Flashback 2010

January

January 4 - The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is officially opened.

January 8 - The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations.

January 12 - A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince. With a confirmed death toll over 230,000 it is one of the deadliest on record.

January 15 - The longest annular solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium occurs.

January 18 - (Monday), Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

January 25 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on-board.

February

February 12-28 - The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.

February 12- Olympic Luger from Republic of Georgia Dies in Training Crash, A luger from the Republic of Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, dies tragically in a crash during training for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Just hours before the Opening Ceremony, Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled while travelling at 90 miles per hour on the Whistler Sliding Centre track. The safety of the track, built in 2007, has been called into question recently because of the sheer speed at which the athletes are able to travel.

February 15 - Taliban’s Top Commander Captured, The Taliban’s top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is captured in Karachi, Pakistan in a secret joint operation by the American and Pakistani intelligence forces. American officials claim that Barader is the most significant human capture since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

February 18 - Two senior Taliban leaders are arrested in Pakistan. Afghan officials are calling the two men “shadow governors” in two provinces of the country. Their arrest, along with the capture of Barader, severely hamper the Taliban leadership and their presence in Pakistan.

February 22 - NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills 27 Civilians, An airstrike launched by the United States Special Forces in Kabul, Afghanistan, targeted at insurgents, accidentally kills 27 Afghan civilians. President Hamid Karzai condemns the killings.

February 27 - An 8.8-magnitude earthquake occurs in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific and killing 497. The earthquake is one of the largest in recorded history.

March

March 16 - The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda’s only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire.

March 23 - The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sinks off the country’s west coast, killing 46. In May, an independent investigation blames North Korea, which denies the allegations.

March 24 - U.S., Russia Have Breakthrough in Arms Negotiations, The United States and Russia report a breakthrough in arms control negotiations. Both countries agree to lower the limit on deployed strategic warheads and launchers by 25% and 50%, respectively, and will also implement a new inspection regime.

President Obama and President Medvedev will sign in a treaty that outlines this agreement. A signing ceremony is planned for April 8 in Prague.

March 29 - Female Suicide Bombers Kill 39 in Russian Subway Stations, Two female suicide bombers, acting just minutes apart, detonate bombs in two Moscow subways stations, killing at least 39 people. This is the first terrorist attack in the capital city since 2004, when Moscow experienced a string of deadly violence. Authorities attribute the attacks to the mostly Muslim north Caucasus region. Doku Umarov, a former Chechen separatist

and the self-proclaimed emir of the north Caucasus, claims responsibility for masterminding the attack.

April

April 4 - 34 Rescued from Chinese Mine, Rescue crew free 34 people trapped in a flooded coal mine in China, where they have been trapped since March 28. After the flood, 108 miners were immediately rescued, but the remainder of the workers, 153 total, remained trapped underground. All those freed remain in stable condition.

April 8 - Russia, U.S. Sign Nuclear Arms Pact, The United States

and Russia usher in a supposedly new era in nuclear arms control after President Obama and President Medvedev sign an arms reduction treaty and agree to act in a united fashion against the threat of Iran’s nuclear program. The pact, called the New Start, has each country promise to scale back on their nuclear arsenals.

April 10 - The President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in western Russia.

April 13 - A 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurs in Qinghai, China, killing at least 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.

April 14 - Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajokull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.Volcano plume from on Eyjafjallajokull 17 April 2010.

April 20 - The Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers. The resulting oil spill, one of the largest in history, spreads for several months, damaging the waters and the United States coastline, and prompting international debate and doubt about the practice and procedures of offshore drilling.

May

May 3 - Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Offers to Hold Early Elections, Prime Minister of Thailand, Vejjajiva Abhisit, offers to hold early elections-one of the key demands of protesters loyal to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, called red shirts, who have been rioting since April-if the protesters called off their demonstrations, but they reject the gesture. Abhisit withdraws his offer and orders troops to blockade the protest area. (May 13): What started as a peaceful protest disintegrates into violence; the military fires upon the protesters and hits Khattiya Sawatdiphol, a general who sided with the red shirts. He later dies of his injuries. His death sparks further violence, and the protesters retaliated with grenade attacks.

