1)
Year
2014 will be most remembered for 2 types of crashes – airplanes and crude
price. Malaysian Airlines lost 2 planes, one mysteriously and the other shot
down by Russian supported Ukrainian rebels. Air Asia lost a plane in a
thunderstorm. Crude oil price plummeted by more than 50% to #60 per barrel. The
two came together in a deadly cocktail when the CEO of an oil refining company
was killed in an air crash in Russia. Name the company and the CEO.
Total, Christophe de Margerie
2)
The deadly Ebola virus scared the guts out of
people, as the toll mounted in the impoverished West African country of Sierra
Leone. While doctors and nurses fought the virus valiantly and earned the
“Person of the Year” accolade from Time magazine, it was another rare and less
known disease that captured people’s imagination in Social Media through the
Ice Bucket challenge. Name this disease.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
3)
The
sporting spectacle of the year was undoubtedly the Football world cup in
Brazil. While eyebrows went up when the host nation got a 1-7 thrashing of
their lives at the feet of Germany in the semifinal, what set the tongues
wagging was the bite of Uruguayan Luis “Dracula” Suarez. Name the Italian
player he bit on the shoulder.
Giorgio Chiellini
4)
Uber,
the ride-sharing service, which threatened to disrupt the way people hire taxis
fell afoul of regulators across the world as it got its wheels mired in one
controversy after another. Name the CEO of the company, valued currently at
over $40 billion, and whose top executive famously threatened to dig up dirt of
its critics.
Travis Kalanick
5)
Outer
Space was back in the news in 2014 as NASA successfully tested Orion, which
will be the forerunner of manned space exploration in future. But what took our
breath away was the mathematics behind the precise landing of European Space
Agency’s probe on a comet, 10 years after leaving the Earth. Name the probe and
the comet.
Philae, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
6)
Ferguson,
a small town in Missouri, USA, burned when a white police officer fatally shot
down a black teenager. Riots broke out again when the jury refused to indict
the cop, who finally quit. Name the cop and the victim.
Darren Wilson and Michael
Brown
7)
#BringBackOurGirls was a twitter campaign to
express widespread condemnation and outrage against the kidnapping of 276
Nigerian schoolgirls by an armed group Boko Haram. While a little more than 50
girls escaped from their abductors, many continue to languish in captivity.
Name the northeastern town of Nigeria, where this shocking incident happened.
Chibok
8)
2014 was
the year when the US economy staged a smart recovery. Name the first woman
chief of the Federal Reserve who is widely being given credit for this bounce
back.
Janet Yellen
9)
A
gigantic cruise liner that ran aground in 2012 was refloated this year as part
of a salvage operation that is the largest ever attempted costing $1.5 billion.
Name this Italian cruise ship.
Costa Concordia
10)
Russian
President Vladimir Putin earned the wrath of Western Europe and USA by annexing
Crimea from Ukraine after a sham referendum. Name the capital and the largest
city of Crimea.
Simferopol
11)
The
gentle world of cricket was plunged into profound grief as a young and upcoming
Australian cricketer, Phillip Hughes, was fatally felled on the field by a ball
that struck him behind his ear. Who bowled this lethal ball?
Sean Abbott
12)
2014 was
a bloody year with escalating conflict in Gaza and Al-Shabab massacres in
Kenya. But the Jehadi group of ISIS took barbarism to new lows by beheading
journalists. Name the first such US journalist to be beheaded.
James Foley
13)
Hackers,
allegedly backed by North Korea, unleashed a cyberwar on Sony following their
production of a movie showing the assassination of the North Korean dictator.
Sony initially backed off, but at the behest of President Obama, the film “The
Interview” was released on Christmas Day. Who directed this film?
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
14)
2014 had
its fair share of the adventures and misadventures of celebrities. Nude photos
of Jennifer Lawrence were leaked and Kim Kardashian posed nude for a magazine
cover. But which celebrity movie star made our jaws drop by her facelift?
Renee Zellweger
