2025

Events in 2025 179

• 1922 – 2025 Chen Ning Yang (1922-2025) Died 18 October 2025, aged 103 Chinese-born American theoretical physicist who shared the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics for showing that parity is violated in certain particle decays.
• 1924 – 2025 Murayama Tomiichi (1924-2025) Died 17 October 2025, aged 101 Japanese politician who from 1994 to 1996 was the first Socialist prime minister of Japan since 1948.
• 1926 – 2025 Peter Lax (1926-2025) Died 16 May 2025, aged 99 Hungarian-born American mathematician awarded the 2005 Abel Prize for his contributions to the theory and applications of partial differential equations.
• 1927 – 2025 Cleo Laine (1927-2025) Died 24 July 2025, aged 97 British singer and actress who mastered many styles but was known above all as the Queen of Jazz.
• 1927 – 2025 Yuri Grigorovich (1927-2025) Died 19 May 2025, aged 98 Russian dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995.
• 1928 – 2025 Martin E. Marty (1928-2025) Died 25 February 2025, aged 97 American historian of religion whose three-volume Modern American Religion traced religious currents in their wider cultural setting.
• 1928 – 2025 Jim Lovell (1928-2025) Died 7 August 2025, aged 97 American astronaut of the Gemini and Apollo programmes who commanded Apollo 13, bringing a crippled spacecraft home from the Moon in 1970.
• 1928 – 2025 James Watson (1928-2025) Died 6 November 2025, aged 97 American geneticist who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.
• 1928 – 2025 Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928-2025) Died 7 January 2025, aged 96 French nationalist who founded the National Front and led it from 1972 to 2011, the main right-wing opposition to France's mainstream conservatives for four decades.
• 1929 – 2025 Dick Button (1929-2025) Died 30 January 2025, aged 95 American figure skater who dominated the sport in the late 1940s and early 1950s and later became its best-known television analyst.
• 1929 – 2025 Frank Gehry (1929-2025) Died 5 December 2025, aged 96 Canadian-American architect whose sculptural, audacious buildings, among them the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Walt Disney Concert Hall, won worldwide renown.
• 1929 – 2025 Joan Plowright (1929-2025) Died 16 January 2025, aged 95 English actress who won a Tony for A Taste of Honey and an Oscar nomination for Enchanted April. She was married to Laurence Olivier from 1961 until his death.
• 1929 – 2025 Jules Feiffer (1929-2025) Died 17 January 2025, aged 95 American cartoonist and writer whose strip Feiffer was celebrated for its literate, satirical captions.
• 1929 – 2025 Sam Nujoma (1929-2025) Died 8 February 2025, aged 95 Leader of the SWAPO liberation movement and first president of independent Namibia, serving from 1990 to 2005.
• 1929 – 2025 Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1929-2025) Died 14 June 2025, aged 95 Nicaraguan newspaper publisher and politician who was president from 1990 to 1997, Central America's first woman head of state.
• 1930 – 2025 Gene Hackman -- the ordinary man in extraordinary roles Eugene Allen Hackman (30 January 1930 - c. 18 February 2025) was an American actor widely regarded as one of the greatest of his generation and a defining figure of the New Hollywood movement. Over a career spanning four decades and more than 100 films, he won two Academy Awards -- Best Actor for The French Connection (1971) and Best Supporting Actor for Unforgiven (1992) -- and received five Oscar nominations in total. He played detectives, villains, coaches, politicians and fathers with a naturalistic intensity that made him one of the most respected and versatile performers in American cinema. He retired from acting in 2004 and lived quietly in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa at their home in February 2025, aged 95.
• 1930 – 2025 Jennifer Johnston (1930-2025) Died 25 February 2025, aged 95 Irish novelist whose work explored political and cultural tension in Ireland, particularly among the Anglo-Irish.
• 1930 – 2025 Ion Iliescu (1930-2025) Died 5 August 2025, aged 95 Romanian politician who twice served as president of Romania, from 1990 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2004.
• 1930 – 2025 George E. Smith (1930-2025) Died 28 May 2025, aged 95 American physicist who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics for co-inventing the charge-coupled device, the sensor behind digital photography.
• 1930 – 2025 Theodore McCarrick (1930-2025) Died 3 April 2025, aged 94 Former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal, the first American prelate to resign from the College of Cardinals after allegations of sexual abuse.
• 1931 – 2025 Alfred Brendel (1931-2025) Died 17 June 2025, aged 94 Austrian pianist and writer whose recordings, especially of Beethoven, secured a reputation as one of the century's great interpreters.
• 1931 – 2025 Ivan Klima (1931-2025) Died 4 October 2025, aged 94 Czech author whose fiction and plays were banned for decades under communist rule.
