New Beginning (December)

December is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. In Latin, decem means "ten". December was also the tenth month in the Roman calendar until a monthless winter period was divided between January and February.

December is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.December in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa.

December 1, 2010,



December 1, 2010,



December 1, 2010, At the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Google unveils an initiative using Google Earth allowing users to view the effects of deforestation, impacts and videos on global warming and climate change. (Voice of America)
December 1, 2010, South Korea states that it will hold more military exercises with the United States following the conclusion of a naval exercise in the Yellow Sea, despite threats from North Korea. (BBC)
December 1, 2010, Israel reveals plans to build 625 more homes in the West Bank, close to East Jerusalem. (Reuters)
December 2, 2010, NASA discovers new form of life

A NASA-funded astrobiology research team reported that the microbe strain GFAJ-1 of the Gammaproteobacteria (designated Halomonadaceae) group has the ability to substitute arsenic for at least part of the phosphorus in the molecules of its cells, including DNA and ATP.Bacteria from Mono Lake, a naturally arsenic-rich site in California, were cultured in an environment high in arsenic but low in phosphorus. They continued to grow and reproduce, more than should have been possible without adequate phosphorus.

The shape of the bacteria also changed. Individual bacteria grew to a larger size, with gaps in its structure that the scientists speculate may contain a chemical that helps process arsenic, called poly-β-hydroxybutyrate.

December 2, 2010,



December 2, 2010,



December 2, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:



-Amazon.com cuts off its access to the WikiLeaks website following "heavy political pressure" applied by Joe Lieberman, a senator in the United States. The move is compared to the censorship of Google by China. (AFP via France24)

-The United States thinks President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa was involved in a massacre of Tamils according to a leaked cable. (Al Jazeera)

-The Irish foreign office objected to America's sending of Apache helicopters to Israel via Ireland during the Israel-Lebanon war in February 2006 without informing local authorities but Irish officials were warned that the U.S. would use facilities elsewhere, depriving the Irish economy of tens of millions of dollars. (Al Jazeera)

-Specialists in espionage law say U.S. authorities would encounter "insurmountable legal hurdles" during any attempt to prosecute Julian Assange, even if he were to appear in the country. (Reuters via National Post)

-WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange calls for the resignation of Hillary Rodham Clinton "if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up". (TIME)

-Julian Assange grants an interview to TIME in which he talks about secrecy, saying "we keep secret the identity of our sources" but that secrecy "shouldn't be used to cover up abuses". (TIME)

December 2, 2010, Iran completes the fueling of its nuclear reactor at Bushehr.(Tehran Times)

December 3, 2010, Release of Black Swan



December 3, 2010, Release of The Warriors Way



December 3, 2010, Release of Night Catches Us



December 3, 2010,



December 3, 2010,



December 3, 2010, Attacks against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and The Guardian website:



-As "massive" cyberwarfare against the WikiLeaks website continue, the website is forced to change its web address after EveryDNS kills its domain due to the disruption caused to its other customers by the attacks. United States authorities are accused of carrying out the cyber attacks against the website. (BBC)

-Spokesperson Julian Assange calls for Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper's former chief of staff Tom Flanagan to be charged with "incitement to commit murder" after Flanagan urged Barack Obama to "put out a contract" and "assassinate" Assange. Assange speaks of the precautions he has to take against such threats of death, with American politician Mike Huckabee also calling for executions to be carried out.(Al Jazeera)

-Julian Assange gives a live question and answer session on the website of The Guardian newspaper.(Al Jazeera)

-The Guardian's web servers are "crippled" as the session is going live. (The Wall Street Journal)

-The French government places political pressure on its internet use governing body, warning of "consequences" for anyone assisting WikiLeaks in the country. OVH responds, saying "it's not up to politicians or OVH to decide the site's closure" and seeks legal advice from a judge. (AFP via France24)

-A court in Lahore dismisses a petition seeking a ban on the WikiLeaks website, with the judge ruling such a ban to be "unmaintainable" and that "We must bear the truth, no matter how harmful it is". (DAWN)

-U.S. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas calls for WikiLeaks to receive similar protections to mainstream media, saying when "truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble". (CBS News)

-Newly released cables reveal United States worries about Afghan President Hamid Karzai's character and corruption in Afghanistan, with one U.S. diplomat describing Karzai as "insecure" and a "paranoid and weak individual". (Al Jazeera)

-Newly released cables reveal U.S. spy planes flew over Lebanese airspace via a British air base in Cyprus in 2008. (Reuters)

