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 Preview 2015 (1) infographic
Graphic shows a selection of events scheduled during 2015.
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YEAR END

Preview 2015

By Jordi Bou

January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2015 - Elections take place in Nigeria, Israel, Britain, Turkey, Argentina, Myanmar and Spain. Lithuania joins the euro, Germany hosts a G7 summit, Panama hosts the Summit of the Americas, Pope Francis visits the U.S., and NASA sends the first spacecraft to Pluto. The Cricket World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand, Beijing hosts the World Athletics Championships, and England stages the Rugby World Cup. The seventh Star Wars movie and 24th in the James Bond series are released.

WORLD AGENDA 2015

JANUARY:
Washington: The new Republican dominated Senate and House of Representatives are sworn in, signalling an increasingly rocky road for Democrat president Barack Obama's final two years in office.

Baltic Republics: Lithuania joins the euro and Latvia assumes the six-month presidency of the EU, amid heightened tension between Russia and the West.

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FEBRUARY
Abuja: Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan is favourite to wins presidential elections in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and biggest oil producer, despite questions over his constitutional eligibility to stand again.

Australia and New Zealand: The jointly-hosted Cricket World Cup sees 14 teams competing at 14 venues with defending champions India playing Pakistan on February 15, tickets for which reportedly sold out within 12 minutes.

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MARCH
Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a fourth term in snap elections seen as a referendum on his leadership.

Japan: A global disaster risk reduction plan is expected to be approved after UN figures showed 2 million deaths and $2.4 trillion of economic losses from 8,835 disasters, not including volcanoes and earthquakes, between 1970 and 2012.

England: King Richard III, who was slain in battle in 1485 and whose remains were discovered under a municipal car park in 2012, is to be reburied in Leicester Cathedral.

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APRIL
Panama: The seventh Summit of the Americas, a gathering of leaders from across the region, takes place.

London: Britain's Prince William, son of the heir to the throne, and his wife Kate, expect the arrival of their second baby, a brother or sister for Prince George.

Dar es Salaam: Tanzania holds a referendum on a new constitution in the face of rejection by opposition parties of the draft charter.

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MAY
A general election in Britain, with anti-immigration UKIP (UK Independence Party) expected to split right-wing votes, is likely to lead to continued coalition government.

Zurich: Sepp Blatter stands for a fifth consecutive term as president of football's governing body, FIFA, challenged by former French captain Jerome Champagne.

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JUNE
Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts leaders of the world's richest countries at Schloss Elmau, in the Bavarian Alps, at the G7 summit.

Ankara: A general election in Turkey is being seen as a referendum on president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Victory for his Justice and Development party (AKP) would give him a licence to strengthen his grip on Turkish politics.

West Africa: The World Health Organisation says hundreds of thousands of doses of the first Ebola vaccines may be available after trials for seven products have been fast-tracked.

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JULY
Space: After nine years and a jorney of 4.8 billion kilometres, NASA's New Horizons robotic probe becomes the first spacecraft to visit the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

U.S./EU: Sanctions on Russian banks and corporations, imposed by the European Union and United States after Russia's annexation of Crimea in eastern Ukraine, are reviewed.

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AUGUST
Beijing: The "Bird's Nest" stadium stages the 15th World Athletics Championships. While in China the IAAF, the sport's governing body, will select a new president, with Britain's double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe seen as a likely candidate to succeed Lamine Diack of Senegal, who is due to step down.

Germany: Scientists hope the dead batteries of the Philae space lander, now residing on the comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, will reignite when the comet's orbit comes closer to the sun.

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SEPTEMBER
Philadelphia: Pope Francis is due to visit the United States for the first time since becoming pontiff.

England: The eighth Rugby World Cup takes place. Defending champions New Zealand, along with Australia and South Africa, all hope to lift the trophy for the third time.

London: Queen Elizabeth II becomes Britain's longest-reigning monarch, overtaking Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years, seven months and three days between 1837 and 1901. Elizabeth acceded to the throne on February 6, 1952.

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OCTOBER
Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, accused of being out of touch, faces a tough parliamentary election, despite a booming economy.

London: The 24th James Bond film, Spectre, is released with Daniel Craig playing British secret agent 007 for the fourth time. Skyfall, in 2012, became the highest grossing film in the series.

Buenos Aires: Argentina could see the end of the Kirchner era as Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is barred from running for a third term as president.

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NOVEMBER
Yangon: Myanmar's steps towards democracy will be called into question in a parliamentary election if opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing.

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DECEMBER
Madrid: The beginnings of a turnaround in Spain's economic fortunes could, if it continues, pay dividends for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his conservative People’s Party in parliamentary elections.

Paris: Hopes are high that world leaders at a United Nations summit will sign a global deal to agree targets on fighting climate change after 2020.

Los Angeles: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first in a new trilogy in the film series, is released.
/ENDS

Sources
PUBLISHED: 16/12/2014; STORY: Kate Edgley; PICTURES: Getty / Associated Press, University of Leicester
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