{"id":38931,"date":"2025-12-31T19:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=38931"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:45:36","slug":"world-bids-farewell-to-2025-a-year-of-trump-truces-and-turmoil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/world-bids-farewell-to-2025-a-year-of-trump-truces-and-turmoil\/","title":{"rendered":"World bids farewell to 2025, a year of Trump, truces and turmoil"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SYDNEY, Dec 31 :<\/strong> New Year’s Eve revellers toasted the end of 2025 on Wednesday, waving goodbye to 12 months packed with Trump tariffs, a Gaza truce and vain hopes for peace in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It was one of the warmest years on record, the stifling heat stoking wildfires in Europe, droughts in Africa and deadly rains across Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

There was a sombre tinge to party preparations in Australia’s harbour city Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year’s capital of the world”.<\/p>\n

Barely two weeks have passed since a father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years.<\/p>\n

Parties will pause for a minute of silence at 11:00 pm (1200 GMT) as the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge is bathed in white light to symbolise peace.<\/p>\n

“Right now, the joy that we usually feel at the start of a new year is tempered by the sadness of the old,” Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a video message.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to line Sydney’s foreshore as nine tonnes of fireworks explode on the stroke of midnight.<\/p>\n

Throughout the evening, residents and tourists began gathering by the city’s harbour and sailboats dotted the water to secure the best viewing spots near the Sydney Opera House.<\/p>\n

“The fireworks have always been on my bucket list and I’m so happy to be here,” said Susana Suisuikli, an English tourist.<\/p>\n

Security was tighter than usual, with squads of heavily armed police patrolling the crowds.<\/p>\n

Sydney kicks off a chain of celebrations stretching from glitzy New York to the Hogmanay festival on the chilly streets of Scotland.<\/p>\n

More than two million people are expected to pack Brazil’s lively Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party.<\/p>\n

In Hong Kong, a major New Year fireworks display planned for Victoria Harbour was cancelled to pay homage to 161 people killed in a housing estate fire in November.<\/p>\n

– Truce and tariffs –<\/p>\n

Labubu dolls became a worldwide craze in 2025, thieves plundered the Louvre in a daring heist, and K-pop heartthrobs BTS made their long-awaited return.<\/p>\n

The world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, the Vatican chose a new pope, and the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk laid bare America’s deep political divisions.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, launching a tariff blitz that sent global markets into meltdown.<\/p>\n

The president used his Truth Social platform to lash out at his sliding approval ratings ahead of 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n

“The polls are rigged,” he wrote, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n

“Isn’t it nice to have a STRONG BORDER, No Inflation, a powerful Military, and great Economy??? Happy New Year!”<\/p>\n

But many expect tough times to continue in 2026.<\/p>\n

“The economic situation is also very dire, and I’m afraid I’ll be left without income,” said Ines Rodriguez, 50, a merchant in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

After two years of war that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, US pressure helped land a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October.<\/p>\n

But with each side already accusing the other of flagrant violations, no one is sure how long the break in hostilities will hold.<\/p>\n

Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians.<\/p>\n

Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 70,000, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, a figure the UN deems credible.<\/p>\n

World leaders including China’s Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin began exchanging New Year greetings.<\/p>\n

Xi said he was “ready to maintain close exchanges with Putin to jointly push for continuous new progress in bilateral ties”, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The war in Ukraine — sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 — grinds towards its four-year anniversary in February with no temporary ceasefire reached in the final days of 2025 despite a renewed burst of diplomacy.<\/p>\n

– Sports, space and AI –<\/p>\n

The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space and questions over artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n

NASA’s Artemis II mission, backed by Elon Musk, will launch a crewed spacecraft to circle the moon during a 10-day test flight, more than 50 years since the last Apollo lunar mission.<\/p>\n

After years of unbridled enthusiasm, AI is facing scrutiny and nervous investors are questioning whether the boom might now resemble a market bubble.<\/p>\n

Athletes will gather on Italy’s famed Dolomites to hit the slopes for the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

And for a few weeks in June and July, nations will come together for the biggest football World Cup in history in venues across the United States, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYDNEY, Dec 31 : New Year’s Eve revellers toasted the end of 2025 on Wednesday, waving goodbye to 12 months packed with Trump tariffs, a Gaza truce and vain hopes for peace in Ukraine. It was one of the warmest years on record, the stifling heat stoking wildfires in Europe, droughts in Africa and deadly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-main-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38934,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38931\/revisions\/38934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}