so this is it, - a general election. thank you to everybody and goodnight. we did it! cheering. will it ever get better than this again? - iranian missiles were fired in the last 20 minutes or so. this is just unprecedented, i mean, people are picking up mud, throwing it at the king. look what happened! is this crazy? cheering. 2024, a year where around the world an often fragile

peace was shaken — regimes were overthrown, lands were invaded, and more wars began and ended. a seismic it glitch cost businesses billions. and the year looks set to be the warmest ever recorded for the planet. but, against this backdrop of fear, there were extraordinary new achievements in culture, technology and exploration. and for half the world's population, 2024 was the year of the election. this is new broadcasting house in central london, the heart of our national and internationaljournalism, and these are some of our biggest stories from the last 12 months. one event in particular grabbed the world's attention — the us presidential election and that race for the white house. so let's cross the atlantic and revisit one of the most roller—coaster campaign years in recent us history. president of the united states, joe biden. the, er, with the covid... ..excuse me with dealing with everything we have

to do with, uh, look... ..if we finally beat medicare. mr biden vowed to continue as the democratic candidate, but the gaffes proved too much. for much of the year, donald trump faced significant legal issues, not least his criminal trial stemming from a hush money payment to adult film actress stormy daniels. this was a disgrace. this was a rigged trial. these are felony charges. this makes donald trump a convicted criminal. this gives him a criminal record. never before in the history of this country has that ever happened. many democrats were hoping they would be enough to sink his electoral hopes. but what happened next was startling. gary o'donoghue was there. and you know, that's a little bit old, that chart, that chart. it was just a few minutes into donald trump's speech when a volley of shots rang out. gunfire

get down, get down, get down, get down! | gunfire. the former president could be seen clutching at the right side of his head. after that, he hits the ground, as the secret service pile on top of him — theirjob to put their bodies between him and the shooter. there was panic among the thousands of people inside the rally. many ran, many threw themselves to the ground. donald trump was seen getting to his feet and raising a fist to his supporters — signs of blood at his right ear. yeah! he can be heard saying the words, "fight, fight!" cheering. we noticed a guy crawling, arm, you know, bear—crawling up- the roof of the building beside us, 50, 50 - feet away from us. so we're standing there and, you know, we're pointing, i we're pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. - and he had a gun, right?

he had a rifle, a rifle. we could clearly see him with a rifle. - absolutely. joe biden bowed out, and his vice president, kamala harris, took over the democratic campaign. in the early days, the polls suggested a kamala bounce and a tight race. we'll reflect on how election night actually unfolded later on. next, to india and the biggest election the world has ever seen. 969 million people took part and it took six weeks to complete. narendra modi's bjp—led national democratic alliance won the nation's general election, but with a much lower margin than predicted. something very dramatic has happened here in the last two minutes, which is that president macron has dissolved parliament and there's going to be elections here in a month. france was gearing up for the summer olympics, but president emmanuel macron�*s decision to call a snap election gave the country something else to think about. supporters of far right political leader marine le pen hoped this might be her moment.

but instead socialists did far better than expected. the resulting mess, parliamentary deadlock and a continuing political crisis was blamed on the french president. in the uk, weeks of speculation about when finally ended, when prime minister rishi sunak stepped into downing street to call a general election. earlier today, i spoke - with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament _ the king has granted this request and we will have | a general election on fourth july. — but even the weather seemed to foretell bad tidings for the conservatives. so this is it, a general election is on. power will leave this most powerful of streets, and you'll be able to decide whether he stays or whether he goes. shouting frenetic campaigning followed. the conservative party appeared squeezed from all political directions — from labour and from smaller parties like reform uk.

living standards, health and immigration were all key issues that dominated the national debate. after four election defeats in a row and 14 years in opposition, polling showed labour would score a sizeable victory. labour was clear about its key message, but was it what the people wanted? i think everybody wants - a change, everybody's fed up with the way things are going. everything's stagnant at the moment, so i'm voting for change. just a general honest government. this is the main bbc news studio and this is the place on election night, july 4th, that was transformed into downing street for my colleagues laura kuenssberg and clive myrie, and that all—important exit poll. big ben chimes. and, as big ben strikes ten, the exit poll is predicting a labour landslide. blimey, just take a look and take in those numbers! applause.