• 1931 – 2025 Maurice Gee (1931-2025) Died 12 June 2025, aged 93 New Zealand novelist known for realist evocations of New Zealand life and for fantastical tales for young readers, notably the Plumb trilogy.
• 1931 – 2025 Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025) Died 13 March 2025, aged 93 Russian composer whose work fused Russian and Central Asian traditions with the Western classical tradition.
• 1932 – 2025 Athol Fugard (1932-2025) Died 8 March 2025, aged 92 South African playwright, actor and director known internationally for his unsparing analyses of society under apartheid.
• 1932 – 2025 Robert Benton (1932-2025) Died 11 May 2025, aged 92 American filmmaker who won Academy Awards for directing and adapting Kramer vs. Kramer and for the original screenplay of Places in the Heart.
• 1932 – 2025 Tom Robbins (1932-2025) Died 9 February 2025, aged 92 American novelist known for eccentric characters and playful wordplay in books such as Still Life with Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume.
• 1932 – 2025 John Searle (1932-2025) Died 17 September 2025, aged 93 American philosopher known for speech act theory and for the Chinese Room argument in the philosophy of mind.
• 1932 – 2025 Rainer Weiss (1932-2025) Died 25 August 2025, aged 92 German-born American physicist awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on LIGO and the first direct detection of gravitational waves.
• 1933 – 2025 John Gurdon (1933-2025) Died 7 October 2025, aged 92 British developmental biologist who shared the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work that laid the foundation for cloning and stem cell research.
• 1934 – 2025 Annette Dionne (1934-2025) Died 24 December 2025, aged 91 Canadian children's rights activist, the last surviving of the Dionne quintuplets, whose childhood exploitation eventually brought a settlement from the Ontario government.
• 1934 – 2025 Bob Uecker (1934-2025) Died 16 January 2025, aged 90 American baseball player turned Hall of Fame broadcaster, the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for more than fifty years and a comic actor in Major League.
• 1934 – 2025 Cecile Dionne (1934-2025) Died 28 July 2025, aged 91 Canadian woman, one of the Dionne quintuplets, the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy.
• 1934 – 2025 Giorgio Armani (1934-2025) Died 4 September 2025, aged 91 Italian fashion designer whose relaxed, luxurious tailoring brought ease and streamlined modernity to late twentieth-century dress.
• 1934 – 2025 Jane Goodall -- the woman who redefined our relationship with animals Dame Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall (3 April 1934 - 1 October 2025) was a British primatologist, ethologist and conservationist whose groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in Tanzania transformed scientific understanding of the relationship between humans and animals. Working without formal scientific training, she discovered that chimpanzees use tools, eat meat, and have complex social and emotional lives -- findings that challenged the very definition of what it means to be human. She spent the last three decades of her life as a tireless global advocate for conservation, animal welfare and environmental action. She died of natural causes aged 91 while on a speaking tour in California.
• 1934 – 2025 Alvin Poussaint (1934-2025) Died 24 February 2025, aged 90 American child psychiatrist who wrote on racial identity and health among African Americans and advised The Cosby Show.
• 1934 – 2025 Brigitte Bardot Cinema Icon Actress and fashion model who became a world-renowned sex symbol and later an animal rights activist.
• 1935 – 2025 D. Wayne Lukas (1935-2025) Died 28 June 2025, aged 89 American horse trainer whose runners won fifteen Triple Crown races and twenty Breeders' Cup events.
• 1935 – 2025 David Lodge (1935-2025) Died 1 January 2025, aged 89 English novelist and critic best known for his satires of academic life, above all the Campus trilogy.
• 1935 – 2025 Dharmendra (1935-2025) Died 24 November 2025, aged 89 Indian actor whose range and delivery made him one of Bollywood's reigning stars through the 1960s and 1970s, above all in Sholay.
• 1935 – 2025 Jimmy Swaggart (1935-2025) Died 1 July 2025, aged 90 American televangelist and gospel performer defrocked by the Assemblies of God in 1988 after a sex scandal.
• 1935 – 2025 Jose Mujica (1935-2025) Died 13 May 2025, aged 89 Uruguayan politician who was president from 2010 to 2015, having spent years imprisoned for his guerrilla activity with the Tupamaros. He became known worldwide for his austere personal life.
• 1936 – 2025 Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) Died 6 August 2025, aged 88 American pianist and bandleader who blended jazz piano with Latin American forms and helped shape the development of salsa.
• 1936 – 2025 Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-2025) Died 13 April 2025, aged 89 Peruvian novelist and essayist whose fiction carried a lifelong commitment to social change. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010.
• 1936 – 2025 Robert Redford (1936-2025) Died 16 September 2025, aged 89 American actor and director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Ordinary People, who founded the Sundance Institute and built the independent film movement in America.
