The year 2014 is coming to an end and we soon move into the New Year. Looking back at the big news stories there has been some crisis, challenges and mysteries. There have been events that made you laugh and scream at your TV or computer such as the World Cup, Oscars and the ice bucket challenge. But there have also been events that cost lives such as Ebola, riots and ISIS. Here is a list over the top 10 talked about news stories in 2014.
1. Mysterious Malaysia plane disappearance
On March 8, the flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The airline said the plane lost contact less than an hour after takeoff and that no message was sent out. Later the Malaysian authorities confirmed that the last message received was “Good night Malaysian three seven zero” by either the pilot or the co-pilot. The airplane disappeared over the Indian Ocean with 227 passengers onboard and hasn’t been found since.
2. Ice bucket challenge
The ice bucket challenge took over all the social media this summer. People were posting and challenging each other every day. The organization ALS started the challenge and it quickly went viral. People all over the world took part, which generated large numbers of donations to different non- profit organization. ALS generated $115 million by the ice bucket challenge.
3. The World Cup
The big sport event of 2014 was for many, the World Cup in soccer. It was held in Brazil from June 12 to July 13. The defending World Cup champions Spain, played the first game and lost 1-5 to the Netherlands. The cup had many surprises and moments filled with adrenalin. The ultimate winner this year was Germany, as they played as a team through out the entire tournament.
4. Ebola
The deadly disease Ebola took up a large portion of the news this year. The disease started off on the east cost of Africa, killing 1349 in Guinea, 3155 in Liberia and 1609 in Sierra Leone. It wasn’t until Ebola reached the United Stated and Europe that it took over the news. In the United States there have been four confirmed cases of Ebola. One of the four was Thomas Eric Duncan who died October 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
5. ISIS
The Islamic State or ISIS has been in the headlines all year around. The group lead by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, is aiming to create an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. They ignore international boarders and rules by Sharia law. On August 19, a video was posted to Youtube of ISIS decapitating U.S. journalist James Foley. The western world was outraged and continues working together to end these crimes.
6. Gay marriage legalization
Hawaii was the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage late in 2013. In the following six months, 1,500 same sex marriages have occurred. In 2014, 18 states have joined Hawaii and also made it legal. This adds up to 35 legal states and 15 where gay marriage is still banned.
7. Ferguson riots
On August 8, 18-year-old Michael Brown is shoot by officer Darren Wilson. The local people in Ferguson, Missouri takes to the street to demonstrate peacefully, but it quickly turns into a riot. The people of Ferguson see the shooting as police violence and racism, as Brown was an unarmed African American. When the demonstrations turned violent, the police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of people for vandalism and rioting.
8. Ellen broke Twitter on the Oscars
During the Oscars on March 2, Ellen DeGeneres took a selfie that broke records. The picture includes Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Meryl Streep among others. It was posted to Twitter during the Oscars and got 1,7 million retweets in less than an hour. The photo literally broke twitter, as the site crashed because of all the traffic generated by the picture.
9. Scotland independence vote
This year the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?” were asked to the Scottish people. The referendum ended in 2,001,926 (53.3%) “No” and 1,617,989 (44.7%) “Yes.” This means that Scotland is still part of United Kingdom, at least for now.
10. Ukraine unrest
Over 800,000 people attended demonstrations in Kiev that started late in 2013. The demonstrations escalated and split the population in two. One side is pro- Russian and the other wants a western democracy. In February President Yanukovych disappeared and the parliament voted to remove the President from power. The tension between the two sides is still going on in Ukraine as we move into the next year.
