2024: Weather and wars define challenging year Jan: Japan earthquake Jan: Abdication Mar: Bridge collapse Apr: North American eclipse Jul: Trump’s assassination attempt Aug: Big diamond Sep: Lebanon bombed Sep: Typhoon Yagi Oct: Spanish floods Oct: Rocket caught Dec: Notre-Dame reopened Dec: Assad ousted JAN 1 A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits Japan on New Year’s Day, claiming at least 462 lives 14 Queen Margrethe II abdicates the throne of Denmark. She is succeeded by her elder son, who becomes King Frederik X 14 Former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan is sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking state secrets, 14 years for corruption, and seven years for illegal marriage FEB 4 Wildfires sweep through Valparaíso region of Chile, killing more than 130 people and burning down thousands of homes 4 Taylor Swift becomes the first performer to win the Grammy Awards for album of the year four times 16 Aleksei Navalny, Russia’s most outspoken Putin critic, dies at age 47 while in prison MAR 7 Sweden formally joins NATO, becoming the organisation’s 32nd member 17 Russian President Vladimir Putin secures his fifth term in office in a tightly controlled election 26 A container ship collides with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse. The crash also kills six people APR 8 Tens of millions of people across parts of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada watch a total eclipse of the sun 13 Iran launches missiles against Israel in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus – first time the two regional powers have come into a direct military confrontation 17 Scientists identify the largest known marine reptile. The creature, named Ichthyotitan, was longer than two buses and lived around 202 million years ago MAY 7 Israel starts offensive in city of Rafah, where more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip is sheltering from the Israel-Hamas War 29 The ANC party fails to win a majority of the vote for the first time in South Africa’s democratic history 30 Donald Trump becomes first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after being found guilty of falsifying records over hush money payments to a porn actress JUN 1 China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft collects the first-ever soil and rock samples from the far side of the moon 2 Claudia Sheinbaum is elected as the first female president of Mexico 24 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is released from prison in UK and flies home to Australia as part of a U.S. plea bargain JUL 1 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts which fall within their “core constitutional authority” 2 Hurricane Beryl becomes the earliest-forming Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record 13 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump survives an assassination attempt after a gunman opens fire during a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump suffers a wound to his ear 21 Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden ends his presidential campaign, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee AUG 7 Sheikh Hasina, five-term prime minister of Bangladesh, resigns and flees to India amid mass protests against her government 16 Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Thailand’s youngest prime minister after her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, is dismissed by the Constitutional Court 22 The largest diamond found in more than a century is unearthed at a mine in Botswana SEP 9 Super Typhoon Yagi leaves more than 600 people dead as it sweeps across southern China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar 23 The deadliest day of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in almost 20 years, with more than 550 people killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon 26 Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida, causing widespread destruction and more than 230 deaths 27 Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader for more than 30 years and one of the most influential figures in the Middle East, is assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut OCT 13 SpaceX catches the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket with a pair of robotic arms, a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability 16 Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is killed in Gaza during a firefight with Israel Defence Forces. Sinwar was a successor to former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran in July 17 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses North Korea of deploying troops to Ukraine to fight alongside Russian forces 29 Spain suffers its worst flooding disaster in decades, with around 230 people dead after torrential rain hits the region of Valencia NOV 5 Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election, becoming the first convicted felon to be elected to the office and the second president to win a second non-consecutive term 19 The world marks 1,000 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 21 The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over war crimes in Gaza 27 Israel and Lebanon agree a 60-day ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and France to halt the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel DEC 3 President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in South Korea but the move is quickly blocked by the National Assembly. An impeachment review is underway 7 Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral is officially reopened after five years of extensive restoration work following a devastating fire 8 Syrian rebel forces seize control of Damascus following a lightning offensive, ending 50 years of iron rule by the Assad family 14 Several hundred people are feared dead after the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hits the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte Pictures: Getty Images, Newscom, Ansh Saxena 7163 © GRAPHIC NEWS