User talk:Madhurajadhav

The Top Events of 2012 1. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee (Feb 6) Queen Elizabeth of England has two major events to celebrate in the 2012. She turns 86 on April 21 and on Feb 6 she marked her 60th anniversary since her ascension to the British throne. The Queen and Prince Phillip will mark the Diamond Jubilee on the home front, touring Britain, while the rest of the royals will tour the globe. Prince William and Kate will tour Malaysia and Singapore, Prince Harry will make a solo trip to the Caribbean and Prince Charles and Camilla have Australia, New Zealand and Canada on their itinerary.

2. The Academy Awards (Feb. 26) The 2012 Academy Awards were flush with controversy which was a result of director Brett Ratner's homophobic comment at the premier of his movie, Tower Heist. After complaints from gay groups, Ratner resigned as producer of the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony; in solidarity, Tower Heist star Eddie Murphy resigned as host of the Oscars. The evening will now be hosted by Billy Crystal. Judging by early award buzz, he is likely to be joined by fellow Hollywood stalwarts Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen.

3. French elections (April 22) Nicolas Sarkozy has undertaken a proactive foreign policy, vocally championing NATO’s intervention in Libya and being a key voice in the attempts to defuse Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. At home, however, the French president is deeply unpopular, with an approval rating of only 26 per cent. Sarkozy hasn’t officially announced his candidacy for the April presidential elections, but he undoubtedly will, and observers say that his low ratings, coupled with divisions in the political left, could result in significant gains for the National Front party, which has faced criticism in the past for its anti-immigrant policies.

4. Facebook to go public (sometime between April and June) According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is slated to go public sometime between April and June 2012. Initial estimates suggest that the IPO could raise as much as $10 billion US for Mark Zuckerberg and his social media company, giving it a total estimated valuation of $100 billion. Despite ongoing concerns about the site’s privacy policy, Facebook continues to pull in users – as of July 2011, it had more than 800 million.

5. UEFA Euro 2012 (June 8-July 1) The UEFA will including Spain’s David Villa, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Germany’s Miroslav Klose, playing for the Euro cup. Spain won the 2008 tourney, which was co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland. This year’s contest will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, who as hosts automatically qualify for the tournament. After finishing in the final six in the 2006 World Cup, Ukraine will appear in its first European soccer championship.

6. Mexican general election (July 1) Citizens of Mexico go to the polls to choose the members of the federal senate, as well as the  members of its congress, which is called the Chamber of Deputies.Notably, the country will elect a new president to replace Felipe Calderon, who is ineligible for re-election. The key issue in this election will be to find a strategy to eradicate the country's ongoing drug violence.

7. Egyptian presidential elections (sometime before July) This year's Egypt’s presidential elections, may turn out to be the most democratic in its history. Once-persecuted parties like the Muslim Brotherhood made strong gains in parliamentary elections in November and December, which means that the eventual president is going to have to contend with a strong Islamist presence in the government. Mohammed ElBaradei, former director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, are the biggest contenders so far, but the race will undoubtedly continue to evolve.

8. London Olympics (July 27-Aug. 12) In July, athletes from more than 200 countries will descend on London for the Olympic Games. The British capital will become the first city to have hosted the Olympics three times in the modern era (the others were 1908 and 1948). Amid the usual concerns about security and cost overruns, organizers are fending off controversy over the logo, which some see as too closely resembling a swastika. As well, the Indian Olympic Association has spoken out against one of the sponsors, Dow Chemical — in 2001, Dow bought Union Carbide, the company responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, which killed thousands.

9. U.S. election (Nov. 6) With its odd list of candidates and outrageous pronouncements, the race to nominate a Republican candidate for the 2012 U.S. presidential contest has been entertaining. But the sparks will only truly fly once the GOP nominee is chosen and squares off against the incumbent. Polls suggest that Americans are largely displeased with Barack Obama’s efforts to lift the economy. Will they grant him a second chance, or oust him in favour of a tough-talking newbie?

10. Chris Hadfield launches into space (late Nov./early Dec.) In 2012, Col. Chris Hadfield will begin a journey that will take him into space and the history books. Late in the year, the Sarnia, Ont. will pilot the Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). In March 2013, he will become the first Canadian astronaut to command the ISS. A veteran of two space shuttle expeditions, Hadfield will oversee Expedition 35, a six-month mission that will likely include a number of scientific experiments and use of the robotic Canadarm2 for assembly and maintenance tasks on the station.

11. The end of the world (Dec. 21) Many groups and cultures have predicted the end of the world, but the Mayan prediction seems to hold the most popular interest. Dec. 21, 2012, marks the conclusion of a significant period in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and is thus thought to herald the end of life as we know it. Some observers tell us to expect a spiritual transformation rather than Armageddon.