• 1936 – 2025 Costas Simitis (1936-2025) Died 5 January 2025, aged 88 Greek legal scholar and politician who served as prime minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004.
• 1936 – 2025 Pope Francis (1936-2025) Died 21 April 2025, aged 88 Leader of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013, the first pope from South America and the first Jesuit, who brought reform and a reputation for humility to the papacy.
• 1937 – 2025 Connie Francis (1937-2025) Died 16 July 2025, aged 87 American singer whose recordings spanned country, rock and roll and traditional pop. In 1960 she became the first woman to top the Billboard singles chart.
• 1937 – 2025 Loretta Swit (1937-2025) Died 28 May 2025, aged 87 American actress best known as Major Margaret Houlihan in the television series M*A*S*H.
• 1937 – 2025 Roberta Flack (1937-2025) Died 24 February 2025, aged 88 American singer whose The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly with His Song both topped the charts in the early 1970s.
• 1937 – 2025 Sun Allah Ibrahim (1937-2025) Died 13 August 2025, aged 88 Egyptian novelist and social critic known for satires that mix realism with dark humour.
• 1937 – 2025 Tom Stoppard (1937-2025) Died 29 November 2025, aged 88 Czech-born British playwright of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Arcadia, whose verbal brilliance and structural daring reshaped English theatre. He co-wrote the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love.
• 1937 – 2025 Tony Harrison (1937-2025) Died 26 September 2025, aged 88 English poet, translator and dramatist whose work held the tension between a working-class background and the formal sophistication of verse.
• 1938 – 2025 Frederick Forsyth (1938-2025) Died 9 June 2025, aged 86 British thriller writer whose journalistic style and fast plots, from The Day of the Jackal onward, redefined the political thriller.
• 1938 – 2025 Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1938-2025) Died 28 May 2025, aged 87 Kenyan writer regarded as East Africa's leading novelist. Weep Not, Child was the first major English-language novel by an East African.
• 1938 – 2025 Peter Yarrow (1938-2025) Died 7 January 2025, aged 86 American singer of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, at the forefront of the 1960s folk revival.
• 1938 – 2025 David Baltimore (1938-2025) Died 6 September 2025, aged 87 American virologist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of reverse transcriptase.
• 1939 – 2025 Michael Longley (1939-2025) Died 22 January 2025, aged 85 Northern Irish poet called a custodian of griefs and wonders, best known for Ceasefire, written about the Troubles.
• 1939 – 2025 Robert A.M. Stern (1939-2025) Died 27 November 2025, aged 86 American architect whose postmodern work drew on a wide range of historical styles across houses, towers, universities and cultural buildings.
• 1940 – 2025 Edmund White (1940-2025) Died 3 June 2025, aged 85 American writer whose acclaimed work chronicled gay life in America and the impact of HIV/AIDS on it.
• 1940 – 2025 Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940-2025) Died 24 January 2025, aged 85 Native American artist whose paintings and prints used Modernist vocabularies to explore Native American history and identity.
• 1941 – 2025 Dag Solstad (1941-2025) Died 14 March 2025, aged 83 One of the most significant Norwegian writers to emerge in the 1960s, known as a literary provocateur.
• 1941 – 2025 Dick Cheney (1941-2025) Died 3 November 2025, aged 84 American politician who was the 46th vice president of the United States and, earlier, secretary of defense. As vice president he wielded exceptional power and divided opinion sharply.
• 1942 – 2025 Brian Wilson (1942-2025) Died 11 June 2025, aged 82 American songwriter and producer who co-founded the Beach Boys and, with Pet Sounds, expanded what a pop record could be.
• 1942 – 2025 Lou Gerstner (1942-2025) Died 27 December 2025, aged 83 American businessman who as chief executive from 1993 to 2002 turned around an ailing IBM, one of the most studied corporate revivals in business history.
• 1942 – 2025 Muhammadu Buhari (1942-2025) Died 13 July 2025, aged 82 Nigerian military leader who was head of state in 1984-85 and returned as a democratically elected president from 2015 to 2023.
• 1943 – 2025 Horst Kohler (1943-2025) Died 1 February 2025, aged 81 German economist who was managing director of the International Monetary Fund and then president of Germany from 2004 to 2010.
• 1944 – 2025 Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025) Died 24 November 2025, aged 81 Jamaican singer and songwriter who did more than almost anyone to bring reggae to a world audience, largely through The Harder They Come.
• 1944 – 2025 Paul Durcan (1944-2025) Died 17 May 2025, aged 80 Irish poet whose work set out to surprise the reader through surrealist eccentricity.
