2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A member of Hyolitha (a group of animals of uncertain phylogenetic placement, possibly molluscs). The type species is Quasimolites quasimodo.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A polychaete belonging to the family Amphinomidae. The type species is Rollinschaeta myoplena.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A member of Hyolitha (a group of animals of uncertain phylogenetic placement, possibly molluscs). The type species is Skryjelites auritus.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A lithistid demosponge belonging to the family Pleromidae. The type species is Stipesia belchatowiensis.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A demosponge belonging to the group Agelasida. The type species is T. conica.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A member of Hyolitha (a group of animals of uncertain phylogenetic placement, possibly molluscs), a species of Triplicatella.


2015 in paleontology, Other animals, New taxa
A species of Yuknessia (originally thought to be an alga, reinterpreted as a member of Pterobranchia by LoDuca et al., 2015).


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A tubular organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Annulatubus flexuosus.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
An organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement; possibly an animal belonging to the cnidarian family Solanderiidae (the possibility considered to be more probable by the authors of its description) or an alga similar to Perissothallus. The type species is Caledonicratis caridum.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A fungal thallus similar to thalli of members of Microthyriaceae.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A hyphomycete fungus known from Baltic amber and Bitterfeld amber. A new genus for "Torula" globulifera Caspary (1886); genus also contains "Torula" heteromorpha Caspary (1886), as well as the new species Casparyotorula arnoldii.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A diatom. Originally described as a species of Cyclotella; transferred to the genus Lindavia by Nakov et al. (2015).


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A microfossil belonging to the stem group of Chloroplastida. Genus includes new species G. fibratum.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A eukaryotic microorganism, possibly a green alga. The type species is H. simmetrica; genus also includes H. lancetica.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
An organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement, might be a unitary organism or as a colony of motionless benthic organisms. The type species is Kuckaraukia multituberculata.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A probable eukaryotic microorganism of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is L. elongata. Possibly a junior synonym of Jixiania lineata.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
An organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement. Its fossil were originally interpreted as a probable sponge gemmules; this interpretation was criticized by Pronzato, Pisera & Manconi (2017), who stated that the fossils resemble some arcellid testate amoebae. Genus includes new species M. gemmuleanalogi.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A fungus belonging to the family Meliolaceae; a species of Meliolinites.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A dinoflagellate. The type species is Oligosphaeropsis accreta; genus also contains Oligosphaeropsis complex and Oligosphaeropsis megaprocessa.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A spirochaete belonging to the family Spirochaetaceae known from Dominican amber. The type species is Palaeoborrelia dominicana.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A fungus belonging to the family Clavicipitaceae (a relative of ergots). The type species is Palaeoclaviceps parasiticus.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
Probably a member of Rickettsiales. The type species is Palaeorickettsia protera.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A chytrid-like (i.e. similar to members of Blastocladiomycota and Chytridiomycota) fungus of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Palaeozoosporites renaultii.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A member of Cyanobacteria, probably a member or a relative of Chroococcales. The type species is Rhyniosarcina devonica.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A fungus of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Scepasmatocarpion fenestrulatum.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A tubular organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Sekwitubulus annulatus.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
A tubular organism of uncertain phylogenetic placement, of probable animal affinities; a species of Sinotubulites.


2015 in paleontology, Other organisms
An acritarch. The type species is "Satka" colonialica Jankauskas (1979).


2015 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


2015 in poetry, Selection of works published in English, New Zealand, Poets in Best New Zealand Poems
These poets wrote the 25 poems selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2014 (guest editor was Vincent O'Sullivan), published this year:


2015 in poetry, Selection of works published in English, United States, Poets in The Best American Poetry 2015
The 2015 edition of The Best American Poetry is guest-edited by Native American poet and novelist Sherman Alexie


2015 in poetry, Deaths, January – June
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


2015 in politics
These are some of the notable events relating to politics in 2015.


2015 in professional wrestling
2015 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.


2015 in public domain
This is a list of authors whose works enter the public domain in part of the world in 2015.


2015 in public domain, Entering the public domain in Europe
A work enters the public domain in most European countries (with the exception of Belarus) 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the author's lifetime.


2015 in public domain, Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.


2015 in radio
The following is a list of events that affected radio broadcasting in 2015. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, station launches, closures and format changes, as well as information about controversies.


2015 in radio, Notable events, November
For Tucson Radio Station rebrand " 97.1 The Bull" KYWD


2015 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2015.


2015 in rock music
This article summarizes the events related to rock music for the year of 2015.


2015 in rugby union
Here are the match results of the 2015 Rugby union season. The main tournament for the year was the 2015 Rugby World Cup which was held at England this year.


2015 in sailing
The following were the scheduled events of sailing for the year 2015 throughout the world.


2015 in science
A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2015. Gene editing based on CRISPR got significantly improved. A new human-like species, Homo naledi, was first described. Gravitational waves were observed for the first time (announced publicly in 2016), and dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres were visited by spacecraft for the first time. The United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils and Light-based Technologies.


2015 in science fiction
The year 2015 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.


2015 in science fiction, Awards, Nebula Award
Ray Bradbury Award: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris for Mad Max: Fury Road


2015 in spaceflight
In 2015, the maiden spaceflights of the Chinese Long March 6 and Long March 11 launch vehicles took place.


2015 in spaceflight, Overview
In February 2015, the European Space Agency's experimental lifting body spacecraft, the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, successfully conducted its first test flight.


2015 in spaceflight, Overview
In March 2015, Ceres became the first dwarf planet to be visited by a spacecraft when Dawn entered orbit. In July 2015, New Horizons visited the Pluto-Charon system after a 9-year voyage, returning a trove of pictures and information about the former "ninth planet" (now classified as a dwarf planet). Meanwhile, the MESSENGER probe was deliberately crashed into Mercury after 4 years of in-orbit observations.


2015 in spaceflight, Overview
On 23 November 2015, the Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital rocket achieved its first powered soft landing near the launch site, paving the way for full reuse of its propulsion stage. On 21 December, the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust took place, ending with a successful landing of its first stage.


2015 in spaceflight, Overview
Two old weather satellites, NOAA-16 and DMSP 5D-2/F13, broke up in 2015, creating several hundred pieces of space debris. In both cases, a battery explosion is suspected as the root cause.


2015 in spaceflight, Orbital launch statistics, By country
For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.


2015 in spaceflight, Gallery
Soyuz TMA-16M launches carrying ISS year long mission crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko and Soyuz commander Gennady Padalka.


2015 in spaceflight, Gallery
Photo of Ceres taken by the Dawn spacecraft at a distance of 13,600 km (8,500 mi).


2015 in spaceflight, Gallery
First stage of the Falcon 9 Flight 20 rocket immediately before touching down at Landing Zone 1.


2015 in sports
2015 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. This year, some sporting events listed below are qualifying ones, for athletes, to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. From July 2015 to May 2016, the venues for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be tested, by hosting various events in them.


2015 in squash sport
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by NaBUru38 (talk | contribs) at 00:11, 8 January 2020. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


2015 in squash sport
This article lists the results for the sport of Squash in 2015.


2015 in stand-up comedy
This is a timeline documenting events and facts about stand-up comedy in the year 2015.


2015 in sumo
The following were the events in professional sumo during 2015.


2015 in table tennis
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by NaBUru38 (talk | contribs) at 00:01, 8 January 2020. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


2015 in tennis
This page covers all the important events in the sport of tennis in 2015. Primarily, it provides the results of notable tournaments throughout the year on both the ATP and WTA Tours, the Davis Cup, and the Fed Cup.


2015 in the British Virgin Islands
Events from the year 2015 in the British Virgin Islands.


2015 in the Central African Republic
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Central African Republic.


2015 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


2015 in the European Union, European Capitals of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year, during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension.


2015 in the Netherlands
This article lists some of the events from 2015 related to the Netherlands.


2015 in the Philippines
2015 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 2015. International events that are connected, or concerned with the Philippines are also included in this significant and important article.


2015 in the Philippines
The year was designated by the Department of Tourism as Visit the Philippines Year.


2015 in the Philippines, Holidays
On July 17, 2014, the government had already announced at least 18 Philippine holidays for 2015 as declared by virtue of Proclamation No. 831, series of 2014. Note that in the list, holidays in italics are "special non-working holidays," those in bold are "regular holidays," and those in non-italics and non-bold are "special holidays for schools."


2015 in the Philippines, Holidays
In addition, several other places observe local holidays, such as the foundation of their town. These are also "special days."


2015 in the State of Palestine
Events in the year 2015 in the State of Palestine.


2015 in the State of Palestine, Events
For incidents of violence, see List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2015.


