Purist World Events 2014

January

 * Latvia adopts the Euro as its currency and becomes the 18th member of the Eurozone.

February

 * The 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak begins, infecting 844 people and killing at least 518 people, the most severe both in terms of numbers of infections and casualties.
 * Rhodesia closes its borders to passports from or that have passed through Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The African Union agrees to send medical aide to the affected countries.
 * The XXII Olympic Winter Games are held in Sochi, Russia.
 * Belgium becomes the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia for terminally ill patients of any age.
 * The {Ukrainian parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov, after days of civil unrest left around 100 people dead in Kiev.
 * The pro-Russian conflict in the Ukraine leads to the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and an insurgency in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

March

 * Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, severs diplomatic and political ties with Panama, accusing Panama of being involved in a conspiracy against the Venezuelan government.
 * Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 airliner en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, disappears over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board. The aircraft is presumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.
 * A referendum on the status of Crimea is held.
 * Russia formally annexes Crimea after President Vladimir Putin signed a bill finalizing the annexation process.
 * During an emergency meeting, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Canada temporarily suspend Russia from the G8.
 * The United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 68/262, recognizing Crimea within Ukraine’s international borders and rejecting the validity of the 2014 Crimean referendum.
 * The United Nations International Court of Justice rules that Japan's Antarctic whaling program is not scientific but commercial and forbids grants of further permits.

April

 * In response to the 2014 Crimean crisis, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passes a resolution to temporarily strip Russia of its voting rights; its rights to be represented in the Bureau of the Assembly, the PACE Presidential Committee, and the PACE Standing Committee; and its right to participate in election-observation missions.
 * The Catholic Church canonizes Popes John XXIII and John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday.
 * United States President Barack Obama's new economic sanctions against Russia go into effect, targeting companies and individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

May

 * The Royal Thai Army overthrows the caretaker government of Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan after a failure to resolve the political unrest in Thailand.

June

 * A Sunni militant group called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (also known as the ISIS or ISIL) begins an offensive through northern Iraq, aiming to capture the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad and overthrow the Shiite government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
 * The 2014 FIFA World Cup begins in Brazil.
 * King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, who ascends the Spanish throne as King Felipe VI.