Source:
Reuters 
January 3
Law and crime
Armed conflicts and attacks
United States president Donald Trump orders airstrikes on Venezuela. Several explosions and low-flying aircraft are reported in Caracas. A national state of emergency is declared following the strikes.
Source:
CNN
Footage shows United States Marine Corps Bell AH-1Z Vipers striking Fort Tiuna and Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles during the operation. Fort Tiuna is later evacuated.
Source:
The Aviationist
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, are captured by U.S. forces and flown out of the country. Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez confirms that both Maduro and his wife are missing.
Source:
BBC News
U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi says Maduro has been indicted in New York on drug and weapons charges. The U.S. says that he is being held aboard the USS and will be taken to New York.
Source:
AP
At least six people are killed and 42 others are injured in overnight Russian attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Sumy Oblasts of Ukraine.
Source:
The Kyiv Independent
January 2
Health and environment
The United Kingdom records its hottest and sunniest year in 2025 with an average temperature of 10.09 °C (50.16 °F), surpassing the 2022 record of 10.03 °C (50.05 °F) and becoming the second year since 1884 in which the annual mean exceeded 10 °C (50 °F).
Source:
Business Day
Law and crime
The Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentences eight journalists and online commentators, including Wajahat Saeed Khan, Adil Raja, and Shaheen Sehbai, to life imprisonment in absentia for terrorism-related offences tied to digital content supporting former prime minister Imran Khan during the unrest.
Source:
Reuters
Source:
Hengaw
A South Korean court issues a new six-month detention warrant for former president Yoon Suk Yeol after indicting him on additional charges linked to his declaration of martial law in 2024, citing the risk of evidence tampering.
Source:
Reuters
Business and economy
BYD Company, based in China, surpasses the United States-based Tesla, Inc., as the world's best-selling electric vehicle automaker after selling 2.26 million vehicles in 2025, overtaking Tesla's 1.64 million.
Source:
DW
Armed conflicts and attacks
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen launches airstrikes in Hadhramaut Governorate, killing 20 Southern Transitional Council (STC) fighters and leaving more than 20 others injured.
Yemeni civil war (2014–present)2025 Southern Yemen offensiveSaudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war
Source:
Le Monde
The STC announces a plan to hold an independence referendum for the State of South Arabia within two years.
Source:
Reuters
Disasters and accidents
A M 6.5 earthquake strikes 14 km (8.7 mi) off the coast of San Marcos, Guerrero, Mexico, killing two people and injuring 12 others.
Source:
in Spanish
Eleven people are killed and eleven others are injured after a bus and a truck collide head-on on a federal highway in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Source:
G1
Dozens of people are missing and at least 102 others are rescued after a boat carrying over 200 migrants capsizes off the coast of North Bank Division in the Gambia.
Source:
AP
A private MD 369FF helicopter crashes in Pinal County, Arizona, United States, killing all four people onboard.
Source:
AP
January 1
Disasters and accidents
Forty people are killed and 119 others are injured in an explosion and fire suspected to be caused by pyrotechnics at a bar in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland.
Source:
The Guardian
At least 17 people are killed and 11 others are injured in flash floods caused by heavy rains and snowfall across Afghanistan.
Source:
AP
Seven people are killed, 96 others are rescued and at least 97 are reported missing when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsizes in The Gambia.
Source:
Reuters
The Vondelkerk in Amsterdam, Netherlands, catches fire, collapsing the tower and leaving only the exterior walls standing.
Source:
in Dutch
Armed conflicts and attacks
At least 15 people are killed in coordinated attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces on three villages in Lubero, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Source:
Reuters
A Palestinian is killed and another is injured when Israeli forces open fire on stone-throwers near Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, Nablus, West Bank.
Source:
Reuters
One person is killed and another is injured in Russian drone strikes on Dniprovskyi District, Kherson, Ukraine.
Source:
RBC-Ukraine
Law and crime
Five civilians are killed in clashes with security forces across Azna, Lorestan, and Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran, during demonstrations over rising living costs.
Source:
The Times of Israel
The Venezuelan government releases 88 political prisoners who were detained and jailed during protests against the results of the presidential election last year.
Source:
DW
Politics and elections
China imposes a 13 percent value-added tax on birth control drugs and devices as part of efforts to address a continuing decline in national birth rates.
Source:
Reuters
Source:
Swiss Info
Business and economy
Source:
The Sun
South Korea records its highest annual export value of more than US$700 billion in 2025 after semiconductor shipments reach a record $173.4 billion driven by demand for artificial intelligence.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Turkmenistan legalizes the mining and exchange of cryptocurrency as digital assets, but maintains that digital currency cannot be used as legal tender.
Source:
AP
December 31
Business and economy
Iran appoints Abdolnaser Hemmati as the new leader of the Central Bank following protests over the Iranian rial's value depreciating and the previous governor's resignation.
Source:
AP
International relations
The United States issues a temporary license allowing Serbia's majority-Russian-owned Naftna Industrija Srbije to resume refinery operations until January 23 despite sanctions linked to the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Source:
Barron's
The United States imposes sanctions on four Venezuelan companies in the oil industry and four oil tankers.
Source:
AP
Law and crime
A Basij officer is killed and 13 others are injured in clashes in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, during demonstrations over rising living costs.
Source:
AP
U.S. president Donald Trump announces the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland after federal courts blocked or restricted the deployments.
Source:
AFP via France 24
U.S. federal judge Trina Thompson of California blocks the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for about 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, ruling that the terminations may be motivated by racial hostility.
Source:
Reuters
At least three informal miners are killed in a shooting in Pataz District, Department of La Libertad, Peru. Two people are arrested.
Source:
Reuters
Arts and culture
The Six Flags Qiddiya City amusement park officially opens to the public in Saudi Arabia, with the Falcons Flight attraction breaking records as the world's tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster.
Source:
Arab News
Armed conflicts and attacks
Five people are killed while others escape after the United States conducts airstrikes on three alleged drug boats at an undisclosed location.
Source:
BBC News
Russian authorities report at least 24 people are killed, including a child, and dozens of others are injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a hotel and a restaurant in Khorly in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, Ukraine.
Source:
The Moscow Times
Source:
AP
An Islamic State suicide bomber blows himself up near a checkpoint in Aleppo, Syria, after attempting to reach an Orthodox church, killing one security force member and wounding two more.
Source:
Al Jazeera