What happened in 2024 – Global elections, assassinations, flooding and football heartbreak
2024 In Review: We look at the first half of the year
2024 will be remembered as a year of politics. People in more than 60 countries (almost 50% of the world’s population) headed to the polls this year, from the UK to India to the US and beyond, politics dominated the news in 2024 and history was made.
Donald Trump was re-elected as US president – after almost being assassinated, the UK saw its first Labour Prime Minister back in No 10 after more than a decade of Conservative rule, whilst Mexico elected its first-ever female president.
War raged on across Europe and the Middle East and there have been a number of natural weather events making the headlines including Hurricane Helene across the US and the devastating flooding across Spain.
The Euros took place over the summer, as did the Paris Olympics marking another year of great sporting events.
In pop culture, Oppenheimer won big at the Oscars, and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour took over the world.
January – May
- Jan. 14, 2024: Margrethe II abdicates. After 52 years on the throne, Danish Queen Margrethe II of Denmark abdicates, and her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, becomes King Frederik X.
- Feb. 4, 2024: Taylor Swift wins a record-setting fourth Grammy Award for album of the year for Midnights (2023). She also makes news with her Eras tour, which grosses some $2 billion by its final show in December.
- Feb. 16, 2024: Aleksey Navalny dies. The Russian anti-corruption activist and politician dies at age 47 while in prison.
- March 10, 2024: Oppenheimer wins big at Oscars. The movie won seven – including best picture.
- April 13, 2024: Middle East fighting. Iran strikes Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles during the Israel-Hamas War. Although the attack seems to be designed to fail, it marks the first time the two regional powers have come into a direct military confrontation.
- May 7, 2024: Israeli forces move into the city of Rafah, where more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip was sheltering from the Israel-Hamas War.
- May 19, 2024: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi dies suddenly in a helicopter crash. Masoud Pezeshkian, the most reform-oriented president in decades, is elected to replace him in July.
- May 29, 2024: South Africa’s 2024 national election marks the first time the African National Congress (ANC) the ruling party since 1994, is unable to win a majority in the National Assembly and has to form a coalition government.
- May 30, 2024: Donald Trump is found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He is the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
2024 sports highlights
- In May, Manchester City won its eighth Premier League title
- In May, English football bid farewell to one of the Premier League’s most iconic managers – Jurgen Klopp, who left Liverpool after nine years in charge
- A record number of UK viewers watched women’s sports this year – with football leading the way