December 3, 2010, Nissan starts selling the Leaf, one of the first mass market electric cars. (AP via Yahoo! News)
December 3, 2010, South Korea's defence minister-designate Kim Kwan-jin threatens North Korea with air strikes if the shelling of Yeonpyeong is repeated. The shelling was in response to South Korean naval exercises. (BBC)
December 3, 2010, The Boeing X-37B, a United States Air Force unmanned spaceplane, lands autonomously at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 1:16am PST (0916 UTC) after 7 1/2 months in space. (AP via MyWay)

December 4, 2010, King of Spam pleads not guilty



December 4, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:



-Reporters Without Borders condemns "the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure" against the WikiLeaks website, describing it as the first "attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency" and comparing the behaviour of France and the United States to that of China. American payment service provider PayPal cuts off the account the WikiLeaks website uses to collect donations. (Al Jazeera)

-Wikileaks Facebook's fan page recently grew by about 100,000 fans daily, going from 300,000 to 700,000 fans in 4 days.(Beehivecity.com)

-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flies to Sochi for unscheduled talks with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. This occurs hours after the release of U.S. cables focusing on the pair's relationship. (The Age)

-New cables say Yemen allowed the United States access to its soil. (Al Jazeera)

-New cables discuss "paranoia" concerning the UK's alleged "special relationship" with the United States. (BBC)

-New cables allege that the Communist Party of China was paranoid about the Internet with Li Changchun, the party's propaganda chief, stepping up pressure on Google after finding material critical of him in a search. The same source also claims that CCP is active in hacking against its rivals, especially the United States. (The New York Times)

December 4, 2010, President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas speaks of the possibility of dissolving the Authority if Israel continues its construction on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, saying there is little point remaining "the president of an authority that doesn't exist". (Al Jazeera)
December 4, 2010, Three people are arrested in China's Guandong Province in relation to a $90 million gold heist, the biggest in Hong Kong history. (Radio Australia)

December 5, 2010,




December 5, 2010,





December 5, 2010, Attacks against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and his lawyers:

-The WikiLeaks website is forced offline again. (OneIndia News)

-Lawyers representing WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange speak of being surveilled by members of the security services outside their own homes and say the United States Department of State is behaving "inappropriately" in its failure to respect attorney-client protocol. (The Guardian)

-Bank officials attempt to shut down an account opened by Assange in Switzerland. (The Times of India)

-Political science students at one American university are warned that their possibility of receiving state department jobs is under threat if they access the WikiLeaks website. (The Guardian)

-Newly released cables quote President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy's belief that American and NATO forces are destined to ultimately fail in the War in Afghanistan and that European troops are deployed there only in "deference" to the United States - "And if a Belgian gets killed, it would be over for Belgium right then". (Al Jazeera)

December 5, 2010, Festivities are held for the 83rd birthday of King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest reigning monarch in the world. (Al Jazeera)
December 5, 2010, 20-year-old Nicole Faria from Bangalore, Miss India, wins the Miss Earth 2010 crown in Vinpearl Land, Nha Trang, Vietnam. (Tuoitre)
December 5, 2010, At least 174 people are dead and 1.5 million homeless following floods in Colombia. (ABC)
December 5, 2010, Israeli firefighters say they have brought the 2010 Israel forest fire "under control". (Al Jazeera)
December 5, 2010, Hundreds of people march in Hong Kong to demand the release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo ahead of the Nobel Prize ceremony on Friday. (RTHK)
December 6, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:







-Newly released cables from the United States indicate former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd suggested the use of force against China if it could not be "successfully integrated" into the international community. The Australian government refuses to respond to the release. (ABC News)

-A newly released cable from Hillary Rodham Clinton accuses rich people in Saudi Arabia of being "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide" and that "it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority". (The Independent)

-Newly released cables reveal American distrust both of Qatar and the country's Al Jazeera international news network, prompting Al Jazeera to release a statement saying that it has resisted pressure from both regional and international governments and "has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press". (The Independent)

-The cables also reveal that foreign envoys to China from India, Japan, the EU and some African countries complained about the country's "aggressive" nature and that it was "losing friends worldwide". (Indian Express)

December 6, 2010, Israeli firefighters douse the Mount Carmel forest fire which killed at least 41 people in the north of the country. (CNN)
December 6, 2010, Officials in Haiti say more than 2,000 people have died in the cholera outbreak. (USA Today)
December 6, 2010, Iran meets with six world powers in Geneva for talks concerning its nuclear program. (BBC)
December 6, 2010, The President of the United States Barack Obama says that a deal has been reached with the Republican Party to extend the Bush era tax cuts. (BBC)

December 7, 2010, Release of No Mercy is the seventh studio album by Southern rapper T.I.



