December 19, 2011. Copyright 2011, Graphic News. All rights reserved REVIEW 2011: YEAR AT A GLANCE By Julie Mullins LONDON, December 19, Graphic News: Captions accompany graphic GN28732 January 11: Widespread protests in Tunisia launch the Arab Spring revolts that spread rapidly through the Middle East and North Africa. January 12: Devastating floods inundate most of the Australian state of Queensland, leaving at least 35 dead. January 28: Army tanks surround Cairo's Tahrir Square after days of mass protests in Egypt ‚Äì within days President Hosni Mubarak bows to pressure and steps down. February 14: The Arab Spring revolution spreads to Yemen and Bahrain. February 17: Security forces in Libya crack down on protesters in Benghazi demanding the removal of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. February 22: An earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 181 people and causes widespread structural damage. March 11: Japan is struck by a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that kills up to 20,000 people and triggers a major nuclear crisis. March 18: Major demonstrations in Syria oppose the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. March 19: European and U.S. forces launch attacks on Libyan air defences to impose a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone aimed at preventing a massacre in Libya. April 11: Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is captured after a four-month standoff triggered when he refused to accept election defeat. April 27: Over 200 tornadoes sweep through the southern U.S., amid a four-day outbreak that kills 346 people across six states. April 29: Up to two billion worldwide watch Britain's Prince William marry Catherine Middleton. May 02: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is shot dead by U.S. special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. May 14: IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is arrested in New York on sexual assault charges. He resigns; the charges are later dropped. May 28: Barcelona beat Manchester United at Wembley to win the UEFA Champions League Final for a record fourth time. June 03: President Saleh of Yemen barely survives an attempted assassination as many troops defect to the tribal uprising. June 04: Chinese tennis star Li Na wins at Roland Garros, becoming the first ever Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles crown. June 05: A rare strain of toxic E. coli kills 45 people in northern Germany. July 09: South Sudan becomes the world's newest nation. July 07: The Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid newspaper News of the World is shut down after it is mired in a phone-hacking scandal. July 21: The shuttle Atlantis lands in Florida at the end of the 135th and final flight of the space shuttle programme. July 22: Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian right-wing extremist, murders 77 people in two attacks in central Oslo and at a political youth camp on the island of Utoeya. August 02: The U.S. Congress reaches an 11th-hour deal to prevent a national default. Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords votes for the first time since being critically injured in a shooting in January. August 06: Rioting breaks out in London and soon spreads to other English cities, leaving five dead and £200m worth of property damage. August 23: Libyan rebels seize the capital, Tripoli, but Gaddafi and his sons escape via a network of underground tunnels. September 06: East Africa's worst drought in 60 years leaves 13 million needing aid. September 11: America marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed almost 3,000 people in 2001. September 23: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas makes an official bid for statehood at the United Nations. October 05: Steve Jobs, visionary co-founder of Apple, dies at age 56 after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer. October 17: The Occupy movement -- a protest against economic and social inequality -- spreads to cities worldwide. October 20: Muammar Gaddafi, brutal ruler of Libya for 42 years, is captured and killed by revolutionaries in his home town of Sirte. November 12: The Arab League votes to suspend Syria over its violent suppression of the Syrian uprising ‚Äì up to 5,000 are now feared dead. November 12: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns over Italy's deepening economic crisis; he follows Greece's George Papandreou to the exit door. November 29: A Los Angeles court jails Dr Conrad Murray for four years for the involuntary manslaughter of pop king Michael Jackson in 2009. December 05: Eurozone crisis talks led by "Merkozy" call for treaty changes to strengthen budget discipline -- but Britain vetoes the proposal. December 18: The last U.S. troops pull out of Iraq as military operations end eight years after the invasion to remove Saddam Hussein from power. December 19: South Korea put its military on an emergency footing following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.