What happened in 2025

World1

• Apr 26The funeral of Pope Francis is attended by delegations from 164 countries, including 82 leaders, and 250,000 members of the public.

Japan2

• Apr 13Expo 2025 is held in Osaka, Japan.
• Dec 8A 7.6 earthquake occurs in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Aomori Prefecture in Japan, triggering a tsunami up to 70 cm high.

North America17

• Jan 1Fifteen people (including the perpetrator) are killed and 57 others are injured during a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
• Jan 7Greater Los Angeles experiences the most destructive wildfires in its history, fueled by strong winds and prolonged drought conditions. Over 13,000 structures are destroyed. At least 29 deaths are reported, while 180,000 people are evacuated, with fires continuing for days.
• Jan 16Blue Origin successfully launches its heavy-lift launch vehicle, New Glenn, on its first attempt, though fails to land its first stage booster as intended.
• Jan 292025 Potomac River mid-air collision: A United States Army Black Hawk helicopter with three occupants on board, collides with a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines with 64 occupants on board in Washington, D.C., United States. There were no survivors.
• Feb 28A meeting between U.S. president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes place at the White House. Trump and V.P. JD Vance sharply criticise Zelenskyy, raising questions about support for Ukraine, a proposed end to the war, and the country's future in general.
• Mar 2Firefly Aerospace becomes the first commercial company to successfully land on the Moon with no technical issues, with its Blue Ghost Mission 1.
• Mar 3The Trump administration pauses military aid to Ukraine, following the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy the previous week.
• Apr 1Fram2 launches aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, becoming the first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit.
• Apr 2US President Donald Trump issues sweeping trade tariffs on many countries, including a 10% baseline tariff for all imports.
• Apr 26At least 11 people are killed and at least 32 others are injured in a vehicle-ramming attack at the annual Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• Jul 4At least 135 people are killed and over a hundred reported missing during a flood in Central Texas, United States.
• Aug 152025 Russia–United States Summit: US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss a plan for resolving the Russo-Ukrainian war.
• Sep 10Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing activist and influential ally of President Trump, is assassinated at a campus event in Utah, prompting widespread reactions and reprisals both domestically and internationally.
• Nov 4UPS Airlines Flight 2976, a Honolulu-bound McDonnell Douglas MD-11F, crashes shortly after take-off near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky, United States, killing all three crew members and 12 people on the ground, as well as injuring 22 others.
• Nov 13The New Glenn rocket booster lands for the first time.

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Europe22

• Jan 1Thirteen people are killed and 3 more injured in a shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro.
• Jan 122024–25 Croatian presidential election: Zoran Milanović is re-elected for a second term.
• Jan 26The 2025 Belarusian presidential election is held, with incumbent Alexander Lukashenko (independent, but of the Belaya Rus alliance) being re-elected. Opposition leaders were not allowed to run and were either exiled or jailed by the regime.
• Feb 4At least 11 people (and the perpetrator) are killed and another 15 are injured after a gunman opens fire at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden, the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.
• Mar 16A fire breaks out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others.
• Apr 28A widespread power outage affects Spain and Portugal for hours. Andorra is affected for a few seconds while southern France is lightly affected.
• May 72025 conclave: 133 cardinal electors select Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Francis's successor, on the fourth ballot. He takes the name Leo XIV, and becomes the first pope from North America, the first with Peruvian or U.S. citizenship, and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.
• May 182025 Romanian presidential election: Following the annulment of the previous election, Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan wins in the second round, beating George Simion.
• Jun 12025 Polish presidential election: Karol Nawrocki is narrowly elected President of Poland in the second round of voting, beating Rafał Trzaskowski.
• Jun 1010 people are killed and more than 30 others injured after a gunman opens fire at a school in Graz, Austria.
• Sep 3At least 16 people are killed and over 21 are injured after the Glória funicular derailment in the centre of Lisbon, Portugal.
• Sep 82024–2025 French political crisis: The Bayrou government collapses after losing a no-confidence vote.
• Sep 9Russian drone incursion into Poland: Multiple drones breach Polish airspace during a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine and are intercepted by Polish and NATO forces, marking the first attack on NATO territory and prompting Poland to invoke Article 4.
• Oct 192025 Louvre heist: Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are stolen during a robbery from the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre in Paris.
• Oct 242025 Irish presidential election: Independent candidate Catherine Connolly wins the election in a landslide, defeating Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys.

7 more in the app

USSR / Russia3

• Jun 1Operation Spiderweb: Ukraine launches a large drone attack on Russian military bases. More than 40 aircraft of the Russian Air Force are attacked.
• Jul 24Angara Airlines Flight 2311, operated by an Antonov An-24 aircraft, crashes near Tynda in Eastern Siberia, Russia. All 48 people on board are killed.
• Jul 30An 8.8 earthquake strikes off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings in Japan and Hawaii.

