Politics
2025 on track to tie second hottest year on record: EU monitor
The planet is on track to log its second hottest year on record in 2025, tied with 2023 after a historic high in 2024, Europe’s global warming monitor said Tuesday.
The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service reaffirms that global temperatures are on course to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels — the threshold considered safer in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Temperatures rose by 1.48C on average between January and November, or “currently tied with 2023 to be the second-warmest year on record”, according to the service’s monthly update.
“The three-year average for 2023-2025 is on track to exceed 1.5C for the first time,” Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, said in a statement.
“These milestones are not abstract — they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change and the only way to mitigate future rising temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Burgess said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in October that the world would not be able to contain global warming below 1.5C in the next few years.
Last month was the third warmest November on record at 1.54C above pre-industrial levels, according to Copernicus, with the average surface air temperature reaching 14.02C.
Such incremental rises may appear small but scientists warn that is already destabilising the climate and making storms, floods and other disasters fiercer and more frequent.
“The month was marked by a number of extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia, causing widespread, catastrophic flooding and loss of life,” the monitor said.
Fossil fuel fight
The Philippines were ravaged by back-to-back typhoons that killed some 260 people in November, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were hit by massive floods.
The global average temperature for the northern hemisphere autumn, from September to November, was also the third highest on record after 2023 and 2024.
“Temperatures were mostly above average across the world and especially in northern Canada, over the Arctic Ocean, and across Antarctica,” the monitor said, adding that there were notable cold anomalies in northeastern Russia.
Copernicus takes its measurements using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and their data extends back to 1940.
Global temperatures have been stoked ever higher by humanity’s emissions of planet-heating gases, largely from fossil fuels burned on a massive scale since the industrial revolution.
Nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023 but ambitions have stalled since then.
The COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, concluded last month with a deal that avoided a new, explicit call to phase out oil, gas and coal following objections from fossil fuel-producing countries.
US President Donald Trump has threatened fresh tariffs on India, Canada, and Mexico, citing violations of fair trade practices. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump indicated that new duties could target Indian rice imports and Canadian fertilizer, while also announcing a $12 billion support package for American farmers.
Trump expressed frustration over ongoing trade discussions with India and Canada, suggesting tougher measures may be needed to protect domestic producers.
He specifically cited concerns from US rice farmers, claiming imports from India, Vietnam, and Thailand have lowered domestic prices.
The president stressed that foreign rice should not be “dumped” on the American market and signaled a closer review of India’s trade practices.
Regarding Canada, Trump warned that severe tariffs could be imposed on fertilizer imports to encourage domestic production. “A lot of it does come in from Canada, and we’ll end up putting very severe tariffs on that if we have to,” he said.
Trump also targeted Mexico, threatening a 5% tariff over alleged violations of a 1944 water-sharing treaty.
He claimed Mexico owes 800,000 acre-feet of water to the US and demanded immediate release of 200,000 acre-feet before the end of December, citing harm to Texas farmers and livestock.
The announcement coincided with his $12 billion aid package for the US agriculture sector.
This latest move underscores mounting tensions in US trade policy and Trump’s willingness to use tariffs to address economic and resource disputes.
Mexican goods currently face a 25% tariff unless they fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade deal struck during Trump’s first term and which Washington is aiming to renegotiate in 2026.
Trump met with his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum last week on the sidelines of the 2026 World Cup draw, along with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, to discuss the future of the trade deal.
The talks marked the first in-person meeting between Trump and Sheinbaum.
- Cambodia says two civilians killed overnight.
- One Thai soldier dies in fighting.
- Each side blames the other for clashes.
Thailand said it was taking action to expel Cambodian forces from its territory on Tuesday, as renewed fighting between the two Southeast Asian neighbours spread along the disputed border.
Each side has blamed the other for the clashes, which have derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump that ended five days of fighting in July.
Cambodia’s Defence Ministry said two civilians had been killed overnight, taking its death toll to six. One Thai soldier has died in the fighting.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Thai Navy said Cambodian forces had been detected inside Thai territory in the coastal province of Trat and military operations were launched to expel them, without providing further details.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said late on Monday that Thailand “must not use military force to attack civilian villages under the pretext of reclaiming its sovereignty”.
Earlier, Cambodia said it had not retaliated even after its forces came under sustained attack.
The Thai Navy said Cambodian forces were increasing their presence, deploying snipers and heavy weapons, improving fortified positions and digging trenches, adding it saw the actions “as a direct and serious threat to Thailand’s sovereignty”.
Monday’s clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July, when at least 48 people were killed and 300,000 displaced, before Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire.
Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians across five border provinces and authorities in Cambodia said hundreds of thousands of people had been moved to safety. Thailand’s army said 18 soldiers were wounded and Cambodia’s government reported nine civilians injured.
Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, with disputes over ancient temples stirring nationalist fervour and occasional armed flare-ups, including a deadly week-long artillery exchange in 2011.
Tensions rose in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish, which led to a major troop buildup at the border and escalated into diplomatic breakdowns and armed clashes.
- Rail agreement signed by MBS and Qatar’s emir.
- High-speed train project to be completed in six years.
- Train expected serve around 10 million passengers annually.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Monday signed a deal to construct a high-speed rail connecting the Gulf countries’ capitals, marking the latest sign of improved ties between the two nations that were once deeply at odds.
According to a statement in the official Saudi press, the “high-speed electric passenger railway” would connect Riyadh and Doha.
The Saudi cities of Al-Hofuf and Dammam are also expected to be on the network.
The train would reach speeds exceeding 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) and the trip would take roughly two hours between the two capitals.
A direct flight between the cities clocks in at around 90 minutes.
The project, set to be completed in six years, expects to serve 10 million passengers per year, the statement said.
The agreement was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the latter’s visit to Riyadh.
The deal is just the latest in a series of moves marking the dramatic improvement in ties between the Gulf countries in recent years.
Saudi Arabia and its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt had cut all diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017.
Relations were fully restored in January 2021 after a summit in the Saudi desert city of AlUla.
Prince Mohammed visited Doha in December 2021 for the first time since the thaw in ties, as part of a regional Gulf tour.
Since then, leaders from the two monarchies have met regularly and joined forces to back diplomatic initiatives including calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Riyadh also threw its support behind Qatar following Israeli strikes on Doha over the summer.
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