THE TOP TEN WORLD'S FOCUS
Two months after returning to her homeland following an eight-year self-imposed exile, former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on December 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi - the northern town where she had once gone to school. It was the second suicide attack targeting her, the first being in Karachi on her homecoming. The killing had once again exposed the chaotic political life of Pakistan.
The national airline of Singapore added one more feather in its cap recently with the addition of Airbus A380, world's biggest passenger jet, to its fleet. The 'Super Jumbo' is enormous - each wing could hold about 72 cars, and each plane contains more than 500 kilometres (300 miles) of wiring. It could carry 853 passengers in an all-economy configuration. But the Singapore Airlines has installed just 471 seats to offer more space, particularly in business and first class.
Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression by the Myanmar junta. She hogged headlines again in 2007 after Buddhist monks had begun protests against the military regime. The Junta, for the first time after putting her under house arrest, was forced to hold talks with the democratic leader in October. For the people of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi represents their best and, perhaps sole hope, that there will be an end to the country's military repression.
Centre-left leader Kevin Rudd stormed to victory in Australia's election in November, ending Prime Minister John Howard's 11-year rule. Mandarin-speaking Rudd's Labour party scored its biggest victory since World War II, achieving an estimated six percent swing in the vote which gave it a commanding 24 seat majority in the parliament.
James Gordon Brown became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in June. But his premiership was plunged into a series of crises over party funding scandals, his dithering over whether to call a general election, his government's alleged timidity over Northern Rock's financial plight and a succession of disappearances of discs containing confidential personal information on millions of Britons. Restoring his and his party's reputation will be top of his 2008 agenda.
Yasuo Fukuda became the 91st Prime Minister of Japan in September, following Shinzo Abe's abrupt resignation. The 71-year-old is a member of the political elite - his father was Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda. A party elder with broad support, Mr Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary - the top government spokesman - under Mr Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.
Joseph Ejército Estrada, the 13th Philippines President, once again hogged limelight after he was found guilty of plundering national wealth. But Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Presidential pardon in October had saved him from another imbroglio.
China got its first Miss World in Zi Lin Zhang. The 23-year-old beauty queen, a Beijing secretary who was born in the gritty northern industrial city of Shijiazhuang, scooped the title outclassing contestants from all over the world.
The writer of the Harry Potter fantasy series has been named as 13th richest woman in Britain by the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List. Forbes has named Rowling the second-richest female entertainer in the world and ranked her as the 48th most powerful celebrity of 2007. Time magazine named Rowling as a runner up for their 2007
Person of the Year.

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped by The Army of Islam, became the focus of worldwide attention in 2007. A world-wide campaign for his release was launched. He was held hostage for nearly four months during which time he was threatened with execution but not tortured. After his release, he spoke movingly about pacing in his room for mile after mile and how his ordeal provided him with a "dark education".