That was the year that was’¦ 2011 had some major news stories, some tragedies, stories of natural disaster and some human interest events. It marked major political upheaval in the Middle East ‘ something that went into 2012, 2013 and beyond. Here is a list of the most important news stories from the year.

1. Gabrielle Giffords

The first major news event of the year came from the US state of Arizona with the attempted assassination of the Democrat Congresswoman. She was shot in the head outside a supermarket in Casa Adobes, a district outside of Tucson. She was rushed to hospital and survived, though the situation was precarious and she had to be put into a coma. Sadly, six people were killed and thirteen others were injured. The perpetrator, one Jared Lee Loughner, was detained at the scene and was later convicted for multiple counts of murder. He received a sentence of life without parole.

2. Beginning of the Arab Spring

If a series of events defined 2011, it was the series of uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. Beginning in Tunisia, soon other countries started to demand the resignation of military regimes. It spread to Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Other uprisings took place in Bahrain and Syria and a series of protests in other countries such as Iraq, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait and others. In some cases, governments were deposed by peaceful protest. In some cases, such as Syria, a bitter civil war broke out.

3. Fukushima

Another event that defined the year and had lasting consequences, opening debate about the relative safety of nuclear power plants, was the meltdown of the Fukushima power plant in Japan following an earthquake. It would become the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. Later, questions would be asked about the safety of the plant and there was some suggestion that building of the plant had been opposed due to its location near a fault line. Investigations into radioactive materials released by the plant are ongoing in 2013.

4. Death of Osama Bin Laden

Located in Pakistan, a crack team of Navy SEALs were sent to a compound that the Al Qaeda leader was believed to be holed up in. At 0100 (local time) on 2nd May of the year, the SEALs stormed the compound and in the ensuing firefight, Bin Laden along with a number of his deputies, were killed. Al Qaeda confirmed the death four days later and vowed revenge; DNA evidence proved that it was him yet despite this confirmation, a number of conspiracy theories exist that he is still alive

5. New Zealand Earthquakes

The city of Christchurch in New Zealand suffered two earthquakes in the year. The first came in February and measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. 185 people died in the disaster. The city would suffer again though with a series of aftershocks a few months later ‘ they measured between 5.7 and 6.3. A number of already weakened buildings collapsed and some that survived the initial quake were damaged. The first quake came less than six months after the Canterbury earthquake which measured 7.1

6. News of the World

The British tabloid newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International ceased production in 2011. Sales figures had been stable for many years and it was still one of the country’s biggest sellers. So what had led to its downfall? Entirely it was amid the accusations of phone-hacking ‘ newspaper journalists accessing the phone records of various public figures for the purpose of reading private messages. In one case, it was of the missing schoolgirl Amanda ‘Milly’ Dowler. The deletion of phone messages from her handset led her parents to believe that she was still alive.

7. At the Speed of Light

Once a theoretical possibility and a concept used in science fiction, neutrinos were discovered in the 1930s and many physics experiments were conducted to understand the universe. It was postulated, but never proven, that they could actually travel faster than the speed of light. In 2011, CERN finally discovered that neutrinos could do just that. The experiment was repeated several times throughout the remainder of the year, confirming something that had only been suspected. The possibilities of future research into neutrinos are limitless with the breaking of this barrier

8. Population Milestone

In the month of October, the Earth’s population hit 7 billion for the very first time. In the same year, it was marked that birth levels are slowly dropping off in some parts of the world ‘ North America and Europe especially. However, in the third world these are stabilising or climbing. It is not known how long it will take to reach 8 billion ‘ the earliest estimate being 2050, the latest being 2100. The shift in birth rates is expected to continue as the century goes on

9. Death of Kim Jong-Il

The leader of the secretive communist state of North Korea had been ill for many years and had already handed over many of his powers to surprise heir and successor ‘ his young son Kim Jong-Un. Shortly before his death there had been rumours of improvement in his health. However, in December it was announced that he had died of a heart attack. As with many of the leaders, his birthday was pronounced a public holiday by his son. Also with some of the country’s leaders, natural disasters followed in the wake of his death ‘ ice on one of the country’s largest lakes is said to have cracked.

10. Close Shave with Asteroid

There are many stellar objects that might one day collide with our planet. Asteroid 2005 YU55 came very closer to striking our planet in December ‘ around 202,000 miles away. It was the closest shave since 1976. Its closeness permitted NASA to study the asteroid in great detail during its pass. They found a ridge, several hill-like mounds and large boulders on its surface. The asteroid is approximately 360m in diameter

Conclusion

There are a number of important news stories from the year not listed here, an unusual number of natural disasters for starters ‘ the year was also seen as an intense period of hurricane activity for the Caribbean and southeast USA for example. It also had its fair share of celebrity deaths: Actors Pete Postlethwaite and Elizabeth Taylor, electronics tycoon Steve Jobs, boxer Joe Frazier and singer Amy Winehouse, polemicist Christopher Hitchens and most tragically, racer Dan Wheldon.