2011 Events

2011 Jan Rod Blagojevich Re-Trial To Begin
2011 Jan 7 North Korea Proposes Peace Talks with South
North Korea proposed on Saturday talks with the South in late January or early February and said it will reopen a liaison office in a jointly-run factory park with the South that it shut ...
2011 Jan 7 Package Addressed to Janet Napolitano Ignites
A package that ignited today at a Washington post office was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a U.S. official said. The official, who wasn’t authorized to spe...
2011 Jan 7 RIFT Beta Event 4
Trion has changed the beta #4 level cap from 25 to 27. The event will include the Black Garden Warfront map, the zones of Gloamwood and Stonefield, and the Darkening Deeps and Deepstrike...
2011 Jan 8 Sarah Palin Offers Condolences Following Tucson Shooting
Sarah Palin, who's been taking flak because of a SarahPac map that put Gabrielle Giffords' district in its crosshairs (literally), issued a quick Facebook statement today offering "sincer...
2011 Jan 8 Surgeon Optimistic Giffords Will Survive
Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is out of surgery after being shot while hosting a public event today, and a Tucson surgeon said he was "very optimistic" she would survive but th...
2011 Jan 9 Jared Loughner Charged in Tucson Shooting
Federal prosecutors today charged Jared Lee Loughner with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, reports the Arizona Republic. "Additional charges could be brought und...
2011 Jan 11 DC Universe Online Launches
DC Universe Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the DC Universe. Sony Online Entertainment's stated goal is to make a different kind of MMORPG, with...
2011 Jan 11 Floods and Landslides Kill Hundreds in Rio de Janeiro (State)
Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 270 people in southern Brazil, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly. Many families were buried as they ...
2011 Jan 11 Lougner's Parents Release Statement Expressing Sorrow and Confusion
"This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy. There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel..." —The Loughner Family
2011 Jan 11 Sales of Glock Pistols Surge After Use in Tucson Shooting
In the any-publicity-is good-publicity-department: Sales of semiautomatic Glock pistols like that used in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting have spiked in Arizona and across the nation in t...
2011 Jan 11 Tucson Holds Catholic Mass for Nine-Year-Old Christina Taylor Green, Killed in Tucson Shooting
Tucson's citizens gathered by the hundreds last night, crowded under the roof of the Catholic church where Christina Taylor Green used to sing in the choir to pay homage to her and the ot...
2011 Jan 11 Verizon iPhone Officially Announced
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Well, some of you, at any rate. Verizon Wireless announced that it will be getting Apple Inc.’s iPhone, as The Wall Street Journal has repo...
2011 Jan 13 400 Dead in Brazilian Flooding and Mudslides
The death toll from Brazil's mudslides in the mountain towns north of Rio rose to 381 today, reports AP. That figure is expected to rise still more as the hunt for survivors continues. Th...
2011 Jan 13 Arrest of Prominent Human-Rights Lawyer Sets Off Anti-Government Protests in Libya
The anti-government protest wave unleashed in Tunisia and Egypt in the past few weeks swept into Libya, where demonstrators battled security forces in a rare public outpouring of anger at...
2011 Jan 14 Death Toll Rises to Over 500 in Brazil Landslides and Floods
Torrential rains continued to pour down on Brazil’s Serrana region today, fueling floods and mudslides that have now killed at least 529 people—a total that’s expected to rise, as rescuer...
2011 Jan 14 Loughner's Ex-Girlfriend Says She Knew Him as "Completely Normal"
When Kelsey Hawkes dated Jared Loughner he liked to play clarinet and Super Mario Bros. They did their homework together. They shared a love of classic rock. She once taught him how to ma...
2011 Jan 14 Tunisian government ousted
After 23 years of iron-fisted rule, the president of Tunisia was driven from power Friday by violent protests over soaring unemployment and corruption. Virtually unprecedented in modern A...
2011 Jan 15 Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Off Ventilator for the First Time
Another milestone for Gabrielle Giffords: Doctors today took her off a ventilator for the first time since last week's shooting, reports CNN. They removed her breathing tube—she was breat...
2011 Jan 16 Break in Rain Allows Airlift to Reach Brazilian Mudslide Victims
A break in near-constant rain today allowed Brazilian rescue helicopters to deliver desperately needed food and water to neighborhoods buried under tons of earth in mudslides that have ki...
2011 Jan 16 Gabrielle Giffords' Condition Upgraded to 'Serious'
More good news for Gabrielle Giffords: Doctors upgraded her from critical to serious condition today, the Arizona Republic reports. A spokesperson says such a change typically happens whe...
2011 Jan 18 Social Distortion releases Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Social Distortion, released on January 18, 2011. It is the band's first album recorded with bassis...
2011 Jan 19 Jared Loughner Indicted in Tucson Shooting
The first indictments against Jared Lee Loughner came out today, with plenty more to follow. The indictments from a federal grand jury charge him with the attempted assassination of Gabri...
2011 Jan 19 Republican-Controlled House of Representatives Votes to Repeal Health Care Reform Bill
Swiftly honoring a campaign pledge, newly empowered Republicans pushed legislation to repeal the nation’s health care overhaul through the House on Wednesday night, brushing aside implaca...
2011 Jan 20 2011 United States Mob Crackdown
Ninety-one members and associates of seven organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra (LCN), including the New England LCN family, all five New York-based families and the New Jersey-base...
2011 Jan 21 Gabrielle Giffords Moved from Hospital to Rehab Center
Giffords’ husband, mother, and staff members were expected to ride alongside her in the air ambulance, the Arizona Republic reports. US Capitol police put extra security in place at the H...