2015 in the United Arab Emirates
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the United Arab Emirates.


2015 in the environment
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 2015. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.


2015 in the sport of athletics
In 2015, the foremost athletics event was the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. The two other major global level competitions in 2015 are the World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Relays.


2015 in the sport of athletics
The 2015 season marked the introduction of athletics at the European Games. However, this will not be a major continental event for athletics in the style of the Asian Games, as only the lower tier of the European Team Championships will be contested at the games. Major outdoor continental events will be held for the Americas (Pan American Games), Africa (All-Africa Games), Asia (2015 Asian Athletics Championships) and Oceania (Oceania Athletics Championships).


2015 in the sport of athletics
The Asian Youth Athletics Championships will be inaugurated this year.


2015 in triathlon
This topic reveals a large number of triathlon events and their results for 2015.


2015 in video games
The year 2015 saw releases of numerous video games as well as a follow-up to Nintendo's portable 3DS console, the New Nintendo 3DS. Top-rated games originally released in 2015 included Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Bloodborne,  Undertale, and Fallout 4. Sales of video games in 2015 reached $61 billion, according to analysis firm SuperData, an 8% increase from 2014. Of this, the largest sector was in computer game sales and subscription services, accounting for $32 billion. Mobile games revenues were at $25.1 billion, a 10% increase from 2014. Digital sales on consoles made up the remaining $4 billion.


2015 in video games
In the United States, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the NPD Group estimated total video game market revenues at $23.5 billion, a 5% increase from 2014. Of this, the total software market was $16.5 billion, with the NPD Group estimating retail sales subset at $13.1 billion. The ESA reported that there were 2,457 companies in the United States involved in developing or publishing video games that directly supported 65,678 workers (37,122 in developing, 28,556 in publishing) with about another 154,000 indirectly supporting the industry, such as through contracting or video game journalism. The total contribution to the US's gross national product from the industry was $11.7 billion.


2015 in video games
In the United Kingdom, the total video game market was valued at nearly GB£4.2 billion, according to figures from Ukie and MCV. The largest segments were in digital software (£1.2 billion) and mobile games (£664 million), while sales of consoles dropped to £689 million.


2015 in video games, Top-rated games, Critically acclaimed titles
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.


2015 in video games, Financial performance, Highest-grossing games
The following were 2015's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide revenue (including physical sales, digital purchases, subscriptions, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms). Three of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by Tencent, including the top-grossing title League of Legends.


2015 in video games, Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2015 in North America.


2015 in video games, Series with new entries
Series with new installments in 2015 include Anno, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Disgaea, Dirt, Fallout, Fatal Frame,  Five Nights at Freddy's, Forza Motorsport, Guitar Hero, Halo, Heroes of Might and Magic, Hotline Miami, Just Cause, King's Quest, Kirby, Magicka, Mario Party, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Mario & Luigi, Metal Gear, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed, OlliOlli, Resident Evil, Rock Band, StarCraft, Star Wars: Battlefront, Tales, The Witcher, Tomb Raider, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Total War, Toy Soldiers, Xenoblade Chronicles, Yakuza and Yoshi.


2015 in video games, Series with new entries
In addition, 2015 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Bloodborne, Dying Light, Evolve, Life Is Strange, Ori, Rocket League, Splatoon, Undertale, and Until Dawn.


2015 in video games, Game releases
The list of games released in 2015 in North America.


2015 in volleyball
The following were the events of Volleyball for the year 2015 throughout the world.


2015 in weightlifting
This article lists the main weightlifting events and their results for 2015.


2015 in women's road cycling
2015 in women's road cycling is about the 2015 women's bicycle races ruled by the UCI and the 2015 UCI Women's Teams.


2015 in women's road cycling, World Championships
The World Road Championships is set to be held in Richmond, Virginia, United States.


2015 in women's road cycling, Single day races (1.1 and 1.2)
† The clock symbol denotes a race which takes the form of a one-day time trial.


2015 in women's road cycling, UCI teams
The country designation of each team is determined by the country of registration of the largest number of its riders, and is not necessarily the country where the team is registered or based.\


2015 interim election government of Turkey
The 2015 interim election government of Turkey was a temporary election government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on the request of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It is also referred to as the Second Davutoğlu Cabinet. As the 63rd government of Turkey, the cabinet presided over the November 2015 general election and dissolved after a new government is formed after the election. It is the first such government to take office in the history of the Turkish Republic.


2015 interim election government of Turkey
After the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won back its majority in the November election, the interim election government formally dissolved on 24 November 2015 and was succeeded by AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu's third government.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background
The June 2015 general election resulted in a hung parliament, with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) falling 18 seats short of a majority. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan invited AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu to form a government, by virtue of leading the largest party in the Grand National Assembly.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background
After a series of unsuccessful coalition negotiations with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Davutoğlu returned the mandate to the President five days before the 45-day allowance to form a government ended, after which Erdoğan controversially refused to invite the CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to form a government and instead announced his intention to call a snap general election.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background
Amid rumours that Erdoğan had always favoured going into an early election rather than allowing his former party (the AKP) to form a coalition government, his decision to call an election was finalised on 24 August 2015 and the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey (YSK) announced 1 November as the date for the new vote.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background, Constitutional provision
As enshrined in the Constitution of Turkey, an interim cabinet formed together by all the parties in Parliament must be formed in the event that the President calls for a new vote. The number of ministries given to each party is determined by how many MPs they have in Parliament. The Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, İsmet Yılmaz, determined that the AKP would be given 11 ministries, the CHP 5, the MHP 3 and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) also 3.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background, Constitutional provision
The Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communication, Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior would be overseen by independent ministers, as is also the case for any government going into an election. Parties who do not wish to take part in the government can opt out, in which case the individual tasked with forming the government (in this case Davutoğlu) must offer their ministries to independents. The CHP and MHP announced that they would not take part in the government.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background, Formation process
Davutoğlu was tasked with forming the interim cabinet on 25 August 2015, after which he sent out letters to members of different parties offering them a ministerial position in the new government on 26 August 2015. He has five days to form a government. Amid claims that the AKP was uncomfortable with going into government along with politicians from the HDP, Davutoğlu made offers to CHP and MHP politicians despite their party leaders announcing that they would not take part.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Background, Formation process
It was also rumoured that Davutoğlu could offer ministerial positions to independents who were seen as close or formerly a member of the CHP and MHP to weaken the perception that the interim government was just an AKP-HDP coalition. In a last-ditch attempt to keep the HDP out of government, Davutoğlu proposed a triple coalition government between the AKP, CHP and MHP until an election took place. The offer was rejected by both the CHP and MHP.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Ministerial appointments, Initial invitations
The following tables show the politicians from all four parties represented in Parliament that were invited to become ministers in the interim cabinet.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Ministerial appointments, Initial invitations
MHP MP Tuğrul Türkeş caused an uproar within his party after accepting Davutoğlu's invitation to become a minister, despite his party's staunch refusal to take part. The MHP issued a statement demanding that he resign from the party and that he would be suspended if he didn't do so. The MHP later began disciplinary proceedings to suspend Türkeş from the party, while Davutoğlu praised him for showing true statesmanship. He was formally suspended from the MHP on 5 September 2015, with the MHP subsequently falling behind the HDP and becoming the fourth largest party in Parliament with 79 seats.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Ministerial appointments, Initial invitations
HDP MP Levent Tüzel rejected a ministerial position despite his party's approval of its MPs to participate. The reason was due to opposition by the Labour Party (EMEP) to Tüzel's involvement. Tüzel had founded the EMEP in 1996 and led it until 2011, with the party supporting the HDP in the June 2015 general election.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Ministerial appointments, Initial invitations
With 8 politicians declining ministerial positions and the Ministries of Transport, Interior and Justice being reserved for non-partisan independents, the cabinet will consist of 12 independent ministers.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Controversies, Pro-AKP Independents
With 11 independents due to be appointed, it was observed that many independents were in fact former AKP politicians or individuals with close ties with the AKP. These included the following ministers.