December 7, 2010, Release of All American Nightmare is the third studio album by American rock band Hinder



December 7, 2010, Release of The Wonders of the Younger the sixth album by the band Plain White T's



December 7, 2010, Release of Strip Me the third studio album by British pop recording artist Natasha Bedingfield.



December 7, 2010, War on WikiLeaks and arrest of Julian Assange:













-The U.S. government "declares war" on the WikiLeaks website. (CBS News)

-Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is arrested in London for alleged sexual misconduct in Sweden.(Reuters)

-The WikiLeaks website continues to release cables despite the arrest of Assange. (The Guardian)

-District Judge Howard Riddle refuses to grant bail to Assange despite interventions from Jemima Khan, Ken Loach and John Pilger before a packed court No 1 at Westminster Magistrates Court. Another hearing is scheduled for 14 December. (Al Jazeera)

-U.S. senator Joe Lieberman tells Fox News that The New York Times and other news organisations may be investigated. (The Guardian)

-The website of the Swedish prosecutor's office pursuing Assange is brought down by the Anonymous group. (The Straits Times)

December 7, 2010, The President of the United States Barack Obama says that a deal has been reached with the Republican Party to extend the Bush era tax cuts. (BBC)




December 7, 2010, Irish financial crisis:

-Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, Jnr hands down the hardest budget in the country's history. (BBC)

-Ahead of the budget a man drives a small crane laden with demonstrative slogans to the gates of Leinster House and broadcasts Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" to witnesses. He is arrested, charged with dangerous driving and the slogans are torn down by authorities. (Newstalk)

-Noisy but peaceful protesters gather outside Dáil Éireann and Government Buildings. (The Irish Times)

-The budget overcomes its first hurdle. (Al Jazeera)

-Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm is questioned under oath in Boston. (The Irish Times)

December 7, 2010, French epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux, working on behalf of the French and Haitian governments, points to "strong evidence" linking United Nations peacekeepers to Haiti's cholera outbreak. (Al Jazeera)
December 7, 2010, 19 countries are to miss the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo; 44 are to attend. China described supporters of Liu as "clowns". (CBC)
December 7, 2010, A U.S. judge dismisses a lawsuit over the U.S. government putting American citizens on "capture or kill" lists. (BBC)
December 7, 2010, The Haitian presidential election will go to the second round run-off between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Jude Celestin from the governing Unity Party. (Reuters)

December 8, 2010,



December 8, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:



-Newly released cables report that the British government feared Libya might reduce political relations if Abdelbaset al-Megrahi were to die in jail in Scotland. (AP via Herald Sun)

-Newly released cables reveal America lobbied Russia in an attempt to ensure Visa and MasterCard were not "adversely affected" by new legislation earlier this year. Both companies recently suspended all payments to the WikiLeaks website, reportedly after coming under intense pressure from the U.S. government. (The Guardian)



-Online group Anonymous announces the success of Operation Payback, bringing the website of American multinational corporation MasterCard into a state of paralysis after it shuts off donations to the WikiLeaks website. (Al Jazeera)



-Former Australian prime minister and current foreign minister Kevin Rudd questions U.S. security and holds America responsible for documents made public by the WikiLeaks website. These comments by Rudd, a "control freak" according to U.S. diplomats, are a departure from current prime minister Julia Gillard, who has previously blamed Julian Assange. (The Daily Telegraph)

-An open letter is sent to Gillard requesting that she make a"strong statement" supporting Assange: signatories include renowned American scholar Noam Chomsky, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown, army whistleblower Lance Collins and numerous Australian authors including Raimond Gaita, Christos Tsiolkas and Helen Garner. (Herald Sun)

-The Washington Post reports that the WikiLeaks website is stronger than ever and has increased support among netizens despite widespread attempts to shut it down. (The Washington Post)

December 8, 2010, SpaceX Dragon — COTS Demo Flight 1






-SpaceX launched the first working Dragon spacecraft on a test flight at 10:43am EST (15:43 UTC) from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (CNN.com), (Al-Jazeera)

-The spacecraft splashed down after two orbits 500 miles (800 km) west of Baja California at 2:03pm EST (19:03 UTC), becoming the first commercially-developed spacecraft to return to Earth after being launched into orbit. (Spaceflight Now)

