US Features

2011: Year of Arab Spring, eurozone crisis, nuclear disaster - Part Four

Dec 28, 2011, 11:33 GMT

A file picture dated 29 August 2010 shows Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (C) with two of his female body guards on his arrival at Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy, 29 August 2010. EPA/ETTORE FERRARI

In late 2010, many media outlets paid scant attention when a young man set himself ablaze in Tunisia, protesting government corruption. A year later, it's clear that might have been one of the key events of the last decade, sparking the Arab Spring.

October 3 - The Nobel committee starts announcing its winners, breaking with tradition by awarding Canadian immunologist Ralph Steinmann the medical prize posthumously because he was still alive when the decision was taken.

October 5 - Apple founder Steve Jobs dies, weeks after stepping down as chief executive.

October 5 - Thai authorities are forced to start releasing water from the country's largest dam reservoir, which results in the worst flooding in the central plains and Bangkok for five decades.

October 7 - The Nobel Peace prize goes to Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; her compatriot Leymah Gbowee, a human rights activist; and Yemeni journalist Tawakkul Karman for their role in highlighting the oppression of women.

October 9 - Twenty-seven die and more than 300 are injured when protesters, most of them Coptic Christians, clash with the army in central Cairo.

October 10 - Blackberry users lose coverage for several days across the world in a system-wide outage.

October 11 - Poland's ruling Civic Platform party wins parliamentary elections.

October 11 - The Slovakian government collapses after failing to secure approval for a eurozone bailout package.

October 11 - A Kiev court sentences Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in prison on abuse of office charges.

October 16 - Kenyan troops roll into Somalia to fight al-Shabaab.

October 16 - France's Francois Hollande wins the presidential primary for the opposition Socialist Party.

October 18 - Israel frees 477 Palestinian prisoners in return for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since June 25, 2006. A further 550 are freed in December.

October 19 - Guerrillas of the Kurdish PKK group kill 26 soldiers and policemen.

October 20 - Ousted Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi is killed shortly after his capture by transitional forces.

October 20 - The Basque separatist group ETA announces the end of its 43-year campaign of bombings and shootings.

October 23 - Tunisia's Islamist Ennahdha party takes the most votes in the country's first free elections.

October 23 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastates the Turkish town of Ercis in eastern Van province, killing 604 and leaving tens of thousands homeless. A second 5.7-magnitude quake hits the same region on November 9.

October 23 - Hosts New Zealand beat France 8-7 to win the rugby World Cup.

October 26 - A lawyer-turned-activist and political newcomer, Park Won Soon, wins the election for mayor of the South Korean capital Seoul, shocking established parties.

October 27 - Veteran Labour activist and poet Michael D Higgins wins Ireland's presidential election.

October 27 - A European Union summit adopts an historic plan to combat the eurozone debt crisis. Within weeks, scepticism returns to financial markets.

October 29 - Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is diagnosed with cancer of the larynx.

October 31 - UN cultural agency UNESCO elects to admit Palestine as a full member, prompting the US to suspend payments to UNESCO.

October 31 - The world's 7 billionth person is born, according to UN estimates.

November 1 - Kyrgyzstan elects Almazbek Atambayev as its new president. He immediately announces plans to end a US lease on an airport critical for transporting supplies to Afghanistan.

November 3 - Cameroonian President Paul Biya is sworn in for a sixth presidential term, after taking 78 per cent of the vote in October elections. Fraud is alleged.

November 3 - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou scraps plans to hold a controversial referendum on a European bailout. Within a week, he steps down to make way for an interim government headed by Lucas Papademos.

November 4 - Alfonso Cano, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is killed in a military raid.

November 7 - Deceased pop star Michael Jackson's physician, Conrad Murray, is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to prison for four years.

November 8 - The International Atomic Energy Agency indicates that Iran has been engineering and testing key nuclear weapons parts, triggering Western sanctions.

November 8 - Liberians elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to a second term.