2015 interim election government of Turkey, Controversies, Pro-AKP Independents
It was revealed that Ali Rıza Alaboyun, Kutbettin Arzu and Vecdi Gönül all resigned from the AKP shortly before the cabinet was formed so that they could take part as an Independent. Cenap Aşçı was a civil servant with no political affiliation before his appointment, despite trying unsuccessfully to become an AKP parliamentary candidate.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England
A junior doctors contract dispute in England led to industrial action being taken in 2015 and 2016. A negotiation between NHS Employers and  the main UK doctor's union, the British Medical Association (BMA), had been overshadowed by the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, threatening to impose certain aspects. The BMA balloted members in November 2015 and industrial action was scheduled for the following month. The initial action was suspended, although further talks broke down.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England
Junior doctors took part in a general strike across the NHS in England on 12 January 2016, the first such industrial action in 40 years. Junior doctors again withdrew their labour for routine care on 10 February. On 26 April 2016, junior doctors withdrew from emergency and routine care, the first time this had happened.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Proposed new contracts
Since 2012 NHS Employers and the BMA had been in negotiation towards a new contract for junior doctors. These talks ran into serious problems when the BMA rejected the proposals from the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, who wanted the contracts to reflect commitments made in the Conservative 2015 election manifesto upon junior doctors in England. In September 2015, Hunt proposed new contracts for junior doctors which would scrap overtime rates for work between 7am and 10pm on every day except Sunday while increasing their basic pay.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Proposed new contracts
Hunt claimed that this would be cost neutral, but the union responded by saying that NHS Employers had been unable to support this claim with robust data. The union argued that the contract would include an increase in working hours with a relative pay cut of up to 40%, and refused to re-enter negotiations unless Hunt dropped his threat to impose a new contract and extensive preconditions, which he had refused to do. The Department of Health responded, saying "We are not cutting the pay bill for junior doctors and want to see their basic pay go up just as average earnings are maintained."


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Proposed new contracts
On 26 September the BMA announced that it would ballot its members. By October, a survey showed many junior doctors would consider leaving the NHS if the contract was forced through. Hunt later tried to re-assure the union that no junior doctor would face a pay cut, before admitting those who worked longer than 56 hours a week would face a fall in pay. He said that working these long hours was unsafe, claiming that existing pay arrangements were known colloquially in the NHS as "danger money", although a Facebook survey carried out by one doctor showed that 99.7% of 1,200 respondents had never heard of the term.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Proposed new contracts
On 3 November 2015 Hunt said he would offer a basic pay increase of 11%, but still removing compensation for longer hours. In response, the BMA junior doctors committee chair, Johann Malawana, said:  "Junior doctors need facts, not piecemeal announcements and we need to see the full detail of this latest, eleventh hour offer to understand what, in reality, it will mean for junior doctors.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Proposed new contracts
We have repeatedly asked for such detail in writing from the Secretary of State, but find, instead, that this has been released to media without sharing it with junior doctors’ representatives" and "The proposals on pay, not for the first time, appear to be misleading. The increase in basic pay would be offset by changes to pay for unsocial hours, devaluing the vital work junior doctors do at evenings and weekends."


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Balloting of BMA members
On 5 November 2015, the BMA began its ballot of over 37,700 of their members in response to Hunt's contract proposals. On 19 November 2015 the result of the strike ballot was announced, with more than 99% in favour of industrial action short of a strike, and 98% voting for full strike action. 76% of eligible doctors voted with 99.6% of doctors voting for action short of strike and 98% voting for all out strike. After five days of talks between the government and BMA, conciliation service Acas confirmed that agreement had been reached to suspend the strike action that had been planned for December.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, First period of arbitration
The BMA council chair, Mark Porter appealed to the health secretary to resume negotiations. Hunt said the strike was "very disappointing", but declined the appeal for arbitration at this time. He was criticized for failing to answer MPs' questions about the strike, with his deputy claiming he was too busy preparing for the strike.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, First period of arbitration
He was also criticised by statisticians Prof David Spiegelhalter and David Craven, by Dr Mark Porter, by an NHS England spokesperson, and by Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, for, again, making misleading statements about weekend hospital treatment. The Department of Health confirmed his 10% figure actually related to the entire week, even though Hunt specifically said it was for weekend-admitted patients only.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, First period of arbitration
Hunt eventually agreed to discussions overseen by Acas and withdrew his threat to impose a new contract without agreement, and the first day of strike action was called off hours before it was due to start (too late to avoid some disruption), with later days suspended.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Appeal for further arbitration
On 24 December 2015, Johann Malawana gave a 4 January deadline for the talks to result an acceptable outcome, or industrial action would be announced. An agreement was not reached by this deadline and so the union announced that a strike would go ahead, blaming "the government's continued failure to address junior doctors’ concerns about the need for robust contractual safeguards on safe working, and proper recognition for those working unsocial hours".


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Appeal for further arbitration
On 8 January, it was revealed that a supposedly independent response to the initial strike plans from Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, had been strengthened by Department of Health officials and approved by Hunt. Subsequently, more than 1,000 doctors called on Keogh to resign complaining that Hunt had exploited him for political gain.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Strikes
On 12 January 2016, Junior Doctors in England took part in the first general strike across the NHS, the first such industrial action in 40 years. Emergency care was still provided. Hunt claimed it was "unnecessary", that patients could be put at risk, and that many junior doctors had "ignored" the strike call and worked anyway, but the BMA responded that many junior doctors were in work maintaining emergency care as planned. There were claims that Bruce Keogh, had used performance target levels to justify and encourage NHS trusts to declare an emergency situation, forcing Junior Doctors to work despite the strike, a move to which the BMA condemned.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Strikes
Junior doctors again withdrew their labour for routine care on 10 February 2016, leading to the cancellation of around 3,000 elective operations. On 26 April 2016, junior doctors in England embarked on the first strike where they withdrew routine and emergency cover.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Strikes
In July 2016 the BMA balloted their members, who voted 58% to 42% against the deal. Johann Malawana resigned from the position of chair of the JDC on 5 July 2016.


2015 junior doctors contract dispute in England, Strikes
Compared with the weeks preceding and following the strikes, there were 9.1% (31,651) fewer hospital admissions, 6.8% (23,895) fewer A&E attendances, and 6% (173,462) fewer outpatient appointments than expected. Altogether during the strikes hospitals cancelled 294,844 outpatient appointments. There was no significant effect on the number of recorded deaths.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya
On 12 February 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a report in their online magazine Dabiq showing photos of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian construction workers that they had kidnapped in the city of Sirte, Libya, and whom they threatened to kill. The men, who came from different villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate, were kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on 27 December 2014, and in January 2015. This was not the first time that Egyptians in Libya had been the subject of abuse for political reasons, a pattern that goes back to the 1950s.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya
In 2014, a militia group in eastern Libya declared its affiliation with ISIL and then took over parts of Derna in late 2014. People allied to the group claimed responsibility for attacks across the country, including the Corinthia Hotel attack in January 2015.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya
On 19 April 2015, ISIL released another video in which they murdered about 30 Ethiopian Christians.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
On 15 February 2015, a five-minute video was published, showing the beheading of the captives on a beach along the southern Mediterranean coast. A caption in the video called the captives the "People of the Cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church". In the video, the leader was dressed in camouflage, while the other terrorists were dressed in black. The victims were all dressed in orange jumpsuits, as in many previous ISIL videos. The leader declared in North-American English:


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
Oh people, recently you've seen us on the hills of Al-Sham (Greater Syria) and on Dabiq's Plain, chopping off the heads that had been carrying the cross delusion for a long time, filled with spite against Islam and Muslims, and today we… are sending another message: Oh crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes especially when you're fighting us all together, therefore we will fight you all together until the war lays down its burdens and Jesus peace be upon him will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine. The sea you've hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
After beheading the hostages, a message appears on the screen: "The filthy blood is just some of what awaits you, in revenge for Camelia and her sisters." This was referencing Camelia Shehata, a Coptic Egyptian woman and wife of a Coptic priest who Islamists believe had converted to Islam and was detained by the Coptic Church because of it. (She later denied the claim.) Finally the speaker declares "We will conquer Rome, by Allah's permission," pointing his knife toward the sea.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
As in other ISIL videos, the captives wore orange jumpsuits, intended as a reference to the attire of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The group of killers identified itself in the video as the "Tripoli Province" of ISIL. The leader of the squad performing the killings was identified as a Libyan expatriate who goes by the nom de guerre Al Qaqa'a Ben Omro.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
The Coptic Church of Egypt, Egyptian government, as well as the Libyan parliament, confirmed the deaths.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Video
Later, when one of the perpetrators of the operation was arrested, he admitted in the investigation that the slaughter had taken place at the beach opposite Al Mahary Hotel in Sirte.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Aftermath
The President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced a seven-day period of national mourning and called for an urgent meeting with the country's top security body. In a televised address, al-Sisi declared his country reserved the right for retaliation. He also reiterated an offer to facilitate Egyptians' evacuation from Libya and imposed a travel ban on citizens to Libya. Al-Azhar also condemned the incident. The killings were also addressed particularly by the United Nations Security Council, French President François Hollande and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Roman Catholic Pope Francis telephoned Coptic Pope Tawadros II to offer his condolences.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Aftermath
At an ecumenical meeting with the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Pope Francis stated "They only said Jesus help me The blood of our Christian brothers is testimony that cries out. Be they Catholic, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, it doesn't matter: They're Christian!" The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary provided financial support of €500 for each families of the victims. Péter Szijjártó said "Hungary cannot be a bystander of the continuous attacks against Christian communities in the Middle East". The Obama administration was criticized for referring to the victims simply as Egyptian citizens rather than Christians, the express reason for their murder.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Aftermath, Egyptian Airstrikes
On 16 February, at dawn, Egyptian military conducted airstrikes on ISIL facilities in Libya. The airstrikes targeted ISIL training locations and weapons stockpiles. All military aircraft returned safely to base. Libyan air force also conducted strikes in Derna, occupied by an ISIL affiliate since 2014. About 40–50 militants and 7 civilians were reportedly killed.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Canonization
On 21 February 2015, a day after their death the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria canonized the 21 Coptic Martyrs as saints. Their feast day would be celebrated on 15 February of the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration falls on the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which is 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, 21st Victim
After the beheadings, the Coptic Orthodox church released their names, but there were only 20 names. In the video, the leader's victim was of black African descent, in contrast to the others, who were ethnic Copts. It was later learned that this 21st victim was named Matthew Ayariga and that he was from Ghana. (A few sources say he was from Chad, but most say he was from Ghana.)


