2025 News: Biggest Events & Predictions

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In 2025 we are not bored, to put it mildly. Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States has begun, bringing with it great economic, humanitarian and diplomatic chaos. Wars that have been ongoing for years, including those in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, have continued despite many negotiations and various ceasefires. The pope has died and another one has been created. In Italy the year began with the detention of Cecilia Sala in Iran and continued with the reopening of the investigation into a murder 18 years ago and the demonstrations for the Flotilla. And then it was the year of artificial intelligence, Oasis concerts and the sensational theft at the Louvre.

Below are the most notable events, in brief, month by month.

January

The detention of Cecilia Sala in Iran
On 19 December 2024, the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was in Iran with a regular journalistic visa, was arrested by Iranian security agents and imprisoned in Evin, the prison where political prisoners and opposition figures are held. No formal charges were ever brought against her. Iran had arrested her to exchange her for Mohammed Abedini Najafabadi, an Iranian engineer accused of trafficking in military technology, arrested in Milan on December 16 at the request of the United States. Sala remained in Evin for 21 days, during which she endured very harsh detention conditions. She was freed on January 8 thanks to the mediation work of Italian intelligence and the government, in what was the fastest operation to free a Western citizen detained in Iran in the last thirty years. Abedini was released a few days later.

The first ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
On January 19, a ceasefire began between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the first since the one in November 2023, which lasted just a few days. The deal had been laboriously negotiated for more than a year by US President Joe Biden’s administration, but was terminated by his successor Donald Trump, who took some credit in applying pressure in the latter stages. The fighting stopped, Hamas freed 33 Israeli hostages and Israel freed 1,904 Palestinian prisoners. Israel also allowed the entry of more trucks carrying basic necessities for the Palestinian population. On March 18, Israel unilaterally violated the ceasefire, with a devastating bombing that killed 400 people. The war has resumed.

A Palestinian family in a car in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025 (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

The most embarrassing political event for the Meloni government: the Almasri case
On January 19, General Najim Osama Almasri, head of the Libyan judicial police, was arrested in Turin for whom there was an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. He was accused of murder, torture, rape and other serious crimes. After two days the government decided to free him and send him back to Libya on a state flight: an unusual choice with many unclear points. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was investigated for that decision, together with ministers Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi and undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano: only the last three, however, had a trial been requested, and unsurprisingly parliament had denied authorization to do so. The powerful head of cabinet of the Ministry of Justice remains under investigation, and the government remains very embarrassed about this case. In November Almasri was arrested in Libya.

Libyan general Njeem Osama Almasri Habish lands in Tripoli on 21 January 2025, brought home by an Italian state flight, and is welcomed by one of his friends and supporters (ANSA/COURTESY FAWASELMEDIA.COM)

Donald Trump’s inauguration
Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States began on January 20. The inauguration ceremony took place indoors due to the very low temperatures, in the Congress building in the front row were the entrepreneurs and managers of the largest technology companies (including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk), behind everyone else, from members of the new administration to foreign heads of state. Soon after, Trump began signing a long series of executive orders, including pardons for the Capitol attackers and exiting the Paris Climate Agreement.

Donald Trump on stage with the Village People during the last rally before taking office in Washington, January 19, 2025 (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

February

The disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky
On February 28, a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ended disastrously. Trump, supported by deputy JD Vance, verbally attacked Zelensky, accusing him for example of being ungrateful towards the United States. The Ukrainian president left the White House earlier than expected, without signing an expected agreement on raw materials, which was later concluded at the end of April. The argument had lasting consequences: Trump suspended both military aid to Ukraine and the sharing of intelligence information for a while, and in the following months (albeit with some reversals) he moved ever closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positions. This was seen in his rhetoric, in some cases adhering to the propaganda of the Russian regime, and in the negotiating proposals for the end of the war presented by the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is interrupted by US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, DC, February 28 (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

March

The beginning of the total blockade of aid in the Gaza Strip
Coinciding with the resumption of war in the Gaza Strip, Israel began in March to completely block the entry of food, medicine, fuel and basic necessities into the Strip. The blockade, which lasted months, caused the most serious humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the war: according to the authorities in the Strip, hundreds of people died of starvation, although it is impossible to have precise data. Israel began allowing food in again in late July, but still in severely insufficient quantities, and in August the United Nations declared that a famine was underway in some parts of the territory. Israel also created an organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, that was supposed to deliver food but became a tool to use hunger as a weapon against Palestinians.

