December 19, 2012. Copyright 2012, Graphic News. All rights reserved Review of the Year 2012 By Julie Mullins LONDON, December 19, Graphic News: Captions accompany graphic GN30102 January: 1. The conflict in Syria escalates throughout the year into a full-scale civil war that has claimed over 30,000 lives 13. The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia capsizes off the coast of Tuscany, with the loss of 32 lives 31. Japan imposes a 40-year cap on the life of nuclear reactors following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster ----------------------------------------------------- February: 12. Demonstrations in Athens turn violent as Greece’s parliament approves harsh new austerity measures 21. Russian punk band Pussy Riot performs anti-Putin songs on the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral. Jail sentences later attract international criticism 26. Silent movie The Artist triumphs at the Oscars, winning five awards including best picture, best director and best actor ----------------------------------------------------- March: 4. Vladimir Putin regains the presidency in Russia, after four years as prime minister 10. A U.S. soldier kills 17 Afghan civilians, including nine children, after going on a door-to-door rampage 22. A gunman who killed seven people, including four at a Jewish school in Toulouse, dies in a shootout with French police after a 32-hour siege ----------------------------------------------------- April: 1. Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins a landslide victory in by-elections, filling 43 of 45 vacant parliamentary seats in Burma 10. Former high-flyer Bo Xilai is ousted from China’s ruling Politburo, engulfed by scandal involving his wife, Gu Kailai, a police chief, and the murder of a British businessman 15. Commemorations worldwide mark the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, lost on her maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg with the loss of over 1,500 lives ----------------------------------------------------- May: 6. François Hollande defeats Nicolas Sarkozy to become President of France, the first Socialist president since 1995 15. Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks is charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over Britain's tabloid phone-hacking scandal 17. Facebook becomes a public company, valued at $104 billion, but share prices soon fall away --------------------------------------------------- June: 3. Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne 5. Astronomers view the transit of Venus across the sun, an event that will not happen again until 2117 24. Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi wins Egypt’s first democratic presidential election, the first Islamist elected leader of an Arab state --------------------------------------------------- July: 4. Scientists announce the discovery of a new subatomic particle that appears to be the Higgs boson, the elusive last key to understanding why we have life and diversity in the universe 27. The London 2012 Olympic Games opens with a spectacular ceremony seen by 80,000 people in the Olympic Stadium and one billion worldwide --------------------------------------------------- August: 5. A rover spacecraft, Curiosity, lands on Mars to search for evidence that conditions were once fit for life 16. Ecuador says it will grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in its London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex charges 24. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after he was found guilty of masterminding sport’s most elaborate doping conspiracy --------------------------------------------------- September 11. America's ambassador to Libya and three other officials die in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The killings coincide with the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States 25. China’s first aircraft carrier officially enters service --------------------------------------------------- October 9. Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, 15, is shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' rights to education 14. Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner makes the highest ever freefall, travelling faster than the speed of sound, after jumping from a balloon 39km high 29. Superstorm Sandy smashes into the northeastern U.S., claiming over 120 lives and causing damage estimated at up to $50bn --------------------------------------------------- November 6. President Barack Obama is re-elected for a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney 14. Israel launches airstrikes on Gaza in response to increased rocket attacks on Israeli targets 15. Xi Jinping is named as China’s new leader --------------------------------------------------- December 12. North Korea successfully launches a rocket, putting a satellite in orbit 14. U.S. gun laws are back in the spotlight after 20 children and six adults are shot dead at a primary school in Connecticut 31. The U.S. faces a "fiscal cliff" that could tip the country back into recession, with worldwide repercussions /ENDS