People who defined 2024

From the great leap in artificial intelligence to impressive feats at the European Football Championships, here are 5 personalities who left an indelible mark on 2024:
Jensen Huang: Chip mogul
In all the frenetic excitement - and anxiety - generated by artificial intelligence in 2024, one AI chip giant has broken away from the pack: Nvidia, led by CEO Jensen Huang.
During the year, Nvidia overtook Apple to become the world's most highly valued public company as the artificial intelligence boom continued to excite Wall Street.
The Taiwan-born Huang founded Nvidia three decades ago wearing his signature black leather jacket.
At the heart of its new success are graphics processors, or cards - chips with far greater computing capacity than ordinary microprocessors.
Originally developed to improve the graphical quality of video games, Huang's company understood that the technology was perfectly suited to developing the large language models that are the basis of generative artificial intelligence.
Yulia Navalnaya: Implacable critic of the Kremlin
"My political opponent is Vladimir Putin, and I am trying to do and will do everything to bring down his regime as soon as possible," Yulia Navalny, widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said in October.
Navalny, 48, who is a graduate economist, remains in the public eye as part of her pledge to continue her husband's work after he died in February in an Arctic prison. 
She has lobbied against Putin's government from abroad, including by calling on Russians on election day in March to form long lines outside polling stations in protest.
In July, Navalny, who lives outside Russia, was included on Moscow's blacklist of "terrorists and extremists."
Gisele Pelicot: Feminist icon
Gisele Pelicot, 72, is at the centre of one of France's most significant trials, which has made headlines around the world. 
Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot confessed to drugging his then-wife with sedatives for almost a decade so that strangers could sexually abuse her in her own bed. He and 50 other men are facing trial.
The case sheds a deeply disturbing light on men's treatment of and violence against women.
In a move that has sparked worldwide support, Gisele Pellico is demanding that the trial be open to the public.
"I wanted all women who are victims of rape to say, 'Ms Pelico did it, so we can do it too,'" she said.
Lamin Yamal: Football talent
One of Spain's wing kings, 17-year-old Lamin Yamal, has become a global football star after becoming part of the most ferocious and explosive attack at this year's Euro 2024 championships.
He and fellow teenager on the wing Nico Williams were named as the magicians who inspired Spain's record fourth triumph at the men's European Championships.
Jamal, came through the FC Barcelona youth team and is now one of the top team's most exciting talents.
During Euro 2024, he became the youngest goalscorer in the competition's history at 16 years old and celebrated his 17th birthday on the eve of the final.
"We have seen a genius, the product of a genius," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said of his player during the tournament.
Jamal was named young player of the championship.
Charli XCX: The "Brat" phenomenon
British pop sensation Charli XCX was already one of the biggest stars in 2024 with her hugely successful album "Brat".
Then Kamala Harris was catapulted into the US presidential campaign just 100 days before its end.
The "Brat summer" meme, sparked by the 32-year-old pop star's album with its lemon green cover and praise of the laid-back, party lifestyle, became associated with Harris when fans began applying the colorful "Brat" filter to images of the candidate.
Charli XCX, real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison, then expressed her approval with a signature - "Kamala IS brat" - that was quickly adopted by the Harris campaign.
In November, just days before Harris's presidential bid ended in defeat on the ballot, Collins Dictionary named "brat" its word of the year. | BGNES