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WORLD EVENTS AND THE YEAR 2010

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World Events of 2010

Earthquake in Haiti. On Tuesday Jan. 12, a magnitude 7 Earthquake hits Haiti with an epicenter roughly 16 miles (25km) west of Port-au-Prince. It is estimated that 316,000 people died, 300,000 injured, and a million are left homeless.

Damage in Haiti
Winter Olympics are held. From Feb. 12-28, the 21st Winter olympics was held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Earthquake in China. On April 14th a powerful earthquake rocks Yushu in China. Over 2,600 people are dead and over 12,000 people are injured.
3D Films are the rage. Following the sucess of Avatar (2009), a slew of 3-D films hit the theatres.

What's old becomes new, the 3-D film.
Jimena "Ximena" Navarrete Rosete from Mexico wins the "Miss Universe" beauty pageant.

Ximena Navarrete, Miss Universe - 2010
Tension between North and South Korea escalates. An international incident is created as a South Korean Navy ship is sunk on March 23. North Korea is blamed. The situation is made worse when North Korea shells Yeonpyeong Island on November 23.
European air traffic is disrupted by volcanic ash. Volcanic eruptions in Iceland send up plumes of volcanic ash which darken the skies of much of Northwest Europe. This causes the cancelation of thousands of flights, due to concerns that jets flying through these clouds might have their engines compromised.

Volcano
Leslie Nielsen dies (1926-2010).

Leslie Nielsen in poster
The offshore drilling rig "Deepwater Horizon" explodes in the Gulf of Mexico creating one of the largest oil spills in history (April 20).

Deepwater Horizon on fire.
Greek economic crisis. The ongoing world financial crisis coupled with mismanagement on the part of the Greeks, creates a financial crises. This cause the EU to intervene.
Tattoos gain broad acceptance

Tattoo
Obama's attempt at a centrist administration fizzles. The right accuses him of being a socialist while the left accuses him of being too tied to corporate interests. The result is that his popularity plummets.

Barack Obama
Tony Curtis Dies (1925-2010)
Political turmoil in Thailand continues.
A flotilla of ships attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza area are intercepted on May 31 by the Israeli Navy. Nine people are killed. This sparks international condemnation.
Apple introduces the iPad.

Steve Jobs with the Apple iPad.
Hollywood actor Kevin McCarthy dies (1914-2010). He is best remembered for his staring role in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956).

Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Spain wins the World Cup in football (a.k.a. soccer).

2010 World Cup
Belgium takes over the Council of the Presidency of the Council of European Union.

Belgian flag
Wikileaks raises the ire of the US and other governments by publishing a series of embarrassing documents. The Swedish government, apparently under pressure from the US, initiates legal proceedings against its founder Julian Assange. These are "officially" for unrelated charges of sexual misconduct.

Wikileaks
33 miners trapped in a mine at Copiapo, Chile, are rescued after spending 69 days underground.
The G-20 summit is held in Seoul, South Korea.
A Lunar eclipse occurs on the winter solstice. This has not happened since 1638.