The world 2014 is a review of the most important events that took place worldwide in the last 12 months – both positive and negative. All of them had significant impact on the world we live in – the close and far parts of it. Check, what’s on the list.
Patient zero died in December 2013 in Guinea, but the outbreak of hemorrhagic fever spread to other countries - mostly to Liberia and Sierra Leone, but also to Nigeria, Spain, USA, Senegal and Mali. More than 20 thousand cases have been recorded; 8 thousand people died. It was the biggest Ebola epidemic in regard to the number of recorded cases and deaths.
It's hard to specify the precise date here since the situation in the country has been gradually deteriorating since the end of president François Bozizé's reign in March 2013. In August 2013, UN classified he Republic a failed state (country with no central government), in December a peacemaking intervention started which was supposed to stop the fighting parties. France and African Union conducted the intervention. In February the situation escalated; Polish missionaries were attacked. Until August 2014, the situation has remained chaotic and hard to explain. At times it seemed that the only possible solution was the break-up of the country into two parts.
First Olympic Games in Russia and 23rd Winter Olympic Games overall. The event took place between 7th an 23rd February. 7 Olympic and world records were beat. Poland won four gold, one silver and one bronze medal and ended up on the 11th place in the medal ranking. The winners included Kamil Stoch, Justyna Kowalczyk, Zbigniew Bródka and the female speed skating team.
Anti-government protests that started in January and ended in May. These were the biggest protests since Nicolás Maduro was elected president. Social unrest was mainly caused by very high inflation rate, growing crime rate and reported electoral malpractice which helped Maduro win. On 12th February the protests got more radical and there were first casualties. The situation stabilised in April when government decided to start a dialogue with the opposition.
Whole world watched the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane that disappeared from the radar over South China Sea on 8th March, during the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It probably stayed airborne for a few hours more and then fell to the Indian Ocean. However, this hypothesis was never confirmed as a few weeks worth of searching brought no results. 239 passengers were on that flight.
On 16th March, a referendum in support of reunification with Russia took place in Ukraine-governed Autonomous Republic of Crimea. According to official results, 96.77 % voted in favour of such solution and the attendance was 83.1%. Day after the referendum, the parliament in Simferopol asked for Crimea to be annexed into Russian Federation. The results of the referendum and the annexation of Crimea were not recognised by Ukraine and most of the countries in the world.
Aleksander Doba, a 65-year old traveller accomplished something that might have been considered impossible. He's the first person in history who sailed across Atlantic Ocean alone in a kayak travelling from one continent to another. He made more than 5 thousand kilometres in 99 days of rowing, sailing from Africa to Brazilian Acarau. His kayak was built specially for this occasion and weighed half a ton with all the necessary equipment.
Conflict in the East of Ukraine which started after Euromaidan in February and numerous anti-Russian stances. This lead to new Ukrainian authorities being elected. In response, armed separatist movements aimed at giving Donets Basin (Donbas) independence from Ukraine started in April 2014. The rebels supported by Russia, proclaimed Novorossiya in May, a confederation made from Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic.
On 7th May the prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra along with 9 members of her office was removed from her post by the Constitutional Tribunal due to the abuse of power. On 20th May army imposed martial law, took over the control over the country, suspended the constitution and introduced curfew. On 21st August the chief of army, general Prayuta Chan-o-cha became the new prime minister. The protests lasted a few months. 28 died while hundreds were injured.
As a result of the protests on the Independence Square in Kiev (Maidan) and other parts of Ukraine, Supreme Council of Ukraine impeached the president Viktor Yanukovych. On the same day Oleksandr Turchynov was appointed the chairman of Supreme Council of Ukraine and the acting president of the state. Official election took place on 25th May. Petro Poroshenko, the opposition leader won in first round.
4th June marked the 25th anniversary of first free election in Poland. Back then, Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed prime minister and Poles could vote for their representatives - deputies and senators. This election was a groundbreaking event, since the political landscape changed radically in Poland with the victory of Solidarność and the defeat of communist authority. It's also the 25th anniversary of Round Table talks after which the first non-communist government among the Eastern Bloc countries was established.