• 1944 – 2025 Sebastiao Salgado (1944-2025) Died 23 May 2025, aged 81 Brazilian photojournalist whose black-and-white work documented the beauty and destruction of the planet and the lives of the world's poorest.
• 1944 – 2025 Shibu Soren (1944-2025) Died 4 August 2025, aged 81 Indian politician who co-founded the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and served three terms as chief minister of Jharkhand.
• 1945 – 2025 Raila Odinga (1945-2025) Died 15 October 2025, aged 80 Kenyan businessman and politician who served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 and was a central figure in Kenyan politics for decades.
• 1946 – 2025 David Lynch -- filmmaker, painter, surrealist David Keith Lynch (20 January 1946 - 15 January 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor whose surrealist vision of America made him one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. In a career spanning more than fifty years he directed only ten feature films, but among them were works -- Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive -- widely regarded as masterpieces. He co-created Twin Peaks with Mark Frost, transforming American television. His distinctive style gave rise to the adjective 'Lynchian', denoting a quality of uncanny menace beneath surfaces of normality. He received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, the Palme d''Or at Cannes, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. A lifelong smoker, he died of cardiac arrest caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, five days before his 79th birthday.
• 1946 – 2025 Diane Keaton (1946-2025) Died 11 October 2025, aged 79 American actress and director who won an Academy Award for Annie Hall and moved from quirky comedy to some of the most respected dramatic work of her generation.
• 1946 – 2025 Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025) Died 30 January 2025, aged 78 British singer and actress, a defining figure of 1960s London who overcame addiction to make some of the most candid records of her generation.
• 1946 – 2025 Khaleda Zia (1946-2025) Died 30 December 2025, aged 80 Bangladeshi politician who served as prime minister in 1991-96 and 2001-06, the first woman to hold the office in Bangladesh.
• 1947 – 2025 Mark Volman (1947-2025) Died 5 September 2025, aged 78 American singer with the 1960s pop band the Turtles, best known for Happy Together.
• 1947 – 2025 Rob Reiner (1947-2025) Died 14 December 2025, aged 78 American actor and director, Michael Stivic in All in the Family and the director of This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally. He and his wife Michele died in a violent attack at their home.
• 1947 – 2025 Assata Shakur (1947-2025) Died 25 September 2025, aged 78 American activist and Black Liberation Army member sentenced to life for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper. She escaped prison in 1979 and was granted asylum in Cuba in 1984.
• 1948 – 2025 Ozzy Osbourne -- the Prince of Darkness John Michael 'Ozzy' Osbourne (3 December 1948 - 22 July 2025) was an English singer, songwriter and media personality who co-founded Black Sabbath and helped create heavy metal music. His wailing vocals on songs like Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs defined the genre, while his solo career produced further classics including Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley. His drug-fuelled exploits, outrageous stage antics and later reinvention as a reality television star made him one of the most recognisable figures in popular culture. He sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, he performed a final reunion show with Black Sabbath in Birmingham on 5 July 2025 and died seventeen days later, aged 76.
• 1949 – 2025 George Foreman (1949-2025) Died 21 March 2025, aged 76 American boxer who was twice world heavyweight champion, twenty years apart, and later lent his name to a wildly successful home grill.
• 1949 – 2025 Marc Garneau (1949-2025) Died 4 June 2025, aged 76 Canadian naval officer, astronaut and politician, the first Canadian citizen to travel into space in 1984.
• 1950 – 2025 David Johansen (1950-2025) Died 28 February 2025, aged 75 American singer of the New York Dolls, the glam rock band that revitalised the New York underground and prefigured punk.
• 1950 – 2025 Formula 1 World Champions Every World Drivers' Champion since 1950 A year-by-year record of every Formula One World Drivers' Champion from the inaugural 1950 season to the present day. The championship has been won by 35 different drivers from 15 countries, with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton sharing the record of seven titles each. The sport has evolved from gentleman amateurs racing on public roads to a global spectacle watched by hundreds of millions, but the title of World Champion remains the ultimate prize in motorsport.
• 1951 – 2025 Ace Frehley (1951-2025) Died 16 October 2025, aged 74 American musician, the original guitarist for Kiss, among the most influential and best-selling rock groups of the 1970s.
• 1951 – 2025 Chris Jasper (1951-2025) Died 23 February 2025, aged 73 American musician with the Isley Brothers, whose hits included Shout, It's Your Thing and That Lady.
• 1953 – 2025 Hulk Hogan (1953-2025) Died 24 July 2025, aged 71 American professional wrestler whose 1980s popularity sparked Hulkamania and drove the rise of what became World Wrestling Entertainment.
• 1957 – 2025 Cecile Richards (1957-2025) Died 20 January 2025, aged 67 American activist who led the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 2006 to 2018.