December 8, 2010, Israeli–Palestinian conflict:

-Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says Middle East peace talks are in crisis following Israel's refusal to stop building in settlements. (BBC)

-Following increasing demands from the international community Israel's security cabinet approves a a two-phase move it says will allow exports from the Gaza Strip, though construction materials are to remain banned. (The Guardian)

December 8, 2010, North Korea launches apparent artillery drills as South Korean and American military officials hold talks. (Al Jazeera)
December 8, 2010, John Lennon is celebrated on the 30th anniversary of his murder. (BBC)
December 8, 2010, The retired French electrician who recently revealed he had hundreds of Picassos in his possession announces another trove of his art is also in his possession. (AFP via ABC News)
December 8, 2010, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says its probe Akatsuki has failed to enter the orbit around Venus. (Japan Today)
December 8, 2010, A joint team of British and US astronomers announce the discovery of Wasp 12b, a planet (1200 light years away) with an ultra-high concentration of carbon, and the first of its type. (BBC)
December 8, 2010, Reproduction scientists in University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center create mice with nuclear DNA solely from two fathers, using iPStechnology. (Medical Daily)

December 9, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:

-Thousands of WikiLeaks supporters launch further and more intense denial-of-service attack against companies who have blacklisted the website. (The Guardian)





-Newly released cables report that oil giant Royal Dutch Shell had "access to everything" inside "all relevant ministries" of the Nigerian government. (The Daily Telegraph)

-Newly released cables reveal close U.S. monitoring of Chinese ties with Africa and the American belief that the Chinese are "a very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals" in their dealings with the Africans. (Al Jazeera)

-European media express disagreement with the fierce U.S. response to the release of the cables. (The New York Times)

-A national high-tech crime team in The Hague arrests a 16-year-old male they accuse of disrupting MasterCard and PayPal websites. Both companies previously cut off donations to the WikiLeaks website. (Financial Times)



-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announces that his country's justice department is "looking into" incidents which have disrupted websites opposed to WikiLeaks. (Bloomberg)

December 9, 2010, Detention of Julian Assange:

-It is reported that the two Swedish women who have accused WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange of committing "sex crimes" boasted about their "conquest" of him before calling police. (The Times of India)

-People brandishing Julian Assange masks gather in central Brisbane, Australia, to protest his detention by British police, with a message of support being read from journalist John Pilger. (Nine News)

-Assange's mother and son express concerns that he will not be afforded a fair trial. His mother says he had "come forward of his own free will but they have put him in the ring with his hands tied behind his back". (Daily Nation)

December 9, 2010, Protests in London:










-Thousands of British students demonstrate as MPs vote to triple university tuition fees. (Al Jazeera)

-Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes vows to "definitely abstain" and possibly even oppose the government, while MP Mike Crockart quits. (Sky News)

-A siege is underway at the Houses of Parliament ahead of the vote. (The Hindu) (BBC)

-The coalition government passes legislation to raise the cap on university tuition fees to £9,000 with a majority of 21. (BBC)

-As it makes its way towards the London Palladium for a performance a car in which Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall are contained is reportedly attacked. (The Northern Echo)

December 9, 2010, Dame Helen Mirren, speaking as she received an award in Beverly Hills, USA, criticises the intentions of Hollywood filmmakers who "worship at the altar of the 18- to 25-year-old male and his penis". (BBC)
December 9, 2010, Governor of the U.S. state of Florida Charlie Crist posthumously pardons Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, for indecent exposure. (BBC)
December 9, 2010, Floods across South America: Panama experiences its heaviest ever rains, with the Panama Canal shut for the first time due to weather. Millions of people are affected across the region, and there are deaths, including in Colombia and Venezuela. (Al Jazeera)
December 9, 2010, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize:

-China blocks access to international news sites ahead of the ceremony for Liu Xiaobo on Friday. (BBC)

-China issues its new "Confucius peace prize" to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan, though he refused to collect it, adding he knew nothing of the award. (Hindustan Times)

-Colombia, Ukraine and the Philippines, who initially declined invitations to attend the ceremony, reverse their decision. (Times of India)

December 9, 2010, A report by Transparency International suggests that corruption has worsened over the past three years worldwide. (Transparency International)

December 10, 2010, Release of The Tourist







December 10, 2010, Release of The Tempest



December 10, 2010, Release of Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader


















December 10, 2010, Release of Michael



December 10, 2010, Release of Basic Instinct the fourth studio album by American recording artist Ciara



December 10, 2010,



December 10, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak: (Day 12)