Asia21

• Jan 7A 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Tibet, China, killing at least 126 people, while another 338 are injured.
• Jan 15The President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, is successfully arrested after a second attempt by police following a martial law declaration and successful impeachment motion the previous December.
• Mar 11Balochistan Liberation Army militants blow up railway tracks and hijack the Jaffar Express train bound from Quetta to Peshawar, taking 450 people hostages including both security personnel and civilians.
• Mar 28A 7.7-magnitude earthquake occurs in Myanmar, resulting in 5,413 killed and 11,402 injured.
• Apr 4Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol: The Constitutional Court of Korea unanimously upholds Yoon's impeachment in an 8–0 vote, officially removing him from office.
• Apr 22Pakistan backed attackers affiliated with The Resistance Front open fire on a group of tourists after asking their religion at the Baisaran Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India, killing 26 and injuring at least 20.
• May 72025 India–Pakistan conflict: India launches several missiles into Pakistani territory in response to the 2025 Pahalgam attack two weeks prior.
• Jun 32025 South Korean presidential election: After being pushed forward as a result of the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, Lee Jae Myung wins the election, beating Kim Moon-soo.
• Jun 12Air India Flight 171, a London-bound Boeing 787, crashes into a building after take-off from Ahmedabad, India, killing 229 passengers, 12 crew on board, and 19 people on the ground. One passenger survives the crash. It is the first fatal crash and hull loss involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
• Jul 24Armed conflicts break out between Cambodia and Thailand after the escalation of a border dispute. At least 39 people are killed and more than 100,000 displaced due to the conflicts.
• Aug 8Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace deal to end 37-year-old hostilities regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• Sep 8Mass anti-government protests erupt in Nepal, resulting in at least 22 deaths and hundreds injured. Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigns the following day amidst the demonstrations.
• Sep 272025 Karur crowd crush: At least 40 people are killed and 51 injured in a crowd crush at a rally held by actor-turned-politician Vijay's party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur, Tamil Nadu, India.
• Nov 102025 Delhi Red Fort blast: At least 15 people are killed and more than 20 people are injured in a car explosion near the Red Fort in Delhi.
• Nov 26A massive fire engulfs the Wang Fuk Court apartment block in Hong Kong, killing at least people and leaving over 150 missing.

6 more in the app

Middle East20

• Jan 19Gaza war: A ceasefire goes into effect, lasting until an Israeli surprise attack on 18 March.
• Jan 2178 people are killed after a fire breaks out in a hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Turkey.
• Jan 29Ahmed al-Sharaa is appointed as the president of Syria, after a one-month vacancy following the fall of the Assad regime.
• Mar 8More than 1,000 people, including civilians, are reported killed in a crackdown by Syrian transitional government security forces in the Alawite region, described as the country's worst violence for years.
• Mar 18Israel launches widespread aerial bombardments and attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children, ending the ceasefire agreement reached in January.
• Mar 19Nationwide protests erupt across Turkey following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on charges of corruption and terrorism.
• Jun 13Twelve-Day War: Israel conducts air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, killing military commanders including Hossein Salami; Iran retaliates.
• Jun 22Twelve-Day War: The United States carries out B-2 bomber airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
• Jul 13Several clashes erupt in southern Syria between armed Druze and Bedouin groups.
• Aug 31An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 2,200 people and injures 3,500.
• Sep 9Israel attacks the Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar.
• Oct 1Israel intercepts the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, in international waters, arresting 443 activists from 47 countries.
• Oct 5The 2025 Syrian parliamentary election is held, the first since the fall of the Assad regime in 2024.
• Oct 9Israel and Hamas agree to the first phase of a Gaza peace deal, paving the way for a ceasefire, almost exactly two years after the conflict began.
• Dec 282025 Iranian protests: Major protests emerge in Iran following an intense inflation spike that saw a severe depreciation in the Iranian rial. These protests are accompanied with demands for an end to the Islamic republic.

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Latin America5

• Jan 16The National Liberation Army (ELN) launches multiple attacks in the Catatumbo region, northeastern Colombia. Over 100 people are killed during the clashes.
• Apr 8During a concert performance by Rubby Pérez in Santo Domingo, a nightclub roof collapses, killing at least 231 people, including Pérez, and injures more than 200 others.
• Apr 21Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church since 2013, dies at the age of 88. World leaders pay tribute. Many countries declare national mourning.
• Oct 28Hurricane Melissa makes a catastrophic landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained wind speeds up to, becoming the strongest hurricane to strike the country in recorded history.
• Dec 142025 Chilean general election: José Antonio Kast is elected President of Chile. Right-wing coalitions gain control of the Chamber of Deputies and tie in the Senate.

Africa8

• Jan 8Eighteen gunmen and a soldier are killed in an attack on the presidential palace in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad.
• Mar 18The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, survives an attack on his convoy by al-Shabaab, killing at least 10 people.
• Aug 31Between 370 and 1,000 people are reported killed in a landslide caused by heavy rain that buries the village of Tarasin in the Marrah Mountains of Central Darfur and leaves one survivor.
• Oct 122025 Cameroonian presidential election: Incumbent President Paul Biya is re-elected for an eighth consecutive term.
• Oct 122025 Malagasy coup d'état: Following a series of protests, incumbent President Andry Rajoelina is ousted and military officer Michael Randrianirina becomes President.
• Oct 26El Fashir massacre: Mass murder is reported during which an estimated 2,500 or more civilians have been executed by the Rapid Support Forces in the city of El Fashir, Sudan.
• Nov 22The G20 Johannesburg summit is held in South Africa, the first time a G20 summit has been held in Africa.
• Nov 232025 Guinea-Bissau general election: A coup d'état occurs a day before the official results release, overthrowing President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.

Oceania1

• Dec 14At least 16 people are killed and 43 injured in a mass shooting, classified as a terrorist attack, by two gunmen at Bondi Beach in Sydney during a celebration for the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.