One Piece of News From Every Country in the World

Wendover Productions

0:00 Between the new administration in Washington, the rise of AI,

0:03 and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, news headlines in 2025 have been clogged

0:07 with just a few huge persistent stories.

0:10 But, plenty more was going on hidden behind the headlines.

0:13 So, today, for our last video of the year,

0:15 we're going to cover one piece of news from each of the 193 UN member states,

0:20 starting here in the Middle East.

0:23 Saudi Arabia sent a $368 million aid package to Yemen,

0:28 a sum meant to build financial stability and pay for aid

0:31 as Yemen continues to struggle through a now decade-long war,

0:34 perpetuating one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet.

0:38 In 2014, an Iran-backed rebel group of Houthis overthrew the government,

0:42 and the Saudis led an opposition coalition since they

0:44 viewed the conflict as a proxy fight with Iran.

0:47 This year's a large contribution to Yemen

0:49 demonstrates their continued commitment to that fight.

0:52 Like all oil-producing countries along the Persian Gulf,

0:55 Oman's authoritarian structure allowed the ruling party

0:57 to reap disproportionate financial benefits from fossil

1:00 fuel sales and distribute profits less evenly

1:03 in the form of subsidies to its residents.

1:05 But, as the future of oil becomes

1:06 less stable and countries look to diversify revenue,

1:09 one of the options is taxation.

1:11 Oman became the first country in this area to institute an income tax this year,

1:15 and though it's just 5% and applies only

1:17 to those making more than $109,000 a year,

1:20 the country's neighbors are closely watching,

1:22 wondering if authoritarianism can survive taxation.

1:26 The United Arab Emirates is also looking to diversify,

1:29 and a newer core part of that strategy centers around pouring money into AI.

1:33 The UAE signed an agreement with the United States

1:36 to build the world's largest AI data center outside of America,

1:39 potentially giving it access to more than a half million Nvidia chips.

1:43 The Emirates has been uniquely successful in its

1:45 balancing act of striking AI-related deals with the US, a key strategic ally,

1:50 while also working deeply with China, its largest trading partner.

1:54 American officials had previously imposed

1:55 export controls on advanced technology like

1:58 Nvidia GPUs to the UAE due to its relationship with China,

2:01 but this new deal for a 10-square-mile campus

2:03 in Abu Dhabi marks a reversal of that status quo.

2:07 Another way that Middle Eastern countries are

2:08 looking to diversify their economies and grow

2:10 more integrated with the rest of the wealthy world is by hosting global events.

2:15 That's true for Qatar, which announced that in 2026 it will become

2:18 the first Gulf country to host Art Basel,

2:20 the world's largest modern and contemporary art fair.

2:23 Bahrain, which continues to host Formula 1 races,

2:26 gaining a contract extension through 2036 despite opposition

2:29 in recent years surrounding accusations of human rights violations.

2:32 And Saudi Arabia, well-known for sports washing,

2:34 which was selected to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034,

2:38 even though organizations such as Amnesty

2:39 International spoke out against the selection.

2:42 Also looking to diversify its economy,

2:44 Kuwait welcomed the addition of a third runway at its international airport.

2:48 A new control tower was also erected as part

2:51 of the nation's initiative to broaden its influence on the regional map,

2:54 expanding its potential for increased

2:55 passenger traffic and laying the groundwork

2:57 to position itself as a major hub similar to Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.

3:02 Iraq experienced one of the worst sandstorms in its history,

3:05 shutting two of its airports and sending

3:07 several thousand people to the hospital.

3:09 The country is no stranger to the weather event,

3:11 which reduces visibility to less than a half mile

3:14 and permeates people's homes through even the smallest seams.

3:17 But, as climate change worsens, Iraq is listed as one of the United

3:20 Nations' most vulnerable countries to its effects,

3:22 and storms like this will become more common and severe.

3:26 Moving west, several countries in this region

3:29 sit at a nexus of conflict in 2025.

3:31 Jordan, on the border of Israel,

3:33 is engaged by proximity to its neighboring countries' war,

3:36 and is dealing with the repercussions in its own way,

3:38 including banning Jordan's chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

3:41 The political Islamist group has representation in government,

3:44 winning 31 out of the 138 available seats,

3:47 but Jordan has long been wary of its rise

3:49 because the Brotherhood is seen as an ally of Hamas.

3:53 The ban was in response to the arrest of 16

3:55 of its members who were training militants and plotting strikes within Jordan.

3:59 Jordan has been critical of the war in Gaza, and yet,

4:02 in a balancing act familiar to many in the region,

4:04 it maintains a long-standing peace treaty with Israel.

4:07 In Israel, despite a shaky ceasefire,

4:09 the country's military campaign in Gaza has

4:11 remained central in the country's politics this year.

4:14 But, unlike in Gaza,

4:16 regular life and business in the country has continued as well,

4:18 and an action by Prime Minister

4:20 Benjamin Netanyahu's government turned some heads.

4:22 In 2023, he started a judicial overhaul

4:25 that was paused after the war started that October,

4:28 but this year it was revived when Israel's parliament passed

4:31 a law that would give the government more power in appointing judges.

4:34 Some see it as a power grab by Netanyahu's far-right government,

4:37 but he argues it simply gives power back

4:39 to elected officials that had been taken away.

4:42 More than 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers have

4:44 been stationed on Israel's border with Lebanon

4:46 for a quarter century to manage the volatile

4:48 region where Iranian-backed Hezbollah continues to have a presence.

4:52 But, that will change as the UN Security Council

4:54 voted to have the peacekeepers withdraw over the next year,

4:57 giving autonomy to the Lebanese to control their southern border.

5:00 Although the withdrawal could be seen

5:01 to represent increasing stability in the region,

5:03 it's more so that the peacekeepers' mission has become obsolete.

5:07 Both sides view them critically

5:08 as Hezbollah considers them sympathetic to Israel,

5:11 while Israel sees them as ineffective [music]

5:13 since they cannot use force unless fired upon.