May 17 - The red shirts then offer to negotiate with the government, but are rebuffed. They then engage in large-scale rioting, looting, and the firebombing of several buildings, including Thailand’s stock exchange and largest department store. The government cracks down on the movement (May 19): Rioters disperse, and protest leaders surrender. They will face terrorism charges. In the 68 days of the protests, 68 people died. The red shirts bore the brunt of most of the casualties.

May 4 - Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sells in New York for US$106.5 million, setting another new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

May 7 - Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred.

May 10 - Prime Minister Brown Announces Imminent Resignation, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces he will resign as the head of his Labour Party by September. The country’s general election produced a hung Parliament-none of the competing parties won enough votes, and Brown announces his commitment to negotiate a new government before he leaves office.

May 11 - Brown formally resigns as prime minister after acknowledging

that his Labour Party will be unable to form a majority in Parliament. He recommends Conservative Party leader David Cameron as his successor; consequently, Cameron creates a coalition government with the ideologically opposed Liberal Democrats and becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

0The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, will become deputy prime minister. This is the first coalition government in the U.K. since World War II.

May 19 - Protests in Bangkok, Thailand ends with a bloody military crackdown, killing 91 and more than 2,100 injured.

May 20 - Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

May 22 - Air India Express Flight 812 overshoots the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.

June

June 1 - Prime Minister of Japan Announces Resignation, Just nine months into his term as Prime Minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama announces his resignation from office. His countrymen reportedly find him an indecisive and ineffective ruler and have been clamoring for him to quit. He will be the fourth prime minister to leave in just four years.

June 11 - The 2010 FIFA World Cup is held in South Africa, and is won by Spain.

June 13 - U.S. Finds $1 Trillion in Untapped Mineral Deposits in Afghanistan, The United States finds more than $1 trillion in mineral resources in the mountains of Afghanistan, far more than expected or previously estimated. The findings, which include previously unknown deposits of iron, copper, gold, and lithium, could drastically improve the country’s economy and fundamentally change the outcome of the war there.

June 20 - Graeme McDowell Wins Golf’s U.S. Open, In a surprise victory, Graeme McDowell wins golf’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, beating second place Frenchman Gregory Havret by just one stroke. McDowell, from Northern Ireland, is the first European to win the tournament since 1970.

July

July 1 - Belgium takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Spain.

July 8 - The first 24-hour flight by a solar powered plane is completed by the Solar Impulse.

July 11 - Spain Beats Netherlands 1-0 to Win World Cup, After four weeks and 64 games, the 32 countries who entered the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa were whittled down to just two; the final game, between Spain and the Netherlands, went into overtime after a scoreless game. Spain finally scored in the 129th minute, winning the game and the World Cup title.

July 24 -Stampede During German Parade Kills 21, Wounds 500, Twenty-one people are killed and 500 more wounded during a stampede at a German music festival, dubbed the Love Parade. While attempting to enter the festival, the large crowd crushed into an underpass, suffocating and trampling the victims of the tragedy. Prosecutors are investigating whether the event managers’ negligence caused the stampede and subsequent deaths.

July 25 - Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.

July 29 - Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding (pictured) in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.

August

August 1 - Satellite images of the upper Indus River valley comparing water-levels on 1 August 2009 (top) and 31 July 2010 (bottom) during the flooding in Pakistan.

August 4 - Russia Bans Grain Export in Response to Drought, Wildfires, Russian president Valdimir Putin bans the export of grains from his country, citing the widespread drought and wildfires that are crippling Russia. They are suffering from the country’s worst heat wave in 130 years. Putin claims that the damage to their crops has increased food prices in Russia dramatically.

August 6 - At least 52 people have been killed in the more than 800 wildfires that have swept across Russia.

