SBS looks back at an unforgettable year around the world

For a world still in the grips of the COVID pandemic, there was no shortage of major news events in 2021. The transition of the presidency in Washington tested the foundations of US democracy. In Afghanistan, a 20-year project to restore democracy took a heavy blow, with the return of the Taliban to power.

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January 6 2021 saw Capitol Hill overrun.  The ground zero of American democracy was swept over by a sea of Trump flags, as outgoing president Donald Trump refused to concede the election result of the month earlier.  On the other side of the world an outspoken critic of Putin's presidency was swiftly arrested upon his return to Russia, after surviving an alleged poisoning.   Alexei Navalny said he was happy to be home, even after he was poisoned with a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent, five months earlier.   In February, this Burmese dancer had no idea this video of her exercise routine would go viral, capturing the beginning of Myanmar's military coup. The southeast Asian nation had endured a fraught relationship between the democratic government and the military.  April saw India's healthcare system plunging into crisis. At one point the country was recording more than 300,000 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours.  The Delta variant proved to be far deadlier and more transmissible than previous coronavirus variants.