5:16 In a step towards restoring a country from turmoil,

5:19 Syria held its first parliamentary elections since

5:21 the fall of ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024,

5:24 who led the country for more than a decade and held

5:27 what most considered sham elections to keep hold to power.

5:30 While 2025's were not fully free and fair,

5:33 the fact that they happened in two-thirds of districts brings some

5:36 power back to the people and their ability to choose representation,

5:39 marking an important step towards the goal

5:41 of true popular vote democratic elections later on.

5:45 This resource-rich region continues to search for more natural gas and oil

5:48 reserves as demand spikes while Europe steers away from dependence on Russia.

5:53 Another natural gas field was found 118 miles or 190

5:56 km south of Cyprus in its exclusive economic zone, helping to further that goal.

6:01 The deposit, discovered by a consortium

6:03 including ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy International,

6:06 is the sixth natural gas field to be

6:07 discovered in the zone in the past 15 years.

6:11 Political unrest continues in Turkey, where Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu,

6:15 remains behind bars on accusations of corruption and espionage.

6:19 İmamoğlu is widely seen as President Erdoğan's biggest political rival.

6:23 Under Erdoğan's rule, Turkey has grown increasingly authoritarian,

6:26 and the charges against İmamoğlu, for many,

6:29 represent just one more step in that direction as they're

6:31 viewed as a means to silence Erdoğan's largest opposition.

6:35 Tensions, however, between Armenia and Azerbaijan seem to be quieting

6:39 as a peace deal between the countries was signed in August.

6:42 The neighbors have been fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh

6:45 region since the end of the Cold War,

6:47 and the 17-page treaty, months in the making,

6:49 outlines set protocols for bringing some stability to the disputed lands.

6:54 The former Soviet state of Georgia was home to several

6:57 nuclear sites during those unified years in the '80s,

7:00 and even today, uranium remains in the country.

7:03 But, this year, a group of Chinese nationals attempted to purchase some of it,

7:06 4.4 lb or 2 kg for $400,000,

7:09 but their efforts were thwarted when police swarmed their car

7:12 with two glass jars of the substance in the trunk.

7:15 The arrest signifies a larger issue in that even

7:18 though it's illegal to sell and transport uranium,

7:20 which can be enriched for nuclear weapons,

7:22 the lack of control over the country's remaining supply of the compound

7:25 makes it a viable black market source for the extremely dangerous material.

7:30 In Iran, aging water storage

7:32 and transport infrastructure is exacerbating a years-long

7:35 drought that peaked in July when

7:36 temperatures reached 125° Fahrenheit or 52° Celsius.

7:41 Residents in the capital of Tehran were asked

7:43 to limit water consumption due to the country's dwindling reservoirs

7:46 as officials looked to neighboring countries to import water

7:48 and additionally instituted power cuts to deal with the heat wave,

7:51 all signs of the warming planet's effects on daily life.

7:55 Five Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan,

7:58 Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan,

8:01 met for their first summit with the European Union to address trade,

8:04 counterterrorism, climate, and energy independence.

8:07 The region's ties to Europe have become

8:09 more critical since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,

8:11 and these countries are looking

8:12 to diversify their economies and geopolitical strategies.

8:15 One of the major projects to progress

8:17 these goals is a trans-Caspian transport corridor,

8:20 which connects China to Europe while bypassing Russia

8:22 and eliminating ship transport through the Suez Canal.

8:25 The region's shifting alliances and jockeying for mineral rights,

8:28 part of Europe's interest in the region,

8:30 are also shadowed by human rights concerns,

8:32 which was a main topic for the summit in ensuring that quick-paced development

8:35 considers residents and their environment.

8:39 Mongolia typically makes news for its vast and wild lands,

8:42 home to nomadic tribes, [music] but this year an unusually public political

8:46 controversy played out when the country's prime minister, Zendashatar Gombojav,

8:50 was ousted in a vote by the country's ruling

8:52 Mongolian People's Party after just 4 [music] months in charge.

8:55 The internal struggle boiled up between Gombojav

8:58 and the leader of the opposition party, Amarbayasgalan Dashdorj.

9:02 Gombojav lost a party leadership election to him,

9:04 and accusations about corruption flew between the two.

9:07 It left the country in disarray ahead of budgeting

9:09 at a time when teachers and doctors were striking for higher wages.

9:13 China released its latest five-year strategic plan,

9:16 a hugely important guiding policy document,

9:19 [music] and this edition was all about increasing its autonomy.

9:23 The plans call for chip independence in a direct

9:25 response to its ongoing chip war with the United States,

9:28 where the Asian nation is catching up

9:29 to historical American dominance in the field.

9:32 Additionally, as America pulls back its own scientific funding and research,

9:35 China plans to continue to invest and keep its title as the world's

9:39 biggest R&D spender to the tune of $505 billion in 2023.

9:44 All of this is evident of how, these days,

9:46 global dominance is largely being fought through the tech sector.

9:51 It's been more than 4 years since the Taliban reassumed control of Afghanistan,

9:55 but this year, Russia became the first country

9:58 to officially recognize them as the country's government.

10:01 In an effort to encourage diplomatic ties,

10:03 the Taliban have tried to present a more moderate stance,

10:05 curbing things like opium production,

10:07 but their oppressive policies towards women, which ban them from most education,

10:11 work, and public places, have repelled most of the world.

10:14 The acknowledgement from Russia opened the door

10:16 for opportunistic cooperation on trade and energy production.

10:20 Since the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan,

10:22 attacks by Tehrik-i-Taliban have

10:24 significantly increased in neighboring Pakistan.

10:27 The Taliban government denies involvement,

10:29 but it's widely believed the TTP receives funding

10:32 from them and that its fighters train in Afghanistan.

10:35 This ensuing conflict escalated in the fall

10:37 with the countries exchanging air strikes and fire,

10:40 resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

10:43 And though a ceasefire was negotiated,

10:45 it's tenuous because the underlying reason,

10:47 Taliban committing violence in Pakistan, remains.

10:51 The world's most polluted city, Delhi, India,

10:53 tested out cloud seeding as a way to eliminate from its

10:56 hazy skies for the first time in more than five decades.

