2011 has been an incredibly eventful year all round. Firstly, 2011 was the year of the Arab Spring. Although the spark that set of the chain reaction of events actually took place in Tunisia on 18th December 2010, 2011 will be remembered for the huge events which took places as a result of Mohammed Bouazizi setting himself on fire. Whilst events still rumble on, with Syria having seen an estimated 3000 deaths so far, it is important to remember how much change there has been so far. In January 2011, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia fled to Saudi Arabia after 23 years as ruler of his country. The following month President Hosni Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt after a 30 year rule, forced out by continuing protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo. And, of course, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in Libya in August 2011, following 5 months of military action from various countries including the UK and a Libyan Civil War. He was of course then killed when he was found hiding in his hometown of Sirte.
Colonel Gaddafi wasn’t the only terrorist leader to be killed in 2011. On May 1st the world awoke to the news that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda and the man responsible for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on 11th September 2001 had been killed in Pakistan and buried at sea. And, of course, in December 2011, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il died at the age of 69. Whilst not killed, the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was finally captured in Serbia in May 2011 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Balkans Wars. And at the end of the year, the USA formerly withdrew from Iraq.
2011 was the year that a madman killed 76 people in Norway on the 22nd July, first by bombing the capital Oslo, and then going on a shooting rampage at a youth camp on the Island of Utoya. March 2011 saw a huge earthquake hit Japan, killing around 16,000 people and causing panic over the fate of its nuclear power stations. There was also famine in Southern Somalia for the first time in thirty years.
2011 was also dominated by bad economic news and with continuing worries for much of the year surrounding the potential collapse of the Euro. The EU had to step in to save Portugal and Greece during the year, a year which saw both the Prime Ministers of Greece and Italy having to step down and being replaced by unelected technocratic replacements – and in Italy’s case the whole government of Silvio Berlusconi was replaced by unelected technocrats. It was also the year that the head of the IMF, Dominic Strauss Khan, had to resign and step aside from the French Presidential Election due to accusations of a sexual attack on a maid in New York.
There was some good news in 2011 as well though! April saw the wedding of Prince William of Wales, the second in line to the British throne, to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey. They became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day, and their wedding was watched by an estimated 2 billion people around the globe. On the royal front, the Queen became the second longest reigning British monarch in May, and the first one to visit Ireland since 1911. The world’s first artificial organ transplant took place in July, and the world’s newest country, South Sudan, was created following their vote for independence. The Basque separatist movement ETA announced an end to its 43 year campaign in October. England won the Ashes in January, and the final Harry Potter film was released in July.
In politics, David Cameron’s Director of Communications Andy Coulson was forced to resign in January over phone hacking, a scandal which has rumbled on throughout 2011, with the closure of The News of the World Sunday newspaper, and Rupert Murdoch appearing before a select committee of MPs to answer questions. A referendum was held in May over whether the UK should adopt the Alternative Vote for General Elections, which was rejected, and the SNP under Alex Salmond won a majority in the Scottish Parliament, the first party to do so since devolution in 1999. August 2011 saw a week of riots across the UK, with businesses looted and burnt to the ground and some fatalities. St Pauls Cathedral closed for the first time since World War II due to anti-capitalist protests outside. In October, the Defence Secretary Liam Fox was forced to resign, and he was replaced by the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. There were mass public sector strikes in November, with public sector workers from teachers to car transporter manufacturers to civil servants going on strike over public sector pension reforms. And finally in December the Prime Minister caused a stir when he vetoed a European Union treaty over Eurozone finances.
2011 saw the deaths of actor Pete Postlethwaite, Elizabeth Taylor, golfer Seve Ballesteros, painter Lucian Freud, singer Amy Winehouse, Steve Jobs, boxer Joe Frazier, Welsh football coach Gary Speed and the 1st President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel. Finally, it should be noted that October 2011 was the month when the world population reached 7 billion. Quite a year, and 2012 is already looking to be even more eventful!
Colonel Gaddafi wasn’t the only terrorist leader to be killed in 2011. On May 1st the world awoke to the news that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda and the man responsible for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on 11th September 2001 had been killed in Pakistan and buried at sea. And, of course, in December 2011, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il died at the age of 69. Whilst not killed, the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was finally captured in Serbia in May 2011 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Balkans Wars. And at the end of the year, the USA formerly withdrew from Iraq.
2011 was the year that a madman killed 76 people in Norway on the 22nd July, first by bombing the capital Oslo, and then going on a shooting rampage at a youth camp on the Island of Utoya. March 2011 saw a huge earthquake hit Japan, killing around 16,000 people and causing panic over the fate of its nuclear power stations. There was also famine in Southern Somalia for the first time in thirty years.
2011 was also dominated by bad economic news and with continuing worries for much of the year surrounding the potential collapse of the Euro. The EU had to step in to save Portugal and Greece during the year, a year which saw both the Prime Ministers of Greece and Italy having to step down and being replaced by unelected technocratic replacements – and in Italy’s case the whole government of Silvio Berlusconi was replaced by unelected technocrats. It was also the year that the head of the IMF, Dominic Strauss Khan, had to resign and step aside from the French Presidential Election due to accusations of a sexual attack on a maid in New York.
There was some good news in 2011 as well though! April saw the wedding of Prince William of Wales, the second in line to the British throne, to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey. They became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day, and their wedding was watched by an estimated 2 billion people around the globe. On the royal front, the Queen became the second longest reigning British monarch in May, and the first one to visit Ireland since 1911. The world’s first artificial organ transplant took place in July, and the world’s newest country, South Sudan, was created following their vote for independence. The Basque separatist movement ETA announced an end to its 43 year campaign in October. England won the Ashes in January, and the final Harry Potter film was released in July.
In politics, David Cameron’s Director of Communications Andy Coulson was forced to resign in January over phone hacking, a scandal which has rumbled on throughout 2011, with the closure of The News of the World Sunday newspaper, and Rupert Murdoch appearing before a select committee of MPs to answer questions. A referendum was held in May over whether the UK should adopt the Alternative Vote for General Elections, which was rejected, and the SNP under Alex Salmond won a majority in the Scottish Parliament, the first party to do so since devolution in 1999. August 2011 saw a week of riots across the UK, with businesses looted and burnt to the ground and some fatalities. St Pauls Cathedral closed for the first time since World War II due to anti-capitalist protests outside. In October, the Defence Secretary Liam Fox was forced to resign, and he was replaced by the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. There were mass public sector strikes in November, with public sector workers from teachers to car transporter manufacturers to civil servants going on strike over public sector pension reforms. And finally in December the Prime Minister caused a stir when he vetoed a European Union treaty over Eurozone finances.
2011 saw the deaths of actor Pete Postlethwaite, Elizabeth Taylor, golfer Seve Ballesteros, painter Lucian Freud, singer Amy Winehouse, Steve Jobs, boxer Joe Frazier, Welsh football coach Gary Speed and the 1st President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel. Finally, it should be noted that October 2011 was the month when the world population reached 7 billion. Quite a year, and 2012 is already looking to be even more eventful!
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