2025: Year in Review

In 2025 numerous countries—such as the United States, Canada, and Germany—installed new national leaders, and some transitions were contentious. Several African countries experienced coups, and Gen Z-led protests resulted in the ouster of Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Armed conflicts heightened global instability. The Russia-Ukraine War entered its fourth year, and the United States conducted military strikes against Iran and Venezuelan vessels. On the other hand, a ceasefire deal was reached in the Israel-Hamas War, bringing an uneasy pause to some two years of fighting.

A number of firsts also made headlines in 2025. Japan and Namibia inaugurated their first women heads of government—Sanae Takaichi and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, respectively. On the space front, the first successful soft landing of a commercial lunar lander took place when Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost touched down near Mare Crisium on the Moon. In religion, history was made as Sarah Mullally was the first woman to be appointed archbishop of Canterbury, and Leo XIV became the first American pope. And in the ocean, a colossal squid became a video star as the first of its species to be captured on film in its natural habitat.

In pop culture news, Taylor Swift became engaged to Travis Kelce, Anora was the big winner at the Oscars, and Beyoncé finally won the Grammy Award for best album of the year, for Cowboy Carter. The year also saw the deaths of numerous prominent figures, including Pope Francis, Robert Redford, and Jane Goodall.

January

• January 7: Wildfires erupt in the Los Angeles area and continue for a month, causing extensive damage, especially in Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon. It is one of the costliest disasters to strike the United States, with an estimated cost of $76 to $131 billion, and 30 people are killed. (What is the deadliest wildfire in history?)
• January 20: Donald Trump is inaugurated as president of the United States. He is the second president to serve two nonconsecutive terms and the oldest person (at age 78) to win the office.
• January 21: Rebecca Yarros publishes the third installment in her Empyrean “romantasy” series, about recruits at a military school in a world ruled by dragons. Onyx Storm breaks sales records, selling more than 2.7 million copies in its first week and ranking as the fastest-selling adult fiction title in 20 years.
• January 23: Thailand becomes the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.
• January 29: During celebrations for the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, at least 30 people are killed during a stampede. (Learn more about Hindu holidays.)
• January 29: The animated film Ne Zha 2 is released in China, and it becomes the highest-grossing movie of the year. (Who are the 10 highest-grossing actors?)

February

• February 2: Beyoncé wins three Grammys, including her first-ever album of the year award, to extend her record total to 35. She also makes history as the first Black woman to win a Grammy for best country album, for Cowboy Carter. (Who are the artists with the most Grammy wins?)
• February 4: The United States begins imposing an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, launching a trade war between the two countries. The U.S. government will later increase tariffs on other countries.
• February 9: The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 40–22 to win the Super Bowl.

March

• March 2: At the 97th Academy Awards ceremony, Anora wins five Oscars, including best picture, actress (Mikey Madison), and director (Sean Baker). Other notable winners include Adrien Brody (best actor), Zoe Saldaña (best supporting actress), and Kieran Culkin (best supporting actor).
• March 2: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost makes a successful soft landing on the Moon, becoming the first commercial lunar lander to accomplish the feat.
• March 9: For the first confirmed time, a colossal squid is captured on film in its natural habitat. Researchers at Schmidt Ocean Institute make the recording of an 11.8-inch (30-cm) juvenile squid at a depth of some 1,968 feet (600 meters) in the South Atlantic Ocean. (Which is larger: sperm whale or colossal squid?)
• March 14: Mark Carney of the Liberal Party is sworn in as prime minister of Canada. He previously was the first non-British person to head the Bank of England (2013–20).
• March 15: The United States deports Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant who had entered the country without authorization about 2011 but received protection under federal law that prevented his removal. His wrongful deportation sparks a legal battle, and he is eventually brought back to the United States.
• March 18: American astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore return to Earth after being in space for 286 days. Although they were scheduled to only stay for about a week at the International Space Station, their return was delayed after the Starliner spacecraft suffered mechanical issues.
• March 21: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is sworn in as president of Namibia, becoming the first woman to hold the post.
• March 28: A magnitude-7.7 earthquake strikes Myanmar (Burma), causing more than 3,600 deaths and thousands of injuries. (What are the most destructive earthquakes since 1960?)