11:00 Seeding uses aircraft and drones to release silver iodide into the atmosphere,

11:04 which acts like ice and builds

11:05 clusters of water droplets that increase rainfall,

11:08 something that in turn captures pollutants as it comes down.

11:11 But in this test case, there wasn't enough moisture in the air to make rain.

11:15 Officials will try again, but critics are wary of a band-aid approach

11:18 to the problem instead of addressing the root cause,

11:21 which is centered on a combination of crop burning,

11:23 factories, [music] and heavy traffic.

11:25 As India tries to strengthen its presence in the Indian Ocean,

11:28 a region fiercely contested due to China's

11:30 ambitions to control its seas and shipping routes,

11:32 it extended a $565 million line of credit to the Maldives,

11:37 which is a cash-strapped but strategically critical partner to India.

11:40 The step enhances the two countries' ties,

11:43 despite Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu previously expressing a preference

11:46 and strategy that would be viewed as pro-China.

11:49 A nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka that left the island of 22

11:53 million people without electricity wasn't found

11:55 to be caused by infrastructure failure,

11:57 it was a monkey's fault.

11:59 The animal climbed a power station and caused

12:01 enough damage to affect the entire country,

12:03 something that highlights two problems that Sri Lanka has,

12:06 an enormous monkey population with estimates around 2 to 3 million,

12:10 and a vulnerable and aging energy grid that can

12:12 be brought down by one small [music] creature.

12:15 Tens of thousands of Gen Z protesters took to the streets of Nepal this year,

12:19 initially in response to perceived censorship

12:21 by the government on social media apps,

12:23 and their uprising worked surprisingly well,

12:26 ousting the prime minister in just days.

12:28 One consequence was the appointment of the country's

12:30 first female prime minister, Sushila Karki,

12:33 who will lead the interim government until new elections take place in 2026.

12:37 Karki was Nepal's former chief justice and is

12:40 seen as a critic of the corruption that many,

12:42 including the wave of Gen Z activists, saw creeping into their government.

12:46 Tourism in Bhutan continues to see double-digit growth,

12:50 drawing largely from India and America for its visitor base.

12:53 To meet this demand,

12:54 the government instituted a tourism registration system that streamlines hotel

12:58 check-ins and makes sure that guests stay at valid properties,

13:00 while also collecting data from visitors and providers in order to manage

13:04 the growth of the industry in an effort to keep it sustainable and secure.

13:07 Upstream from Bangladesh,

13:09 China started construction on the world's largest mega dam,

13:12 a $124 billion project that will consist of five cascade hydropower

13:16 stations and produce an estimated 300 million megawatt hours of electricity.

13:21 The problem from Bangladesh, however,

13:23 is that the dam is being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo River,

13:26 and residents are concerned that the dam

13:27 could impact millions of users downstream,

13:30 where residents rely on the river for sustenance and agriculture.

13:33 Bangladesh and India have also raised concerns

13:35 that upstream water control could be weaponized by China.

13:40 Bangladesh's shared border with Myanmar has been an escape

13:42 route for Rohingya refugees fleeing the civil war there,

13:45 which is stretching into its fourth year.

13:47 Since 2017, Bangladesh has hosted more than 1 million Rohingya,

13:51 but the government is now turning them back to Myanmar,

13:53 a country that stripped the Muslim Muslim ethnic minority

13:56 of their citizenship more than 40 years ago and continues genocidal violence,

14:00 according to the United Nations.

14:02 Without papers and authority to cross borders,

14:04 it leaves the Rohingya in a dire situation.

14:07 Thailand elected its third prime minister in 3 years,

14:10 naming business tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul to lead the country.

14:14 And though Charnvirakul might come across as casual

14:17 with his pro-cannabis [music] stance and karaoke-singing ways,

14:20 he's a shrewd and conservative leader who swings the country's

14:23 trajectory away from the populist direction it was headed.

14:26 Although he'll have to do it with his hands tied as supporting parties

14:29 have demanded he hold another election

14:31 for representative seats shortly after taking office.

14:34 Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia over

14:36 their 500-mile border escalated this year,

14:38 reaching a peak with a 5-day armed conflict in the summer.

14:42 Although they signed a tenuous ceasefire,

14:44 peace negotiations have stalled as flare-ups and accusations

14:47 continue to fly between the two countries.

14:50 Both continue to place restrictions on each other as well,

14:52 limiting certain items they typically trade like fruits and vegetables,

14:55 as well as reducing access to the internet and shortening visa stays.

15:00 China's continual expansion of energy development and its

15:02 impacts on other countries also stretches into Laos,

15:05 where it's built the largest onshore wind farm in Southeast Asia,

15:08 featuring 133 turbines for nearly $1 billion.

15:12 The Monsoon The Monsoon Wind Power Project,

15:14 built by PowerChina and run by a Thai consortium,

15:17 doesn't actually deliver any power to Laos,

15:19 but instead ships it across the border to Vietnam,

15:22 another example of how one of the planet's biggest

15:24 greenhouse gas emitters exploits the resources of neighboring countries.

15:28 Low birth rates and their potential impacts on populations and economies

15:31 is a problem that countries are facing in different ways.

15:34 In Vietnam, the government is reversing

15:36 a decades-old policy that limited families to two

15:39 children in hopes of bringing that average

15:41 birth rate back above two children per woman.

15:44 Additionally, the government has gone as far as to offer financial incentives

15:47 for having more children before 35 and for shortening the time between births,

15:51 all in an effort to stave off the effects

15:53 that declining populations have on long-term economic prospects.

15:58 Moscow residents looking to get away can now fly 8 hours nonstop to North Korea,

16:02 signifying a deepening tie between the two countries.

16:06 [music] The pair already share defense pact

16:07 and cooperate in military operations as North

16:09 Korea has sent troops and weapons [music] to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

16:13 The monthly Moscow-Pyongyang flight is operated by North Wind Airways,

16:16 which previously focused on flights to vacation destinations

16:19 before the EU's [music] airspace ban hampered its operations.

