WikiLeaksWikileaks is an organization established to make public secret documents which are publically not available otherwise.Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is founder of Wikileaks.WikiLeaks has won a number of awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine New Media Award. In June 2009, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange won Amnesty International’s UK Media Award for the 2008 publication of “Kenya.
In April WikiLeaks posted videos from a 2007 incident in which Iraqi civilians were killed by USA forces. In July of the same year, WikiLeaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in Afghanistan.In October, the group released a package of almost 400,000 documents called the Iraq War Logs in coordination with major commercial media organizations. And Its November 2010, WikiLeaks State department diplomatic cables released took the world by storm. It had such a vast impact on world’s politics that most governments expressed strong disapproval and condemnation, and criticized WikiLeaks for potentially jeopardizing international relations and global security.
Haiti EarthquakeOn Tuesday, 12 January 2010, a massive earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit Haiti killing almost 250k people, injuring 300k and more than one million people were made homeless.The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0.The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region.A study by the Inter-American Development Bank estimated that the total cost of the disaster was between $7.2 billion to $13.2 billion.
Haiti Earthquake was one of the worst catastrophe in 200 years.
FIFA World CupNo one can deny the fact that football is most popular sport in the world. Football world cup is arranged every 4 years and is second biggest sporting event after Olympics. FIFA world cup 2010 took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. Teams from 32 different countries participated in the event and the matches were played in ten stadiums in nine host cities around the country, with the final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg.
In the final, Spain, the European champions, defeated third-time finalists the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time, with Andrés Iniesta’s goal in the 116th minute giving Spain their first world title, the first time that a European nation has won the tournament outside its home continent. Host nation South Africa, 2006 world champions Italy and 2006 runners-up France were eliminated in the first round of the tournament.
The total prize money on offer for the tournament was $420 million.Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants receive $1 million for preparation costs.
Distribution of prize money is as follows $8 million – To each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams) $9 million – To each team exiting after the round of 16 (8 teams) $14 million – To each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams) $18 million – Fourth placed team $20 million – Third placed team $24 million – Runner up, $30 million – Winner.
Oil Spill in Gulf on MexicoOn April 20,2010 British Petroleum’s oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and commencing months of oil leaking unrestrained into the ocean. Efforts to manage the spill with controlled burning, dispersants and plugging the leak were unsuccessful until BP capped the well in mid-July, temporarily halting the flow of oil into the Gulf. The well was then successfully plugged and declared “effectively dead” on September 19. This oil spill has obtained the dubious distinction of being the worst oil spill in US history, surpassing the damage done by the Exxon Valdez tanker that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound in 1989. It is estimated that over 205 million gallons of oil were released into the Gulf.
Heavy Flood in PakistanSharing its border with India,China,Afghanistan and Iran, Pakistan is a developing country with 160 million population. July 2010 came with world’s worst ever flood in the recorded human history hitting all the four provinces of Pakistan.
According to United Nations over
20 million people are suffering and homeless with over 160,000 square kilometers affected as a result of the flooding,exceeding the combined total of the affected of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.This is really big!!!!
Floods have submerged 17 million acres of Pakistan’s most fertile crop land, have killed 200,000 livestock and have washed away massive amounts of grain. A major concern is that farmers will be unable to meet the fall deadline for planting new seeds in 2010, meaning a massive loss of food production in 2011, and potentially leading to long term food shortages. The agricultural damages are more than 2.9 billion dollars, according to recent estimates, and include over 700,000 acres of lost cotton crops, 200,000 acres of sugar cane and 200,000 acres of rice, in addition to the loss of over 500,000 tones of stocked wheat, 300,000 acres of animal fodder and the stored grain losses.