Portfolio 2011: The year in pictures
The year's most unforgettable photographs
Latest in World Politics
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
Crimbos? We could be heading for EastEnders gone mad
The whole point of the Asbo was to prevent anti-social characters wreaking havoc in local communitie...
The Debate: Should brothels be legalised?
While some will hold the sex workers should be respected in their resistance to the upheaval, it is ...
Taking away benefits from heroin users won’t solve anything
It was reported today that Ian Duncan Smith is threatening to stop heroin addicts from being able to...
Chelsea Flower Show 2012: The winners
Of course, gold is the top honour, but that shouldn't detract from the other medals. If someone wins...
VIEW GALLERY
Click here or 'view gallery' above to launch the year in pictures
Protest in Egypt
8 February
Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters crowd Cairo's Tahrir square in the largest protests since the start of a revolt against President Hosni Mubarak.
MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Victory in Libya
7 March
A Libyan rebel fighter wearing his old national flag flashes the 'victory' sign as he looks at an air force fighter jet overhead at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the oil town of Ras Lanuf.
AFP/ROBERTO SCHMIDT
After the Tsunami, Japan
13 March
A woman sits and weeps amid the remains of the city of Natori in northern Japan, after a massive earthquake and tsunami that killed around 15,000 people, as well as causing catastrophic damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
ASAHI SHIMBUN/REUTERS
Royal wedding
29 April
Crowds outside Buckingham Palace for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton
PAUL GROVER/REX FEATURES
Watching Bin Laden's death
1 May
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and US security officials in the White House Situation Room, observing the Abbottabad operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed.
REX FEATURES
DSK in court
16 May
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the International Monetary Fund, waits to be arraigned on charges of sexual assault in Manhattan Central Court (The charges were later dropped). AP
Anti-austerity protests
15 June
Protesters clash with riot police during a demonstration near parliament in central Athens. Thousands of demonstrators besieged the Greek parliament in a large anti-austerity protest marred by violence, leaving at least a dozen injured.
ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The end of the 'world'
10 July
Rupert Murdoch arrives at Wapping reading the last ever edition of the News of the World,which he closed in response to the phone-hacking scandal.
REX FEATURES
Anger in Tahrir Square
15 July
Egyptian protesters, angry at the slow pace of reform by their military rulers, wave their national flag and shout slogans as thousands crowd Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand political change.
MOHAMED HOSSAM/AFP/GETTY
Norway atrocities
22 July
Norwegian military police carry a young woman covered in blood to an ambulance after an explosion in central Oslo, which damaged government buildings including Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office. The bombing, which killed eight people, was the work of Anders Breivik, a right-wing fanatic who, on the same day, massacred 69 young people, mostly teenagers, on the island of Utoya.
EPA/THOMAS WINJE
Mubarak tried
3 August
An Egyptian state television image shows former president Hosni Mubarak, 83, on a hospital bed in a mesh cage in a Cairo courtroom for his trial on charges of corruption and ordering the deaths of protesters.
REX FEATURES
Refugees, Kenya
14 August
A newly arrived Somalian refugee washes her children at the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. The camp is home to more than 440,000 people.
GETTY IMAGES
A tyrant falls
23 August
Jubilant rebel fighters stamp on the remains of a statue of Muammar Gaddafi inside the dictator's main compound in Bab Al-Aziziya, Tripoli.
SERGEY PONOMAREV/AP
Mourning Steve Jobs
5 October
Students in Cupertino, California, mourn the death of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who died at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
GETTY IMAGES
Street music
10 October
A fearless guitarist provides musical encouragement for Libya's National Transitional Council fighters in a street battle in Sirte.
ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GETTY
Anti-capitalist protest
16 October
Members of the Occupy movement in front of St Paul's Cathedral, as part of a global wave of protests (inspired by the 'Occupy Wall Street' and 'Indignant' movements) against the excesses of capitalism. Demonstrators also gathered near the London Stock Exchange. The St Paul's camp remained in place for more than two months
BEN STANSALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Occupying the cities
18 October
Masked protester outside the Frankfurt headquarters of the European Central Bank - one of many 'occupations' around the world inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US.
GETTY IMAGES
Fall of Gaddafi
20 October
A mobile phone image shows the arrest of a badly wounded Colonel Muammar Gaddafi near his home town of Sirte. The Libyan dictator was killed, in circumstances that remain controversial, shortly afterwards.
PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
G20 Summit talk
2 November
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, after arriving for talks with European Union and IMF representatives in Cannes, on the eve of the G20 Summit.
THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
- 1 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 2 Ed Balls causes David Cameron to lose his temper – again
- 3 Tories give Jeremy Hunt's ex-aide Adam Smith Leveson legal advice
- 4 Eurozone set to abandon Greece – and austerity
- 5 Society: The only way is Finland
- 6 News in pictures
- 7 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 8 Gary Connery lands safely after 2,400 ft helicopter jump without parachute
- 9 Ten adverts that shocked the world
- 10 'Ungrateful little wretch': Piers Morgan responds to Jeremy Paxman's claim that he had taught him how to phone hack
- 1 Andre Villas-Boas out of contention as Liverpool have second thoughts over former Chelsea manager
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Queen tried to use state poverty fund to heat Buckingham Palace
- 4 Society: The only way is Finland
- 5 Portugal 'sells' Ronaldo to Spain in £160m deal on national debt
- 6 Gary Connery lands safely after 2,400 ft helicopter jump without parachute
- 7 Uefa may reconsider Champions League rule that saw Chelsea qualify instead of Tottenham
- 8 DmC Devil May Cry set for early 2013 release
- 9 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
- 10 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
The art of industrial espionage
Therapist who tried to 'cure' me of being gay thrown out...
VIP treatment: Life is golden in the Olympic fast lane
Forest guards told to shoot poachers on sight after rash of tiger killings