16:22 Conventional tourism is still banned in North Korea,

16:25 but groups of Russians and other foreigners have been

16:27 allowed to trickle in as it opens its border.

16:29 Most notably seen in the debut of a East

16:31 Coast beach resort expected to draw some 20,000 people.

16:35 The birth rate in South Korea is dismal at just 0.74 births per woman,

16:40 but even that low number is an improvement on 0.72

16:44 in 2023 and marks the sharpest percentage increase since the early '90s.

16:49 That's primarily thanks to policy initiatives,

16:50 including baby bonuses and cash rewards.

16:53 Seoul alone spent more than $270 billion

16:56 over the past 16 years on childbirth incentives.

16:59 [music] And yet, even with that huge investment,

17:01 officials still think it's not enough

17:03 to stave off a precipitous population decline.

17:07 Rice is a food staple in Japan,

17:09 but depleted crops due to heat wave and increased consumption from tourists,

17:13 paired with panic buying ahead of weather events,

17:15 has increased prices so drastically in the country

17:17 that it's looking to South Korea for cheaper imports.

17:20 South Korea will export rice to Japan for the first time since 1999,

17:24 marking an economic and cultural shift for the country,

17:27 which previously snubbed foreign rice imports as inferior.

17:31 Maritime confrontations between the Philippines and China continually take

17:34 place in the South China Sea over contested waters,

17:37 but in a more aggressive incident this year,

17:39 two Chinese ships accidentally collided during

17:41 a chase of a Philippine patrol boat,

17:43 and the United States deployed two of its own

17:45 warships to demonstrate support [music] for its Philippines ally.

17:48 Surrounding countries are fighting over fishing,

17:50 economic zones, and disputed waters in the area,

17:52 and though US patrols regularly pass through,

17:54 the appearance in reaction to Chinese aggression does raise the temperature.

17:59 The South Pacific is home to rich habitat and diverse ecosystems,

18:02 where populations of orangutans,

18:04 one of the most genetically similar primates to humans, used [music] to thrive.

18:07 Today, however, wide swaths of forest are

18:09 being cleared in Indonesia specifically to harvest meranti,

18:13 a wood specialized to the area that's lightweight, moisture resilient,

18:16 flexible, and used primarily in American motorhomes and recreational vehicles.

18:21 This year, scientists in Indonesia and Malaysia released a study

18:24 about orangutans who were relocated when forests were cleared for logging,

18:27 [music] and in nearly 1/3 of the cases tracked,

18:30 those animals attempted to return home after translocation.

18:34 Singapore held its first parliamentary election in 5 years,

18:37 and though some speculated that the opposition party was gaining momentum,

18:41 citizens re-emphasized their contentment with the status quo

18:43 by keeping the People's Action Party in charge.

18:47 [music] The party experienced near record-low turnout in 2020,

18:49 but this year's results extend their six-decade reign in politics,

18:53 choosing what some call stability in a time

18:55 when the country is dealing with global trade disruptions.

18:58 Home to the world's second-largest port,

19:00 Singapore is disproportionately exposed to fluctuations in international trade,

19:04 so minimizing those impacts is key to the People's Action Party's success.

19:08 Despite widespread economic sanctions,

19:10 Russia continues to search for markets for its exports,

19:13 and one of those is Brunei.

19:14 [music] The small country on the South China Sea received

19:17 its first shipment of Russian oil through the Northern Sea Route.

19:20 Previously, the Arctic route had been limited to shipping to China,

19:23 but this extension is the result of a deliberate

19:25 push by Russia to market the NSR route,

19:27 which links the country's western ports to Asia during the summer and fall

19:31 and cut shipping time by 10 days in bypassing the Suez Canal.

19:35 Russia's diplomatic relationship with Brunei is key for the country

19:38 as it tries to maintain a presence in the ASEAN,

19:40 or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, region.

19:43 The group is a block of regional countries

19:45 that are unified in economic and security interests,

19:47 and in 2025, East Timor became the 11th country to join.

19:51 East Timor, which was ruled by Portugal for three centuries,

19:54 only achieved independence in 2002,

19:56 [music] so its entry into ASEAN was seen as a momentous

19:58 next step for the small country in trying to achieve stability.

20:02 Sydney, Australia's new airport, saw its first jet flight this year as it

20:05 nears its opening date for passengers in late 2026.

20:09 Brand new airports of this scale are rarely built these days,

20:11 making the opening significant.

20:13 [music] The facility is expected to one day

20:15 rival London's Heathrow Airport in terms of passenger capacity.

20:18 Sydney's current airport, the primary gateway country,

20:22 is stretched to capacity and hampered by its 11:00 p.m.

20:25 curfew, but this new Western Sydney Airport will operate

20:27 24 hours a day thanks to its more rural location.

20:31 The ruling right-wing coalition in New Zealand voted to reverse

20:34 the government's ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.

20:37 The country has a significant cost of living

20:39 crisis that high energy prices and shortages

20:41 have contributed to, and although the reversal is

20:44 being portrayed as in response to these difficulties,

20:46 it simultaneously takes New Zealand

20:48 off its trajectory towards carbon neutrality.

20:51 Furthermore, the coalition plans to boost mineral exports to $3

20:55 billion by 2035 and cut funding to conservation and climate initiatives.

20:59 In a deal that's as official as becoming blood brothers,

21:02 the largest and most populous South Pacific nation,

21:04 Papua New Guinea, signed a defense treaty with Australia,

21:07 inking the declaration that they have each other's backs.

21:10 The alliance, years in the making, means Australia can rely on Papua New Guinea

21:14 for access to the island nation's military infrastructure,

21:17 while Papua New Guinea can rely

21:18 on its larger neighbor for security and deterrence.

21:21 The [music] move comes as China continues

21:22 to expand its presence and power in the region,

21:24 and this pact is the most recent attempt

21:26 for the West to counter that spreading influence.

21:29 Palau is ground zero for the consequences of climate change,

21:32 but this year it made news for another reason.

21:35 It rejected a proposal from the United States

21:37 to send asylum seekers to the tiny island [music] nation.

