Earth's average temperature last year hovered among one of the three hottest on record, while the past three years indicate that warming could be speeding up, international climate monitoring teams reported. Six science teams calculated that 2025 was behind 2024 and 2023, while two other groups - NASA and a joint American and British team - said 2025 was slightly warmer than 2023. World Meteorological Organization, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said 2023 and 2025 temperatures were so close - .02 degrees Celsius (.04 degrees Fahrenheit) apart - that it's pretty much a tie.

Last year's average global temperature was 15.08 degrees Celsius (59.14 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 1.44 degrees Celsius (2.59 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial time, the World Meteorological Organization calculated, averaging out the eight data sets. All of the last three years flirted close to the internationally agreed-upon limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since the mid 19th century.

China's trade surplus surged to a record of almost $1.2 trillion in 2025, the government said this week, as exports to other countries made up for slowing shipments to the US under President Donald Trump's onslaught of higher tariffs. China's exports rose 5.5% for the whole of last year to $3.77 trillion, customs data showed, as Chinese automakers and other manufacturers expanded into markets across the globe. Imports flatlined at $2.58 trillion. The 2024 trade surplus was over $992 billion.

China's exports to the US however fell 20%, thanks to Trump's tariffs. In contrast, exports to Africa surged 26%. Those to Southeast Asian countries jumped 13%; to the European Union 8%, and to Latin America, 7%. Strong global demand for computer chips and other devices and the materials needed to make them were among categories that supported China's exports, analysts said. Car exports also grew last year. Auto exports surged by an impressive 21%, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group.

Russia ordered a British diplomat to leave the country over allegations of spying, charges that were dismissed as "baseless" by the UK. Russia's Federal Security Service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, alleged the member of embassy staff had worked for British intelligence. It did not provide evidence. Russia Foreign Ministry said in a statement the diplomat's accreditation has been revoked and that the individual must now leave the country within two weeks. The UK's charge d'affaires in Russia, Danae Dholakia, was summoned to the ministry's Moscow headquarters to receive the notice.

"Moscow will not tolerate the work of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia," Russia's Foreign Ministry said. It also said that it would respond in kind to any action taken by London on the issue. The UK's Foreign Office said it was "carefully considering" a response to Russia's expulsion of a British diplomat, saying this was not the first time the Kremlin had made "malicious and baseless" accusations against staff.

India's ruling BJP pulled out all the stops to try and capture the one prize that has eluded it, even in this age of seemingly complete domination: West Bengal, one of India's most storied states, which will vote to elect a new legislative assembly this year. Even after 15 years as chief minister, Trinamool Congress boss Mamata Banerjee still seems as feisty and pugnacious and hungry as ever, to sock it to the BJP.

This week's raids in the offices of I-PAC, the political consultancy firm working on election strategy for the Trinamool, and the residence of its director, Pratik Jain, by the Enforcement Directorate, an Indian central government agency, is being seen in line with the BJP's propensity to use these federal agencies for political advantage. Trinamool supporters point out that ED revived a case that was dormant for 6 years, just a few months out from the election.