to limit U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The U.S. posture has incentivized strategic hedging among key countries in the region, which have consequently worked to forge deeper ties with other outside actors, especially China, Russia, and some European countries. It also created incentives for many regional states to adopt a more assertive approach.

Within the region itself a number of dynamics have marked 2021 . The COVID pandemic continued to claim thousands of lives, strain public health resources, constrain economic growth and public finances, and drive up rates of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Vaccination rates and COVID response efforts have varied widely across the region, from the top performers in the resource-rich Gulf states, to more challenging conditions in the population-rich and resource-poor countries, and desperate conditions in the fully or partially failed states of Yemen, Libya, and Syria.

Despite these challenges, the broader regional economy bounced back: Average GDP growth in 2021 returned to around 4% after contracting by 4% in 2020. Oil prices continued to recover in 2021 after the total collapse in early 2020 and rose steadily over the course of the year; this helped improve growth among oil-producing economies and also boosted remittances and investment flows to some non-oil-rich countries as well. Even as energy prices recovered, key energy producers — including Saudi Arabia — have started on a transition toward a cleaner energy mix, and are trying to position themselves as major players in natural gas, green and blue hydrogen, solar, and wind.

On the political level, the democratic transitions in Tunisia and Sudan — all that remained of the two waves of the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2019 — came to halt; whether that halt is final or merely temporary remains to be seen. Among the civil wars in the region, the Libyan conflict showed the most signs of progress, with ongoing negotiations among the parties, international support, and plans to hold fresh elections. The war in Yemen continued unabated, with the Houthis declining Saudi and international offers to negotiate and focusing instead on trying to take the strategic town of Marib, while the Saudis provided air support to government and local anti-Houthi forces to hold it. In Syria, the conflict remained largely frozen in 2021, with no major military operations, but also no progress toward any solution. Meanwhile, a new civil war erupted in Ethiopia between government forces and Tigrayan groups, with potential ripple effects for the Horn of Africa and the broader region.

At a regional level, key actors took steps to deescalate tensions and build — or rebuild — working relationships. Saudi Arabia took the lead in healing the rift with Qatar and trying to rebuild solidarity within the Gulf Cooperation Council. Saudi Arabia also initiated talks with Iran under Iraqi auspices in Baghdad. The UAE sent Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan to reestablish ties with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited erstwhile foe President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and offered billions of dollars in economic investment, and UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan was dispatched to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. This came on the heels of the historic Abraham Accords of 2020 and the strengthening of cooperation between the UAE and Israel.

But even as countries in the region took diplomatic steps to de-escalate tensions, heal rifts, and build new bridges, the security landscape continued to grow more complicated and fragmented, with an increasing number of state and non-state actors deploying and using unmanned weapons including aerial systems. The trend toward using armed drones that began before 2021 continued and accelerated — the attempted assassination of Iraq’s prime minister by militia groups and attacks on U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq were just two prominent examples in the past year. The lower barriers to entry in this arms race complicate regional security dynamics by introducing new threats and increasing the overall uncertainty in the broader environment.

The most significant geopolitical event in the region was the haphazard U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which sparked widespread concern across the region. The Taliban’s resounding triumph plays directly into the jihadist narrative and will reinvigorate the recruitment and ambitions of like-minded groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. The U.S. retreat also shook the confidence of America’s partners throughout the region that rely on U.S. backbone in their national security strategies and gave encouragement to states like Iran, reinforcing their view that the U.S. is a paper tiger that will buckle if enough pressure is exerted. Concerns about America’s inability to curb either Iran or the Taliban is part of the reason for the rapprochement between Israel and several Gulf states — which share a common fear of Iran — as well as the growing contacts between Middle East states and other great powers, such as Russia and China. While neither is a viable full strategic alternative for America’s partners in the region — they will remain mainly U.S. allies — hedging of bets and efforts to find areas of common security and economic interest proceed apace.

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2) New regional diplomacy

Gerald M. Feierstein Senior Vice President

After decades of confrontation and the threat of war, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, emphasized in 2021 their desire to “turn a page” and seek to manage, if not resolve, regional conflicts through dialogue and negotiation. Beginning with the al-Ula agreement that ended the intra-GCC feud with Qatar, the two predominant GCC states have expanded their dialogue with Iran, calmed tensions with Turkey, pursued a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Yemen, and promoted Syrian reintegration into the Arab League. While not all of these initiatives have borne fruit, and several may not produce tangible benefit anytime soon, they are nevertheless a reflection of a changing strategy toward addressing regional challenges and have the added benefit of reducing internal GCC friction over regional policies. The communique released at the conclusion of the 42 nd GCC Summit on Dec. 14 was notable for the change in the tone and tenor of the leaders’ discussion on regional challenges as well as its emphasis on intra-GCC coordination on key political, economic, and social issues.

There are several likely reasons for the changing Gulf approach to conflict. Leaders have been clear that they are exhausted by decades of confrontations that have failed to improve their security materially or benefit their populations. The COVID-19 pandemic, economic and demographic challenges, as well as the threat from climate change have brought home the need to strengthen domestic institutions and reduce external distractions. Uncertainty about the dependability of the U.S. security umbrella, a key pillar of GCC defense strategies since the Carter Doctrine, has reinforced the need in the GCC to move away from long-standing reliance on the U.S. military presence. Although many of the steps (but not all of them) have been welcomed by the Biden administration, nevertheless, the emphasis on finding regional solutions to regional problems will challenge U.S. policies and assumptions going forward.

Gönül Tol Director of Turkey Program and Senior Fellow, Frontier Europe Initiative

In mid-August 2020, a Turkish and a Greek warship were involved in a mild collision during a standoff in the eastern Mediterranean — one many called the most explosive the region had seen in 20 years. The row between the two NATO allies over energy exploration was the latest in a series of aggressive foreign policy moves by Turkey. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan allied himself with the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) to recapture the parliamentary majority his party lost in the 2015 elections, Turkey had been pursuing a militaristic and unilateral foreign policy that has pitted Ankara against almost everyone in the region. 2021 was the year that finally changed.

President Erdoğan is now facing the longest odds of his political career. He has myriad problems but the chief among them is a collapsing economy. The Turkish currency has lost nearly half its value since the start of September. The crisis has driven up the cost of food, gasoline, and medicine, and hit poor and middle-class Turks, who have been key to his two-decade-long rule, hard. In the past, whenever domestic problems seemed overwhelming, Erdoğan turned to aggressive foreign policy moves to divert attention and benefit from a nationalist “rally ‘round the flag” effect. This strategy worked well for years but it has run its course. Nationalism is not doing the trick for Erdoğan anymore and his aggressive, adventurist, unilateral foreign policy, which has left him internationally isolated, has become costlier at a time of growing economic problems. So the Turkish president decided to change course and has been reaching out to regional adversaries as well as Western countries to mend ties.

Erdoğan recently hosted the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, after years of hostility. Erdoğan also pledged to repair ties with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Armenia and has been trying to have a positive agenda with Europe and the U.S. Erdoğan is hoping that billions of dollars of investment that Emirati officials promised during the crown prince’s visit and other potential economic benefits that normalization with other countries could bring will help ease his economic troubles. 2022 will show how realistic Erdogan’s expectations are.

Follow on Twitter: @gonultol

Charles Lister Senior Fellow, Director of Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs

In the not-too-distant future, 2021 will stand out as the year when a methodical process began to reintegrate Bashar al-Assad and his regime in Syria into the “international community.” Despite the enormity of the Assad regime’s war crimes since 2011 — prosecutors have more evidence against Syria than the world had against Hitler and the Nazi Party at Nuremberg — a combination of fatigue, disinterest, and resignation has created conditions in which re-engaging with the 21st century’s most notorious war criminal is seen by some as “realist” and “pragmatic” policy.

For many U.S. allies in the Middle East, their decision to re-engage is also being driven by a U.S.-created vacuum resulting from a clear disinvestment in Syria and a policy of no longer confronting Assad’s regime. In addition to Syria’s shocking election to the World Health Organization’s Executive Board and Interpol’s re-integration of Syria into its network, the Assad regime has benefited from signals sent by the Biden administration. A U.S.-facilitated regional energy deal to benefit Lebanon has seen Syria included as an active player and a recipient of foreign gas and electricity; to avoid triggering Caesar Act sanctions, the Biden administration has clarified loopholes. As part of back-channel negotiations with Russia, the U.S. has also softened restrictions on foreign entities, allowing financial engagements with Assad’s regime and funding for early recovery activities in regime areas that go far beyond humanitarian aid and will benefit the regime both directly and indirectly.

Encouraged by this softening of U.S. policy , the United Arab Emirates has dramatically escalated its re-engagement with Assad’s regime: dispatching Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed to Damascus, re-starting bilateral business collaboration, and signing a $300 million power plant deal. Exasperated by U.S. indifference and struggling economically, Jordan has aggressively re-engaged, exchanging multiple ministerial visits and re-opening trade. King Abdullah even took a “brotherly” call from Assad himself. Similarly, Egypt hosted Syria’s General Intelligence chief and Algeria is pushing hard for its re-entry into the Arab League.

Notwithstanding the potent dangers inherent in normalizing a brutal dictator and undermining any chance of a meaningful settlement, moves to reintegrate Assad into the regional architecture are stunningly short-sighted. They will embolden a brutal regime, guarantee Syria’s long-term instability, and in all likelihood, implicate key U.S. allies in indirectly aiding and abetting continued war crimes. For now, Qatar and Saudi Arabia stand vocally opposed to the prevailing regional winds, but for how long that will last is distinctly unclear.

