2010: The good, the bad & the ugly
January
The tallest man-made structure, the Burj Khalifa, in debt-ridden Dubai, is officially opened.
Google announces it will no longer censor mainland web searches.
Activist Christina Chan Hau-man is arrested over an alleged assault of a policewoman during a New Year's Day pro-democracy protest.
The streets of Hong Kong are under attack from acid throwers.
Tsoi Yuen Tsuen's fate is sealed. It's decided the village will be demolished, to make way for a white elephant.
Amina Mariam Bokhary slaps a policeman - again.
February
L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sells for HK$780 million, setting a world record for a work of art sold at auction.
Our trams fall into French hands, as Veolia Transport China buys Hong Kong Tramways.
Tiger Woods admits he has been unfaithful to his wife. He says he believed he was entitled to do whatever he wanted to do and that, due to his success, normal rules did not apply to him.
Wong Kwong-yu is charged with insider trading, bribery and unspecified business crimes after 15 months in custody.
Tony Chan Chun-chuen is accused of being 'untruthful, unreliable and lacking in credibility', by Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon.
That Chan smile.
March
Academy Awards: best film Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, best actor/actress Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock.
Graham Sheffield, new chief of the West Kowloon Cultural District, promises to put Hong Kong 'firmly on the map' of the world's culture seekers - good luck with that!
Google announces it will relocate its mainland operation to Hong Kong.
Local travel agents see red (shirts) over disruptions caused by Bangkok protesters.
Icelandic volacno Eyjafjallajokull makes ominous rumblings while a sandstorm makes Hong Kong's pollution indices irrelevant.
The New Jersey attorney-general becomes the last person in the world to hear that Stanley Ho Hung-sun is an associate of known and suspected triads who has permitted 'organised crime to operate and thrive within his casinos'.
The air.
April
Little good happens - this is perhaps the most dismal month of 2010.
All-star epic Bodyguards and Assassins is the biggest winner at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Greece's sovereign credit rating is reduced to junk status, spelling the beginning of a long period of financial turmoil in Europe.
A Hong Kong-Turkish team embarrasses us all by claiming to have found Noah's Ark.
Ash from Eyjafjallajokull disrupts air traffic across Europe, stranding Post Magazine's Channel Hopper in Germany.
Bob Dylan cancels his whole Asian tour (including Hong Kong) after planned concerts in Beijing and Shanghai fall foul of the Ministry of Culture.
The president of Poland is among 96 killed when his plane crashes in western Russia.
An earthquake in Qinghai province kills at least 2,000 and injures more than 10,000.
Wildlife covered in BP's oil.
May
Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sells for US$106.5 million, setting another world record for a work of art sold at auction.
Scientists discover Neanderthals and humans may have interbred.
Property tycoon Lee Shau-kee and family splash out HK$1.82 billion for a residential site on The Peak.
American Idol gets more schmaltzy than anyone thought possible as the show says goodbye to Simon Cowell.
Sex and the City 2 is released ... and promptly flops.
Kwong Ho-ying sues the Fung Yiu King Memorial Secondary School for making her wear a dress to school.
A two-year-old Indonesian boy with a 40-a-day smoking habit appears on YouTube.
June
Everyone holds their breath as the Fifa World Cup gets under way in crime-ridden South Africa.
The iPhone 4 arrives - hurrah!
Vuvuzelas make eardrums throb the world over.
A Hong Kong publisher aborts publication of a controversial diary by former premier Li Peng, just three days before it was to have hit store shelves.
More than six months after Henderson Land trumpeted the sale of 24 flats at a luxury Mid-Levels block, it says 20 of the deals have fallen through - among them the world-record HK$439 million 'sale' of a top-floor duplex.
Miss Ellie, the world's ugliest dog, passes away.
July
Spain wins the World Cup and the tournament passes off with little trouble and no on-field headbutting.
Tiger Woods learns he is, according to Forbes, the richest sportsman in the world.
Lindsay Lohan is sentenced to 90 days in jail for probation violations. She serves 14 days.
Paris Hilton is detained and released after being caught in possession of cannabis in Corsica.
Protests against a construction project in Sai Wan that is despoiling one of Hong Kong's top scenic spots reach deafening levels.
Two weeks after it denied selling the personal data of cardholders to third parties, Octopus Holdings, the card issuer, says it made HK$44 million by doing just that.
Mel Gibson, after his profanity-laced rant at Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his youngest child.
August
Quadriplegic Tang Siu-pun, who once pleaded with chief executive Tung Chee-hwa to let him die, moves into a home of his own after 19 years in hospital.
Everyone rejoices as it is announced that China has surpassed Japan as the world's second-largest economy.
Hundreds of people gather in a Guangzhou park to defend Cantonese.
Paris Hilton is arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession in Las Vegas.
Passengers flying from London to Hong Kong brace for a possible crash into the sea after a pilot mistakenly plays an emergency message.
Naomi Campbell testifies before a war crimes tribunal, confirming that she received some 'dirty-looking stones' after a dinner with former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor.
A drunken tractor driver kills 11 and injures many others in a rampage in northern China.
September
Li Ka-shing offers Hongkongers millions to 'Love HK'.
The Deepwater Horizon leak is finally plugged.
The Hong Kong Observatory says an apparent unidentified flying object was actually a street lamp.
Hong Kong model Rosemary Vandenbroucke is arrested in the United States twice in two days.
Lindsay Lohan sent back to jail, but she serves less than a day.
Lady Gaga attends the MTV Video Music Awards dressed in raw meat.
October
Thirty-three miners trapped in a Chilean mining accident are brought back to the surface after 69 days underground.
The International Space Station sets a record, having been continuously inhabited for 3,641 days.
Paul the clairvoyant octopus dies.
The producers of 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy claim a three-dimensional porn industry might help boost Hong Kong's tourism numbers. Yeah, right ... any excuse!
Cafe de Coral offers its staff small pay rises on condition they forfeit paid meal breaks.
The crush at Shanghai's Expo, as the number of visitors exceeds a record-breaking 64 million.
November
Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
Cafe de Coral decides it will not starve its workers, after all.
An elderly Caucasian man becomes a young Asian midway through a flight from Hong Kong to Canada.
Monsieur Fonbaustier is recalled for conduct 'that would likely not meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat' - in other words, nicking posh wine.
Father Law Kwok-fai, who does a mean Elvis impression, calls Li Ka-shing a devil.
The KCRC says it's disposed of its fung shui records.
Yeonpyeong Island is shelled, prompting Sarah Palin to declare her allegiance to 'ally' North Korea.
Peter Lee Ka-kit becomes a father to three sons. The circumstances are unusual, to say the least.
Belly dancer Ruby Rubacuori tells of orgies where Silvio Berlusconi and 20 young women perform the 'bunga bunga' in the nude.
The thought of Berlusconi in the buff.
December
Imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo gets a standing ovation at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Mexico finishes on a less-than-totally-pessimistic note.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is named Time magazine's person of the year.
It turns out Elizabeth Hurley has left her husband and has been carrying on with Australian cricketer Shane Warne. She soon dumps him, though, after finding more than 100 saucy texts to another married woman.
Julian Assange spends time in British custody.
The streets of London, as demonstrating students attack a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla.