January 7 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all

11 people on board.
January 10 – A bombing in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and
78 others injured.
January 12 – Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old
demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu's economic austerity
measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and
law enforcement officers.
January 13 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of
Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino's negligence and irresponsibility.
There are 32 confirmed deaths.
January 19 – The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down
by the FBI.
January 23 – Iran–European Union relations: the European Union adopts an
embargo against Iran in protest of its continued effort to enrich uranium.[3]

February
Edit

February 6 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th

anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the
Commonwealth.[4][5]
February 19 – Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France, following
sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January.[6]
February 21 – Greek government-debt crisis: Eurozone finance ministers reach an
agreement on a second, €130-billion Greek bailout.[7]

March
Edit

March 13 – After 246 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia
Britannica discontinues its print edition.[8]
March 22 – The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup
d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices.[9]

April
Edit

April 6 – The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally

declares the independence of Azawad from Mali.[10]
April 12 – Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup d'état and take
control of the capital city, Bissau. They arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira
and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a
presidential election campaign.[11]
April 13 – Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite,
explodes shortly after launch. The United States and other countries had called the
impending launch a violation of United Nations Security Council demands.[12] The
launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder
of the republic.[12]
April 26 – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11
counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the
Sierra Leone Civil War.[13]

May
Edit

May 2 – A pastel version of The Scream, by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch,
sells for US$120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for
an auctioned work of art.[14][15]
May 7 – Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.
May 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo takes place in Yeosu, South Korea.[16]
May 20 – An annular solar eclipse was visible from Asia and North America, and
was the 58th solar eclipse from 73 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 128.
May 22 – Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 634
metres high, is opened to the public.[17]

June
Edit

June 5–6 – The century's second and last solar transit of Venus occurs. The
next pair are predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.[18]
June 8 – July 1 – Poland and Ukraine jointly host the UEFA Euro 2012 football
tournament, which is won by Spain.
June 18 – Shenzhou 9, a Chinese spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts,
including the first-ever female, docks manually with orbiting module Tiangong-1,
making them the third country, after the United States and Russia, to successfully
perform the mission.[19]
June 24 – Lonesome George, the last known individual of the Pinta Island
tortoise subspecies, dies in Galápagos National Park, thus making the subspecies
extinct.[20]
June 30 – Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is elected 5th
President of Egypt, sparking mixed reactions and protests throughout the country.
[21]

July
Edit

July 4 – CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties

consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.[22]
[23][24][25][26]
July 20 – 2012 Aurora shooting: Twelve people die and 58 are injured in a mass
shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. The shooter, James Holmes, opens
fire on a crowd during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. He is found behind the
theater claiming to be "The Joker".[27]
July 21 – Turkish adventurer Erden Eruç becomes the first person in history to
complete a solo human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.
July 27 – August 12 – The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, England,
United Kingdom.[28]
July 30–31 – In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India
blackouts leave 620 million people without power.[29][30][31]

August
Edit

August 6 – Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully

lands on Mars.[32]
August 31 – Armenia severs diplomatic relations with Hungary, following the
extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardoning of Ramil Safarov, who was
convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004. The move is also met
with fierce criticism from other countries.[33]

September
Edit

September 7 – Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its
embassy in Tehran, and orders the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, over
support for Syria, nuclear plans and human rights abuses.[34]
 September 11–27 – A series of terrorist attacks are directed against United
States diplomatic missions worldwide, as well as diplomatic missions of Germany,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the US, opinions are divided over whether
the attacks are a reaction to a YouTube trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims.
In Libya, among the dead is US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.[35][36][37][38]
[39]

October
Edit

October 14 – Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to

break the sound barrier without any machine assistance during a record space dive
out of the Red Bull Stratos helium-filled balloon from 128,000 ft equaling 24 miles
(39 km) over Roswell, New Mexico in the United States.[40][41][42]
October 16 – Seven paintings worth $25 million are stolen from the Kunsthal in
Rotterdam, the Netherlands.[43][44][45][46]

November
Edit

November 6 – Barack Obama is reelected President of the United States.

