Jan. 5

Republicans assume control of the House of Representatives.
 

Jan. 8

Six people are killed and 16 injured when Jared Loughner, 22, starts shooting at a political event outside a shopping centre near Tucson, Arizona. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the intended target, is shot through the head but survived. A U.S. district court judge and 9-year-old girl born on 9/11 are both killed. Loughner is charged with murder and attempted assassination.
 

Jan. 10

Flash flooding in Queensland state in Australia kills at least 10 and left 70 missing. Rain since November caused sporadic flooding in the state in December and January.; affected more than 250,000 people.
 

Jan. 11

Heavy rainfall in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janerio triggers floods and mudslides killing at least 665 and displacing 14,000 people.
 

Jan. 14

After weeks of protest over unemployment, food prices and overall poor living conditions, the 23-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia collapses. He flees the country with members of his family and a large quantity of gold.
 

Jan. 24

A suicide bombing in Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport kills 37 and injured another 180. A Chechen warlord claims responsibility.
 

Jan. 25

Egyptians start protesting against President Hosni Mubarak's government. On Jan. 28, thousands demonstrate in several cities after Friday prayers. Access to the Internet and mobile phone networks are cut. Mubarak dismisses his government and appoints a new cabinet.
 

Feb. 2

After weeks of protests, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns. A military council takes power and promises elections.
 

Feb.14

American President Obama releases his budget plan that includes a U.S.$1.6 trillion dollar deficit for 2012.
 

Feb. 17

A popular uprising begins in Libya but leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi refuses to resign and fights back against rebels.
 

Feb. 22

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake strikes near Christchurch, New Zealand. 155 people were killed and thousands of buildings were destroyed.
 

March 7

After a public spat with the creator of Two and a Half Men, lead actor Charlie Sheen is fired from the hit show. Sheen had been in and out of rehab, been arrested for domestic assault and in trouble for destroying a New York City hotel room during a party. Sheen takes to Twitter and reaches one million followers within hours. His erratic behaviour continues for weeks.
 

March 11

A massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Japan, triggering an even more devastating tsunami. More than 10,000 people are killed or missing and the Fukushima nuclear reactors are damaged causing radiation leaks and long-term evacuations.
 

March 17

The United Nations votes to impose a no-fly zone over Libya after weeks of violent government attacks on protesters.
 

March 18

Libya announces a ceasefire, but fighting continues and the UN mission launches the first air strikes the next day.
 

April 8

After months of escalating protests, security forces kill a few dozen anti-government protesters in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Daraa. Tens of thousands of Syrians protest the violence.
 

April 14

Deadly tornadoes rip through the southern United States, killing 18 people. By the end of the month, tornadoes will have killed about 300 people.
 

April 19

Syria lifts the 48-year-old state of emergency laws in an effort to defuse protests. Reports suggest more than 600 were killed and 1,000 arrested.
 

April 24

Nearly 500 insurgents escape from a Kandahar prison through a tunnel built by the Taliban.
 

April 29

Britain celebrates the fairytale-like royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
 

May 1

After a nine-and-a-half year manhunt, American commandos find and kill Osama Bin Laden in a compound north of Islamabad, Pakistan.
 

May 14

International Monetary Fund chief Dominic Strauss-Kahn is arrested minutes before he was to leave for France, after being accused of a sexual attack on a hotel maid in New York. He will resign from the IMF five days later.
 

May 19

U.S. President Barack Obama signals a shift in his Middle East policy by publicly calling for the creation of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders — bluntly telling Israel the "status quo is unsustainable" if it wants to achieve lasting peace, angering Israeli leaders.
 

May 24

Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is ordered to stand trial, facing the death penalty, for the killing of democracy protesters.
 

June 19

Drug violence spreads across Mexico as at least 17 people are killed in a string of attacks, including a shooting at a bar in Monterrey.
 

June 24

Conrad Black's wife Barbara Amiel faints after a U.S. judge orders the former media baron back to prison.
 

June 29

Greek police fire tear gas at masked demonstrators attacking the finance ministry after lawmakers pass the first of two austerity bills demanded by international lenders to stave off default and avert a deepening of the global financial crisis.
 

July 7

Media baron Rupert Murdoch announces the closure of the embattled News of the World tabloid in the wake of an ever-growing phone-hacking scandal. The paper dies after 168 years of publishing.
 

July 21

The space shuttle Atlantis touches down just before 6 a.m. for the last time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending the American space shuttle program.
 

