Almost no place has been spared — and no one.

Not since World War II has a single phenomenon dominated the news worldwide as the COVID-19 pandemic has in 2020. In the United States, a tumultuous presidential election and a wave of protests over racial injustice also drew relentless coverage.

From the devastating Beirut port blast in August to the charging of outgoing premier Hassan Diab with negligence on Thursday, here is a timeline of the crisis rocking Lebanon:

- Devastation -

Saudi Arabia is pushing for a compromise to end a damaging three-year Gulf dispute, but a full resolution remains out of reach despite its offer of concessions, sources close to the negotiations say.

Covid-19 has been a shot in the arm for vaccine research with several viable jabs in production less then a year after the disease emerged. 

Kuwait, which has been ruled by the Al-Sabah family for two and a half centuries, will hold parliamentary elections on Saturday. 

Having weathered punishing sanctions and thinly veiled US invasion threats, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro hopes to take congress back from the opposition in Sunday's elections.

British Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly, who met Thursday with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Hassan Diab and PM-designate Saad Hariri, has written an op-ed on the occasion of his official visit to Lebanon.

2020 was a year turned upside-down by the novel coronavirus. But with the prospect of several vaccines coming online and less stringent restrictions, experts say it's possible 2021 will return to a semblance of normality.

The bustling streets of Iraq's biggest cities are lined with private and public banks that promise investment and credit. But businesses barely use them and individuals don't trust them.