Palestinians with bags of food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on their shoulders, Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025 (REUTERS/Stringer)

– Read also: In six months the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has done nothing but damage

The new investigation into the murder of Chiara Poggi
Ten years after the first conviction, a new investigation was opened into the murder of Chiara Poggi, the 26-year-old killed on 13 August 2007 in her home in Garlasco. The only suspect is Andrea Sempio, a friend of Poggi’s brother who had already been investigated years ago. For Poggi’s murder, Alberto Stasi, her ex-boyfriend, who is still detained, was definitively sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015. The main elements on which the accusations against Sempio are based are the DNA on Poggi’s nails and a palm print that remained ignored for 18 years. Although there has been little concrete news so far, in recent months there has been enormous media attention for every update on the investigations, often resulting in a serious violation of investigative secrecy.

Carabinieri during some investigations in Chiara Poggi’s house in Garlasco, 9 June 2025 (Marco Ottico/Lapresse)

The earthquake in Myanmar
On March 28 in Myanmar a magnitude 7.7 earthquake caused the deaths of more than 5,400 people and caused damage up to a thousand kilometers from the epicenter. Myanmar was already in a deep crisis, due to a protracted civil war: since 2021 it has been governed by a military junta, which has isolated the country and banned it from foreign media. After the earthquake, the junta asked other countries for help (which was very unusual), but it also continued to bomb the rebels and block relief efforts in the areas they controlled, before declaring a brief ceasefire.

The Buddhist statue of a pagoda destroyed by the earthquake in Myanmar, April 3, 2025 (REUTERS)

April

Trump’s tariffs
On April 2, Trump announced the imposition of very high tariffs on many countries. The decision caused days of panic on the stock markets, enormous problems for logistics and trade, but above all diplomatic crises with the most affected countries, including China, Canada and Mexico (while the European Union failed to assert itself). It was soon understood that there was no economic reason behind these tariffs, and that they were essentially just Trump’s bluff to try to obtain concessions: within a few months they were all greatly reduced, but in the meantime they did billions of dollars of damage and contributed to creating great uncertainty in the world economy.

Donald Trump in the garden of the White House holding the table with the tariffs to be applied to the rest of the world, April 2, 2025 (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

The death of Pope Francis
On April 21, Pope Francis, as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who had been the highest authority within the Catholic Church since March 13, 2013, died at the age of 88. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from a non-European country for many centuries, and the first to choose Francis as his name. He was also one of the most progressive pontiffs, during his mandate he received a lot of praise but was also very isolated. His death, low-key funeral and preparations for the conclave to elect his successor were followed by millions of people around the world.

A person reads theRoman Observer with the news of the death of Pope Francis, in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, 21 April 2025 (REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

Maggio

The election of Pope Leo XIV
On May 8, Robert Francis Prevost, the first American pope, was elected as the new pope, choosing the name Leo XIV. Two days of conclave and four votes were enough. He was not among the most likely candidates in the conclave, but there were those who had mentioned his name. It was immediately said that his appointment was a compromise choice, but little was known about him. In these first months of his pontificate, not much more was understood and in truth he did little: just one big trip, many t-shirts received as gifts and worried interventions on artificial intelligence. Oh, we also know that when he’s not sleeping he’s often on the phone.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, newly elected Pope Leo XIV, on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, May 8, 2025 (REUTERS/Murad Sezer)

June

The referendums on citizenship and work
In a political year with few and not particularly relevant elections, the most discussed vote was that for the referendums of 8 and 9 June, with one question on citizenship and four on work: they all went very far from reaching the quorum needed for them to be valid. In particular, the one on citizenship, on which there had been some mobilization in the previous months, went much worse than expected. Those on work were proposed by the CGIL and gave a certain visibility in the public debate to its secretary, Maurizio Landini.

A person votes at a polling station in the referendum, Rome, June 8 (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse)

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran
After months of threats, provocations, and sporadic attacks, Israel began a massive bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, killing military leaders, hitting sites linked to Iran’s nuclear program, and severely damaging the country’s air defenses. Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israel, some of which overcame anti-aircraft defenses and destroyed buildings and other structures. On June 22, the United States also joined the attacks and bombed Iranian nuclear sites. The war lasted 12 days, until June 24th. More than a thousand people have been killed in Iran, and just over 30 in Israel.

