Modern news tends to move fast. The current mechanism of providing news to the general public involves pumping a constant stream of ever-changing content into the viewers’ heads through the most eye-catching means possible, whether on television, social media, or an official news website. This is, of course, a natural consequence of the informational environment we live in today; new information is available so quickly that news providers likely feel they have no other option but to continuously bombard their readers with the latest developments, even if that means the average news story receives coverage for no more than a day or two.
What if it didn’t have to be this way? What if we decided to take things more slowly and gather more context when we covered the news? Interestingly, when we look at the history of news-making, we see that is exactly what news outlets used to do. The first issue of the New York Times, for instance, published on September 18, 1851, opens not with a flashy array of large headlines and “developing stories,” but with a meticulous, country-by-country summary of global events. Since news and information traveled slowly, these summaries drew on news not just from the past day or so, but from weeks to well over a month prior to publication.
The goal of this series is to replicate the general format of these old-style “world in review” news segments with a few modern improvements. I intend to provide summaries of developments taking place over the course of a few weeks to a month in countries and regions across the world, attempting to avoid an overly Western or Eurocentric bias. Which countries and regions I choose to cover may vary from article to article, though some — such as regions with major ongoing wars — will naturally appear more often than others. As this is the first entry in this series, I have set mid-August as the arbitrary cutoff period for where my analysis for this particular article begins.
The World In Review: August to September 2025
Africa:
Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”)—Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the eastern DRC kill dozens of villagers — mostly Hutus — in July and August, despite the signing of a peace deal between Rwanda and the DRC in June. In September, M23 fighters and pro-DRC Wazalendo militias fight multiple skirmishes and exchange control of multiple towns, further violating the terms of the peace agreement.
Mali—Militants from the al-Qaeda affiliated Islamist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (“JNIM”), who control a substantial portion of Mali’s southern borders with neighboring countries, impose a blockade on fuel imports.
East Asia:
China—China holds a large-scale military parade in Beijing in early September to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are in attendance with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In mid-September, the Chinese government bans local technology companies from importing computer chips made by Nvidia, intent on developing the country’s domestic chip industry.
Japan—Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces his intention to resign from office, following a poor showing for his party in national elections in July and the conclusion of trade negotiations with the United States.
South Korea—The government of South Korea announces it will investigate possible human rights violations that occurred when US authorities raided a Hyundai plant on September 4th, detaining almost 500 workers — mostly Korean nationals.
Europe:
France—Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is ousted from office by a no-confidence vote, and President Emmanuel Macron appoints Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu as his replacement.
Norway—Norway’s center-left coalition narrowly holds onto power in parliamentary elections, while the far-right Progress Party eclipses the center-right Conservative Party to become the main opposition.
United Kingdom—Prime Minister Keir Starmer fires Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson after revelations concerning his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. On September 13th, an anti-immigration protest led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson attracted over 100,000 people, while Donald Trump’s visit to the UK on September 17th attracted thousands of protesters.
Ukraine War—Donald Trump held a summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on ending the war in Ukraine on August 15th, emerging without a conclusive peace deal. Over the following month, Russia made small gains in the Donbas region but failed to achieve its objective of seizing major strategic centers such as Pokrovsk.
Latin America + Caribbean:
Brazil—Former President Jair Bolsonaro is sentenced to 27 years in prison for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2022 presidential election.
Guyana—Irfaan Ali, incumbent president of Guyana, won a second term on a promise to invest funds from recently discovered oil reserves into poverty reduction programs.
Venezuela—The United States deploys warships off the coast of Venezuela in late August with the stated intention of combating drug cartels. A strike performed by a US vessel on a claimed drug boat kills 11 people and leads to a further escalation of tensions with the Venezuelan government.
Middle East:
Gaza War—Israel begins a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City, following weeks of increasingly intense aerial bombardments. As the offensive starts, a UN inquiry determines that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Qatar—Israel launches strikes on a meeting of Hamas leadership in Doha, but fails to kill any major leaders. Leaders of the Gulf states convene an emergency summit afterwards, urging the US and other global powers to put more pressure on Israel.
Syria—The Syrian government engages in talks with Israel over security guarantees and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Syrian territory that was occupied following Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power.
Oceania:
Australia—Australia expels the Iranian ambassador from Canberra, accusing the Iranian government of being responsible for antisemitic attacks in Australia last year.
South + Southeast Asia:
India—Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in Tianjin, China, in early September amid trade disputes with the United States, and warns Trump of worsening relations between the two countries. Later that month, trade negotiations between India and the US resumed.
Indonesia—Protests spread across Indonesia, with protesters voicing their anger over the state of the economy, growing inequality, and exorbitantly high salaries for politicians. While President Prabowo Subianto — a former general in the Indonesian army and ally of former dictator Suharto — initially made concessions to the protesters, he has since cracked down on them aggressively, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 people. Nepal—“Gen Z” protests led by young activists sweep across Nepal following a proposed government ban on various social media sites and prior discontent over the privileged lifestyles of the children of prominent politicians. Dozens of protesters are killed by government authorities. The Prime Minister resigns following days of rioting, and the military agrees to appoint Sushila Karki, a former Supreme Court justice, as interim prime minister.
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