November 13 – A total solar eclipse occurred in parts of Australia and the
South Pacific. It was the 45th of 72 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 133.
November 14–21 – Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the
Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. In the
following week 140 Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of
violence. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is announced by Egyptian Foreign
Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the
week-long escalation in hostilities in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.[47][48]
[49][50][51]
November 25–December 9 – Typhoon Bopha, known as "Pablo" in the Philippines,
kills at least 1,067 with around 838 people still missing. The typhoon causes
considerable damage in the island of Mindanao.[52][53][54]
November 29 – The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-
member observer state status.[55]

December
Edit

December 8 – In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the

Kyoto Protocol until 2020.[56]
December 14 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people,
including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.Edit

January 1
Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone
country.[2]
A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year
service, killing 23 people.
January 4 – Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi dies after setting himself
on fire a month earlier, sparking anti-government protests in Tunisia and later
other Arab nations. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring.[3]
[4]
January 9–15 – Southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence. The Sudanese
electorate votes in favour of independence, paving the way for the creation of the
new state in July.[5][6]
January 9 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Orumiyeh in the northeast of the
country, killing 77 people.
January 14 – The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly
violent protests; President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia after 23
years in power.[7][8]
January 24 – 37 people are killed and more than 180 others wounded in a bombing
at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.[9][10][11]

February
Edit

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.[12]
February 15 – The First Libyan Civil War starts.
February 22 – March 14 – Uncertainty over Libyan oil output causes crude oil
prices to rise 20% over a two-week period following the Arab Spring,[13] causing
the 2011 energy crisis.
February 22 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Christchurch, New Zealand.
Over 180 people were killed, many within the CTV Building, including a large number
of foreign citizens. A large number of foreign search and rescue workers responded
to the event.

March
Edit

March 6 – Civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War is triggered when 15
youths in Daraa are arrested for scrawling graffiti on their school wall denouncing
the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
March 11 – A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of
Japan, killing 15,840 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.[14]
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.[15][16]
Protests breakout across Syria demanding democratic reforms, resignation of
President Bashar al-Assad, and release of those imprisoned for the March 6 Daraa
protest.[17] The government responds by killing hundreds of protesters and laying
siege to various cities, beginning the Syrian Civil War.[18]
March 17 – The United Nations Security Council votes 10–0 to create a no-fly
zone over Libya in response to allegations of government aggression against
civilians.[19]
March 19 – In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support
of leader Muammar Gaddafi,[20] military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973
begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.[21]

April
Edit

April 2 – India wins the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

April 11 – Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested in his home in
Abidjan by supporters of elected President Alassane Ouattara, with support from
French forces; this effectively ends the 2010–11 Ivorian crisis and civil war.[22]
April 15 – The Mexican town of Cherán is taken over by vigilantes in response
to abuses from the local drug cartel. The new government is strongly focused on
crime reduction and preserving the local environment.
April 25–28 – The 2011 Super Outbreak forms in the Southern, Midwest and
Eastern United States with a tornado count of 362; killing 324 and injuring over
2,200.
April 29 – An estimated two billion people[23] watch the wedding of Prince
William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.

May
Edit

May 1 – U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder
and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, was killed on May 2, 2011 (PKT, UTC+05)
during an American military operation in Pakistan.[24]
May 16 – The European Union agrees to a €78 billion rescue deal for
Portugal. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial
Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the
International Monetary Fund.[25]
May 21 – Grímsvötn, Iceland's most active volcano, erupts and causes disruption
to air travel in Northwestern Europe.[26]
May 22 – The 2011 Joplin tornado, an EF5 tornado, strikes Joplin, Missouri,
killing 158 and injuring 1,150.
May 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.[27][28]

June
Edit

June 4 – Chile's Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations

across South America, New Zealand and Australia, and forcing over 3,000 people to
evacuate.
June 26 – July 17 – The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup takes place in Germany and
is won by Japan.
June 28 – The Food and Agriculture Organization announces the eradication of
the cattle plague rinderpest from the world.[29]