• 1959 – 2025 Ryne Sandberg (1959-2025) Died 28 July 2025, aged 65 American baseball player, second baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1982 to 1997 and a Hall of Fame inductee in 2005.
• 1959 – 2025 Val Kilmer -- the intense, transformative actor Val Edward Kilmer (31 December 1959 - 1 April 2025) was an American actor known for his intense, immersive performances and his willingness to disappear completely into roles. The youngest student ever admitted to the Juilliard School drama division, he became a major star through Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone and Batman Forever before his reputation for difficult on-set behaviour and his refusal to compromise artistically led to a gradual retreat from mainstream Hollywood. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, he lost the ability to speak clearly but continued working, documenting his life in a celebrated 2021 documentary. He died of pneumonia in Los Angeles at 65.
• 1959 – 2025 Mauricio Funes (1959-2025) Died 21 January 2025, aged 65 Salvadoran television journalist who served as president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014.
• 1968 – 2025 Black Sabbath English heavy metal band Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward — the Birmingham band that created heavy metal.
• 1969 – 2025 Felix Baumgartner (1969-2025) Died 17 July 2025, aged 56 Austrian skydiver who in 2012 jumped from a balloon at 39,000 metres, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier unaided.
• 1970 – 2025 Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970-2025) Died 20 July 2025, aged 54 American actor, director and musician best known for The Cosby Show, one of the most popular sitcoms in television history.
• 1975 – 2025 Mia Love (1975-2025) Died 23 March 2025, aged 49 American politician from Utah who served in the House of Representatives, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress.
• 1990 – 2025 Tatiana Schlossberg (1990-2025) Died 30 December 2025, aged 35 American environmental journalist, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy. She died of a rare form of leukaemia.
• 1993 – 2025 Charlie Kirk (1993-2025) Died 10 September 2025, aged 31 American conservative activist and media personality who founded Turning Point USA and was a key ally of President Donald Trump. He was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University.
• 1996 – 2025 Diogo Jota -- Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva, known as Diogo Jota (4 December 1996 - 3 July 2025), was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a forward for Liverpool and the Portugal national team. Known for his intelligent movement, clinical finishing and tireless work rate, he scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup. He won 49 caps for Portugal and was part of two UEFA Nations League-winning squads. He died at 28 in a car accident in Spain alongside his brother Andre, just two weeks after his wedding.
• 2001 – 2025 Oscar Best Picture Winners 2001–2025 The Academy's top film of each year Twenty-five years of Best Picture winners, from A Beautiful Mind to One Battle After Another — blockbusters, silent films, a Korean thriller and a streaming first.
• 2025 One Battle After Another Best Picture — 98th Academy Awards Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's Vineland, winner of six Oscars.
• 2025 Wildfires devastate the Los Angeles area Among the costliest disasters in US history Wildfires erupted around Los Angeles on 7 January 2025 and burned for a month, hitting Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon hardest. Thirty people were killed and damage was estimated at $76-131 billion.
• 2025 Donald Trump inaugurated for a second term The oldest person ever to win the office Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States on 20 January 2025, only the second president to serve two non-consecutive terms and, at 78, the oldest ever elected.
• 2025 Onyx Storm breaks adult fiction sales records 2.7 million copies in its first week Rebecca Yarros published Onyx Storm, the third book in her Empyrean series, on 21 January 2025. It sold more than 2.7 million copies in a week, the fastest-selling adult fiction title in twenty years.
• 2025 Thailand legalises same-sex marriage A first in Southeast Asia Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage on 23 January 2025.
• 2025 Ne Zha 2 becomes the highest-grossing film of the year A Chinese animation tops the global box office The animated film Ne Zha 2 was released in China on 29 January 2025 and went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year.
• 2025 Stampede at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj At least thirty killed during the Hindu festival At least 30 people were killed in a stampede at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on 29 January 2025.
• 2025 Beyonce wins her first album of the year Grammy A record-extending 35 awards Beyonce won three Grammys on 2 February 2025, including her first album of the year award for Cowboy Carter, extending her record career total to 35. She was also the first Black woman to win best country album.
• 2025 United States opens a trade war with China An additional ten percent tariff on Chinese goods On 4 February 2025 the United States began imposing an additional ten percent tariff on Chinese goods, opening a trade war that later widened to tariffs on many other countries.
• 2025 Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LIX A 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 on 9 February 2025 to win the Super Bowl.
• 2025 Anora wins five Oscars including best picture Mikey Madison and Sean Baker take the top awards At the 97th Academy Awards on 2 March 2025, Anora won five Oscars including best picture, best actress for Mikey Madison and best director for Sean Baker. Adrien Brody won best actor, Zoe Saldana best supporting actress and Kieran Culkin best supporting actor.
