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00:002024 has been marked by both big news shifts and the evolution of existing episodes with
00:05global repercussions, including ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
00:11In February came news of Alexei Navalny's death.
00:14The strongest critic of Russia's Vladimir Putin died in a Siberian penal colony.
00:19Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny.
00:26In March, Putin won another six-year term.
00:30April saw Israeli jets strike the Iranian embassy in Syrian capital Damascus, killing
00:35a senior Revolutionary Guards commander.
00:39Iran responded with its first ever direct attack on Israeli soil.
00:44In May, though, Iran's president died in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijani border.
00:50Sudan's war entered its second year and the RSF paramilitary began a devastating siege
00:55of the army-controlled Darfuri city of al-Fashir.
00:59Its fall would add to the toll of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
01:04South Africa took a new political path in June.
01:07The ANC lost its majority for the first time since the 1994 end of apartheid and had to
01:13form an awkward coalition government.
01:17The European Union went to parliamentary polls too.
01:20Then President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election after the French far right surged
01:25in the polls.
01:26Months of political deadlock followed.
01:29In July, US President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid after a disastrous debate
01:34against Donald Trump.
01:36Vice President Kamala Harris took over.
01:38Amid the tense race, a would-be assassin shot Trump through the ear.
01:42If you want to really see something that's said, take a look at what happened.
01:54Trump later survived a second attempt on his life unharmed.
01:59Elsewhere the UK got a new Labour government after voters booted out the Conservatives
02:04after 14 years.
02:08In August, a surprise offensive saw Ukrainian forces take over swathes of Russian territory
02:13in Kursk.
02:20Also pursuing victory, world-class athletes headed to France for the Paris Olympics.
02:27And in September, in Lebanon, Hezbollah fighters Pages and Borki Torkis began exploding.
02:35Israeli intelligence was blamed.
02:37Its military extended operations and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike
02:43on Beirut.
02:46A full-scale conflict with the militant group would continue for another three months.
02:51In Gaza, the civilian death toll of tens of thousands continued to climb at the one-year
02:56anniversary of the Middle East war.
02:59October saw Israel kill Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader behind the attack on Israel that
03:04sparked the devastating regional fallout.
03:08Today the mastermind of this day of sheer evil is no more.
03:14The deepening conflict led The Hague's International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for
03:19both Israeli and Hamas leaders in November.
03:23That same month, over in the US, Trump clinched a return to the White House, with Republicans
03:36winning both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
03:41In December, South Korea's president was impeached after unexpectedly declaring martial
03:47law.
03:48While here in France, the Christmas reopening of Notre Dame was celebrated with great fanfare.
03:56And Gisele Pellicot became a feminist icon after her husband, who for two decades arranged
04:02for his drugged wife to be raped in her home, was among 51 men given lengthy prison sentences.
04:09And finally, a lightning offensive by Syrian rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad, ending over
04:1513 years of civil war.
04:25It ended the Assad family's half-century grip on Syria, though now the country's new masters
04:31Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are trying to reassure Western powers concerned by their al-Qaeda
04:37roots.