teams of volunteers, the length and breadth of the country raced to count ballots. singing sweet caroline. the lib dems were delighted with their results, but from the conservatives... thank you to everybody and goodnight. - and from labour... we did it! cheering. the aftermath of georgia's election wasn't peaceful. the party georgian dream has governed there for the last 12 years, moving the country away from the european union and closer to russia. despite being accused of fraud by the opposition, the ruling party claimed victory in the autumn election. that's when the government said it was suspending talks onjoining the eu and people headed out onto the streets. over there, the riot police started moving in. they're slowly marching towards the protesters. riot police are in several areas, so they're closing

in from this side. they're also on the side streets of the parliament, where some protesters continue to wave georgian flags. and now they've started, people are, people are running away and we have to run to too. come! policeman shouting. 0k. go, go, go! he says, "go, go, go!" the last 12 months have seen extraordinary developments in the middle east. for many syrians, the fall of president bashar al—assad's brutal regime was unthinkable — right up until the moment when it actually happened. moving at astonishing speed, rebels launched an offensive from idlib in the northwest, taking city after city, as the army fled. in a matter of days, assad lost his grip on the capital, damascus. after 2a years in charge,

he escaped to russia. this is the moment where, you know, both rebels and civilians are gathering in celebration of, you know, the situation here after the toppling of the regime and the departure of president assad. hezbollah had been firing rockets and shells into northern israel for many months, meaning thousands of israelis had to be evacuated. it said its actions were a mark of solidarity with hamas in gaza to the south. 4.30 in the morning and israel's biggest attack on hezbollah since the full scale war back in 2006. its military says around 100 fighterjets hit hezbollah targets across southern lebanon, in what israel says were pre—emptive strikes. for its part, hezbollah says it fired more than 300 rockets and missiles across the border. many were shot down by israel's missile defence system, but some got through. this house was hit in the

northern coastal town of akka. israel's prime minister convened his security cabinet and the question, what happens next? september brought extraordinary reports of explosions across lebanon. thousands of pagers, then walkie talkies, belonging to hezbollah personnel had been booby trapped by israeli agents. a ground invasion by israeli forces into southern lebanon swiftly followed. and israel's warplanes carried out strikes from above. thousands were killed. it's less than an hour since this air strike was reported in dahieh, in the southern suburbs of beirut. and i just want to show you, you can see there this is an apartment on the second floor, and you can really see the damage that's been caused. weeks later, on november 26th, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the us and france. this is the main road between beirut and the south of the country. and for hours, thousands of people have been trying to go back to their homes.

they say they haven't been defeated in this war and that this is a sign of victory. april, and iran launches an unprecedented strike on israel. iran claimed this was retribution for a strike on their consulate in damascus. the israeli military said 300 cruise missiles and drones were intercepted, but there was more to come. well, tonight, as we come on air, we bring you a breaking news story. israel has been attacked by iran. iranian missiles were fired in the last 20 minutes or so. these are live pictures of the skyline of tel aviv this evening. hospitals struggled to treat the wounded. the shaking child. "slowly", he calls out. child cries. "habibi, you're strong",

the nurse says. the bed is needed for someone else, so the child must wait on the floor. hospitals injabalia are overwhelmed with casualties. through this year, we've seen the continuing consequences of the hamas attacks on southern israel in 2023, when some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. israel's full scale invasion of gaza has led to hamas being largely destroyed as a fighting force. its top leaders have been killed, and footage was even released of the last moments of yahya sinwar, chief mastermind of the seventh october assault. but, for more than two million

gazans, the ongoing war has meant more bloodshed — with more than 45,000 people now killed, according to the hamas—run health ministry. there's widespread destruction and suffering. most people are now displaced and it's been a huge struggle to get aid to them. there is mass hunger and disease, including polio, which required a vaccination campaign. like hamas, israel now faces accusations of war crimes, which it denies, and increased international isolation. the blue screen of death — one day injuly, one rogue software update, up to 8.5 million computers using microsoft systems crippled globally. people were stranded. gps couldn't treat patients. billions of dollars in revenue for businesses was lost. all eyes turned to the little known cybersecurity

firm crowdstrike. i want to apologise. we're deeply sorry. in the last short while, news that several people have been stabbed in southport. the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class was shocking. and then misinformation circulated on social media that the suspect was an illegal migrant. what followed escalated rapidly. in the last half an hour, things appear to have turned ugly. there have been windows smashed across the hotel. you can see hundreds of people in the streets. police have been attacked, objects thrown at them, including fence panels pulled out from around the hotel. and things appear to be turning increasingly nasty. over several days, there was rioting across england and northern ireland. hundreds were jailed for their actions. see those chopsticks now...? this was the historic moment that spacex caught a rocket booster on the launchpad. oh, my goodness,

they've done it! they've done it first time! that was absolutely astonishing! one of the many moments this year when the private sector showed that it could do space just as well and cheaper than nasa. back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but, _ from here, earth sure looks like a perfect world. - billionaire jared isaacman became the first privately—funded individual to walk in space. and lift off... but it wasn't plain sailing for private industry. astronauts butch wilmore and suni williams were sent to the international space station on a brand—new spacecraft called starliner, developed by boeing. but, because of technical issues, they couldn't come back on starliner, leaving them there for months rather than weeks. but they didn't seem to mind. this year also saw nasa send a probe to one of the moons ofjupiter called europa, which has an unusual icy surface.

