Europe Features

CHRONOLOGY: 2010, from Eyjafjallajoekull to WikiLeaks

Dec 31, 2010, 13:20 GMT

A general view shows smoke rising as an eruption of the volcano near Eyjafjallajoekull glacier occurs, some 120 km away from Reykjavik, Iceland, 17 April 2010. EPA/S. OLAFS

  In the beginning of 2010, most people had probably never heard of the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in Iceland and wouldn't have thought that Iraqi politicians would need eight months to form a government after elections.

Nor might have been willing to put money on a major Republican victory in the US Congress, or thought that a whistleblower website could change the nature of global diplomacy.

But, as every year does, 2010 was full of surprises. Here are some of its highlights:  

January 4 ­ Burj Khalifa, world's tallest building at 828 metres, opens in Dubai, surpassing Taipei 101 by 319 metres.  

January 8 ­ Togo withdraws from Africa Cup of Nations after the bus with its football team is attacked by militants in Angola, killing three.  

January 12 ­ More than 220,000 people killed after 7-magnitude earthquake shatters Haiti, destroying 28 of 29 government ministries and leaving more than 1.5 million homeless.  

January 19 ­ Republican Scott Brown wins US Senate race in Massachusetts state, ending the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the legislative body.  

January 20 - Head of a Jesuit school in Berlin reveals widespread sex abuse during 1970s and 1980s, triggering hundreds more revelations of child sex abuse by German priests across Germany and Europe dating back to the 1960s and implicating senior clerics.  

January 20 ­ Hamas' top military commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, is killed in the United Arab Emirates. Hamas accuses Israel's Mossad, sparking international outcry.  

January 21 ­ Toyota is forced to recall more than 8 million vehicles in a public relations disaster.  

January 25 - Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein`s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), is executed for ordering the use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in Halabja village in 1988.  

January 27 ­ Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is elected for a second six-year term, defeating his chief opponent, former army commander general Sarath Fonseka, who is later jailed on charges of conspiracy against the government.   January 27 - Bangladesh hangs five of 12 convicted former military officials for the assassination of the countrys founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.  

January 28 - Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin found not guilty of complicity to libel President Nicolas Sarkozy.  

January 28 - Iran hangs two men in the first executions of dissidents since protests erupted over the disputed June 2009 presidential election.

February ­ Turkey launches Sledgehammer coup plot investigation. Through April, nearly 200 retired and active military officers are detained and arrested on charges of planning a coup in 2003.  

February 2 - Sodomy trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim begins.

February 8 ­ Eight months after the death of pop singer Michael Jackson, his personal physician, Conrad Murray, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Trial slated for January 2011.  

February 9 - New Zimbabwean regulations say foreign and white-owned companies must offload a majority shareholding to black Zimbabweans.  

February 12 ­ Deadly start for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili dies in a crash during a practice run.

February 16 - Pakistani security officials report that top Afghan Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been captured.

February 18 ­ Niger President Mamadou Tandja deposed in a coup.  

February 20 - Dutch coalition government collapses, partly over NATO request to extend the country`s military mission to Afghanistan.  

February 25 - Viktor Yanukovych is sworn in as Ukraine's new president, ending five years of pro-Europe government in the former Soviet republic.  

February 26 ­ Giant iceberg the size of Luxembourg breaks away from an Antarctic glacier.  

February 27 - 8.8-magnitude earthquake kills 800 people in Chile.  

March 4 - Iceland voters reject government's plan to repay 5.4 billion dollars in compensation to Britain and the Netherlands to investors in a failed Icelandic bank. A deal is seen as a prerequisite for Iceland to become a future member of the European Union.  

March 8 - Iraq parliamentary elections. Nearly 6,300 candidates compete for 325 seats, making it the largest such election in Iraq`s history. The lack of a clear winner leads to eight months of political deadlock.  

March 9 ­ Almost 400 people are buried in a mass grave near the Nigerian town of Jos after Muslim herdsmen slaughter Christian villagers.  

March 12 - Pope Benedict XVI expresses shock over a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal involving priests in his native Germany. Days later he issues an unprecedented pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, apologizing for church sexual abuse there.  

March 22 - Google announces closure of its main Chinese website after finding evidence of hacking of accounts from China; says it was unhappy with the government's internet censorship.  

March 26 ­ Tensions on the Korean Peninsula after torpedo sinks South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors. International inquiry blames attack on North Korea.  

