The Year in Cartoons

© 2015 The New York Times
Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

 

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JANUARY: TERROR IN PARIS — A Jan. 7 attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in response to its depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, which some Muslims found offensive, ignited a fierce global debate about freedom of speech. In a show of solidarity, at least 3.7 million people took part in anti-terrorism rallies around the world, many carrying signs that read "Je suis Charlie." The gunmen, Said and Cherif Kouachi, who were brothers, killed 12 people, including the magazine's editor. Paris remained on the alert until the men were shot dead by the police two days later, as was an accomplice who killed four people and a policewoman in separate confrontations. Credit: CLEMENT/National Post – Toronto, Canada; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate

FEBRUARY: EUROPE'S BATTLE WITH BUSINESS — The European Union's crackdown on tax avoidance by corporations took the spotlight in 2015 as investigators looked into arrangements between Apple and Ireland, Starbucks and the Netherlands, and Amazon and Fiat with Luxembourg as a potentially unfair form of state aid, adding Belgium to the list in February. In October, Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner, announced that the Netherlands and Luxembourg must each recover up to 30 million euros in back taxes from Starbucks and Fiat. The decision may have far-reaching implications, as it means that some EU members have been offering illegal subsidies in their efforts to attract multinationals. (Credit: AMMER/Wiener Zeitung – Vienna, Austria; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

MARCH: WATCH THIS SPACE — Seven-nation talks among Iran, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the United States working toward a March deadline revealed that the group was near agreement on limiting Iran's ability to produce weapons-grade uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. The sanctions were gradually put in place after a dissident group revealed the existence of Iran's nuclear program in 2002. When a deal was reached in July, U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani overcame internal opposition to win approval of the agreement, which was officially adopted on Oct. 18. Iran quickly began to dismantle parts of its nuclear facilities — steps linked to the lifting of sanctions. (Credit: OLIVER/Der Standard – Vienna, Austria; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate).

APRIL: IN MEMORY OF 1.5 MILLION ARMENIANS — April 24 marked the centennial anniversary of the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians who died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915, during World War I. In a commemorative mass attended by the Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan, Pope Francis described the mass killings as a genocide, igniting a diplomatic furor with the Turkish government, which rejects the term, arguing that many Turkish people also died during the same period. Turkey recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. Ceremonies remembering the events were held in Turkey and around the world, increasing pressure on the Turkish government. (Credit: BLEIBEL/Daily Star – Beirut, Lebanon; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

MAY: SOCCER SCANDAL — Swiss authorities arrested several top soccer officials at an annual meeting in Zurich on May 27, acting on an American investigation of corrupt practices at FIFA, soccer's international governing body, and the subsequent indictment of 14 people on corruption, racketeering and money-laundering charges. Switzerland's attorney general announced an investigation of 53 suspicious financial relationships connected with FIFA activities in June, and in September, opened criminal proceedings against Sepp Blatter, who had been re-elected to a fifth term as FIFA's president. FIFA suspended Blatter and two others, and revealed that it was investigating nearly a dozen current and former officials. (Credit: BLEIBEL/Daily Star – Beirut, Lebanon; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

JUNE: UNCLE SAM IS STILL WATCHING YOU — On June 2 the U.S. Senate passed and President Obama signed a reform bill known as the USA Freedom Act, in response to the revelations by Edward Snowden, a former National Security agency contractor, regarding the agency's mass collection and analysis of communications in the United States and abroad. The bill shifted the responsibility of records storage in the United States to phone service providers, who would turn the information over to the NSA only with a judicial order or in an emergency. The bill, which set a deadline of Nov. 29 for the NSA to comply, does not affect the agency's collection of foreign Internet content from U.S. companies, nor foreign intelligence gathering. (Credit: SCHRANK/The Economist – London, England; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

JULY: GREECE VOTES 'NO' — On July 5, after a monthslong game of brinkmanship between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was elected to power in January on an anti-austerity platform, and the country's creditors, who were pushing to prevent the country from defaulting on its debt and exiting the European Union, Greek citizens resoundingly voted "no" in a referendum, rejecting the bailout terms being offered. Eight days later, however, Tsipras agreed to an 86-billion-euro bailout that required more stringent pension cuts and tax increases than the original deal. He resigned in August, triggering a snap election that acted as a referendum on his leadership and the agreement. Tsipras emerged victorious. (Credit: DE ANGELIS – Rome, Italy; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

AUGUST: CHINESE MARKETS TUMBLE — The Shanghai Composite Index experienced steep slides in August that cascaded into global markets, hurting countries and companies that had bet big on China after nearly four decades of steady growth for its economy. In response to a downward slope in the markets in early June, the reasons for which were debated, the government devalued the renminbi, hoping to improve exports. To improve perceptions of the currency's strength, officials appealed to the I.M.F. to categorize it as a reserve currency and increased its exposure to market forces. The crashes soon followed these efforts, leaving investors scrambling to find new financial safe harbors. (Credit: AMMER/Wiener Zeitung – Vienna, Austria; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

SEPTEMBER: DIESEL DECEPTION — Volkswagen, which displaced Toyota as the world's top carmaker in 2015, fell from that perch in September after its so-called "clean diesel" vehicles were found to be spewing 40 times more pollutants into the air than is permitted in the United States. The carmaker soon revealed that software in 11 million vehicles helped them to cheat emissions tests, and CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned. Volkswagen may face $18 billion in fines from the U.S., and in response to an order from German regulators, the company recalled its fleet of 8.5 million vehicles in Europe. Matthias Müller, the company's new CEO, has said that penalties imposed by governments and other lawsuits will harm the company's ability to keep up with new technology. (Credit: SCHRANK/The Independent on Sunday – London, England; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

OCTOBER: STRATEGIC MOVES IN SYRIA — Three weeks after Russia began a bombing campaign in Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad left his country for the first time since the civil war began in 2011 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The Oct. 20 visit highlighted increasing tensions between Russia, which is allied with Assad and makes no distinction among insurgent groups, and the United States, which opposes Assad and supports moderate Syrian rebel groups. Some analysts suggested that Putin intervened in Syria in order to draw attention away from the fighting in the Ukraine and bring an end to Western sanctions. (Credit: HAJJAJ/Ad-Dustour – Amman, Jordan; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

NOVEMBER: TARNISHED MEDALSThe World Anti-Doping Agency released a report on Nov. 9 exposing rampant doping and corruption across Russian athletics, encompassing "the athletes' entourages, officials and the athletes themselves." Testimony and secret recordings made by whistleblowers — the runner Yulia Stepanova and her husband Vitaly Stepanov, a former official with the Russian anti-doping agency — had prompted the investigation. The International Association of Athletics Federations banned Russian athletes from participating in track and field events worldwide. (Credit: LEAHY/The Courier Mail – Brisbane, Australia; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)

DECEMBER: DEAL OR NO DEAL — Representatives from 195 countries gathered near Paris reached a climate accord on Dec. 12 that will enforce ongoing efforts to curb global warming, with the goal of eventually bringing net carbon emissions to zero and trying to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The deal ensures that countries fulfill pledges they've already made to cut their carbon emissions by creating transparency mechanisms and systems of financial aid. Climate activists said that the measures in the agreement are insufficient and unenforceable. (Credit: JULIUS/Horsens Folkeblad – Horsens, Denmark; CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate)