World Tour Year in Review: Terror attacks in Nigeria

The world can often feel like it’s burning with emergencies ready to explode at a moment’s notice. Yet many people remain faithful amid the chaos: Nigerian pastor Gwali Melton, for example, continues to preach and serve amid threats and deadly attacks on Christians in his country. “It’s no harder for God to protect me when there’s insecurity than when there’s no insecurity,” he recently told me. As 2025 wraps up, I hope you too can look back and see God’s hand at work in your life and around the world. Here are World Tour’s selections for the top international stories of the year.

Nigerian terrors 

Violence and persecution in the West African nation received deserved global attention this year. In March, Nigeria’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Sunday Jackson, a farmer who stabbed and killed a knife-wielding herdsman who attacked him on his farm. In a separate case, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu from a minority Muslim sect is facing blasphemy charges over an audio message he shared on WhatsApp.

Islamist terrorism continues to harry the country. In one notable attack in June, suspected armed Fulani herders launched a coordinated attack on the town of Yelwata in north-central Benue state. As many as 200 people died in the violence. According to a Nigerian-based watchdog group, radical Muslims massacred 7,087 Christian Nigerians during the first seven months of 2025 alone. Armed groups have also carried out kidnappings of thousands of Nigerians, including more than 300 schoolchildren abducted last month from a Catholic school in Niger state, although those children were later released.

As the number of terror incidents surged, U.S. President Donald Trump eventually made good on a threat to intervene militarily in the country, launching Christmas Day airstrikes on terrorist targets in northwest Nigeria he said were affiliated with the Islamic State group.

Gen Z unrest

So-called Gen Z protests erupted around the globe this year. Youth discontent with government drove demonstrators to take to the streets as they coordinated their activism on social media.

In Peru, protests broke out in September after the government mandated that citizens over age 18 chip in to fund private pensions even amid job insecurity. In Nepal the same month, protests against a social media ban escalated into deadly unrest that forced Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli to resign. The government has since lifted the ban, and Nepal’s president has appointed former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim prime minister.

Similar demonstrations hit Morocco, Indonesia, and Madagascar. In the latter country, frequent water and power outages ignited protests that led to President Andry Rajoelina fleeing the country and the military taking charge. —Joyce Wu

Israel-Hamas peace plan 

After two years of bloody fighting, Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October. The truce was part of a tentative 20-point peace plan granting amnesty to Hamas militants who agree to lay down their arms. It also involved a prisoner swap: In exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees, Hamas finally released the last 20 remaining living hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Their release ended 738 days in captivity.

Syrian violence 

This month marked one year since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Last year, rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized control of Damascus, the capital city, prompting Assad to flee to Russia. Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Islamist group’s leader who now serves as Syria’s interim president, pledged accountability and reconciliation in the country. But in the aftermath of 14 years of civil war, sectarian tensions remain.

In March, fighting erupted in Syria’s coastal region between the Sunni Muslim Syrian security forces and Assad loyalists, many of whom are members of the minority Alawite sect. The violence led to revenge killings, with Christians among the victims. And in July, Syrian government forces killed more than 350 people in an attack on the Druze minority group.

Sudan’s civil war 

An ongoing military conflict in Sudan has sparked what’s been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Fighting that began in April 2023 between two warring generals has persisted, displacing more than 14 million people. Over 21 million Sudanese are now facing acute hunger, according to the World Food Programme. On Dec. 9, the United States sanctioned four people and four companies accused of helping recruit Colombian mercenaries to join the war in Sudan.

Chinese church persecution 

In China, the arrests of Zion Church pastors and staffers spread fear of a wider crackdown on unregistered churches. Police in October detained Zion senior pastor Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin, and 26 other Zion pastors and staffers across several cities. Zion, based in Beijing, is an unregistered church with branches in dozens of cities. Authorities have since released some arrestees but still hold 18, including Jin, the church’s founder, and charged them with illegal use of information networks. If convicted, they face up to three years in prison. —J.W.

Global aid rearrangements 

The United States’ initial pause and eventual vast reduction in foreign aid funding this year has forced international humanitarian groups to scale back or terminate programs. World Relief had to stop providing water and hygiene services in South Sudan, lay off hundreds of workers in the area, and shutter health centers. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and China have moved to fill the funding void. A Saudi-based aid organization contributed funds to support Ukrainian refugees and Yemenis dealing with conflict. China announced funding for development projects in Cambodia and Rwanda. —J.W.