On 9th June, "Islamic State", a salafi terrorist organisation, proclaimed the caliphate on lands they occupied. Its chief, sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was chosen the leader (right now known as Caliph Ibrahim ibn Awwad) by Shura. According to the organisation, with this he became the leader of all Muslims. However, caliphate was not recognised by international society.
20th FIFA World Cup took place on twelve national stadiums in Brazil. We witnessed the sport emotions between 12th June and 13th July. Germans beat Argentina in final and won the World Cup for the fourth time. Hosts ended up on fourth place while The Netherlands won bronze medal.
Malaysia Airlines plane (MH-17 flight) departed from Amsterdam on 17th July. It was supposed to land in Kuala Lumpur on the next day. After flying over The Netherlands, Germany, Poland and part of Ukraine the aircraft suddenly started losing attitude about 40 km before entering Russian Federation's airspace. According to conversations published by Security Service of Ukraine, the plane was accidentally shot by Russian separatists during the operation conducted by one of the divisions stationed in the region where Ukrainian conflict was taking place. 298 passengers died in the crash.
On 29th June panda triplets were born in Chimelong Chinese zoo. It's the fourth time in history it happened and the first time when all the little ones survived. The babies are smaller than human palm after birth and weigh between 83 and 124 grams. The death rate of pandas is very high and the population decreases every year due to low fertility - the female can only become pregnant during a few day-long period every year. Therefore these news were even better.
On 9th August 18-year old Michael Brown who was black was lethally show by white Darren Wilson, white police officer who said he was attacked by the victim. Michael was never convicted before which made the black citizens of the city assume that police officer's attack was racially motivated. Numerous protests and riots took place in Ferguson afterwards. Police could not contain them which made the Missouri governor Jay Nixon impose state of emergency and curfew. Protests stopped on 22th August.
The world gone mad about it! It was the idea of Corey Griffin, American entrepreneur whose friend - baseball player named Pete Frates - suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It was his video that started the movement. The idea is simple - you nominate three people to record a video in which they pour buckets of ice-cold water over their heads. If they don't do it, they have to pay 100 dollars to ALS Association, an organisation that helps people suffering from ALS.
On 18th September, Scots voted in a referendum regarding the separation from the United Kingdom. 55.3 citizens voted to stay while 44.7 voted in favour of separation. The attendance was almost 85%.
Rosetta was a space probe made by European Space Agency. Its mission was to travel to the beginnings of our planet. In August it reached 67P/Czuryumov-Gierasimienko comet and entered its core orbit. A lander module called Philae was launched from the probe. On 12th November it landed on the surface of the comet - for the first time in history.
On 30th August, during the summit in Brussels, Donald Tusk was elected the president of European Council, the institution that is responsible for establishment of the direction of political endeavours of European Union and its priorities. He assumed his office on 1st December, replacing Belgian Herman Van Rumpuy. On 19th December Donald Tusk lead the EU summit for the first time.
On 5th December Hadija Ismayil, Swoboda Hadija radio station's journalist, was arrested. She was accused of trying to make Tural Mustafajev, former journalist of Radio Liberty, commit suicide. The penalty for such crime is 3 to 7 years of prison. Western countries considered the arrest an attack on free speech. Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders showed their support for her. Ismayil is the author of many articles about corruption in president's Ilham Alijew office. She was called 'the last free voice of Azerbaijan'.
On 10th December Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. Two people got it this time - Malala Yousafazai and Kailash Satyarthi who were awarded for the fight for children's right to education and for fighting the oppression of children. 17-year old Malala is particularly interesting. She's the youngest Nobel Prize winner who has been a blogger fighting for women's and children's right to education in Pakistan since she was 11.
After more than 50 years of isolation of Cuba, Barack Obama, the president of USA announced that the diplomatic relations with Cuba will be resumed and the ban on travelling and export will be waived. The government of Canada and pope Francis were involved in the talks. However, the decision regarding both the trade embargo and the travel embargo for American tourists wanting to travel to Cuba has to be made by the Congress. Obama already filed for approval.
On 28th December Air Asia Malaysian airlines Airbus 320-200 flying from Surabi (Indonesia) to Singapore, disappeared from the radar. The weather was the reason for the loss of contact with the air traffic control. At that time, the plane was flying near heavy storms which the pilots probably tried to avoid. Air Asia airlines did not get the permission to fly on that day. 162 people died in the crash.