By Heidi A. Schuessler, User Education Producer

During the past 12 months, MSN has covered some unforgettable stories: Barack Obama was elected president; China hosted the Olympics; the economy spiraled downward and the nation slid into recession.

We said goodbye to Tim Russert, Heath Ledger, Bernie Mac and Paul Newman, and hello to Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, and so many others who stepped onto the world stage in 2008.

During the year, we ran thousands of headlines and photos. Thousands. But which ones did readers like best? Here's the rundown of MSN's 10 most popular non-news stories of the year, in descending order.

10. “America’s most-stolen cars,” from MSN Autos. What did thieves want to drive most this year—and was your car on the list?

9. “Say Cheese: 12 photos that should never have been posted online,” from Tech & Gadgets. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but these cost someone their job, reputation or in some cases, their freedom. What were they thinking?

8. “Deep Water: The Rising Seas,” from City Guides & Green Living channel. This story reviewed the 10 U.S. cities most at risk from rising sea levels. See if your city is on the list.

7. “What People Earn 2008,” from Careers. Car salesman, bounty hunter, doctor, tow-truck driver… take a look at Parade magazine’s annual salary survey to see how you compare.

6. “Is the IRS holding a check for you?” from MSN Money. Some people never got their economic stimulus checks, so millions of dollars are sitting with the IRS. Are you leaving money unclaimed?

5. “LeBron-Gisele Vogue cover draws criticism,” from Fox Sports. This was the most controversial story in our top 10, and MSN.com addressed it from a variety of angles, including a news story, editorial and reader poll.

4. “Surprising Signs You’ll Live Longer Than You Think”, from MSN Health. This slide show revealed 13 fascinating anti-aging secrets, such as “eat purple food” and “build strong legs.” What else is on the list?

3. “Where Are They Now?”, created for MSN Specials, captured our then-and-now fascination with celebrities, sports stars and newsmakers -- like Rudy from The Cosby Show, Patty Hearst and Monica Lewinsky – who have faded from the limelight.

2. “Sunken Dreamboats”: A slide show of heartthrobs no more, by MSN Movies. Mickey Rourke and Val Kilmer made the list—but there are a few surprises, too.

And the top story of the year? “Top Baby Name Trends of 2008” from MSN’s Lifestyle channel. This year, babies named after nouns and presidents were hot. See what other trends are popular.

Here are more year-in-review stories:

• The Year in Pictures from MSNBC
• MSN Travel’s Best of 2008
• Top Celebrity Hook-Ups and Breakups of 2008
  

Happy Holidays from everyone at MSN!

By Heidi A. Schuessler, User Education Producer, MSN.com

Have you ever traveled to Turkey or Argentina, or say South Africa? MSN has homepages from 42 countries around the world. To see a different, global point of view, go to the bottom of the page and click MSN Worldwide:

Click on any country from the list to get a sense of what’s important to readers on that day. When recently the U.S. homepage led with stories about the 12 hottest video games, in New Zealand the day’s top headlines were about interest rate cuts and the best and worst products of 2008. This was followed closely by sports, including a head-scratcher of a headline – “Crocs monster out-of-sorts league leaders” – perfectly clear for Kiwi sports nuts, I’m sure.

On Ireland’s homepage there was a travel story about how you could win a trip to Philadelphia, and Russia’s page greeted readers with a stern photo of Vladimir Putin followed by one of President Bush waving goodbye:

(Any Russian-speakers out there who can translate? Tell me by clicking “add a comment” at the end of this blog.)

Like the U.S. homepage for MSN, the one for MSN Arabia had popular search terms at the top of the page: “Barack Obama,” “insomnia” and “Capgras syndrome.” Capgras syndrome? Turns out it’s a “rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a spouse or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.”

Several countries place strong emphasis on connecting singles through Match.com, complete with photos of available men and women; other countries (Portugal, for one) highlight lots of soccer news. Another unique homepage feature was this lead from MSN Arabia:

This story led to a page teaching conversational English skills and included an audio clip of two people worrying about their busy schedules – something that seems common to many cultures!

Around the MSN world, there is one topic with global appeal -- celebrities. (Britney’s name and face is particularly universal — she graced the homepage in Chile, Arabia and Italy.)

Many countries host a popular featured called “MSN Battles”:

The premise? Pitting two or three stars against each other in different categories such as best dressed or best celebrity duo. (In Switzerland recently, Brad and Angelina were handily beating Posh and Becks.)

It seems that the world can’t get enough of the celebrity photos, either. Here’s a snapshot of a gallery that appeared on MSN South Africa:

Funny videos also seem to cross cultural and linguistic divides. MSN Japan featured a picture of the kitten on a vacuum cleaner that MSN readers in the U.S. may recognize:

Our languages may be different, our cultures may clash a bit, and the news may vary, but we catch glimpses of it all through MSN. But in the end, no matter where you live, a cat it still a cat/katze/gato.