What will they do next? That question kept a world of attention focused on our list of the most intriguing people of 2010 from around the globe.

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder, Australia

Nothing appears to focus the world's attention like a few hundred thousand leaked government documents - officials and media around the world seemed obsessed for months by who said what about who to whom. Wiki-Leaks founder Assange, 39, was freed on bail last week after he was arrested in London to answer allegations of rape and molestation in Sweden. Many saw that charge as a fig leaf in the wake of Western rage at the flood of revelations that some called embarrassing and US President Barack Obama labeled a threat to diplomats' lives and security.

The announcement of bail prompted cheers from supporters who had staged a protest in support of Assange outside court. About 20 people held up placards saying: "Exposing war crimes is no crime."

Swedish prosecutors say their investigation is based on law.

"My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed," Assange said from prison last week. "These circumstances shall not shake them."

Washington is pursuing a criminal investigation into how WikiLeaks obtained the information.

Worldwide, more than 600,000 people have signed a petition in support of WikiLeaks on campaigning website Avaaz, and the leader of Lebanon's Druze community, Walid Jumblatt, even called for Assange to receive a Nobel prize.

Julia Gillard

Prime minister, Australia

When polls and a mine-tax controversy suggested Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was making the ruling Labor Party vulnerable, his deputy staged an insurrection and replaced him ahead of a federal election. The mining super-profits tax was still a hot campaign issue, and extraordinary internal leaks helped to torpedo Labor's shot at winning outright.

At the end of the day, however, Gillard's gamble paid off, as the party held off a challenge from Tony Abbott's Conservatives and Gillard is running the government, albeit a minority one.

But except for a giddy few days hosting Oprah Winfrey last week, Gillard may not be having much fun. She had to resort to finger-wagging and name-calling - and spending $1 million to recall Parliament twice - to salvage the national broadband network from "wreckers" who nearly killed it last week. Now Gillard has cancelled her holidays and meeting officials over the wreck of a boatload of asylum-seekers in Australian waters that killed at least 28 people last week - a tragedy that has reignited the long-running debate over asylum seekers.

John Lennon

Assassinated musician and peace activist, UK

Fans of the late ex-Beatle marked the 30th anniversary of Lennon's death with a candlelit vigil at the city's European Peace Monument, dedicated to Lennon, in Liverpool, England on Dec 8. The musical and social icon would have been 70 years old this year.

"I've received notes from people in all corners of the world letting me know that they were celebrating" ," said his widow, Yoko Ono.

Lennon's contrarian nature and sharp wit were a thorn in the side of the Nixon administration after the couple moved to New York City in 1971. His songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement, and irritated federal officials tried repeatedly to have him deported.

As of 2010, Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceed 14 million units. As writer, co-writer or performer, he is responsible for 27 number-one singles in the US. A BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons ranked him the eighth in 2002, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all-time.

Nouri al-Maliki

Prime minister designate, Iraq

"Iraq needed a compromise, but instead it has al-Maliki," said one not-so-friendly headline from another Middle Eastern country last week.

But al-Maliki cobbled together enough support from Shiite allies, including Iranian-influenced religious hard-liners, to remain as prime minister even though his party fell short of winning the March 7 vote.

The election's failure to yield a clear winner threw Iraq into political chaos and stoked Sunni insurgents' hopes that they could use violence to return the country to the brink of civil war. With a wary eye on the planned departure of American troops at the end of 2011, US officials since have been pushing Iraqi leaders to broker a compromise and form an all-inclusive government.

By all accounts, the back-room negotiating has been a politically painful and laborious process, with tensions between Allawi and al-Maliki so sour that fellow lawmakers were taken aback by the warmth of last week's deal-sealing meeting. Allawi will join the government that is expected to be formally unveiled Dec 23, as head of a powerful council with some veto power over the prime minister's actions - and a salary equal to al-Maliki's reported pay of at least $360,000 annually.

Kate Middleton

Princess-to-be, UK

Prince William will marry his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton next year after an on-off courtship that has lasted nearly a decade.

The elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana proposed to Middleton with the large blue oval sapphire and diamond engagement ring his mother once wore as Charles' 19-year-old fiancee.

William proposed to Middleton with Diana's ring so his late mother would not "miss out" on the celebrations.

William and Kate, both 28, have so far revealed only that the wedding will take place in either the spring or summer next year.

Supermarket Tesco has come to the rescue of bargain-hunting royal wannabes with a cut-price version (16 pounds) of the Daniella Issa Helayel dress Middleton wore to announce her engagement to Prince William.

Sarah Palin

Conservative talk-show host, US

The former Alaska governor said in an ABC interview aired on Thursday that she would run for US president if she has the "best shot" on the right, and expressed confidence that she could beat Barack Obama.

But the Tea Party favorite and former Republican vice-presidential candidate said she was still mulling the "lay of the land" ahead of 2012 presidential polls.

Palin, who left midway through her first term in office as governor of Alaska, has previously hinted at a potential White House bid but has made no formal announcement.

Now one of the most popular conservatives in America, Palin boosted her profile by launching her own reality show last month, featuring her family's activities fishing, kayaking and bear-watching in their tiny Alaskan hometown of Wasilla.

Palin acknowledged that she was seen as "polarizing" but blamed the media for that "misperception", adding that her image as badly informed was "pretty much ginned up by the press". News outlets and comedy shows went into overdrive recently when Palin said during a radio interview: "But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies."

Vladimir Putin

Prime minister, Russia

Can a man who names his new dog "Buffy" really be the Russian strongman the world sees in Vladimir Putin? The Russian prime minister- who chose the dog's name after a 5-year-old boy suggested it in a naming contest - got the big pup as a gift from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov last month.

Polls this year suggest most of his countrymen will be delighted if Putin stays in power by moving back and forth between his current job and the nation's presidency for as long as he wishes. (Current President Dmitry Medvedev is also popular in a resurgent Russia.)

Putin, who rides horses bareback - and bare-chested - has combined such photo ops with a direct personal style and rallying cries for national pride that most Russians admire. He is also credited with muscling through a successful bid for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games to be held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

This is a man who seems to welcome speculation about who would win an arm wrestling contest between himself and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Putin had a bronze bust of himself made this year as a gift for the California governor and one-time Mr. Universe.)

He's a man with enough self-confidence to sing and play the piano at a charity concert this month.

Or to name his dog "Buffy".

Mark Wahlberg

Actor, US

"The Abs" are back. But after more than four years of working tirelessly to make his movie, The Fighter, and more than four years of training in a boxing ring to fit the lead role, Mark Wahlberg has changed routines in life.

"My new regimen consists of a bottle of red wine and a lot of food," the actor jokes, "and I'm enjoying myself, but my wife is, like, 'you're starting to look really bad.'"

It has been a rare event when, as an adult, Mark Wahlberg has looked bad. And as The Fighter debuted recently in major US cities, it is looking very good with Oscar buzz and solid reviews working in its corner.

A troubled teenager who landed in jail, Wahlberg turned around his life as an entertainer, first as a rapper with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, then as a Calvin Klein model when his rock-hard abdomen became the envy of both men and women.

He broke through the ranks of Hollywood actors in the 1990s in films like Boogie Nights, and became a box office sensation in The Perfect Storm.

Oprah Winfrey

Media superstar, US

Wearing her big brown akubra-style hat and vowing not to take it off for a while, Oprah left Australia in triumph last week after taking 302 loyal fans along for an "ultimate adventure".

Winfrey dropped serious cash on some Australians during a taping of her show -including $1,000,000 worth of computer equipment to a local school - as the 18-month-long splashy ending for her 25-year-old show continues. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit," she told viewers when she announced she would end the show with a season that "will knock your socks off".

Last month, longtime Oprah blogger Mark Bieganski asked: "When Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving daytime and running to the hills of cable TV, you didn't think she was going to do it quietly, did you?"

As part of the second round of Winfrey's Favorite Things show recently, she gave away brand new yet-to-be-seen 2012 VW Beetles to her entire audience.

Her show reaches 44 million people each week, the networked said, and those numbers translate into big sales for the books, food, beauty products and other items that Oprah recommends.

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder of Facebook

"For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives", Time magazine declared Mark Elliot Zuckerberg to be its 2010 Person of the Year.

"Facebook is now the third largest country on earth and surely it has more information about its citizens than any government does," the editors wrote. "Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout is its T-shirt wearing head of state."

"Looking back over the whole year and looking forward in terms of how Facebook is changing the way that people relate to each other across the world," said Time's Radhika Jones in a CNBC interview, "we felt that Zuckerberg was the strong choice." Zuckerberg plans to make a personal visit to China later this month.