21:40 As America ramps up its anti-immigration efforts and looks to send people away,

21:44 it offered Palau up to $100,000 per deportee

21:47 for a total of $7.5 million to accept 75 people.

21:52 But despite the money and deep relationship with the US,

21:55 officials on the island said it was

21:56 not worth the cost and potential security concerns,

21:59 leaving America to look to other countries.

22:02 After several years of delay,

22:03 the Federated States of Micronesia are now linked technologically.

22:07 A 140-mile, $95 million undersea cable now connects several Micronesian islands,

22:13 including Pohnpei, its largest, to an existing cable linked to Guam.

22:16 [music] The fiber optic East Micronesia cable,

22:19 a joint venture by Japan, the United States, and Australia,

22:21 will benefit some 100,000 people in the Oceanic area by bringing cheaper,

22:26 faster internet and communications.

22:27 [music] Six years after a Hong Kong-owned ship ran aground

22:31 on coral east of Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands,

22:34 damaging the reef and lagoon,

22:35 killing wildlife, and contaminating drinking water,

22:38 the landowners and government are finally seeking justice.

22:41 They're suing a handful of companies potentially

22:43 liable for damage caused by the spill,

22:45 as up until this point nothing more than an apology

22:47 had been issued despite widespread

22:48 damage and assumed long-term health consequences.

22:51 The first members of what's known as the NYZ cohort,

22:55 a group of hundreds of long-term immigrant detainees in Australia,

22:58 were sent to Nauru as part of a 30-year, $2.5 billion deal.

23:03 The group were immigrants to Australia who had been convicted of crimes,

23:06 served their sentences, but then had their visas revoked due to their crimes.

23:11 While most in this situation would be deported,

23:13 this cohort couldn't be for various reasons like lacking identity documents,

23:17 refusal by their home country, or refugee status,

23:19 meaning they were stuck in legal limbo.

23:22 The High Court in Australia ruled they couldn't be held indefinitely

23:25 in immigration detention if they had no viable path to deportation,

23:28 so Australia struck a deal with Nauru

23:30 to transfer them there with long-term visas.

23:32 The ruling and subsequent agreement with Nauru was shrouded

23:35 in some levels of secrecy and criticized by human rights groups.

23:39 Australia, on the other hand,

23:40 is welcoming residents of Tuvalu with an offer of climate visas.

23:44 The tiny nation, comprising nine islands that span just 10 square miles,

23:48 is increasingly succumbing to the effects of climate change

23:50 as its waters rise and affect infrastructure and drinking water.

23:54 Australia offered a first-of-its-kind live-in-work

23:56 climate change visa to Tuvalu residents,

23:58 and more than half the country of 10,000 people have already applied.

24:02 Geography constrains the super-skinny Marshall Islands,

24:05 meaning it has little ability to field a soccer team,

24:08 mostly due to its lack of pitch space and general interest.

24:11 But in 2025, [music] it became the last country in the world

24:15 to put together a national team and play its first match.

24:17 Never mind that the game took place 6,200 miles away in Arkansas,

24:21 where the largest population of Marshall Island expatriates live,

24:23 the Marshallese were thrilled to finally play

24:26 an 11-a-side game after dedicating years to its creation,

24:29 even if they lost 0 to 4 to the US Virgin Islands.

24:32 Vanuatu offers a golden passport program where foreigners can

24:35 spend about $130,000 to purchase citizenship to the island nation.

24:40 Criticisms of the program, however, arose in cases like Andrew Tate's.

24:44 He was arrested in 2022 for human trafficking and rape

24:46 in Romania and purchased the citizenship around the same time,

24:50 highlighting the appeal of the program

24:51 to criminals looking to escape authorities.

24:55 [music] Despite still being under investigation,

24:55 this year Vanuatu said it would not revoke his citizenship.

24:59 As heavy, more intense rainfall on Pacific island countries of Fiji,

25:03 Samoa, and Tonga increases, so too do cases of dengue fever.

25:07 The potentially deadly viral illness is spread by Aedes mosquitoes,

25:10 which flourish in humid, hot, moist environments,

25:12 [music] the kind that are proliferating in these low-lying countries.

25:15 The dramatic rise in cases this year pushes them to the highest

25:18 infection level in more than a decade

25:20 despite intense efforts to fight mosquitoes,

25:22 and several of the nations declared a medical emergency.

25:26 The Pacific region is home to unquantifiable potential

25:29 for deep-sea mining of critical minerals used in computer chips,

25:32 and there is an international race to lead this charge.

25:35 Nations here are approaching it differently,

25:37 with some hesitant to exploit a natural resource for quick gain,

25:40 but others, like Kiribati, are increasingly headed towards inking deals.

25:44 This year it announced a potential partnership

25:46 with China to commercially mine Kiribati's economic exclusion zone,

25:49 which is one of the largest in the Pacific.

25:52 Antarctica is the only continent without a government,

25:54 instead loosely overseen by a 54-nation treaty that's been in place since 1959.

25:58 [music] There are, however,

26:01 seven countries that lay some territorial claim to Antarctica,

26:04 and the trip that Gabriel Boric, president of Chile,

26:06 took to the South Pole this year was to remind the world

26:09 that his country is one of those with deeper interests in the continent.

26:13 He's the first Latin American leader to make the trip,

26:15 marking a significant milestone as he pushes

26:17 for expansion of Chilean research stations [music] further south.

26:21 A global treasure hunt for a stolen painting that was taken by the Nazis

26:24 from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam during

26:26 World War II came to an end in Argentina.

26:29 Officials have been looking for Portrait of a Lady for decades,

26:32 but it was a reporter for the Dutch newspaper AD who uncovered

26:35 that it was hanging in the home of Frederik and Patricia Kedgian.

26:38 The reporter had been sleuthing online and found the portrait

26:41 in a photo in a real estate listing of the Kedgians.

26:43 Patricia is the daughter of a Nazi financier,

26:45 so it was suspected that she may have the piece.