November 10 - A Ugandan court sentences Enoch Nsubuga to 30 years' prison for murdering renowned gay rights activist David Kato in January.

November 10 - France is shocked by reports that Standard & Poor's is considering downgrading its debt. The report is a mistake.

November 11 - Australia's parliament votes for a carbon tax on the country's 500 biggest polluters.

November 12 - Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Italian prime minister, after Italy's parliament approves EU-mandated austerity measures. The move paves the way for Mario Monti to head a technocratic government.

November 16 - Dozens of Kuwaitis storm parliament, demanding a change in government amid a corruption scandal.

November 16 - Lithuania nationalizes its fifth-largest bank, Snoras, after regulators discover a huge asset shortfall.

November 18 - Former Sri Lankan army commander and presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is sentenced to three years' prison for making false allegations of war crimes.

November 18 - Former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is arrested on charges of election sabotage for allegedly tampering with results of congressional elections in 2007.

November 20 - Parliamentary elections sweep Spain's opposition conservatives to power.

November 21 - Hungary requests a second bailout from the International Monetary Fund and EU, reversing a previous pledge to cut ties with the IMF.

November 22 - Latvia's banking authority suspends all operations of Latvijas Krajbanka due to missing assets discovered during a audit.

November 23 - Yemeni President Saleh agrees to hand over power.

November 25 - New Zealand's Conservative National Party wins elections.

November 26 - A NATO attack kills 24 Pakistani troops along the Afghan border, dramatically harming Pakistani relations with the West.

November 27 - Arab League foreign ministers endorse economic sanctions on Syria, demanding that the country allow in foreign monitors. Syria accedes to the monitors in December.

November 28 - Egyptians cast their ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections post-Mubarak. Voting will continue through January 10.

November 29 - Iranian students ransack the British embassy in Tehran following the British government's decision to cut all bank relations.

December 3 - The new Positive Slovenia party wins the most votes in snap elections.

December 3 - An opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Party wins Croatian elections.

December 4 - Allegations of vote-rigging prompt massive protests in Russia after parliamentary elections in which the ruling United Russia party comes top, despite steep losses.

December 6 - A Belgian government is formed, 541 days after elections.

December 6 - Twin attacks target Shi'ite gatherings in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, killing more than 60 on the final day of Muharram religious holiday.

December 6-7 - Standard & Poor's puts under review the credit rating of 15 of the eurozone's 17 member states, as well as that of the bloc's bailout fund.

December 7 - Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav starts a seven-year sentence for rape and sexual harassment.

December 8-9 - Twenty-six of 27 EU leaders agree to tighter budget discipline and economic coordination rules. Britain opts out.

December 9 - Croatia signs an accession treaty with the EU, to join on July 1, 2013.

December 11 - Negotiators at a climate conference in Durban agree to work on a successor to the Kyoto global warming treaty, to go into effect in 2020.

December 12 - Canada withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol, the first country to do so.

December 15 - Former French president Jacques Chirac is given a two-year suspended sentence on corruption charges.

December 16 - Russia joins the World Trade Organization.

December 16 - The US hands over control of the last military base in Iraq.

December 16-17 - Tropical storm Washi leaves more than 1,000 dead in the Philippines.

December 18 - More than 200 people go missing after a boat carrying Australia-bound migrants sinks off Indonesia.

December 18 - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel dies at 75.

December 18 - Most of the 67-man crew of a Russian oil rig is lost at sea after it capsizes in frigid waters near Sakhalin.

December 19 - North Korea announces the death of its leader Kim Jong Il dies, aged 69. The news is only released two days after his death. His third son, Kim Jong Un, ascends to the leadership.

December 19 - Swedish carmaker Saab files for bankruptcy after several attempts fail to find a rescuer.

December 19 - An arrest warrant is issued against Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi on suspicion of involvement in a blast targeting government officials.

December 20 - President Joseph Kabila is sworn in for a second term after winning disputed elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.