The world wakes up Tuesday evening with fireworks to celebrate 2025, at the end of a year marked by Olympic gold, the thunderous return of Donald Trump but also new upheavals in the Middle East and Ukraine, raising hopes of peace to civilian populations.
The year 2024, which will certainly be the hottest on record, has also seen natural disasters worsened by global warming, from the deadly heatwave of the Mecca pilgrimage to the tragic floods of the Kathmandu Valley.
Tuesday afternoon in Sydney, in one of the easternmost time zones on the planet, many Australians said they were relieved to say goodbye to 2024.
“There are of course a lot of wars and ruckus in many places”deplores to AFP Stuart Edwards, 32, an employee in the insurance sector, as the crowd increases along the shore. “It would be good for the world if things worked themselves out. »
More than a million spectators, gathered in the self-proclaimed city “New Year capital of the world”must see nine tons of fireworks launch at midnight from its must-see opera house and its Harbor Bridge, like Ruth Rowse, a 71-year-old retired nurse, who hopes “just seeing all these beautiful colors” surrounded by a large crowd.
Success
The crowd, American pop star Taylor Swift was able to experience it in 2024, before putting an end to her record-breaking world tour, « The Eras tour ». Baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng took over social media, while young football prodigy Lamine Yamal took Spain to the top of Euro 2024.
The full Moon rises behind the Eiffel Tower in Paris before the Olympic Games, July 22, 2024 / Loic VENANCE / AFP/Archives
The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games brought together all continents in the summer, a welcome celebratory break marked by a spectacular opening ceremony on the Seine and postcard-like sites, beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower horseback riding at the Palace of Versailles.
Millions of people also went to the polls in more than 60 countries.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin once again won a presidential vote despite accusations of fraud, while in Bangladesh a student movement dethroned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina despite a violent crackdown.
A sand sculpture by Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik in Puri, in the Indian state of Odisha, November 6, 2024 / – / AFP/Archives
No vote has been as scrutinized as that of November 5 in the United States, won by former President Donald Trump, targeted by two assassination attempts and criminally convicted.
From Mexico to the Middle East, Trump’s return to the White House in January is already generating agitation: the president-elect has promised a customs offensive against China, pledged to fully support Israel and said he wanted to end to the war in Ukraine in “24 hours”.
Hopes of ” peace “
2024 will have been a year of upheaval in the Middle East, with the end of more than fifty years of undivided rule by the Assad clan over Syria, but also the return of the Israeli army to southern Lebanon and simultaneous explosions of pagers during a wave of assassinations in the ranks of Hezbollah.
Flooding in a camp for displaced people in Deir el-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, December 30, 2024 / Eyad BABA / AFP
In the Gaza Strip, civilians say they are exhausted by the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, triggered by the attack of October 7, 2023, and the serious humanitarian crisis that results from it.
“The year 2024 was the most difficult year”reports for AFP Wafaa Hajjaj in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the territory, where the displaced are crowded into tents full to bursting.
“I have lost many loved ones, including my father and close friends”she says, before wishing “may security return and the war finally comes to an end”.
In Syria, the approach of the New Year arouses hope and expectation, after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by a coalition led by the Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Syrians celebrate the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on December 27, 2024 in Damascus / OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP
“We were hesitant to go out this year due to the security situation, but we decided to overcome our fears and not change our habits”says Maram Ayoub, 34, in Damascus.
In eastern Europe, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is approaching its third anniversary. In difficulty in the east, kyiv will have to deal with Donald Trump, whose election has sowed doubt about the future of American aid.
In a street in the capital, teacher Kateryna Tchemeryz says she wants “peace” for Ukraine and that “people stop dying”.
High temperatures
With advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and a slowdown in inflation on the horizon, 2025 is raising expectations in the economic sector.
J-hope, member of the k-pop group BTS, on the day of his release from military service in Wonju, South Korea, October 17, 2024 / JUNG YEON-JE / AFP/Archives
As for music stars, Oasis, an emblematic BritPop group, will make their comeback in the summer, while K-pop icons BTS have promised to « ARMY » fans to find them after June, once the military service has ended for each of the members.
Football lovers will be able to enjoy a Club World Cup expanded to 32 teams, organized in the United States. A competition which will, however, deprive the players of their summer break: “it’s too much”declared Ballon d’Or Rodri in September.
Some 400 million Hindus are also expected for the so-called pilgrimage. « Kumbh Mela »the largest gathering on the planet, from January to February in northern India.
After a year 2024 even hotter than the previous one, 2025 should be one of the three with the highest temperatures ever recorded, according to projections from the British meteorological agency Met office.
The recent succession of records is such that scientists are increasingly wondering whether we have entered uncharted territory. “If temperatures do not drop more sharply in 2025, we will have to ask ourselves questions”climatologist Robert Vautard told AFP.