2023's Pivotal Moments: From White House Shifts to Vatican Milestones

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From the Vatican to the streets of Los Angeles, 2025 was shaped by moments that shifted power, tested institutions and redrew global fault lines.

A ceasefire in Gaza, the return of tariffs to the centre of United States politics, a devastating wildfire and the loss of a pope together defined a year of upheaval — with Donald Trump’s influence casting a long shadow across much of it.

The year 2025 unfolded with significant global events that left a lasting impact on the world stage:

In a surprising twist, Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency, immediately influencing international policies and discussions with his characteristic flair and provocative style.

The year opened with a historic address by US President Donald Trump, who rode back into power on a wave of voter dissatisfaction with the status quo.

After swearing his oath, Trump delivered his second inaugural address. He told the nation: “The golden age of America begins right now.”

In the Middle East, Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 70,000 Palestinians, as reported by Palestinian health officials. The campaign devastated the region, leading to a dire humanitarian situation with critical shortages of essentials such as food, clean water, and secure housing.

Days later, on 2 April, Trump announced what he dubbed “Liberation Day” tariffs, sending tremors through global financial markets.

He said the move will make America wealthy again, but economists at the time warned prices could rise for Americans, and fears of a global trade war have grown.

“I always say tariffs are the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary because tariffs are going to make us rich as hell, it’s gonna bring our country’s businesses back that left us,” Trump said in his speech.

The sweeping tariffs ignited fears of trade wars with allies and geopolitical rivals alike, but it was the tit-for-tat trade war with China that threatened to destabilise the global economy.

The US imposed tariffs of 145 per cent on Chinese goods, prompting China to retaliate with 125 per cent tariffs of its own, pushing the two nations into an economic war.

An uneasy truce between the world’s two largest economies was reached in June, but Trump reignited the conflict in October by announcing additional levies of 100 per cent on Chinese imports.

By the end of October, Trump had signed a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping, reducing proposed tariffs on Chinese exports to 47 per cent and securing expanded US access to Chinese rare-earth minerals.

TUNE IN TO

In 2025, it was not only trade wars that intensified.

The world also became less peaceful for the 13th time in the past 17 years, with the average level of country peacefulness deteriorating by 0.36 per cent compared with the previous year, according to the 2025 Global Peace Index (GPI) from the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Global militarisation continued to deepen over the year. Average military expenditure as a share of Gross Domestic Product reached its highest level since 2010, rising by 2.5 per cent. The GPI recorded a sharp rise in violent conflict, with 59 state-based conflicts documented in 2023 — the highest number since the end of World War Two and three more than in 2024.

The most notable deterioration in peacefulness stemmed from the Israel-Hamas war, which also destabilised the wider region, drawing in Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen to varying degrees.

After two years of devastation in the Gaza Strip, the first phase of a ceasefire deal proposed by Trump came into effect on 10 October, bringing the two-year war to a halt. In the days that followed, however, both the Israeli government and Hamas accused each other of breaching the agreement.

“We ended the war in Gaza and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace,” Trump said at the time.

“I think it’s gonna be a lasting peace, hopefully an everlasting peace. Peace in the Middle East. We secured the release of all remaining hostages.”

Negotiations are now centred on moving into the second phase of the deal, which involves a permanent ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal, and setting up a governing authority for Gaza. Progress has remained difficult, slowed by unresolved disputes over the disarmament of Hamas and the future administration of the territory.

INTERVIEW: Inside Sudan’s deepening humanitarian crisis

In Sudan, the ongoing conflict has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 individuals and displaced approximately 12 million people. This catastrophic situation has prompted the United Nations to label Sudan as the epicenter of the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis.

Sudan’s civil war has become one of the most severe conflict-driven humanitarian crises in recent history, with grim scenes continuing into 2025.

In October, Reena Ghelani, CEO of Plan International, told SBS News from Sudan: “There’s extreme violence against children and girls in particular. There’s a lot of sexual violence to the point where people are saying it’s a weapon of war.”

“People are fleeing for safety, so they’re displaced within the country.”

Earlier this month, Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), calling on members to stand “on the right side of history” by backing the initiative, as fighting continues in Kordofan and North Kordofan states.

But US ambassador to the UN Jeffrey Bartos presented a different proposal at the UNSC, urging the Sudanese army and the RSF to accept an alternative plan for a humanitarian truce, pushed by the US and key mediators Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — known as the Quad — as the path forward.

The war erupted in April 2023 following a violent power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo.

Human rights organisations have accused both sides of committing war crimes, allegations that both deny.

More than 150,000 people have been killed across the country, and around 12 million have been forced from their homes, prompting the United Nations to declare Sudan the site of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Trump and Zelenskyy Oval Office moment

Ukraine endured another deadly year of war, with fighting continuing on both sides as Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged attacks and sought territorial and strategic gains.

The UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported 12,062 civilian casualties in the first 10 months of 2025, a 27 per cent rise compared with 2024.

When the two leaders met in the Oval Office in late February, tensions quickly surfaced as Trump and US vice president JD Vance repeatedly criticised Zelenskyy during the talks — an encounter widely viewed as a turning point in global diplomacy in 2025.

Of protests, power and political upheaval

In countries including Mongolia, Morocco, Madagascar, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste, young people, often organising under the banner of the “gen Z protests,” mobilised to demand political reform, with some movements challenging governments and calling for systemic change.

Among these, Nepal’s September movement drew particular international attention. Sparked by a ban on social media and widespread allegations of government corruption, the protests quickly escalated in the capital, Kathmandu.

Large groups of mostly young protesters took to the streets. During the unrest, government buildings were targeted, and some high-profile officials’ residences were attacked.

According to a UN-backed autopsy report, at least 72 people died, including 34 from gunshot wounds.

The protests led to significant political consequences: the social media ban was lifted, Prime Minister KP Oli resigned, and the House of Representatives was dissolved within days.

Nishchhal Kharal, a Nepali international student in Australia who founded a grassroots organisation involved in the movement, told SBS News:

“I have a fear that the country might go back to this loop of instability, but on the other side, the people have spoken.”

Nepal’s next chapter is expected to unfold with an early general election scheduled for March 2026.

A historic transition at the Vatican

In April 2025, the world turned its eyes to the Vatican once more.

His death sent shockwaves through the global Catholic community of 1.4 billion, drawing hundreds of thousands of mourners from around the world to pay their respects at St. Peter’s Basilica.

White smoke is coming out from the Sistine Chapel.

After two days of deliberation in the papal conclave, white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, signalling the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope. Source: AAP / Valeria Ferraro / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

After two days of deliberation in the papal conclave, white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, signalling the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope, now known as Pope Leo XIV.

A year of disasters and climate warnings

2025 started with a devastating natural disaster and ended with urgent warnings about the worsening climate crisis.

More than 7,500 firefighters and prisoners, aided by helicopters, worked to contain the deadly blazes. The fires burned over 23,000 hectares, destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures, claimed 31 lives and led to an estimated 440 additional indirect deaths, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA.

The fires were not the only disasters of the year.

Sweeping through the Caribbean, it killed at least 96 people and displaced tens of thousands in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti.

The year closed with the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. UN secretary-general António Guterres warned of more “heat and hunger, more disasters and displacements, and a higher risk of crossing climate tipping points”.

“Communities on the front lines are watching too and asking how much more must we suffer. They have heard enough excuses; they demand results.”