2010 IN REVIEW *January: *January 12 - A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. During the next 12 days at least 52 aftershocks were recorded measuring 4.5 or greater. An estimated 230,000 people were killed and another million were made homeless. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history.
*February: *February 8 - The Boy Scouts of America celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary. *March:* March 20 - The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull began to erupt in the form of a fissure vent in the high neck between Eyjafjallajökull and the neighboring icecap, Mýrdalsjökull. *April:* April 10 - Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 others perished in a plane crash near Smolensk-North Airport in Russia. There were no survivors. April 14 - Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, causing the closure of airspace over parts of Europe on several days in April and May as volcanic ash in the atmosphere made air travel dangerous. April 14 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu, Qinghai, China, killing 2,700 people. April 20 - The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, starting the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Eleven men were killed in the explosion and 17 others were injured. Crude oil began to gush unimpeded into the Gulf. *May: *May 1-2 – Torrential rains caused 1000-year floods in middle and western Tennessee, southern Kentucky and northern Mississippi. In Nashville, the Cumberland River crested at 51.86 feet, it's highest since 1937. The flooding broke all-time records in several places along the Cumberland River, Duck River, Buffalo River, Red River and Harpeth River. May 11 – David Cameron was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at age 43 becoming the youngest British Prime Minister in 200 years. His Ministry is the UK's first coalition government since WWII. May 31 - Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commandos raided and seized the MV Mavi Marmara in international waters after warning the Turkish flotilla that they were enforcing a naval blockade of the Gaza area. Nine activists and seven IDF soldiers were killed in the clashes that followed. *June: *June 7 - Long-time White House Press Corps member and columnist Helen Thomas retired following the negative reaction she received after saying on May 27 that the Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. She was 89-years-old. *July: *July 2 – The FAA officially approved a car, the Terrafugia Transition, that can be converted into an airplane in less than a minute. July 11 - A total eclipse of the sun occurred over the southern Pacific Ocean. July 15 - The Deepwater Horizon gushing wellhead was finally capped, stopping the leak. The disaster had released about 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean over the course of three months. Throughout July - Flooding suffocated Pakistan so that, at one point, one fifth of Pakistan's total land was underwater. The floods directly affected close to 20 million people, with almost 2000 deaths reported. *August:* August 5 - A cave-in at the San José copper-gold mine near Copiapó, Chile trapped 33 men 2,300 feet below ground. The men would remain there for over two months. August 7 - Elena Kagan began to serve as the US Supreme Court's 112th justice. She is the fourth female and eighth Jewish justice. August 10 - The World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic over. August 17 – All but one of 131 passengers aboard a "miracle" Colombian jet escaped death when their plane crash-landed on the Caribbean island of San Andres. The Boeing 737 split into three sections, but its engines shut down on impact and its fuselage did not catch fire. Only one woman died - of a heart attack on her way to the hospital. August 21 – Iran held an official ceremony to launch the loading of fuel cells at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant near the Persian Gulf. *September: *September 19 - Moms International succeeded in kicking off the first annual Bless Our Schools Sunday, to remind churches of the importance of praying for their local schools. September 28 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to permanently lift the injunction against federally funded embryonic stem-cell research and allow the National Institutes of Health to continue the controversial research. *October:* October 13- Every one of the trapped 33 Chilean miners were successfully rescued after a record 69 days underground. According to estimates, more than 1 billion people around the world watched the rescue live. October 26 - Iran announced it was finally loading its controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor (for real). If all goes as planned, the 1000-megawatt nuclear plant will start producing energy by early 2011. *November: *November 15 - NASA announced that astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory had found evidence that a supernova discovered in 1979 had indeed developed into a black hole. It offered scientists the opportunity to watch a black hole develop from "infancy." *December: *December 20 – A total lunar eclipse hung blood-red in the black sky on the darkest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It had been 372 years since a total eclipse of the moon coincided with the winter solstice. Between earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and one particularly unpleasant oil rig explosion, there were certainly a number of tragedies in 2010. Yet, some precious miracles took places as well. The freeing of the 33 Chilean miners, or the Colombian airplane that split into three parts without a single person dying in the crash, offer tremendous pictures of mercy this past year. May 2011 do so even more.
