27 Stories That Changed The World In 2024
Here are just some of the stories that changed the world in 2024.
From world athletes gathering in Paris to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics to Hong Kong passing another national security law and young people in Georgia protesting against their government for a “Russia-like law,” 2024 has been, if anything, a year when decades happen.
Here are just some of the stories that changed the world in 2024.
1. South Africa sued Israel at the International Court of Justice for committing genocide in Gaza
On Dec. 29, 2023, the South African government formally sued the Israeli government at the ICJ, saying that Israel is committing “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in Gaza.
South Africa filed an 84-page document that it says presents evidence that Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, an international treaty created in the aftermath of the Holocaust that has been signed by 152 states, including both Israel and South Africa.
2. Six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces while trying to flee Gaza
Hind Rajab and her extended family had been fleeing Gaza on Monday Jan. 20, when Israeli forces started shooting at their car.
Her older cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, then called the Palestinian Red Crescent for help.
After the Red Crescent pinpointed her location, they sent an ambulance to rescue her, but then lost contact with the ambulance crew.
After 12 days, Hind’s family said on Saturday Feb. 10 that they had found her body decomposing in the car, which was peppered with bullet holes.
3. Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison
The 47-year-old, who was Russian president Vladimir Putin’s biggesr critic, died on Friday Feb. 16 in a remote Arctic prison after collapsing and losing consciousness following a morning walk, according to Russian state media.
“We know for sure that it wasn’t just a death, it was a murder,” Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, told the BBC, saying that she and the team believe that Putin had ordered Navalny’s murder.
Following the news of Navalny’s death, protests broke out across multiple cities in Russia, as well as across around the world, as people gathered to hold vigils and demand justice for Navalny.
4. A Willy Wonka immersive experience in Scotland was so bad it reduced children to tears
The event of Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, Scotland , which cost £35 (about US$44), promised a “visual spectacle” and a “paradise of sweet treats”.
Photos of the “experience” showed a sparsely-decorated venue with a rainbow arch, a handful of candy cane props and some scattered mushrooms and tables.
Children were given no chocolate, only a single jelly bean and a cup of lemonade.
Parents were so furious they even called the police, organizers then canceled the event soon after.
5. Hong Kong passed another national security law, Article 23, making it easier for the government to crack down on opposition
Under the new law, known as Article 23, people in Hong Kong can face up to life in prison if they are found guilty of “endangering national security”.
The definition of “national security” is now copied from China, where is it a vague concept that covers “major interests of the state”.
6. Chinese president Xi Jinping met with a former Taiwan president and said a "family reunion" is inevitable
Ma Ying-jeou, who served as the president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, met with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, April 10.
At the start of their meeting, Xi praised Ma — who belongs to Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, which advocates for strong relations with China — for his stance against an independent Taiwan, his efforts in fostering relations across the Taiwan Strait and their mutual recognition of a unified “one China”.
“Interference from external countries cannot stop the historical trend of the country and family reuniting,” Xi added.
Responding to Xi, Ma said if war breaks out between the two sides, it will be unbearable for the Chinese people.
7. After the ICJ ordered Israel to stop attacking Rafah, it bombed a camp and burned Palestinians alive
Two days after Israel defied the International Court of Justice’s order and bombed a displacement camp in Rafah, it has now bombed another camp it told civilians in Rafah to evacuate to, killing at least 21 Palestinians.
On Tuesday, May 28, Israel bombed a camp in the Al-Mawasi area west of Rafah, where it had ordered civilians to evacuate ahead of its offensive on Rafah.
8. Young people in Georgia began holding unprecedented anti-government protests against a “Russia-like law”
Young people in Georgia are holding huge unprecedented protests against a “Russia-like law” that could crack down on opposition.
The law would require media, non-governmental and non-profit organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “carrying the interests of a foreign power”.
It was allegedly modeled after a 2012 Russian law, which allowed the Russian government to crack down on independent news media, nonprofits and activists who were critical of the Kremlin.
Protesters say the law could endanger democracy, derail Georgia’s hopes of joining the European Union and increase Russian influence in the country.
9. Russian president Vladimir Putin went to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Un
North Korea's state-run television KRT showed footage of Russian president Vladimir Putin being welcomed in an opening ceremony and attending a performance, as well as several meetings on Wednesday, June 16.
In a scene straight out of James Corden's Carpool Karaoke, Putin drove Kim, who was sitting in the passenger seat, through the streets of North Korea’s capital, in a Russian-made Aurus limousine that Putin had gifted to Kim.
During the visit, Putin and Kim signed a deal that included committing to mutual support in the event of "aggression" against the other country.
10.Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was released after a 14-year legal battle
The plea deal allowed the 52-year-old Australian man Julian Assange to return home to Canberra and reunite with his family, ending a high-profile legal battle that had spanned 14 years.