April

• April 21: Pope Francis dies at age 88; other deaths in the year include Ozzy Osbourne (July 22), Giorgio Armani (September 4), Robert Redford (September 16), Jane Goodall (October 1), Diane Keaton (October 11), Dharmendra (November 24), and Rob Reiner (December 14). (Discover other notable deaths in 2025.)

May

• May 6: Friedrich Merz becomes chancellor of Germany. A lawyer, lobbyist, and politician, he has served as leader of the country’s Christian Democratic Union party since 2022.
• May 7: India launches a series of missile strikes on multiple bases in Pakistan, leading to a sharp escalation with exchanges from both countries. The conflict is triggered by an attack on April 22, in which gunmen opened fire on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, India, killing 26 people. Before India’s military response, the two countries had suspended bilateral agreements such as the Indus Waters Treaty and the Simla Agreement. A ceasefire is called on May 10. (Learn about the history of the India-Pakistan conflict.)
• May 8: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is elected pope and takes the name Leo XIV. He is the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
• May 9: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the first in-home cervical cancer test.

June

• June 12: Air India flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, shortly after takeoff. Of the 242 passengers and crew on board, only one person survives. The reported number of fatalities on the ground varies, with figures ranging between 19 and 33. (Discover the deadliest airplane crashes in history.)
• June 14: Demonstrations against U.S. Pres. Donald Trump—known as the “No Kings” protests—are held across the United States and other countries, drawing more than five million participants. A second day of rallies is held on October 18, with almost seven million attendees. (What are the largest single-day protests in the United States?)
• June 17: The Florida Panthers win their second consecutive Stanley Cup title after beating the Edmonton Oilers in a six-game series.
• June 20: KPop Demon Hunters begins streaming on Netflix, and within two months it becomes the most-watched movie of all time on the platform. The animated musical fantasy film follows K-pop trio Huntr/x (also spelled Huntrix), whose members are secretly demon hunters who protect the world from malevolent spirits.
• June 22: During the Israel-Iran Conflict, the U.S. military strikes Iranian nuclear sites with “bunker buster” bombs. The extent of the damage is debated, and Israel and Iran agree to a ceasefire two days later. (What countries have nuclear weapons?)
• June 22: The Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Indiana Pacers in game seven of the NBA Finals to win its first championship since relocating from Seattle (where it was the SuperSonics).
• June 23: The first images taken by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are released to the public. The observatory is a groundbreaking, high-powered telescope that takes pictures of the entire visible sky.
• June 25: Axiom Mission 4 (AX-4), the fourth commercial human spaceflight mission undertaken by Axiom Space, is launched to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission involves international collaboration. Comdr. Peggy Whitson (U.S.), mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India), mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (a European Space Agency astronaut from Poland), and mission specialist Tibor Kapu (Hungary) perform around 60 microgravity science experiments that represent the contributions or investments of 31 countries. Shubhanshu Shukla becomes the second Indian national to go to space, and Ax-4 returns to Earth on July 15.
• June 26: Anna Wintour, one of the most powerful figures in fashion, announces that she is stepping down as editor in chief of American Vogue after some 37 years in the post. However, she will continue to serve as the magazine’s global editorial director.

