News That Made Headlines

JAN

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Louisiana Same-Sex Marriage Case (Jan. 12): The U.S. Supreme Court decides not to hear a challenge to Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage. The court declines to hear the case while it is deciding whether or not to look at the issue of same-sex marriage again. There are four other cases concerning same-sex marriage that the court can choose to hear this week. Those cases concern same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The decisions to hear one or more of the cases is significant because if the court does take them on, it will then issue a ruling that will determine if the 14 remaining state bans are struck down.

FEB

Denmark Sees Worst Terrorist Attack in Thirty Years (Feb. 14): Two people are killed in two attacks. In the first attack, a gunman fires into a cafe where Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks is speaking. Vilks, who is on a list of Al-Qaeda targets for his Prophet Muhammad caricature, is unharmed in the attack. One man is killed, and three police officers are wounded. The gunman escapes, setting off a manhunt by police. (Feb. 15): Hours later, another attack happens outside a synagogue. The two shootings are the worst terrorist attack in Denmark since the July 22, 1985 bombings of the Great Synagogue and the Northwest Orient airlines office in Copenhagen, which killed one person and injured twenty-six.

MAR

Israeli Prime Minister Makes Controversial Speech to U.S. Congress (Mar. 3): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress in an effort to sway the Obama administration against negotiating with Iran. Netanyahu calls the negotiations to get Iran to freeze its nuclear program “a bad deal.” In his speech, he says the deal that the Obama administration wants “could well threaten the survival of my country” because it will not prevent Iran from having and using nuclear weapons. To the contrary, he says, the deal “will all but guarantee” nuclear arms in Iran.

APRIL

U.S. and Cuba Have Highest-Level Meeting in Decades (Apr. 9): U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez meet in Panama. It is the highest-level meeting between the U.S. and Cuba in more than half a century. Their meeting comes a day before the Summit of the Americas.

Earthquake Kills Thousands, Destroys Several Historic Landmarks (Apr. 25): A magnitude-7.8 earthquake strikes central Nepal, near the capital, Katmandu, killing nearly 4,000 people, injuring tens of thousands, and damaging or destroying thousands of structures, including the treasured Dharahara Tower and the temple complex Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

MAY

Ireland Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in Historic Vote (May 22): Ireland becomes the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in a national referendum. Turnout for the vote is 60.5%. Of those who vote, 62.1% choose in favor of changing the country’s constitution to allow same-sex marriage. The vote comes 22 years after Ireland decriminalized homosexuality. The referendum’s result shows how quickly the historically conservative country is changing.

U.S. Court Finds NSA Phone Records Collection Excessive (May 7): A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rules that Congress never authorized the bulk collection of the phone records of U.S. citizens when it passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act, and therefore the National Security Agency’s program that does so is illegal.

JUNE

Supreme Court Rules for Same-Sex Marriage (June 26): The Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry and that states cannot say that marriage is reserved for heterosexual couples. “Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right,” Justice Anthony Kenned writes in the majority opinion.

JULY

U.S. Beats Japan in Women’s World Cup (July 5): In the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final in Vancouver, British Columbia, the U.S. rout Japan, 5-2. It is a rematch of the 2011 final, which Japan won with penalty kicks.

Iran Agrees to Historic Nuclear Deal (July 14): Iran and the group of six nations, the United States, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany, reach a historic agreement to limit Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.

AUGUST

American Flag Raised in Cuba (Aug. 14): The U.S. flag is raised outside the newly reopened embassy in Havana during a ceremony in which Secretary of State John Kerry also speaks. The ceremony is another signal to an end of fifty years of strained relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Train attack thwarted by Americans and a Briton in France (Aug. 21): Three Americans: Alek Skarlatos, a specialist in the National Guard, Airman First Class Spencer Stone, college student Anthony Sadler, and Briton Chris Norman overpower a man armed with an AK-47, a pistol, and a box cutter as he walks down the aisle on a train outside of Paris, France.

SEPTEMBER

Speaker of the House John Boehner Resigns (Sept. 25): During a press conference, John Boehner announces that he is stepping down as Speaker of the House. He also announces that he will retire from Congress on October 30, 2015.

OCTOBER

Obama Announces Reversal on U.S. Troops in Afghanistan (Oct. 15): President Obama announces that 5,500 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2016. The decision comes after military leaders appeal to the President to extend the deadline for removing the troops. The announcement goes against Obama’s original plan to pull out all troops except for a small military presence at the U.S. embassy there.

NOVEMBER

Three Coordinated Attacks by ISIS Kill Dozens in Paris (Nov. 13): ISIS launches three coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 129 people and wounding hundreds. Eighty-nine people die in an assault at a concert hall, the Bataclan, where an American rock band, the ironically titled Eagles of Death Metal, is performing at the time. Dozens of others are killed in attacks on restaurants and a soccer stadium where France is playing a match against Germany. Seven of the eight terrorists die during the attacks. The attacks are the worst violence in France since World War II.

U.S. Issues Worldwide Travel Alert (Nov. 23): In light of the recent attacks in Paris and an increase in international terrorists threats, the U.S. State Department issues a warning that Americans should be alert when traveling, especially during the holidays. The travel alert is in effect until Feb. 24, 2016.