2.AN ACCOUNT OF A DECADE

The decade between 2000 and 2010, is the latest of all. It was a decade that had positive events and some other negative. These, referring to the attacks of September 11, 2001, which did bring down the Twin Towers in New York. That same terrorist group, Al Qaeda, made another attack on March 11, 2004, which took place in several trains in Madrid. In the first attack there were 3000 dead people and in the second 191 once. Another fact was that the tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast (Spain), causing an ecological catastrophe of great magnitude.

There are also many policy related events. In 2002 the euro began in 12 EU countries: Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Greece and Luxembourg. In 2004, there were 10 countries that became part of the European Union. These countries are Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus. And in 2008, Barack Obama is the U.S. president.

There are many developments with technology. It launches the Microsoft operating system, Windows Millennium, but would become one of the biggest failures of Microsoft. Sony first launched a worldwide successfully in this decade. First Apple iPod digital music player that becomes very popular among young people. The Windows XP operating system from Microsoft, which became the best-selling original software history. Microsoft takes on sale its first console, Xbox, Europe and Japan. Also I think the social network Facebook, which today is the second most visited website on the Internet. In the same year YouTube was born, a popular online video website.

And also some science news. Dolly the sheep has arthritis, which raises questions about the risks of cloning. And swine flu is discovered.

Teixidor Martínez, Marta