March 29 ­ 39 dead on Moscow metro after two attacks by female suicide bombers.  

March 30 - Large Hadron Collider, or Big Bang machine, smashes together particles at highest energy rate ever recreated in a laboratory.  

March 31 ­ Serbia government apologizes for 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

April 3 ­ Chinese freighter Shen Neng 1 goes astray along Great Barrier Reef, leaving giant gouge in the coral.

April 3 - Apple releases iPad, selling 300,000 on its first day and 3 million in its first 80 days.  

April 8 - US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, in Prague, requiring each side to reduce nuclear warhead stockpiles to below 1,550.  

April 10 - Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others are killed in a plane crash in Smolensk, Russia.

April 14 - Ash spewed by a volcano eruption near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier disrupts air traffic across northern and western Europe - thousands of flights are grounded and large swathes of European airspace is closed.  

April 15 ­ 7.1-magnitude earthquake kills 3,000 people and leaves 100,000 homeless in the Yushu area of China's Qinghai province.  

April 15 - Ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev resigns and withdraws to Belarus after a week of protest against his rule leaves 80 dead and more than 1,600 wounded across the former Soviet republic.  

April 16 ­ US Securities and Exchange Commission files complaint against investment bank Goldman Sachs for misleading investors; 550- million-dollar settlement reached.  

April 20 ­ BP Plc-leased rig Deepwater Horizon explodes, killing 11. Oil flow is stopped July 15 and well is sealed on September 19 after 5 billion barrels of oil spewed into Gulf of Mexico leading to the worst environmental disaster in US history.  

April 21 - Russia and Ukraine cut a deal on natural gas and the Black Sea fleet allowing the Kremlin to keep warships based in Ukrainian port Sevastopol, in exchange for 30-per-cent cut in the price of natural gas sold to Ukraine.  

April 25 - Viktor Orban wins another term as Hungarian prime minister, eight years after his last term in office. The defeated Socialist Party only narrowly beats anti-Roma nationalist party Jobbik into third place.  

April 26 ­ Sudan's Omar al-Bashir declared winner of his country's first multi-party elections in 24 years, although the polls were marred by opposition boycotts and allegations of fraud. Salva Kiir confirmed as president of autonomous Southern Sudan.

May 1 ­ World Expo 2010 opens in China, attracting 70 million visitors through October 31.  

May 2 ­ EU and IMF agree to 110-billion-euro rescue loan for Greece. Protests, some deadly, stretch on for the rest of the year.

May 6 - Death sentence for Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani gunman involved in the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people.  

May 6 - Automated futures sale by a mutual fund set off a chain of events that sees the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose more than 6,000 points, before recovering within minutes.  

May 6 ­ Britain's first Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 70 years comes to power.  

May 9 ­ EU and IMF agree to set up 750-billion-euro rescue fund for eurozone states, to operate for three years. Late in the year, plans for a permanent fund are launched.  

May 10 ­ Benigno Aquino III elected president of the Philippines.  

May 16 - French lecturer Clotilde Reiss returns home after spending 11 months in detention in Iran on charges of espionage.  

May 17 - Iran, Brazil and Turkey sign agreement to swap Iranian uranium in Turkey for fuel for a Tehran medical reactor. The deal is rejected by existing nuclear powers.  

May 19 ­ Thai government cracks down on red-shirt protesters, ending 69 days of violent demonstrations and street battles in Bangkok that left 92 dead.  

May 20 ­ Thieves steal Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani artworks valued at about 100 million euros from Paris Museum for Modern Art.  

May 22 ­ Air India Express flight from Dubai crashes while landing in southern Indian city of Mangalore, killing 158 on board.  

May 24 ­ Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi scores landslide victory in elections considered deeply flawed by opposition figures and international community.  

May 25 - Over 330 people are killed and 1 million left homeless in India's eastern West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh by cyclone Aila.  

May 31 - Eight Turks and a Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara are killed in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying pro- Palestinian activists. The event sparks a diplomatic crisis that severely damages Turkish-Israeli relation.  

May 31 - German President Horst Koehler unexpectedly resigns. He is replaced one month later by Chancellor Angela Merkel's candidate Christian Wulff, who narrowly secures a majority in a third round of voting.  

June 4 - Naoto Kan became became Japan`s 94th premier, the fifth since 2006, after Yukio Hatoyama steps down amid plunging popularity ratings.  

