2010

January

 * – The tallest man-made structure to date, the in, , is officially opened.
 * – The is involved in  in, , and as a result withdraws from the . The attack was perpetrated by the , their first since the.
 * – A occurs in, devastating the nation's capital, . With a confirmed death toll over 316,000, it is the tenth.
 * – against the terrorist group.
 * The of the  occurs.
 * The officially ends.
 * withdraws from.
 * – crashes into the Mediterranean shortly after take-off from, killing all 90 people on board.
 * – crashes into the Mediterranean shortly after take-off from, killing all 90 people on board.

February

 * – The sculpture  by sells in London for 65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.
 * – – The are held in Vancouver and, Canada.
 * – Two trains collide in the in, , killing 19 and injuring 171 people.
 * – The, , is overthrown after a group of soldiers and form a ruling junta, the  headed by .
 * – An occurs in, triggering a  over the Pacific and killing at least 525. The earthquake is one of the  in recorded history.

March

 * – The, 's only cultural , are destroyed by fire.
 * – The, a ship carrying 104 personnel,  off the country's west coast, killing 46. In May, an independent investigation blames , which denies the allegations.

April

 * – President  flees the country amid fierce  in the capital,.
 * – The, , is among 96 killed when their airplane near ,.
 * – from one of  beneath Mount, an  in , begins to  across northern and western Europe.
 * – The in the, killing 11 workers. The resulting , one of the largest in history, spreads for several months, damaging the waters and the United States coastline, and prompting international debate and doubt about the practice and procedures of.
 * –  Greece's  rating to  4 days after the activation of a 45-billion – bailout, triggering the decline of s worldwide and of the 's value, and furthering a.

May

 * – The and the  agree to a €110 billion bailout package for Greece. The package involves sharp Greek  measures.
 * –  by sells in New York for 106.5 million, setting another new world record for a work of art sold at auction.
 * – The, a trillion-dollar stock market crash, occurs over 36 minutes, initiated by a series of automated trading programs in a feedback loop.
 * becomes the 31st member of the.
 * Scientists conducting the announce that they have  enough of the   to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have.
 * – crashes at runway at  in, killing 103 of the 104 people on board.
 * – in, , end with a bloody military crackdown, killing 91 and injuring more than 2,100.
 * Scientists announced that they have created a functional.
 * Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the.
 * – overshoots the runway at  in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.
 * – the in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, killed 94 people during Friday prayers at two mosques.
 * – Nine activists are with soldiers when Israeli Navy forces raid and capture a flotilla of ships attempting to break the.
 * – the in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, killed 94 people during Friday prayers at two mosques.
 * – Nine activists are with soldiers when Israeli Navy forces raid and capture a flotilla of ships attempting to break the.

June

 * – – in  between  and  result in the deaths of hundreds.
 * – – The  is held in South Africa, and is won by.
 * – is elected unopposed in a   and sworn in as the first female  following the resignation of.

July

 * – The first 24-hour flight by a is completed by the.
 * – becomes the 32nd member of the.
 * –, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public about the United States-led involvement in the  from 2004 to 2010.
 * – Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause in the  province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.

August

 * – The declares the  over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.
 * – : 's  is re-elected, narrowly defeating the /  led by.

September

 * – A earthquake rocks,  causing large amounts of damage but no direct fatalities. It is the first in a series of earthquakes between 2010 and 2012 that resulted in the deaths of 187 people and over $40 billion worth of damage. Seismologists noted that the earthquake sequence was highly unusual, and likely to never happen again anywhere else in the world.
 * – becomes the 33rd member of the.
 * – pays war reparations for.

October

 * – – takes place in,.
 * – The are, with the islands being split up and given a new constitutional status.
 * – The surpasses the  for the longest continuous human occupation of space, having been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000 (3641 days).
 * – In, finance ministers of the agree to reform the  and shift 6% of the  to  and countries with.
 * – An off the coast of, , kills over 400 people and leaves hundreds missing.
 * – of  volcano in, , and accompanying s of scalding gas, pumice, and  descending the erupting volcano kill 353 people and force hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.

November

 * – crashes in central, killing all 68 people on board.
 * – – The is held in, South Korea. Korea becomes the first non- nation to host a G-20 leaders summit.
 * – opposition politician  is released from her  after being incarcerated since.
 * – Researchers at trap 38  s for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped.
 * – Participants of the issue the.
 * – countries agree to a  for the  from the  in response to the country's.
 * – , prompting a military response by South Korea. The incident causes an escalation of tension on the  and prompts widespread international condemnation. The  declares it to be one of the most serious incidents since the end of the.
 * – releases a collection of more than 250,000 American, including 100,000.
 * – The agree to an €85 billion  for Ireland from the, the  and bilateral loans from the ,  and.
 * – – The  is held in, Mexico. Also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the  (COP 16), it serves too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the  (CMP 6).

December

 * – becomes the 34th member of the.
 * – The attempted, a street vendor in , triggers the and the wider  throughout the.
 * – The first to occur on the day of the Northern  and Southern  since  takes place.