Top Stories of 2011

Many news stories captivated the world in 2011, but these are the eleven most-important stories that everyone was talking about.

11) The most powerful publishing man in the world, Rupert Murdoch, took a series of hits in 2011 as it was revealed that his News Corporation employees' illegal phone hacking scandal was much more widespread than previously believed. Public outrage in Britain forced the closure of the 168 year-old News of the World and the British and American governments launched full-scale investigations.

10) The tragic Tucson, Arizona shooting targeting congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her incredible story of survival.

9) NASA retired its shuttle fleet, choosing instead to focus its budget on missions to Mars and more powerful telescopes. It will now rely on private companies and the space agencies of other nations to shuttle astronauts on near-earth missions.

8) The Norway attacks - the deadliest in the country since World War II - were carried out by a right-wing extremist, challenging the notion that is prevalent in the United States that the most significant threat of terrorism is from outsiders.

7) As many Americans continue to struggle with the concept that we are causing our climate to change, mother nature made her most forceful argument yet: for the first time in history there were more than 10 natural disasters each causing more than $1 billion in damages in 2011.

6) The death of iconic Apple founder Steve Jobs is a huge loss for the world and Apple. Jobs died weeks after Apple Inc. briefly became the most valuable company in the world on the success of their consumer-friendly mac computers, the game-changing iPhone and the revolutionary iPad tablet.

5) Europe's ongoing debt crisis threatens to bring an end to the European Union as we know it.

4) The killing of Osama bin Laden, no matter your view of the man and the circumstances of his life after 9/11, was one of the biggest stories not just of the year, but of the 21st century.

3) The Occupy Wall Street movement has struggled to pit the bottom 99% against the top 1%. The speed and effectiveness with which it spread to cities throughout America, and the world, guaranteed that it will play a huge role well beyond the critically important 2012 elections.

2) One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded sent a devastating tsunami into the coast of Japan and caused the worst nuclear meltdown the world has seen in 25 years.

1) The revolutionary power of the internet was on full display for the world to see as Egypt, Tunisia and Libya (with the help of NATO) brought down its dictators, something that couldn't have been achieved without the journalism of WikiLeaks and the instant social organizing made possible by twitter and facebook.

If you agree with this list, help it spread. If not, what was your top stories of 2011?

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[mishmishthe1]

would you not consider the Occupy movements and the Arab spring a connected movement. and then would it not be better to call the Occupy movement (which occurred worldwide) and the Arab spring (which only happened in the Arab world) the Global Spring?

[TheDailyConversation]

@mishmishthe1 Interesting point.

[HarrysSecret]

I'm just really glad he didn't include the royal wedding.

[increator1]

5. Are you fucking kidding me!? Seriously, it might bring end to Eurozone, but not European Union. Seriously.... you americans...

[r5n]

@hhhcce I'll see your photographic evidence you can't seem to find, and tell you my information comes from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, and their satellite imaging. What you know is that there's a little less ice in the north pole then normal, what no one is telling you is there's there is A LOT more ice in the south pole. Why call it global WARMING if it's making it cold? They should go back to warning of the coming ice age.

[hhhcce]

@r5n I am not sure where do you get the information from but photographic evidence (I don't need to produce the citation because it is rather well known) of the polar caps shows that the surface area decreases over time. Also, the same evidence that you produced can also argue against your main points. As I said before, global warming may also lead to an increased in precipitation (snow) in certain regions.

[r5n]

@hhhcce So the only thing you have to say now is that Ann Coulter looks crazy to you? Not gonna counter my argument of "there's more ice in the world now then when we started keeping track and this is proof global warming is a lie?" Or that everyone of your liberal buddies use to say industrialization was bringing an ice age? Ya, I'd probably resort to saying nothing and trying to back out of the conversation if I had no facts to stand on also.

[Behindspace90]

@increator1

All Europeans are socialists or communists.

[hhhcce]

@r5n I won't touch anything by Ann Coulter. Seriously dude, that person looks crazy on Fox News. Also, I don't think I want to waste my time educating you on Youtube when I have a lot more interesting to do with my life. I think you are entitled to your own opinions and so am I and I don't think we are ever going to come to an agreement on these topics.

[r5n]

@hhhcce Also, the last book I read was called "Demonic" by Ann Coulter, you should pick it up. You might learn a thing or two about liberal ideology and why it's stupid and bad.

[r5n]

@hhhcce OH MAN, does that mean we're switching back back to the 70s and 80s where everyone was freaked out about the coming ice age brought on by industrialization? Is that why there's more ice on the planet now there there ever was since we started keeping track of how much ice there is!? THIS GLOBAL WARMING HAS ME SO WORRIED THE SEA LEVELS WILL RISE AND KILL US ALL.

[MrPessimisticrealist]

I watch a lot of news and the NASA story is not big news, at least not anywhere outside of America. The other ones were big though, people were talking about them. That story just wasn't THAT important. Also, in a few of these '2011 lookback' videos, you did not mention the New Zealand Earthquake... That was very big news. 

[hhhcce]

@r5n I will explain in even simpler terms in hopes your mind can grasp the concept. Global warming causes sea water to evaporate more (high school science). Warm tropical wind will carry the atmospheric moisture to the colder part of the earth (college atmospheric science) and lead to more precipitation in the coastal country and arctic or semi-temperate regions (high school geography). Please read more books and not comment on Youtube videos when you have time

[r5n]

@hhhcce THIS JUST IN: Global WARMING makes it snow more.

And seriously, the price to buy things increases every year, so even if the amount of damage done was exactly the same every year, the value in dollars of the destruction goes up. This is the point I was making, I just said it again in simpler terms in hopes your mind can grasp the concept.