you can see cracks and ridges, which has been caused byjupiter�*s powerful gravity stretching and squashing it. and it's that movement that scientists believe has melted the ice underneath to create a vast, salty ocean. china's chang'e spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon and returned samples from the lunar surface to earth. and, on the ground, there was a spectacular display of the northern lights — one of the great wonders of the universe. when ukraine's largest children's hospital was struck by a missile injuly, all fingers pointed to russia. two adults were killed and hundreds injured, including children. one month later, and there was a new development, as told by steve rosenberg. it is an astonishing sight. russian jets scrambling to bomb russian territory. they're targeting ukrainian troops who've attacked in large numbers across the border.

it came out of nowhere. the ukrainian assaults on russia's kursk region began on tuesday, and suddenly russia's war had come much closer to home. what is happening is huge. for the first time in more than 80 years, foreign troops are fighting on russian soil. when vladimir putin visited kimjong—un in north korea injune, it was his first visit to the secretive regime in 2a years. a pact was signed to provide each other with mutual assistance. the world got a sense of what this pact meant when north korean troops were spotted in russia. extreme weather swept around the world in 2024, with severe drought, fatal floods and disastrous cyclones. scientific studies showed the fingerprints of human—caused climate change on these disasters.

whole communities consumed by water. more than 200 people killed. america's deadliest hurricane since katrina. hurricane helene made landfall in florida at the end of september and tore across the southeast of the country. more than half the deaths were in north carolina. even before the officer got to me, the water. was all the way up to my chest inside my cat _ india, and one of the longest heatwaves the country has ever recorded. severe and unrelenting heat began in march and didn't let up for months. temperatures in the north soared as high as 50 degrees celsius. spain, and a rising tide of anger, accusations that authorities failed to relay flood warnings in time and weren't there fast enough for the clean—up. this is just unprecedented. this is just unprecedented. i mean, people are picking up i mean, people are picking up mud, throwing it at the king mud, throwing it at the king that the depth of anger here and fury is just extraordinary to see. extraordinary to see.

what valencia experienced was spain's worst floods for decades — more than 220 people died. people here have gone through a terrible agony to until the time that... sorry. climate records continued to be broken. summer 2024 was the earth's warmest on record, according to the european copernicus climate change service. the same experts say the whole year is also set to be the hottest on record. at this year's main climate talks, wealthier countries agreed to finance poorer nations to the sum of $300 billion a year by 2035. gavel pounds. it was in the early hours of this morning when the key text was agreed to huge applause from the room. but some delegates from developing countries were angry. this, in our opinion, - will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face.

the post office horizon scandal is described as the uk's most widespread miscarriage ofjustice. over more than a decade, over 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted for stealing. many went to prison. many were financially ruined. to get to the truth, the public inquiry into the scandal heard from key participants. former post office boss paula vennells, starting her three days of evidence... reporter: are you a liar, miss vennells? i ..distancing herself from any wrongdoing? i was too trusting. i'm disappointed where information wasn't shared.

april saw horses running loose through central london. the household cavalry animals were spooked by the sound of construction work. when i saw all these horses galloping along, it's a very. surreal thing to see. in music, it was a year of disruption and upheaval, starting at the brit awards, where raye won a record—breaking six prizes, two years after her painful split from her record label. after having years of your dreams being frustrated, tonight they've come true, right? yeah, tonight hasjust been the night of my life. will it ever get better than this again? edgy female pop continued to set the agenda, from sabrina carpenter... # if he can see me...# ..to chapell roan. - # h—o—t—t—o—g—o # you can take me hot to go...# - but charli xcx ruled the roost

with a hedonistic yet vulnerable brat. # i'm everywhere, i'm sojulia ah—ah, ah...#| which even influenced the us presidential election. # driving away while i watch . them ride with my dreams...# beyonce went country on her latest album, cowboy carter, adding a record 99th grammy nomination to her belt buckle. # do it with a broken heart~~#~ _ taylor swift shattered records again, with the year's biggest selling album and a tour that generated $2 billion in ticket sales. you're making me feel excellent right now! as for the men, drake and kendrick lamar squared up for a headline—making rap battle. # they not like us i they not like us...#. taking the opposite approach, noel and liam gallagher buried the hatchet after a 15—year strop. their reunion tour kicks off in cardiff injune. # cos ijust wanna fly...#. good morning, this is bbc

