The main events of 2015 of the year

2015 was beautiful and terrible. The terrorists of the “Islamic State” entered the international arena, the world was replenished with two princesses, scientists found water on Mars, and the Kremlin shifted attention from Donbass to Syria. “Forum” gathered the most important and interesting stories of the year. Some of them, such as with the lion Cecil, have an unexpectedly good ending.

Large “mother spy” justified

In January, the Russian security services almost took the apartment to the Russians Svetlana Davydova, tore off the baby and other children from the infant, accused of treason and imprisoned. The mother of seven children was convicted of calling the Ukrainian embassy to report that Russian soldiers were being sent to the Donbass from a nearby military unit. Two weeks later, Davydov released, the Prosecutor General’s Office apologized to her. Now the woman continues to engage in social activities.

Legalization of same-sex marriage throughout the United States

Previously, gays and lesbians could get married only in some states. In June of this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that gay people can marry everywhere: in any state and city, in court, church, synagogue, and in general, anywhere, where a person with the right to marry will sign them.

“Islamic state” threatens civilization

January 7 militants “Islamic State” attacked to the editors of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting an 12 man and injuring almost as many.

31 October in Egypt crashed Russian plane with tourists, 224 people were killed (passengers and crew members). “Islamic State” claimed responsibility for the attack. Russia запретила flights to Egypt and evacuated all tourists.

13 November action movies again attacked Paris: Bataklan Concert Hall, several bars and restaurants, as well as a football stadium. Total a series of terrorist attacks killed 129 people, over 350 injured. The world shuddered in horror, many began to talk about the fact that the “Islamic state” and its atrocities pose a threat to all civilization.

And then the terror came to America. December 3 in the US husband and wife, pledged allegiance to the "Islamic State", attackedand with a weapon at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where they helped people with developmental disabilities. Killed 14 people, 17 injured. Soon the story a Russian trace appeared — the weapon used to shoot people was bought by Maria Chernykh, who emigrated from Russia in 2009.

Solar eclipse and the "bloody" moon

Behind the solar eclipse that occurred on March 20, people watched in all corners of the Earth, including Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania. To please passengers, pilots of dozens of regular flights changed the routes in Europe. And September 28 Americans watched for a very rare phenomenon - a “blood moon”, when a lunar eclipse coincided with a supermoon.

Shootings of peaceful americans

The outgoing year was marked by mass executions, the victims of which were innocent Americans. In Louisiana in July, an 58-year-old man discovered shooting at spectators in the cinema hall, killing two and injuring nine. He had mental problems. Nine more people became victims of 20-year-old shooter in the african american church in South Carolina while serving. The offender was hoping to start a racial war. In October in college in Oregon a student killed ten people on the basis of their anti-religious views and belief in the superiority of white people. These and other tragedies provoked an active debate in society about the need to strengthen gun control.

Visit of Pope Francis to America

The Pope in September visited the USA with historic six day visitin which he also spoke to delegates of the 70 session of the General Assembly UN in New York. Everything went very positively. Papa was met by Barack Obama and his wife, throughout the visit the route of the pontiff and his papamobile the Americans greeted him. From the UN rostrum, Pope Francis called on the UN to end the wars on the planet. A little later, on Halloween, in the White House, Obama also came to a charming child in the pontiff costume.

Russia is bombing Syria

30 September Russia inflicted its first air strike on Syria in response to the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Two months later, the military contingent increased to four thousand people. Americans all the time accuse Russia of striking are directed not only against the “Islamic State”, but also against all those who are against Assad, and they are talking about casualties among the Russian military. The Kremlin denies the military shoot patriotic videos about Russian pilots and called daughters Syria.

Mother Teresa is canonized

A nun who has dedicated her life to helping the poor and sick, counted to the face of the Catholic saints. This was made possible after Pope Francis recognized the miraculous healing of a Brazilian who had several brain tumors. In 2008, he unexpectedly recovered after his priest prayed to mother Teresa.

The murder of Boris Nemtsov

A well-known Russian oppositionist and opponent of President Vladimir Putin was shot three hundred meters from the Kremlin. Russians in Moscow, New York and other cities around the world took to the streets with protests and questions.. Customers of the murder of Nemtsov have not yet been found. The alleged executor, the fighter of the Chechen battalion of internal troops is detained. The activists suggested renaming the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge in honor of the politician, but the authorities refused. The court also refused to recognize the murder of Boris Nemtsov as political.

Frozen conflict in the Donbass

Military operations in the east of Ukraine began in the 2014 year and, according to the UN, claimed nine thousand lives. Even more 20 thousands of people were injured, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians became refugees. Fights between separatists, supported by Russia, and the Ukrainian army stopped in the fall. Minsk and Norman agreements are more or less fulfilled, but the world there is far away - rather, the conflict froze. The Kremlin turned its attention to Syria and gave the command to militants from the self-proclaimed republics to concentrate on the establishment of control systems for the occupied territories.

Russia and sanctions

In response to extension of sanctions West Russia banned Delivery virtually all food products from Western countries, and also created a list of US and European citizens who are prohibited from entering Russia. By decree of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, the country began even revealing destroy “Sanctions” products. And in November, when the Turkish bomber knocked down Russian plane, the Kremlin instantly introduced sanctions against Turkey - canceled the visa-free regime and banned Russian travel agencies sell vouchers on the popular Turkish resorts.

Jubilee 70-I Assembly

The presidents of the United States and Russia spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York, and they talked together on the sidelines. Speech by Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin on the background of the Ukrainian crisis and war in Syria experts called software. At the same time, Putin and Obama presented absolutely opposite versions happening in the world of events. Putin also met massive protests.