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, 21st Victim
It is most likely that he was already a Christian, because sources reported that he said "I am a Christian and I am like them". In October 2020, Christian News Now reported that "Ayariga was a Christian migrant worker from Ghana". In the book, "The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs", Martin Mosebach, who traveled to Egypt to meet the families of the martyrs, also states that Ayariga said "I am a Christian".


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, 21st Victim
However, according to some unnamed sources, he was not originally a Christian, but he saw the immense faith of the others, and when the terrorists asked him if he rejected Jesus, he reportedly said, "Their God is my God", knowing that he would be killed.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, 21st Victim
When the remains of the 21 bodies were found, the bodies of the 20 Egyptians were returned into Egypt except for the body of Matthew Ayariga. On September 29, 2020, Matthew Ayariga's remains were finally received in Egypt by the new church in Al Our,  the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland, a shrine built in honor of the 21 martyrs. The family members of the other martyrs “expressed their joy at the return of the remains of the martyr [Matthew Ayariga]", saying "Our joy is complete."


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, 21st Victim
Majid Shehata, a daughter of one of the martyrs, said, “It was a surprise to all of us that we see the remains of the martyr Matthew inside the Church of the Martyrs, and this is a long-awaited news and all the families are in great joy and we thank God for having responded to us in the return of the martyr.”


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
After the expulsion of fighters of the Islamic state organization from the Libyan city of Sirte, government authorities announced it has found a place where the bodies of Coptic martyrs were buried. This was done after the government authorities and the Libyan army arrested one of the terrorists who was present during the slaughter. The Libyan Attorney General has ordered cooperation with the Egyptian authorities to send DNA samples taken from the families of the martyrs to be compared with DNA samples taken from the remains of the martyrs.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
Later, it was ascertained that the remains belonged to the Coptic martyrs after comparing the samples of the DNA from martyrs families they sent by Egyptian Forensic Medicine Authority with DNA samples taken from the remains by the Libyan Forensic Medicine Commission.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
On 15 May 2018, the remains of the 20 Egyptians (the body of the Ghananian, Matthew Ayariga, was not on the plane), were returned to the cathedral, which was built for them and named after them (Church of martyrs of the faith and homeland) in martyrs village (formerly Al Aour or Al Awar or Al Our Egyptian Arabic: قرية العور) in Minya governorate. A special shrine has been built in which the remains were laid so that people can visit them.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
Churches and monasteries’ bells were rung all over Egypt when the remains arrived on board a plane coming from Misrata Airport in Libya to Cairo International Airport; Celebrations of the return of their remains to the homeland. They were received by Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and a large number of priests and Ambassador Nabila Makram the Egyptian minister of Immigration and Egyptians Affairs Abroad and officials of the organs of the state at the airport. The Holy Mass in church was presided over by Bishop of Samalout Anba Baphnotius.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
One year later, on 25 July 2019, The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt officially requested the Libyan Embassy in Cairo to ship the body of Matthew Ayariga to Egypt. Anba Pavnotios dispatched an official delegation to meet Chargè D’Affaires of the Libyan Embassy in Cairo, Fawzy al-Mabrouk Tantoush.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
The delegation included the priests of the Cathedral of the Martyrs of the Faith and Homeland in Al-Our, Minya, Egypt, Fr. Marcos Atef and Fr. Epiphanius Yunan, Nevine Ragy, General Manager of Schools and Projects of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Samalout and Nader Shukry, member of the board on the Church of the Martyrs of the Faith and Homeland, and coordinator of crisis management for the martyrs families. Hussein Al-Bashir Shafsha, the Libyan Embassy's Social attache, attended the meeting.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
The Egyptians started with thanking the Libyan authorities for their invaluable cooperation and help in bringing home the bodies of the Coptic martyrs, and stressing that the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, Anba Pachomius, Metropolitan of Beheira and Pentapolis (Eastern Libya), and Anba Pavnotios always prayed for peace in Libya. They handed Mr. Tantoush a letter from Anba Pavnotios requesting that the body of Matthew Ayariga by the Copts, would be brought to Egypt "to be joined with his Coptic brothers in their final resting place". The Metropolitan said the Church would give all the necessary legal pledges and guarantees to honour the rights of all parties should his country ask to have him back.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Return of the Remains
In 2019, the Libyan government agreed to transfer the body of Matthew Ayariga to Egypt. His remains were finally transferred to Egypt and laid to rest with the other martyrs at the end of September 2020.


2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya, Book
The lives of the beheaded Copts has been detailed in a book by Martin Mosebach called The 21 – A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs.


2015 local electoral calendar
This local electoral calendar for 2015 lists the subnational elections held in 2015. Referendums, recall and retention elections, and national by-elections (special elections) are also included.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400
The 2015 myAFibRisk.com 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on September 20, 2015, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate speedway, it was the 27th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, first race of the Chase and first race of the Challenger Round. Denny Hamlin won the race, his second of the season. Carl Edwards finished second. Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top–five.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400
Due to qualifying being rained-out, Kevin Harvick was given the first starting spot of the race. He led 10 laps before wrecking out halfway through the race and finished 42nd. Kyle Busch led a race high of 121 laps on his way to a ninth–place finish. There were 17 lead changes among 10 different drivers, as well as six caution flag periods for 28 laps.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400
This was Denny Hamlin's 26th career win, second of the season, first at Chicagoland Speedway and fifth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. The win moved Hamlin up to second in the points trailing teammate Matt Kenseth by two. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left Chicagoland trailing Chevrolet by 49–points in the manufacturer standings.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400
The myAFibRisk.com 400 was carried by NBC Sports on the cable/satellite NBCSN network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background
Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and currently hosts NASCAR racing including the opening event in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Until 2011, the speedway also hosted the IndyCar Series, recording numerous close finishes including the closest finish in IndyCar history. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and located adjacent to Route 66 Raceway.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background
Jimmie Johnson entered Chicagoland tied with Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth for the points lead at 2,012–points. Joey Logano entered three–points back. Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards entered tied for fifth six–points back. Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex, Jr. and Denny Hamlin entered tied for ninth nine–points back. Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer entered tied for 12th 12–points back.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background, Change to restart officiating
Following complaints of Matt Kenseth jumping the final restart at Richmond, NASCAR decided to add a camera feed and official with the sole purpose of monitoring the restart zone.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background, NASCAR record
When the green flag flies on Sunday, Jeff Gordon – who made his first career Sprint Cup Series start in the 1992 Hooters 500 at what was then Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) – tied Ricky Rudd's record for most consecutive starts at 788. The 23–year veteran of the sport will break the tie next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I’ve got to get through this weekend first,” he said. “That’s one of those things where I feel a little strange talking about it because I do appreciate and respect the safety of this sport.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background, NASCAR record
(That) side can be taken away from you at any time. I want to break that record. I think it’s a huge accomplishment because it’s not easy to do. It’s easier today because the sport is safer. I look at Ricky Rudd and what he went through to make it. That is pretty extraordinary. I can’t quite compare that.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the myAFibRisk.com 400 was released on Sunday, September 13 at 11:49 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-six cars were entered for the race. All but Ryan Blaney in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford were entered for the previous week's race at Richmond. The two driver changes for this weekend's race were Travis Kvapil returning to the No. 30 Chevrolet for The Motorsports Group and Josh Wise returning to the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, First practice
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.675 and a speed of 188.317 mph (303.067 km/h).