July

• July 1: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is shuttered after being targeted by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency. USAID, which was founded in 1961, worked in more than 100 countries to promote global economic prosperity, advance food security, strengthen democracy, and provide humanitarian assistance, among other efforts.
• July 1: Members of the South Korean K-pop band BTS reunite after they complete mandatory military service. To mark the end of the three-year hiatus, the group announces a world tour and new album scheduled for 2026.
• July 1: The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, a telescope funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), discovers Comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object that is possibly the oldest known comet.
• July 2: The 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, announces that he will reincarnate, thus confirming that there will be a 15th Dalai Lama. He also grants his own institutional trust sole authority for identifying his successor. The move comes at a time when there is a possibility of Chinese oversight of the next Dalai Lama’s selection. (How is the Dalai Lama chosen?)
• July 4–7: Extreme rainfall brings deadly flash floods in central Texas, especially in the Guadalupe River and its surrounding tributaries. At least 135 people are killed—including 27 campers and staff from Camp Mystic, a girls’ summer camp—and estimates of the cost of the disaster range from $18 to 22 billion. (Discover 12 of the world’s deadliest natural disasters.)
• July 16: During a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts, a couple is caught on the kiss cam. After spotting themselves on-screen, the man and woman hide from the cameras, prompting Chris Martin, the band’s lead singer, to say from the stage, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy. I’m not quite sure what to do.” The couple, who are coworkers and executives at a tech company, later resign from their jobs.
• July 23: American Eagle releases a controversial ad campaign titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”; in one of the video spots, the denim-clad actress discusses the heritability of traits and genetics. The campaign sparks intense debate, with some arguing that it promotes eugenics and Western beauty standards, while others believe it is simply a play on words.
• July 30: NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) collaborate to launch NISAR, the first satellite to use dual microwave frequencies for radar observation. It will be used to measure precise changes in Earth’s surface, providing insights useful for a wide range of applications, from groundwater usage patterns for agriculture to disaster management systems improvement.

August

• August 7: OpenAI releases ChatGPT-5, which is described as a major advance in reasoning and autonomy. This is just one of numerous news stories about AI, which continues to have a growing impact on everyday life.
• August 11: U.S. Pres. Donald Trump orders the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., claiming that the move would “rescue [the] nation’s capital from crime.” The move is controversial, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who notes that crime is down compared to previous years, opposes the deployment. (When has the U.S. National Guard been deployed?)
• August 15: Sholay, widely regarded as Bollywood’s most iconic movie, celebrates the 50th anniversary of its release. The movie follows Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra), best friends and petty criminals who are hired by a former police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture a notorious bandit (Amjad Khan).
• August 26: Pop sensation Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce announce their engagement on Instagram. The couple posts photographs of the proposal with the note “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

September

• September 2: The U.S. military carries out the first of a series of lethal strikes on small civilian boats operating in or near Venezuelan waters. The U.S. government justifies the attacks by saying that the targeted vessels are being used for drug smuggling and terrorism.
• September 7: Carlo Acutis, who died at age 15 from leukemia, is canonized by Pope Leo XIV. Widely venerated as the “the first millennial saint,” he is also known as “the patron saint of the Internet” for his interest in using digital communication to teach others. (Meet 14 saints under the age of 25.)
• September 8: The most dramatic of the Gen Z protests begins in Nepal as thousands of students protest the government’s sweeping social media ban, an apparent attempt to silence dissent. The uprising creates a political crisis and eventually leads to the ouster of the country’s prime minister.
• September 10: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk is fatally shot while speaking at an outdoor event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The assassination comes amid other acts of political violence in the United States.
• September 22: Ousmane Dembélé of France receives his first Ballon d’Or as football (soccer)’s best male player. For women, Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí wins for the third consecutive year.
• September 23: After a brief suspension, the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns to the air. Six days earlier ABC had announced that it was “indefinitely” taking the show off the airwaves following comments that host Jimmy Kimmel made regarding the suspect in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

