We may be more than 2 weeks into 2014 but that still hasn’t stopped people wishing you happy new year. David Coen looks at the highs and lows of 2013.

Highlights:

Ireland’s Exit of the Bailout Programme

On November the 14th Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced that the country would exit the IMF bailout programme, crucially with the exclusion of an overdraft facility. The decision to not take up a credit line was recommended by Finance Minister Michael Noonan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the move; she has also spoken to German Development Bank KFW to work with the Irish to improve Ireland’s funding mechanisms. Most importantly though Ireland’s financial fate will be in its own hands, which is a welcome change to the past few years of foreign involvement in overlooking Ireland’s financial performance. This doesn’t mean an end to Ireland’s fiscal crisis, far from it. What it does symbolise however is its determination to stand on its own two feet and hold itself responsible. The country no longer feels the need to rely on Europe to assist them; the refusal to borrow any more money from the IMF being representative of this. In that sense it is a welcome step forward in the countries on-going financial difficulties.

The Election of Pope Francis

2013 witnessed a rarity in the world of religion; the resignation of a Pope on the 11th February. 1415 was the last year that this has occurred. Pope Benedict XVI’s reasons for resignation were a lack of strength in body and mind. His successor, Pope Francis was chosen by the Cardinals of the Vatican on the 13th March. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope and also the first Pope from the Americas. He is well regarded for his humility and interestingly has chosen to not live, as the norm, in the Apostolic Palace. The pope instead now resides in a Vatican guesthouse. The primary message that has come from the new Pope is as follows: Christians are neglecting the greater need for tenderness, mercy and compassion through concentrating ‘officiously’ on condemning abortion, contraception and homosexual acts. While there doesn’t seem to be any change to the Church’s established views on such matters (Pope Francis fully believes that homosexual practice is intrinsically immoral), a Pope has been elected that at least appears as humble and as having the desire to concentrate sorely on compassion in a world that is currently dealing with violent uprisings in countries such as Syria and Egypt.

Edward Snowden’s Exposal of PRISM

This story has gained vast amounts of media coverage in 2013, and rightly so. Edward Snowden, a former CIA contractor, unveiled in June of this year a surveillance program operated by the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia named PRISM. The program basically stores information from telephone calls, internet history and texts. Snowden collaborated with The Guardian to publish a series of articles detailing the role of major Telecom companies in sharing metadata with the U.S Government of calls made between private U.S citizens. Some of the companies named under PRISM are household names; Google, YouTube, Yahoo and Apple. There has been a huge reaction to this story in both America and abroad; many governments have denounced PRISM as an infringement on human rights. Snowden’s leaks have also directly contradicted claims by security officials that they have not been gathering intelligence on private conversations. Snowden’s leaks have to be a highlight of the year’s news; it allowed for a new sense of awareness on surveillance of private data and has encouraged debate on the subject.

Lowlights:

Syrian Civil War

A violent Civil War, commenced through the painting of revolutionary slogans by teenagers on a school wall, has continued and worsened since 2011. Security Forces opened fire on protesters to the aforementioned event, providing a catalyst for calls for Bashar Al-Assad to step down as president. The country has been divided between those in favour of Assad and Government forces and those in opposition, with the Free Syria Army developed in July 2011 to help the cause of the latter. The question of foreign intervention in the Syrian Civil War has been a prevalent current affairs topic in the last few months. On the 21st August footage emerged of a suspected chemical weapons attack, with both sides of the conflict blaming each other. American and British desire to involve themselves directly in Syria through a limited military strike was prevented by the definitive response of their respective people. American’s, along with others, felt that intervention was unnecessary and would be placing the nations themselves in danger. A deal was recently made to remove chemical weapons from Syria by America and Syria’s ally Russia. The situation worsens by the day. 11000 children have died in the conflict.

Conflict in Egypt

Conflict in Egypt has also been provoked by the countries president. Mohamed Morsi was protested against by tens and thousands of protesters after his government granted him, in effect, unlimited powers. 3rd July witnessed a significant event in the conflict when Morsi was deposed. Two days earlier, Anti-Morsi protesters ransacked the national headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo. Mr Morsi has recently claimed from prison that the country could not return to stability until the coup was reversed and those responsible were put on trial. Following Morsi’s deposition, there was frequent violence between those belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Security Forces. Thankfully since then Security Forces have crippled the Brotherhood through a crackdown. Egypt’s current President has also recently signed a law preventing rallies and protests.

Boston Marathon Bombing

On the 15th April 2013, two pressure cooker bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon. 3 people were killed and 264 others were estimated to be injured. Surveillance video was used to identify the two bombers; Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Following the FBI’s release of images of the brothers, the suspects allegedly killed an MIT police officer and began an exchange of gunfire with the police in Massachusetts. Tamerlan was run over by his brother, who was involved in a day-long manhunt in Watertown. He was later found hiding in a boat in a resident’s backyard. Both of the brothers were inspired by extremist Islamist beliefs, and according to Dzhokhar were planning to bomb Times Square in New York City following the Boston Bombings