• 2025 Blue Ghost makes the first commercial soft landing on the Moon Firefly Aerospace succeeds where others failed Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander touched down safely on the Moon on 2 March 2025, the first commercial lunar lander to achieve a soft landing.
• 2025 A Minecraft Movie Top film of early 2025 Directed by Jared Hess, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa. A live-action/animated adventure based on the popular video game.
• 2025 A colossal squid is filmed alive for the first time A juvenile at 600 metres in the South Atlantic On 9 March 2025 researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute filmed a colossal squid in its natural habitat for the first confirmed time -- a 30-centimetre juvenile at a depth of about 600 metres in the South Atlantic.
• 2025 Mark Carney becomes prime minister of Canada A former central banker takes office Mark Carney of the Liberal Party was sworn in as prime minister of Canada on 14 March 2025. He had previously been the first non-British person to head the Bank of England.
• 2025 Kilmar Abrego Garcia is wrongfully deported A legal battle over removal to El Salvador The United States deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia on 15 March 2025 despite federal protection against his removal. The wrongful deportation triggered a prolonged legal battle and he was eventually returned to the United States.
• 2025 Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore return after 286 days A week-long mission that lasted nine months Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore returned to Earth on 18 March 2025 after 286 days in space. Their planned week-long stay at the International Space Station was extended when the Boeing Starliner suffered mechanical problems.
• 2025 Boeing wins NGAD — the F-47 US sixth-generation fighter The US Air Force picks Boeing to build its Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, designated F-47, to succeed the F-22.
• 2025 Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah becomes Namibia's first woman president Sworn in on independence day Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as president of Namibia on 21 March 2025, the first woman to hold the office.
• 2025 Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Myanmar More than 3,600 killed A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar on 28 March 2025, killing more than 3,600 people and injuring thousands more.
• 2025 2025 World Snooker Championship The Most Recent Edition Winner: Mark Williams; Runner-up: Ali Carter. Score: 18–14.
• 2025 Friedrich Merz becomes chancellor of Germany Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2022 Friedrich Merz became chancellor of Germany on 6 May 2025, having led the Christian Democratic Union since 2022.
• 2025 India and Pakistan exchange missile strikes A four-day escalation ended by ceasefire India launched missile strikes on bases in Pakistan on 7 May 2025, prompting exchanges from both sides. The conflict followed an attack on tourists near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April that killed 26 people. A ceasefire was agreed on 10 May.
• 2025 Leo XIV elected the first American pope Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost takes the name Leo Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope on 8 May 2025 and took the name Leo XIV, the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
• 2025 FDA approves the first at-home cervical cancer test Screening without a clinic visit The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first in-home cervical cancer test on 9 May 2025.
• 2025 Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Latest blockbuster 2025 Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, starring Tom Cruise. The conclusion of the Mission: Impossible saga.
• 2025 French Open 2025 Men: Carlos Alcaraz · Women: Coco Gauff Alcaraz defeated Sinner in an epic five-set final. Coco Gauff won her first French Open, becoming the first American women's champion in 10 years.
• 2025 The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson dies Aged 82 The band's creative leader dies.
• 2025 Air India flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad One survivor from 242 on board Air India flight 171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on 12 June 2025. Only one of the 242 people on board survived, and between 19 and 33 people were reported killed on the ground.
• 2025 No Kings protests draw millions across the United States Five million in June, nearly seven million in October Demonstrations against President Donald Trump, known as the No Kings protests, were held across the United States and abroad on 14 June 2025, drawing more than five million participants. A second wave on 18 October drew almost seven million.
• 2025 Florida Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup Six games over the Edmonton Oilers The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in six games on 17 June 2025 to win their second straight Stanley Cup.
• 2025 KPop Demon Hunters becomes Netflix's most-watched film Number one within two months of release KPop Demon Hunters began streaming on Netflix on 20 June 2025 and within two months became the most-watched film in the platform's history. The animated musical follows a K-pop trio who are secretly demon hunters.
• 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA Finals A first title since relocating from Seattle The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers in game seven on 22 June 2025 for their first championship since the franchise moved from Seattle.
• 2025 United States strikes Iranian nuclear sites Bunker-buster bombs during the Twelve-Day War During the Israel-Iran conflict, the US military struck Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs on 22 June 2025. The extent of the damage was disputed, and Israel and Iran agreed a ceasefire two days later.
• 2025 Vera C. Rubin Observatory releases its first images A telescope that photographs the entire visible sky The first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released publicly on 23 June 2025. The observatory photographs the entire visible sky on a repeating survey.
• 2025 Axiom Mission 4 launches to the space station Thirty-one countries represented in the science programme Axiom Mission 4 launched to the International Space Station on 25 June 2025 under commander Peggy Whitson, with Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. Shukla became the second Indian national in space. The mission returned on 15 July.
• 2025 Anna Wintour steps down as editor of American Vogue After thirty-seven years in the post Anna Wintour announced on 26 June 2025 that she was stepping down as editor in chief of American Vogue after some 37 years, while remaining the magazine's global editorial director.
• 2025 Wimbledon 2025 Men: Jannik Sinner · Women: Iga Świątek Sinner won his first Wimbledon, ending Alcaraz's reign. Świątek won the women's title 6-0, 6-0 — a historic double bagel, Poland's first Wimbledon champion.
• 2025 BTS reunite after military service A world tour and album announced for 2026 The members of BTS reunited on 1 July 2025 after completing mandatory military service, announcing a world tour and new album for 2026.
• 2025 Comet 3I/ATLAS discovered Possibly the oldest comet ever observed The ATLAS survey telescope discovered Comet 3I/ATLAS on 1 July 2025, an interstellar object thought to be possibly the oldest known comet.
• 2025 USAID is shuttered An agency founded in 1961 closed down The US Agency for International Development was closed on 1 July 2025 after being targeted by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency. Founded in 1961, it had worked in more than 100 countries.
• 2025 The Dalai Lama confirms he will reincarnate Sole authority for the succession given to his own trust The 14th Dalai Lama announced on 2 July 2025 that he would reincarnate, confirming there would be a 15th Dalai Lama, and granted his own institutional trust sole authority to identify his successor.
• 2025 Flash floods devastate central Texas At least 135 killed, including campers at Camp Mystic Extreme rainfall caused deadly flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas between 4 and 7 July 2025. At least 135 people were killed, among them 27 campers and staff from Camp Mystic, with damage estimated at $18-22 billion.
• 2025 Black Sabbath's farewell concert Back to the Beginning Villa Park A last reunion of the original four in Birmingham.
• 2025 Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne dies Aged 76 Dies weeks after the farewell concert.
• 2025 NISAR satellite launched by NASA and ISRO The first radar satellite using dual microwave frequencies NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation launched NISAR on 30 July 2025, the first satellite to use dual microwave frequencies for radar observation of changes in the Earth's surface.
• 2025 OpenAI releases ChatGPT-5 A step change in reasoning and autonomy OpenAI released ChatGPT-5 on 7 August 2025, described as a major advance in reasoning and autonomy, amid a year of rapid progress in artificial intelligence.
• 2025 National Guard deployed to Washington DC A contested federal intervention in the capital President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, DC, on 11 August 2025. Mayor Muriel Bowser opposed the move, noting that crime was down on previous years.
• 2025 Sholay turns fifty Bollywood's most iconic film at half a century Sholay, widely regarded as the most iconic film in Bollywood history, marked the 50th anniversary of its release on 15 August 2025.
• 2025 Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce their engagement Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Instagram on 26 August 2025.
• 2025 United States begins lethal strikes on Venezuelan vessels Boats in and near Venezuelan waters targeted On 2 September 2025 the US military carried out the first of a series of lethal strikes on small civilian boats in or near Venezuelan waters, justified by the government as counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operations.
• 2025 Carlo Acutis canonised as the first millennial saint Also called the patron saint of the Internet Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia at fifteen, was canonised by Pope Leo XIV on 7 September 2025. Venerated as the first millennial saint, he is also known as the patron saint of the Internet.
• 2025 Gen Z protests topple Nepal's government A social media ban ignites a political crisis The most dramatic of 2025's Gen Z protests began in Nepal on 8 September when thousands of students protested against a sweeping social media ban. The uprising created a political crisis and led to the ouster of the prime minister.
• 2025 Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah Valley University Shot while speaking at an outdoor event Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on 10 September 2025 while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
• 2025 Ousmane Dembele wins the Ballon d'Or Aitana Bonmati takes a third consecutive women's award Ousmane Dembele of France received his first Ballon d'Or on 22 September 2025. Aitana Bonmati of Spain won the women's award for the third year running.
• 2025 Jimmy Kimmel Live returns after suspension Six days off air following comments about the Kirk shooting Jimmy Kimmel Live returned to the air on 23 September 2025, six days after ABC took the show off indefinitely following comments the host made about the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination.
• 2025 Sarah Mullally appointed the first female Archbishop of Canterbury Installation set for March 2026 Sarah Mullally was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury on 3 October 2025, the first woman to hold the senior post in the Anglican Communion. Her installation followed on 25 March 2026.