October

• October 3: Musician and entrepreneur Sean Combs is sentenced to 50 months in prison. Earlier in the year he had been convicted on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution for drug-fueled sex parties known as “freak-offs.”
• October 3: Sarah Mullally is appointed the first female archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop in the Anglican Communion. Her installment ceremony is scheduled for March 25, 2026.
• October 10: A ceasefire goes into effect in the Israel-Hamas War. The conflict began some two years earlier when Hamas launched an assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,000 people and taking several hundred hostages. Israel subsequently declared war, and the fighting led to widespread destruction throughout the Gaza Strip and the deaths of tens of thousands of Gazans.
• October 19: A team of thieves breaks into the Louvre and steals nine pieces of 19th-century jewelry. The heist, which involves a truck-mounted electric ladder, power tools, and motorbikes, takes less than 10 minutes. Within weeks French authorities apprehend and charge numerous suspects but do not recover the historic jewels. (Discover other famous art thefts.)
• October 20: As part of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump’s ongoing renovations of the White House, demolition begins on the East Wing, which is to be replaced with a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom. Earlier in the year, the grass area of the Rose Garden was paved over.
• October 21: Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female prime minister. A hard-line conservative, she is head of the Liberal-Democratic Party. (Learn about other notable women leaders.)
• October 23: An NBA betting and gambling scandal makes headlines following the indictment of Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Terry Rozier, a guard for the Miami Heat. Billups is alleged to have participated in illegal poker games that were facilitated by Mafia crime families, and Rozier is accused of being involved in illegal sports betting.

November

• November 1: The Los Angeles Dodgers—led by superstar Shohei Ohtani—beat the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series to win the World Series and repeat as MLB champions.
• November 1: The Grand Egyptian Museum has its official opening ceremony. It is the largest archaeological museum in the world and is especially known for its extensive collection of items discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
• November 2: India wins its first Women’s Cricket World Cup.
• November 4: Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, is elected mayor of New York City. A little-known member of the New York State Assembly when he announced his candidacy in October 2024, Mamdani defeated better-known candidates with his promise to make the city more affordable.
• November 4: Typhoon Kalmaegi makes landfall in the Philippines, and over the next several days the powerful tropical cyclone strikes Vietnam and Thailand. More than 200 people are killed, with the majority of deaths occurring in the Philippines. (What are the 10 deadliest typhoons in history?)
• November 10: A powerful car blast near the Red Fort in Old Delhi, India, kills more than 10 people, injures 20 others, and causes severe damage to surrounding infrastructure. (Read our list of major terrorist attacks in Delhi and Mumbai.)
• November 12: The last penny is minted in the United States. First produced in 1793, the coins became more expensive to make than their actual worth. There are some 250 billion pennies currently in circulation. (What are the symbols on a U.S. dollar bill?)
• November 12: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ends after 43 days. The deal to reopen and fund the government includes several provisions, including a Senate vote on health care tax credits in the Affordable Care Act, full back pay for furloughed workers, and the funding of some government entities, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, through September 2026.
• November 20: Frida Kahlo’s painting El sueño (La cama) (1940) sells for $54.7 million, becoming the most expensive artwork by a woman sold at auction.
• November 20: U.S. Pres. Donald Trump signs legislation ordering the release of the so-called “Epstein files”—thousands of pages of documents related to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier and friend to the rich, famous, and powerful, Jeffrey Epstein. Questions concerning the contents of the files have dominated U.S. politics and roiled the second Trump administration.
• November 23: Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia erupts. It is the volcano’s first documented eruption in about 12,000 years, though unrecorded eruptions may have occurred during that time. (What causes a volcano to erupt?)
• November 26: A fire breaks out in an apartment complex in Hong Kong and burns for more than 40 hours. The blaze, believed to have been caused by substandard construction materials, kills more than 150 people.
• November 26: Tesla shareholders approve a $1 trillion compensation package—one of the largest in corporate history—for CEO Elon Musk. Under the plan Musk could receive stock awards worth up to that amount over the next decade if he meets a series of ambitious financial and operational targets.

December

• December 6: Inter Miami CF, led by star player Lionel Messi, wins the club’s first Major League Soccer Cup.
• December 10: A social media ban for those younger than 16 goes into effect in Australia. The law focuses on 10 sites, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok. (Discover the pros and cons of social media.)
• December 14: A father and son open fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 people and injuring more than 40. The gunmen—one of whom was fatally shot by police—were said to be motivated by “Islamic State ideology.” The Bondi Beach shooting is the deadliest terrorist incident in the country’s history.
• December 16: The 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth is celebrated. The English novelist wrote such beloved novels as Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Emma (1815); many of her works were adapted for TV and film.