Follow on Twitter: @Charles_Lister

3) The catch-22 of civil wars in the Middle East

Ross Harrison Senior Fellow and Director of Research

Civil wars in the Middle East, while symptomatic of the failure of states to build legitimacy and inclusive governance, also are emblematic of a fractured and failed region. Despite some attenuation of the civil wars in terms of the levels of violence and the degrees of lethality in 2021, these conflicts held the Middle East in a vice-grip of regional dysfunction for most of the year, something that is likely to carry over to 2022.

In 2021, active fighting in many of the civil wars largely abated. In Afghanistan this came about because of the outright victory of the Taliban over the Kabul government and the complete withdrawal of the United States. In Syria, victory was delivered to the Assad government over most, but not all, of the country, but only with Russia and Iran putting their collective thumbs on the scale. In the case of Libya, outside actors have played a role in forging agreement between the antagonists and have brought the country to the cusp of elections, which as of this writing seem to be delayed. In Yemen, there have been attempts by outside powers to move the parties toward resolution, but the Houthis, perhaps with Iranian support, have been resistant.

But despite an apparent reduction in the levels of overall fighting in several of these conflicts, for much of 2021 they persisted in creating regional dysfunction, and have defied attempts to create a permanent resolution that would give comfort to suffering populations.

It is easy to point fingers as to why this happened. Clearly there is no shortage of bad actors who have put their own interests ahead of those of their populations. Focusing on the actors themselves, however, misses a broader structural problem of the “unvirtuous cycle” of regional and international actors feasting on the civil wars, but the civil wars giving back by stoking conflicts between the regional actors, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran or Israel and Iran.

This structural problem manifested for the Middle East in a catch-22, whereby resolution of the wars required some form of regional and international cooperation , but the dynamics of the wars created security dilemmas and conflict traps that made the hurdles to getting to cooperation insuperable, even for actors who might be predisposed to cooperate. Going into 2022, these dynamics could mean that, notwithstanding signs in 2021 of an easing of tensions between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Iran, a broader and more lasting rapprochement could prove elusive.

Let’s look at the following developments in the civil wars which defined 2021, posed a threat to the lives of people residing in the countries at war, and are likely to carry over to 2022:

Syria remains one of the countries on the planet most penetrated by outside powers. In 2021, Russia, Iran, and Turkey became more, not less, entrenched militarily in Syria. Transitioning from where Syria is today to a more stable, inclusive, and de-militarized country free of outside actors seems years, if not decades, away.

Other countries that have transitioned into a post-civil war reality are now at renewed risk of falling back into civil war. Lebanon in 2021 continued to experience the malaise that followed the explosion at Beirut Port in August 2020. This has contributed to further state failure, which could pull the country into civil violence. This would likely intensify the already significant involvement of outside regional actors, with Iran being the most likely protagonist and beneficiary. Iraq too is in a precarious state and remained for much of 2021 at risk of falling back into sectarian violence.

While the civil war in Ethiopia is somewhat removed from the broader Middle East, a prolonged conflict could invite meddling of regional actors like Egypt, which already has disagreements with the government in Addis Ababa over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It could also add to instability in Sudan, and might invite further involvement from international actors and terrorist organizations as well.

The countries that seem to be in some form of post-civil war state of suspended animation, like Iraq and Afghanistan, have become more, not less, vulnerable to spoilers, such as ISIS and even al-Qaeda, which could be reinvigorated by the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In 2021, attempts have so far failed to bring the United States back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and Iran back into compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal. This has given Iran a greater incentive to double down in the civil war zones instead of working cooperatively with other states to bring the wars to a close.

The Middle East for all of 2021 has been caught in a conflict trap, where civil wars stoked regional tensions and tensions between regional actors made ending the civil wars difficult. While as the year draws to a close, there are several promising signs of a thawing of tensions between regional actors, namely the GCC states and Iran, we need to be cognizant of how the current situation in the civil wars zones of the region could act as a headwind that will slow progress toward ultimate regional security and stability.

4) Iran’s hardliners consolidate their hold on power

Alex Vatanka Director of Iran Program and Senior Fellow, Frontier Europe Initiative

In Iran, the biggest headline of 2021 was the hardliners’ recapture of all centers of power in Tehran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his armed stalwarts in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) masterminded the installation of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s new president in June. Thanks to mass disqualification of any authentic candidates, Raisi won in a sham election that saw the lowest turnout of any vote since the theocratic Islamist system was established in 1979. 

Khamenei and the IRGC choose Raisi for a number of reasons, but the main one was a desire to consolidate power at a critical juncture. At home, the question of  who will succeed  the 82-year-old supreme leader remains open and Khamenei is striving to micro-manage the process. Khamenei essentially preferred the public boycotting the election over taking the risk of having to deal with a moderate figure in the Presidential Palace who could compromise his succession plans. To a lesser extent, the engineering of Raisi’s presidential win is also a signal to the U.S. and the West that any compromise with Tehran — over its nuclear or missile programs or its regional agenda — can only go through Khamenei and the IRGC and must take their interests into account. 

Khamenei’s gambit with Raisi was always bound to be risky. It has effectively finished off the moderate regime faction and its promise that gradual reform of the system is possible. Khamenei’s handling of the June presidential elections is already resulting in more defections from among regime supporters. Meanwhile, Raisi has been given an  impossible hand . He has tried to behave and sound like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: as a populist and a “people’s president.” The problem is that he does not have Ahmadinejad’s folksy personality or the billions of dollars in oil revenues that Ahmadinejad could dole out in the form of cash and benefits to the lower classes. 

As president, Raisi has discovered that there is  no quick fix for the sanction-hit economy , arguably the Achilles’ heel of the Islamic Republic. One official report recently warned that the government could be  bankrupt  in three years if present trends continue. The solution to that problem is linked to the lifting of sanctions, which in turn is tied to the outcome of the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna, a negotiation process that on the Iranian side Khamenei oversees more than anyone else. When Raisi was installed as president, many saw him as handpicked to succeed Khamenei as supreme leader when that day arrives. But so far Raisi has only performed the role of a scapegoat as the Iranian economy remains in a historic slump while Khamenei and the IRGC ponder what sort of a compromise in Vienna might be acceptable to their interests. Still, the ever-increasing popular anger seen in 2021, from labor strikes to street protests, also suggests that Khamenei and his cohorts do not have endless time to mitigate against greater public mobilization against the Islamist system. 

Follow on Twitter: @AlexVatanka

5) The end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan

Marvin G. Weinbaum Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies

The 20-year Afghan war, American’s longest, finally ended in 2021. On Aug. 15, fighters of the Taliban movement occupied Kabul , shortly after the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and his close advisors had fled. The war ended largely as it had begun, with rule by an Islamic Emirate and with many of the same senior leaders that had served in a Talban government during the 1990s. In its first few months, the new regime has chosen domestic policies that closely resemble its previous practices, notably those prescribing acceptable political and social behavior. Less clear and of primary concern to the U.S. is whether the Taliban’s associations that brought U.S. intervention in 2001 will also return.

It was to ensure that global terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda are not harbored in Afghanistan and allowed to plan catastrophic attacks on American soil that the U.S. began its long, costly war in the first place. The U.S. air strikes that dislodged al-Qaeda also swept up a Taliban unwilling to give up Osama bin Laden and dismantle his operations. It is because the Taliban movement, especially its ascendant Haqqani branch, is known to have never severed its close ties to al-Qaeda that the Taliban restoration is worrisome. The Taliban may not share al-Qaeda’s global aims, but the financially hard-pressed regime may well play host to its rebuilding . Although an enemy of al-Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan Province, with its own far-flung designs, is expected to gain in strength by capitalizing on dissent within Taliban ranks. U.S. intelligence sources estimate that both organizations could, within two or three years, be capable of sponsoring terrorist attacks on the U.S.

While it is too soon to gauge the full impact of America’s military withdrawal on the broader region, its countries have been forced to reassess U.S. reliability as a partner and resolve as an adversary. The potential for regional instability has meanwhile increased and will almost certainly result should the Taliban regime tolerate or facilitate the export of Islamic insurgency to neighboring countries by such Afghanistan-nested militant groups as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). For all of the U.S. calculations that a strategic shift from Afghanistan and its region can allow a geographic refocus for U.S. foreign policy, the threat from the broader region of global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, humanitarian crisis, and mass migration seems likely to keep the U.S. well engaged.

Follow on Twitter: @mgweinbaum

6) The lessons of the May war in Gaza

Khaled Elgindy Senior Fellow, Director of Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs

Last May’s  war in Gaza , which left 256 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead, was the deadliest eruption of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian arena in nearly seven years. The 11-day war was triggered by events some 50 miles away in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem amid the pending expulsions of several Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood at the hands of  extremist Israeli settlers — a reminder that what happens in one part of the occupied territories seldom stays there. The timing of the war was particularly inconvenient, coming just four months after the arrival of the new U.S. administration of Joe Biden and just one month before the swearing in of the  new Israeli coalition government  headed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. 

The fallout from the war in Gaza — the fifth in 12 years — would be felt by the Palestinians and in terms of U.S. policy. On the internal Palestinian front, both the war and the Jerusalem crisis that preceded it once again demonstrated Hamas’s ability to seize the political initiative. Despite the heavy human and material toll inflicted on Gaza’s civilian population, the war instantly boosted  Hamas’s  domestic popularity while highlighting the perceived impotence and growing irrelevance of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.

