WHAT ALL HAPPENED MARCH TO DECEMBER 2010
Find out what all happened March to December 2010

JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year. (21. May 2010)

The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved as a country. (10. October 2010)

Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, China. (14. April 2010)

An Air India Express Boeing 737 goes over a cliff and crashes upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of the 166 people on board. It is the worst crash involving a Boeing 737. (22. May 2010)

A Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands. The collisions occurred around 10am, after the Japanese Coast Guard ordered the trawler to leave the area. After the collisions, Japanese sailors boarded the Chinese vessel and arrested the captain, Zhan Qixiong. (7. September 2010)

Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco. (16. June 2010)

The Cumbria Shootings - In West Cumbria, a 52-year old man went on a four hour killing spree, shooting dead 13 (inc. himself) and injuring 11 others. The massacre was branded "one of the worst criminal acts involving firearms in British history" by Prime Minister David Cameron who paid tribute to the victims along with The Queen, Home Secretary Theresa May and the Prince of Wales. (2. June 2010)

An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths. (29. July 2010)

2010 China floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people. (8. August 2010)

The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km. (8. December 2010)

Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński and dozens of other senior officials (10. April 2010)

David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following talks between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to form the UK's first coalition government since World War 2 after elections produced a hung parliament. (11. May 2010)

Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of 9 people and $113 million in damages. (31. December 2010)

Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage. (3. August 2010)

Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait. (19. August 2010)

A monsoonal trough crosses the northeastern coast of Australia from the Coral Sea, bringing mass flooding across Queensland. (23. December 2010)

Anti-government protests begin in Tunisia, heralding the Arab Spring. (18. December 2010)

John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history. (24. June 2010)

The MV Sun Sea docks in CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada, carrying 492 Sri Lankan Tamils. (13. August 2010)

With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. (8. December 2010)