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Sunday, 1 January 2012

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Around the world...

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It is a new dawn... We have just begun a new year - 2012. Only a few hours ago it was the end of another eventful year. We cannot

foresee what the New Year would bring , but like Janus,the two faced god after whom the month of January is

named, let's look back at some of the highlights of 2011 in the local and foreign scene...

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[January ]

January 9-15 - Southern Sudan holds referendum on independence. The Sudanese electorate votes in favour of independence, paving the way for the creation of the new state in July.

January 11- Flooding and mudslides in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro kill more than 800.

January 24 - 37 people are killed and more than 180 others wounded in a bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.

[ February ]


Prince William and his bride.

February 11 - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.

[ March ]

March 11- A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing over 15,000 and leaving another 8,000 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.

March 13 - Japanese Nuclear Plant Blast after 8.9 earthquake and a tsunami wave more than 10 meters high. The costs are in billions and the victims might be around 1000.

March 15 - Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain declares a three-month state of emergency as troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council are sent to quell the civil unrest.

March 19 - In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support of leader Muammar Gaddafi, military intervention authorised under UNSCR 1973 begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.

March 23 -Elizabeth Taylor, one of the 20th Century's biggest movie stars, dies in Los Angeles at the age of 79.

[April ]

April 24 - Sathya Sai Baba dies in india at the age of 84

April 29 - An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.

[May ]

May 1 - U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, has been killed during an American military operation in Pakistan.


Seven billionth baby.

May 26 - Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.

[ June ]

June 4 - Chile's Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate.

June 5 - : Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury sustained during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters celebrate his transfer of power to his Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi.

[July ]

July 7 - The world's first artificial organ transplant is achieved, using an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.

July 9 - South Sudan secedes from Sudan, as a the result of the independence referendum held in January.

July 21 - Space Shuttle Atlantis lands successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135, concluding NASA's space shuttle programme.

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.

[August ]

August 5 - NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.

Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

August 20 - 28 - In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take control of the nation's capital effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

[September]


Osama bin Laden.

September 5 - India and Bangladesh sign a pact to end their 40-year border demarcation dispute.

September 10 - The MV Spice Islander I carrying at least 800 people sinks off the coast of Zanzibar. At least 197 people are confirmed dead.

[October ]

October 20 -Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya, dies on October 20 during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

October 23 -A 7.2 earthquake strikes Eastern Turkeycausing a high rate of deaths and destruction

October 31 -The UN designated symbolic date when global population reaches seven billion

[November ]

November 3 - Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt is jailed for 30 months for his part in the conspiracy to bowl deliberate no-balls in last year's(2010) Test match against England.

Former world number two test bowler, Mohammad Asif, 28, is jailed for one year and bowler Mohammad Amir, 19,sentenced to six months.

[December]

December 1 -NASA scientists discover Earth-Like Planet named Kepler-22b

December 18 - The last convoy of US troops to leave Iraq drive into Kuwait, marking the end of the nearly nine-year war.

- Over 650 die due to flas floods in the Philippines.

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