A world on fire: the World Bulletin year in review

Looking back at the events that made headlines around the globe in 2024.

This is an excerpt from The World Bulletin, our weekly global current affairs newsletter exclusively for Spinoff Members. Sign up here.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be hard pressed to think of a grimmer year than the one we’ve just lived through. The odd happy headline aside, following world events in 2024 meant regularly steeling yourself to open your news app of choice, while trying your best to avoid becoming wholly numb to the barrage of death, destruction and threats to democracy.

In Gaza, the civilian death toll rose by tens of thousands; nearly all of its 2.3 million population is now displaced and living in tents. In Ukraine, almost three years into the invasion, Russia is advancing fast against an “outgunned and outnumbered” Ukrainian military which is facing an uncertain future with the return of Donald Trump next year. Throughout Europe, right-wing populist parties are gaining ground with often staggering speed.

Across the Atlantic, Trump’s return to the White House has jolted the United States and the global order, igniting fierce debates about the future of democracy itself. Meanwhile, the climate crisis has battered the planet with unrelenting force, from catastrophic floods to searing heatwaves, painting a stark portrait of a world on the brink.

And yet, in the midst of this maelstrom, a glimmer of hope has emerged. In an astonishing turn of events, this month the long-oppressed Syrian people saw the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s iron-fisted regime. The toppling of Assad, once deemed unthinkable, has sparked joyous celebrations and some fragile optimism within a nation battered by a 13-year civil war. It’s a reminder that even in the darkest times, the possibility of liberation and transformation endures.

From attempted assassinations to heatwaves and hurricanes, here’s what the world was talking about in 2024.

January

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is stabbed in the neck by a 67-year-old man who wrote in his manifesto that he was “priming the pump for action and aspiration by free people to save the country” from left-wing forces. Lee survives the attack. In the US, the Federal Aviation Authority grounds all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after an Alaska Airlines aircraft loses a door section of its fuselage mid-air and makes an emergency landing. The presidential primaries are in full swing, and already Donald Trump looks unstoppable. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as Trump’s likely successor, ends his campaign for the Republican nomination and endorses his rival. It’s not all good news for Trump, though. In New York, a jury orders him to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defamation related to a 2023 sexual abuse case.

February

Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian opposition figure and vocal critic of president Vladimir Putin, dies while serving a 19-year sentence at the Polar Wolf penal colony in Tyumen Oblast, Russia. He is 47. At least 118 people are killed and 760 others are wounded in Gaza City after Israeli forces fire on civilians receiving humanitarian aid, in what comes to be known as the “flour massacre”. In the aftermath, Israel says it had carried out what it called “limited shootings” of people it claimed had been looting, maintaining that most victims had been killed in the crush. The death toll in Gaza stands at more than 30,000, according to the Gazan health ministry. King Charles III announces he has been diagnosed with cancer following a medical examination. 

March

Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are confirmed as their parties’ nominees for the presidential election, having surpassed the delegate threshold in their respective primaries. Russian president Vladimir Putin is reelected to a fifth term in office with 87% of the vote – albeit with no real opposition. At least 137 people are killed and more than 80 others are injured in a mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow, with the building subsequently catching on fire following an explosion. The terror group Islamic State claims responsibility, and four Tajik men are later charged with the attack.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapses after the container ship Dali strikes a bridge column, causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below. And the British royal family is struck another blow with the Princess of Wales’ announcement that she has been diagnosed with cancer.

April

Seven volunteers from the World Central Kitchen charity, including British, Polish, Australian, American and Palestinian nationals, are killed in an Israeli airstrike. The same day, Israel kills two Iranian generals and five officers in an attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. In retaliation, Iran and its proxies launch around 450 drones and cruise missiles at Israel. Almost all of them are intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” aerial defence system.

Ahead of a planned vote of no confidence, Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf announces that he will resign. Six people are killed and seven others are injured in a mass stabbing at a shopping centre in Bondi Junction, Sydney. Two days later, four people are injured in a mass stabbing at a Sydney church.

