Yearender 2020: From Poland’s ‘mistaken’ armed invasion to UFO sightings, 7 bizzare events that occurred this year – World News , Firstpost

File image of locusts in Rajasthan. AP

While the year 2020 started normally enough, it quickly turned into an out-of-normal experience for citizens around the world due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social congregation, celebrations and other festivals took a backseat as people started to maintain social distancing, while the world went into an indefinite lockdown to curb the spread of the disease.

However, apart from the global pandemic, there have been events around the world that have left people gobsmacked due to their bizarre and sometimes even outlandish nature during the course of 2020. As the year comes to an end, here’s looking at 7 such events that rocked the world.

Murder Hornets invaded the US

Commonly known as Asian giant Hornet, these hornets that were sighted in the US are known for being quite venomous. Known for feeding its young thoraxes of bees they decapitate, reports stated, the hornets posed an acute risk to humans because they can sting repeatedly with venom that is stronger than honeybees. The stings of the hornets were reportedly even able to puncture beekeeping suits.

Locusts make a huge comeback

The year 2020 seems to be especially favourable for insects. Apart from the hornets of the US, locusts made a major comeback in India itself. Nature seemed to thrive in throwing a few more unsuspecting surprises, as swarms of locusts emerging from the Arabian Peninsula made a go for few African and south-east Asian countries!  Attacks like these had not been seen in quite a few decades in these countries, and swarms of this biblical plague caused havoc in destroying crops. Amid concerns of heatwaves and crop failures, locust swarms that affected parts of India were responsible for crop infestation in 2,80,000 hectares across 13 countries prior to arrival in the country.

The strange Monolith

The sudden sighting of an obelisk-like metal structure in Utah had caused a tirade of extra-terrestrial conspiracy theories. Within a few days after the structure disappeared, only to be replaced by one that remerged in Romania, California and even San Antonio. No one yet knows what or who was/ were behind this sudden emergence.

The missing star

A star vanished silently. Various astronomers studying mysterious massive stars realised that the Kinman Dwarf Galaxy was in the last stages of its life.  Wanting to learn a bit more how these big stars end their lives, PhD student Andrew Allan of Trinity College Dublin, kept an eye on the Kinman Dwarf when they suddenly found that it had vanished without the normal supernova that the stars burst into as they die.  Probably, some believe, either becoming less bright slowly or losing itself in a black hole.

The Christmas Star

The bizarreness of the year ended on a Christmas note with the sighting of the Jupiter Saturn Great Conjunction, or as popularly being called the Christmas star. It has been 400 years since the planets came this close and 800 since this happened at night.  The best viewing was on 21 December, when the planets were nearest.

Poland mistakenly invaded Czech Republic

Back in June, Poland admitted to briefly invading the Czech Republic, describing it as a ‘misunderstanding’. Polish troops guarding the frontier as part of coronavirus measures, took positions by a chapel on the Czech side of the border, preventing visitors from accessing the site. Poland described the incident as a mistake.

UFO videos confirmed as real

The US Department of Defense officially released three short videos showing UFOs. In a statement released in April, the Department of Defense revealed that the videos were taken by Navy pilots in 2004 and 2005.