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts Iranian missiles, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 18, 2025 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

July

La fine di USAID
On July 1, USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, which had provided humanitarian aid and development assistance to dozens of countries around the world since 1961, closed. The decision was made by the Trump administration, which had begun to dismantle it since taking office. As a result, billions of dollars in funding were interrupted, causing major disruption and calling into question the continuation of many humanitarian programs: among other things, the agency distributed funds for the construction of air raid shelters in Ukraine, supported HIV treatment and prevention programs in southern and eastern Africa and financed many conservation projects in the Amazon rainforest. According to a study published in the prestigious scientific journal Lancet, eliminating funding could cause up to 14 million otherwise avoidable deaths.

A person holds a placard in support of USAID outside its headquarters in Washington, D.C., Feb. 27 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

August

The summer of Oasis
The story that has dominated conversations about music this past year has been the highly anticipated international tour of Oasis, one of the best-loved bands of the 1990s, who hadn’t played together for 15 years. From dates in Cardiff, Manchester, London and Edinburgh, and then through Asia and South America, millions of fans attended the concerts of the Gallagher brothers’ band, a good portion of them sporting bucket hats. For those who have been listening to the band since Definitely Maybe it was a memorable event, but it was also good for the economy of the cities it passed through. In the end Damon Albarn of Blur had to admit that Oasis had won the “Britpop war”.

Oasis at their first concert in 16 years in Cardiff, Wales, 4 July (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

The year of artificial intelligence
On August 7, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, made available GPT-5, the company’s new artificial intelligence model, the most powerful on the market at the time. For the AI sector it was one of the most important moments of a year during which competition in the sector increased greatly, as did fears of a financial bubble caused by investments in data centers, and caution decreased significantly. A year in which AI tools entered the daily lives of millions of people who do something completely different for work. began with the shocks caused by DeepSeek, the first Chinese company to develop an economic model capable of competing with those of OpenAI, and ended with the magazine Time who chose «AI architects» as people of the year.

An employee in an Amazon Web Services data center. (Noah Berger/Amazon Web Services via AP Images)

September

Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction in Brazil
On September 11, the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison for participating in organizing a coup with the aim of remaining in power even after losing the 2022 presidential elections. The plan did not materialize only because many military leaders did not support it. What followed was a historic trial, making Bolsonaro the first (and so far only) political or military leader in Brazil to be convicted of coup-related crimes. He has been in prison since November, but Parliament is trying to reduce his sentence.

Jair Bolsonaro in front of his house, under house arrest, Brasilia, Brazil, September 2, 2025 (AP Photo/Luis Nova)

MPS buys Mediobanca
This story actually began in January, when MPS, the historic state-owned Sienese bank, made an offer to buy Mediobanca, the most prestigious Italian investment bank. There were many elements that made it an exceptional story: MPS was a smaller, very different bank, for years on the brink of bankruptcy, which wanted to buy the jewel of Italian high finance. After months of resistance from Mediobanca, MPS succeeded in September. Until a few years ago this operation would have been considered pure fantasy: it succeeded because the interests of the government and two important Italian industrial families aligned, interests which are now under investigation because according to the prosecutor’s office the purchase was agreed upon illegally.

The entrance to the MPS headquarters (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini)

The murder of Charlie Kirk
On September 10, during an event at Utah Valley University, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson shot and killed Charlie Kirk, an activist and podcaster well known in right-wing circles in the United States and close to Trump. With his association Turning Point Kirk animated campaigns and fundraisers and supported Republican candidates, always with an oratory style capable of humiliating progressive interlocutors. Two days after the murder Robinson was arrested: it is known that he spent a lot of time online and that he had written that he wanted to kill Kirk because “he had had enough of his hatred”. The killing caused a huge sensation: the right had those who celebrated it fired and the funeral was a huge, well-attended and choreographed event. Kirk’s political legacy was taken up by his wife Erika.

A person raises a U.S. flag during a wake for activist Charlie Kirk, Orem, Utah, September 11, 2025 (REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)

– Read also: Charlie Kirk was very important to Trump

October

The Flotilla and the great mobilization in Italy
Between August and October in Italy there was enormous attention on the Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest independent initiative to bring food and other essential goods to the population of the Gaza Strip, with dozens of sailing boats. Predictably, the mission – which had a mostly symbolic meaning – was blocked by Israel before it arrived in Gaza, but it succeeded in its aim of mobilizing public opinion for the Palestinian population: it happened above all in Italy, despite the fact that there were people from dozens of countries on the boats, because it was probably the country most involved in the organization and because the issue soon became very political, due to the opposition of the Meloni government and its ambiguous positioning towards Israel.

