Here’s What Happened Around The World In June 2024
Take a look back at some of the major global news events that happened in June 2024.
Take a look back at some of the major global news events that happened in June 2024.
1. Russian President Vladimir Putin went to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Un and now they look like dictator best friends
Russian president Vladimir Putin has paid a visit to North Korea and met with the leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea's state-run television KRT showed footage of Putin being welcomed in an opening ceremony and attending a performance, as well as several meetings on Wednesday, June 16.
The two authoritarian leaders also appeared to bond over cars and dogs during Putin’s first visit to North Korea since 2000.
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.
The two leaders were then seen walking together and talking in a forested area, before Kim took charge of the wheel and drove Putin back.
North Korean state media said that the pair talked about "pent-up inmost thoughts" during their jaunt.
During the visit, Putin and Kim signed a deal that included committing to mutual support in the event of "aggression" against the other country.
At the end of his trip, Putin was seen clasping his hands and waving goodbye to Kim from the window of his plan.
Kim was seen acknowledging the gesture from the red carpet and waving back at him with the crowd for some time until his plane fully departed.
2. North and South Korea started engaging in a “balloon war” and sent each other trash and propaganda
North Korea sent more than 300 balloons carrying trash, including plastic and scrap paper, across the border into South Korea on Sunday, June 9, despite recently promising that it would put an end to this operation.
Since late May, North Korea has sent more than 1,000 balloons filled with garbage, excrement, cigarette butts and used batteries to South Korea in response to South Korean activists launching balloons with anti-North Korea propaganda into North Korea.
On June 2, Pyongyang halted its balloon operations, declaring that it had achieved its goals.
However, it resumed the drops after a South Korean activist group known as "Fighters for Free North Korea" sent 10 balloons filled with anti-North Korean content, including 200,000 leaflets, 5,000 USB sticks with K-pop music and even $2,000 in US currency towards North Korea on Thursday, June 6.
Another group of North Korean defectors also said they launched 10 balloons the next day, with radios, anti-North Korean regime leaflets and USB drives containing a speech by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
South Korea’s defense minister condemned North Korea’s operation, calling it “unimaginably petty and low-grade behavior”.
Meanwhile, Seoul has resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, which include hit songs by BTS such as "Butter" and "Dynamite", for the first time in six years as a response.
3. Young protesters in Kenya forced the president to withdraw a controversial bill to increase taxes on essential items
Following massive protests-led by young people, the Kenyan president has withdrawn a controversial bill that would have increased taxes on several essential items.
The bill, which was revealed on June 18, had initially proposed adding tax to essential items such as bread, cooking oil, the internet, motor vehicles, transfering money, plastic products and diapers and sanitary pads.
Some of the measures, including taxes on bread, were later scrapped after young Kenyans started holding protests, saying the cost of living will rise.
The government had argued that increasing taxes on various items would have helped the country pay its national debt and fund government programs
As lawmakers voted on the bill on Tuesday June 25, protesters – who had been taking to the streets for a week – stormed the parliament and burned part of the building in the most direct assault on the government in decades, according to AP.
Kenyan President William Ruto later announced on Wednesday June 26 that he “concedes” and therefore will not sign the bill into law.
Ruto said the bill will be withdrawn and he will start a dialogue with young people in Kenya but did not give details.
He also said he will work on austerity measures by cutting the presidency’s budget to help address the government debt.
4. Mexico elected its first woman president
Mexico has elected its first woman president.
61-year-old leftist candidate Claudia Sheinbaum won the country’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.
She obtained more than 58% of votes, the highest percentage of votes in Mexican history, according to official preliminary results.
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.
However, she faces pressure to tackle security as this was one of the deadliest elections in Mexico’s history, with at least 38 candidates running for congress and senate getting murdered.
Sheinbaum will take over the presidency on Oct. 1.
5. India’s popular right-wing prime minister Narendra Modi was re-elected but lost the majority in a shocking upset
India’s popular right-wing prime minister Narendra Modi has been re-elected but lost the majority in a shocking upset.
73-year-old Modi had vowed that his right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party – or BJP – would win by a huge majority.
