I think I speak for many people when I say how I am happy 2011 is finally over. It's been a pretty tough year for most of us with the slowly growing economy, big hopes, and a lot of uncertainty.
While we are eager to progress and see what this New Year holds for us we must remember the days gone by as significant and foundational. We are what we have accomplished and we become what we work for.
Jan. 6
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announces he will cut $78 billion from the Defense Department budget over the next five years, an effort to trim fat in light of the nation's ballooning deficit.
Jan. 28
Chaos engulfs Egypt as protesters seize the streets of Cairo, battling police, burning down the ruling party's headquarters and defying a military curfew.
Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25.
Feb. 16
Bookstore chain Borders declares bankruptcy; its last stores will close in September.
Feb. 20
In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi's military unleashes heavy gunfire as thousands march in a rebelious eastern city, shooting mourners trying to bury victims in a cycle of violence that has killed more than 200.
Feb. 27
"The King's Speech" wins four Academy Awards, including best picture.
March 11
Magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami strike Japan's northeastern coast, a combined disaster that will kill nearly 20,000 people and cause grave damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station, world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
March 23
Oscar-winning actress and AIDS research activist Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79.
April 6
Portugal becomes the third debt-stressed European country to need a bailout, following Ireland and Greece; prime minister announces request.
April 22
Syrian security forces fire at protesters, killing at least 75 people around the country in the bloodiest day of a month-long uprising.
April 29
Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton marry at London's Westminster Abbey amid pomp, circumstance and elaborate hats.
May 2
Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is killed in a firefight with elite American forces at his Pakistan compound, then is quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run.
May 14
At New York's JFK airport, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and potential candidate for president of France, is pulled from a plane and charged with sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid. He resigns. Charges are later dropped.
May 22
Joplin, Mo., tornado causes more than 160 deaths; the monstrous storm, with winds up to 250 mph, damages or destroys about 8,000 homes and businesses.
May 25
After 25-year run, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs final broadcast.
June 3
Doctor-assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies at 83.
June 12
Dallas Mavericks win first NBA title with 105-95 victory over the Miami Heat.
June 24
New York becomes the largest state to legalize same-sex marriage.
July 1
Six weeks after ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he fathered a child with a member of his household staff, Maria Shriver files divorce papers seeking to end their 25-year marriage.
July 5
Orlando, Fla., jury finds Casey Anthony, 25, not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
July 23
Singer Amy Winehouse, 27, is found dead from accidental alcohol poisoning following drinking binge after weeks of abstinence.
Aug. 1
A last-minute deal in the U.S. Congress ends a stalemate over raising the federal debt ceiling that had threatened to lead to government default. Deal included provision for a "supercommittee" to agree on deep spending cuts by a November deadline. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returns for first time since her January shooting, to vote.
Aug. 5
Citing a "gulf between the political parties," credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgrades U.S. debt for the first time since assigning the nation's AAA rating in 1917.
Sept. 11
As the U.S. and the world mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a memorial plaza at ground zero opens.
Sept. 17
A demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street begins in New York, within weeks prompting similar protests around the U.S. and the world. Perceived economic unfairness is behind the frequent chant, "We are the 99 percent."
Oct. 5
Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Jobs — entrepreneur, inventor, self-made billionaire — dies of cancer at 56.
Oct. 20
Gadhafi, Libya's dictator for 42 years, is killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelm his hometown of Sirte and capture the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
Nov. 21
In Washington, Congress' bipartisan deficit reduction "supercommittee," appointed to find $1.2 trillion in cuts over a decade, fails, triggering automatic cuts agreed to under the summer's debt ceiling deal. But they don't take effect until 2013.
Dec. 2
U.S. Labor Department announces unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent in November, lowest since March 2009.
Dec. 13
Physicists announce they are closing in on an elusive subatomic particle, the Higgs boson, that, if found, would confirm a long-held understanding about how the universe's fundamental building blocks behave.
No comments:
Post a Comment