26:48 The world's largest electric ship started operations

26:51 with regular ferry crossings from Buenos Aires to Uruguay.

26:54 Manufactured by Tasmanian-based Incat,

26:56 [music] the ship features 250 tons of batteries

26:59 and capacity for 40 megawatt hours of electricity,

27:01 which will power it to carry more than 2,000

27:04 passengers and 225 cars on its 1-hour journey to Montevideo.

27:08 Shipping, which accounts for 3% of the world's greenhouse gases,

27:11 is increasingly looking to transition to cleaner systems,

27:13 [music] and this protected and contained use case will

27:16 help manufacturers as they continue to develop new technology.

27:19 Brazilian officials have plans to build a 600-mile,

27:22 1,000-km railway to transport corn and soybeans

27:25 from the rainforest to tributary of the Amazon River,

27:28 where it can then be ferried to boats headed abroad.

27:30 But the railway must first clear hurdles,

27:32 the first of which is a redesignation of the national park's border,

27:35 and the second, large amounts of public outcry,

27:37 including protesters who gathered at this year's United Nations climate summit.

27:41 They are opposed to the deforestation the project would create,

27:44 although proponents say each 170-car train could replace 422 trucks,

27:48 which often result in spills and longer transport times over the varied terrain.

27:53 Paraguayan President Santiago Peña made international sport

27:56 part of his candidacy, and it paid off.

27:58 It was announced that the country would be

27:59 the host of the 2031 Pan American Games,

28:02 the first time Paraguay will host the event.

28:05 The Pan American Games act as a warm-up to the Summer Olympics across

28:08 the Americas and ranks as the third largest multi-sport event in the world,

28:11 so the naming of Paraguay as a host elevates the country on the global scale,

28:15 putting it in the same category as previous host countries like Peru and Chile.

28:20 The people of Bolivia elected Rodrigo Paz as their new president,

28:24 marking the end of a 20-year reign by the Movement for Socialism party.

28:28 Paz, a center-right politician,

28:30 won as the country deals with soaring inflation and high cost of food and fuel,

28:34 and he was able to capitalize on internal fighting within the MAS party.

28:37 Though Paz pitched himself as an outsider,

28:39 he is the son of former Bolivian president Jaime Paz Zamora,

28:42 who led from 1989 to 1993, and his election is representative of a broader

28:46 regional political swing towards the right in recent years.

28:50 The Amazon rainforest stretches into nine South American countries,

28:53 but in Peru, where it occupies more than 10% of the land,

28:56 conflict between modern development and indigenous groups

28:59 continues and reached an alarming high this year.

29:02 That's because the Mashco Piro group,

29:04 which remains one of the area's last uncontacted tribes,

29:06 was recently aerially photographed visiting another neighboring tribe,

29:10 a behavior that experts consider quite abnormal

29:12 and likely in response to increasing pressure

29:14 on the Mashco Piro's land from a nearby

29:16 logging company who is clearing forest around them.

29:19 Leaders in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela all made news.

29:23 Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa survived what some are calling

29:26 an assassination attempt by protesters who pummeled his motorcade

29:29 with stones in reaction to his policy raising

29:31 diesel prices in order to offset increased government spending.

29:35 Previously, Ecuador had been a relatively safe country,

29:37 but it's seen a [music] surge in violence in recent years,

29:40 in part due to its position between Peru and Colombia.

29:43 Colombia has long been recognized as a central

29:45 hub for drug production and trafficking,

29:47 and this year President Gustavo Petro made a pitch to the United

29:50 Nations to remove the coca leaf from its list of harmful substances.

29:54 The coca leaf is the main ingredient in cocaine,

29:56 and Colombian officials are arguing that the US-led war on drugs is ineffective.

30:01 Instead, they say the coca leaf should

30:02 be legalized due to its additional therapeutic properties.

30:06 And finally, President Nicolas Maduro

30:08 remained isolated and under international sanctions.

30:11 But in 2024, he met with former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson,

30:15 and this year it was discovered that Johnson

30:17 was allegedly paid $325,000 for that meeting.

30:21 This interaction and the revelation of payment raised a lot of global eyebrows,

30:25 given that it's likely an avenue for back-channel

30:27 diplomacy to a country widely regarded as off-limits.

30:31 Venezuela has long been a major oil producer,

30:33 but even if that industry shrank recently,

30:35 its next-door neighbors Guyana and Suriname have been taking notes.

30:39 For years, offshore oil exploration only led to minor discoveries,

30:43 but in recent years, that changed.

30:45 Now, an acquisition by Chevron of Houston-based Hess allows

30:48 a $53 billion drilling project in Guyana's waters to move forward.

30:52 Chevron and Exxon had been battling over Hess's shares in the joint project,

30:55 and the settling of [music] the dispute means they can now expand

30:58 further in one of the most promising new production fields in the world.

31:00 [music] Off the coast of Suriname, large deposits have also been discovered,

31:04 and the country, one of the poorest, is expected to begin production by 2028.

31:09 Residents there elected their first female president this year,

31:12 and they're looking to her with hope in leading this next chapter.

31:15 One that's ultimately dependent on fossil fuels,

31:17 but has the potential to lead them out of poverty.

31:20 The US has been heavily involved in Panama as of late,

31:23 and in the country's western edge,

31:25 home to the nation's banana plantations, it's been no different.

31:28 Following pension reform on the part of the Panamanian government,

31:31 labor unrest boiled over with protests, looting, and even the burning of a local

31:34 baseball stadium in the country's banana belt.

31:37 This was then continued into a strike.

31:39 In response, the US-based Chiquita decided to take a hard-line stance,

31:43 proactively firing all day laborers who left their plantation work,

31:46 a number estimated at around 5,000 total.

31:50 In Costa Rica, things are generally looking up.

31:52 In a country that's proudly invested in its people's well-being,

31:55 opting to fund education and forest conservation over a military,

31:58 the nation reached its highest ever ranking in the World

32:01 Happiness Index this year by coming in at sixth.

32:03 [music] That makes it the highest ranking in the Americas,

32:06 and globally sitting just behind the Netherlands

32:08 and the traditionally high-ranking Scandinavian countries.