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Qualifying
Three rounds of knockout qualifying took place at 6:45 p.m., but heavy rain forced the session to be cancelled and the starting lineup was set by first practice times according to the NASCAR rulebook. As a result, Kevin Harvick was awarded the first starting spot for the race. He was joined on the front row by Joey Logano. "We haven’t been in race trim yet," Logano said. "We stayed in qualifying trim all day today and I felt like it was qualifying during practice. We were really trying to top the charts.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Qualifying
We really felt like that was where we would be starting at the end of practice. Obviously this storm is huge and we didn’t have a shot in hell of making qualifying happen.” “It is a lot better than last year when we started 25th," Brad Keselowski – who started third – said. "We will take that and move on. The car has been pretty good so far so I feel good about that." Ryan Blaney, Travis Kvapil and Michael McDowell failed to qualify for the race.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Martin Truex, Jr. was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 29.458 and a speed of 183.312 mph (295.012 km/h).


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Martin Truex, Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.213 and a speed of 184.849 mph (297.486 km/h).


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, First half, Start
Under clear blue Illinois skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 3:18 p.m. He edged out Joey Logano to lead the first lap. The first caution of the race flew on the second lap when A. J. Allmendinger came down across the nose of Denny Hamlin and went spinning in turn 3. Trying to avoid ramming the No. 47 car, Hamlin got loose on the high-side, spun out and slid down the race track. He didn't suffer any damage and he continued on racing.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 7. Martin Truex, Jr. forced Harvick up the track to take the lead the next lap. By lap 15, Austin Dillon was pressuring him for the top spot, but got loose in turn 3 and lost the second position to Harvick. By lap 23, Harvick pulled up next to Truex and edged out front but the No. 78 car beat him back to the line. By lap 36, Kyle Busch, now in second place, began to pressure Truex for the lead.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, First half, Start
Finally, Busch slid up in front of him to take the lead on lap 47. A number of cars began hitting pit road on lap 52 and Busch hit pit road from the lead on lap 54. In a rare circumstance, the lead didn't change at all through the cycle. Alex Bowman and Carl Edwards were both tagged for speeding on pit road and they had to serve drive-through penalties.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, First half, Second quarter
When the pit cycle was over, Busch began driving away from the field. 20 laps later, Harvick began to run him down. However, lapped traffic prevented him from getting close to the leader. On lap 87, Kurt Busch, running fifth at the time, made an unscheduled stop after slamming the wall in turn 3. Despite this, the race continued under green. Another round of green flag pit stops began on lap 100 and Ky. Busch surrendered the lead to make his stop on lap 106 and handed it to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He pitted the next lap to give the lead back to Busch. Debris on the backstretch brought out the second caution of the race on lap 123.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 129. Harvick edged out Busch on the backstretch and took the lead. The third caution of the race flew on lap 130 when Dillon blew his right-front tire out and slammed the wall in turn 2. He would go on to finish 43rd 69–laps down.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 135. Harvick spun the tires on the restart and lost the lead to Kyle Busch. Joey Logano hit the rear of Jimmie Johnson's car and forced him onto the apron. Johnson then made contact with Harvick and damaged his left-rear fender. His left-rear tire blew out and sent his car backwards into the turn 3 wall, bringing out the fourth caution on lap 137. “I got a pretty good restart and obviously (Joey Logano) and (Johnson) got a run.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
I just held my line and (Johnson) just slammed into the side of my door,” Harvick explained. "That was pretty much it.” “He didn’t leave me any space,” Johnson explained after the race. “He was pinning me down, and I had to get back up on the track. I wouldn’t say that what he did was any different than other situations I’ve been in like that. When you are in his position, you want to get the inside car in a bad angle so they have to lift. I was fine with lifting, but I had to get back on the race track, so I worked my way back up on the track.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 145. Busch spun the tires on the start and lost the lead to Jeff Gordon. It was the first restart that prompted a review by NASCAR and they found that it was a clean restart. He was the first to hit pit road on lap 184 and handed the lead to Kurt Busch. Kurt pitted the next lap and give the lead to brother Kyle Busch. Kyle pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Kyle Larson. Larson pitted two laps later and handed the lead to Carl Edwards. Debris in turn 4 brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 191. Kyle Busch opted not to pit and assumed the lead.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 71 laps to go. After drag racing through the front stretch, Kurt Busch passed his brother for the lead with 46 laps to go. Edwards began the final cycle of pit stops with 29 laps to go. Kurt Busch pitted with 28 laps to go and handed the lead to Hamlin. Hamlin pitted with 24 laps to go and handed the lead to teammate Matt Kenseth. Kenseth hit pit road with 23 laps to go and the lead cycled back to Kurt Busch.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
Allmendinger was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. Debris in turn 2 brought out the sixth caution of the race with 10 laps to go. The debris were pieces of a brake rotor that came from the No. 83 car of Matt DiBenedetto. "Did the yellow even need to come out? I don't even know," Kurt Busch said after the race. He, Gordon and Hamlin opted to stay out while the rest of the lead lap cars opted to pit.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with five laps to go. Gordon got a good start on Kurt, but he was passed underneath by Hamlin, forced up the track and ultimately finished 14th. Denny drove on to score his 26th career victory.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“This team doesn’t give up, that’s a perfect example today,” Hamlin said. “Fast race cars are what we have and that was why we were able to come back and win today from that early trouble.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
"I'll tell you what, my guys just do a great job on pit road, they really do," Edwards said. "Darian never loses his cool ever. He played the game perfectly with pit strategy. Then at the end, truly, once we got into Turn 1 on the final restart, I was like, I got this thing. I got better tires than all these guys. Kurt (Busch) was unbelievable on old tires. Then I thought, Denny is mine, he's a sitting duck. He drove the wheels off of that thing. He really hung on with those tires that he had."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“...overall, I’m really proud of this team and everybody at Haas Automation and Stewart Haas Racing,” Kurt Busch said. “This Chevy was fast. It was fast enough to win. When the caution came out there at the end, I thought we had the right strategy, but we didn’t. But this is a point’s day. This is a long journey through these next 10 weeks. We weren’t given a hall pass now, through Loudon and through Dover. We’ve just got to work hard as a team and saddle-up. This isn’t just a win and take a couple of weeks off, but we had a winning car today. It’s kind of a shame. We had a good run at Fontana earlier this year and it kind of ended up the same way.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“We had a really good car. We were good most of the race and then that one caution came out after we pitted we went a lap down,” Ryan Newman said after a fourth-place finish. “The next restart we had a bad restart and it looked like we were done and that was it.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“I didn’t choose the right direction to go,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said after a 12th-place finish. “I thought we would all jump to the top and go around those guys, and we’d be good. But Jeff slid up in front of us and we all had to stop and everybody was going by us on the bottom. Those late restarts with those guys up there on used tires are just going to be bad. You just have to get lucky and we didn’t get lucky. Not anything there about skill, it is all luck. … We had a good day going and … cautions throw all that work out the window.”


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
"I knew we were going to have a tough time not spinning the tires," Gordon said about the final restart after a 14th-place finish in his record-tying 788th consecutive career start. "Especially when you're on the front row. So, I was just trying to hold pace with Kurt. I knew that Denny was behind me on older tires as well, so I was somewhat encouraged by that."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
"I'm just really proud of everybody on our...team for not giving up and doing all the things they had to do to get the car back on the track," Harvick said after a disappointing 42nd-place finish. "...we've just got to go win one of these [next two] races."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Confrontation
Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice–president and chief racing development officer, speaking on The Morning Drive on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Confrontation
Following the race, Jimmie Johnson went to Kevin Harvick's motorhome in the driver's lot to talk the incident over with the driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet. But when he got to Harvick's motorhome, he was greeted with a punch to the chest. The situation had to be diffused by Harvick's business manager Josh Jones and wife DeLana. They escorted him to a waiting white SUV and drove off from the race track.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Confrontation
Afterwards, Johnson said that he "assume[d] he would try to find it [as] my fault. I just simply needed the lane to get back on the racetrack. By no means was I trying to do anything different. I've seen him on the flat working his way back up looking for a racing lane. That is what I was doing. I was on the bottom trying to get back up on the racing surface, and he was trying to pin me down and I had to get back up or else it would have been a hell of a mess."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Confrontation
Joey Logano, who appeared to make contact with No. 48 Chevrolet, said that he never touched him or forced him down onto the apron going into turn 1. "I don't know. I was a little behind it," said Logano, who finished sixth in the Chase opener. "I just saw the 48 go three-wide bottom, and I was just trying to protect my position and figure out what lane I wanted to go in from there."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Confrontation
In his weekly appearance on the Sirius XM NASCAR Radio program The Morning Drive, NASCAR Executive Vice–President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell told Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone that “there won’t be any penalties ” issued for the confrontation and explained the sanctioning body's reason behind the decision.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Penalties
On the Wednesday following the race, NASCAR issued penalties to the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing team and No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing team.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Penalties
Michael Waltrip Racing released a statement saying that it "respectfully disagrees" with the penalties and would immediately appeal. "MWR has made mistakes in the past, but we feel we are correct in this instance," the team said. "We look forward to the opportunity to present our case to the appeals committee and have no further public comment until the process is completed."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Penalties
NASCAR requested to the Appeals Administrator of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel that the appeals process described in the rule book be expedited.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Race, Post-race, Penalties
On Wednesday, September 30, the National Motorsports Appeal Panel upheld the penalty levied against the team. The team decided not to make a final appeal and released a statement that said they were "disappointed with the outcome of today’s ruling and still feel our interpretation is within the guidelines. Rather than continue the appeals process, MWR is ready to focus 100 percent of our company’s resources on winning at Dover and trying to advance to the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup."


