In this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning Wednesday, April 21, 2010. Eleven men working on the platform were killed, and 17 others injured.
As the year 2010 approaches its last few days, it's time to look back on the previous 12 months. In the first third of 2010, Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, several massive earthquakes wreaked havoc worldwide, Vancouver hosted a successful Winter Olympics, and so much more. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2010. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days.
The growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is captured in this image from NASA's (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite. This natural-color image acquired April 29, 2010 shows a twisting patch of oil nearly 125 km (78 mi) wide. Approximately 4 million barrels (170 million gallons) were released overall.
A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. Crude oil flowed from a hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico for three months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank on April 20th, 2010.
Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Alabama, Saturday, June 12, 2010.
An Afghan man walks on the street as the sun sets over Delaram district in Nimroz province, southern Afghanistan on January 20, 2010.
Fireworks explode beside the London Eye and The Houses of Parliament on the River Thames during New Year celebrations in London January 1, 2010.
A layer of fog floats into Victoria harbor in Hong Kong late on March 15, 2010.
A day after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing thousands, a young woman climbs over shopping carts and the rubble of a collapsed store on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
An injured person is seen in the street after an earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010.
A man steps carefully through lifeless bodies piled outside the morgue in Port-au-Prince on January 14, 2010, following a devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12. Haiti's government has placed the final death toll at over 230,000.
A young Haitian man cries out in pain as his mother comforts him while being treated for a trauma wound on his arm at the Center Hospitalier de la Renaissance January 20, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Patients are being treated on the grounds of the hospital by Cuban and German doctors due to fears of the building's structural integrity.
In the outskirts of Port Au Prince, bodies, apparently of the victims of the earthquake, are dumped in piles just off the roadside. Photo taken January 15, 2010.
Residents of Cite Soleil, a shantytown try desperately to enter the police station where an aid distribution point has been set up in Port-au-Prince on January 26, 2010. Quake-hit Haiti will need at least a decade of painstaking reconstruction, aid chiefs and donor nations warned, as homeless, scarred survivors struggled to rebuild their lives.
A man touches his newborn baby, born three days earlier, at the Israeli hospital in Port-au-Prince January 20, 2010.
Torchbearer Alexander Miller carries the flame followed by 28 horse riders in Sioux Valley Dakota, Manitoba on January 9th, 2010.
A snowboarder flies through the Olympic rings at the start of the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, February 12, 2010.
Megan Sweeney of The United States descends the track during the Luge Women's Singles on day 5 of the 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler Sliding Centre on February 16, 2010 in Whistler, Canada.
Russia's Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy (right) stretch to cross the finish line first in the men's individual sprint classic cross-country final at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on February 17, 2010. Kriukov won the gold medal ahead of compatriot Panzhinskiy who took silver and Norway's Petter Northug who took bronze.
Canadian forward Sidney Crosby (left) and teammate Scott Niedermayer celebrate as their team wins gold against the USA in the Men's Gold Medal Hockey match at the Canada Hockey Place during the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada on February 28, 2010.
Revellers of Mocidade Alegre samba school pose at the Sambadrome as the parade past in Sao Paulo, Brazil early on February 14, 2010.
The Aurora Australis, air glow, and cloud-obscured city lights - blurred by the relative motion of the ISS during the long-exposure photograph. Two Russian spacecraft, docked to the ISS, are seen in the foreground of this April 4th, 2010 image.
Kyrgyz riot policemen try to protect themselves during clashes with opposition supporters demonstrating against the government in Bishkek on April 7, 2010. Opposition followers killed Kyrgyzstan's interior minister, took the deputy prime minister hostage and captured state television in a deadly revolt on April 7 against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. A source in the office of Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev revealed that he had been killed in riots in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests had erupted.
Kyrgyz riot policemen try to protect themselves during clashes with opposition supporters demonstrating against the government in Bishkek on April 7, 2010. Opposition followers killed Kyrgyzstan's interior minister, took the deputy prime minister hostage and captured state television in a deadly revolt on April 7 against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. A source in the office of Interior Minister Moldomus Kongantiyev revealed that he had been killed in riots in the northwest hub of Talas where the first protests had erupted.
The collapsed Borde Rio apartment building is seen in Concepcion, Chile, Thursday, March 4, 2010. On February 27th, a devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded.
A man holds up a Chilean flag in a flooded area after an earthquake in Pelluhue, some 322 kms, about 200 miles, southwest of Santiago, Chile on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010.
Spain's Gerard Farres Guell kicks up sand with his Aprilia during the 4th stage of the Dakar 2010 between Fiambala, Argentina, and Copiapo, Chile on January 5, 2010.
A penitent from "La Sed" brotherhood, walks to the church to take part in a procession in Seville, Southern Spain, Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week.
U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Shane Hanley, a squad leader from Easy Company, 2-2 Marines, receives treatment by U.S. Army flight medic Sgt. Michael G. Patangan (left) while airborne in an army Task Force Pegasus medevac helicopter, shortly after Hanley was wounded, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan on February 9th, 2010. Sgt. Hanley, of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who agreed to have photos of himself published, sustained shrapnel injuries to the left side of his body, face and eye when an improvised explosive device detonated below him while he was on a foot patrol.
Treasury Secertary Timothy Geithner (left) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pose for photos during the unveiling of the new $100 note at the Treasury Department April 21, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
After a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Yushu, Qinghai, China on April 14, 2010, killing over 2,500 residents, praying Tibetan monks are seen through flames, distorted by the heat shimmer above the mass cremation of victims of the earthquake on April 17, 2010.
An undercover Israeli police officer holds a weapon as another detains a Palestinian suspected of throwing stones during clashes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz March 16, 2010. Palestinians had mounted violent protests in a "day of rage" in Jerusalem.
In this Feb. 16, 2010 photo, the work "Ants", by Colombia's artist Rafael Gomez Barros, covers the National Congress' facade in Bogota, Colombia. According to the artist the ants symbolize the people displaced by the continuing armed conflict in Colombia.
The Guizer Jarl or Chief of the Jarl viking squad stands before the burning viking longship during Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Scotland on January 26, 2010.
A Sudanese woman with ethnic Nuer tribal scarification stands outside her grass hut in the town of Malakal in Upper Nile state, April 10, 2010. The Nuer receive facial markings during initiation into adulthood.
27-year-old Hugo Antonio Luna lies dead in the middle of the road with 18 gunshots in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, May 5, 2010. In Mexico's continuing drug-related violence, over 9,600 people were killed in the year 2010 alone.
A balloon flies during the International Hot Air Balloon Week in Chateau-d'Oex January 23, 2010. Over 80 balloons from 15 countries participated in the ballooning event in the Swiss mountain resort.
Magma churns and gushes in the lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo, one of Africa's most active volcanoes, in Goma, Congo on March 31, 2010.
A mature bald eagle calls out to its mate Monday, April 12, 2010, near the the confluence of the Tanana and Chena Rivers outside of Fairbanks, Alaska.
As the year 2010 approaches its last few days, it's time to look back on the previous 12 months. In the second third of 2010, a nearly unpronounceable Icelandic volcano wreaked havoc on European travel, South Africa hosted the World Cup, and while Russia endured disastrous fires, Pakistan struggled with its own terrible flooding, and so much more. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2010.
Lightning streaks across the sky as lava flows from an Icelandic volcano in Eyjafjallajokul April 17, 2010. The volcano spewed ash into the air for weeks, wreaking havoc on flights across Europe.
Lighthouse Christian School teacher Heather Harrell reacts after finding her grandmother's Bible in her classroom that was destroyed by the flood in Antioch, Tennessee on Monday, May 3, 2010.
BP CEO Tony Hayward prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing on the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and oil spill on June 17, 2010.
Prior to the 2010 World Cup, a fan waves a South African flag during a parade for Bafana Bafana, the South African national soccer team on June 9th, 2010 in Sandton, South Africa.
Landon Donovan of the United States (front left) celebrates after scoring a goal with fellow team members Clint Dempsey (back left) and Edson Buddle, during the World Cup group C soccer match between the United States and Algeria at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, June 23, 2010.
Two year-old octopus Paul, the so-called "octopus oracle" predicts Spain's 2010 soccer World Cup final victory over The Netherlands by opening and choosing a mussel from a glass box decorated with the Spanish national flag instead of a glass box with the Dutch flag, at the Sea Life Aquarium in the German city of Oberhausen on July 9, 2010. Paul became a media star after correctly picking all six German World Cup results including their first-round defeat against Serbia and their semi-final defeat against Spain.
South African Lucas Mahuca, 3, kicks a ball as he plays soccer in a field next to his house in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, South Africa.
An airplane passes in front of a rainbow above the Mediterranean sea in Nice, southeastern France on Aug. 5, 2010.
A man takes a picture inside the British pavilion, a structure bristling with long acrylic rods with seeds embedded inside, at the World Expo 2010 site in Shanghai, China on April 14, 2010.
German police officers lift a woman from the crowd of revelers outside a tunnel at the Love Parade "The art of Love" in the western German city of Duisburg July 24, 2010. A stampede killed at least 19 people after mass panic broke out in a tunnel at the techno music festival in Germany on Saturday.
A Pygmy Marmoset (Callithrix pygmaea) among of the hairs of a keeper at a primate rescue and rehabilitation center near Santiago, Chile on August 3, 2010. The Pygmy Marmoset, known as the world's smallest monkeys and under danger of extinction, was confiscated after being found inside the clothes of a Peruvian citizen during a highway police check at the northern city of Antofagasta.
A statue and a torn Thai national flag remain in front of Bangkok's Central World shopping mall, which was gutted by fire after army soldiers advanced towards an encampment of thousands of "Red Shirt" protesters who had been occupying parts of Bangkok on May 19, 2010.
On February 13, 2010 NASA's Cassini spacecraft approached close to Saturn's moon Mimas, approximately 70,000 km away, and created this image of the icy satellite. Saturn's limb and upper atmosphere are visible in the background.
Two-year-old Dhoal, a child suffering from severe malnutrition, is swarmed with flies as he cries on a bed at a local hospital in the southeast Sudanese town of Akobo on April 10, 2010. The population in Akobo and the surrounding counties in the Jonglei state in southern Sudan are suffering from the effects of a devastating drought and tribal conflict. Aid officials have called Akobo the "hungriest place on earth," after a survey showed that 46 percent of children under five are malnourished.
A farmer works in a field southwest of WaKeeney, Kansas with ominous clouds looming overhead on Sunday, June 20, 2010. Severe weather battered parts of northwest Kansas with heavy rain, wind, hail and isolated tornadoes.
Pilot Capt. Brian Bews parachutes to safety just as his CF-18 fighter jet plummets to the ground during a practice flight at the Lethbridge County Airport for the weekend airshow in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada on July 23, 2010.
After months of heavy rainfall caused some of the worst floods Europe has seen in decades, farmers help a horse to jump into an amphibious vehicle in flooded Juliszew village in central Poland at Wisla river on May 24, 2010.
Sokreun Mean, 36, a badly scarred victim of an acid attack, poses at the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) facility on August 1st, 2010 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She was attacked outside her home with a large quantity of acid causing blindness and severe disfiguration to her face. She has been operated on over 20 times. Sokreun was divorced, but the estranged wife of her husband became jealous and attacked her. She is one of 270 patients receiving treatment by the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC), an organization dedicated to the welfare of acid survivors in Cambodia, since 2006.
A violent anti-G20 protester, using Black Bloc tactics, throws a chair through the window of a Tim Horton's while demonstrators smashed their way through downtown streets June 26, 2010 in Toronto, Canada.
In seawater covered by a thick layer of spilled oil, two Chinese firefighters, Zheng Zhanhong (center) and Han Xiaoxiong (top right) attempt to rescue their fellow firefighter Zhang Liang (only his hand visible) from drowning beneath the oil slick during clean-up operations at the port of Dalian, China on July 20, 2010. Zhang Liang was unable to resurface, and drowned.
The pack of riders including HTC Columbia's team rider Mark Cavendish (3rd from right) crash during their sprint next to the finish line in the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse from Schwarzenburg to Wettingen June 15, 2010.
A boy dances in the rain during a heavy tropical shower in a street of Havana, Cuba on July 19, 2010.
As central Russia suffered through its hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago, hundreds of wildfires swept the countryside, causing billions in damage. Russians here try to stop a fire from spreading near the village Golovanovo, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010.
Starting in July and lasting for months, some of the worst flooding in Pakistan's history took place - at one point nearly one fifth of the country was underwater. Here, Pakistani flood victim Mohammed Nawaz hangs onto a moving raft as he is rescued by the Pakistan Navy August 10, 2010 in Sukkur, Pakistan.
Pakistani villagers raise hands to get food dropped from an army helicopter at a flood-hit area of Kot Addu, in central Pakistan on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010.
A soldier evacuating residents carries a flood victim to a helicopter in Sanawa, Pakistan's on August 5, 2010.
Smoke comes from the car of Toro Rosso's Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari at the Hungaroring circuit on August 01, 2010 in Budapest, after the start of the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix.
An Afghan detainee sits in the entrance to a bunker while under guard by US Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, inside their base in Marjah, Helmand province, on April 7, 2010. A single Afghan man was arrested by US Marines near the site where a roadside bomb blew up early in the morning, with a false Pakistan passport, two different Afghan identification cards, some wires wrapped on a few batteries, an old rifle and pamphlets of Taliban activities in Marjah.
Phillip Serwinowski (center), father of Lance Cpl. Timothy G. Serwinowski, rests his head on the forehead of Marine Lance Cpl. Nathan McCormack of Garden City, Michigan as he presents the flag to the family outside Amigone Funeral Home on Sheridan Dr. in Tonawanda, New York on Saturday, June 26, 2010. Serwinkowski's mother Sally Urban reaches out a supportive arm to the visiting marine who served in the same platoon as her son and escorted the body home after his death. Serwinowski was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was killed on June 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Sgt. Jonathan Duralde (right) and Sgt. Luis Gamarra of Bravo Troop 1-71 CAV react and hold hands as they fight pain from injuries they suffered from an IED blast as they are transported aboard a MEDEVAC helicopter from Charlie Co. Sixth Battalion, 101st Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Shadow June 25, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The first of the 140,000 music fans due at this year's Glastonbury Festival enjoy the sunset at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 23, 2010 in Glastonbury, England as the festival celebrated its 40th anniversary.
A visitor stands on the artwork "Floor" created by South Korean artist Do Ho-suh at the Hong Kong International Art Fair on May 28, 2010.
Spanish matador Julio Aparicio is gored by a bull, its horn piercing his throat, during a bullfight at the San Isidro Feria in the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid on May 21, 2010. Aparicio underwent surgery and is out of critical danger.
An Afghan boy prepares to bowl a ball while playing cricket inside the ruins of a compound, which used to be home to a timber manufacturing factory in the late 80's, on the western outskirts of Kabul on May 14, 2010.
A tremendous sinkhole caused by the heavy rains of Tropical Storm Agatha in Guatemala City was estimated to be 30 meters wide and over 60 meters deep. As the sinkhole formed, it swallowed a clothing factory about three miles from the site of a similar sinkhole three years earlier. The clothing factory had closed only an hour before it plunged into the Earth.
A rioter uses a door as a shield as he is fired on by a metro police officer during a protest at the Phomolong informal settlement, outside Pretoria, South Africa on March 23, 2010. South African police fired buckshot on Tuesday to disperse township rioters who threw stones and looted shops to protest over poor housing and lack of rail services.
Smoke and flames rise seconds after a cargo plane crashed at the entrance to Denali National Park, in central Alaska, seen from nearby Mt. Healey on Sunday Aug. 1, 2010. The two people on the plane were killed in the crash.
A woman kisses the shrouded body of her four-year-old niece, Zainab, who was killed in a Baghdad bombing, as the family prepares for her burial in the Shi'ite city of Najaf, 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 21, 2010. The child was killed along with her entire family - mother, father, and sister - on Sunday, when suicide bombers attacked a a crowded Baghdad commercial district.
In this Feb. 13, 2010 file photo, Ion Banner loses control on a giant wave during the first heat of the Mavericks surfing contest in Half Moon Bay, California.
A child poses for her mother in front of the China Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 25, 2010.