June 10 ­ Ethnic clashes, in which more than 2,000 are estimated to have died, begin in Kyrgyzstan.  

June 11 - World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg with a 2-1 defeat by South Africa over Mexico at Soccer City.  

June 13 - Belgium holds general election that widens divisions between Dutch-speaking North and French-speaking South; coalition talks drag on until the end of the year without result.  

June 17 - Despite the crisis shaking the euro, Estonia wins EU approval to become the currency's 17th member, as of January 1, 2011.  

June 19 - Swedish Crown Princess Victoria marries commoner Daniel Westling.   June 19 ­ China indicates it will decouple the exchange rate for the yuan from the US dollar.  

June 20 - Israel decides to ease its four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, lifting restrictions on the amount and types of civilian goods allowed into the impoverished coastal enclave.

June 22 ­ The top NATO commander in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, is recalled to Washington after a magazine article portrayed the general as dismissive of senior US officials. McChrystal later resigns.  

June 23 ­ Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd resigns as leader of Labor Party; Julia Gillard sworn in as prime minister. On September 14, Labor wins a narrow vote, gaining a second term in power with Gillard at the helm.  

June 28 ­ Ten Russian double agents who had been living in the US for years are uncovered. They are deported in early July.

July - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's party spends much of the month embroiled in party funding/tax rebate scandal involving the heiress to the L'Oreal fortune.  

June 30 - Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigns under Maoist pressure, putting Nepal under a caretaker government. The country holds more than a dozen unsuccessful attempts at electing a prime minister.  

July 7 ­ Under pressure from the Catholic Church and Spain, Cuba offers to free 52 dissidents. As 2010 nears its end, the majority had been freed, but some remained imprisoned.  

July 11 - Spain triumphs in an all-European World Cup final against the Netherlands at South Africa's Soccer City.  

July 11 ­ Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabaab carries out twin suicide blast in Ugandan capital Kampala, killing 76 people who were watching the World Cup final.  

July 12 ­ Swiss authorities release director Roman Polanski from house arrest, won't extradite him to the United States, where he faces long-standing rape charges.  

July 13 ­ France's parliament votes to ban the burqa. The measure clears its last legislative hurdle to becoming law in September.  

July 15 ­ Argentina legalizes homosexual marriage.

July 18 - Strikes by hundreds of thousands of civil servants paralyse South Africa's health and education systems for several weeks.  

July 21 - Facebook says it has 500 million members globally.  

July 22 ­ UN's International Court of Justice rules that Kosovo violated no international law by declaring secession, delivering a blow to Serbia's claim of sovereignty over its former province.

July 24 ­ 21 die, more than 500 injured in a mass crush of people at the Love Parade techno music festival in German city of Duisburg.  

July 26 - Comrade Duch, former head of notorious S-21 prison, becomes first former Khmer Rouge to be sentenced for war crimes and crimes against humanity as the tribunal in Phnom Penh jails him for 30 years.  

July 27 ­ BP Plc announces resignation of chief executive Tony Hayward after a series of gaffes related to the company's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  

July 28 - Pakistani plane crashes into Margalla hills near Islamabad, killing 146 passengers and six crew members.  

July 28 - Flash floods are triggered by unusual monsoon rainfall in late July and continue for two months, submerging a fifth of Pakistan, killing 1,985 and affecting more than 20 million people.  

July 30 ­ Hundreds of women, children and men are raped by militia groups in a remote village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.   August - Russia suffers devastating wildfires during one of its hottest summers on record. Hundreds of people are estimated to have died because of smog, pollution and rising temperatures.  

August 5 - Thirty-three miners are trapped 700 metres underground in Chile. After massive rescue effort, they are freed 69 days later.  

August 5 ­ Kenyans vote overwhelmingly to approve a new constitution aimed at preventing a repeat of the deadly violence that followed the December 2007 disputed presidential elections.  

August 11 ­ Rwandan President Paul Kagame reelected; observers say election was not credible due to repression of opposition parties.  

August 12 - Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, on death row and slated for stoning to death in Iran, confesses on TV to adultery and collaboration in her husband's killing.  

August 19 - France begins repatriating Romanian Gypsies.  

August 19 - Last US combat troops withdraw from Iraq, two weeks ahead of a deadline to meet a key milestone for winding down US intervention. About 50,000 troops stay behind.  