In 2010, WikiLeaks had published a video showing a US military helicopter attacking and killing two journalists and Iraqi civilians in 2007 in Baghdad. Later, it released over 90,000 classified Afghan war documents.
The US formally issued charges against Assange for espionage and requested his extradition.
In June 2024, Assange pleaded guilty to a single count of attempting to illegally obtain classified information and was sentenced to time already served in exchange for being immediately released.
"Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information," Assange told the court during the three-hour hearing.
11. Mexico elected its first woman president
61-year-old leftist candidate Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s elections on Sunday, June 2.
Sheinbaum, a physicist and energy engineer, had also made history in 2018 as the first woman mayor of Mexico City, a position she held until 2023.
Sheinbaum has promised to maintain and improve welfare programs started by the outgoing leftist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador – also known as AMLO – and provide free primary and secondary education.
12. France rejected the far-right to elect a left-wing alliance, and the UK voted out the Conservative government after 14 years
The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) was only formed in France in June after President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections.
The far-right party had been expected to win as it got the majority of votes in the first round of elections.
But to everyone’s surprise, the NFP won the most seats in the parliamentary election on July 7.
In the UK, Keir Starmer, the 61-year-old leader of the Labour Party, will assume office as the next prime minister after outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat in the country’s general elections on Thursday July 4.
Addressing a crowd of supporters at a victory rally in central London, Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, also said that after four and a half years of work to change the party, the new Labour party is determined to reclaim Britain to the service of the working people.
Voters had rejected the Conservative Party due to factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, ongoing instability, and internal disagreements within the party, worsened by the turnover of five different prime ministers since the Brexit vote in 2016.
13. The 2024 Olympics and Paralympics were held in Paris
This year, eight athletes are competing on the Refugee Paralympic Team at the Paris Paralympics — the most ever.
Two athletes have already made history as the first refugees to ever win Paralympic medals, with Zakia Khudadadi from Afghanistan winning bronze in Para Taekwondo and Guillaume Junior Atangana from Cameroon winning bronze in the men’s 400m.
14. Bangladeshi student protesters forced the prime minister to resign
Thousands of students have been protesting in Bangladesh since July after the government reinstated a system to reserve 30% of government jobs for veterans' families.
On Sunday, August 4, more than 90 people were killed in violence between protesters and police, making it the deadliest day since the protests started.
The next day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed resigned and fled the country to India in a military helicopter.
The country’s army chief announced Hasina’s resignation and said an interim government will be formed.
15. Thailand banned the main progressive opposition leader from politics for 10 years and got its youngest woman prime minister
In May 2023, Thai voters gave the most votes to the young, progressive, opposition Move Forward Party.
But in May 2023, Thai voters rejected the military government and gave the most votes to the young, progressive, opposition Move Forward Party.
To form a government, Move Forward then joined a coalition with Thakin’s party, Pheu Thai. The parliament then elected a member of Pheu Thai, Srettha Thavisin, to be prime minister.
During Srettha’s one year as prime minister, opinion polls showed he was very unpopular with the public, who criticized him for failing to show results despite traveling abroad 15 times during his first 10 months.
On Aug. 14, the constitutional court removed Srettha as prime minister for "violating ethical standards”. This was because he had appointing a lawyer who had been jailed for attempting to bribe government officials, to his cabinet.
Then two days later, on Friday, Aug. 16, with no other candidates, the parliament chose Thakin’s daughter, Paetongtarn, to be the new prime minister.
16. Gisèle Pelicot opted for a public trial against her ex-husband who drugged her and invited men to rape her for years
71-year-old Gisèle Pélicot was drugged by her husband and raped at least 92 times by 72 men between 2011 and 2020 without her knowledge.
Gisèle chose to have the trial be public instead of private, receiving widespread praise from activists and the public.
“I want you to know that we share the same battle,” she said.
“I never regretted this decision. I trust, now, in our capacity to collectively seize a future in which each one of us, woman and man, may live in harmony with mutual respect and understanding. I thank you,” she said.
17. Israel detonated thousands of pagers and walkie talkies in Lebanon and injured at least 4,000 people
A security source told Reuters that the latest attack on Wednesday Sep. 18 targeted walkie talkies used by Hezbollah that were also purchased five months ago at the same time as the pagers that exploded.
Several officials, including an American official briefed on the operation, told the New York Times that Israel was behind the attack, hiding explosive materials in a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers that were imported into Lebanon.
Officials told the New York Times that Israeli intelligence services had implanted explosive material next to the battery and a switch to remotely detonate the explosives.
18. A Thai zoo welcomed a baby hippo named Moo Deng who looks distressed all the time
On July 10, the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand's Chon Buri province welcomed a female pygmy hippopotamus, Moo Deng.