The crisis was equally problematic for the Biden administration, which had deprioritized and hoped to steer clear of the Israel/Palestine issue. The administration’s lethargic response to the crisis — offering blanket statements of support for Israel’s right to defend itself while attempting to work quietly for a truce, even as it blocked attempts by the U.N. Security Council to secure an immediate cease-fire — further highlighted the administration’s reluctance to challenge the status quo. Ultimately, however, the conflict exposed the dangers of allowing the situation on the ground, whether in Gaza or in East Jerusalem, to fester as well as the futility of disengaging from an issue that the United States has been and remains so deeply invested in. Whether the Biden administration officials have internalized those lessons remains to be seen in 2022.

Follow on Twitter: @elgindy_

7) Israel’s new government lowers the temperature of the debate

Mark A. Heller Non-Resident Scholar

The Israeli election in March 2021 produced what three other elections in the previous two years had failed to deliver: a new government headed by someone other than Benjamin Netanyahu. The governing coalition assembled by Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Yamina Party, is riven by internal contradictions of almost every sort and enjoys only a razor-thin majority. That explains why it has refrained from major initiatives on the most divisive issues on the Israel agenda, including relations with the Palestinians (although the coalition contains left-wing parties that have consistently advocated a two-state settlement of the conflict) and the question of religion and the state (although the coalition, for the first time in decades, includes no ultra-Orthodox representatives).

Still, the coalition has proved more resilient than many expected and has already registered some noteworthy accomplishments. For one thing, it has passed the first new budget in several years, thereby introducing a greater measure of rationality and transparency in economic planning. Secondly, it has formally involved an Arab party (as opposed to Arab individuals) in governing councils, by incorporating the United Arab List and allocating to it chairmanships of some important Knesset committees (but not positions in the Cabinet) — though it should be noted that some credit is due Netanyahu, who legitimized this transformation by declaring his desire to recruit Arab parties to his side, even campaigning on one occasion as “Abu Yair.” Thirdly, and perhaps most remarkably, the new government has practically transformed the tenor of public discourse by removing much of the toxicity that characterized political rhetoric in recent years. Opposition representatives may attack with little restraint, but government spokespeople have stopped demonizing their political adversaries, and policy preferences, some which do not differ that radically from those of preceding governments, are explained and defended with greater civility than before.

By lowering the temperature of the debate, the new government has injected a measure of calm and sobriety into the long-standing turbulence of Israeli politics. This does not just reassure the public as its government grapples with day-to-day challenges; it also reassures Israel’s regional and international partners, from the United Arab Emirates through Egypt and Morocco all the way to the United States, thereby facilitating the search for more cooperative approaches to common challenges.

8) A year of reckoning in energy markets

Karen E. Young Senior Fellow and Director of Program on Economics and Energy

2021 was a year of reckoning in global energy markets. We started to think more globally about climate change policy action with COP 26, even as many found the commitments disappointing.

The Middle East has become ground zero for much of the debate on net zero. Saudi Arabia surprised the world by setting a net-zero emissions target for 2060 , following the UAE's announcement of a 2050 target.

From the supply side of oil and gas exporters, there is a clear argument that their products matter and have a role in the energy transition. Saudi Arabia and its energy minister have made the strongest case that oil still matters, and a messy transition with short supply will be especially dangerous not just for producers, but globally.

Managing the debate and the framing the energy transition has become important for several Middle East producers. Egypt will host a global forum on climate change with COP 27. From the Egyptian government's point of view, defending a role for natural gas in the transition is vital to the ability to attract financing to develop its own industry. The UAE will host COP 28 and has aggressively promoted its diversification efforts, especially its capacity for renewable power production, which includes new nuclear power. The next COP will likely focus on gradations of clean hydrocarbons, making the case for new brandings of both oil and gas products.

Disagreements among producers, including the United States, have been emblematic of some of the domestic politics driving energy policy. The Biden administration has tried to shift the blame for rising gasoline costs — just one part of a large inflationary trend — to OPEC output quotas. Saudi Arabia cleverly countered with a commitment to increased output among OPEC+ members that few are actually able to meet. OPEC members also have some important differences in how they see the timeline of getting their exports to market and how to dominate among Asian buyers, as we saw between the UAE and Saudi Arabia this summer.

Follow on Twitter: @ProfessorKaren

9) More climate change highs (and lows) for the Middle East

Mohammed Mahmoud Senior Fellow and Director of the Climate and Water Program

The global implications of ongoing climate change this year have been especially acute in the Middle East. For a region that is already prone to hot and dry conditions, the suite of climate change impacts that the Middle East experienced this year are potentially an indication that the region is shifting to a new climate regime that will continue to bring more environmental challenges . It was a year of dangerous extremes: extreme heat, extreme weather, and extreme drought.

Extreme heat

The rise in average global temperatures has ramped up the occurrence and intensity of extreme heat events in the region, where many countries experienced daily temperatures that were not only well above average, but in some cases record-breaking. This phenomenon was most evident during the summer when a large number of locations, including major cities (e.g. Aqaba, Doha, and Khartoum), were amongst the hottest places in the world this year, with recorded temperatures close to or exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. Extreme heat events have serious implications for the residents of the Middle East, chief of which is in the domain of public health with an associated rise in heat-related illnesses and death.

Extreme weather

With the rise in global average temperatures also comes an increase in sea surface temperatures, particularly in water bodies around the equator where most of the earth’s incoming solar radiation is absorbed. In this band lies the Indian Ocean (and within it the Arabian Sea), a hotbed of tropical storm activity fueled by rising sea surface temperatures that can generate devastating cyclones with the capacity of making landfall anywhere from Pakistan/Iran and the Arabian Peninsula to the Horn of Africa. One such storm that formed this year was Cyclone Shaheen , a severe cyclonic storm that made landfall in Oman and caused substantial damage and numerous fatalities.

Extreme drought

Persistent drought has plagued the Middle East as a whole this year due to sustained hot and dry conditions brought on by climate change. But one of the hardest-hit areas has been the Levant region and Iraq and Iran in the east. Dwindling surface and groundwater supplies coupled with poor seasonal rainfall and inefficient water conveyance infrastructure (that contributes to substantial water losses) has threatened the water security of these nations, almost to the brink of catastrophic collapse due to water shortages. Inadequate access to potable water has already caused negative consequences for local economies (e.g. rising cost of food due to constrained agricultural activity ), public health (e.g. an increase in waterborne illnesses in rural communities drinking untreated water), and transboundary cooperation (e.g. water hoarding between the riparian nations along the Tigris River system).

10) Technopolitics emerge as a key factor in the new geopolitics

Eliza Campbell Director, Cyber Program

The saga of Israeli technology company NSO Group could fill volumes — and indeed, in 2021, to many observers of the Middle East it might have seemed as if it did. Why, readers might have asked themselves, does this matter? What exactly about a single midsize technology firm, only one of many in a crowded and fast-growing Israeli tech sector with a stunning 6,426 local start-ups, captured so much political and analytical attention this year, and what does this mean for what might be next? The short answer is this: Technopolitics are the new geopolitics, whether observers are ready to accept it or not. The rise of NSO Group, and the growing international outcry this year over its signature product, Pegasus, tells the story of how the Middle East might be the place where this reality is tested for the first time.

Pegasus, NSO’s star product, allows customers to remotely hack and access the mobile phones and communications of those infected by the spyware; NSO has maintained that its purpose is to intercept communications in order to “ prevent terrorism and crime .” Meanwhile, a growing chorus of technologists, activists, scholars, and journalists have repeatedly provided compelling evidence that clients of NSO, which have included many governments in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates, are primarily engaging NSO for the purpose of surveilling and intimidating journalists, activists, political dissidents, and others. Blockbuster reporting by a coalition of media organizations called the Pegasus Project revealed this summer that, among other allegations, NSO’s software had potentially been used to target at least 50,000 persons of interest, including more than 180 journalists around the world. The implications of this reality are stunning; for a region in which the fight for human rights and freedom of expression have never been more dire, technology-aided intimidation and surveillance, unchecked by international sanction or rule of law, could be viewed as a game changer. Meanwhile, as Israel took the unprecedented step of officially designating six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organizations , and as workers from those organizations were later revealed to have been hacked by Pegasus , and later still, as the U.S. revealed that its own diplomats had been targeted by the software, it became more clear that something had shifted.

Ultimately, the story of NSO Group in 2021 is emblematic of larger questions about the spyware industry, which includes many peers in a growing marketplace . It also tells the story of a Middle East being reshaped by the interests of private capital and a rapidly diminishing sense of political and economic security for the vast majority of citizens, who largely continue to live according to the whims of corruption , crushing authoritarianism , and violent climate change. Cooperation between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel on tech issues is the culmination of this shift; Palestine has become, by and large, a symbolic debate, even as the lives of Palestinians grow increasingly desperate , and as Israel imports foreign workers rather than permit Palestinians living under their occupation to share the benefits of the booming local economy. In short, observers should watch the NSO story closely in 2022. What the case of this company tells us about dramatic shifts in regional power-sharing, the future of human rights, and the US’s changing role in the world will not always be so easy to ignore.

This look back at 10 key events and trends that shaped 2021 sets the foundation for thinking about what’s to come in 2022 and beyond in the Middle East. Countervailing trends — de-escalation through diplomacy at a time of continued tensions as actors use force, particularly with weapons enhanced by new technologies, including cyberweapons — demonstrate that the complicated competition for power and influence across the region continues to evolve. This regional competition comes at a time when broader geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting between the United States, China, Russia, and Europe, and these outside actors continue to play important roles in key parts of the Middle East.