-Newly released cables show American pharmaceutical company Pfizer hired investigators in a search for evidence of corruption allegedly committed by Michael Aondoakaa, then attorney-general of Nigeria. This occurred as Aondoakaa was engaged in legal action against Pfizer over a drug trial. (Al Jazeera)

-Newly released cables suggest Burma may be building missile and nuclear sites with the help of North Korea. (BBC)

-It is reported that the U.S. military has issued a "Cyber Control Order" instructing its airmen to "immediately cease use of removable media on all systems, servers, and stand alone machines residing on SIPRNET". (CBS News)

-The U.S. state of Virginia is reported to be Googling "WikiLeaks" more than any part of the country. (The Huffington Post)

Attacks against companies opposed to WikiLeaks:

-The websites of the Dutch prosecutor's office and police come under denial-of-service attacks, with officials "probably" linking the incidents to yesterday's arrest in the country of a 16-year-old supporter of the WikiLeaks website. (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)

-Supporters of the WikiLeaks website explain that they are not hackers but "average internet citizens" acting in response to perceived injustices against the website and that they "do not want to steal your personal information or credit card numbers". (BBC)

December 10, 2010, Detention of Julian Assange:

-Christine Assange, mother of the imprisoned WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange, expresses her anger with the Australian government, especially Julia Gillard, on the Seven Network. (Sky News)

-Assange is reported to have been denied the use of his own laptop and has to make do with daytime television which he objects to. (Sify)

-Lawyers for Assange prepare for possible charges under America's Espionage Act. (The Daily Telegraph)

December 10, 2010, 2010 UK student protests:

-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron criticises the "mob" which launched an attack upon the car of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall as the couple were driven down Regent Street towards a Royal Variety performance in London last night. Protesters indicate the use of police brutality. (CNN)

-20-year-old Alfie Meadows undergoes brain surgery after being beaten by a policeman wielding a truncheon while leaving an area outside Westminster Abbey as a demonstration against an increase in student fees was underway. (The Guardian)

-A British mother questions why anti-terrorist officers removed her 12-year-old son from school to warn him against his own planned protest outside David Cameron's constituency office. (The Guardian)

December 10, 2010, The United States "loses track" of 119,000 planes, with uncertainty over who has access to them. (Al Jazeera)
December 10, 2010, A ceremony is held in Norway to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in absentia. (Reuters)

December 11, 2010, Official Engagement Photos Released



December 11, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:

-Newly released cables show the Vatican's refusal to co-operate with the Murphy Report child sexual abuse inquiry in Ireland which "offended many" of them when they were summoned to Ireland from Rome. (RTÉ)



-Newly released cables indicate the British ambassador to the Vatican was afraid after Pope Benedict XVI approved conversions to Catholicism of Anglicans who opposed the ordination of women priests. Francis Campbell thought it so inflammatory as to cause discrimination and violence against British Catholics. (BBC)

-A large group of hacktivists plans to bring down British government websites if the extradition of WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange to Sweden is carried out. (TODAYonline)

December 11, 2010, Detention of Julian Assange:

-WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange is moved to the segregation unit of London's Wandsworth Prison "for his own safety, presumably", says his lawyer. (AFP via The Age)

-A lawyer in Melbourne who formerly bossed Prime Minister Julia Gillard criticises her and Attorney-General Robert McClelland for their comments that the WikiLeaks website and arrested spokesperson Julian Assange have broken the law. Having known both as "good lawyers and decent people", Peter Gordon of Slater and Gordon says such comments are a reminder of "the seductive and compulsive draw of power". (The Sydney Morning Herald)

-Assange's lawyer says any espionage-related prosecution of the WikiLeaks website in the United States would be "unconstitutional and call into question First Amendment protections for all media organisations". (AFP via The Age)

-Protests calling for Assange's release occur across Spain. (The New Zealand Herald)

December 11, 2010, At least two car bombs explode in Stockholm, Sweden, killing at least one person and injuring two more. (BBC)
December 11, 2010, Due to recent floods in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez announces the erection in his garden of a Bedouin tent given as a gift by Muammar al-Gaddafi from which he is to live and govern to make room for more homeless families in his presidential palace at Miraflores. 25 families made homeless by the disaster had already sought shelter there and Chávez has been personally supervising the provision of relief in the country. (BBC)
December 11, 2010, Delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, agree to a compromise on slowing climate change, though overall failing to reach a "deal that many activists and governments want." (BBC)






