January 14 – Arab Spring: Toppling of Tunisian Government marked the beginning of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world against oppressive regimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p9NJVgqgW8
March 11 – A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing 15,822 and leaving another 3,926 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.
March 23 – Death of Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (b. 1932) probably the last significant actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
May 16 – The European Union agree to €78 billion rescue deal for Portugal. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. This marks the first significant event in 2011 in destabilizing the Euro.
July 7 – The world’s first artificial organ transplant is achieved, using an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.
July 22 – 76 people are killed in twin terrorist attacks in Norway after a bombing in the Regjeringskvartalet (the government center in Oslo) and a shooting at a political youth camp in the island of Utøya.
September 17 – Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. The movement is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.
October 11 – The U.S. Senate defeats Obama’s Jobs Bill. The plan would have combined payroll tax cuts for workers and businesses with $175 billion in spending on roads, school repairs and other infrastructure, as well as unemployment assistance and help to local governments to avoid layoffs of teachers, firefighters and police.
October 31 – Date selected by the UN as the symbolic date when global population reaches seven billion.
December 4th – Senate passes The National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, which effectively eliminates the Bill of Rights. Provisions included would declare the entire USA to be a ”battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity. President Obama has vowed to veto this legislation.
