2024 in pictures
December 27, 2024
2024 was a year like no other. Let's see it in visuals.
January 19 - Despite unexpected difficulties including landing in the wrong position, Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully touches down on the moon, making Japan the fifth country to successfully attempt such a feat.
February 16 - Staunch Kremlin critic and prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is reportedly found dead in a correctional facility in the Arctic. He was 47. Many Western countries call foul play, and no cause of death has been verified.
March 17 - Russian President Vladimir Putin is elected for a fifth term with over 88% of the vote — a record for the post-Soviet Russian Federation. His candidacy was permitted under the new 2020 amendments to the Russian constitution and he ran as an independent candidate. Many international observers questioned the validity of the election, citing the artificial limitation of candidates and irregularities.
March 26 - A container ship collides in the middle of the night with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, causing it to collapse. The bridge crosses over the Patapsco River, which drains into the Chesapeake Bay, and reportedly supports over 10 million vehicles annually. Reconstruction is scheduled to finish by 2028.
April 13 - Iran launches drone and missile strikes into Israel in retaliation for the latter's bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria on April 1st. Israel claimed to have downed 99% of the strikes, and reported very few casualties, despite the attack being the largest drone strike recorded in history.
May 10 - Multiple solar flares — emissions of high-energy radiation from the sun's surface — hit the earth, causing auroras to be visible at lower latitudes than usual.
May 30 - Former president Donald Trump (now the president-elect) is convicted of 34 counts in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, a hush money case involving the falsification of business records to conceal hush money given to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
June 2 - Claudia Sheinbaum is elected as the first female president of Mexico. She is part of the left-wing populist party Morena and succeeded Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The head of Mexico City's government defeated National Action Party Xóchitl Gálvez, marking the first time two women ran as major party presidential candidates in the country.
July 13th - then-Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump is shot in the ear on a failed attempted assassination attempt by Thomas Matthew Crooks during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One audience member was killed and two were critically injured.
September 26 - Hurricane Helen makes landfall in Florida, killing at least 236 individuals and displacing thousands of families. It is estimated to be the deadliest Hurricane since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
November 5 - Former president Donald Trump is elected to the presidency for his second non-consecutive term.
December 8 - The Syrian Civil War comes to a close as longtime president Bashar al-Assad's regime is overthrown, leaving behind a legacy of conflict, violence, and human rights violations. The former dictator fled to Moscow as a new era in his country begins.
