What happened in 2024

World8

• Mar 13The Artificial Intelligence Act, the world's first comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, is passed by the European Union.
• Apr 8A total solar eclipse is visible across North America.
• Apr 162024 Persian Gulf floods: At least 32 people are killed when heavy rainfall strikes the Middle East, causing flash flooding. This caused many disruptions for the airline Emirates at Dubai International Airport.
• May 19Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian are killed, along with seven other passengers and crew, in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan–Iran border.
• Jul 1Hurricane Beryl becomes the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record after devastating the island of Carriacou, Grenada.
• Jul 19Global IT outages impact a variety of businesses and organisations across the world.
• Aug 12024 American–Russian prisoner exchange: 26 individuals are released from Ankara Esenboğa Airport in the largest prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia since the Cold War.
• Sep 26Hurricane Helene, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Maria in 2017, makes landfall in Florida as a category four hurricane. It has a death toll of 236 and leaves more than 685 missing.

Japan3

• Jan 1A 7.5 Mww earthquake strikes the western coast of Japan (Noto Peninsula), killing at least 504 people and injuring 1,389 others. A further 5 are killed the next day when a Coast Guard aircraft carrying humanitarian aid was involved in a collision with a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 aircraft, destroying both aircraft. All 379 people aboard the passenger jet are evacuated safely.
• Jan 19Japan becomes the 5th country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, with its SLIM mission.
• FebNikkei tops its bubble-era recordOn February 22, the Nikkei average closed at 39,098 yen, beating its record from the end of 1989 for the first time in 34 years. In March it went above 40,000 yen.

North America8

• Mar 14The United Nations estimates that at least 56% of Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza war were women and children.
• Jun 5Starliner Crewed Flight Test launches atop an Atlas V rocket to the ISS.
• Jul 13While campaigning for the 2024 United States presidential election, former President Donald Trump is shot in the right ear in an assassination attempt at a rally he held near Butler, Pennsylvania.
• Sep 12The first commercial spacewalk is conducted by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as part of the Polaris Dawn mission, which also includes the highest altitude orbit by a human crew since the Apollo program.
• Sep 15Ryan Wesley Routh is accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump in Florida. Routh is later captured and arrested, and a trial date has been set for 2025.
• Oct 13SpaceX achieves the first successful return and capture of a Super Heavy booster from Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever to fly.
• Oct 14The Europa Clipper spacecraft is launched to investigate Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.
• Nov 52024 United States presidential election: Former U.S. President Donald Trump defeats incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris to win a second nonconsecutive term. Trump became the second person in American history to win a second nonconsecutive term, after Grover Cleveland in 1892.

Europe23

• Feb 112024 Finnish presidential election: In the closest presidential election in Finnish history, Alexander Stubb is elected president in the second round.
• Febis elected in the closest presidential election in Finnish history on February 11.]]February 8 – 2024 Pakistani general election: Independent politicians, most of whom are members of the banned political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, win a plurality of seats in the National Assembly.
• May 15Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is shot and hospitalized while meeting with supporters at an event in Handlová.
• May 20The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes. wins a landslide victory on May 26 in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election for a second term in office.]]
• Jul 72024 French legislative election: The left-wing New Popular Front wins the most seats in the National Assembly, upsetting a first-round victory by the far-right National Rally, but fails to achieve a majority.
• Jul 302024 United Kingdom riots: Far-right riots break out throughout the United Kingdom in response to a mass stabbing in Southport, England.
• Aug 14The World Health Organization (WHO) declares mpox a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years, following the spread of the virus in African countries.
• Oct 292024 Spanish floods: Spain experiences its worst flooding in half a century, with over 200 killed and many more missing, as a year's worth of rain falls in eight hours.
• Nov 32024 Moldovan presidential election: Incumbent Maia Sandu is re-elected for a second term.
• Nov 21The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on accusations of war crimes committed during the Gaza war.
• Dec 12024 Romanian parliamentary election: The incumbent National Coalition for Romania wins a plurality of votes, with far-right parties making substantial gains. shortly after the declaration of martial law by president Yoon Suk Yeol on December 3]]
• Dec 62024 Romanian presidential election: The Constitutional Court of Romania annuls the results of the first round, amid accusations of Russian interference after the unexpected advancement of pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu to the runoff.
• Dec 7The Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens to the public after previously being damaged by a structural fire in 2019. Bashar al-Assad's regime was overthrown as rebel forces captured the capital Damascus on December 8.]]
• Dec 142024 Georgian presidential election: Mikheil Kavelashvili of People's Power is elected unopposed.
• Dec 20Six people are killed, while over 300 are injured, after a car is driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

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USSR / Russia3

• Feb 16Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, dies under mysterious circumstances at the age of 47.
• Mar 152024 Russian presidential election: Incumbent Vladimir Putin is reelected for a fifth term.
• Jun 232024 Dagestan attacks: Two coordinated attacks occur in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan in southern Russia, injuring 46 and killing 28 people.