December 11, 2010, U.S. attorney-general Eric Holder tells a Muslim community group near San Francisco that FBI sting operations are an "an essential law enforcement tool". (Al Jazeera)
December 11, 2010, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is hospitalised in a critically ill state in Washington, D.C., after gasping at a meeting with Hillary Rodham Clinton. (BBC)
December 11, 2010, Mark Madoff, the 46-year-old son of convicted American fraudster Bernard Madoff is located hanging dead at an apartment in the New York City borough of Manhattan. (Sky News)



December 11, 2010, Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton wins the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best college football player of the year. (CNN)
December 12, 2010,
December 12, 2010, A heavy blizzard in the midwestern US states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan results in two deaths, road closures, flight cancellations and the inflatable roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsing. (USA Today)
December 12, 2010, Julian Assange's lawyer says American spying charges against her client are "imminent" despite seeming to have committed no crime in the country. She also reports that he is detained in solitary confinement with restricted access to lawyers. (The Times of India)

December 13, 2010, Release of Last Train to Paris the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Diddy



December 13, 2010,



December 13, 2010, Heavy rains and flooding in Colombia cause up to $5.2 billion in damages. (Reuters Alertnet)
December 13, 2010, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Judge Henry E. Hudson rules against Barack Obama's health care reform requirement to purchase health insurance. (BBC)







December 13, 2010, OpenLeaks, a splinter group rivaling WikiLeaks, launches its website. (CNN)
December 13, 2010, A new species of fork-marked lemur has been identified in northeast Madagascar. (BBC News)
December 13, 2010, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is sidelined for the Vikings' game tonight against the New York Giants with an injury to his right (throwing) shoulder. This ends his National Football League record of consecutive regular-season starts, which had run since 1992, at 297. (ESPN)



December 14, 2010, Release of Love Letter the tenth studio album by American R&B recording artist R. Kelly



December 14, 2010, Clay Duke opens fire in Florida Schoolboard




December 14, 2010, Kings Speech Leads Golden Globe & SAG nominations



December 14, 2010, Julian Assange released on bail; then told he must stay in solitary confinement until he has submitted 200,000 UKP in bail-money; then told he must stay in prison for up to 48 hours pending an appeal by the Swedish government. (BBC)
December 14, 2010, Receivers of the Pike River Mine on the South Island of New Zealand lay off 114 workers following the closure of the mine after the Pike River Mine disaster. (News Limited)

December 15, 2010, The Obama administration launches legal action against BP and its partners to recover the cost of cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Reuters)



December 15, 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is TIME's 2010 Person of the Year. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wins top place in the reader's poll. (Time)



December 15, 2010,



December 15, 2010, The mummified remains of the head of King Henri IV of France have been discovered in the garage of a French retiree. (Time)
December 15, 2010, At least twenty-seven asylum seekers, mostly from Iraq and Iran, are feared dead after a boat carrying 70 people crashes into cliffs on the coast of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. (AAP via NineMSN)
December 15, 2010, Data confirms that Voyager 1 has entered the heliopause, the area of space where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar wind. It is believed the probe will now leave the Solar System within the next four years. (AFP via Breitbart)

December 16, 2010, Release of Tron



December 16, 2010, Larry King's Final Episode





December 16, 2010, European Union leaders agree to change the constitution to establish a mechanism to tackle sovereign debt problems. (Reuters)
December 16, 2010, The International Monetary Fund approves a 22.5bn euro loan to the Republic of Ireland. (BBC)
December 16, 2010, Governor of the U.S. state of New Mexico Bill Richardson arrives in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean officials concerning the situation on the Korean peninsula.
December 16, 2010, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in the British High Court of Justice to successfully apply for bail on sexual assault charges. (AP via Yahoo! News)
December 16, 2010, Oklahoma becomes the first U.S. state to carry out an execution with pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug used for euthanizing animals. (BBC)
December 16, 2010, The Galongla Tunnel, built at an altitude of 3,750 meters, is completed; it links Tibet's Mêdog county to the outside world. (SINA)

December 17, 2010, Release of Rabbit Hole



December 17, 2010, Release of How Do You Know



December 17, 2010, Release of The Fighter



December 17, 2010, Release of Casino Jack






December 17, 2010,



December 17, 2010,



December 17, 2010,The death toll from the Christmas Island wreck rises to 30 with many still missing. (AP via Yahoo! News)
December 17, 2010, Further disruption is caused by blizzards and widespread ice in many parts of the United Kingdom, with more wintry weather forecast for the weekend. (BBC)
December 17, 2010, China launches 7th Beidou navigation satellite. (Kunming via Xinhua)