32:11 But this ranking hasn't made Costa Rica immune to broader regional strife.

32:15 In June, Roberto Samcam, a former Nicaraguan army officer,

32:19 was shot and killed in San Jose,

32:21 Costa Rica, in what seemed to be a politically motivated attack.

32:24 An outspoken critic of Nicaragua's increasingly

32:27 authoritarian regime led by President Daniel Ortega,

32:30 Samcam is the second activist to have been attacked abroad while more

32:33 and more Nicaraguans of all sorts have continued to flee the country.

32:37 [music]

32:37 International movement of a very different sort is the theme for a scientific

32:40 experiment taken on by a host of researchers from Florida and Honduras.

32:44 Two years after a major coral bleaching event off the coast of Miami,

32:47 local scientists have now begun to transplant

32:49 elkhorn coral from Honduras to revitalize the reef.

32:52 It's a strategy that's worked in other cases,

32:54 and one that may help Florida's reefs going forward as they're pulling

32:57 coral that's used to a higher average temperature from warmer Honduran waters.

33:02 In El Salvador, the national crackdown on bad behavior that's

33:04 captured the world's attention has officially trickled down into the schools.

33:08 Recently, the Bukele government handed over the state's education

33:11 system to a military officer with no background in education.

33:14 The result has been a crackdown on loose adherence

33:16 to school uniforms and the implementation of a high and tight

33:19 haircut policy that has critics labeling the moves as further

33:22 small steps towards a more nationalistic and authoritarian regime.

33:26 It's hard to argue that there's ever been a year where the movement

33:28 of people between the US and Guatemala has been so hotly contested.

33:32 In August, this relationship brought forward its oddest chapter yet

33:35 with the discovery of the presence of the new world screwworm in Maryland.

33:39 Brought north from Guatemala by an unknown person,

33:42 this worm is a parasite that can devastate a cow population untreated,

33:45 so much so that the US Department of Agriculture spends millions

33:49 yearly spreading sterilized males throughout

33:51 Central America to stop their spread.

33:53 Though, in this case,

33:54 the CDC ultimately wasn't too particularly concerned by the isolated incident.

33:58 In Belize, bank notes got an important facelift this year.

34:01 Removing Queen Elizabeth from the paper money,

34:03 the country opted to celebrate its post-colonial

34:05 history with the face of the country's first

34:07 prime minister and that of the founder

34:09 of one of the country's main political parties.

34:11 Beyond imagery, the notes needed an upgrade

34:13 for increased security features and general durability.

34:16 2025 has tested the strength of the relationship

34:19 between Trinidad and Tobago and the UK.

34:22 With the former being a Commonwealth country,

34:23 its citizens have for years enjoyed relative ease

34:26 of travel to the UK, requiring no visa.

34:29 But with asylum seekers from Trinidad and Tobago up to all-time highs,

34:32 the UK has now begun to require a visa for visitors from the country,

34:36 making it one of three Commonwealth nations requiring such paperwork to visit.

34:40 One of the others required to register such paperwork is Dominica,

34:44 which this year made its own news

34:45 with the country's largest drug bust on record.

34:48 Seizing 3,800 lb or 1,700 kg of cocaine, numerous firearms,

34:52 thousands of dollars of cash, and making 24 arrests,

34:56 the bust marks a major win for the tiny

34:58 nation's [music] efforts to snuff out organized crime.

35:01 Grenada, another Commonwealth country in the Caribbean,

35:04 has recently upped the pressure on British royalty for reparation payments,

35:07 fueled by recently published research that King George the IV,

35:10 who ruled in the early 19th century,

35:12 received direct payments from two Crown-owned plantations on the islands.

35:16 Grenada officials are using this finding to further

35:18 their claim that British royalty directly benefited

35:21 from slave labor and ought to right

35:23 a historical wrong by paying for the damages.

35:26 An upstart air carrier took a major step towards furthering

35:28 the connections across the region with the unveiling of its new plane,

35:31 the Spirit of Barbados.

35:33 For InterCaribbean Airways, the unveiling of the ATR 42 is

35:36 part of the country's [music] expansion into Barbados,

35:38 more easily linking the island with the rest of the Caribbean region.

35:42 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was one of four Caribbean countries,

35:45 along with Barbados, Belize, and Dominica,

35:47 that signed an expanded free movement agreement.

35:50 Previously, citizens were only allowed to travel between those nations for work,

35:53 but this loosened restriction means they can move for leisure now, too.

35:58 Saint Lucia made big progress in LGBTQ rights this year.

36:01 The nation's Supreme Court found its

36:03 buggery and gross indecency laws that criminalized

36:06 consensual same-sex intercourse with up to 10

36:08 years in prison to be unconstitutional.

36:10 It marks a major victory for activists across

36:13 the region that are fighting anti-LGBTQ sentiments in the courts,

36:17 both literal and of public opinion,

36:19 where acceptance has progressed very gradually.

36:22 Far from Eastern Europe, the global implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

36:26 are still reverberating in Antigua and Barbuda.

36:29 In March, a judge in New York issued subpoenas to access

36:32 the financial information in regard to the sale of the Alpha Nero mega-yacht.

36:37 Formerly abandoned by a Russian businessman when

36:39 sanctions began to roll out in 2022, the nation seized then sold the mega-yacht.

36:44 But now, the details of the sale and who really is the rightful

36:47 owner of the yacht are being questioned

36:48 by lawyers representing the Russian businessman's daughter.

36:51 Such questions carry weight when the yacht

36:53 itself is worth nearly 70 million dollars.

36:57 In Saint Kitts and Nevis, public transportation had a rather revolutionary 2025.

37:02 The country of fewer than 50,000 introduced two new buses.

37:06 Making it newsworthy is the fact that they're electric buses,

37:09 a proud addition for a country that's

37:11 made commitments to sustainability and clean transit.