The procession in Rome for Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla, 3 October 2025 (REUTERS/Yara Nardi)

The second ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
On October 10, a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in the Gaza Strip: it is the third since the beginning of the war, and it is still ongoing. The agreements are based on a 20-point plan proposed by Trump, which envisaged three phases to achieve a lasting peace: in the first, the current one, Israel has withdrawn from approximately half of the territory of the Strip and is allowing access to greater quantities of food (although still largely insufficient for the needs of the Palestinian population). Hamas freed all the Israeli hostages and handed over the remains of the dead ones, in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Negotiations for phases two and three of the agreement, which should concern the future government of the Strip and its reconstruction, are going slowly. During the ceasefire Israel never completely stopped attacks against the Palestinian population.

Two Palestinian men celebrate the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025 (REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)

La castter the al Fashir in Sudan
A bloody civil war has been fought in Sudan for two and a half years between the regular army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces: one of the major developments of 2025 was the fall of Al Fashir, the last important city in the western region of Darfur that was still under the control of the army. After a siege that began in April 2024, the Rapid Support Forces entered the city and took control. The advance was accompanied by mass killings, massacres and war crimes, in some cases filmed by the paramilitaries themselves. Now the Rapid Support Forces control all of Darfur, and the army the eastern part of the country, including the capital Khartoum. The war has caused at least 150 thousand deaths and a huge humanitarian crisis.

People at a camp for families who fled from al Fashir, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, October 27, 2025 (REUTERS/Mohammed Jamal)

The stunning theft at the Louvre
On October 19, in broad daylight, four people in Paris with their faces covered climbed onto a freight elevator, forced open a French window of one of the most visited museums in the world and in seven minutes stole with extraordinary ease eight jewels with an estimated value of 88 million euros. The investigations found that the thieves escaped the police for a few seconds, while the company of the goods lift used for the theft (which was itself stolen) took advantage of the situation to gain publicity. Everything was possible due to the numerous security breaches and structural problems of the museum contested in the strike that began on December 15th. So far four people have been charged and others arrested. However, nothing is known about the jewels.

French forensic police officers examine the French windows and balcony of the Louvre through which the thieves entered Paris, France, October 19 (Kiran Ridley/Getty Images)

November

The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York
On November 4, Zohran Mamdani, a socialist and Democrat, was elected mayor of New York: he takes office today and is the first Muslim ever to hold the office, and the youngest for over a century (he is 34 years old). When he announced his candidacy he was essentially unknown, but he ran an extremely effective electoral campaign, with excellent communication on social media and clear graphic recognisability, all centered on the theme of the excessive cost of living in New York. After the victory, comes the difficult part: Mamdani has little political experience and, from today, will have to manage the elephantine administrative machine of New York, trying to keep the promises of a very ambitious program. He will also have to deal with Trump, with whom however there seems to be a certainty feeling.

Zohran Mamdani during his victory speech, New York, November 4, 2025 (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

– Read also: From unknown to mayor of New York in one year

December

The near-sale of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. is one of the most important studios in Hollywood: it controls channels and platforms such as CNN and HBO, it has a huge catalog of intellectual properties, sagas and brands to which it has rights, but it has been in crisis for some time. At the beginning of December it signed a 71 billion euro deal to be bought by Netflix, which, however, Paramount Skydance tried to overcome with a hostile takeover offer, a very rare operation in the media sector, which was then rejected by the board of directors. If Netflix were to manage to buy Warner Bros., it would obtain an unparalleled role in the film industry, which in any case sees its acquisition as a kind of catastrophe: but several non-obvious steps are still missing.

Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, December 8, 2025 (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

The attack during a Jewish celebration in Sydney
On December 14, two men, father and son, shot at the crowd that had gathered on Bondi Beach (Sydney) for Hanukkah, one of the most important Jewish holidays. They killed 15 people and injured 40: the father died in firefights with the police, the son survived and was accused of terrorism. The video of a Syrian man who stopped one of the attackers and managed to disarm him has been widely circulated. Australian police concluded that the attack was inspired by the Islamic State. Australia already had a very strict law on gun ownership, but after the armed attack the government announced more restrictive measures against hate crimes and a plan to buy citizens’ guns, with the aim of reducing those in circulation.

A member of the Jewish community at the commemoration for those killed in the Bondi Beach bombing, Sydney, Australia, December 16, 2025 (REUTERS/Jeremy Piper)