The year of rise and rise of Obama

January

The US presidential election was already making it to the international headlines. The two major parties – Democratic and Republican – had started their primaries and focus was on Iowa, the first state to vote. Democrat Barack Obama swept the state while Mike Huckabee emerged winner among the Republicans.

In Malaysia, the health minister, Mr Chua Soi Lek, was forced to resign after admitting he was the man in widely circulated videos that showed him having sex with an unidentified woman.

February

The focus on the US primaries keeps hitting the headlines. Hillary Clinton and Mr Obama meet in a televised debate ahead of the February “Super Tuesday” contest.

The romantic note of the month was French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s marriage to supermodel Carla Bruni. The wedding came four months after the president had divorced his second wife Cecilia Ciganer.

In Chad, rebels assault the capital, N’Djamena, nearly toppling President Idriss Deby. It takes a determined response from his guards and French mercenaries to keep the rebels at bay.

Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete dissolves his cabinet following the resignation of Prime Minister Edward Lowassa. The cabinet dissolution came amid parliamentary investigations into an emergency power contract.

Spain issues arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan army officers for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism committed between 1994 and 2000.

And in Cuba, it was time to draw curtains on the Castro era. After 49 years at the helm of power, the communist leader declared he was relinquishing power. Mr Fidel Castro had not appeared in public for 19 months after undergoing stomach surgery. Raul Castro, 76, and brother to Fidel, takes over.

March

US Democratic primaries continue hitting headlines as Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton battle to clinch the presidential ticket. In primaries in Texas and Ohio, the candidates are in a dead heat.

In Congo, fighting between rebels and government forces in the eastern part of the country intensifies, leaving 22 people dead.

The tragedy that is Zimbabwe continues playing out. President Robert Mugabe approves legislation giving local owners the right to take majority share in foreign companies.

For Central Africa, it was time to make peace. After surviving a coup in February, Chadian president and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir sign a truce in Senegal. Chad had accused Sudan of being behind the botched coup attempt while Sudan blamed Chad for aiding rebel groups in Darfur.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of plotting “terror” in Tibet and colluding with Uighur separatists in Xinjiang as it escalates a security and propaganda drive to stifle anti-Chinese unrest ahead of the Olympics. The protests against Chinese “dictatorship” in Tibet later took on a larger-than-life image as crowds took to streets in Europe as the Olympic torch was passed around.

April

The Zimbabwe question was not about to be settled. Elections are held but it takes the electoral commission over a month to announce results. When they do, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is declared winner but falls short of the necessary 50 per cent to win the race in the first round.