But the BJP ended up winning only 240 seats, falling short of the majority of 272 seats in the 543-member parliament, results showed on Tuesday, June 4th.
Meanwhile, a group of opposition parties, known as the INDIA alliance, did much better than expected and won a total of 233 seats.
The coalition is made of more than 20 national and regional parties, which had come together for the first time with the sole aim of defeating Modi.
The BJP was still able to secure a majority and keep Modi as prime minister by forming a coalition with other partner parties.
6. Gay sex is no longer a crime in Namibia
Gay sex is no longer a crime in Namibia.
Sex between men had been a crime in the country due to two colonial era laws from 1927.
In 2022, Friedel Dausab, a gay Namibian man, filed a case against the laws, and on Friday June 21, the country’s high court struck down the laws, finding them unconstitutional.
The judges said in their verdict that the laws constituted unfair discrimination as consensual sex between a man and woman is not a crime.
Namibia had inherited the law when it gained independence from South Africa in 1990.±±
7. Thailand passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage
Thailand has passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.
On Tuesday June 18, Thailand’s upper house of the senate overwhelmingly passed a bill with 130 votes in favor and 4 against.
The bill would change the definition of marriage to one between two individuals, instead of between a man and a woman.
It will also grant LGBTQ couples the same rights as heterosexual couples including being able to adopt children, inherit property and consent to medical treatment for their partner.
The bill will now go to the Thai king, who is widely expected to sign it into law as a formality.
Once legalized, Thailand would become the third country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage after Taiwan and Nepal.
8. Sierra Leone banned child marriage
Sierra Leone has passed a law to ban child marriage.
The country has one of the world’s highest rates for child marriage, early pregnancy and maternal deaths.
One third of girls are married before they are 18, while another third give birth before they are 19, according to government data.
On Friday June 21, the parliament passed a law that will make it a crime to marry girls aged below 18.
The legislation will now go to the president to be signed into law.
9. This Argentine actress who said she was raped by her male co-star when she was 16 finally got justice
This Argentine actress who said she was raped by her male co-star when she was 16 has finally got justice.
In 2018, 31-year-old Thelma Fardin said she was raped by her co-star Juan Darthés in 2009 when she was 16 and he was 45.
Fardin’s story went viral and sparked a #MeToo movement in Argentina.
In May 2023, a court in Brazil acquitted Darthés over “insufficient evidence” because Brazilian law requires victims of sexual abuse to prove penetration had happen at that time.
Fardin appealed the decision and on Monday June 10, the court overturned the acquittal.
The court found Darthés guilty of statutory rape and sentenced him to six years in prison.
Fardin said she sought justice for the girl she was and that the court’s decision was “a message of hope for everyone who suffered and is suffering from abuse”.
10. Iran overturned the death sentence of this popular activist rapper for singing about the Mahsa Amini protests
Iran's top court has overturned the death sentence of this popular activist rapper for singing about the Mahsa Amini protests.
33-year-old Toomaj Salehi was initially arrested in October 2022 during the mass anti-government protests that broke out following the death of Amini.
Salehi was sentenced to death in April.
He had been found guilty of “corruption on earth” in July 2023 and sentenced to six years and three months initially.
His death sentence sparked outrage, with more than 100 Western celebrities, including Coldplay, Sting and author Margaret Atwood, signing a statement calling for his release.
On Saturday, June 22, Salehi’s lawyer said wrote in a post on X, that Iran’s supreme court had overturned his death sentence.
His lawyer said the court found that Salehi's initial 6 year sentence was excessive, and another branch will review the case.
11. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was released after a 14-year legal battle
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been released by a US court on Saipan, a Pacific island territory, after he plead guilty to a single charge of violating US espionage laws.
The plea deal allowed the 52-year-old Australian journalist to return home to Canberra and reunite with his family, ending a high-profile legal battle that had spanned 14 years.
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.
As part of the deal, Assange admitted to conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US defense documents, according to an official US document.
He was sentenced to 64 months, which he had already served in Belmarsh, a high-security British prison, as part of the Sweden case and while awaiting a decision on extradition.
Assange was released on Tuesday, June 25, and immediately flew back home to Canberra, Australia.
