2014 Major Events
Like they say, “One can like it or hate it, but cannot ignore it.” Here is a list of events that created ruffles and dominated the world headlines in 2014.
- The freezing experience – Polar Vortex (January)
- Latvia officially adopts the euro as its currency (January)
- Facebook bought Whatsapp for 19 billion US dollars (February)
- Matteo Renzi became the youngest Prime Minister of Italy (February)
- Thai General Elections (February)
- The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa (February)
- The Sochi (Russia) winter Olympics (February)
- Belgium became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia for terminally ill patients of any age (February)
- The Ukrainian parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov after days of civil unrest in Kiev (February)
- The pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine lead to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and an insurgency in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (February)
- The Malaysian airplane that went missing with over 200 passengers on board (March)
- During an emergency meeting, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany France, Japan and Canada temporarily suspend Russia from the G8 (March)
- An estimated 276 girls and women abducted and held hostage from a school in Nigeria (April)
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- National Elections in India, Narendra Modi sworn in as the new Prime Minister (May)
- South Korea ferry disaster (May)
- Turkey mine accident (May)
- The World Health Organization identifies the spread of poliomyelitis in at least 10 countries as a major worldwide health emergency (May)
- Terrorists in Nigeria detonate bombs killing 118 people (May)
- Google purchased satellite imaging firm Skybox Imaging for $ 500 million (June)
- Germany wins the FIFA World Cup held in Brazil (July)
- Air Algerie Flight 5017, crashed in Mali killing 116 people on board (July)
- The Israel conflict with Hamas in Gaza (July)
- Airplane with 298 passengers on board that was shot down by Ukraine (July)
- Scottish 2014 Common-wealth Games (Jul-Aug)
- Panama Canal Centenary Celebration (August)
- Robin Williams commits suicide (apparently) (August)
- The United States and several Arab partners begin airstrike campaign in Syria (September)
- Kashmir floods in India (September)
- India’s Mars satellite ‘Mangalyaan’ enters Orbit (Septemeber)
- Scottish Independence Referendum (September)
- South Korea 2014, Asian Games (September)
- The Roman Catholic Church beatifies Pope Paul VI (October)
- European Spacecraft Rosetta landed on Comet (November)
- Australian cricketer Phil Hughes death (November)
- 25th Anniversary of the ‘Fall of the Berlin Wall’ (November)
- Alibaba breaks Sales record $ 9 billion Singles’ Day in China (November)
- Michael Schumacher brought home for further rehabilitation from the hospital after his ski accident. Reports said that he was ‘paralysed and in a wheelchair’; he ‘cannot speak and has memory problems’ (November)
- 2014 Hong Kong protests (Sept-Dec)
- Nasa’s Orion Spacecraft launches on Exploration Flight Test-1 (December)
- Taliban attacks in a military school in Peshawar, Pakistan (December)
- Malala Yousafzai became the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (December)
- Ukrainian Parliament, Rada, on 24 December 2014 overwhelmingly adopted a bill that enables the country to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) (December)
