2009 Top Newsmakers in the World

We are nearing the end of the year, the year that was, it was a challenging year for all of us because in one way or another we are affected by the economic crisis which also affected the whole world. Whatever the year brought into our lives I wish everybody will have more blessing this coming year, year of the Tiger, 2010.

In my own opinion, these are the top newsmaker of the year! My joining the Hub Pages (HP) and having the chance to share with brilliant writers is one of them.

The top news of the hour and throughout the entire year is of course Pres. Barack Obama

• His inauguration as the first African-American -- 44^thPresident of the United States of America -- January 2009
• His "health care" plan in general is controversial
• He was awarded the most coveted "The Nobel Peace Prize"
• How he handle the economy and the bank loans situation, and how it will affect global financial situation and economy
• His sending additional troops to Afghanistan

2 -- The summit in Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009 which was attended by representative from all over the world underscores the importance of “global warming” which affect all people in the world. They haven’t reached a consensus and target but the main issue here is whether the problem per se of global warming is a “hoax)--tampering of the exchange of emails of scientist which proves that it is indeed another hoax?

3 -- The continuous exploration of the space. Space travel where there are three astronauts from Japan, Russia and the US went off in a voyage in outer space to help test the effects of long term space travels on humans. "The Soyuz rocket blasted off on schedule from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the barren Kazakh steppe at 2152 GMT carrying Soichi Noguri of Japan, US astronaut Timothy Creamer and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov. It is a sophisticated platform for outer space experiments".

4. Entertainment

• The death of Michael Jackson brought again the case of drug abuse as a cause of death among entertainers. The world mourn his death as many considered him a POP icon.
• Tiger Woods cried “Leave me Alone“, exposure of his alleged affair which prompted him to stop playing golf for the meantime, until further notice
• Swift Taylor was honored by the Country Music Awards (CMA) as queen of country music and was named Associated Press Entertainer Of The Year (Newspaper editors and broadcast producers voted for the 20-year-old after a wildly successful 2009).
• Susan Boyle from Scottland joined the Britain’s Got Talent and her debut single is topping the chart nearly surpassing Taylor Swifts'. Simon Cowell is tongue tied when she heard her sang the song "I Dream the Dream".
• the movies Twilight Saga: The New Moon, Nine, Avatar and the Transformers (Revenge of the Fallen) are the films to watch

5. Sports

• Steelers won the 2009 Superbowl, (now am biased to that)
• NBA 2009 Champs --The LA Lakers
• NY Yankees, World Series Champion once more
• The preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
• The Olympics in 2016 was given to Brazil, and Chicago lost the bid too including Madrid and others
• 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens --- The men's cup was won by Wales, with the women's cup going to Australia.

6. Scientific breakthrough in health: CANCER TECHNOLOGY

• The UK-based Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute catalogued the genetic maps of skin and lung cancer and have pinpointed the specific mutations within DNA that can lead to dangerous tumors. This can lead to proper and easier medication of the deadly disease.
• Swine flu virus ontinues to be a big news this year, but the main controversy is that whether people will get vaccination or not, (whether the risk of vaccination outweight the pandemic itself). There is also the issue whether there is really a thing called "swine flu"

7. The release of Blueberry, Nokia and Samsung-- (Samsung Intrepid by DOHN121) -- in the late quarter of the year different cell phone manufactures keep on updating features etc., makes us have a gasp of what technology has to offer in terms cell phone technology.

8. The Philippines was devastated by International typhoon named "Ketsana" which killed 464 people and destroyed crops and infrastructure. The typhoon also devastated some parts of China and Vietnam.

Now, you can share what for you is the top NEWSMAKER of the year.