• 2025 Sean Combs sentenced to fifty months Convicted on two transportation charges Sean Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison on 3 October 2025, having been convicted earlier in the year on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
• 2025 Ceasefire takes effect in the Israel-Hamas War An uneasy pause after two years of fighting A ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hamas War on 10 October 2025, some two years after Hamas launched its assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The intervening war caused widespread destruction in Gaza and tens of thousands of deaths.
• 2025 Thieves steal nine jewels from the Louvre A heist that took less than ten minutes A team of thieves broke into the Louvre on 19 October 2025 and stole nine pieces of nineteenth-century jewellery, using a truck-mounted ladder, power tools and motorbikes. Suspects were charged within weeks but the jewels were not recovered.
• 2025 Demolition begins on the White House East Wing To be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom Demolition of the White House East Wing began on 20 October 2025 as part of President Donald Trump's renovations, to be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The Rose Garden lawn had been paved over earlier in the year.
• 2025 Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan's first woman prime minister Head of the Liberal-Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi became prime minister of Japan on 21 October 2025, the first woman to hold the office. A hard-line conservative, she leads the Liberal-Democratic Party.
• 2025 NBA betting scandal breaks Indictments of Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier An NBA betting and gambling scandal broke on 23 October 2025 with the indictment of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
• 2025 Grand Egyptian Museum officially opens The largest archaeological museum in the world The Grand Egyptian Museum held its official opening ceremony on 1 November 2025. It is the largest archaeological museum in the world and holds the most extensive collection of objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun.
• 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers repeat as World Series champions A seven-game series over the Toronto Blue Jays The Los Angeles Dodgers, led by Shohei Ohtani, beat the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games on 1 November 2025 to repeat as World Series champions.
• 2025 India wins its first Women's Cricket World Cup A first world title for the team India won the Women's Cricket World Cup for the first time on 2 November 2025.
• 2025 Typhoon Kalmaegi kills more than 200 Landfall in the Philippines, then Vietnam and Thailand Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in the Philippines on 4 November 2025 and went on to strike Vietnam and Thailand, killing more than 200 people, most of them in the Philippines.
• 2025 Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York City A campaign built on affordability Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on 4 November 2025. A little-known state assembly member when he launched his campaign, he defeated far better-known candidates on a promise to make the city more affordable.
• 2025 Car blast near the Red Fort in Old Delhi More than ten killed A powerful car blast near the Red Fort in Old Delhi on 10 November 2025 killed more than ten people, injured twenty and badly damaged surrounding infrastructure.
• 2025 Longest US government shutdown ends after 43 days A deal reopening and funding the government The longest government shutdown in United States history ended on 12 November 2025 after 43 days. The deal included a Senate vote on Affordable Care Act tax credits, full back pay for furloughed workers, and funding for some agencies through September 2026.
• 2025 The last United States penny is minted A coin produced since 1793 discontinued The last penny was minted in the United States on 12 November 2025. First produced in 1793, the coin had become more expensive to make than its face value, with some 250 billion still in circulation.
• 2025 Frida Kahlo painting sets a record for a woman artist El sueno sells for $54.7 million Frida Kahlo's El sueno (La cama), painted in 1940, sold for $54.7 million on 20 November 2025, the most expensive artwork by a woman ever sold at auction.
• 2025 Legislation orders release of the Epstein files Thousands of pages from two criminal investigations President Donald Trump signed legislation on 20 November 2025 ordering the release of the Epstein files, thousands of pages relating to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein.
• 2025 Hayli Gubbi erupts for the first time in 12,000 years An Ethiopian volcano with no recorded eruption The Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia erupted on 23 November 2025, its first documented eruption in roughly 12,000 years.
• 2025 Hong Kong apartment fire kills more than 150 A blaze that burned for over forty hours A fire broke out in a Hong Kong apartment complex on 26 November 2025 and burned for more than forty hours, killing over 150 people. Substandard construction materials were believed to have fuelled the blaze.
• 2025 Tesla shareholders approve a $1 trillion package for Elon Musk One of the largest in corporate history Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package worth up to $1 trillion for CEO Elon Musk on 26 November 2025, contingent on a decade of ambitious financial and operational targets.
• 2025 Inter Miami win their first MLS Cup Lionel Messi lifts the trophy Inter Miami CF, led by Lionel Messi, won the club's first Major League Soccer Cup on 6 December 2025.
• 2025 Australia bans social media for under-sixteens Ten platforms covered by the new law A social media ban for those under sixteen took effect in Australia on 10 December 2025, covering ten sites including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.
• 2025 Bondi Beach shooting The deadliest terrorist attack in Australian history A father and son opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney on 14 December 2025, killing 15 people and injuring more than 40. One gunman was fatally shot by police. It was the deadliest terrorist incident in Australia's history.
• 2025 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth Two and a half centuries since 1775 The 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth was marked on 16 December 2025.