The past year was one of many surprises and discontinuities in the Middle East, but some of the trendlines on basic human security, especially the impact of climate change producing extreme heat, weather, and drought, offer signs of the challenges ahead in the coming years. The people and governments of the region are the main actors in shaping outcomes, but countries like the United States can play an important role in turning challenges into opportunities for advancing greater security and prosperity in the Middle East in ways that directly benefit the broader world.

Follow on Twitter: @Katulis

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-for-profit, educational organization. It does not engage in advocacy and its scholars’ opinions are their own. MEI welcomes financial donations, but retains sole editorial control over its work and its publications reflect only the authors’ views. For a listing of MEI donors, please click her e .

IELTS Preparation with Liz: Free IELTS Tips and Lessons, 2024

• Test Information FAQ
• Band Scores
• IELTS Candidate Success Tips
• Computer IELTS: Pros & Cons
• How to Prepare
• Useful Links & Resources
• Recommended Books
• Writing Task 1
• Writing Task 2
• Speaking Part 1 Topics
• Speaking Part 2 Topics
• Speaking Part 3 Topics
• 100 Essay Questions
• On The Day Tips
• Top Results
• Advanced IELTS

IELTS Essay Topics for 2021

Below is a list of predicted IELTS essay topics for Writing Task 2 based on topics that have appeared recently, current world events and common topics that frequently appear in IELTS essays. Both GT and Academic IELTS candidates should prepare all topics from this list.

On this page, you will find:

• Tips for Preparing Essays
• Essay Topics 2021 List

Message from Liz

Ielts essay topics – preparing ideas.

• Be aware of the range of possible topics and prepare them all. Be aware of current world issues – IELTS likes to stay up-to-date.
• Prepare strong main ideas for all topics. Main ideas should be ones you can easily explain and develop. 
• Prepare supporting points. These make up the supporting sentences in your body paragraphs. The examiner will mark these carefully.
• Practice planning paragraphing and links. See these pages:   paragraphing and  Linking Words for Essays
• Source ideas in model essays online by google topics. You can find some model essays and free tips on this site. Click here: Free Model Essays etc
• IDEAS E-BOOK. I wrote an e-book covering 150 essay topics with ideas and vocabulary. Get that if you need the help. Visit my store: Liz’s Ideas E-book
• Target 7 and above. If you need more help reaching your goal for IELTS writing, I have Advanced Writing Task 2 Lessons in my online store: Liz’s Store .

Below is a list of predicted IELTS writing task 2 topics for 2021. The predictions are based on recurring essay topics, recent topics and world events which are all important in IELTS essay questions. The topics are not written as full IELTS essay questions, they are written as topics without the instructions. GT and Academic candidates should prepare all topics – even if you don’t get them in Writing Task 2, you might get them in Speaking Part 3. I’ve highlighted interesting essay topics for 2021 that are based on recent world issues that you might struggle with if you don’t prepare for them. Also note, topics change with each test, on one test day there can be a number of essay questions used, and essay topics are often recycled.

• importance of the arts for society
• supporting the arts – government funding 
• theatre and live events
• freedom of speech and freedom of expression
• children learning art 
• museums and galleries – importance
• local business vs international businesses
• supporting local businesses – buying local produce
• business skills – important skills / learning skills
• family run businesses
• buying goods or saving money
• the power of advertising in business
• shopping online
• businesses supporting local communities
• how online communication has changed our lives
• are people becoming more isolated because of only meeting online
• face to face or online communication
• pros and cons of meeting people online
• has the internet brought people closer or not
• how to stop criminals re-offending
• fixed punishment for one crime or not
• children – should parents be punished for their children’s crime
• prison or rehabilitation
• foreign cultures – learning through language, learning by travel, adapting to another culture
• music – importance of music, international music
• fashion – following trends and spending money
• films – should historical films be accurate, learning about culture from films, foreign films, subtitles
• how online media has changed local cultures
• global warming
• solving pollution – internationally or domestically
• major problems and solutions
• importance of nature for our well being
• responsibility for problems – government or individual
• urban nature 
• protecting wild species / endangered species – funding, reasons,
• why people don’t change their life styles to help environmental problems
• air / noise pollution in cities
• putting children into groups based on age or ability
• importance of children reading books (types of books)
• science or art / sciences or music
• how children learn 
• schools providing meals for children
• making lessons more interesting
• importance of science / history / technology in schools
• disadvantages for children from poorer backgrounds
• how to improve education in rural areas
• what age to learn a foreign language
• exams or on-going assessment / project work
• university education – costs, funding, courses
• home schooling / studying from home
• online education
• extra curricular activities
• single parent families
• importance of family for old people
• roles of grandparents
• supporting vulnerable members of the family: elderly, sick
• peer pressure for children
• children growing up in city or countryside
• children with both parents working
• childhood obesity – reasons, solutions
• healthy diet
• vegetarianism
• junk food – problems, solutions
• funding – prevention or cure 
• taking care of sick people – government or family
• funding – health care or other society problems
• good health – exercise or diet
• free health care for everyone
• cosmetic surgery – reasons, value
• mental health – stress, positive mindset, meditation
• lack of housing – building in cities or rural areas
• using space in cities for housing or parks
• funding affordable housing or other problems in society
• living in flats – pros and cons
• importance of hobbies / free time
• leisure time – importance, activities,
• spending time with family and friends
• leadership – innate or learned
• talent – innate or learned
• ambition – pros and cons
• important character traits
• famous world leaders – skills and traits
• family, society or government – taking care of the elderly
• the generation gap
• city living – positive or negative
• people moving to cities – reasons, problems, solution
• spending money on weddings – pros and cons
• respecting older people
• traditions – food, clothing, festivals
• protecting old buildings
• isolation among people in society
• supporting vulnerable people in society – government or community
• roles models in society for children
• ideal society
• online media stars
• reality TV stars
• importance of charities and charity work
• importance of green spaces and urban environment
• exploration – funding, importance
• communicating with other planets
• space travel for common people
• international sporting event – importance
• business sponsoring sporting events – pros and cons
• exercising and health
• children and sport – importance, who is responsible
• indoor sports
• smart phones – pros and cons, functions, limitations
• the internet – pros and cons
• online security (also for children)
• the future of the internet
• e-books – pros and cons, libraries
• children spending too much time online
• plane travel vs train travel
• cars in city centres – pros and cons
• using bicycles rather than cars
• walking – pros and cons
• pros and cons of tourism for rural communities
• tourism and economy
• working mothers
• doing volunteer work / charity work
• work / life balance
• working long hours – pros and cons
• experience or education or skills
• four day working week
• importance of promotion, salary, job satisfaction
• working online – pros and cons
• earning large salaries – films stars, sports people doctors etc
• richer countries should help poorer countries 
• types of international aid
• increasing number of old people
• gap between rich and poor countries
• violence on TV
• tackling world issues domestically or internationally
• news online – reliability of news, sources of news, fake news
• people becoming similar 
• loss of culture (protecting traditions)
• loss of local language (protecting language)
• one language

Sharing your IELTS Writing Task 2 Experience

• Did you get an essay topic you hadn’t prepared for?
• What preparation tips do you have for others?
• How did you manage your time in your writing test?
• What score did you get in your writing test?
• Sharing is caring 🙂 

2021 is our chance to start fresh, to move forward and to build a strong future. Forget your difficult experiences and be proactive about your future. Each positive step forward takes you towards your goal and towards success.  Be focused and strategic in your preparation for IELTS. You can find lots and lots of free lessons, tips, topics, model answers on this website – go to the HOME page to access it all. I wish you all lots of luck !! All the best, Liz 🙂

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I just want to say a big thank you for all you do. It is so kind of you to share your knowledge with us at not cost. I am inspired. God bless you and grant your heart’s desire.

I wrote the test on 30th October. My result just came out on Friday and I scored an average of 8. I appreciate your help in achieving that.

During my speaking test I was asked to talk about a café I had been to. I was to describe it and say what I went there to do.

During my writing Task 2, the question was something like: Some people believe that parents should be able to punish their children when they behave badly. However, others say there should be laws that govern how erring children are corrected. Discuss the two points of view and give your opinion.

Like you say, ‘sharing is caring’. Thanks for leaving me a better person.

Warm regards Nene

Great to see you’ve done so well. Good for you 🙂 Thanks for sharing

Thanks a lot

When children starting school the effect of teachers are more than parents in social and intellectual behaviour of students. To what extent do you agree? This was my topic 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, I got 6, I expected 7. I was in disagreement and give 5 reasons for it in 2 paragraphs.

Should I address social and intellectual in two separate paragraphs or I could explain them together in two paragraphs?

There are a number of points ton consider: 1. if you disagree then your essay must show why you think parents have more effect and why teachers have less effect – you must cover both within your opinion 2. you need to tackle both social and intellectual – you can tackle them together or separately – it depends on your point of view. For example, you might think teacher have a more intellectual effect and parents still have the most social effect 3. you should organise your ideas logically. Usually this means one single central theme per paragraph. If you had five main ideas – how can you have only two body paragraphs? When you brainstorm ideas – make a list of all the ideas you can think of and then choose the best to use. You don’t need to use all of them. Choose just two or three and organise them into separate body paragraphs

The three points above are just an example of things to consider for this essay and exemplify why you might have got a lower score than expected.

Just to share the question I got for my IELTS exam today. The words below are based on my memory.

The number of tall buildings in cities is increasing.

What are the reasons?

Is this a positive or negative development?

Share examples from your experience.

Hi Liz! Thank you so much for your site and great lessons. I bought your advanced writing classes and they were so helpful. I am a mom, working a full time job, and looking to apply for postgraduate study overseas. I barely had time to practice, but I do believe your website, tips and classes made an impact in my score. I got an 8.5 overall and 7.5 in the Writing section. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Also, I wrote down the Writing Task 2 – Essay Question to share it with you and your students (I took the IELTS Academic on August 2021, quite recently).

