As we approach the end of 2024 and eagerly anticipate 2025, it’s essential to reflect on some significant events that have unfolded this year. From Donald Trump‘s assassination bid to Narendra Modi securing third consecutive term, these events have marked the global landscape.
Here are the biggest events of 2024:
Tsunami in Japan
A massive struck Japan on January 1 following an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude on Richter scale, killing over 200 people and left thousand homeless. Around 150 earthquakes jolted the island nation on the new year’s day and crumbled the country’s infrastructure.
This was one of the largest quakes in Japan since 2018 and resulted in damage to at least 200 structures, left thousands without power and running water, and caused stoppages to rail and road traffic around the region.
More than 36,000 households suffered power loss in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures. Telecoms operators also reported phone and internet outages in some areas. Forty train lines and two high-speed rail services to the quake-hit area halted operations, while 6 expressways were closed and one of Ishikawa’s airports was shut due to a crack in the runway, transport authorities said.
EU approves Artificial Intelligence Act
The lawmakers in the European Union have approved the bloc’s AI regulation which aims to “to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI” by prohibiting uses of the technology in certain areas.
The new rules ban certain AI applications that threaten citizens’ rights, the bloc said. These include biometric categorisation systems based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases.
The new rules will also foresee the obligations for high-risk AI systems “due to their significant potential harm to health, safety, fundamental rights, environment, democracy and the rule of law.”
The examples of these include use of high-risk AI in critical infrastructure, employment, healthcare, banking, among others.
General Elections: NDA secures third term
The result of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were declared on June 04. BJP emerged as the single largest party with 240 seats and formed the government with the help of TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath for the third on June 09. The JD(U), with 12 MPs, is the second-largest BJP ally after the TDP, which has 16 parliamentarians.
Meanwhile, the opposition INDIA bloc secured 234 seats in the Lok Sabha. Congress won 99 seats while Samajwadi Party with 37 seats emerged as the third largest party in the general elections.
US Elections: Trump returns to White House
Republican candidate Donald Trump made a historic comeback in the US elections defeating Democrat’s Kamala Harris, who was nominated as the presidential candidate after US President Joe Biden stepped down from the race to the White House.
Donald Trump won 312 electoral votes out of 538 and swept all seven swing states while Kamala Harris managed to secure 226 votes.
Earlier, Donald Trump survived multiple assassination attempt during the election campaign. A man named Thomas Mathew Crooks shot Trump in July while he was delivering a speech in in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was saved by millimeters as the bullet went piercing Trump‘s ear. A second attempt was made on Trump’s life on September when Ryan Wesley Routh broke into Trump International Golf Club. However,
he was unable to take a shot at the former president as Secret Service guards spotted him in bushes by the side of the course.
Syrian rebels end Basher al-Assad rule
Syrian rebel forces overtook Basher al-Assad regime in December, ending 13 years of civil conflict and his family’s 60-year authoritarian control.
The fall of the city signaled the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. Meanwhile, Assad and his family fled the country and was granted asylum by Russia.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led the offensive against Bashar al-Assad. Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed al-Sharaa, has a controversial past. His group, rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda, has been accused of extremist activities.
However, he has recently adopted a more moderate image while leading the fight to oust Assad.
UK Election: Labour topples Conservatives
Keir Starmer became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his centre-left Labour party won the UK elections in July, ending 14-year reign of the Conservative government.
The Labour Party secured 411 seats out 650 while Rishi Sunak’s Conservative got 121 seats. The Conservative Party’s worst electoral result prior to this was 156 seats in 1906.
Labour managed to capture a significant number of traditionally Conservative seats across the country, leading to the defeat of several high-profile members of Sunak’s Cabinet. Liz Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, also lost her seat in Parliament. Truss, whose term as prime minister lasted only 49 days, was narrowly defeated by Labour in her Norfolk South West constituency.
Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina fled after uprising
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina was forced to flee the country as the protest started after quota row turned violent killing hundreds. Hasina has been staying in New Delhi since her ouster. An interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh interim government has recently written to India and sought Hasina’s extradition citing criminal proceedings against her.
Earlier in January, Hasina won re-election for a fifth term Sunday following a boycott led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with Hasina’s Awami League had won 224 seats out of 300.
Vladimir Putin re-elected Russia’sPresident
Vladimir Putin secured his fifth term as the Russian President following an election where he faced no significant opposition, securing 88% of the votes.
The Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with slightly less than 4% of votes, while newcomer Vladislav Davankov secured third place, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky came in fourth position.
Putin, having first assumed power in 1999, has now surpassed Josef Stalin’s tenure to become the longest-serving leader in Russian history.
South Korea: Yoon Suk Yeol impeached
South Korea witnessed a political turmoil in December after South Korean MPs voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol who earlier declared emergency martial law in the country. Yeol accused the opposition-controlled parliament of sympathising with North Korea and paralysing the government.
Yeaol survived the earlier impeachment attempt by lawmakers because they did not meet the quorum in the parliament.
A prosecutors’ report claims that impeached Yeol had instructed the military to use force, including firearms, to gain entry to the National Assembly during his unsuccessful effort to impose martial law.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s parliament also impeached Acting President Han Duck-soo on December 27. He has been acting president since President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached on December 14.
Finance minister Choi Sang-mok became the acting presidency Han’s impeachment.
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