This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (January 2025).

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The increase in global temperatures reached 1.5 degrees Celsius – a threshold set in 2015 at the Paris Agreement – for the first time in 2024, also marking Earth’s warmest year on record since pre-industrial times. This was announced as, in the United States (US), Donald Trump was sworn in again as president, after he was voted out, impeached, indicted, and convicted of felonies. Mr. Trump is also pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement.

Political turmoil in South Korea…

South Korean lawmakers voted to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo, after he refused to fill vacancies on the high court, which determines whether to uphold the impeachment of the former president. Next, the impeached sitting president Yoon Suk Yeol defied an arrest warrant after a six-hour standoff at his residence, though he was later detained and indicted on insurrection charges. He became the first sitting president in the country’s history to be arrested, and he will stand trial alongside top military officials who are accused of aiding in the alleged power grab.

Separately, and tragically, 179 people were killed when a commercial airliner crashed on landing. It is South Korea’s worst air disaster. Relatedly, in Azerbaijan, the crash of a passenger jet – likely caused by a Russian air defence system missile – killed 38 people on board, though at least 29 people survived.

… And political turmoil around the world

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stepped down, with parliament suspended until a new party leader is chosen. The Lebanese parliament elected an army chief backed by the US to be the country’s next president. And the Venezuelan opposition leader was arrested on the eve of the president’s inauguration, following a contentious 2024 election which is widely perceived as neither free nor fair.

Geopolitical tensions and other national tragedies

In DR Congo, Rwanda-backed rebels captured an important regional hub city, marking an escalation in the longstanding conflict between the rebels and the country’s government. DR Congo has cut diplomatic relations with Rwanda and has called for United Nations sanctions. In Gaza, a three-stage ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect. However, what comes next in Gaza remains unclear, as the Israeli government envisions no role for Hamas in a post-conflict Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority has little credibility among Gaza’s residents.

In Mozambique, at least 6,000 prisoners escaped from a high-security facility, one of four prisons breached as the country experiences civil unrest. And in South Africa, hundreds of miners were trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine, with over one hundred believed to have died of starvation or dehydration. Rescue operations were complicated by officials who, as part of a broader anti-illegal mining operation, blockaded the mine to force the miners out to face arrest.

Some good news from Asia

Finally, India successfully completed a space-docking for the first time. And Thailand became the third country in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise same-sex marriage.