August 10 - The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.

August 17 - Sucide Bomber Kills At Least 48 in Attack on Iraqi Army, A suicide bomber blows himself up at an Iraqi Army recruiting office, killing at least 48 army recruits and soldiers, and wounding 120 others.

September

September 12 - American Hiker Released on Bail from Iranian Prison, The female American hiker imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage is released on $500,000 bail. Sarah Shourd has been in prison for over a year, along with the two male American friends she was hiking with, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal. The three friends were hiking in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in July 2009 when they allegedly passed over into Iranian territory and were arrested.

September 28 - Seven people are reported to have been killed and around 100 are missing after a landslide in Oaxaca, Mexico.

 

October

October 13 - Thirty-three miners near Copiap, Chile, trapped 700 metres underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, are brought back to the surface after surviving for a record 69 days.

October 14 - Luis Urzúa, the leader of the trapped miners and the last of the 33 to be lifted to freedom, celebrates with President Piñera at San José Mine, during “Operacin San Lorenzo”.

October 19 - Mass Protests in France Over Retirement Reform, A one-day strike over the French government’s pension reform plan turned into widespread protests, gas shortages, blockaded roads, closed schools, and violence in France.

President Sarkozy and his government are proposing raising the legal minimum requirement age from 60 to 62, which resulted in the demonstrations of millions of French citizens.

October 22 - The International Space Station surpasses the record for the longest continuous human occupation of space, having been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000 (3641 days).

October 23 - In preparation for the Seoul summit, finance ministers of the G-20 agree to reform the International Monetary Fund and shift 6% of the voting shares to developing nations and countries with emerging markets.

October 25 - An earthquake and consequent tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, kills over 400 people and leave hundreds missing.

October 26 - ongoing - Repeated eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, have killed at least 240 people and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.

November

November 4 - Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.

November 8 - Obama Backs India for Permanent U.N. Security Council Seat President Obama, breaking with tradition, announces support of India for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. A closer relationship between the United States and India should reduce some of the power of rapdidly growing China. The governments of China and Pakistan, both countries with strained relationships with India and close ties

with the United States, respond with concern over the growing relationship.

November 11-12 - The G-20 summit is held in Seoul, South Korea. Korea becomes the first non-G8 nation to host a G-20 leaders summit.

November-12 - 2010 Asian Games was held from November 12th to November 27th in Guangzhou, China. The games were co-hosted by Dongguan, Foshan and Shanwei. 476 events in 42 sports will be contested by athletes, and 53 competition venues and 17 training venues were used for the Games.

November 13 - Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her house arrest.

November 28 - WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked “secret” or “confidential”.

November 29 - December 10 - The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Cancún, Mexico. Also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16), it served too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6).

December

December 2 - NASA announces the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form in California.

December 2 - Russia, Qatar Win World Cup Bids for 2018, 2022, Russia wins its bid as host for the 2018 World Cup, while Qatar secures the host duties for the international soccer tournament in 2022.

The United States, in particular, was disappointed by the announcement; the country was hoping to host the World Cup in 2022. Qatar will be the first Middle Eastern country to the tournament; Russia has never had the privilege either.

December 7 - WikiLeaks Founder Arrested in Sweden for Alleged Sex Offenses Julian Assange, the Australian-born co-founder of WikiLeaks, is arrested in England on a Swedish warrant in connection to accusations made in August: two women in Sweden accused him of sexual assault. He is denied bail by a London court.

December 8 - Hundreds of Internet activists attack several businesses seen as “enemies” of WikiLeaks, in response to Assange’s imprisonment. Amazon.com, Paypal.com, and the MasterCard website are among those attacked with an onslaught of web traffic.

December 14 - Assange is released on $310,000 bail, but remains in British custody temporarily. He faces possible extradition to Sweden for his alleged sexual assaults on two women.

December 21 - The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the northern winter solstice/southern summer solstice since 1,638, takes place.