2011 Jan 24 Jared Loughner Pleads Not Guilty in Tucson Shooting
Jared Lee Loughner has pleaded "not guilty" in a Phoenix courthouse Monday to federal charges that he attempted to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides on Jan. 8 in Tucson. ...
2011 Jan 25 "Day of Rage" large-scale protest erupts in Egypt
Egyptian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and beat protesters to clear thousands of people from a central Cairo square Wednesday after the biggest demonstrations in years against ...
2011 Jan 26 Egyptian stock market drops sharply amid popular uprising
Egypt's benchmark index recorded its biggest drop in over two years Thursday, plummeting more than 10 percent as anti-government protests rattled investor confidence and left Hosni Mubara...
2011 Jan 27 Egyptian Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei returns home to assume opposition leadership role
Egypt's most prominent democracy advocate took up a bullhorn Sunday and called for President Hosni Mubarak to resign, speaking to thousands of protesters who defied a curfew for a third n...
2011 Jan 28 Egyptian government cuts off internet and cell phone service
In its effort to silence protesters, Egypt took a step that's rare even among authoritarian governments: It cut off the Internet across the entire country. The nation's four main Inter...
2011 Feb 1 President Hosni Mubarak vows not to seek another term
President Hosni Mubarak defied a quarter-million protesters demanding he step down immediately, announcing Tuesday he would serve out the last months of his term and "die on Egyptian soil...
2011 Feb 3 Protests become increasingly violent, including attacks on reporters and human rights activists
Menacing gangs backing President Hosni Mubarak attacked journalists and human rights activists Thursday in an ugly turn in Egypt's crisis as government opponents pushed supporters out of ...
2011 Feb 4 Earthrise Launches
Earthrise is a science fiction Player vs Player MMORPG by the independent Bulgarian team Masthead Studios released on February 2011, it is Masthead's first video game. The game takes p...
2011 Feb 4 President Obama Urges Mubarak to Make "the Right Decision"
Embracing an Egyptian future without Hosni Mubarak, President Barack Obama on Friday pressed the embattled leader to consider his legacy and exit office in a way that would give his count...
2011 Feb 5 Axl Rose denies rumors of a Guns N' Roses reunion with the original lineup again
On February 5, 2011, Axl Rose said that rumors of any possible reunion are not true. He said, "Contrary to anyone's claims there are no concrete plans nor were there ever for a tour, a re...
2011 Feb 6 Cathedral announce they will retire after one more album
After a twenty-one-year career, British doom/stoner veterans Cathedral have announce their "retirement" from the scene. The band will make its exit from the live arena at the end of this ...
2011 Feb 6 Egyptian VP meets with Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups, offers sweeping concessions
Egypt's vice president met with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups for the first time Sunday and offered sweeping concessions, including granting press freedom an...
2011 Feb 6 Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 31 - 25
Arlington, Texas — If these Green Bay Packers aren't the most deserving champions of the Super Bowl era, they're not far from it. At the moment of truth Sunday night in Super Bowl XLV, th...
2011 Feb 8 Freed opposition leader Wael Ghonim appears before hundreds of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square
A young Google executive who helped ignite Egypt's uprising energized a cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands Tuesday with his first appearance in their midst after being released from ...
2011 Feb 10 Mubarak agrees to power transfer, refuses to step down
Nobel Peace laureate and leading democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei is predicting "Egypt will explode" after President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down and is calling on the military ...
2011 Feb 11 Mubarak resigns, military assumes control of country
Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after President Hosni Mubarak resigned as president, forced out by 18 days of mass protests that culminated in huge marches Friday on his presid...
2011 Feb 12 Egypt army commits to power transfer, Israel peace
On Egypt's first day in nearly 30 years without Hosni Mubarak as president, its new military rulers pledged Saturday to eventually hand power to an elected civilian government and outline...
2011 Feb 14 Street Clashes Erupt in Bahrain
It was the first sign of post-Egypt unrest anywhere in the wealthy Gulf states. Riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators demanding the release of Shia detainees. "Our...
2011 Feb 16 Borders Group Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 16. DJM, a New York-based firm, is tasked with disposing all remaining Borders locations. Repre...
2011 Feb 16 Thousands of Protesters Descend on Madison, WI to Oppose Anti-Union Bill
Thousands of teachers, prison guards, and students descended on the Wisconsin Capitol for a second day today to fight a move to take union rights away from government workers. The Stateho...
2011 Feb 17 14 Democratic Wisconsin Legislators Leave State to Prevent Vote
A group of Democratic lawmakers blocked passage of a sweeping anti-union bill Thursday, refusing to show up for a vote and then abruptly leaving the state in an effort to force Republican...
2011 Feb 22 Moammar Gadhafi Refuses to Leave Power, Vows to Die in Libya and Execute His Foes
A violent confrontation between Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and his strengthening opposition threatened to drag the oil-rich nation into a civil war as Mr. Gadhafi lost a key ally hours after...
2011 Feb 23 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Duped by Prank Caller
Scott Walker won’t take a call from the Democratic minority leader, but he’ll gladly make time for uber-fundraiser David Koch—or at least, someone he thinks is David Koch. Ian Murphy, edi...
2011 Feb 25 Prince William and Kate Middleton Return to Alma Mater
Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton return to their alma mater, the University of St Andrews, on Friday (February 25) in St Andrews, Scotland. The couple returned to the univ...