COVER STORY This issue: Photos of the Year 2022. The images that captured the moments that mattered. Images that captured a year defined by violence at home and abroad; moments that push us forward and set us back; and Galaxies far, far away…To understand the world we live in, read TIME.

Xi Jinping was the man to see at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 15 and 16. Joe Biden had his first face-to-face meeting as U.S. President with the Chinese leader. Xi had a rare testy public exchange with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But it was his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that may have the biggest impact on China’s backyard. DEEP FREEZE Australia may have set the standard for how bad a relationship with China could become. No Australian leader had held formal talks with the Chinese President since 2016…

Pakistan’s politics were plenty toxic even before the failed assassination against ousted former Prime Minister Imran Khan. When Khan was removed from power following a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April, he claimed Pakistan’s military and its friends in Washington wanted to silence him. He then kicked off a series of protest marches that have drawn massive crowds. In October, Khan insinuated that the army had killed a journalist, an uncharacteristically blunt frontal assault on Pakistan’s army, and the country’s head of military intelligence felt compelled to call an unprecedented public press conference to deny the charge….