In one form or another, we've all felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first known cases originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and from there spread across the world. It caused and continues to cause devastating loss of life, already millions of people have died from the virus. It created the largest economic recession since the Great Depression and resulted in panic buying, closures and stoppages of businesses, institutions, and events. For many there were periods of lockdown where no one left their homes for weeks at a time. Many people still don't leave the house without a mask. Daily activities went online, from ordering groceries to talking to a family member or friend. It showed us the disparities and inequalities that still exist today, exacerbating already existing problems in the world. For all of us, it changed the world and the way we live in it forever.

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The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war has continued since February 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea following the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine that ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The former president had taken a pro-Russian stance when he chose not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and wanted closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union consisting of Post-Soviet states. Earlier, the Orange Revolution had annulled Viktor Yanukovych's initial victory for the presidency in 2004 due to election fraud, instead electing Yushchenko. Yanukovych later won the 2010 election and succeeded Yushchenko that year. After Russia's annexation of Crimea, pro-Russian separatists siezed land in Donbas, proclaiming the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, beginning the Donbas War with Russian support. Finally, in February 2022 Russia recongnized the DPR and LPR as independent states and announced a "special military operation" in order to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, in President Vladimir Putin's words. The war continues to this day.

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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has a long history going back to at least the 1917 Balfour Declaration in which the United Kingdom expressed its support of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Israel, and most recently escalated further with the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War. Israel was declared as a state in 1948, leading to the Arab-Israeli War that saw Egypt occupying the Gaza Strip and Jordan the West Bank, areas that have been contested and occupied by various groups since. In 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created and granted a seat in the Arab League. Since then, several wars have occurred between Israel and the PLO and its allies, and attempts at reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict have failed. Both Israelis and Palestinians believe they have a right to the contested land. For Israelis, this is partly based on the need for a safe haven and homeland for Jews following the Holocaust and the Jewish Diaspora, while Palestinians have a long history of established communities in the area and have been denied a homeland there. It's important to recognize that each group has a right to exist and a legitimate history tying them to that land if a solution is to be found.

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The fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is not a new issue, but it is one that has seen many recent developments in the 21st century. Homosexuality was only decriminalized for the first time in Illinois in 1961, and although many states followed the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas that decriminalized homosexuality throughout the U.S. was decided as recently as 2003 and same-sex marriage was only legalized in 2015. The content of this section goes back as far as the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 in which the police raided the Stonewall Inn, leading to demonstrations and protests for three days that directly led to the gay civil rights movement and the first pride parade in 1970, known as Christopher Street Liberation Day. Today, LGBTQ rights have faced new challenges, often in the form of laws or policy decisions targeted at transgender individuals and youth. They include what bathrooms people may use, participation in sports, the banning of teaching about LGBTQ topics in public schools through certain grade levels, book challenges and bannings in libraries, to attempts to bar transgender people from serving in the military. These and other challenges have been issues in just the past few years, proving that the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is still an ongoing one.

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The Libyan Crisis has its roots in the Arab Spring Protests of 2011, in which protests around the Arab world began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and other countries as protesters called for radical change and democratic governments, citing corruption and economic stagnation caused by authoritarian regimes. Many of these protests resulted in violent responses from authorities and in Libya this would lead to a civil war in 2011. Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader of Libya, was ousted and later killed by rebel forces who were supported by NATO air strikes. Rather than leading to a new, democratic government, the new government struggled to maintain power as many armed groups still held sway in Libya. In 2014 a second civil war began when the House of Representatives based in Tobruk was elected by a very low-turnout election and challenged by General National Congress based in Tripoli. A cease-fire was brokered with UN assistance in 2015, and led to a unity government, the Government of National Accord, to take power in Tripoli, with UN support. Nonetheless, the House of Representatives with support from the Libyan National Army continued to oppose the government in Tripoli and the war continued. In 2021, another cease-fire was reached and the Government of National Unity was created and internationally recognized. However, the promised 10 December election was delayed multiple times, leading to the formation of the Government of National Stability which is backed by the Libyan National Army and the House of Representatives. In August of 2023, fighting began again and the crisis in Libya has continued. In September 2023, devastating flooding occurred in Libya, causing widespread destruction and the loss of thousands of lives.

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The landmark case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization of June 24, 2022 decided that the consitution of the United States does not uphold a right to an abortion. The decision overturned both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casy. Roe v. Wade argued that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution conferred a fundamental "right to privacy" and therefore a right to an abortion. Planned Parenthood v. Casey had upheld the right to an abortion while also restoring the undue burden standard, meaning states could not enact laws that purposefully restricted access to an abortion of an unviable fetus. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization came about when Jackson Women's Health Organization sued Thomas E. Dobbs, state health officer in the Mississippi department of health, for a Mississippi state law that banned most abortion operations after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court's decision passed by a ruling of 6-3. In the aftermath of this decision, the question of abortion access has been left up to state legistlatures to decide, with seventeen states now greatly restricting abortion access.

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