12. Denmark’s men’s football team refused a pay raise so the women’s team can get equal pay
Denmark’s men’s football team has refused a pay raise so the women’s team can get equal pay.
The Danish football association had wanted to ensure that there was equal pay between the men’s and women’s teams, but both teams didn’t want to take money from the men’s team to pay the women.
So instead, the men’s team and the player’s union decided to refuse a wage increase so both teams can get the same pay.
The men’s will also decrease its insurance coverage to increase the women’s and under 21 men’s teams’ insurance.
The move is part of a deal with the Danish Football Association, which will see the men and women players receiving the same fee for representing Denmark over the next 4 years.
13. Taiwan’s president slammed China for threatening Taiwanese people with the death penalty for wanting independence
Taiwan's new president, William Lai, said that China “has absolutely no right to punish Taiwan's people” for favoring the island nation’s independence.
Lai's statement came after China, on Friday, June 21, intensified its pressure on Taiwan by threatening to impose the death penalty for "diehard" supporters of Taiwanese independence involved in "particularly serious" events.
Under China’s latest guidelines, Chinese courts should “severely punish Taiwan independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes in accordance with the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity“, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Reuters reported.
“China has absolutely no right to punish Taiwan's people just because of the positions they hold. What's more, China has no right to go after Taiwan people's rights across borders,” the 64-year-old president said at a news conference at the presidential office in Taipei on Monday, June 24.
14. More than 1,300 people died during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia
This year, more than 1,300 people died at Hajj, which is the annual pilgrimage made by Muslims to the holy city of Mecca.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims who are financially and physically able must undertake it at least once in their lifetime.
During this year’s Hajj, which began on June 14, temperatures had soared up to 51.8°C or 125°F in Mecca.
And many of people who died had walked long distances in direct sunlight without adequate shelter, according to Saudi authorities.
That’s because the majority of them did not have permits to perform Hajj, according to Saudi authorities.
To take part in Hajj, people have to register for a permit and purchase a travel package on an official platform, but due to the high price of packages – which can cost up to more than 10,000 US dollars per person – many people try to access the site illegally.
15. Germany was hit by huge flash floods, killing five people and forcing thousands from their homes
Flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall have wreaked havoc in parts of southern Germany, killing at least five people and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
The torrential downpour began on Friday, June 7, hitting the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, among other regions.
The flooding caused significant damage to infrastructure, including roads, bridges and buildings, with some regions receiving more than a month’s worth of rain within 24 hours, leading to unprecedented water levels, according to the German Meteorological Service (DWD).
Several towns declared a state of emergency as floodwaters submerged streets and highways, dams collapsed and a high-speed train derailed
16. Denmark will start taxing farts and burps from cows, pigs and sheep to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Denmark will start taxing farts and burps from cows, pigs and sheep to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Starting from 2030, farmers will have to pay taxes for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted each year, which comes from methane produced by livestock animals.
Denmark has around 1.5 million cows, and each cow can emit as much as 6 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, making them one of the least eco-friendly food sources on Earth.
The aim of the new law is to reduce Denmark's greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030.
The country’s tax minister said it will be a big step in helping the country become climate neutral by 2045.
17. BTS’ Jin finished South Korea’s mandatory military service and celebrated in the most wholesome way
31-year-old K-pop megastar Jin (Kim Seok-jin), the eldest member of South Korean boy band BTS, officially fulfilled his mandatory military service on Wednesday, June 12, making him the first in the band to be discharged.
Jin was the first member of BTS to enlist in December 2022, with the last four members starting their service in December 2023.
During his service, Jin was recognized as a “Special Class Warrior” (elite soldier) due to his outstanding performance.
On the day, the other members of BTS, who are still fulfilling their service, took leave to celebrate with him.
The next day, which marked the 11th anniversary of BTS’ debut, Jin attended and performed at the 2024 Festa in Seoul, an annual event celebrating the band’s debut.
During the event, Jin held a meet-and-greet and hugged 1,000 fans.
He then performed some of his tracks, including “Super Tuna”, “The Astronaut” and “Moon”.
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