Topic: In both studying and working, there are people that work harder than others. What makes people work hard? Is it a good thing to be a hard working person?

A great score – very well done 🙂 I’m glad you found my website useful 🙂

Cleared my exam and got my desired scores on the first attempt thanks to this site, Thank you so much Liz, all the best!

Great to hear!! Well done 🙂

Could you check and give me a score Task 2 The expansion of multinational companies and increase in globalization produces positive effects to everyone. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement. In this contemporary world, Change is the law of nature but trying to abolish the natural arena is discomforting and disturbing. The overruling of multinational companies and firms and the sudden rise of globalization have led to many problems in human lives. So I partially disagree with the above notation.

To begin with, the building of new projects and the tech companies have greatly affected the vegetation grounds and most parts of the cities such as residential colonies are taken also away to form new offices. Deforestation has led to major pollution in the cities as well. Another factor that has been affected due to this is the weather conditions of the country. The rainfall patterns which were fixed in the older days are not disturbed due to global warming. Besides that, even the summers are unbearable due to the rise of temperature up to 40 degrees Celsius and all these are the results of modernization.

Some people may disagree with me due to the fact that this new tech world has given them the opportunity to get good jobs and a lifestyle but at the same time, life is not all about getting rich.

To conclude, many factors have impacted the current situation of the world such as erosion of vegetation lands, pollution due to global warming, deforestation and all this is due to the expansion of cities and factories so people need to slow down their speed to save our future kids.

Hi! I got the band score I needed. Thank you so much for this site. I’ve learned a lot from you, guys!

Anyway, let me share the question I encountered last October 2020. “Some people believe that History subject should not be taught anymore because it is already old and outdated. Others think that it should still be kept. To what extent do you agree/disagree?”

I apologize as these were not the exact words, but they delivered the same thought.

Good luck to everyone who’s about to take the exam. 🙂

Recently i gave my IELTS exam and i got 5.5 band in writing. It wasn’t the score i expected but my writing task 2 topic was very tricky. It was to mention drawbacks of the same thing shown by films, ads, brands and tv channels over the years on people’s mind. But they aren’t the same they have changed and their content has changed drastically. This question was really contradictory and tricky. Reply mam if possible. Regards

Can you remember the essay question more clearly? It’s quite vague. I would need to see a more accurate recording of the question to comment.

Hi Madam, Can you please help me with the tricks to differentiate the Opinion and Non-opinion Essays, which don’t have the ‘Do you agree or Disagree’ keywords? My doubt is with the question of having the keywords like: 1. Question X, Discuss both the views and give your opinion? 2.Question X, Discuss both the views? 3.Question X, Do you think the advantage outweigh the disadvantages? 4.Question X, Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages? Example: Many things that used to be done in the home by hands are now being done by machines. Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages?

I’ve already written a page about this. Here is a link to the main Writing Task 2 section of the website and you’ll find this mentioned in a link: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

hi liz, i really need your help regarding this question task 2.”Countries around the world will be facing significant challenges relating not only to the environment but population and education as well. What problems will your country face in the next ten years? How can these problems be overcome? im having problem paraphrasing this question for my background statement. i hope you can help me. thank you!

regards, jnet

Where did you get this question from? Was it from official sources? It doesn’t look like an official IELTS essay. The background statement does not include paraphrase the question for this essay question. You only paraphrase the first sentence:

Many countries worldwide might struggle in tackling issues such as environmental problems, education and population growth.

As you can see, when you paraphrase, you do NOT need to change all words. Just express the same ideas your own way and some words will be the same.

Hello everyone ,

I am going to give the exam of IELTS on 21 st Jan , so i am little bit confuse in choosing the topic for the writing task 2 , so can anyone help out with that , which topics can be used and what can i read it

You don’t choose the topic. You are given an essay question which you must answer. This means you need to prepare ideas for many topics. This can’t be done in one day. Instead, read over the topics are you not familiar with and do quick brainstorms.

Thank you Liz for your guidance. I got desrired results by following your lessons. I got overall band with 9 in both listening & reading. I had my GT IELTS exam on 9th Jan 2021.

My writing task 2 topic – Some people think that hard work helps in achieving Financial success while others think it is not the only thing which contributes to financial success. I was asked to discuss both of them & give my opinion.

Great scores – well done 🙂

Thank you Ma’am Liz! I’m glad that I found your website as I searched about IELTS. Its really a big help to me during this pandemic as I studied your lessons. Thank you so much for your generosity, I’ve got my desired band score. May you continue to be a blessing to everyone. I hope that your health will improve better. Take care always and God bless!

So glad to hear you’ve got the scores you needed – well done 🙂

Dear mam, I am a general training aspirant. I am practicing writing task 2. I am uncertain of how good i am while writing essay. I request you to please review my essay and tell me how much band will i score writing this way.

Ques. Today, high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Ans. Effective marketing plays a major role in increasing the demand of the product. On account of this , vast scale selling of famous products is the result of efficient marketing and not requirement of the public. This essay will attempt to objectively examine all significant components in detail. (47 words)

Objectivity being of the essence, the following words will weigh one side of the issue against the other. In my opinion, right form of marketing makes us trust specific brands. On the other hand , i feel that everything that glitters is not gold. The following two paragraphs will delve effectively into both aspects. (54 words)

First, advertisements make us know about the products in demand sitting at home that tends to increase sales. Second well advertised brands are often topic of discussions among our acquaintances and that creates virtual impression of specific goods on our minds. To substantiate the above. highly marketed brands like Patanjali have become extremely popular amongst middle and upper class. They have made a huge network in a very short span of time. (72 words)

However, many popular brands that are advertised well are of no good use and creates hoax among public. Furthermore, many trusted companies are making business without much marketing only because they are fulfilling the needfulness of people by selling genuine products. To corroborate what has just been stated , brands like Mother dairy and Amul still hold their positions well even after introduction of many popular well marketed dairy firms. ( 70 words)

In light of above, it is true that proper advertising plays a distinct role in producing sales. Still i believe that fulfillment of public needs is equally important for successful vending. Bringing this essay to a close, there are at least two ways to examine any situation. In this instance, i disagree to the statement given. (56 words)

(total- 296 words)

Happy new year Liz. Hope you are much stronger now? I pray you have a quick recovery. I had my exam last year September. In my speaking, especially in part one, my examiner always cut me short, she never gave me time to add a conditional in my responses. Although I got a 6.5 band score, could it have equally affected my score in addition to my other mistakes.

It is 100% normal for your answers to be cut short. The examiner will interrupt when they want to ask another question. There are only 4-5 mins for 12 questions to be asked and answered in part 1. Take this into consideration when you answer. Give a direct answer and then add a little more until the examiner interrupts. Be ready for this and don’t let it affect your confidence. You must show willingness to speak at length – show as much fluency as you can. You haven’t asked me a question in your comment. But if you are asking if this is the reason for a lower score, the answer is “no”. Being interrupted is a natural part of IELTS speaking test.

Hi Liz, I follow your lessons since 2017. You have helped me crack Ielts 3 times already. Last time my score was overall 8.5 band with 9 in both listening and speaking. Hoping a good one this time too! Happy new year 🎉

Brilliant to hear – very well done 🙂 Wishing you a great 2021 !!

Thanks a lot ma’am Your effort for helping and guiding us is much more than excellent. Each and every module is explained in a very easy as well as much from point to point Today 9th January 2021 I have my IELTS Academic Exam I am from India Pray for me I have learned much from your offerings Thank you LIZ ☺️☺️ Love from INDIA

Hi Liz, hope and pray you’re doing well and in good health. Have a blessed New Year and more blessings to come throughout the year 2021. Thank you so much of your untiring effort to guide and teach us for our IELTS test preparation. I might take IELTS-GT test next month. To be honest, I am not very good with speaking in English yet I found your website very helpful. Your teaching was really inspiring, easy to understand tremendously and guiding us accordingly. My goal is to reach 6 band at least. Help me God. Take care and keep safe. God bless you relentlessly.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you 🙂

Your book IELTS writing topics is really brilliant!!

I am having my exam next week, hopefully, I will get my desired score

Good luck!! 🙂

Happy new year Liz.. and thank you so much for these materials. 😊

Wishing you all the best for 2021 🙂

Thanks for all your loyal support Liz! I wish you a very happy New Year and speedy recovery.

Thanks. I hope 2021 turns out to be a year of positive change 🙂

Have a mind-blowing new year liz

Happy New Year Liz

Same to you 🙂

thanks Liz. . . .

Hi Liz Im one of your followers and Found out that you have a good information in regards to ielts. I’m planning to take my ielts and I’m encouraged with the comments I read. I’m a nurse by profession but I need to take the band score intended in order for me to practice nurse in the uk. And I know you will be of great help.

Lots of luck! Go to the HOME page of this site to learn how to access all materials.

Thank you so much Liz for your effort! Happy New year

Happy 2021 🙂

Thank you Liz for your part. I got the desired result. I feel very happy to express my gratitude to all the people who had contributed, helped and encouraged me to get good band score. Thank you everyone. I got 7 5 overall with 8.5 in reading which I think is a great achievement in IELTS Academic. A little unhappy with my speaking score, if you can, please suggest something to improve my speaking. Regards

Great to hear your scores. Well done 🙂 For speaking, your score is based only on your language skills which is different to how the writing test is scored. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-band-scores/ and this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/ . The key is to showcase your language in a natural way. For example, did you show the examiner a second conditional during the test? If not, why not? Your task is to show your range and this includes grammar which is equally as important as vocabulary. If the question isn’t a direct prompting for a second conditional, you can just add one yourself. Here’s an example: Part 1 Q: Do you often go swimming? Answer: No, I don’t. I don’t really have much time because of my work so I can only go swimming once in a while. But if I had more time, I’d definitely go swimming at least twice a week.

