Melting glaciers, whooping cough, great year for gold: Catch up on the day’s stories

By Jordan D. Brown, Daniel Wine, CNN

👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! In pop culture, this was the year of rot, slop and rage. Whether it was a debate on Sydney Sweeney’s jeans or “Love Island” binges, everything felt like a huge deal. Check out the most memorable moments of 2025.

Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day.

5 things

1️⃣ Explosive future

Scientists in Iceland are investigating a decades-old theory: Could melting glaciers be triggering more volcanic eruptions? If confirmed, the consequences might be enormous as global warming accelerates.

2️⃣ Rise in cases

The US has seen nearly 28,000 whooping cough infections this year. Here’s what you need to know about the “100-day cough” that can lead to severe illness or death.

3️⃣ Shining bright

Gold is on track for its best year since 1979. The last time the precious metal had such a strong stretch, Jimmy Carter was president, inflation was soaring and a crisis was unfolding in the Middle East.

4️⃣ They/them

A Chinese gender-neutral pronoun has remained on the fringes for one reason: It doesn’t exist on keyboards. That could soon change in a major step toward broader recognition for the LGBTQ+ community.

5️⃣ Face to the name

Human evolution’s biggest mystery emerged 15 years ago from a 60,000-year-old bone. The puzzle finally started to come together this year after scientists extracted new clues from a prehistoric human skull.

Watch this

🎅 Ho, ho, whoa! It was just before Christmas, so naturally Santa was in a hurry. He got pulled over for speeding in northwestern Ohio, but the deputy let the white-bearded driver off with a warning and sent him on his merry way.

Top headlines

• After a video about alleged child care fraud went viral, federal agencies surge resources to Minnesota
• Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and JFK’s granddaughter, dies at 35 after terminal cancer diagnosis
• Iran’s ailing supreme leader resorts to his only playbook as crises mount and protests erupt

Check this out

📚 ‘We’re still here’: World-famous book sellers along the River Seine date back to 1550, when street vendors set up shop in the heart of Paris. Here’s how they have managed to survive in a digital world.

For CNN subscribers

• 10 states voted on abortion rights in the 2024 election. Here’s what’s changed over the past year
• Denmark becomes first European country to stop delivering letters
• The places you can’t visit in 2026

Quiz time

💰 Beyoncé just became the fifth billionaire musician, according to Forbes. Which of these people is not on that list?
A. Taylor Swift
B. Bruce Springsteen
C. Rihanna
D. Elton John
⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.

Thanks for reading

✅ Most popular in yesterday’s newsletter: When his daughter was abducted at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, this dad used parental controls to find her

🧠 Quiz answer: D. Elton John is not part of that elite group of billionaires, which also includes Jay-Z.

👋 We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Today’s edition of 5 Things PM was edited and produced by CNN’s Kimberly Richardson.