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Media, Television
NBCSN covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled pit road on the television side.


2015 myAFibRisk.com 400, Media, Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road on the radio side.


2015 national electoral calendar
This national electoral calendar for 2015 lists the national/federal direct elections that were held in 2015 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.


2015 national electoral calendar, Indirect elections
The following indirect elections of heads of state and the upper houses of bicameral legislatures took place through votes in elected lower houses, unicameral legislatures, or electoral colleges:


2015 national road cycling championships
The 2015 national road cycling championships began in Australia with the time trial event (both men and women) on 8 January, as is tradition.


2015 national road cycling championships, Jerseys
The winner of each national championship wears the national jersey in all their races for the next year in the respective discipline, apart from the World Championships and the Olympics, or unless they are wearing a category leader's jersey in a stage race. Most national champion jerseys tend to represent a country's flag or use the colours from it. Jerseys may also feature traditional sporting colours of a country that are not derived from a national flag, such as the green and gold on the jerseys of Australian national champions.


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina
The 2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina took place on March 1, 2015. It was a speech delivered by president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the National Congress of Argentina.


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina, Contents and delivery, AMIA case
The death of Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing, took place two months before and sparked great political controversy. He had denounced Kirchner for attempting to conceal the role of Iran in it, with the Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran, and judge Daniel Rafecas rejected the case some days earlier. Kirchner accused Nisman of holding contradictory standards and suggested that Nisman changed his mind for some unknown reason during his vacations, shortly before his death. She pointed that she attended all commemorations  of the attack at the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, pointing that it took place during an earlier government, and accused Israel of not holding a similar interest over the 1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina, Contents and delivery, Economy
Kirchner accused the Vulture funds of trying to disrupt the economy of Argentina, and claimed that she had solved the problem of external debt for Argentina. She also announced that she would send a bill to the congress to nationalize the railway services. She justified the commercial deals with China, and announced bills that would seek to increase the industrial development. She also praised that overall wages had increased over 200% since 2003, when her husband Néstor Kirchner took office. As several economists criticised the state of the economy, she argued that the problems had not turned into a great crisis, and pointed that the summer season was a huge success.


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina, Responses
Cristina Kirchner mentioned during her speech that the journalist Joseph Cotterill, from the Financial Times, had pointed out that the price of Argentine bonds was on the rise. Cotterill became aware of it within the day, and replied in Twitter: "Thanks for the mention in your speech, @CFKArgentina. But I fear that the bond's price is going up the less time you have left in office".


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina, Responses
The state of Israel issued a diplomatic answer to the speech. It pointed out that, although the territory of the Israeli embassy belongs to Israel, the responsibility for the security of the diplomats belongs to the host country.


2015 opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina, Responses
The speech was criticised by many leaders of the opposition. Senator Ernesto Sanz criticized that it did not mention the high inflation, crime rates and illicit drug trade. He also considered that it was unfair to raise criticism against Nisman, as he was dead. Senator Gerardo Morales criticized the conflictive tone of the speech and the criticisms to the judiciary. Sergio Massa criticized the length of the speech, over 3 hours, and considered that it was out of touch with the people's concerns.


2015 police raids in Turkey
The 2015 police raids in Turkey were a series of police raids conducted by the General Directorate of Security in 16 different Provinces of Turkey. The July 20th, 2015 Suruç bombing in Suruç killed 32 Kurds. Claimed by ISIS, it was perceived by Kurdish militants as a collaboration between ISIS and Turkey security services, leading to a series of revenge attacks on Turkish policemen and military positions in Adıyaman and Ceylanpınar. The Ceylanpınar incidents saw the assassination of 2 policemen by operatives of disputed affiliation, attributed to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and became the Casus belli for Turkey operations in both Turkey and Iraq.


2015 police raids in Turkey
The operations began at around 3 am local time, after Turkish soldiers and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants engaged in a conflict in the town of Kilis near the Syria–Turkey border. The Turkish government, under significant political pressure to respond to the terrorist attacks by ISIL, subsequently began the police operations against suspects from ISIL, the PKK and also the far-left militant Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DKHP/C). By midday on 25 July 2015, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated that 590 suspects had been arrested.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Background, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Turkey had maintained a policy of inaction against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) despite international calls to do more to combat the terrorist group. Turkish soldiers and ISIL militants have been involved in unexpected clashes in the past and ISIL has also been linked to the 2013 Reyhanlı bombings, the 2015 Istanbul suicide bombing and the 2015 Diyarbakır rally bombing. On 20 July 2015, 32 socialist activists planning to cross the border to help with relief efforts in the Syrian town of Kobanî were killed in a suicide bombing in Suruç, Şanlıurfa Province. The perpetrator was identified as a member of the Dokumacılar, a terrorist group linked to ISIL. On 23 July, ISIL militants and Turkish soldiers clashed near the Turkish border town of Elbeyli, with the Turkish Air Force subsequently beginning an airstrike against ISIL positions across the border.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Background, Kurdish separatists
Since 2013, a largely successful solution process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had been in place, resulting in a ceasefire between the two sides after 40 years of Kurdish separatist conflict. Although the ceasefire was often violated, such violations were regarded as relatively low key and negotiations continued through to 2015. Following the bombing in Suruç, where ISIS killed more than 20 pro-Kurdish supporters, the PKK then allegedly attacked Turkish soldiers in Adıyaman on 20 July, killing one non-commissioned officer and injuring two other soldiers.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Background, Kurdish separatists
On 22 July 2015, two police officers in the Ceylanpınar district of Şanlıurfa Province were killed, with the PKK allegedly taking responsibility and claiming that the attack was in revenge for the Suruç bombing where they claimed that Turkish government is cooperating with ISIS. On 23 July, pro-government media claimed that PKK gunmen called local police, falsely reporting a traffic accident, and opened fired on the two traffic police officers, killing one and seriously injuring the other. On 24 July, PKK kidnapped one police officer in Diyarbakır and injured two in Hakkari