As you can see, the question was straight forward, but the answer showcased a direct use of the present simple with a flexible time phrase and a second conditional statement. These are the skills the examiner is looking for. The other thing to consider is developing your fluency in part 2. Take your talk beyond the prompts and take control of your talk. This is the time to think about what language to showcase and how to incorporate that. You have 1 min to plan this. So, prepare loads of ideas for topics before the test and then during part 2 you can prepare language to showcase for your talk during that prep time. Success in IELTS is about having and showing excellent use of English in a natural way. But, as with most exams, there are strategies to learn and techniques to help you present the best of yourself. I hope this helps 🙂

Thank you Liz, you are such a nice person apart from a wonderful coach, I think world needs more angels like you , STAY BLESSED ALWAYS

Happy New Year Liz, I hope your health is in great spirits.

You are the best and Fabulous teacher, Lots of prayers and Love 🙂

Wishing you all the best for 2021 !! 🙂

Thanks alot liz for these stuff

You’re welcome 🙂

I did my exam on 12-12 and because of you I got the score that I wanted! It was my first attempt and I only studied from your website 😍 Can’t thank you enough Liz.

My Ielts writing task 2 topic was : Some people think that a good teamwork makes a company successful, other think that a good leadership is the reason behind the success of a company.

I was asked to discuss both of them and share my opinion.

So glad to hear you did well. Congratulations. The topic of Business is a common one in IELTS Writing Task 2, particularly what leads to success in business. Sometimes it might relate to key aspects of business such as marketing and advertising vs good product. Sometimes its about staff or character traits. This is the reason it’s so important to prepare as many ideas as possible for as many topics. Anyway, well done with your results 🙂

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‘When Normal Life Stopped’: College Essays Reflect a Turbulent Year

This year’s admissions essays became a platform for high school seniors to reflect on the pandemic, race and loss.

By Anemona Hartocollis

This year perhaps more than ever before, the college essay has served as a canvas for high school seniors to reflect on a turbulent and, for many, sorrowful year. It has been a psychiatrist’s couch, a road map to a more hopeful future, a chance to pour out intimate feelings about loneliness and injustice.

In response to a request from The New York Times, more than 900 seniors submitted the personal essays they wrote for their college applications. Reading them is like a trip through two of the biggest news events of recent decades: the devastation wrought by the coronavirus, and the rise of a new civil rights movement.

In the wake of the high-profile deaths of Black people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers, students shared how they had wrestled with racism in their own lives. Many dipped their feet into the politics of protest, finding themselves strengthened by their activism, yet sometimes conflicted.

And in the midst of the most far-reaching pandemic in a century, they described the isolation and loss that have pervaded every aspect of their lives since schools suddenly shut down a year ago. They sought to articulate how they have managed while cut off from friends and activities they had cultivated for years.

To some degree, the students were responding to prompts on the applications, with their essays taking on even more weight in a year when many colleges waived standardized test scores and when extracurricular activities were wiped out.

This year the Common App, the nation’s most-used application, added a question inviting students to write about the impact of Covid-19 on their lives and educations. And universities like Notre Dame and Lehigh invited applicants to write about their reactions to the death of George Floyd, and how that inspired them to make the world a better place.

The coronavirus was the most common theme in the essays submitted to The Times, appearing in 393 essays, more than 40 percent. Next was the value of family, coming up in 351 essays, but often in the context of other issues, like the pandemic and race. Racial justice and protest figured in 342 essays.

“We find with underrepresented populations, we have lots of people coming to us with a legitimate interest in seeing social justice established, and they are looking to see their college as their training ground for that,” said David A. Burge, vice president for enrollment management at George Mason University.

Family was not the only eternal verity to appear. Love came up in 286 essays; science in 128; art in 110; music in 109; and honor in 32. Personal tragedy also loomed large, with 30 essays about cancer alone.

Some students resisted the lure of current events, and wrote quirky essays about captaining a fishing boat on Cape Cod or hosting dinner parties. A few wrote poetry. Perhaps surprisingly, politics and the 2020 election were not of great interest.

Most students expect to hear where they were admitted by the end of March or beginning of April. Here are excerpts from a few of the essays, edited for length.

Nandini Likki

Nandini, a senior at the Seven Hills School in Cincinnati, took care of her father after he was hospitalized with Covid-19. It was a “harrowing” but also rewarding time, she writes.

When he came home, my sister and I had to take care of him during the day while my mom went to work. We cooked his food, washed his dishes, and excessively cleaned the house to make sure we didn’t get the disease as well.

It was an especially harrowing time in my life and my mental health suffered due to the amount of stress I was under.

However, I think I grew emotionally and matured because of the experience. My sister and I became more responsible as we took on more adult roles in the family. I grew even closer to my dad and learned how to bond with him in different ways, like using Netflix Party to watch movies together. Although the experience isolated me from most of my friends who couldn’t relate to me, my dad’s illness taught me to treasure my family even more and cherish the time I spend with them.

Nandini has been accepted at Case Western and other schools.

Grace Sundstrom

Through her church in Des Moines, Grace, a senior at Roosevelt High School, began a correspondence with Alden, a man who was living in a nursing home and isolated by the pandemic.

As our letters flew back and forth, I decided to take a chance and share my disgust about the treatment of people of color at the hands of police officers. To my surprise, Alden responded with the same sentiments and shared his experience marching in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Here we were, two people generations apart, finding common ground around one of the most polarizing subjects in American history.

When I arrived at my first Black Lives Matter protest this summer, I was greeted by the voices of singing protesters. The singing made me think of a younger Alden, stepping off the train at Union Station in Washington, D.C., to attend the 1963 March on Washington.

Grace has been admitted to Trinity University in San Antonio and is waiting to hear from others.

Ahmed AlMehri

Ahmed, who attends the American School of Kuwait, wrote of growing stronger through the death of his revered grandfather from Covid-19.

Fareed Al-Othman was a poet, journalist and, most importantly, my grandfather. Sept. 8, 2020, he fell victim to Covid-19. To many, he’s just a statistic — one of the “inevitable” deaths. But to me, he was, and continues to be, an inspiration. I understand the frustration people have with the restrictions, curfews, lockdowns and all of the tertiary effects of these things.

But I, personally, would go through it all a hundred times over just to have my grandfather back.

For a long time, things felt as if they weren’t going to get better. Balancing the grief of his death, school and the upcoming college applications was a struggle; and my stress started to accumulate. Covid-19 has taken a lot from me, but it has forced me to grow stronger and persevere. I know my grandfather would be disappointed if I had let myself use his death as an excuse to slack off.

Ahmed has been accepted by the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Miami and is waiting to hear from others.

Mina Rowland

Mina, who lives in a shelter in San Joaquin County, Calif., wrote of becoming homeless in middle school.

Despite every day that I continue to face homelessness, I know that I have outlets for my pain and anguish.

Most things that I’ve had in life have been destroyed, stolen, lost, or taken, but art and poetry shall be with me forever.

The stars in “Starry Night” are my tenacity and my hope. Every time I am lucky enough to see the stars, I am reminded of how far I’ve come and how much farther I can go.

After taking a gap year, Mina and her twin sister, Mirabell, have been accepted at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and are waiting on others.

Christine Faith Cabusay

Christine, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York, decided to break the isolation of the pandemic by writing letters to her friends.

How often would my friends receive something in the mail that was not college mail, a bill, or something they ordered online? My goal was to make opening a letter an experience. I learned calligraphy and Spencerian script so it was as if an 18th-century maiden was writing to them from her parlor on a rainy day.

Washing lines in my yard held an ever-changing rainbow of hand-recycled paper.

With every letter came a painting of something that I knew they liked: fandoms, animals, music, etc. I sprayed my favorite perfume on my signature on every letter because I read somewhere that women sprayed perfume on letters overseas to their partners in World War II; it made writing letters way more romantic (even if it was just to my close friends).

Christine is still waiting to hear from schools.

Alexis Ihezue

Her father’s death from complications of diabetes last year caused Alexis, a student at the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology in Lawrenceville, Ga., to consider the meaning of love.

And in the midst of my grief swallowing me from the inside out, I asked myself when I loved him most, and when I knew he loved me. It’s nothing but brief flashes, like bits and pieces of a dream. I hear him singing “Fix You” by Coldplay on our way home, his hands across the table from me at our favorite wing spot that we went to weekly after school, him driving me home in the middle of a rainstorm, his last message to me congratulating me on making it to senior year.

It’s me finding a plastic spoon in the sink last week and remembering the obnoxious way he used to eat. I see him in bursts and flashes.

A myriad of colors and experiences. And I think to myself, ‘That’s what it is.’ It’s a second. It’s a minute. That’s what love is. It isn’t measured in years, but moments.

Alexis has been accepted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is waiting on others.

Ivy Wanjiku

She and her mother came to America “with nothing but each other and $100,” writes Ivy, who was born in Kenya and attends North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Ga.

I am a triple threat. Foreign, black, female. From the dirt roads and dust that covered the attire of my ancestors who worshiped the soil, I have sprouted new beginnings for generations.

But the question arises; will that generation live to see its day?

