Eurotopics.net

In 2024, almost half of the world's population was asked to go to the polls: a real super election year. What lessons can be learned from the results? And what are the chances of a successful democratic new beginning in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime? Commentators take stock.

In its defensive war against the Russian invasion, Ukraine suffered a number of setbacks in 2024. Neither the Kursk offensive that began in August nor the long-awaited permission to use imported weapons to attack military targets in Russia have brought the breakthrough Kyiv had hoped for. The world is now nervously waiting to see whether Trump, as the future US president, can force the parties to negotiate - and what such negotiations might lead to.

Wars and climate change are not the only global problems the approximately 8.14 billion people living on our planet face. As the year draws to a close, the media reflect on the social and health-related well-being of humanity as a whole.

A car attack at the Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has left five people dead and more than 200 injured. The detained suspect is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who had been granted asylum in Germany. He was known to the authorities as a fierce critic of Islam and for having made threats of violence, among other things. Europe's press discusses the ramifications of this act of terrorism.