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The OSINT team at Sky News uses satellite images, video and publicly available data to verify and investigate breaking stories.

Whether helping inform out coverage of conflicts in the middle east, or showing the scale of damage caused by hurricanes and floods, satellite images have been an important resource throughout the year.

As 2024 comes to an end, we have compiled some of the most striking and informative examples seen this year.

January: Earthquake hits Japan’s Noto Peninsula

Pic: Maxar
Image:
Pic: Maxar

On 1 January, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake affected the Noto Peninsula in Japan.

It killed more than 500 people, and cased substantial damage to buildings in the area.

February: First commercial mission to the moon lands

Pic: NASA
Image:
Pic: NASA

On 22 February, the first commercial mission to the moon landed.

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Odysseus, a Nova-C lander owned by Intuitive Machines, was photographed by NASA on 24 February after its arrival to the moon’s southern polar region.

This was the first time that a private company has successfully sent a spacecraft to the moon.

March: Container ship hits Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore

Pic: Maxar
Image:
Pic: Maxar

On 26 March, the container ship Dali hit Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. This killed six maintenance workers.

The cost of replacing the bridge has been estimated to be close to $2bn.

April: Eclipse seen over Mexico and the Pacific Ocean

Pic: NASA
Image:
Pic: NASA

On 8 April, a total solar eclipse passed across North America. Caused by an alignment in the positions of the sun and moon, the phenomenon was visible in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Its shadow was photographed by NASA as it passed over the Pacific Ocean and the eastern coast of Mexico.

May – Israeli strike targets Rafah camp

On 26 May, an Israeli airstrike targeted an area housing displaced people near the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

At least 45 people were killed in this strike, with many more injured. Images from the scene caused widespread international backlash. Israel said it was targeting senior Hamas commanders.

Investigations by Sky News and other outlets subsequently found that the munition used was an American-made GBU-39 bomb.

June: Volcanic eruption in Iceland

Pic: Planet Labs PBC
Image:
Pic: Planet Labs PBC

In mid-June, a volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula erupted.

Coinciding with increased earthquake activity, the eruption resulted in a large lava flow visible from space.

July: The Olympic Games held in Paris

Pic: Maxar
Image:
Pic: Maxar

In the summer, France hosted the Olympic Games in Paris. During the games several events were held close to the city’s famous landmarks.

This image, captured by Maxar, shows a temporary volleyball stadium in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

August: Wildfires approach the edge of Athens

Pic: Sentinel 2
Image:
Pic: Sentinel 2

In August, thousands of people were evacuated from the countryside surrounding Athens due to wildfires.

By the time the fires subsided, approximately 100,000 acres were burned.

September: Hurricane Helene makes landfall in the United States

Pic: NASA
Image:
Pic: NASA

On September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Florida Coast.

The storm left a trail of destruction across the southern United States, resulting in power cuts that in some cases lasted for days.

Satellite images taken at night by NASA show the storm passing over Florida and Georgia.

October: Flooding in Spain

Pic: Maxar
Image:
Pic: Maxar

At the end of October, the Spanish city of Valencia and its surrounding areas experienced severe flash flooding.

This killed more than 200 people, and covered large areas with water, mud and debris.

Satellite imagery captured by Maxar on 31 October shows the scale of the flooding, with the south of the city being worst affected.

November: Mount Fuji without snow in November for the first time in 130 years

Source: Planet Labs PBC
Image:
Source: Planet Labs PBC

Japan’s Mount Fuji made headlines this year, after its famous snow cap failed to materialise until 6 November.

Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs shows the mountain without snow on 4 November for the first time in 130 years.

The appearance of snow on Mount Fuji occurred a month later than in 2023, when it was recorded on 5 October.

December: Russian military equipment gathered at airbase following fall of Assad

Pic: Maxar
Image:
Pic: Maxar

In December, the Syrian civil war came to a sudden end as rebel groups captured all previously government-held territory within the space of a few weeks.

While the former dictator Bashar al Assad fled to Russia, Russian troops and equipment that helped prop up his regime were left in the country.

Following the fall of Assad’s regime, it appears Russia is in the process of withdrawing from Syria.

On 19 December, a satellite image captured by Maxar showed large amounts of Russian military equipment assembled for transport from its Syrian airbase.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

More on Donald Trump

He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

Read more:
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
Image:
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

Read more from Sky News:
Highs and lows of Five-Year Keir
MP tells Sky News she was targeted online by Tate brothers

More on South Korea

The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
Image:
The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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Stock markets suffer sharp drops after Donald Trump announces sweeping tariffs

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Stock markets suffer sharp drops after Donald Trump announces sweeping tariffs

Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.

The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.

While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.

Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble

All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.

A person works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, March 31, 2025. Pic: AP
Image:
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP

By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.

Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.

More on Donald Trump

Worst one-day losses since COVID

As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.

It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

‘Trust in President Trump’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.

“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”

Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”

He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.

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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?

Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’

The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.

He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.

Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.

He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”

Read more:
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?

Tariffs about something more than economics: power

It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.

Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.

It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”

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