2015 police raids in Turkey, Counter-terrorism raids, 23 July Security meeting
In response to recent developments, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu assembled a Security meeting in the Çankaya mansion on 23 July. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Ministers Bülent Arınç and Yalçın Akdoğan, Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk, National Defence Minister Vecdi Gönül, the military Chief of Staff Necdet Özel, the Deputy Chief of Staff Yaşar Güler, Army chief Hulusi Akar, the Gendarmerie General Commander Abdullah Atay, the General Director of Security Celalettin Lekesiz, the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organisation Hakan Fidan and numerous other high-ranking civil servants from various government departments. The decision taken after the meeting was to conduct police operations on suspected terrorists and to pursue airstrikes against ISIL on the Turkish-Syrian border.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Counter-terrorism raids, Conduct
The operations began in the early hours of 24 July 2015, with Davutoğlu claiming that they were directed at ISIL, PKK, DKHP/C and other militant left-wing organisations that threatened public order in Turkey. Raids were conducted in 13 Provinces in Turkey, rising to 16 by midday. Over 10,000 police officers were involved in what was branded as a 'giant operation against terror', with 5,000 of these officers deployed in İstanbul alone. 26 different districts of İstanbul were involved in the raids.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests
In a press statement at around 14:00 local time on 24 July, Davutoğlu claimed that 297 suspects had been arrested. 37 arrests had been made in Ceylanpınar in relation to the killing of two police officers in the district by the PKK, while 19 other arrests in relation to the deaths were made in Diyarbakır. 37 of those arrested were foreign, while 103 of the 297 arrests had been made in İstanbul alone, with large numbers of firearms also being impounded upon during the police raids.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests
On 25 July, Davutoğlu stated that 590 suspects had been arrested in the 2 days.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Istanbul
Counter-terrorism forces, consisting of over 2,000 riot police and 3,000 other officers, conducted raids in 26 different districts in Istanbul Province, backed up by air forces. While police officers were preparing to raid a compound in the district of Bağcılar, the inhabitants opened fire on the officers, with a short subsequent exchange of fire taking place. One terrorist was killed in the exchange and was identified to be Günay Özarslan, a female DHKP/C militant who had been wanted on charges of preparing for a suicide bombing. The firearms used in the attack were impounded by the officers. Overall, 6 firearms and numerous documents had been impounded in raids across İstanbul.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Istanbul
On 25 July, operations conducted with the aid of police helicopters resulted in several arrests in the district of Beyoğlu.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Ankara
Counter-terrorism raids were conducted in 12 different sites across Ankara, leading to a total of 14 arrests. 5 of the arrests were associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), while the remaining 9 were associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. 2 PKK youth members were arrested in the Yenimahalle district on 25 July. Among those arrested was the alleged head of the Ankara branch of PKK.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, İzmir
In response to a warning made in the district of Menemen, two individuals under the age of 18 were placed under surveillance. In the ensuring operation, the two individuals were arrested along with molotov cocktails and drums full of petrol. It was alleged that the two suspects were planning to start a forest fire on behalf of a terrorist organisation. In another operation in central İzmir, four suspects were taken into custody for participating in illegal demonstrations on behalf of a terrorist organisation. On 25 July, numerous documents and evidence was confiscated during operations against the YGD/H.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Şanlıurfa
In Şanlıurfa Province, where the bombings in the district of Suruç by ISIL resulted in the death of 32 youth activists, 49 different addresses linked to the PKK were raided, with a total of 35 arrests being made. It was later claimed separately by Davutoğlu that 39 PKK suspects had been arrested in Ceylanpınar alone for alleged links to the killing of two police officers in the district on 22 July. On 25 July, police officers in Ceylanpınar, Suruç and Birecik arrested 20 suspects who were allegedly members of the PKK.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Bursa
In Bursa, operations conducted on suspected members of the PKK's youth establishment YDG-H (Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement) resulted in the arrests of 9 suspects. Police in Bursa also began investigations into individuals who had participated previously in violent rioting and forcing children to take part in such rioting as well. The arrests were made in Bursa's Yıldırım district. 7 more suspects were arrested on 25 July.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Iğdır
The Iğdır Provincial Directorate of Security began operations in the early hours of 24 July at different addresses, with 9 suspects being arrested on charges of spreading propaganda for the PKK. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Member of Parliament for Iğdır, Mehmet Emin, stated that the co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Iğdır branch, Zübeyde Kaynar, the co-chair of the HDP Iğdır branch Dilber Turan and former DBP Mayor of Iğdır Hüseyin Malk were among those arrested. Former Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) councillor Oğuz Ok was also among those arrested.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Antalya
In Antalya, two suspects thought to be members of the PKK were arrested. Since one of the suspects was under the age of 18, the suspect was required to give their witness statement to the Children's Department of the Directorate of Security.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Elazığ
In operations taking place in Elazığ, five suspects who were allegedly part of the PKK's youth organisation were arrested. The police officers taking party in the operations also confiscated two unlicensed firearms and numerous organisation-related documents.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Bitlis
In Bitlis, operations conducted against the youth organisations of the PKK and the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), namely the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG/H), resulted in the arrests of 8 people.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Adana
The Adana Directorate of Security designed an operation in the neighbourhood of Gülbahçesi in the district of Seyhan, in which 22 suspects thought to be members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG/H) were arrested. The Provincial Gendarmerie also arrested 10 suspects in the Yakapınar neighbourhood, located in the metropolitan district of Yüreğir. 3 other suspects were arrested in the Dağlıoğlu neighbourhood. The number of arrests rose to 54 on 25 July.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Mersin
In Mersin, the Directorate of Security launched operations against suspected PKK members who had participated in unlicensed protests and had opened fire against security forces. 21 suspects were arrested, with 190 hunting rifles being filed. 10 bullets were also confiscated.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Şırnak
On 25 July, police officers in the Cizre district of Şırnak Province were met by fireworks, noise bombs and gunfire from YDG/H members while pursuing several operations in the district. Following a brief conflict between the police and YDG/H militants, 5 suspects were arrested. At the same time, the Gendarmerie arrested 5 other members thought to be part of the PKK.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Konya
On 25 July, police officers in Konya, around 300 officers participated in numerous operations against ISIL targets, detaining three and arresting 16 suspects. One suspect was thought to be a suicide bomber from ISIL and was identified as one of the three suicide bombers that had allegedly been sent to Turkey by ISIL to conduct terrorist attacks.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Arrests, Bingöl
In Bingöl, 9 suspects who were thought to have links with the PKK were arrested. The Governor of Bingöl, Yavuz Selim Köşger claimed that 7 of those arrested had been caught in the central district of Bingöl, while the remaining two had been arrested in the provincial districts of Karlıova and Solhan.


2015 police raids in Turkey, Reactions
The Peoples' Democratic Party issued a statement saying that it was "unacceptable to integrate a struggle against the Kurdish people into a struggle against ISIL" and that "military operations, bombings and political arrests must stop immediately." The party claimed that Turkey was being thrust into "a process with no clear end".


2015 reasons of the Supreme Court of Canada
The table below lists the decisions (known as reasons) delivered from the bench by the Supreme Court of Canada during 2015. The table illustrates what reasons were filed by each justice in each case, and which justices joined each reason. This list, however, does not include reasons on motions.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh
On 7 April 2015, Andhra Pradesh Police shot twenty suspected woodcutters in the Seshachalam forest in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Red Sanders Anti- Smuggling Task Force DIG Kantha Rao said that the smugglers attacked the team with sickles, rods and axes. Asked if the attack could have been quelled without such fatalities, Rao said, "We gave them several warnings but they did not stop attacking us. There were over a hundred of them." Asked how many of his men were grievously injured, he said, "Nobody is seriously hurt from our side. Their superior training saved their lives."


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh
Human rights activists did not believe the police version of the shootings. They say some of the bodies had burn marks and others had bullet injuries in the chest and head. Witnesses said that some of those killed were pulled off a bus by the policemen.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Incident
The incident occurred at two places Eetagunta and Vachindou Banda in Seshachalam forest area of Chandragiri mandal in Chittoor. Nine labourers were killed in Eetagunta, eleven in Vachindou Banda. As per Andhra Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) R. P. Thakur, "Police had received information that a large number of smugglers were on the prowl in the forest. Teams of Red Sanders Task Force laid ambush at two places. The Task Force consisted of forest officials and armed reserve policemen too.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Incident
When our teams asked them to surrender, the smugglers retaliated by hurling stones and they were armed with sickles and axes. When the task force opened fire, twenty of them were killed but many escaped. The smugglers were carrying red-sandalwood logs." According to reports, nearly 500 coolies, hired by a red sanders smuggler belonging to Chittoor district were felling the trees when the police fired on them.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Incident
The accounts of two witnesses given before the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) say "at least 12 of those shot dead were pulled off a bus by Andhra policemen and arrested hours before the controversial encounter".


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
The post-mortem team of five doctors at the Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government Hospital, however, said the men "were shot at close range". On 10 April 2015, Hyderabad High Court ordered the Andhra Pradesh government to register a case of murder for the killing of 20 alleged red sandalwood smugglers. "Why should not a case of unnatural death under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code be filed?" the court asked.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
A fact-finding team led by the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO), after visiting the spot on 11 April 2015, maintained that there were several inconsistencies in the version put forward by officials and termed the killing of 20 red sanders coolies as a 'fake encounter' and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the issue. "There were no visible signs of conflict at the location. The distance between bodies of coolies is less than 10 feet and blood marks were not found elsewhere. It is surprising that there were no injuries, when the task force men have opened fire on a group of 150 coolies," they said.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
Three men, who survived the alleged 'encounter' testified to the NHRC on how their friends and family members were wrongly detained and later shot dead.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
An eight-member fact-finding team found instances where the bodies of some victims in the encounter were brutally disfigured and tortured. One of the members of this team and former member of NHRC, Satyabrata Pal, said that he has seen hundreds of cases while serving as a member in the NHRC for five years but rarely had he come across as brutal and as inhuman an act as the killings. Many members found this encounter is fake because it does not have any encounter signs.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
On 17 April, Hyderabad High Court ordered the re-postmortem of five more victims and Saikumar of the alleged encounter, it also directed the Osmania Medical College principal to form a team of not less than three doctors to conduct the postmortems in Tamil Nadu.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) vice chairperson Ravi Thakur, visited the site, with forest department officials, where the 20 Tamil Nadu woodcutters were shot dead, and expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of officials in explaining the reason behind the massacre.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
The NHRC decided to send its team for investigation where killing happened and favoured a judicial enquiry by Andhra Pradesh Government into firing incident


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
The Hyderabad High Court had directed the Andhra Pradesh Police to furnish the case diary before the court, relating to the case registered in connection with the killing of the 20 people in police firing. Expressing dissatisfaction over the case diary that was produced by the investigating officer to the court, it ordered Special Investigation Team(SIT) to be constituted to probe the killing and wants SIT to complete its investigation in 60 days and submit a report to the court.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Investigation
K. Kranthi Chaitanya, State executive member of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) stated that "We have always maintained that it was a fake encounter and that the workers were brought to the spot and killed. The forensic report, call data records, SIT report, etc. all prove our stand,".