August 22 - Iran inaugurates its first-ever nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the south.   August 22 - Seventy-two migrants are massacred by a criminal gang in Tamaulipas, Mexico.  

August 23 - Eight Hong Kong tourists are killed in a tour bus hostage-taking in a Manila park.   August 24 ­ Six Somali lawmakers are amongst dozens killed in an attack on a Mogadishu hotel by insurgent group al-Shabaab.  

August 25 - In one of the bloodiest attacks of the year, at least 64 people are killed and 190 injured in a series of more than 20 attacks across Iraq.

September 2 ­ US President Barack Obama oversees the first direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in nearly two years, only to see them stall within a month when Israel doesn't renew a construction freeze in the West Bank.  

Sept 4 ­ 7.1-magnitude earthquake causes extensive damage in Christchurch, New Zealand.   September 8 - Japan arrests Chinese trawler captain following its collision with Japanese coast guard vessels off a disputed set of islets in East China Sea, setting off the worst diplomatic row in several years between Japan and China.  

September 11 ­ US pastor Terry Jones backs away from his plan to hold a Koran burning, a promise that had sparked outrage in large parts of the Muslim world.  

September 11 - Jailed American Sarah Shourd released on bail from Iran and heads back to the US via Oman. Two men captured with her remain imprisoned.

September 12 - In a national referendum, Turkish voters approve far- reaching constitutional change, strengthening the ruling party's hand and weakening the military courts.  

September 18 - Afghanistan holds its second post-Taliban parliamentary election amid Taliban attacks. More than 4 million people vote, with 2,500 candidates vying for 249 seats in the lower house of the parliament.  

September 22 - Luis Suarez, alias 'Mono Jojoy,' top military leader of Colombian militant group FARC, is killed in an air strike.  

September 24 ­ Cuba, facing economic pressure, allows private businesses to operate in 178 sectors of the economy.  

September 25 - Iran's nuclear agency tries to combat computer worm Stuxnet, which affected industrial sites throughout the country.  

September 28 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fires Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who governed the capital for 18 years and was one of the most powerful politicians in the country.  

September 28-29 - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il makes his son Kim Jong Un a four-star general and appoints him to high ruling party posts in moves seen as preparation for his succession.

October 3 - Commonwealth Games open in India.

October 4 - An industrial accident at MAL Hungarian Aluminium plant in Ajka, western Hungary, releases up to 1 million cubic metres of caustic waste. The sludge pours through nearby villages, leaving 10 dead and hundreds of homes ruined after part of a reservoir collapsed.

October 4 - Nobel Committee begins announcing this year's winners. Briton Robert Edwards (medicine - developing in vitro fertilization techniques); Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa (literature); Americans Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and British-Cypriot Christopher Pissarides (economics - describing labour markets); China's Lius Xiaobo (peace prize).

October 5 - Jerome Kerviel, Societe Generale rogue trader, sentenced to five years in prison, ordered to repay 4.9 billion euros in unauthorized trades.

October 12-25 - Nearly two-week blockade of French fuel depots costs the country an estimated 3 billion euros as workers protest planned increase in retirement age. Measure is approved on October 27.

October 19 - Six killed, 17 injured when insurgents attack Chechen Parliament in Grozny.

October 21 - Cholera outbreak confirmed in Haiti, more than 2,400 die.

October 22 - Trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders on hate speech allegations collapses after judicial review chamber rules the trial judges were not impartial.

October 23 - Website WikiLeaks releases Iraq war logs, after releasing tens of thousands of papers on the Afghan conflict over the summer, all leaked from the US Defence Department.

October 26 - Magnitude 7.7 earthquake-triggered tsunami kills more than 500 in Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

October 31 - Dilma Rousseff is elected first female president of Brazil.

November 2 - US President Barack Obama's Democratic Party is routed by Republicans in congressional elections as voters swing to the conservative party.

November 5 - Mount Merapi on Java island erupts, kills hundreds.

November 7 - Military-run Myanmar holds its first general election in two decades, drawing international criticism that the polls were a sham and designed to cement the Army's rule in civilian guise.

November 8 - Gold price tops 1,400 dollars per ounce (31.1 grams) for the first time.

November 11 - Taiwan's Supreme Court convicts ex-president Chen Shui- bian and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, of corruption and sentences them to 19 years in prison.