Melanin mistaken as a felon, my existence is now a hashtag that trends as often as my rights, a facade at best, a lie in truth. I now know more names of dead blacks than I do the amendments of the Constitution.

Ivy is going to Emory University in Atlanta on full scholarship and credits her essay with helping her get in.

Mary Clare Marshall

The isolation of the pandemic became worse when Mary Clare, a student at Sacred Heart Greenwich in Connecticut, realized that her mother had cancer.

My parents acted like everything was normal, but there were constant reminders of her diagnosis. After her first chemo appointment, I didn’t acknowledge the change. It became real when she came downstairs one day without hair.

No one said anything about the change. It just happened. And it hit me all over again. My mom has cancer.

Even after going to Catholic school for my whole life, I couldn’t help but be angry at God. I felt myself experiencing immense doubt in everything I believe in. Unable to escape my house for any small respite, I felt as though I faced the reality of my mom’s cancer totally alone.

Mary Clare has been admitted to the University of Virginia and is waiting on other schools.

Nora Frances Kohnhorst

Nora, a student at the High School of American Studies at Lehman College in New York, was always “a serial dabbler,” but found commitment in a common pandemic hobby.

In March, when normal life stopped, I took up breadmaking. This served a practical purpose. The pandemic hit my neighborhood in Queens especially hard, and my parents were afraid to go to the store. This forced my family to come up with ways to avoid shopping. I decided I would learn to make sourdough using recipes I found online. Initially, some loaves fell flat, others were too soft inside, and still more spread into strange blobs.

I reminded myself that the bread didn’t need to be perfect, just edible.

It didn’t matter what it looked like; there was no one to see or eat it besides my brother and parents. They depended on my new activity, and that dependency prevented me from repeating the cycle of trying a hobby, losing steam, and moving on to something new.

Nora has been admitted to SUNY Binghamton and the University of Vermont and is waiting to hear from others.

Gracie Yong Ying Silides

Gracie, a student at Greensboro Day School in North Carolina, recalls the “red thread” of a Chinese proverb and wonders where it will take her next.

Destiny has led me into a mysterious place these last nine months: isolation. At a time in my life when I am supposed to be branching out, the Covid pandemic seems to have trimmed those branches back to nubs. I have had to research colleges without setting foot on them. I’ve introduced myself to strangers through essays, videos, and test scores.

I would have fallen apart over this if it weren’t for my faith.

In Hebrews 11:1, Paul says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” My life has shown me that the red thread of destiny guides me where I need to go. Though it might sound crazy, I trust that the red thread is guiding me to the next phase of my journey.

Gracie has been accepted to St. Olaf College, Ithaca College and others.

Levi, a student at Westerville Central High School in Ohio, wrestles with the conflict between her admiration for her father, a police officer, and the negative image of the police.

Since I was a small child I have watched my father put on his dark blue uniform to go to work protecting and serving others. He has always been my hero. As the African-American daughter of a police officer, I believe in what my father stands for, and I am so proud of him because he is not only my protector, but the protector of those I will likely never know. When I was young, I imagined him always being a hero to others, just as he was to me. How could anyone dislike him??? However, as I have gotten older and watched television and social media depict the brutalization of African-Americans, at the hands of police, I have come to a space that is uncomfortable.

I am certain there are others like me — African-Americans who love their police officer family members, yet who despise what the police are doing to African-Americans.

I know that I will not be able to rectify this problem alone, but I want to be a part of the solution where my paradox no longer exists.

Levi has been accepted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and is waiting to hear from others.

Henry Thomas Egan

When Henry, a student at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, attended a protest after the death of George Floyd, it was the words of a Nina Simone song that stayed with him.

I had never been to a protest before; neither my school, nor my family, nor my city are known for being outspoken. Thousands lined the intersection in all four directions, chanting, “He couldn’t breathe! George Floyd couldn’t breathe!”

In my head, thoughts of hunger, injustice, and silence swirled around.

In my ears, I heard lyrics playing on a speaker nearby, a song by Nina Simone: “To be young, gifted, and Black!” The experience was exceptionally sad and affirming and disorienting at the same time, and when the police arrived and started firing tear gas, I left. A lot has happened in my life over these last four years. I am left not knowing how to sort all of this out and what paths I should follow.

Henry has not yet heard back from colleges.

Anna Valades

Anna, a student at Coronado High School in California, pondered how children learned racism from their parents.

“She said I wasn’t invited to her birthday party because I was black,” my sister had told my mom, devastated, after coming home from third grade as the only classmate who had not been invited to the party. Although my sister is not black, she is a dark-skinned Mexican, and brown-skinned people in Mexico are thought of as being a lower class and commonly referred to as “negros.” When my mom found out who had been discriminating against my sister, she later informed me that the girl’s mother had also bullied my mom about her skin tone when she was in elementary school in Mexico City.

Through this situation, I learned the impact people’s upbringing and the values they are taught at home have on their beliefs and, therefore, their actions.

Anna has been accepted at Northeastern University and is waiting to hear from others.

Research was contributed by Asmaa Elkeurti, Aidan Gardiner, Pierre-Antoine Louis and Jake Frankenfield.

Anemona Hartocollis is a national correspondent, covering higher education. She is also the author of the book, “Seven Days of Possibilities: One Teacher, 24 Kids, and the Music That Changed Their Lives Forever.” More about Anemona Hartocollis

U.N. climate chief says two years to save the planet

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• U.N. demands stronger climate plans from G20
• Calls for jump in funds for developing countries
• Warns climate is 'slipping down cabinet agendas'

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Kate Abnett covers EU climate and energy policy in Brussels, reporting on Europe’s green transition and how climate change is affecting people and ecosystems across the EU. Other areas of coverage include international climate diplomacy. Before joining Reuters, Kate covered emissions and energy markets for Argus Media in London. She is part of the teams whose reporting on Europe’s energy crisis won two Reuters journalist of the year awards in 2022.

Simon leads a team tracking how the financial system and companies more broadly are responding to the challenges posed by climate change, nature loss and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues including diversity and inclusion.

Natural gas will still be needed for electricity generation in California's clean energy transition, Edison International chief Pedro Pizarro said on Tuesday at an industry conference.

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Groningen gas field in Netherlands to shut down as Senate approves law

The Dutch Senate on Tuesday approved a law to permanently close the Groningen gas field, following the government's promise that production will never be resumed to limit seismic risks in the region.

Britain condemns the killing of Israeli teenager Binyamin Achimair and is alarmed by the "shocking levels of violence" in the occupied West Bank after his death, the country's foreign office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Justices question obstruction charge against Jan. 6 rioter in case that could affect Trump

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices on Tuesday raised concerns about the Justice Department's use of an obstruction statute to charge those involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The case that could have bearing on the election interference prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

The justices heard an appeal brought by defendant  Joseph Fischer , a former police officer who is seeking to dismiss a charge accusing him of obstructing an official proceeding, namely the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s election victory, which was disrupted by a mob of Trump supporters.

The law in question criminalizes efforts to obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding. Conviction can result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has in the past been skeptical of prosecutors when they assert broad applications of criminal provisions.

Some justices expressed similar sentiments during Tuesday's arguments, asking whether the statute in question could be used to prosecute peaceful protesters, including people who at times have disrupted Supreme Court proceedings .

"Would a sit-in that disrupts a trial or access to a federal courthouse qualify?" conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch asked. "Would a heckler in today's audience qualify, or at the State of the Union address? Would pulling a fire alarm before a vote, qualify for 20 years in federal prison?"

Justice Samuel Alito, another conservatives, asked similar questions during a lengthy exchange with Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in which he noted that people who have protested at the Supreme Court were not charged under the law.

"I think it's in a fundamentally different posture than if they had stormed into this courtroom, overrun the Supreme Court Police, required the justices and other participants to flee for their safety," Prelogar said.

"What happened on January 6 was very, very serious, and I'm not equating this with that," Alito responded. "But we need to find out what are the outer reaches of this statute under your interpretation."

Trump himself faces charges of violating the same law, as well as conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. They are among four charges he faces in his election interference case in Washington, separate from the hush money prosecution currently moving ahead in New York.

Tuesday's hearing comes just a week before the Supreme Court hears Trump's bid to toss out his election interference charges based on a claim of presidential immunity. Justice Clarence Thomas was present for the arguments after an unexplained absence on Monday.

Fischer and Trump both say that the obstruction law does not apply to their alleged conduct, meaning that the charges should be dropped.

Fischer faces seven criminal charges, only one of which is the focus of the Supreme Court case. He also faces charges of assaulting a police officer and entering a restricted building, among others.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned why the Justice Department needed to charge Fischer using the obstruction statute, noting that he faces the six other charges."Why aren't those six counts good enough?" he asked.

Similarly, Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife Ginni Thomas is a conservative activist who backed Trump's effort to challenge the election results, asked if prosecutors have ever used the statute in response to "violent protests" that have disrupted proceedings in the past.

"I can't give you an example of enforcing it in a situation where people have violently stormed a building in order to prevent an official proceeding," Prelogar said.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to back Prelogar on that point.

"We've never had a situation before ... with people attempting to stop a proceeding violently. So I'm not sure what a lack of history proves," she said.

Prelogar sought to persuade the justices that prosecutors are not charging people under the obstruction statute without careful thought.

While there are about 1,350 Jan. 6 defendants in total, only 350 have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding, she said. The average prison sentence for those who were charged only with felony obstruction has been 26 months, she added.

Federal prosecutors have requested higher sentences for Jan. 6 defendants convicted of obstruction, but Prelogar focused on the actual sentences imposed by judges.

The provision was enacted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed after the Enron accounting scandal.

