2021

Events

January

• January 1 – The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect.
• January 4 – The border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopens.
• January 6 – Supporters of US President Donald Trump attack the US Capitol, disrupting certification of the 2020 presidential election, and forcing both houses of Congress to evacuate. Five people die during the ensuing riot. The event is classified as a domestic terrorist attack, and draws international condemnation.
• January 9 – Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashes north of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 62 people on board.
• January 10 – Kim Jong Un is elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, inheriting the title from his father Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.
• January 13 – In Lyon, France, the first transplant of both arms and shoulders is performed on an Icelandic patient at the Édouard Herriot Hospital.
• January 14 – The 2021 Ugandan general election is held. Incumbent president Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986, wins re-election.
• January 15
• * The Lao People's Revolutionary Party elects Thongloun Sisoulith as its new General Secretary, replacing retiring chief Bounnhang Vorachith. Sisoulith is elected for a five-year term as top leader in Laos.
• * COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 passes 2 million.
• January 22 – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement comprehensively to prohibit nuclear weapons, comes into effect.
• January 24 – 2021 Portuguese presidential election: Incumbent president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is reelected.
• January 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide.
• January 27
• * A near-total ban on abortion comes into effect in Poland.
• * The GameStop short squeeze reaches its peak of $483 per share, as the result of influence from the online community, r/wallstreetbets, drawing international attention.
• January 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The European Union invokes Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol following a row over COVID-19 vaccine supplies before reversing the decision.
• January 31 – Nguyễn Phú Trọng is re-elected for a third five-year term as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

  February

• February 1
• * A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule leading to widespread demonstrations across the country.
• * Kosovo officially establishes diplomatic ties with Israel and announces plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
• * COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 100 million.
• February 4 – US President Joe Biden announces that the United States will cease providing weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for use in the Yemeni Civil War.
• February 9
• * COVID-19 pandemic: A joint WHO–China investigation into the source of the outbreak concludes. Investigators deem a Wuhan laboratory leak to be "extremely unlikely", with a "natural reservoir" in bats being a more likely origin.
• * The UAE's uncrewed Hope spacecraft becomes the first Arabian mission successfully to enter orbit around Mars.
• February 13–February 17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.
• February 18 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.
• February 19 – The United States officially rejoins the Paris Agreement, 107 days after leaving.
• February 20 – 2020–21 H5N8 outbreak: 7 people test positive for H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm in southern Russia, becoming the first known human cases.
• February 22 – Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is murdered near Goma.
• February 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative delivers its first vaccines, delivering 600,000 doses for healthcare workers in Ghana.
• February 25 – The Armenian military calls for prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Pashinyan accuses the military of attempting a coup d'état.
• February 28 – 2021 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nuevas Ideas party wins 56 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

  March

• March 6
• * Pope Francis meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. It is the first-ever meeting between a pope and a grand ayatollah.
• * 2021 Ivorian parliamentary election: The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace coalition wins 137 out of 255 seats in the National Assembly.
• March 15–March 17 – The Dutch general elections for the House of Representatives of the Netherlands take place.
• March 19
• *North Korea severs diplomatic ties with Malaysia due to a Malaysian court's ruling that a North Korean citizen could be extradited to the United States to face money-laundering charges. Malaysian authorities order North Korean officials to leave the country in 48 hours.
• *Samia Suluhu Hassan is sworn in as president of Tanzania following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli.
• March 20 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces his country's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the first country to do so.
• March 21 – Clashes in Apure between Colombian FARC dissidents and the Venezuelan Armed Forces cause at least six casualties, as well as displacing 4,000 Venezuelans.
• March 23
• * The Israeli general elections take place, the fourth Knesset election in two years.File:Container Ship 'Ever Given' stuck in the Suez Canal, Egypt - March 24th, 2021 cropped.jpg|thumb|Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the Suez canal on 24 March 2021
• * Ever Given, one of the largest container ships in the world, runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade. The ship is freed on March 29.
• March 25 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 500 million.

  April

• April 2
• * Russia warns NATO against sending any troops to aid Ukraine, amid reports of a large Russian military build-up on its borders.
• * 2021 Hualien train derailment: In Taiwan, a Taroko Express train collided with a truck that rolled down a slope and derailed, resulting in 49 deaths and 202 injuries.
• April 4
• * The 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election is held.
• * More than 270 people are killed in Indonesia and East Timor after Cyclone Seroja strikes East Nusa Tenggara and the island of Timor.
• April 9 – Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-18 mission, carrying three Expedition 65 crewmembers to the International Space Station.
• April 11
• * Peru holds a general election, with Pedro Castillo and the left-wing Free Peru party winning.
• * Iran accuses Israel of "nuclear terrorism" and vows revenge after a large explosion destroys the internal power system of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.
• * Hideki Matsuyama wins the 2021 Masters Tournament, becoming the first man from Japan to win a major golf championship.
• April 13 – Japan's government approves the dumping of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years, with full support of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The decision is opposed by China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
• April 15 – Scientists announce they successfully injected human stem cells into the embryos of monkeys, creating chimera-embryos.
• April 17
• * COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 3 million.
• * The Czech government concludes that the Russian GRU was responsible for the blast of two ammo warehouses in Vrbětice in 2014. 18 Russian diplomats and alleged spies are subsequently expelled.
• * The Soyuz MS-17 mission concludes, returning three crewmembers of Expedition 64 to Earth from the International Space Station.
• April 18
• * Twelve football clubs, including three from La Liga and leading clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, agree to join a new breakaway European Super League, prompting international condemnation. Two days later, following major protests from supporters, other clubs and politicians, Manchester City withdraw from the league; this prompts all the remaining Premier League clubs and three others to do the same.
• * The 2021 Cape Verdean parliamentary election is held.
• April 19
• * NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, performs the first powered flight on another planet in history.
• * Raúl Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, ending more than 62 years of rule by the Castro brothers in Cuba.
• April 20 – Idriss Déby, President of Chad, is killed in clashes with rebel forces after 30 years in office. The constitution is suspended and a Transitional Military Council is established to govern the country for 18 months.
• April 22 – World leaders mark Earth Day by hosting a virtual summit on climate change, during which more ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions are proposed, including a 40% cut by 2030 for the United States.
• April 23
• * SpaceX launches the Crew-2 mission, carrying four crew members of Expedition 65 and 66 to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour.
• * UEFA announces that due to a lack of guarantees regarding spectators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland would be removed as a tournament host for the UEFA Euro 2020.
• April 24
• * Following an international search and rescue effort, the Indonesian navy reports the sinking of KRI Nanggala with 53 crew members, the largest loss of life aboard a submarine since 2003.
• * COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 1 billion. Half of these doses have been administered in just three countries.
• * U.S. president Joe Biden becomes the first U.S. president to formally recognize the Ottoman killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide.
• April 25 – Albania holds parliamentary elections.
• April 28
• * At least 55 people are killed and nearly 50,000 more are displaced in one of the most serious clashes in Central Asia following border disputes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
• * The European Union approves the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, governing the relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit.
• April 29 – The China National Space Administration launches the first module of its Tiangong space station, named Tianhe, beginning a two-year effort to build the station in orbit.