So you think you know the news? The following quiz on world events over the past year is carefully designed to deflate any such pretensions. As in previous years, this competition is not open to employees of Prachatai (so that they do not suffer the ignominy of exposing their ignorance). Questions are given in chronological order of the events they refer to, as if that helps.

Readers are welcome to post what they think are the answers as comments (I’ll need something to laugh at over the New Year) and the real answers will be posted in next week’s column.

1. 52 couples were arrested in the early hours of New Years Day 2010 in Malaysia. What crime were they charged with?

2. A 19-year-old Norwegian became the world’s number one in which sport in January?

3. People riding underground trains in 44 cities around the world did something on 11 January that was designed to cause ‘scenes of chaos and joy’. What did they do?

4. In February, 10 Americans faced charges of having no proper papers for what they were transporting from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. What was their illegal cargo?

5. On 21 February, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 86th birthday at a surprise party thrown by a foreign embassy in Harare. Which country thought to honour him with a birthday cake?

6. The Canadian women’s ice hockey team defeated the US 2-0 to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in February. They then had to apologize. For what?

7. On 1 March, over 5000 people gathered before dawn at the Sydney Opera House. What did they do next?

8. Which Englishman from the US suffered an injury in Italy on 14 March and went to Finland to find out that he wouldn’t be going to South Africa?

9. What has disappeared in March after 30 years, ending a political dispute between India and Bangladesh?

10. Pubs in Limerick in Ireland were open on Friday 2 April. This was unprecedented. Why?

11. In April an Iranian Islamic priest blamed women who dress improperly and who are sexually promiscuous for one of the world’s problems. What is the problem?

12. A document leaked in April suggested that the Pope should market a brand of condoms, start a helpline for abused children, sing a song with the Queen, and apologize for the Spanish Armada. Where did these suggestions come from?

13. A Minister of Culture called for a boycott of the Cannes Film Festival in May because it included in its programme a documentary critical of his government. Which country are we talking about?

14. Young French farmers took over the Champs-Elysees for a weekend in May to protest falling agricultural prices. What did they do to the street?

15. Whose album made number one in the British pop music charts in May, 46 years after their first hit?

16. Where were 16 people injured outside a football stadium before a match between Nigeria and North Korea in June and who said that the incident was nothing to do with them?

17. Which country revealed in June that it has developed a super drink that increases brain cells and protects skin from wrinkles?

18. 2 statues disappeared in the middle of the night in June in two towns in Georgia. They portrayed the most famous person ever born in the country. Who was he?

19. Who, according to his grandson, attended the final ceremony of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in July only after intense pressure from FIFA?

20. A woman told a government inquiry in London that the decision to invade Iraq “substantially” increased the terrorist threat to the UK. What was her job at the time?

21. A sailboat completed a 4-month journey across the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney on 26 July. What is the boat made of?

22. In August, the daughter of Sarah Palin again broke her engagement to the father of her child when she found out some embarrassing new information about him. What did she learn?

23. A teenager shouting ‘We won’ crossed an international border on 20 August. What was his job and where was he going?

24. Kenyan authorities looked inside 12 wooden boxes which were supposed to contain avocados being exported to Malaysia in late August. What did they find instead?

25. Which city experienced an earthquake on 3 September with a greater magnitude than the one in Haiti in January, but with no loss of life?

26. In which country did a political party elect a younger brother as its leader, beating his elder brother by 1% at its September party conference?

27. The Pentagon in September bought ten thousand copies of a book by a reserve army officer about his experience in Afghanistan. What did they do with them?

28. Who would have been 70 on 9 October, an event commemorated by a special Google doodle?

29. Which Asian city celebrated its 1000th birthday on 10 October?

30. On 17 October, Pope Benedict XVI canonised Mary MacKillop, the first Australian saint, who was briefly excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Why was she banned from being a nun?

31. Which country’s president faced renewed calls for his resignation in November for intervening with the police to secure the release of a 17-year-old girl arrested for theft, claiming she was the niece of the Egyptian president?

32. As part of a special orang-utan week in November, Dublin Zoo offered free entry to children if they had what?

33. When the son of Aung San Suu Kyi met his mother at Rangoon airport on 23 November for the first time in 10 years, he took off his jacket. Why?

34. What vote did Mr Prince, Mr PM and Mr Posh lose on 2 December?

35. Which Corrie celebrated her 50th birthday on 9 December with an extension to an hour?

36. In response to the worst rains in a decade in December, who moved out of his palace and into a tent, so as to make room for families made homeless?