MONTSAME NAMES THE MOST IMPORTANT WORLD EVENTS OF 2014

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ First of all, this is the Ebola outbreak. Since this deadly virus started spreading in March in West Africa, 8,939 incidents were recorded in Sierra Leone, which was the highest outbreak in the world this year. Out of over 19,300 incidents recorded globally, 7,500 died in Sierra Leon, Liberia and Guinea of West Africa. Neither medicine nor vaccine has been invented to cure the deadly virus. 2.Crimea crisis Crisis unfolded in the aftermath of the Ukrainian Revolution which began with a demonstration of the political opposition at the center of Kiev and expanded into a coup d’etat. Crimea got a status of federal subject of the Russian Federation, which is recognized by five UN member states so far. Armed conflicts occurred in the eastern territories of Ukraine. After these conflicts, the USA and the European Union issued sanctions against Russia, to which Russia also took responding actions. Currently, the crisis is less intensive as a result of the deal between the Russian president V.Putin and newly elected Ukrainian president P.Poroshenko which took place October 31 brokered by the EU. 3. Mysterious accidents Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which was headed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared from air-traffic controller radar on March 8 while flying over the South China Sea. After months of unsuccessful air, land and underwater searches, the officials declared deaths of 227 passengers and 12 crew members. In July, another airliner of Malaysia, the flight MH17, crashed en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, while flying over the conflict-hit region of Ukraine, and resulted in deaths of 298 passengers and 15 crew members. It is assumed that the airplane was hit by Buk Surface-to-Air Missile System. However, the cause of the crash is still indefinite. On December 28, AirAsia QZ8501 flight carrying 162 people from Surabaya of Indonesia to Singapore went missing. Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia have joined the search over the Java sea. No trace has yet been found. 4. “Enduring freedom” The Military phase of the Operation Enduring Freedom conducted Afghanistan by the USA and NATO members after the September 11 attack was concluded this year, by the military forces withdrawal by the UK and the USA from the territories of Afghanistan. Other alliance forces will be removed from the country within this passing year. Sentinel of the operation will continue assisting Afghan’s security in 2015. 5. “Islamic State” Extremists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) declared an “Islamic Caliphate” over the regions in Iraq and Syria of which they took in control, and conducting intensively disturbing actions. The USA, with supports of the allies, is putting airstrikes to the bases of the “Islamic State” group. The airstrike alliance has been joined as well by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands and the UK, and the airstrikes on the Syrian bases of the ISIS are backed by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 6. “Winter Olympics” The 22nd winter Olympic Games were organized in Sochi of the Russian Federation, attended by 2,871 athletes of 88 countries. They competed in 15 sports categories and for 98 packages of medals. The competitions were led by the Russian team, which satisfied 13 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals. 7. Football World Cup The 20th World Championship of Football was held in Brazil. The national team of Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time. 8. Revival in US-Cuba relations The USA reopened the Embassy in Havana, which was closed after Cuba became closely allied with the former USSR. The tensions that even resulted in 1962 Caribbean crisis died down on December 17 when the U.S. President Barack Obama and the Cuban President Raul Castro announced the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, mainly focused on softening the economic sanctions taken by the USA towards Cuba. However, the Cuban President stated that the political orders in Cuba will remain the same.