Moo Deng has since taken social media by storm, going viral on X for looking distressed all the time.
The zoo has taken to sharing videos and photos from her daily life, and people online are enjoying watching her grow.
19. Israel’s genocide in Gaza hit one year, with more than 45,000 Palestinians killed
This statement has been repeated, again and again, since Oct. 7, 2023, and yet it continues to ring true one year on.
One year since Israel began its genocide in Gaza, it has been indiscriminately attacking and killing Palestinian men, women and children.
In fact, it would take until 2040 to fix the damage Israel has caused in Gaza.
20. Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in combat with Israel in Gaza
On Thursday, Oct. 17, the Israeli military announced they are looking into whether Yahya Sinwar was among three Hamas members killed in a “targeted ground operation” in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip.
The Israeli military said it is conducting DNA tests due to the resemblance of one of the killed militants to Sinwar.
21. Spain was hit by unprecedented floods, with parts of the country receiving a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours
On Tuesday Oct. 29, parts of Valencia were hit by torrential rain and hailstorms, with some regions recording a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours.
The southern region of Spain also received heavy downpour, but the impacts of the storm and floods were not as severe as that in the eastern region.
The last time Spain faced a disaster this deadly was in 1996, when severe flooding killed 87 people.
22. Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16
The move comes after the Australian government expressed concerns about how social media negatively affects children's mental and physical health.
The law, passed on Wednesday, Nov. 28, requires social media companies like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X to take "reasonable steps" to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts.
The new law will not punish children or parents who break the rules and instead place the responsibility on social media companies.
23. New Zealand’s youngest Māori MP led a haka in parliament and tore up a bill to roll back Indigenous rights
21-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke became New Zealand's youngest member of parliament in 170 years.
As part of her first speech to parliament on Dec. 20, Maipi-Clarke, who represents the Hauraki-Waikato Māori seat performed the haka, a traditional Indigenous war dance, and spoke about the rights of New Zealand’s Indigenous communities.
She dedicated her speech to the children of New Zealand, saying that no matter what comes out of the government, she will ensure that they hear them.
“I am at your service in and outside of parliament,” she said. “I will die for you in these chambers. But I will live for you outside these four walls.”
24. A group of Pacific islands students brought a case on climate change and human rights to the ICJ
On Wednesday March 29, the UN passed a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice – or ICJ – to issue a legal opinion on climate change and human rights.
The resolution was spearheaded by the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, after a group of students across the Pacific Islands launched a campaign for an ICJ advisory opinion on climate change.
Cynthia Houniuhi, the president of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said she and other law students from the Pacific Islands decided to launch the initiative because the pace of climate action was not proportionate to the rate climate change is hitting their communities.
“Climate change is the greatest threat to what we hold so dear to us in our cultures in the Pacific, and I will fight like my life depended on it, like those before me have, to ensure that the future generations have a life of dignity and cultural identity,” Houniuhi said.
25. Young people in Botswana voted out the 58-year ruling party and elected a human rights lawyer to lead
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had ruled the country for 58 years since Botswana gained independence from Britain in 1966.
But on Wednesday Oct. 30, the opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), obtained a majority of seats in the general election, gaining 26 seats in parliament, while the BDP obtained only three seats, according to local news.
The leader of the UDC, 54-year-old human rights lawyer and Harvard Law school graduate Duma Boko, is set to become the new president.
"What has happened today takes our democracy to a higher level. It now means we've seen a successful, peaceful, orderly democratic transition,” Boko said following the victory.
26. South Korea’s president tried to declare martial law but failed
On Tuesday Dec. 3, in a late night address at 11 pm local time, South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol said martial law – temporary rule by the military – was necessary to eliminate "anti-state" forces.
Yoon said martial law would help to "rebuild and protect" the country from "falling into the depth of national ruin", adding that he would eradicate pro-North Korean forces as soon as possible and "normalize" the country, AP reported.
Protests broke out outside the parliament in Seoul after Yoon's declaration, with thousands of people calling for an immediate end to martial law and for Yoon to be impeached.
Hours later, the parliament voted to lift martial law by a majority, finding the declaration invalid by 190 votes out of 300.
27. After 13 years of brutal civil war, Syrian rebels finally freed the country from Bashar al-Assad’s regime
On Sunday, Dec, 8, the Free Damascus operation room announced in a televised statement on Syria’s national TV that the country has been liberated and all prisoners who were held unjustly in prison were freed.
This marked the end of over 50 years of al-Assad family rule.
After taking over Aleppo, rebel forces advanced into Homs city on Dec. 7, then in the early hours of Dec. 8, they announced they had captured Damascus, Syria’s capital, and overthrown al-Assad.
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Kassy Cho
Kassy Cho