37:14 The buses were also gifted as Taiwan sent

37:17 them to the nation as an act of goodwill, an effort to strengthen the connection

37:20 and flow of technological goods between the two,

37:22 as Saint Kitts is one of the few countries in the world

37:25 to have formal diplomatic relations with the contested Asian nation.

37:29 On the bisected island of Hispaniola,

37:31 the year began with what the Dominican Republic president called a painful

37:34 but necessary decision to crack down on Haitian migrants fleeing to the country.

37:39 Persistent gang violence has pushed Haitians

37:41 across the border in growing numbers, putting a strain on Dominican resources.

37:45 The crackdown has played out on the border with increased staffing and fencing,

37:49 as well as within hospitals where proof of residence and IDs are now required.

37:53 In Haiti, this has resulted in the return of more than 100 pregnant

37:56 women who the Dominican Republic indiscriminately deported

37:59 regardless of the stage of their pregnancy.

38:01 The crackdown has garnered public condemnation from NGOs around the globe.

38:05 Just west, Jamaica experienced a trying 2025 as well.

38:10 What was a uniquely quiet tropical storm year

38:12 for the US was a history maker there,

38:15 as Jamaica's west coast took the brunt of Hurricane Melissa's force in October.

38:19 Crashing into the island as a Category 5 storm,

38:21 it was the worst hurricane the country has ever endured,

38:24 devastating tourism infrastructure and farmland,

38:27 both of which the country heavily relies on.

38:29 Food has been an issue in Cuba, too.

38:32 With skyrocketing food prices coupled

38:33 with increasingly prevalent blackouts and water shortages,

38:36 Cubans have been on edge.

38:39 [music] An early summer hike in internet prices seems to have been

38:40 the final straw for university

38:42 students who initiated coordinated attendance strikes.

38:45 The protest has been characterized as brave while also respectful,

38:48 as stepping too far out of line

38:49 and questioning the party outright has the potential

38:52 to hinder a student's ability to graduate or find a job down the line.

38:56 A year ago, the Bohemian government struck a handshake deal with SpaceX.

38:59 [music] SpaceX could land its rocket boosters in its territory if the company

39:03 provided it with free Starlink internet services for a variety of functions.

39:07 But then this year, SpaceX treated the Bahamas to an unintentional air

39:11 show with the dramatic explosion of a rocket not far off its coast.

39:14 The accident threw local airlines into momentary chaos

39:17 and left debris all over the island nation.

39:20 In response, the Bohemian officials are questioning whether

39:22 or not to allow SpaceX to land boosters,

39:25 while the company insists they had a formal agreement in place.

39:28 In Mexico, 2025 has been a year defined by trying to keep up with, counter,

39:32 and comprehend the unrelenting pressure placed on it by its

39:35 biggest and increasingly volatile trade partner, the United States.

39:39 But when President Sheinbaum announced in April that Mexico was

39:42 to immediately deliver millions of cubic meters of water to Texas farmers,

39:46 it was in accordance with an agreement made nearly 75 years ago.

39:50 Sharing the Rio Grande's water by terms defined during World War II,

39:53 Mexico is struggling to meet its end

39:55 of the bargain as the region is gripped by drought,

39:57 leaving [music] Mexican and Texan farmers alike scrambling for water.

40:01 In the United States,

40:02 2025 saw the rise of an American citizen to one of the highest,

40:05 most important positions in the world.

40:07 In May, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost,

40:10 a 69-year-old man from Chicago who studied at Villanova,

40:13 was named Pope Leo the 14th.

40:15 Of 267 popes spanning 2,000 years, Pope Leo is the first to hail from the US,

40:20 a country which, from the perspective of the Vatican,

40:23 is fairly young with a still maturing Catholic [music] footprint.

40:26 Along Canada's west coast,

40:28 the First Nation Heiltsuk people ratified their first constitution.

40:31 The document, which garnered popular support from much

40:34 of the 725 in the Heiltsuk Nation,

40:36 serves as an amelioration between western systems of law

40:39 and the group's long-held traditional values and practices.

40:42 It also offers an alternative governmental

40:44 structure to the dated and maligned Indian

40:46 Act that's defined Canadian First Nations relations

40:49 for a century [music] and a half.

40:52 We'll be back next week for the second half of the stories you missed in 2025,

40:56 but before that, there's one more story we'd like to bring to your attention.

41:00 This year, our team at Wendover shot

41:01 and produced a documentary series we're really proud of.

41:04 It's called Scav, and it's available

41:05 to stream through today's video sponsor, Nebula.

41:08 Scav traces the dramatic unfolding of one of the oldest,

41:12 oddest, and largest annual scavenger hunts across five fast-moving episodes.

41:16 And making this all possible, getting us to Chicago, editing this down,

41:20 hiring enough production people to chase around University

41:22 of Chicago kids around the clock, was Nebula,

41:25 an independent streaming service built by creators like

41:27 myself to help fund and platform projects like Scav

41:30 that require bigger budgets or take on more creative

41:33 risk than we'd be willing to accept on this platform.

41:35 Scav is a Nebula original, meaning it only exists on Nebula,

41:39 but even if you want to watch Wendover or Jet

41:41 Lag the Game earlier or without ads or sponsorships, Nebula offers that, too.

41:45 And if you're looking to branch out,

41:47 the Nebula library is only getting larger by the day.

41:50 Another series I'd recommend is Joe Scott's oldest and newest places on Earth.

41:54 The show blends travel and science together

41:56 in a really creative way as Joe Scott

41:58 is not just talking about some of the most unique geologic places in the world,

42:02 but he's actually visiting them, talking with experts,

42:04 navigating his way to remote corners of the world,

42:06 and exploring the concept and meaning of time as he goes.

42:10 It's a really cool and novel show, so if you'd like to support creators

42:12 like myself and Joe Scott expanding our boundaries

42:15 while gaining access to a trove of ad-free and original work, give Nebula a go.

42:20 Follow the link in the description below and get 50%

42:22 off your annual subscription through the end of the year.

42:24 Or, if you've neglected your holiday shopping to this point,

42:27 consider a gift card where you can give

42:29 someone else a Nebula subscription for a month, a year, or even a lifetime.

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