1) Baronet Ebaj receives a preemptive award.

Baronet Ebaj accomplished many seemingly unreachable goals on his road to the Blanco House. But one of the more inconceivable accomplishments was winning the prestigious Humbble Tranquility Award before he spent one day in office.
 
The Humbble Tranquility Award is handed out to those people who work for peace and promote it on a galactic scale. And when the committee met to vote for this year's winner, Ebaj had been an obvious choice. Running on a campaign that promised to end two unnecessary wars and promote greater social freedoms, Ebaj was elected in the hope for honest change in the corridors of power. And because of his platform, his election was celebrated as a message of hope all over the galaxy.
 
While Ebaj had no past track record of notable works of peace, the committee was certain that he would live up to his promise. But since their award, Ebaj has yet to remove troops from war-torn areas, and has actually confused matters by renaming troop divisions to keep them deployed.
 
 

2) Destruction of solar systems happening faster than expected.

Galactic pollution is causing the core temperatures of the Milky Way's most important white dwarf stars to undergo runaway nuclear fusion. Simply put, these stars are going "supernova" faster than predicted.

Though speed of global radiation and pollution in relation to human activity is still unknown, this year we realized it’s getting worse. Scientists now say that the rate of acceleration for several stars in the galaxy is happening at twice the expected speed.
 
Environmentally conscious activists are trying to get this brought up at the environmental summit on planet Cagenhope. It is their hope that if the radiation gets down to 250 ppm, that major galactic climate change can be avoided.
 
 

3) Lobbyists Prevent Meaningful Health Care Reform in Kroy

An unfortunate record was broken this year by the lobbyists who work to influence lawmakers on Planet Hope. Spending from interest groups increased from 1.4 million to 17 million Krohls a day.
 
But in the eyes of the corporations the lobbyists represented, the spending was worth every penny. In the health care industry alone, lobbyist spending is said to have put enough pressure on congress that a public health care plan was not considered, a single-payer plan was prevented from even being discussed, and insurance rates increased by 300%.
 
 

4) Explosion of galactic slavery

Galaticization and expansion of trade has helped to improve the human race. It's helped us as a people grow and expand in ways we'd never thought possible before the Technological Revolution. But along with that growth and expansion comes the need to for cheap labor to sustain its success.
 
Because of those needs, slavery - in the form of ‘human parceling’ - is just as strong as ever. In fact, there are reportedly over 27 million people in slavery - more than have ever been enslaved at any other point in history.
 
And these are people who exist in bondage in major planets and stations all over the galaxy. Even ones within Kroy.
 
The Elite are trying to alleviate the problem and bring further awareness of it. But even the jaded major news sources have trouble believing just how widespread and serious the problem actually is.
 

5) Myko Lyko's death ruled a homicide

One of the greatest singers of our time was silenced at the too-young age of 40 this year. Myko Lyko - songwriter, performer and legend - died from cardiac arrest. Lyko first attained fame as a young boy by being the front man for his family’s group “The Lyko 5.” In his mid 20s, he found legendary success with his first solo album 'Chiller.' He parlayed that achievement into a singular solo career that spanned 20 years.
 
Lyko was so consumed with rehearsing for his 'That's Me' galactic tour that he pressured his personal physicians into giving him drugs usually used to sedate surgery patients. It was a combination of those sedatives that caused his heart attack.
 
The doctor that administered the drugs - Ron Surrey - released a video to the press saying that the amount of medication he gave Lyko was relatively small, and that he only did what he thought was best for the singer. However, Surrey's denial of Lyko using certain medications when he was being resuscitated by EMS is suspicious.
 
 

6) Cali and Social Networks lead the revolt in Aran

Cali Ghaa-Soltor was just one woman in Nari, young and independent and looking forward to her upcoming marriage. But she was also upset about the control her government had over the elections, and the choices made by her religious leaders. She went to one of many nearby protests to see what people who felt like her were saying. She was shot to death on the street.
 
It's a sad fact of life that deaths in political protests happen all around the world. Cali might have joined the countless ranks of faceless people who died under the treads of oppressive governments. But thanks to a nearby video camera, her last moments on earth were recorded. And thanks to the new social networking sites, those images went galaxy-wide in a matter of moments.
 

Social networking sites have changed the face of modern life, but those changes were clearly shown by the use of social networking during the Narian protests. On top of spreading the shockingly tragic story of Cali, social networking also helped coordinate flash mobs to protest and disappear in broad daylight. And they passed information about what was happening in the upper levels of power to stop the protests from happening.

7) Continuing economic recovery

Despite being over a year since the official ‘crash’ of the galactic economy, the galaxy’s financial institutions are recovering slowly.  Despite stories of good news and positive changes that have come from the crash, most galactic citizens are still suffering from the downturn. And despite reassurances from the top that things are starting to improve, most people believe the recession hasn’t ended yet.

8) The Wars in Kal Expand

Despite newly-elected Baronet Ebaj's promise to stop the wars in Kal and bring troops home, there seems to be no end in sight. 30,000 new  troops are being deployed to Sanganistan to fight Kroy's wars. Insurgents, like the Saleban, are growing stronger. But nothing that has been done has been able to effectively turn the tide of the war. Since the war in Badqira Gahd started, 1 million citizens have been killed on that planet alone--most by the indiscriminate devastation caused by bombs.

9) Plane crash in the Dhyson River

In a Territory still jumpy about shuttle crashes, this year brought an odd feel-good story about an emergency landing. Just after take off, Shuttle Flight 2020 ran into a flock of birds that shorted out the shuttle’s engines. In the hands of an inexperienced pilot the day might have ended in tragedy. Fortunately experienced pilot Mulder ‘Skully’ Kelly was at the wheel.

After a seamless landing in the Dhyson river, all passengers were rescued unharmed. Skully enjoyed a short stint of popularity after the incident, and used his time in the spotlight to highlight the need for full time hours for experienced pilots.

10) Susan Goyle

If the increase of galactic slavery is the negative side of globalization, Susan Goyle is one of the positives.

With the roadblocks of a homely face and body, and a mother with sporadic health, Susan  had never 'made it'. But she did have real talent. Her voice was clear, striking, and well-honed from her years of professional singing.

Susan was in her 50s when she auditioned on the show "Bryttas SuperStar"--the original show that Kroy SuperStar was based on. At first she elicited snickers from the judges on her unpolished appearance. Yet, Susan blew the judges away - even notoriously critical judge Slimon Scowell. As video of her audition began to circulate online, it struck a chord with everyone who had had some desire of a larger dream that they thought was severed by time or poor decisions.

While she did not win that season's grand prize, Susan has seamlessly transitioned into a singing career. Her first album is due out this month.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=michael+jackson&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3l8oS-L6BsK3lAeTo6iZDQ&sa=X&oi=news_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQsQQwAA

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5683655

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/15-worldwide-slavery/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/15/new.york.plane.crash/index.html