Happy 2010!

News Highlights from the Past Decade (from wikipedia)

2000

• March 10, 2000 - NASDAQ peaks at 5134, before beginning a downwards descent as the dot-com bubble collapses.
• March 26, 2000 - Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.
• September 15, 2000 - Games of the XXVII Olympiad open in Sydney.

2001

• September 11, 2001 -Hijackers associated with al-Qaeda seized and crashed four aircraft. Two of them hit the World Trade Center, one hit The Pentagon, and another missed its target (crashing inShanksville, Pennsylvania), most likely The Capitol Building. In all, nearly 3,000 people died.

2002

• Euro replaces the currencies of 12 of the EU's 15 members.
• October 12, 2002 - 2002 Bali bombings - Islamist terrorists bomb nightclubs in Bali, killing 202 people

2003

• February -March 2003 - A major SARS outbreak takes place in China and spreads through Russia, and Canada. Threats of SARS entering the United States were verified, but no SARS outbreak took place.
• February 1, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry to Earth on STS-107, killing all seven occupants.
• April 9, 2003 - U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein, during the Iraq War
• December 14, 2003 - Saddam Hussein was captured.

2004

• January 4, 2004 - Spirit Rover lands on Mars.
• March 14, 2004 - Russian presidential election, 2004: Vladimir Putin wins a second term.
• August 13, 2004 - Games of the XXVIII Olympiad opens in Athens.
• December 26, 2004 - Boxing Day Tsunami - Around 230,000 people are killed when a tsunami hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other states in the Indian Ocean.

2005

• April 2, 2005 - Pope John Paul II dies. Joseph Alois Ratzinger is elected to succeed him, and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
• August 29, 2005 - At least 1,836 are killed, and severe damage is caused along the U.S. Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Katrina strikes coastal areas from Louisiana to Alabama.

2006

• October 9, 2006 - North Korea performs its first successful nuclear test.
• December 30, 2006 - Saddam Hussein is executed after 2 lengthy trials.

2007

• December 27, 2007 - Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, approximately 2 weeks before a national election in which she was favored to be elected president of Pakistan.

2008

• May 12, 2008 - Over 69,000 are killed in central south-west China by the Wenchuan earthquake.
• August 8, 2008 - Games of the XXIX Olympiad open in Beijing.
• September 14, 2008 - Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, laying the catalyst for the Global financial crisis
• November 26 - November 29, 2008 - Gunmen attack Mumbai, killing up to 175 people.

2009

• January 20 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th, and first African American, President of the United States.
• June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic, becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation.
• June 25 – The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief. Online, reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes internet traffic to potentially unprecedented and historic levels.