By MARCUS ELIASON
Associated Press
The disruptions of earthly existence came from some unlikely places in 2010: ash from an Icelandic volcano; the contents of an airline passenger’s underwear; a website called WikiLeaks spilling the secret cables of international diplomacy onto front pages across the world.
More than ever, for good and or bad, history became an experience shared worldwide, from the horror of Haiti’s earthquake at the start of 2010 to the thrill that coursed across the continents in October as Chilean miners trapped underground for 10 weeks were winched to safety.
The year opened with two images – one of triumph, another of tragedy. The world’s tallest skyscraper, more than 160 stories high, was inaugurated in the Persian Gulf state of Dubai, only to be eclipsed within days by the elegant white presidential palace of Haiti, collapsed in an earthquake that killed 230,000 people.