On Jan. 6, prosecutors say , Fischer joined the crowd breaching the Capitol from the east side. “Charge!” he yelled again and again, before pushing forward toward a police line while yelling, “Motherf-----s!” the government says.

He and other rioters then fell to the ground. After other rioters lifted him up, video disclosed as evidence in other Jan. 6 trials shows that he tried to appeal to officers protecting the Capitol, telling them that he was an officer too.

Fischer's lawyers say the law should be limited to circumstances involving tampering with physical evidence, which is what they argue the law aims to address.

A ruling in favor of Fischer could benefit Trump, although that is not guaranteed. Prosecutors in Trump's case have said that even if Fischer wins, Trump's conduct would still be covered by a narrower interpretation of the statute.

Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News.

Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News.

Watch CBS News

Mass shooting in Chicago leaves girl dead, 10 other people injured in Back of the Yards

By Beth Lawrence , Shardaa Gray , Asal Rezaei

Updated on: April 15, 2024 / 12:52 PM CDT / CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- One child was killed, and 10 other people, including three other children, were injured in a shooting in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood Saturday evening, police said.

The shooting happened around 9:20 p.m. near West 52nd Street and South Damen Avenue, Chicago police said. The victims were at a family gathering when the shooting happened. 

Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of 18 rounds fired and found multiple people shot on the block, police said. Officers then began providing life-saving care, including tourniquets and chest seals, according to Chicago Police Area One Deputy Chief Don Jerome. 

A 9-year-old girl was shot in the head and died, according to police and her family, who identified her as Ariana Molina.

A 1-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy were each shot multiple times and were in critical condition Saturday night. A 9-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to his left pinky finger and was in good condition. Officials said the ages of the adult victims ranged from 19 to 40.

"This was not a random act of violence. It was likely gang-related," Jerome said. "The offenders' actions, make no mistake, are horrific and unacceptable in our city."  

A source said the children were playing outside when the shooting happened. Some adults were inside or on the porch at the time.

A small vigil with balloons and candles formed at the site of the shooting on Monday morning, as mourners stopped by to grieve.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city also planned to hold a mass canvassing event in the area on Monday to provide neighbors with access to behavioral teams, victim services, and case management. The city also will provide support to Ariana's family through its Emergency Supplemental Victim's Fund.

Ariana's father, Jose Molina, said all 11 people who were shot were family members and were celebrating his sister's confirmation. Ariana was in the front yard when she was shot in the head. Her mother was shot in the back. His two nephews, ages 1 and 7, were improving and stabilized by Monday morning, but might require further surgery.

Ariana's mother does not know she died. 

"I know she's going to go crazy. She loves her," Jose said. "I don't even know what to tell her."

 Jose's nephews were both shot twice in the stomach. Jose was shot in the foot.  

"I got shot in my leg and my feet, but I'm ok. It just came in and out," he said. "I don't care about my leg. My daughter was too young for this."  

Police said a witness saw a black sedan drive up during the gathering. Someone inside fired multiple shots before driving off.

"When I saw my daughter on the floor, she had a bullet hole in her head. I try help her, but it was too late," Jose said.   

Jose says they've lived in the neighborhood for 30 years and have never had any problems.  

"She had nothing to with nothing of that. None of us are gang bangers. We don't gang bang. We've been here 30 years. We don't do none of that."  

He said he is hoping for justice soon. 

"Why would they do that s*** to little kids? They got a big life. Why would they do that to them?" he said. 

Jose told CBS 2 they were in the process of moving out of the neighborhood because of recent shootings.  

Street pastor Donovan Price said the impact on the family has been devastating.

"I think a part of Chicago has died. Part of Chicago, like the mothers when I first got here, the families when I first got here tonight, should be screaming, should be running, should be crying. We all should," he said.

Some witnesses described two shooters on foot, police said. 

No one was in custody Sunday morning. Area One detectives were investigating.

Mayor Brandon Johnson released a statement on the incident Sunday afternoon, calling the shooting a "heinous and cowardly act of wanton violence": 

Today, we mourn the loss of an 8-year-old girl whose life was tragically taken from her by gang violence. This heinous and cowardly act of wanton violence that leaves our city mourning children is beyond reprehensible and has no place in our communities. We are all allowed to be outraged today – a warm, spring day that I am sure this child would have been enjoying with family. I am praying for her loved ones and her community as they experience the unimaginable pain of losing a child.  I am also praying for the recovery of the three children and seven adults who were injured in this horrific shooting. Our Mayor's Office of Community Safety has been in contact with the Chicago Police Department, which is committed to identifying and apprehending the individuals responsible.  The Community Safety Coordination Center has developed an initial response plan, which, among other resources, will consist of:  A mass canvassing event at 52nd and Damen and surrounding blocks on Monday, April 15, at 2 p.m. with the purpose of providing the community access to behavioral teams, victim services and case management  Financial support for the family of the child who passed away via the Emergency Supplemental Victim's Fund program Emergency Services Assistance Center, starting today, April 14 Victim services to other victims and families  Increased 9th District CPD presence at impacted schools As the CPD and our partners work through their investigation, the Back of the Yards community has the full support of our administration as they process and heal from this trauma.

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The Forever Stamp is forever rising in price. How does the U.S. cost compare globally?

Bill Chappell

The U.S. market for domestic mail delivery is by far the largest in the world, and a recent report found its prices are very low compared to other developed countries. The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it wants to raise rates in July. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

The U.S. market for domestic mail delivery is by far the largest in the world, and a recent report found its prices are very low compared to other developed countries. The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it wants to raise rates in July.

The cost of a Forever postage stamp is poised to rise in July, under a U.S. Postal Service plan to boost the price of the first-class stamp to 73 cents from the current 68 cents — a price that was just raised in January.

The 5-cent increase would take effect on July 14. If it's approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, it would be the sixth price hike since January 2021.

Despite the string of increases, the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General says a U.S. postage stamp remains a bargain in the global marketplace, citing much higher prices in Europe and other areas (more on that below).

The U.S. Postal Service has been criticized in recent years as it resorted to measures such as slowing down the mail in response to its financial problems. Last year, the Government Accountability Office credited the agency with making some improvements, but it added that USPS "should continue taking steps to restore its financial viability and Congress should consider additional changes to USPS's unsustainable business model."

The Senate has passed a bill to save USPS billions of dollars and reform deliveries

Are u.s. stamps still a good deal.

The price of a first-class stamp is cheaper in the U.S. than many other developed countries, according to a recent ranking by the USPS Office of the Inspector General , or OIG.

The office compared the U.S. to 30 other nations that were selected by country size and postal service revenue, as well as the ability to source reliable data. The list includes much of the European Union, along with countries such as Canada, Japan, Brazil and Russia.

In raw numbers, only four countries had cheaper stamps than the U.S. And while many postal services have raised prices in recent years, the U.S. increases were moderate compared to most nations in the sample.

"The price of a [USPS] stamp increased by 26 percent from June 2018 to June 2023 ($0.50 to $0.63)," the inspector general report states, "which is less than half of the average increase for our sample size (55 percent) during that period."

When the OIG adjusted its analysis for purchasing power parity — a currency conversion rate used to compare the relative affordability of goods in different countries — the U.S. had the lowest stamp price of the 31 postal services.

Why do stamp prices keep going up?

You're not imagining it: Stamp prices have gone up more frequently, and by greater amounts. And inflation is only part of the story.

"The Postal Service increased the price of [first-class mail] 18 times since January 2000," according to the OIG report, "and has raised prices more frequently in recent years, increasing prices five times between January 2021 and January 2024."

The use of first-class mail, the Postal Service's main revenue driver, has long been in decline. In July 2007, the agency's volume of single-piece first class mail — things like bill payments, letters and cards — stood at 2.7 billion items. By June 2023, that volume had fallen by 68%, to 900 million.

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That's not to say domestic first-class mail isn't profitable. In fiscal year 2022, its "cost coverage" topped 210%, "meaning its generated revenue was more than twice its attributable cost," according to the inspector general.

But the agency's costs have been rising. So while the cost of stamps was once largely linked to inflation, USPS now uses several criteria in its formula for raising prices, under rules that were eased in November 2020. The pricing equation now includes things like density: the Postal Service's need to deliver less mail — but to more addresses.

The rate hike also takes into account the agency's obligation to pay its retirees' pension and health benefits, an expense that is responsible for more of the new proposed rate hike than is inflation.

"This retirement rate authority is only available for 5 years," a USPS spokesperson told NPR, adding that 2024 "is the fourth year where the retirement authority would be utilized."

So, why are U.S. stamps still cheaper than elsewhere?

One glaring reason is scale. The U.S. "is by far the largest market for the delivery of domestic mail," with the Postal Service "handling half of the world's domestic mail (50.2 percent) in 2021," according to the OIG.

While the USPS has seen a long-term decline in use of its main domestic mail product, the drop has been even sharper and more prolonged in other countries. So while the U.S. agency is seeing dramatic drops in volume, it's better off than Postal Services in many other nations.

And while inflation has put pressure on many economies around the world, some countries — and their postal customers — have felt it worse than others. In the case of the USPS, the "price of a stamp in the United States was 5 percentage points above the rising costs of goods and services from June 2018 to June 2023," the inspector general reported.

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Among the other 30 countries in the sample, prices rose by an average of 31 percentage points over inflation in that timespan, according to the report.

Even with the USPS getting new authority to raise its rates a few years ago, the size of those hikes is governed by price caps like the ones mentioned above. But different countries have varying rules to their postage rate increases, meaning some could raise prices more frequently or in larger chunks than the USPS.

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