November 11 - Iraq ends more than eight months of political deadlock; Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki elected to a second term, and Jalal al-Talabani remains president.

November 12 - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismisses latest sex scandal, triggering protests with his assertion: 'It is better to have a passion for beautiful girls than to be gay.'

November 13 - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is freed after seven years in house detention.

November 16 - Britain's Prince William announces engagement to Kate Middleton.

November 18 - General Motors returns to the stock market after 2009 bankruptcy.

November 19 - Explosion kills 29 in a New Zealand coal mine.

November 20 - Pope Benedict XVI inducts 24 new cardinals, 20 of whom are under 80 years old and thus eligible to take part in the conclave that will elect the next pope.

November 22 - More than 350 people die in a bridge crush at the end of Cambodia's annual Water Festival celebrations. Hundreds more are injured.

November 23 - North Korea shells a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea, killing two soldiers and two civilians.

November 23 - Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI's remarks in a new book, that the use of condoms is permissible in certain situations, do not represent a change in Roman Catholic teaching.

November 28 - Presidential elections in Haiti; riots and violent protests after preliminary results announced December 7; recount ordered.

November 28 - Egypt holds lower-house parliamentary elections; President Hosny Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party retains majority in Parliament.

November 28 - Wikileaks begins publishing a massive cache of secret US State Department cables, drawing protests from Washington and governments worldwide. Editor Julian Assange is jailed in London, then released on bail, on Swedish sexual assault charges, prompting supporters to wage cyber-attacks on companies seen as hostile to WikiLeaks.

November 28 - Ivory Coast holds much-delayed presidential poll. Violence follows as incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power, despite widespread recognition that rival Alassane Ouattara won the poll. At least 20 die.

November 28 - EU-IMF rescue plan for Ireland providing loans of 85 billion euros aimed at solving banking and debt crisis is agreed.

December 2 - Russia is chosen as venue for 2018 World Cup; 2022 event goes to Qatar.

December 2-5 - Israel's worst-ever wildfires sweep the nation, killing 43.

December 8 - A fire in a Chilean prison kills 81 inmates.

December 9-10 - Hundreds of thousands of British students take to the streets to protest planned tuition hikes.

December 10 - Former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader arrested in Austria after fleeing Croatia ahead of the filing of corruption charges.

December 11 - The outlines of a climate deal are approved at a UN summit in Mexico. Bolivia rejects the outcome, saying more must be done.

December 12 - Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party DPK wins the most votes in snap elections.

December 14 - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi narrowly survives parliamentary vote of no-confidence.

December 15 - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court names six Kenyans - including the deputy prime minister - of directing deadly violence that followed the 2007 presidential elections.

December 15 - Ghana pumps its first oil, a major economic milestone.

December 18 - US Senate sends legislation to the White House that would allow homosexuals to serve openly in the US armed forces.

December 19 - Aleksander Lukashenko re-elected president in Belarus. Thousands of protesters take to the streets in response. Mass arrests follow.

December 20 - Hungary's new media law goes into effect, enabling fines for media content deemed 'unbalanced.' Criticism, on the eve of Hungary taking the European Union presidency, is largely shrugged off by the government.

December 21 - Hundreds of Belarusian opposition supporters are prosecuted for protesting the re-election days earlier of President Aleksander Lukashenko. Tougher charges are proposed for a group of 17, including seven who ran against Lukashenko.

December 21 - Montenegrin leader Milo Djukanovic resigns as prime minister after almost two decades of uninterrupted power. Deputy premier and finance minister Igor Luksic, 34, is designated to replace him.

December 22 - US Senate approves New START treaty with Russia to reduce nuclear arms. Russia's Duma, after initial hesitation, is expected to adopt it in early 2011.

December 23 - An Argentinian court sentences former dictator Jorge Videla to life imprisonment, citing 'state terrorism' during his time in office.

December 23 - The United Nations confirms that at least 173 people have died in post-election violence in Ivory Coast. Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo ignores international demands that he step down in favour of Alassane Ouattara, believed by many to be the winner.

December 27 - Russian billionaire and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky is found guilty of stealing oil from his Yukos oil company, which was dismantled after his first conviction, in 2005, for tax evasion on oil sold by the company. Three days later, he is sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison.

December 29 - Danish police announce they have foiled a plan by Islamist extremists to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which published controversial caricatures of the Muslim prophet Mohammed in 2005.