From right: French President Francois Hollande, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rejoice at the adoption of a deal aimed at curbing global warming at COP21 in Paris (Photo: AP) Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has selected the top ten world events for 2015 as follows:
1. The ASEAN Community is officially established: 13 years after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) floated an idea on a common community, the ASEAN Community is officially set up on December 31, 2015, with three key pillars: the Politic al and Security Community, the Economic Community and the Social-Cultural Community. The formation marks an important development step in the grouping’s process of extensive connectivity, towards the “One vision – One identity – One community” goal.
2. China’s actions further complicates the East Sea situation: China increased its unilateral actions in the East Sea, including illegal construction on i slands and reefs in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos of Vietnam. International community expressed deep concern about those moves and warned that such actions had infringed international law, increased tension and threatened security and safety of navigation and aviation, as well as damaged the ecological systems in the East Sea.
3. World intensifies fight against terrorism: A series of bomb attacks, kidnapping and shootings, especially the bloody attacks in Charlie Hebdo newspaper office on January 7 and Bataclan theatre on November 13 in France, or the bombing of a Russian plane in Egypt on October 30, shocked the world. The increasing expansion and brutality of the self-claimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, along with Russia’s military intevention in Syria have changed the situation in the global fight against terrorism with the strong involvement of many countries worldwide.
4. Migration crisis in Europe: Mass waves of migration from the Middle East and North African countries to Europe brought the most serious migration crisis since the World War II, causing severe security and socio-economic impacts for European nations and the world, as well as creating divergences in policies of the Eropean Union’s member nations on how to cope with the situation.
5. Historical deal reached on climate change adaptation: On December 12, all the 195 countries attending the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in France approved an agreement aimed at curbing global warming. The deal was said to be the strongest commitment of the intetnational community to the fight against climate change. It sets t he target of keeping the rise in global temperatures by the year 2100 “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times. Developed countries pledged to provide at least 100 billion USD a year to help developing countries deal with climate change.
6. Oil price drop to a record low in more than one decade: The price of crude oil on the world market was reduced by nearly 60 percent in the past year to below 35 USD per barrel – the lowest price since 2004. The decrease was attributed to persistent oversupply and falling demand of oil, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision on not cutting oil output, and the US’s removal of its 40-year ban on oil exports. The strong reduction of oil price has huge impact on the economy and geo-politics of various countries, especially those heavily dependent on oil imports and exports.
7. Iran and P5+1 countries reach key nuclear deal: After 11 years of tense negotiations, Iran and the P5+1 countries, which are the US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany, on July 14 reached a historic agreement, under which Iran vowed to restrict its nuclear programme, while other countries pledged to lift sanctions imposed on Tehran.
8. Strongest earthquakes in eight decades rock Nepal: Two earthquakes measuring 7.8 magnitude and 7.3 magnitude on April 25 and May 12 shook almost all parts of Nepal, leaving 8,964 deaths and injuring 21,952 people. The two quakes changed many geological structures in Nepal and its neighbouring countries like India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The United Nations estimated that around 8 million people were affected by the disasters, with 1.4 million people in need of food assistance.
9. Century scandals of FIFA: Numerous high-ranking FIFA officials, including FIFA President Sepp Blatter and President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini, were accused of corruption, bribery and money laundering with the money involved worth up to hundreds of millions of US dollars. These scandals tarnish the image of FIFA, requiring the organisation to reform strongly.
10. New Earth-like planet found: On July 23, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the discovery of a planet outside the solar system which holds the most characteristics like the Earth so far. The planet, named Kepler-452b, is around 1.6 times larger than the Earth in diameter and is 1,400 light years from the Earth. It orbits around a star with about the same size and brightness of the Sun, and has signs of water on its surface. One year on Kepler-452e has 385 days. This is a revolutionary discovery, which helps increase hope for the search for life beyond the Earth.-VNA
