Donald Trump met with his predecessor Joe Biden on Jan. 20, before being sworn in for a second term as president at age 78.
He returned to the White House with the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) agenda he pursued in his first term. In his inaugural address as the 47th U.S. president, he pledged to deliver “the greatest four years” for the country.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, brought his son into the Oval Office on Feb. 11.
After spending about $294 million backing Trump’s 2024 campaign, Musk was selected by the U.S. president to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a special government employee tasked with streamlining the bureaucracy and cutting wasteful spending.
Musk later left the Trump administration due to policy disagreements. The two have spoken again recently, though it’s unclear whether their relationship remains as close as before.
World leaders and officials attended Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican on April 26. Francis died at 88 on the morning of April 21 at his residence in the Vatican.
Leaders praised him as warm-hearted and as someone who brought joy and hope to the poorest. His influence extended beyond the Catholic Church thanks to his humility and pure devotion to the vulnerable.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, later elected pope as Leo XIV, was chosen as Francis’s successor. He is from Chicago, Illinois, and became the 267th pope and the first American pope in history.
A Ukrainian mobile air-defense team mounted on a truck fires at a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on July 19, responding to a large-scale attack by Moscow.
The Russia–Ukraine war has dragged on, with no sign of cooling. Hopes for ending the conflict rose early this year after U.S. President Donald Trump took office and pledged to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
However, after numerous high-level meetings and discussions, Russia and Ukraine still have not found common ground.
An aerial photo taken on July 30 shows the Gaza Strip devastated after nearly two years of conflict.
Seen from above, war correspondents described Gaza as resembling “the ruins of an ancient civilization, newly discovered after centuries in darkness,” with shattered concrete, collapsed walls, and neighborhoods pocked with bomb craters.
Less than two years earlier, the area was still lively, with packed markets and streets filled with children’s voices. The scene now “looks like a land that has been through an apocalypse.”
A ceasefire between the Israeli military and Hamas brought Gaza a precious pause in gunfire, but maintaining it and rebuilding the area remain major challenges.
Smoke rises from Singha Durbar Palace in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Sept. 9, as protesters took to the streets against a social media ban and demanded the government’s dissolution, forcing Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and several cabinet officials to resign.
At least 72 people were reported killed and 191 injured during the riots, marking the most serious instability since Nepal ended its civil war and monarchy in 2008.
The protests lasted only a few days but caused about 25 billion rupees ($266 million) in damage, destroying many structures and potentially taking years to rebuild.
A man screams because his wife is trapped in the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Nov. 26.
The blaze broke out that afternoon and was extinguished about 40 hours later. Flames gutted seven of the eight buildings, killing 161, injuring hundreds, and leaving nearly 5,000 people homeless.
It was Hong Kong’s worst fire in more than 70 years. Police arrested 14 people on charges including manslaughter and fire-safety violations linked to renovation and maintenance work at the complex.
A woman and her small child cry outside a federal building in New York after her husband was detained by ICE agents on Aug. 20, a scene that reportedly moved even security staff to tears.
Intensifying arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants has been a top priority of the Trump administration. This month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it had set records with more than 2.5 million undocumented immigrants leaving the U.S. since Jan. 20, including 605,000 deported and 1.9 million who left voluntarily; DHS added it had arrested 595,000 undocumented immigrants since Trump took office.
Protesters demonstrate against Trump on June 14.
The “No Kings” protests targeting the Trump administration began in June, opposing his policies, especially the immigration crackdown.
The protests drew millions of participants and continued in multiple waves through the end of the year.
Police stand at the scene of a passenger plane that crashed into a residential area in India on June 12.
An Air India Boeing 787 carrying 242 people crashed into a residential area shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing 260 people in total, 241 on board and 19 on the ground, with only one British passenger surviving.
Investigators said the fuel control switches feeding both engines were flipped from “run” to “cutoff” one second apart, just seconds after liftoff, causing the engines to lose thrust. In cockpit audio, one pilot asked why the other had cut fuel; the other replied that he had not.
Rescue workers respond at the site of a building collapse in Thailand on March 28, triggered by an earthquake.
A magnitude-7.7 quake in central Myanmar shook the region, with tremors felt in several neighboring countries including Thailand. Many areas of Thailand suffered significant damage: a more than 30-story building under construction in Bangkok collapsed, and numerous other structures developed cracked walls. Thailand initially recorded at least 18 deaths, with many injured and missing.
People mourn victims of the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 16.
A father and son, Sajid and Naveed Akram, were accused of opening fire at Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on the evening of Dec. 14, killing 15 people. Sajid, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed, 24, was critically wounded; he later came out of a coma and began being questioned.
Naveed faces 59 charges, including terrorism, murder, and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. Australia continues to investigate potential links between the attack and ISIS; authorities said they found an improvised explosive device and two ISIS flags in the suspect’s car.
