The World This Year 2024: A look back at events

The World This Week

This year, headlines have been dominated by the wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East. Israel's leader has been accused of war crimes, while the revolution in Syria has led to the downfall of a dictator. However, the full scale of Bashar al-Assad’s regime of terror continues to emerge.

It has been a record year for elections around the world, with more than half of the planet’s population voting in over 60 countries. Recurring themes included populism, polarisation, immigration, and identity politics. It was a tough year for incumbents, with compromises in India and South Africa, and changes of leadership in the UK, Senegal, Ghana, Portugal, and Lithuania.

Meanwhile, in Paris, an Olympic year saw a baton-passing of prime ministers worthy of a relay team, with four changes in total.

In the United States, it has been a year where Donald Trump was re-elected as president, and Time Magazine named him Person of the Year again. This came in a year when he was convicted as a felon, survived multiple assassination attempts, and defeated two Democratic candidates in the race to the White House.