 "2022 in review: Russia war to COP27, top events that shaped the world")
In February 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, from the north in an attempt to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky's government. In the months following, artillery bombardment and street fighting continued, with Russia seizing multiple cities.
In April, protests began in the nation following a sharp rise in food and fuel costs. Thousands demanded the resignation of now-ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The people faced long power cuts daily and shortages of basics, including fuel and food. Sri Lanka's doctors said they were nearly out of life-saving medicines. Rajapaksa's government was being blamed for the chronic mismanagement of the country's finances. In July, protestors stormed Rajapaksa's home, pushing him to flee the nation before resigning from office.
In September, 22-year-old Iranian girl Mahsa Amini died after being detained for allegedly violating Iran's laws requiring women to wear a headscarf. Authorities said she died of illness, but her family claimed she fell into a coma after being mistreated by the police. Sources said the police beat Amini with a baton and banged her head against a vehicle. At her funeral on September 17 in Saqez, women protested by ripping off their hijabs. Protests sparked by her demise have since roped in ethnic minorities and even school children. Thousands of women since then have been showing solidarity by cutting their hair and burning their hijabs in public. Now, the unrest has spread beyond a women's right to a movement that is calling for an end to theocratic rule. The protests are now the most broadly supported movement in Iran in over four decades.