2025 was a year of upheaval. But what will it be remembered for?

2025 was a year of global upheaval, from the activities of the Trump Administration to instability in the Middle East and the reshaping of power politics as China continues its rise. But what will it be remembered for in the long run?

Irish Times foreign correspondents Denis Staunton, who is based in Beijing, and Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary, each picked two events whose impact will be felt into the future.

They include the meeting between Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, a trilateral power meeting in China that said much about the relationship between the US and the rest of the world; the October 10th ceasefire in Gaza, which is broadly holding in a way other ceasefires haven’t; the record S&P stock surge in the US and why it loudly hints at an AI bubble and what that could mean for Ireland; and Europe’s growing willingness to break a taboo, to reconsider the terms of the UN 1951 Refugee Convention which gave immigrants and refugees rights and imposed obligations on European countries.

And amid all the gloom there were some lighter moments that struck our two correspondents.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon. 

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