This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (July/August 2024).

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The Paris Olympics began with an extravagant opening ceremony, featuring nearly 7,000 athletes, and ended after two weeks of compelling storylines. Before the Olympics, in France, a coalition of leftist parties won the most seats in the final round of parliamentary elections, which came as an upset to the nationalist-populist National Rally, who had led the first round of voting. The voter turnout was the highest in four decades.

In Bangladesh, university students protested against a quota system which reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans in the country’s 1971 independence war, and dozens have been killed following clashes with the police. A nationwide curfew was paired with an Internet shutdown. Later, as deadly anti-government protests continued and protestors stormed her official residence, the prime minister resigned and fled. Following her resignation, Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus is set to lead a caretaker government.

UK and US electoral earthquakes

In the United Kingdom, conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak and his party were ousted from office after the Labour Party won a parliamentary majority. The Conservatives secured its lowest share of seats ever, but the Labour Party also enters government with the lowest share of the total vote in modern history. In August, following the stabbing deaths of three young girls, online posts which suggested that a Muslim immigrant was responsible – even though the male suspect is born in the country to Rwandan parents – resulted in demonstrations against migrant and Islamic communities. Protests, riots, and counter-protests spread across different cities.

It was quite the few weeks in the United States too, with less than three months to the presidential election. Former president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally, and the secret service director later resigned after acknowledging  that her agency did not adequately protect Mr. Trump. Then, president Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election and endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris. No sitting president has ended his bid so late in an election cycle.

Geopolitical violence rages on

The International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violates international law. The month was also marked by multiple assassinations of foreign targets, including a top Hamas leader while he was visiting Iran.

Separately, Ukraine caught Russia by surprise, when it surged into Russian territory. The offensive seems designed to disrupt Russian advances in Ukraine and extract concessions in future negotiations.

Electoral and political developments

Electorally, in Iran, a reformist won the presidential run-off election. In Rwanda, president Paul Kagame extended his three-decade rule after winning an election against two candidates permitted to contest. And in Venezuela, the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was declared the presidential election winner, despite serious questions and concerns over the election’s legitimacy. The tally was riddled with irregularities and questioned by multiple countries.

Politically, in Japan, the prime minister is set to step down in September and will not seek re-election. In Gambia, lawmakers upheld a ban on female genital mutilation, which unfortunately remains widespread in the country. In Kenya, the president dismissed his entire cabinet, except his foreign minister, after nationwide demonstrations resulted in the withdrawal of previously planned tax increases. In Vietnam, the country’s longest-serving Communist Party leader died at the age of 80.

And in Thailand, first, a court disbanded the country’s most popular political party. Next, a constitutional court dismissed the prime minister for breaching ethics by appointing a cabinet member who had served a jail term. Most recently, the daughter of the divisive former leader Thaksin, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was elected prime minister by a majority of parliament.

In other news

• A worldwide outage – caused by a faculty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike – disrupted airlines, government services, hospital systems, and other businesses.
• Following its rapid spread, monkeypox was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation.
• South Korea: The supreme court ruled in favour of the rights of same-sex couples to health insurance dependency benefits.