The year 2024 was marked by significant turmoil in global politics. Let's look at a recap of selected global events of 2024.

1. 2024 US elections
The 2024 US elections were marked by significant events. President Joe Biden, facing political pressure, decided not to run for re-election after a botched presidential debate and nominated Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate against Donald Trump.

Trump, meanwhile, survived two assassination attempts—one at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on July 13 and another while playing golf on September 15. Despite these challenges, Trump was re-elected as President of the United States on November 5, becoming the oldest person to hold the office and the first president to be convicted of a felony.

2. Largest prison swap since the Cold War
On August 1, the United States and Russia completed their largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, releasing 26 individuals. The exchange took place at Ankara Esenboğa Airport in Turkey. After at least six months of secret multilateral negotiations, Russia and Belarus released sixteen detainees, while the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Norway collectively freed eight detainees and two minors.

3. Collapse of Bashar Al Assad's regime in Syria
The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government ended his nearly 14-year effort to retain power amid a brutal civil war that led to the country's fragmentation and turned into a proxy conflict involving regional and global powers.

The downfall began with an offensive in Idlib by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, previously the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, which quickly dismantled the regime’s defences and seized Aleppo. After the fall of Homs, Assad fled Damascus without further resistance as rebel groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's leader Abou Mohammed al-Golani, entered the capital on December 8, declaring victory.

4. Emmanuel Macron calls snap elections in France
After significant losses in the European Parliamentary elections, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for new legislative elections. Macron's centrist Renaissance party and its allies secured just 15.2 per cent of the vote, while the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) gained 31.5 per cent, with far-right parties collectively winning 40 per cent of the seats.

Also, in December, the country experienced a historic political crisis when Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted following a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly—the first such event since 1962.

5. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ousted from Bangladesh
On August 5, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country after weeks of deadly protests sparked by long-standing grievances, including a controversial quota system for government jobs that disproportionately favoured the ruling Awami League.

The protests intensified after a June court ruling reinstated the quota system, followed by university walkouts in July over pension reforms. Hasina's inflammatory speech and the violent crackdown by the Awami League's student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, led to widespread anger and further violence, resulting in the deaths of over 260 people, mostly students. As the protests grew, with thousands demanding her resignation, Hasina left the country, creating a power vacuum filled by the military.

6. The impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
South Korea is facing political chaos after the impeachment of acting President Han Duck-soo, just two weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached. Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached after his attempt to impose martial law on December 3. A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for the same. The unprecedented dual impeachment of the country's top two officials has left Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok as the interim leader.

7. Planes crash in South Korea and Azerbaijan
2024 has been a tragic year for aviation, with two major accidents in December, one in South Korea and another in Azerbaijan, claiming nearly 220 lives. 

South Korea: On December 29, the Jeju Air passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800, crashed after skidding off the runway and hitting a concrete fence, killing 179 people. The plane, carrying 181 passengers, was arriving from Bangkok and crashed at Muan Airport, about 290 km south of Seoul.

Azerbaijan: On December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, an Embraer 190 aircraft, crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people out of 67 on board. The plane, travelling from Baku to Grozny, was diverted to Aktau due to bad weather or possibly other factors like a bird strike. It crashed about two miles from Aktau airport, with cellphone footage showing the plane’s steep descent and explosion.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, blamed the Russian military, claiming the plane was unintentionally shot down, though he clarified it wasn’t deliberate. Russian Putin Vladimir Putin has apologised to Azerbaijani leaders.

8. The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO
A 26-year-old man, identified as Mangione, was arrested on December 9 for the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, who was shot and killed on December 4 in Manhattan. The arrest followed a tip from a McDonald's employee who recognised Mangione.

He was found with a ghost gun, a suppressor, a fake driver’s license, and a handwritten manifesto that appeared to take responsibility for the killing, describing it as a response to the perceived corruption in the healthcare industry. Mangione has become a social media sensation overnight, with people making edits and reels about him and asking the police to let him go.

9. Sunita Williams stuck in space
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, originally scheduled for an eight-day mission, have been stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for 70 days due to issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The Starliner experienced propulsion and helium leak problems, and an empty Starliner was sent back to Earth earlier this month for safety reasons. While a SpaceX capsule launched in October to retrieve them, their return is now delayed until February 2025. The astronauts will remain at the ISS, 254 miles above Earth, until then.

10. Israel-Gaza war in 2024
By the end of 2023, Israel faced escalating international criticism over the heavy civilian casualties and widespread destruction in Gaza. After nearly 23,000 Palestinian deaths, Israel shifted to a more targeted military strategy in January 2024, though daily casualties remained high.

Ceasefire negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US stalled.  In April, Israeli airstrikes killed seven aid workers, drawing further scrutiny. During May and June, Israeli forces carried out the Rafah invasion, leading to massive civilian evacuations, while protests erupted in Israel after the rescue of several hostages.

Throughout the conflict, key Hamas leaders were targeted, including the deaths of military commander Mohammed Deif in July, political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran later that month, and Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in October. The war intensified with the deaths of six hostages in August, leading to widespread protests in Israel, and the conflict's toll on public health and infrastructure was dire.

By November 2024, the UN and International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes, marking a significant shift in international involvement.

11. Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2024
Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country has regained 54 per cent of the territory occupied by Russia, while Russia still controls 18 per cent, according to the Global Conflict Tracker. Despite Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts, progress has stalled, and Russia has opened a new front in the northeast. Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian cities and blockade ports, and Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russian infrastructure.

Since the invasion, Ukraine has received 278 billion dollars in aid, including 75 billion dollars from the US. The war has caused over 30,000 civilian casualties, displaced 3.7 million internally, and driven 6.5 million people abroad.

12. Death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
A helicopter crash in northern Iran killed President Raisi, 63, and seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, leading to snap elections. The crash occurred on a foggy mountainside, with the final investigation attributing the cause to "complex climatic and atmospheric conditions" in the area. The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024, in Iran's East Azerbaijan province shocked the nation. Authorities quickly appointed First Vice President Mohamed Mokhber as interim president until elections in June 2024.

13. 2024 UK Elections
Keir Starmer became the 58^th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after a landslide victory by the leading Labour Party on July 5. He became the first leader from the centre-left party to win a national election since Tony Blair's three consecutive wins starting in 1997.