Asia17

• Jan 1The Republic of Artsakh is formally dissolved following the recapture of the Nagorno-Karabakh region by Azerbaijan.
• Jan 22Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha: The Ram Mandir is inaugurated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
• Feb 72024 Azerbaijani presidential election: Amid an opposition boycott, President Ilham Aliyev is reelected to a 5th term.
• Feb 142024 Indonesian general election: Prabowo Subianto wins the presidential election, and the Democratic Party of Struggle wins the most votes in the legislative election.
• Mar 26A container ship collides with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, causing a total collapse of the bridge and the deaths of six people.
• Apr 3A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 strikes off the eastern coast of Taiwan, with small tsunamis reaching heights of hitting Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
• Jul 1975 people are killed during the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement. The government of Bangladesh imposes a curfew.
• Jul 30At least 334 people are killed, over 200 injured, and 281 missing following landslides in Wayanad district, Kerala, India.
• Aug 132024 Kolkata rape and murder: Thousands of doctors and students take part in protests and rallies against domestic violence in cities across the world after the rape and murder of a 31 year old post-graduate trainee doctor in Kolkata on 9 August.
• Augsucceeds Srettha Thavisin as Prime Minister of Thailand after the latter's dismissal by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on August 14]]August 11 – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announces that the Ukrainian military is conducting a cross-border offensive inside Russia's western Kursk Oblast. Russia says that 76,000 people have been evacuated from the region.
• Sep 212024 Sri Lankan presidential election: Anura Kumara Dissanayake is elected President of Sri Lanka, with a second round of vote counting held for the first time in Sri Lanka's history. made landfall in the United States on September 26|240px]]
• Dec 3South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law during a late-night address broadcast live on YTN television, accusing the country's main opposition Democratic Party of sympathizing with North Korea and engaging in anti-state activities.
• Dec 14South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's powers and duties are suspended after MPs vote to impeach him, following his martial law declaration the previous week.
• Dec 25Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer ERJ-190AR, crashes in Kazakhstan. Twenty-nine out of the 67 on board survive the crash. crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea on December 29]]
• Dec 29Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800 passenger flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, veers off the runway at Muan International Airport and crashes into a barrier, killing 179 people. Two injured survivors are reported.

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Middle East26

• Jan 32024 Kerman bombings: An Islamic State double bombing kills 94 people during a memorial event commemorating the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in Kerman, Iran. The bombing was carried out using two briefcase bombs placed at the entrance that were detonated remotely.
• Jan 26Gaza war: The UN's International Court of Justice rules that Israel must take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza, but stops short of ordering an immediate halt to operations.
• Feb 29Gaza war: Soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces open fire on a crowd of civilians in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people, as the Palestinian casualties of the war exceed 30,000.
• Mar 22Islamic State-affiliated gunmen attack concertgoers at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, killing at least 151 people and injuring 609.
• Mar 25The UN Security Council passes a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Gaza war and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
• Apr 1Israel attacks the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing 16 people.
• Apr 13Iran launches retaliatory strikes against Israel after an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier in the month.
• Apr 17Gaza war protests at universities escalate across the globe and allege Israel is committing genocide.
• Jun 12The United Nations' first inquiry into the October 7 attacks and resulting conflict finds that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes.
• Jul 52024 Iranian presidential election: Masoud Pezeshkian is elected president of Iran.
• Jul 31Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, is assassinated at his residence in Tehran, Iran.
• Sep 17Thirty-two people are killed and more than 3,200 are injured after pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants and medics explode in two massive cyberattacks. Israel is the presumed perpetrator.
• Sep 27The Israeli Air Force bombs the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, killing several people, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
• Oct 1The Israel Defense Forces invade southern Lebanon, escalating its conflict against Hezbollah.
• Octleader of Hamas, was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces on October 16]]October 7 – Hurricane Milton becomes the fourth most intense hurricane in the Atlantic Basin, and the most intense storm in the Gulf of Mexico tying with Hurricane Rita in 2005. Milton is also the first hurricane to reach a pressure below 900 millibars in nearly 20 years.

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Latin America8

• Jan 8Ecuadorian conflict (2024–present): Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declares a state of emergency following the escape of Los Choneros drug cartel leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar from prison. The military was deployed onto the streets and into prisons, while setting a national nighttime curfew.
• Jan 15Following a brief political crisis in the aftermath of the 2023 elections, Bernardo Arévalo is inaugurated as the 52nd President of Guatemala.
• Feb 6Former President of Chile Sebastián Piñera dies in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.
• Apr 29Floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul cause dozens of deaths and leave thousands homeless.
• Jun 2The 2024 Mexican general election is held, with Claudia Sheinbaum elected as president of Mexico.
• Jun 26A failed coup d'état attempt in La Paz, Bolivia is led by the former General Commander Juan José Zúñiga.
• Juland Edmundo González along with his wife, addressing supporters in Caracas following the 2024 presidential election results]]July 28 – 2024 Venezuelan presidential election: Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro declares victory against opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia amid alleged irregularities, causing numerous South American states to refuse to acknowledge the results or suspend diplomatic relations with the Maduro government and sparking nationwide protests.
• Aug 9Voepass Flight 2283, an ATR 72, crashes near Vinhedo, São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 62 people on board.

Africa3

• Feb 4President of Namibia Hage Geingob dies at the age of 82, and is succeeded by his vice-president Nangolo Mbumba.
• Mar 242024 Senegalese presidential election: Bassirou Diomaye Faye is elected president after his party and its former candidate Ousmane Sonko were disqualified.
• Aug 24In Barsalogho, Burkina Faso, 600 civilians are victims of a massacre by Islamists associated with Al-Qaeda.

Oceania2

• May 10impact the Earth, creating aurorae seen at more southerly and northerly latitudes than normal. Aurorae seen on May 12 from southern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia]]A series of solar storms and intense solar flares impact the Earth, rated G5 by NOAA, creating aurorae at more southerly and northerly latitudes than usual. This was the first G5 storm since 2003. won the 2024 Dominican Republic general election on May 19]]
• May 24A major landslide in Papua New Guinea kills 160–2,000+ people, with many more buried.