Question

opinion about 2020?​

Answer 1

1. Woman surfs the year’s biggest wave off the Portuguese coast

The Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira rode the biggest recorded wave of 2020, becoming the first female surfer with that distinction. The wave, off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, measured 73.5 feet. Gabeira’s ride was certified by the World Surf League and the Guinness World Records.

2. American officials slap global terrorist label on Russian white supremacist group

In April the Trump administration designated the ultranationalist Russian Imperial Movement as a global terror threat. It was the first time the government applied the label to a white supremacist group

3. In a first for the luxury industry, Louis Vuitton debuts a face shield

While many fashion houses sold protective face masks in 2020, Louis Vuitton became the first to release a face shield, as part of its 2021 cruise collection.

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The South Korean boy band BTS at the Grammys in January. The band’s song “Dynamite” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year, a first for a K-pop band.

The South Korean boy band BTS at the Grammys in January. The band’s song “Dynamite” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year, a first for a K-pop band.Credit...Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

4. K-pop band tops the charts in the United States for the first time

BTS, a South Korean pop band that has been making tweens squeal since 2013, nabbed the No. 1 spot on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 singles ranking in September with “Dynamite,” a song sung in English.

5. France’s first transgender mayor takes office

The council of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, a village of about 600 residents, elected the first openly transgender mayor in France in March. Marie Cau, ran on a platform that emphasized ecological sustainability.

6. Japanese flying car soars in test flight

The tech company SkyDrive completed the first successful public test of a flying car in Japan in August. The manned vehicle, named SD-03, circled the Toyota Test Field, home to the company’s development base, for four minutes. SkyDrive plans to make the car available to consumers by 2023.

7. Scientists use gene-editing tool inside a human

In March a blind patient in the United States underwent a procedure using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. It was the first time the technology was used inside a human. In a bid to restore the patient’s vision, doctors injected microscopic drops containing the editing tool inside the eye of the patient, who has a rare genetic disorder that prevents the body from making a protein necessary to convert light into signals to the brain.

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A protester confronts police in the Mong Kok neighborhood of Hong Kong. A contentious new security law, which gives broad power to local officials to prosecute dissenters who oppose Chinese rule in Hong Kong, went into effect in the semi-autonomous territory on June 30.

A protester confronts police in the Mong Kok neighborhood of Hong Kong. A contentious new security law, which gives broad power to local officials to prosecute dissenters who oppose Chinese rule in Hong Kong, went into effect in the semi-autonomous territory on June 30.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

8. Police in Hong Kong make first arrests under controversial new law

Less than a day after a contentious new security law went into effect in Hong Kong on June 30, the local police made the first arrests under the measure. Critics say the law will undermine the territory’s autonomy and give the Chinese government more power to tighten restrictions on the press and protests there.

9. Telescope’s pictures detail the surface of the sun

In January astronomers released the most detailed pictures of the sun to date, taken by the new Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s largest. The telescope was built in the Hawaiian volcano Haleakala, which appropriately means “house of the sun.”

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10. German and Israeli fighter jets train together in German airspace

In August Germany and Israel held joint military exercises on German soil for the first time — an event underlining the complex tie between two countries that share a deep and painful history. The exercises came at a critical time for Germany’s military, which has been struggling to modernize and deal with concerns that far-right extremist sentiments have infiltrated the ranks of the armed forces.

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Keeping a social distance, people visit the Grand Mosque in Mecca as part of umrah, a form of Islamic pilgrimage, in October. Earlier in the year, Saudi authorities enforced coronavirus restrictions that drastically limited pilgrims’ access to the holy city.

Keeping a social distance, people visit the Grand Mosque in Mecca as part of umrah, a form of Islamic pilgrimage, in October. Earlier in the year, Saudi authorities enforced coronavirus restrictions that drastically limited pilgrims’ access to the holy city.Credit...Marwa Rashad/Reuters.