July 22

In what is being described as the worst violence Norway has faced since the Second World War, a gunman opens fire on a youth camp and a detonates a bomb in the country's capital, killing 77 and injuring 151 people.
 

July 29

The United Nations warns that the whole of southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, leaving millions at risk of starvation.
 

Aug. 3

American officials release details of indictments in what's being billed as the largest online child porn bust of its kind. Two Canadians are caught in the global sweep.
 

Aug. 5

The United States' credit rating is cut for the first time when Standard & Poor's lowers it from triple-A to AA+, citing the country's looming deficit burden and weak policy-making process.
 

Aug. 10

British Prime Minister David Cameron British authorizes the use of water cannon for the first time outside Northern Ireland to deal with the worst riots in a generation in London and surrounding cities.
 

Aug. 24

Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of tech giant Apple Inc., announces he is resigning immediately from his post after years of health problems.
 

Sept. 2

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks releases online its entire cache of American diplomatic cables, drawing a furious response from its media partners and foreign governments for releasing unredacted information that could endanger the lives of sources.
 

Sept. 7

A Russian plane carrying one of the country's top hockey teams — Lokomotiv of the Kontinental Hockey League — crashes during takeoff, killing 43 members of the team and leaving two survivors in grave condition.
 

Sept. 11

Family members of 9/11's approximately 3,000 victims, including 24 Canadians, finally see the official memorial — two reflecting pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers — in New York City on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
 

Sept. 16

Winnipeg-born and raised pilot George Hewitt is killed along with nine others when a plane crashes into the grandstands at a Reno, Nevada, air race.
 

Sept. 17

Protesting corporate greed and economic disparity, a group of protesters march through the heart of New York's financial district and give birth to Occupy Wall Street.
 

Sept. 24

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asks the United Nations to recognize a state for his people, despite opposition from the United States and Israel.
 

Sept. 29

German Chancellor Angela Merkel receives an overwhelming show of support from her government for a beefed-up EU bailout, sending a strong signal to the five remaining EU countries that have to ratify the deal.
 

Oct. 3

American student Amanda Knox is released from an Italian prison after being acquitted of the murder and sexual assault of British student Meredith Kercher, ending her four-year legal battle to prove her innocence.
 

Oct. 5

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., and its long-time CEO, dies at age 56.
 

Oct. 18

Gilad Shalit salutes his prime minister and hugs his parents after a landmark prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel brings the captured soldier home after five years. His freedom was exchanged for that of more than 1,000 Palestinians.
 

Oct. 20

Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year reign over Libya ends when he is killed during an assault by opposition forces on his hometown of Sirte.
 

Oct. 21

President Barack Obama announces all remaining U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011, ending a war that deeply divided the nation, left almost 4,500 American soldiers dead and cost more than $800 billion.
 

Oct. 27

Marathon talks among European Union leaders ends with agreement over a complex plan to help solve Greece's debt problem and strengthen EU banks.
 

Nov. 6

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou announces he will resign his post over his botched decision to put the EU bailout agreement to a referendum.
 

Nov. 9

An earthquake in eastern Turkey kills at least five people and traps scores more under the rubble of two hotels and a dozen other buildings, less than three weeks after another killed 600 in the same area.
 

Nov. 10

The Obama administration says it is delaying a final ruling on the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline until after the November 2012 presidential election while the government looks to reroute it.
 

Nov. 12

The EU economic crisis claims its second leader in less than a week when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bows to pressure and resigns.
 

Nov. 15

An early morning operation by New York City police clears Zuccotti Park in Manhattan of Occupy Wall Street protesters, eliminating the movement's symbolic home.
 

Nov. 21

After almost a year away from the game of hockey, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby makes a triumphant return to the ice, scoring four points in his first game back from concussion.
 

Dec. 5

King Albert II names Elio Rupo as the prime minister of Belgium after 541 days of negotiations following an indecisive election in June 2010.

NHL star Sidney Crosby's post concussion return is aborted after just a few weeks. He suffers concussion symptoms again after two collisions in a game against Boston, the second one with his own teammate Chris Kunitz.
 

Dec. 6

Two explosions at religious shrines on the Shiite holy day of Ashura kills at least 59 people in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan.
 

Dec. 11

After two weeks and two days of negotiation, the international community signs a new agreement to tackle global warming in Durban, South Africa.
 

Dec. 13

A man armed with a gun and grenades kills five people and himself in a public square in the Belgian city of Liege.
 

Dec. 15

The nine-year mission American military mission in Iraq comes to a formal end with a ceremony at the Baghdad Airport.