July
Edit

July 9 – South Sudan secedes from Sudan, per the result of the independence
referendum held in January.[30]
July 12 – The planet Neptune completes its first orbit since it was discovered
in 1846.[31]
July 14 – South Sudan joins the United Nations as the 193rd member.[32]
July 20
Goran Hadžić is detained in Serbia, becoming the last of 161 people
indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.[33]
The United Nations declares a famine in southern Somalia, the first in over
30 years.[34]
July 21 – Space Shuttle Atlantis lands successfully at Kennedy Space Center
after completing STS-135, concluding NASA's Space Shuttle program.[35]
July 22 – In Norway, Anders Behring Breivik kills 8 people in a bomb blast
which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, then kills 69 at a massacre at
a Workers' Youth League camp on the island of Utøya.[36]
July 31 – In Thailand over 12.8 million people are affected by severe flooding.
The World Bank estimates damages at 1,440 billion baht (US$45 billion).[37] Some
areas are still six feet under water, and many factory areas remain closed at the
end of the year. 815[38] people are killed, with 58 of the country's 77 provinces
affected.[39]

August
Edit

August – Stock exchanges worldwide suffer heavy losses due to the fears of
contagion of the European sovereign debt crisis and the credit rating downgraded as
a result of the debt-ceiling crisis of the United States.[40][41]
August 5
NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has 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.[42]
August 20–28 – Libyan rebels take control of the capital Tripoli, effectively
overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.[43][44][45]

September
Edit

September 5 – India and Bangladesh sign a pact to end their 40-year border
demarcation dispute.[46]
September 10 – The MV Spice Islander I, carrying at least 800 people, sinks off
the coast of Zanzibar, killing 240 people.[47]
September 12 – Approximately 100 people die after a petrol pipeline explodes in
Nairobi.[48]
September 17 – Occupy Wall Street protests begin in the United States. This
develops into the Occupy movement which spreads to 82 countries by October.[49][50]
[51][52][53][54][55][56][57]
September 19 – With 434 dead, the United Nations launches a $357 million appeal
for victims of the 2011 Sindh floods in Pakistan.[58]

October
Edit

October 4 – The death toll from the flooding of Cambodia's Mekong river and
attendant flash floods reaches 207.[59]
October 18 – Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange: Israel and the Palestinian
militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner exchange, in which the captured
Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for 1,027
Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including 280 prisoners
serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks.[60][61][62]
October 20
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is killed in Sirte, with National
Transitional Council forces taking control of the city and ending the war.[63][64]
[65][66]
Basque separatist militant organisation ETA declares an end to its 43-year
campaign of political violence, which has killed over 800 people since 1968.[67]
October 23 – A magnitude 7.2 Mw earthquake jolts eastern Turkey near the city
of Van, killing over 600 people and damaging about 2,200 buildings.[68]
October 27 – After an emergency meeting in Brussels, the European Union
announces an agreement to tackle the European sovereign debt crisis which includes
a writedown of 50% of Greek bonds, a recapitalisation of European banks and an
increase of the bailout fund of the European Financial Stability Facility totaling
to €1 trillion.[69][70]
October 31
Date selected by the UN as the symbolic date when global population reaches
seven billion.[71]
UNESCO admits Palestine as a member, following a vote which 107 member
states support and 14 oppose.[72]

November
Edit

November 26 – The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, the most elaborate
Martian exploration vehicle to date, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center. It
lands on Mars on August 6, 2012.[73][74][75]
 November 30 – The United Kingdom severs diplomatic relations with Iran and
expels diplomats, less than 24 hours after protesters attacked the British embassy
in Tehran.[76]

December
Edit

December 15 – The United States formally declares an end to the Iraq War. While
this ends the insurgency, it begins another.[77][78][79][80][81]
December 16 – Tropical Storm Washi causes 1,268 flash flood fatalities in the
Philippines, with 85 people officially listed as missing.[82]
December 29 – Samoa and Tokelau move from east to west of the International
Date Line, thereby skipping December 30, in order to align their time zones better
with their main trading partners.[83