December 18, 2010,



December 19, 2010, South Korean military officials say they will proceed with planned live-fire artillery drills from an island bombarded by North Korea last month, despite threats of retaliation. (VOA)








December 19, 2010,



December 19, 2010, The United States' unemployment rate rises in 21 states, the highest number to report an increase since August. It falls in 15 states. (Washingtion Times)
December 19, 2010, Bank of America bans Wikileaks payments as a result of news of an upcoming release of information on banks in the United States that could leave an impact. (New York Post)
December 19, 2010, Nigeria agrees to drop corruption charges against Dick Cheney and Halliburton in exchange for a $250 million settlement. (Business Week)
December 19, 2010, Lawyers for Wikileaks’s founder Julian Assange express anger that incriminating police files regarding Assange’s alleged sexual assault of two Swedish women were published in The Guardian newspaper, which has used him as its source for hundreds of leaked US embassy cables. (The Australian)

December 20, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI discusses sexual abuse of children by priests while dining with cardinals and bishops at his traditional Christmas audience. (BBC)
December 20, 2010, Social network chief Mark Zuckerberg is photographed meeting CEO of Chinese search engine Baidu Robin Li, in Beijing, China. (Guardian)
December 20, 2010, The European Central Bank worries about its ability to provide further financial assistance to eurozone members due to flawed legislation. (BBC)
December 20, 2010, GM completes $2.1 billion purchase of stock held by U.S. Treasury. (Business Today)
December 20, 2010, Estimates of the death toll resulting from the boat disaster off Christmas Island rise as high as 48. (ABC News Australia)
December 20, 2010, A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits southeastern Iran, near Bam with at least eleven people dead and hundreds injured. (Herald Sun)
December 20, 2010, North Korea agrees with United States troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of United Nations nuclear inspectors. (AFP via The Australian)
December 20, 2010, North Korea agrees with United States troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of United Nations nuclear inspectors. (AFP via The Australian)
December 21, 2010, Release of Calling All Hearts is the upcoming fourth studio album from American R&B singer Keyshia Cole



December 21, 2010, Release of No Boys Allowed is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Keri Hilson



December 21, 2010, Release ofBest Night of My Life the fourth studio album by American actor and R&B singer Jamie Foxx



December 21, 2010, A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 20/21, 2010. (CNN)





December 21, 2010,




December 21, 2010,



December 21, 2010, North Korea silences its guns to prevent confrontation with South Korea as the South's "reckless" and ""childish play with fire" military drills continue. North Korea also invites International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into the country. (Al Jazeera)
December 21, 2010, Survivors of child sexual abuse carried out by priests react with fury after Pope Benedict XVI's claims that pedophilia wasn't considered an "absolute evil" as recently as the 1970s and that society considers child pornography "normal". (Irish Independent)
December 21, 2010, Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and Rugby Union player Mike Tindall. (BBC)
December 21, 2010, In the United Kingdom Stephen Griffiths (Aka "The Crossbow Cannibal") is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of three women in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (BBC)
December 21, 2010, The United States Census Bureau releases the first data from the 2010 Census, revealing the United States to have a population of 308,745,538 on April 1, 2010. (CNN.com)

December 22, 2010, Release of True Grit



December 22, 2010,



December 22, 2010, President of the United States Barack Obama signs into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which will bring an end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of discriminating against the presence of openly gay people in the country's military. More than 13,000 people were sacked by the United States under this policy. (BBC)



December 22, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI announces a BBC Radio 4 Christmas Eve message, the first such message for one of the countries he visited last year. (BBC)
December 22, 2010, The World Bank stops financing Côte d'Ivoire. (Al Jazeera)
December 22, 2010, A UN Development Programme report concludes that Aceh's recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami is "beyond anything imaginable six years ago" but that more needs to be done concerning poverty and natural disaster impact. (BBC)
December 22, 2010, The United States approves more than $4 billion assistance for rescuers and residents whose health was affected after the September 11 attacks in New York City in 2001. (Al Jazeera)
December 22, 2010, The United Nations office for torture issues in Geneva investigates an abuse complaint concerning United States Army private Bradley Manning, suspected by the United States government of passing classified documents to the WikiLeaks website. (The Hindu)

December 23, 2010,



December 23, 2010, Hundreds of South Korean troops, tanks, helicopters and jet fighters gather 12 miles from the border with North Korea to stage one of South Korea's largest ever(<---thats what she said) live fire military drills in a "show of force" before its neighbour. North Korea describes the exercises as "warmongering", and threatens a "sacred war". (BBC)










