Dispatches

Paris attacked

At least three masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper in Paris, shouting “Allahu akbar!” and killing at least 12 people, including the paper’s editor and a cartoonist. Early reports indicated two police officers also died in the attack, which President François Hollande called “a terrorist attack without a doubt.” The noon rampage at the weekly publication Charlie Hebdo was France’s deadliest terror attack in at least 20 years. Assailants firebombed the paper’s offices over its caricatures of Muhammad in 2011. Editor Stéphane Charbonnier, who was killed in the Jan. 7 attack, was undaunted: “I live under French law,” he said in 2012. “I don’t live under Quranic law.”

Jan. 4

Boston justice

Nearly two years after a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured more than 260 others, the trial began for accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. At least 1,200 potential jurors began filling out questionnaires for a jury pool attorneys will whittle down to 12. Authorities say Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, planted two homemade bombs at the finish line of the Boston race on April 15, 2013. They say the pair also killed an MIT campus police officer during the manhunt for the suspects. Tamerlan died in a firefight with police. Judge George A. O’Toole told potential jurors at a federal courthouse in Boston they didn’t need special training to serve: “What you do need is a commitment to justice.”

Jan. 1

Cuomo ERA

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo died on New Year’s Day at age 82. The three-term governor and lifelong Catholic became a liberal icon, famously arguing for legal abortion during a speech at the University of Notre Dame. Cuomo’s son, Andrew, became governor of New York in 2010, and began his second term in office hours before his father died.

Dec. 31

Shanghai stampede

A New Year’s Eve celebration turned deadly in Shanghai, as 36 people died in a stampede along the Chinese city’s popular waterfront. The chaos erupted shortly before midnight, as a crowd of revelers reportedly panicked on a stairway leading to a viewing platform. Chinese state media reported only 700 Shanghai police officers were patrolling the crowds of as many as 300,000 people.

Dec. 28

Sorrowful search

Rescue workers began recovering bodies from the Java Sea after AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed with 162 people on board. The plane’s demise on its route from Indonesia to Singapore capped a tragic year for air travel in southeast Asia: Three disasters in 2014 produced 699 fatalities. Pastor Philip Mantofa of Mawar Sharon Church said his Indonesian congregation lost 46 members from 14 families: “My heart burns.”

Dec. 27

Fallen servants

Thousands of police officers from across the United States attended the funerals of murdered New York City police officers Rafael Ramos on Dec. 27 and Wenjian Liu on Jan. 4. The partners died on Dec. 20 when assailant Ismaaiyl Brinsley executed them as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. (The gunman later committed suicide.) Liu, 32, was a seven-year veteran of the force. Ramos, 40, was an active member of Christ Tabernacle in Queens. Jose Ortiz, the church’s head of security, described Ramos as a devoted Christian: “He gave everything to Christ.”

Dec. 25

Dramatic release

After security threats and an allegedly North Korea–linked cyberattack prompted Sony Pictures to scrap the release of The Interview, studio executives backtracked and released the lowbrow comedy on Christmas Day. Some critics said the release of the movie (lampooning North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un with raunchy humor and an assassination scene) marked a victory for free speech but a defeat for good taste.