news, just after 7am here in philadelphia, and you can see already long lines of people forming to cast their vote on election day here in america. while the queues were huge in all of those key battleground states, and then of course, the world waited for the result. and that night our galleries here in london were linked up with the us. and we're doing that again, because our senior north america correspondent, gary o'donoghue, is with me. and, gary, that big election programme was coordinated right where you are. this room was packed to the rafters with people coordinating all those various feeds from around the country. people like me at the donald trump ho, my colleagues around the various swing states. jade, could you play us a bit more of our coverage from that night, please? it is 7pm here in washington, midnight in london, and we are off to the races. and, gary, what was the atmosphere like at trump headquarters where you were

at that moment? bit by bit during the evening, people started to come into the convention centre. there was a big bar at the back, they were drinking a lot of beer and, as the results started to come in, they got more and more animated. and then there was that moment where donald trump came out onstage. and so donald trump is there onstage, surrounded by his family, surrounded by his key supporters. this is all over, bar the shouting. donald trump will be the next president of the united states. he will be only the second man in history to serve two non—consecutive terms. look what happened! is this crazy? gary, you were there for some of the biggest moments of that campaign, how would you sum it all up, but also look ahead to what might come next? i don't think there's any question that this was an extraordinary moment in american political history. he'd done something that no—one had done before, he'd come back from being a felon, a convicted felon facing

multiple other legal charges and legal court cases. someone had tried to assassinate him twice in that year. he was an incredibly controversial figure — still an incredibly controversial figure — yet he managed to win the presidency. that is a huge american story. and it's an american story that's not yet finished. because as we head into the new year, we wonder, what will he do with this second term? how different will it be? "promises made, promises kept," is what he said on the night and some of those promises are incredibly worrying for a lot of americans, and they're going to be incredibly impactful for the rest of the world. as we watch developments around the globe, the role that the new us president plays will be a significant one, and our newsrooms, journalists and correspondents across the world will keep on bringing you the biggest stories.

hello aga in. it's been an exceptionally mild christmas period thus far. yesterday, christmas day, it reached 14.2 celsius in aberdeen. the average december temperature here would be around about seven celsius. but how long is this going to last? well, you can see the days of the week here. the yellows and ambers representing the milder conditions. and it stays with us right the way through to the weekend, except for across northern scotland, where we see something that bit colder coming our way with some wintry showers here by the end of the weekend. beyond that, low pressure pulls away. you can see an array of isobars, it will be windy at times. and then as we head up towards the new year, look at the array of isobars and wet weather, potentially

some snow as well, so it's something worth keeping an eye on if you are travelling around new year. today, though, remaining mild and still cloudy, cloudy and murky. there's some drizzle, there's some hill fog, there's some dank conditions. we've also got rain moving across central scotland and northern ireland. best chance of any brightness today will be across parts of eastern england and also northeast wales. temperatures eight to about 12 degrees. now, heading on through the evening and overnight, our band of rain across central scotland and northern ireland pushes steadily northwards, leaving us again with a lot of cloud, dank conditions, where we see holes break in that cloud, so under clear skies we could also see some fog patches form. but for the time of year it's not going to be cold. our overnight lows — five to nine degrees. into tomorrow, then, our weather front pushes northwards. but it is a waving front so it is going to come back southwards again. so friday — a lot of cloud around. a weather front in the northwest producing some patchy rain. best breaks tomorrow for brightness, north—east scotland, parts of eastern england and also once again north—east wales.

temperatures eight to 12 degrees. now beyond that, as we head on into the weekend, our weather front does continue to sink southwards across scotland and northern ireland. we've got another part of it coming in from the west. a lot of cloud around. but through central parts of england and wales we should see some more in the way of brightness with highs up to about 11. it continues mild as we head towards the new year, but don't forget to keep in touch with the forecast because it's looking unsettled then.

live from london. this is bbc news.

russia is accused of shooting down a plane over kazakhstan yesterday — killing 38 people. the kremlin says it's wrong to speculate. sirens wail ceremonies are taking place to mark the 20th anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. five journalists have been killed after an israeli strike outside a hospital in central gaza, according to local health authorities. authorities in south—eastern australia tell people in dozens of rural communities to leave their homes "immediately" to escape a bushfire. boxing day sales begin today but the doors to some of the uk's largest retailers will remain closed. however — online sales are expected to rise.