December 23, 2010, China offers to help eurozone countries through the debt crisis. (BBC)
December 23, 2010, A man jumps from the balcony of the parliament building in Romania in protest at spending cuts. (euronews)




December 23, 2010, The New Zealand military releases formerly classified files regarding possible UFO sightings. (The Associated Press)

December 24, 2010, Least 32 people are killed in bomb blasts detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations near the city of Jos, Nigeria, while at least six people die in attacks on churches by suspected Islamists in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.(BBC)
December 24, 2010, A Christmas message by Pope Benedict XVI is broadcast by BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day programme in the United Kingdom. (Reuters)
December 24, 2010, South Korea says it will keep a giant Christmas tree near the border with North Korea lit until January 8, amid threats from North Korea. (Herald Sun)

December 25, 2010, Release of Gulliver's Travels

















December 25, 2010, Release of Yogi Bear









December 25, 2010, Release of Little Fockers









Lizard is named Arthur.











December 25, 2010, A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes Vanuatu. A tsunami warning is issued for the region and later cancelled after a minor tsunami was recorded. (CNN)
December 25, 2010, The GSAT-5P satellite fails to reach orbit after the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying it explodes shortly after launch. (The Times of India)



December 25, 2010, Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia gets its first white Christmas in 128 years affecting 500 flights. (AFP via Google News)

December 26, 2010, Wikileaks head Julian Assange says he has deals for his autobiography worth more than £1 million and needs the money to defend himself against allegations of sexual assault on two women in Sweden. (The Australian)
December 26, 2010, The eastern United States is struck by more snow, with South Carolina receiving its first ever snow on Christmas Day. (BBC)
December 26, 2010, United States diplomatic cables leak:

-Newly released cables from July 2004 reveal that American diplomats panicked about a screening of the film Fahrenheit 9/11, which is critical of the U.S. government's response to the September 11 attacks. Diplomats stopped what they called a "potential fiasco" by intervening and contacting the offices of the New Zealand prime minister and Marian Hobbs, a government minister referred to as "Boo Boo" Hobbs by America. (Radio New Zealand International)

-Newly released cables allege that world governments have sought assistance from the United States with wiretapping criminal and political adversaries, leading to denials and claims of "misunderstanding". (BBC)

-Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman states at a meeting with Israeli ambassadors that "classic diplomacy" is "not helpful" and that the right diplomacy is to say things "as is" due to the WikiLeaks website. Lieberman also attacks comments by the Foreign Minister of Turkey. (Ynetnews)

December 26, 2010, The Sri Lankan government says more than 210 former Tamil Tiger rebels have passed a university entrance exam, with 40 qualifying for entry; the Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners calls for the release of all political prisoners. (BBC)

December 28 - Current, 2010-2011 Queensland Flooding











December 28, 2010, Snowpocalypse Pt.2




December 28, 2010, The death toll from recent violence between Christians and Muslims in Jos, Nigeria, rises to 80. Islamist group Boko Haram claims responsiblity for the deadly Christmas Eve bombings in the city. (Reuters)
December 28, 2010, A late Bronze Age grave of a Celtic princess has been unearthed in Heuneburg, Germany. Grave goods of Celtic jewelery made of gold, bronze, coal and amber have been discovered. (Der Spiegel (de))
December 28, 2010, Israeli archaeologists reportedly discover human remains from 400,000 years ago, challenging the theory that humans originated in Africa. (AFP via Google News)
December 28, 2010, Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish become parents after a surrogate mother from California gives birth to a son on Christmas Day. The boy is named Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. (BBC)

December 29, 2010,



December 29, 2010, A proposed draft resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council to criticise the construction of settlements by Israel is obtained by the Associated Press. (Al Jazeera)

December 30, 2010,



December 30, 2010,



December 30, 2010, North Korea's state-run television broadcasts its first Western film, Bend It Like Beckham. (BBC)
December 30, 2010, Buckingham Palace announces the birth of Queen Elizabeth II's first great-grandchild, born to Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn. (BBC)
December 30, 2010, A diplomatic cable newly released from the British National Archives, dated 1980, claims that Israel would be "ready to use their atomic weapon" in any further war against its adversaries.(AFP via Google News)

December 31, 2010,




December 31, 2010,



December 31, 2010, Estonia, one of the Baltic republics of the former Soviet Union, adopts the euro as its official currency, becoming the 17th country to do so. (Reuters)