The year in news: 2024 edition 

From emergency doors flying off of Boeing airplanes while in flight to the election cycle, 2024 has been a year to remember.

The year started off with a bang on Jan. 1 with everything published in 1928 entering public domain. The most notable of which being Steamboat Willie, the earliest iteration of Mickey Mouse, which led to small movie studios making spin-offs with the character. 

Not even a week later, on Jan. 5, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 had an emergency exit door blow out due to unsecured bolts, causing uncontrolled decompression in the plane. This resulted in an emergency landing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounding all 737 MAX 9s. There were no serious injuries, but the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board began investigations. 

The conflict with Boeing didn’t end in January. On March 9, a Boeing whistleblower who brought up concerns related to the 787 Dreamliner was found dead in an apparent suicide. In addition, over 30,000 Boeing employees went on strike in September after the rejection of a new contract proposal. The strike ended on Nov. 4 after the union approved a new contract. 

The war in Gaza has continued and expanded to Lebanon and Iran. On Jan. 11 and 12, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held two days of public hearings regarding the case brought to them by South Africa that accused Israel of genocide. The ICJ concluded that Israel would have to take measures to prevent any actions that are listed within the 1948 Genocide Convention, however, they didn’t order Israel to end their military action within the region. Later in July, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, would be killed in an Israeli attack on the Iranian capital Tehran. 

Around the country, college students protested the war in Gaza by participating in encampments and attempting to convince their universities to divest from companies that have ties to Israel. UW Seattle was one of several universities that saw students protest. On Feb. 25, a member of the Air Force, Aaron Bushnell, committed self-immolation in front of the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. in protest of the war. 

The year also presented positive and unifying moments, as on April 8, there was a total solar eclipse that was viewable from the Central and Northeastern U.S. Over the summer, the northern lights or Aurora Borealis were visible from a large amount of the Northern U.S., including parts of Washington state not as affected by light pollution. 

Also in April, President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a law that required ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, to sell it to an American company within nine months. If the requirements aren’t met, the application would be banned in the U.S. Several appeals have been filed to prevent the ban, however none have been successful. 

The ban will likely take effect on Jan. 19. Small businesses around the country will likely be impacted as the popularity of TikTok shop has increased and has become an ideal platform for creators to promote their businesses. 

On June 27, the first presidential debate between President Biden and former president Donald Trump occurred. The first debate resulted in a significant amount of backlash towards President Biden as his performance was heavily criticized and there were many calls for him to drop out of the presidential race. 

Less than a month later, on July 21, Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, despite not having to compete in the primary election. The second presidential debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump occurred on Sept. 10. The third presidential debate was eventually cancelled. 

The presidential election occurred on Nov. 5 with former President Trump winning the election. His vice president will be Ohio senator and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” JD Vance. Since the election, former President Trump has announced several of his nominees for cabinet positions, such as Robert Kennedy Jr. for the Department of Health and Human Services and Linda McMahon for the Department of Education. 

South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3 at 10:27 p.m. Korea Standard Time during a televised address. This led thousands of Koreans to take to the streets of Seoul and record the clash between the military and civilians all over social media.   

Martial law was quickly lifted by the National Assembly at 1:02 a.m. on Dec. 4, though the Korean military attempted to prevent the vote. In the following days, South Korea was full of protest demanding the president’s impeachment. On Dec. 14, Yoon was impeached and the ruling by the Constitutional Court is currently pending regarding his removal from office. 

South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon on Dec. 31 in response to his actions, which the court regards as an insurrection. He has ignored the summons for questioning for the past two weeks and the investigators have until Jan. 6 to execute the warrant, according to BBC News. 

On Dec. 4, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson, was assassinated in New York City. Thompson was hit with three bullets with the words, “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them, words that have been used by critics of the health insurance industry amidst political unrest. The manhunt for the killer lasted five days with Pennsylvania police arresting Luigi Mangione on Dec. 9 in a McDonald’s restaurant. 

Mangione was charged in Pennsylvania with five counts of forgery, firearms not to be carried without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of crime and false identification to law enforcement. He was charged with murder by the state of New York and has pleaded not guilty after being transferred the Metropolitain detention center to New York on Dec. 9.  

The French government collapsed on Dec. 4 after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was removed from office via a vote of no confidence by the French parliament. He will likely remain as prime minister until President Emmanuel Macron is able to choose a successor.? 

Syria’s government also collapsed on Dec. 8 following a large assault by opposition forces to the Assad regime. President Assad and his family were granted asylum in Russia. Israel has since initiated military operations in parts of Syria, including air strikes on an air base, a district in Damascus and chemical storage sites. There have been several public celebrations since the fall of the regime by Syrian citizens and neighboring Lebanese citizens as well. 

Since the fall of this regime, the Syrians have been working to rebuild their country. On Dec. 29, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa stated in a national broadcast interview that it could take a full year before Syrian citizens would see changes in public services. He also stated that it could tke up to four years for the country to have new elections, according to BBC News. 

In Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 17, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed in a bomb blast which was hidden in an electric scooter. He was a senior general in charge of Russia’s nuclear and chemical defense forces and as of Dec. 18, the Russian government has detained a suspect involved in the bombing, according to the Associated Press.  

The country and government of Georgia has also been facing turmoil. Protests have broken out throughout the country and have been met by a forceful police crackdown after the Georgian Dream party won the parliamentary election with 54% of the vote in October. 

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on several Georgian officials and their families under the Biden administration in response to the situation, including freezes of assets and travel bans, according to the Associated Press. 

Stay tuned for more world news updates by The Ledger.