2025 promises a whirlwind of events and milestones.
Donald Trump’s inauguration marks a pivotal political moment, while global efforts against climate change intensify.
Football fans can revel in major tournaments, spiritual seekers anticipate the grand Kumbh Mela, and music lovers celebrate epic comebacks from Oasis and BTS, igniting worldwide excitement.
On January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as 47th president of the United States
The Republican's swearing-in ceremony in front of the US Capitol in Washington comes four years after the attack on the seat of US democracy by Trump supporters, who did not accept he lost the 2020 election.
With a list including vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary and Elon Musk co-heading a department of government efficiency, there is concern at what his second term could mean for the United States, and the world.
He has vowed to Make America Great Again, retreating from multilateralism in favour of power politics.
Climate
Could 2025 be the year when our greenhouse gas emissions stop their steady climb around the world?
Researchers are pointing to signs from the world's biggest polluter, China, responsible for 30 percent of global emissions, where fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions are projected to tick up only marginally this year.
Glen Peters, of the Global Carbon Project, says overall CO2 emitted by burning coal, oil and gas across the world could peak in the next few years.
This carbon pollution is the main driver of increasingly dangerous climate change.
But even if there is a peak, Ignacio Arroniz Velasco, of the E3G think tank, said countries cannot afford to "relax" and should then quickly decrease their emissions to aim for carbon neutrality.
Football frenzy
In 2025, the question of football overkill and player burnout will likely dominate amid a supercharged calendar.
There is the expanded 32-club Club World Cup awaiting players in the summer, when usually they would have had time to recover from national leagues.
And this coming after a particularly busy season that sees a much-anticipated extended Champions League — the leading European club competition—in a new format.
All this is part of a trend in football to ramp up the number of high-profile matches—the next World Cup in 2026 will welcome a whopping 16 more countries, resulting in 104 games rather than 64.
The spectre of Saudi Arabia will also loom large as the host of the 2034 World Cup pumps more money into the game, with potentially transformative consequences.
Other controversies likely to cause sparks include the continued use of VAR technology, currently locked in a love-hate relationship with players, fans, and pundits.
Kumbh Mela
The largest gathering of humanity on the planet will take place from January 13 to late February when 400 million are expected to attend a spectacular Hindu festival on India's sacred riverbanks.
Held every three years, rotating between four different holy places, the Kumbh Mela takes place at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
Classified by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, the mega-festival will involve a makeshift city in the northern city of Prayagraj. The last time the festival took place there, in 2013, it drew 120 million people. 36 people died in a stampede.
Hindus believe that taking a dip in Sangam, the confluence of the rivers, will cleanse them of their sins and help them attain "moksha", setting them free from the cycle of birth and death.
Oasis and BTS comebacks
On the one side, the grisly bad boys of Britpop, on the other the fresh-faced darlings of K-Pop.
Both Oasis and BTS are set to return in 2025, much to the delight of their fans, after stints off the stage for very different reasons.
Led by the Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel, Oasis will return after a high-profile bust-up in 2009 -- one of many -- led to a 15-year split.
The band behind "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova", songs that achieved anthem-like status in the 1990s, go on a world tour kicking off in Britain and Ireland then heading to North and South America.
In the initial scramble to buy tickets from official sites, many fans who missed out sought alternative sources -- leading to a landslide of ticket scams.
It will be a very different vibe in South Korea, where wildly popular K-Pop boy band BTS promises to reunite in June after its seven members finish their mandatory military service.
It is the comeback millions of fans and an entire multibillion dollar industry has been waiting for.
Experts say the megastars' return to performance and public life could lift South Korea's cultural exports juggernaut even higher.
AFP