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January

1. The RCEP agreement officially takes effect, with a total of 15 member countries signing the agreement.

2. Apple's market value surpasses $3 trillion, becoming the first company in the world to achieve this milestone.

3. The global number of COVID-19 cases exceeds 300 million.

4. An underwater volcanic eruption occurs near the South Pacific island nation of Tonga, causing almost complete disruption of external communication for the country.

5. The James Webb Space Telescope reaches its position in space where it will observe the universe, known as the Lagrange L2 point.

February

1. The 2022 Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China.

2. Russia invades Ukraine, causing a widespread decline of 2 to 3% in global stock markets. Ukraine also announces the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia.

3. The world's largest transport aircraft, the Antonov An-225, is destroyed in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

March

1. The "Internet Religious Information Services Management Measures" officially take effect in mainland China, which includes a ban on spreading religious content on the internet.

2. The Hong Kong SIM card registration system is officially implemented. Under the new regulations, registration is required, and existing mobile phone card holders must register by February 23, 2023, at the latest.

3. The global number of COVID-19 deaths exceeds 6 million.

4. South Korea holds a presidential election, with the candidate from the People Power Party, Yoon Suk-yeol, winning with 48.56% of the votes, defeating the candidate from the ruling Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, who received 47.83% of the votes. Yoon Suk-yeol is inaugurated as the 20th President of South Korea on May 10.

5. A Boeing 737 aircraft operated by China Eastern Airlines crashes in Wuzhou, Guangxi Autonomous Region, with all 132 people on board killed.

6. Shanghai, China implements a phased lockdown and conducts nucleic acid screening by zones. It is later expanded to a city-wide lockdown on March 30, and is not fully lifted until June.

April

1. The global number of COVID-19 cases exceeds 500 million, on par with the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago.

2. Emmanuel Macron is re-elected as the President of France in the 2022 French presidential election.

3. The Twitter board of directors accepts a $44 billion acquisition offer from Elon Musk, the world's richest person.

4. The first confirmed case of monkeypox in the UK is reported in 2022.

May

1. The sixth Chief Executive election in Hong Kong is postponed. Carrie Lam is elected with 1,416 votes from the Election Committee and becomes the Chief Executive.

2. Apple officially announces the discontinuation of the iPod touch. The last batch of the 7th generation iPod touch will continue to be sold until the stock runs out. With this announcement, the legendary 21-year history of the iPod comes to an end, as its music playback functionality has been integrated into other product lines such as the iPhone and iPad.

June

1. The European Union and members of the European Parliament agree to require all mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, and digital cameras to comply with the new regulations adopting the USB-C charging standard by autumn 2024.

2. A violent incident occurs at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, China in 2022.

3. The Jumbo Floating Restaurant and iconic landmark Treasure Floating Seafood Paradise in Hong Kong are officially moved and sunk in the South China Sea on the afternoon of the 19th.

4. The launching ceremony of the Fuzhou, China-built conventional-powered aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult, named the Fujian, takes place.

5. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, resulting in at least a thousand deaths.

July

1. Former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is assassinated during a speech in Nara City.

2. NASA releases the first full-color photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The photo shows a galaxy cluster in the constellation Volans, named "SMACS 0723." The cluster is not actually as far away as it appears, with a distance of approximately 4.6 billion light-years.

3. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updates the Red List of Threatened Species, officially declaring the extinction of the Chinese paddlefish, also known as the "King of Chinese Freshwater Fish."

4. Monkeypox has a total of 17,000 cases globally, affecting 75 countries, and is declared an "internationally concerning public health emergency" by the World Health Organization.

August

1. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visits Asia and attracts attention for her visit to Taiwan.

2. Kazuo Inamori, a renowned Japanese industrialist and entrepreneur, passes away at his home in Kyoto at the age of 90 due to natural causes.

3. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, passes away.

September

1. Liz Truss is elected as the leader of the Conservative Party in the UK and becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

2. The iPhone 14 series introduces the "SOS Emergency Service" that utilizes satellites. Users can send messages to emergency services outside the coverage of mobile networks or Wi-Fi.

3. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom passes away at Balmoral Castle at the age of 96. Prince Charles ascends to the throne, becoming the new King of the United Kingdom.

October

1. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing.

2. Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after only 45 days in office, becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history.

3. Rishi Sunak is elected as the leader of the Conservative Party in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, becoming the first Prime Minister of Indian descent in British history.

4. A stampede accident occurs in Itaewon, Seoul in 2022.

November

1. The world's population surpasses 8 billion.

2. The Webb Telescope discovers a galaxy called GLASS-z12. This galaxy formed 350 million years after the birth of the universe and is the earliest galaxy discovered by humans so far. Astronomers have accurately determined that it was born only 367 million years after the Big Bang, when the first light began to freely propagate in space.

3. The 2022 FIFA World Cup is held in Qatar.

4. A fire breaks out in a high-rise residential building in the Jixiangyuan community, Tianshan District, Urumqi, Xinjiang, resulting in 10 deaths and 9 people missing.

5. The movement against China's "Zero COVID" policy spreads throughout the country.

6. Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, passes away in Shanghai at the age of 96.

7. OpenAI's AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is officially launched. Within two months of its launch, it reaches 100 million users.

December

1. The US B-21 Raider strategic bomber is officially unveiled.

2. The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China releases the "New Ten Measures," which determine the abandonment of the "Zero COVID" policy and the transition to coexistence with the virus.

3. A landslide occurs at the Batu Gajah Papan Fertilizer Farm in Malaysia, resulting in 24 deaths and 7 people missing.

4. Argentina wins the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, and Lionel Messi fulfills his dream in Qatar.

5. The first subway line in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Metro, is officially opened.

6. Brazilian football legend Pelé passes away from cancer.

7. Former Pope Benedict XVI passes away at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City.