Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 - A year in review

2012 has come to an end. It has been an eventful year. Here is a review of the past twelve months.

January

January 20th - Etta James died aged 73 in California

 January 23rd - Iran–European Union relations: The European Union adopts an embargo against Iran in protest of that nation's continued effort to enrich uranium.

January 24th - Birth of HH Princess Athena of Denmark, 10th in line to the Danish throne

February

February 6th - The Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom and commonwealth nations.

February 11th – Whitney Houston died aged 48 in Beverly Hills, California, USA

February 23rd - Birth of  HRH Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland, 2nd in line to the Swedish throne

February 27th - Arab Spring: As a result of ongoing protests, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is succeeded by Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi.

March


March 13th - After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition.

March 22nd - The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices.

March 27th - Adrienne Rich died aged 82 in California

April

April 12th - Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup d'état and take control of the capital city, Bissau. They arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a presidential election campaign.

April 15th - Centenary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic

May

May 2nd - A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for US$120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art

June

June 2nd - 5th - Celebrations are held across the United Kingdom and commonwealth to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

June 16th - Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia died

July


July 4th - CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.

July 27th - The 2012 Summer Olympics commence in London, United Kingdom.


July 30th - Maeve Binchy, author died aged 72 in Ireland

August

August 6th - Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully lands on Mars.

August 12th - Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom

August 25th - Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon died aged 82 in Cincinnati, Ohio USA

August 29th - Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom

September

September 9th - Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom

September 11th - 27th - A series of terrorist attacks are directed against United States diplomatic missions worldwide, as well as diplomatic missions of Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the US, opinions are divided over whether the attacks are a reaction to a YouTube trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims. In Libya, among the dead is US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens

September 16th - Ragnhild Alexandra Lorentzen, Princess of Norway died aged 82 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

October


October 14th - Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without any machine assistance during a record space dive out of the Red Bull Stratos helium-filled balloon from 24 miles (39 kilometres) over Roswell, New Mexico in the United States.

October 24th - 30th - Hurricane Sandy kills at least 209 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption to the eastern seaboard of the United States


November

November 6th - US Presidential election: President Barack Obama defeats Republican Governor Mitt Romney to win a second term as President

November 14th - 21st - Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. In the following week 140 Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of violence. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the week-long escalation in hostilities in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip

November 23rd - Larry Hagman died aged 81 in Dallas, Texas

December

December 8th - In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020

December 14th - 26 people (20 children) are shot dead in a Primary school in Newtown, Connecticut USA.


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