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Reaction
O. Panneerselvam, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in a letter to the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, called for a probe to fix responsibility for possible human rights violations. "Many of these persons are reportedly from Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu. While it is possible that these persons may have been engaged in illegal activities, the occurrence of such high casualties in the operation raises concerns whether the (AP) Task Force personnel acted with adequate restraint."


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Reaction
The Andhra Pradesh government has been ordered by the Hyderabad High Court to file a case that murder of 20 alleged red sandalwood smugglers. The incident exposed as an extrajudicial killing since an eyewitness claim that some of them were taken off from a bus and killed. It is mentioned that no security personnel was killed or injured that deny the police interview.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Reaction
The killings sparked uproar in the victims' home state of Tamil Nadu. It brought protest outside Tamil Nadu among activists. They mentioned that the bodies had burn marks and bullet holes that implied that the men were shot at a close range.


2015 sandalwood smugglers encounter in Andhra Pradesh, Reaction
The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned the shootings and termed it a massacre. It also demanded the immediate registration of a FIR under charges of 'murder' and 'conspiracy to murder' against the officials who were responsible.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris
The 2015 shooting of Eric Harris occurred on April 2, 2015, when 44-year-old African-American Eric Courtney Harris was fatally shot during an undercover sting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Harris ran from authorities unarmed. While Harris was being subdued, Tulsa County Reserve Deputy Robert Charles "Bob" Bates, 73, allegedly confused his personal weapon, a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver, for a  Model X26 Taser. Bates shot Harris in the back when he was on the ground. According to the Tulsa County Sheriff's office, he immediately said afterwards, "Oh, I shot him! I'm sorry." Bates was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after serving 18 months.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath
It was later determined that Harris did not have a gun when he was tackled and shot. A sunglasses-camera video shows his arms flailing as he runs. Bates was later charged with second-degree manslaughter.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath
Harris family attorney Donald Smolen said the sunglasses video shows Deputy Bates with a yellow Taser strapped to his chest and a .357 revolver in his right hand as he stands over Harris. "There is absolutely no way, if Mr. Bates had been trained at all, which I believe will be reflected ultimately through the lack of records to substantiate his training, that an officer who was trained would [ever] get these two weapons confused," Smolen said.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath
In the video, Harris can be heard saying, "I'm losing my breath," to which 38-year-old Deputy Joseph Byars replies, "Fuck your breath." 24-year-old Deputy Michael Huckeby is also shown in the video kneeling on Harris' head as the dying Harris is told, "You shouldn't have ran," and "Shut the fuck up." A third deputy restraining Harris was not identified.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath
Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark, hired as an "expert witness" for the sheriff's department, said at an April 10, 2015 news conference that the deputy who fired the fatal shot "was a true victim of slips and capture", and that it was typical for law enforcement officers to experience diminished hearing, tunnel vision, or go into "autopilot", where a person's behavior "slips" off the path of his intention because it is "captured" by a stronger response and sent in a different direction. "Bates didn't commit a crime," Clark said, and no policy violations occurred.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath
Smolen told the Tulsa World that Clark's ruling was "premature and ill-advised", challenging a report that Harris was "uncooperative and combative" as firefighters attempted to administer aid, and Harris could hardly be combative since he was struggling with labored breathing and his hands were cuffed. "It's most likely the word 'combative' is being used because that's what they're being told by the Sheriff's Office," Smolen told the World. "The other alternative is their use of the word combative is more a description of Mr. Harris struggling to get air and kind of writhing in pain from the gunshot wound."


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath, Bates' qualification scandal
The Tulsa Police Department immediately sought to clarify their relationships with both Bates and Clark. "Robert Bates has no current affiliation with the Tulsa Police Department and has not had any in 50 years," TPD said in a press release. "Additionally, Mr. Jim Clark, a consultant for the Tulsa County Sheriff, does not represent the Tulsa Police Department nor has the Tulsa Police Department conducted an assessment of this incident." Later that week, The Tulsa World reported supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office were ordered to falsify Deputy Bates' training records.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath, Bates' qualification scandal
Sheriff's spokesperson Shannon Clark later said the documents wouldn't matter because Bates, who donated $2,500 to and chaired Sheriff Stanley Glanz's re-election campaign, had been granted special exceptions.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath, Bates' qualification scandal
In 2008, Bates had also donated substantial new equipment to the sheriff's department, including new Dodge Chargers and a Crown Victoria, as well as a computer for one car, and a $5,000 "forensic camera" and lenses. In 2010, Bates donated a used 2007 Ford F-150 and a new 2010 Chevy Tahoe, plus a Motorola hand-held radio "...to be used by the drug unit for surveillance work," according to department records. The next year he gave the department a used 1997 Toyota Avalon intended for "...use as an undercover car by the drug task force."


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath, Bates' qualification scandal
The sheriff's deputy who certified Bates had moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during an interview with a radio station, while the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office denied providing Bates with the training he claimed.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Aftermath, Bates' qualification scandal
Glanz resigned effective November 1, 2015, as a result of the scandal around Bates' lack of legitimate qualification. An election to replace him was held on March 1, 2016. In 2016 he pleaded guilty for failing to release information that proved the department knew Bates to be unqualified. Glanz was sentenced to one year in jail, but his sentence was suspended.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Legal proceedings
On April 14, 2015, Bates was charged with second-degree manslaughter. He turned himself in at the Tulsa County Jail, where he was released on the same day, having posted $25,000 bail. The charge of second-degree manslaughter carried a maximum of four years in prison. Bates pleaded not guilty on April 21, 2015. On April 28, 2016, Bates was found guilty of manslaughter. Based on the jury's recommendation, he was sentenced to four years in prison. Bates was released from prison on October 19, 2017, after serving 37% of his sentence, including jail time.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Legal proceedings
In January 2018, Bates was photographed by a customer who was familiar with him, as he had been apparently drinking wine at a bar in contravention of the conditions of his parole from prison. His bar receipt was also photographed.


2015 shooting of Eric Harris, Legal proceedings
In March 2018, Tulsa County agreed to pay the family of Eric Harris $6 million as a final settlement of a federal lawsuit.


2015 supranational electoral calendar
This supranational electoral calendar for 2015 lists the supranational elections held in 2015.


2015 term opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States
The 2015 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 5, 2015, and concluded October 2, 2016. The table below illustrates which opinion was filed by each justice in each case and which justices joined each opinion.


2015 term opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2015 term membership and statistics
This was the eleventh term of Chief Justice Roberts's tenure. Justice Scalia died on February 13, 2016, making it the sixth and final term with the same membership.


2015 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down eighteen per curiam opinions during its 2015 term, which began October 5, 2015 and concluded October 2, 2016.


2015 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States
Because per curiam decisions are issued from the Court as an institution, these opinions all lack the attribution of authorship or joining votes to specific justices. All justices on the Court at the time the decision was handed down are assumed to have participated and concurred unless otherwise noted.


2015 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, Court membership
Associate Justices: Antonin Scalia (died February 13, 2016), Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan


2015 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, Maryland v. Kulbicki
577 U.S. ___ Decided October 5, 2015. Court of Appeals of Maryland reversed.


2015 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, Maryland v. Kulbicki
The lower court misapplied the Strickland v. Washington test to determine if a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel is violated by that counsel's inadequate performance. James Kulbicki was arrested for murdering his 22-year old mistress. At the time of his initial trial, a comparative bullet-lead analysis (CBLA), a technique that was generally accepted at the time, was used as evidence against him. By the time the Maryland Court of Appeals heard his case, CBLA had been discredited and abandoned.