May

The death toll after weeks of flooding across Kenya rises to at least 228. In the Brazilian state of Rio do Sol widespread floods kill 181. Tens of thousands of people return regularly to Georgia’s city streets to protest a law on transparency of foreign influence which they say is anti-democratic and pro-Russian. Riots erupt in New Caledonia in response to proposed constitutional changes which critics say would marginalise indigenous Kanaks. The world looks up as dazzling auroras light up the night sky in both hemispheres. The right-wing prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, is seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Donald Trump is found guilty on all 34 felony counts relating to his “hush money” case, becoming the first US president to be convicted of a crime.

June

Claudia Sheinbaum wins Mexico’s presidential election, becoming the first woman to lead the country. She takes up her role on October 1. At least 1300 pilgrims die from heat-related causes during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia and more than 1,000 die in Pakistan and in India, during a record-breaking months-long regional heatwave. Also in India, the BJP is forced into a coalition agreement after a significant loss of support. Nonetheless, the party’s leader, Narendra Modi, is sworn in for a third term as prime minister. Cyril Ramaphosa is re-elected as president of South Africa for a second term. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is freed following a plea deal with the United States.

July

Keir Starmer is sworn in as British prime minister after a landslide Labour victory. The reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins a run-off against ultra conservative Saeed Jalili to become the ninth president of Iran. France is left in political deadlock after no party wins an outright majority in the national legislative elections. Incumbent Nicolas Maduro is declared the winner of the highly disputed Venezuelan presidential election. Donald Trump is injured in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. One bystander is killed and the assassin is shot dead. Joe Biden announces that he will not seek a second term in office, endorsing vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. The 2024 summer Olympics open in Paris.

August

The US and Russia complete their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, with Russia releasing Canadian-born Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a multinational deal. Kamala Harris secures the Democratic presidential nomination and announces Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The UK is rocked by violent far-right riots in cities and towns across England and Northern Ireland. French police arrest Telegram founder Pavel Durov over alleged failures to control criminal activities on the platform, including drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud.

September

Brazil bans X/Twitter over the service’s failure to comply with a court order. More than 30 people are killed and hundreds injured in a series of explosions targeted at pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria. The trial of Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old man accused of drugging his wife Gisèle and recruiting dozens of men to rape her over the course of a decade, opens in France. Severe flooding affects much of central and eastern Europe, while wildfires ravage northern and central Portugal. Another apparent attempted assassination of Donald Trump is foiled, this one at his golf club in Florida. National People’s Power candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake is declared the president-elect in Sri Lanka, ousting incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe.

October

In the US, the death toll from Hurricane Helene surpasses 160, making it the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the contiguous United States in the past 50 years. In the ongoing Sudanese civil war, more than 500 civilians are killed in airstrikes conducted by the Sudanese Armed Forces, according to a human rights group. The Russia-friendly Georgian Dream party is declared the winner of the Georgian parliamentary election. President Salome Zourabichvili says she does not recognise the official results. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that wild populations of animal species have decreased over 70% since 1970, with some high-biodiversity areas seeing up to 95% declines.

November

The UN declares the situation in northern Gaza “apocalyptic”, with the entire population there at “imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence” due to Israeli bombardments and aid blockage. The death toll from flooding in Spain, primarily around the eastern Valencia province, increases to 214. Donald Trump is elected the 47th US president, making him the oldest candidate and first convicted felon to win the presidency. Brazilian police indict former president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others for attempting a coup after he lost to Lula da Silva in the 2022 election.

The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli minister of defense Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Syrian opposition forces attack the pro-government Syrian Army in western Aleppo, the first attack in a swift operation that will lead to the collapse of the Assad government less than two weeks later.

December

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in response to alleged threats from anti-government forces. He is forced to back down following a parliamentary vote and is impeached on December 14. Romania’s highest court annuls the first round results of the presidential election vote, citing an alleged Russian influence operation, two days before the second round is due to take place. Opposition forces take the Syrian capital Damascus and president Bashar al-Assad flees the country, putting an end to six decades of his family’s autocratic rule.