April 1 – United States
The United States authorities report that more than seven million people, more than expected, have signed up for health care coverage under the new Obamacare law, officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The law is intended to extend health coverage to 48 million uninsured Americans and curb the growing costs of healthcare in the U.S.
June 4 – United States
The United States President Barack Obama meets with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Poland’s transition to democracy. While in Poland, he also meets with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and pledges $5 million in military aid in support of Ukraine’s fight with rebels who want to split the country. He also reaffirms the NATO principles of collective defense and announces a $1 billion plan of the European Reassurance Initiative to strengthen defenses in Europe. On his part, President Komorowski pledges an increase in military spending to 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
June 16 – United States
A surge of unaccompanied children from Central America crossing illegally into the United States creates a humanitarian crisis and political challenges for the Obama Administration. This year alone, the U.S. border patrol detained about 50,000 juveniles. Ninety percent of the children come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The surge is caused by poverty, gang and drug violence in their home countries and the belief that the U.S. immigration law has special provisions for children.
August 8 – United States
The United States launches air strikes in Iraq against militants from the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) who control vast areas in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. planes and drones attack IS targets near Irbil, capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, and help Iraqi forces to break the siege of Mount Sinjar, where people from religious minorities fled the brutality of IS. (August 14): Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is forced to step down and is replaced by Haider Al-Abadi who is expected to form a government of national unity. He was Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government after Saddam Hussein. (August 19): In response to American airstrikes in Iraq, the IS beheads U.S. journalist James Foley who was held captive since November 2012.
September 22 – United States
The United States-led coalition begins air strike targets inside Syria that belong to the Islamic State (IS) militants and the Khorasan group, another militant group formed from al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon. The coalition includes Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). (September 27): The coalition air strikes IS targets near the besieged northern Syrian town of Kobane on the border with Turkey, helping Kurdish fighters push back the militants. Tens of thousands of Kobane civilians flee the town for Turkey. Kobane is a strategic place, which would give the militants control over a long stretch of Syrian territory alongside the Turkish border. Under pressure from other countries and its own Kurdish population, Turkey opens its border for Syrian Kurds fleeing the violence around Kobane. Since 2011, when the fighting against the Syrian government began, Turkey has accepted about 850,000 refugees from Syria.
October 20 – United States
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares Nigeria and Senegal Ebola-free. So far, the virus has infected more than 10,000 and killed close to 5.000 people, mostly in West African countries: Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Several patients who were treated for Ebola in the United States with an experimental treatment have recovered. The only person who died from the virus in the U.S. was Thomas Duncan, a Liberian national, who contracted the virus in Liberia before flying to the U.S.
October 20 – United States
Turkey announces that it will allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross its border on the way to the Syrian town of Kobane in order to help the Syrian Kurds fight Islamic State (IS) militants. Kobane has been under siege for six weeks. The United States-led coalition drops weapons, ammunition and medical supplies over Kobane and steps up air strikes on militants.
November 4 – United States
Voters across the United States go to the polls to vote in mid-term elections. At stake is the entire House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate seats, 36 of 50 state governors, and various local offices. As a result of the elections, Republicans win a Senate majority and pick up more seat in the House, gaining control of both houses of Congress. The Republicans also win 24 of the 36 state governorships (gaining two seats). The final total is 31 Republican governors, 18 Democratic, and one Independent governor in Alaska.
November 20 – Mexico
Thousands of protestors gather in Mexico City for a national rally in memory of the 43 students who disappeared on September 26 after a protest and a confrontation with police in the city of Iguala in the Mexican State of Guerrero in Southwestern Mexico. In October, the authorities found a mass grave with human remains believed to be the students. Iguala’s mayor and his wife were arrested suspected of being the masterminds behind the kidnappings, as well as dozens of other suspects, half of them police officers. The massacre sparked mass protests against widespread political corruption and violence. In response, Mexico’s President Pena Nieto announces plans to bring regional government and police under federal control.
November 21 – United States
U.S. President Barack Obama bypasses the Republican Congress and signs two executive actions that will allow several million illegal immigrants to apply for work permits and will delay their deportations. The orders apply to parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents who have been in the country for five years, and young people brought into the country illegally as of 2010. Those who qualify will be granted protection for three years. The US Department of Homeland Security estimates that in 2012 there were about 11.4 million of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. Fifty-nine percent of them are from Mexico followed by El Salvador (6%), Guatemala (5%), Honduras (3%), and the Philippines (3%).
November 24 – United States
After deliberating for three months, a Missouri grand jury decides not to indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed armed black teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9. The shooting sparked weeks of unrest and clashes with police mostly in Ferguson, but also in other major U.S. cities. President Barack Obama appeals for calm, calling for Americans to accept the ruling of the grand jury.
December 3 – United States
A grand jury in the United States decides not to indict a white policeman responsible for killing Eric Garner, a black man suspected of selling loose cigarettes on the street in New York City. The grand jury decision sparks a wave of protests and rallies across many US cities against police brutality and their excessive use of force. It also triggers a vigorous national debate about a relationship between police and African-Americans. Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton says the US grand jury system is “broken” and calls on the authorities to address the problem.
December 15 – United States
The United States President Barack Obama announces the major shift in the U.S. policy towards Cuba after more than 50 years of hostilities following Cuba’s revolution that led to establishing a communist system on the island. Both countries will restore diplomatic relations, as well as the end trade embargo and ban on travel. They will also exchange prisoners that include US contractor Alan Gross and three Cubans held in the US.