Nuclear deal with Iran

In July, Iran, USA, France, UK, Germany, China and Russia reached agreements on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against Tehran. Under the agreement, Iran will allow inspectors to its nuclear facilities, and Western countries will gradually remove sanctions from Iran. Despite all the pride of the participants, the news is mixed. Many doubt the sincerity of Iran, the deal has become important topic of the pre-election debate of US presidential candidates, and former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the agreement “will be remembered like a black day in the history of the whole free world".

Two princesses

On the night of May 2 the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth the Queen of Great Britain's great-granddaughter, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Six months later, Prince William and Kate Middleton published photo babes on Twitter.

The heiress of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was born on December 1. Photo: facebook.com/zuck

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg too was dad. The girl who was born on December 2 was named Maxim Chan Zuckerberg. Happy father promised to ever give 99% of the company to charity, and then went on maternity leave.

Cecil's lion's death made sense

Leo Cecil lived in Zimbabwe in a national park and was supervised by scientists from the University of Oxford. In early July, American dentist Walter James Palmer killed him, and very cruelly. The dentist woke up famous - about 35 million people Googled the story. Below his office an angry mob has gathered. Cecil's death was not in vain - environmental legislation was changed in America and France, and Oxford received about a million dollars in donations for a program for the protection of wild animals.

FIFA corruption scandal

Grandiose scandal at the International Football Federation (FIFA) has drawn a line under the 17-year reign swiss sepp blatter. A powerful official is suspended from any football activity for a period of 8 years, a criminal case has been filed against him. The sanctions also touched on the legend of French football Michel Platini, who led the European League and was considered the main candidate for the FIFA presidency in the February elections.

US Presidential Race and Trump Phenomenon

Election of the President of the United States, which will be held on November 8, 2016, promises to be interesting. An obvious favorite among Democrats is former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But the Republicans have an intrigue. Donald Trump, whom no one took seriously back in the summer, is now the leader polls. Americans like it, despite (and possibly because of) the huge number of insults that literally pour out of his mouth against Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants and women. He even suggested fully close entry to US Muslims.

Syrian refugees

Since the start of the civil war in Syria, about four million people have fled the country. The main influx of migrants occurred in the countries of the European Union, and Europe has not experienced this since the Second World War. But the United States has hosted only one and a half thousand people since 2011 (about 0,03% of the total number of refugees). In September, the Barack Obama administration presented a plan to house 10 Syrians in the country - but after the November terrorist attacks in Paris against made by state governors 31 and many Republicans, including the same Trump.

Knife Intifada in Israel

In 2015, a series of elemental attacks began in Israel. Palestinian attacks on civilians. They are similar in handwriting: Arabs, most often young, are attacking Jewish casual passers-by in public places with knives, in one case they were two school girls. The targets became the Jews, although a couple of times the attackers were mistaken and pricked other Arabs. Due to the fact that attacks are spontaneous and it is knives that are used, they are difficult to prevent.

Water on Mars and salad in space

This year, mankind has made many fascinating discoveries in space. Scientists have found water on mars, done unique images of Plutoand the first commercial space shuttle Space X successfully returned to earth, thereby opening the way to private, and not just public initiatives.

And the American astronaut Scott Kelly, who is on the International Space Station, became star of social networks. Kelly constantly published beautiful pictures, answered even the most stupid questions of social network users (for example, how not to lose socks in space) and even has grown a salad in orbit and fed them colleagues.

The fall of the ruble

Last year, many residents of the CIS began to live worse. The fall in oil prices, sanctions against Russia and other factors led to the fact that the ruble exchange rate compared with the beginning of 2014 year almost half fell. December 15 ruble hit a record low against the dollar (70,82 rubles per dollar). It also fell in 2015 year Kazakh tenge and Ukrainian hryvnia.

Volkswagen twisted counters

It turns out, Volkswagen developed software that tricked checks. For inspectors, the cleaning systems worked at full capacity, but during normal driving they did not, and in reality, the emission of harmful substances of some of the automaker's cars exceeds the established rate 40 times. The company will be fined 18 billions of dollars for fraud.

Nobel Prize at the Belarusian writer

Svetlana Alexievich became winner of the Nobel Prize 2015 year in the field of literature with the phrase "for the polyphonic sound of prose and the perpetuation of suffering and courage." Before the solemn ceremony of presenting the award in Stockholm, the Belarusian writer spoke with “Nobel lecture” (full version). Alexievich is the author of such books as “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face,” “Zinc Boys,” and “Second-Hand Time.” She became the first Russian-speaking author to be awarded the Nobel Prize since 1987, when Joseph Brodsky became the laureate.

Abnormally warm Christmas on the east coast

Warm weather on US east coast beat up all temperature records. In New York at Christmas it was + 22 Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) and people were walking in T-shirts. Such warm weather was observed since the beginning of winter.

Food and Energy Blockade of Crimea

In early September, the Crimean Tatars Have begun food blockade of the annexed Crimea by Russia. They blocked the road and blocked transport with goods from mainland Ukraine. And in November, due to the detonation of two energy supports, in the Crimea gone electricity. Against the background of the protests of the Crimean people due to the long absence of electricity, Putin flew to the peninsula and connected the first energy bridge from Russia. A week later, Ukraine, having repaired one of the energy supports, also gave light to the Crimea.

New “Star Wars”

2015's most anticipated film of the year beat up record. The box office’s new Star Wars movie episode reached a billion dollars in just 12 roll-over. And already there are guesses that two new episodes of "Star Wars" will have at the heart of the universe created by George Lucas, but everything else will be different.