as the anxious wait continues, for the recovery of their loved ones. russia and ukraine carry out one of the largest prisoner—of—war exchanges, since the onset of the full—scale invasion of ukraine. and five people are charged in argentina over the death of the former one direction star liam payne in october. now on bbc news, a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year. so this is it, - a general election. thank you very much 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 and applause 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 in to 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 and applause 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, i you know, we're pointing, 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. i 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 onjuly 4. 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, i 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 4, 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 io, the exit poll is predicting a labour landslide. blimey, just take a look and take in those numbers! cheering and 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 very much - to everybody and goodnight. and from labour... we did it! cheering and applause 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 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 26, 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 october 7 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. 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 24 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 car. 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. i mean, people are picking up mud, throwing it at the king that the depth of anger here and fury is just 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. cheering and applause 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 of justice. 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. but the barristers for the subpostmasters didn't hold back. looking under that rock, - you're going to find a problem, it's going to devastate i the post office — ruin it. and you couldn't let that happen, | could you, miss vennells? i loved the post office. igaveit...|... 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 brand. # i'm everywhere, - i'm sojulia ah—ah, ah...# which even influenced the us presidential election. #16 carriages driving away # while i watch them i 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 on stage. and so donald trump is there on stage, 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? cheering and applause 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 there. the weather turning increasingly unsettled as we step into the new year. if you have plans on new year's eve, keep listening to this forecast because it's going to be dominated by this area of low pressure, particularly across the far north of the country. it's bringing increasingly wet and windy weather

across scotland in particular. there will be some snow, as well, to the far north and east. the met office has issued an amberwarning for the intensity of the rain from inverness down to fort william, so there's potential of some localised flooding and some travel disruption on what is a very busy day. so heavy rain moving its way south out of scotland, but a rash of showers tucking in behind the rain will tend to sit across northern england and north wales by the middle part of the afternoon. that means central and south—eastern england windy to end the day, but largely fine and dry. the rain across wales, across northern england, and then to the north and west of that, it's a case of sunny spells and scattered showers to close out the day. still double digits here, but in the far north of scotland, already in the cold air, just a couple of degrees above freezing for the northern isles. so as we move out of new year's eve into new year's day, we'll have this conveyer belt of moisture pushing in from the west. that means a day of relentless

heavy rain sinking its way across central and southern england, and it will linger throughout the afternoon. windy with it, as well. behind, sunny spells and scattered showers. here, the wind direction swinging round to a northerly. some of those showers could be wintry in nature, with the strongest of the gusts perhaps with the heaviest of the rain, gusts in excess of 55—60 mph. here, it will stay still relatively mild, but the colder air starting to dig in across scotland. and once that rain clears through, well, we see that arctic air taking over right across the country, a strong northerly wind as well. that means clear skies by day, but also through the night. hard frost to greet us first thing on thursday morning. plenty of clear skies continue, so there will be some sunshine. but because of the direction of that wind, it means that any showers could be a little wintry in nature as well. so, thursday and friday, we see more in the way of sunshine, but it'll be cold with it. somewhat milder, but a little more unsettled

from sunday onwards. live from london. this is bbc news relatives of those lost in sunday's deadly plane crash in south korea demand answers from the government — as the anxious wait continues, for the recovery of their loved ones. russia and ukraine carry out one of the largest prisoner—of—war exchanges, since the onset of the full—scale invasion of ukraine.

edinburgh's world—renowned hogmanay new year's eve celebrations are cancelled — due to extreme weather forecast in the scottish capital. and — astronomers prepare to get a glimpse of a dazzling star system that hasn't been visible to the naked eye — for eight decades. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. families of the victims of south korea's worst aviation disaster in decades, are calling for more support from the government. all but two of the 181 people on board died as thejeiju air plane crashed after landing at muan international airport. our seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie, is at the scene and sent this report. shouting.

the bereaved are at breaking point.