2025 was a common year in the Gregorian calendar that began on a Wednesday. It was marked by escalating major armed conflicts, including the Gaza war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which prompted peace negotiations involving Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Civil wars in Myanmar, Sudan and Yemen also continued. Many countries experienced internal crises, and a wave of protests, largely led by Generation Z, spread across several regions during the year.
Conflicts and crises
Madrid blackout on Preciados Street, April 2025Pope Leo XIV on the loggia, croppedPrime Minister Narendra Modi visits the crash site of Air India Flight AI-171Nepalese Gen Z protesters in front of the Bharatpur municipal officeLCBO, For the good of Ontario, 8 March 2025Attack on the studio of IRIB's live news broadcasting, number 7Fallen buildingHostages Square, 10 September 2025Collapsed house in Tibet after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck on 7 JanuaryAerial view of homes devastated by the Palisades Fire on 15 January, part of the Southern California wildfiresProtesters and police in front of the impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's residence hours before his arrest on 15 JanuaryA fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, Turkey, killed 78 people and injured 51 others on 21 January
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Brief clashes broke out in the middle of the year, including fighting between India and Pakistan in May, between Iran and Israel in June, and between Cambodia and Thailand in July. In the Cambodian and Thai case, a leaked phone call involving Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodian senate president Hun Sen led to her removal from office. In South Korea, an internal political crisis culminated in the arrest and removal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, while a diplomatic crisis between China and Japan began in November.
Economy and aviation
Robert Francis Prevost elected Pope Leo XIV at the papal conclave on 8 May, the first American, Peruvian, North American and Augustinian popeA Tu-95 on fire at the Olenya airbase after being struck by drones on 1 JuneWreckage of the tail section of Air India Flight 171 wedged into B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, on 13 JuneExplosions in Tehran during Israeli strikes on Iran on 13 JuneAerial photo of the Central Texas floods near Hunt on 5 JulyA Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed at Milestone School on 22 JulyWreckage of Angara Airlines Flight 2311 near the Eastern Siberian city of Tynda, Amur Oblast, RussiaVladimir Putin and Donald Trump arrive in Anchorage, Alaska, for the Russia–United States Summit on 15 AugustImmediate aftermath of the Ascensor da Glória derailment on 3 September, seen from Restauradores Square, with a derailed yellow car toppled into a buildingStudents during the Nepalese Gen Z protests on 8 SeptemberDutch F-35 patrolling Polish airspace after a Russian drone incursion into Poland on 9 SeptemberAerial view of the tent where Charlie Kirk was shot on 10 September
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The return of Donald Trump to the United States presidency brought a series of tariffs on the rest of the world, which disrupted global trade and renewed the China–United States trade war. The release of the DeepSeek chatbot, a Chinese large language model competing with ChatGPT, also drew attention in the technology sector. In aviation, several accidents occurred, including a mid-air collision near Washington National Airport in January and the crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, India, in June.
