2011 - The Year in Review (part 3)

2. March 23, 2011 Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor has died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. She had been a patient there for more than six weeks before succumbing to her illness

3. Vacansoleil-DCM rider Johnny Hoogerland of the Netherlands is pictured after crashing during the ninth stage of the Tour de France 2011 cycling race from Issoire to Saint-Flour July 10, 2011. REUTERS/Lucas Bettini

4. A monstrous dust storm (Haboob) roared through Phoenix, Arizona in July. Source: danbryant.com

5. People who evacuated from Futaba, a city near the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, rest in a space cordoned off with cardboard in a hallway at the evacuees' new shelter Saitama Super Arena, near Tokyo March 20, 2011, nine days after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

6. A baby gestures minutes after he was born inside the pediatric unit at hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on October 21, 2011. The United Nations Population Fund estimated that the world's population reached 7 billion on on October 31, 2011. (Reuters/Edgard Garrido)

7. Famine in Somalia - Halima Hassan holds her severely malnourished son Abdulrahman Abshir, 7 months, at the Banadir hospital on August 14, 2011 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The US government estimates that some 30,000 children have died in southern Somalia in the last 90 days due to famine and drought. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

8. Karim Ben Khelifa for Newsweek March 27 Sana'a, Yemen In Yemen's capital city, Sana'a, "Change Square" was the epicenter of a revolt that took ten months to come to fruition. Anti-government protesters gathered in the makeshift tent city near Sanaa University, where a sign telegraphed their message to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ruled autocratically for some 33 years. In November, after his country had approached the brink of civil war, Abdullah at last agreed to step aside--but just a day later, violence escalated amid signs of a power struggle, and peace seemed a long way off.

9. A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago June 5. Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4 prompting evacuations for 3,500 people as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images

10. Emilio Morenatti / AP - May 27 - Barcelona - In May, activists camped out for weeks in Barcelona, part of nationwide demonstrations in protest of the country's high unemployment and myriad economic woes. Financial frustration wasn't the only similarity between these and the Occupy Wall Street protests that would dominate American headlines months later. Spanish riot police tasked with clearing the square used batons and rubber bullets, beating protesters bloody and dragging them away from the square.

11. Anthony Bolante / Reuters-Landov - Oct. 4 - Seattle - Amanda Knox’s four-year journey through the Italian justice system came to a sudden end in October, when judges overturned her murder conviction in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher, a foreigner studying abroad in Italy with the Washington-state native. Exhausted by the ordeal, Knox arrived home on Oct. 4 and held an emotional news conference at Seattle’s airport. “I am really overwhelmed right now,” Knox said in a statement. “I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn’t real.”

12. Jean-Philippe Ksiazek / AFP-Getty Images - March 31 - Abidjan, Ivory Coast - When strongman Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in the country’s first democratic election in more than a decade, rebels decided to launch an offensive to oust him from the presidency. While Gbagbo holed up in a bunker, his armed thugs roamed the capital, killing more than 1,500 opponents before Gbagbo surrendered under international pressure

13. Hani Mohammed / AP - Oct. 26 - Sana, Yemen Yemeni women torched their veils during a rally against intransigent President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who clung to power despite being wounded by a mortar attack in June. Violence escalated in the country’s restive provinces, where the government struggled to control hostile tribes.

14. Villagers use a wooden boat to transfer their pigs from a flooded hogpen in suburb Lanxi city in east China's Zhejiang province Monday, June 20, 2011. AP / CHINATOPIX - China was pounded by more summer rain forcing the evacuation of more than 550,000 people, state media reported, warning of further downpours, while the number of people confirmed killed in more than a week of floods and landslides triggered by the torrential rains had leapt past 100.

15. A Libyan rebel is pictured with Gadhafi's golden gun. (Getty Images / Philippe Desmazes) ATTENTION THE NEXT PICTURE CAN BE DISTURBING

16. Thaier Al-Sudani / Reuters-Landov - Oct. 20 - Misrata, Libya - “Brother Leader,” terrorist, father, madman: Col. Muammar Gaddafi wore many masks in his lifetime, but the world will always remember his grim death mask after rebels executed him near his hometown of Sirte. He left his countrymen with a broken state, but he failed to break their spirit.

17. Two lights from the former site of the World Trade Centers shine for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. (Reuters / GARY HERSHORN)

18. Himalayan Earthquake - Residents stand in the rubble of a house destroyed in a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in the area of the epicenter near Mangan, in Sikkim state, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011. AP - A strong earthquake shook northeastern India and Nepal on Sunday night, killing at least 12 people, damaging buildings and sending lawmakers in Nepal's capital running into the streets. The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, was felt across northeastern India, including the capital of New Delhi.

19. A boy looks at a figure of Steve Jobs next to flowers laid in his tribute at an Apple store in Hong Kong, China. (AP / Kin Cheung)

20. A woman jumps from a burning building during the London riots in August. (Amy Weston / WENN.com)

21. Brazil Floods and landslides Residents carry a landslide victim in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday Jan. 13, 2011. Floods and landslides devastated towns in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro, killing dozens of people and bringing the death toll on Wednesday from days of heavy rain in southern Brazil to at least 127 (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

22. An aerial view shows a landslide-affected area in Teresopolis January 12, 2011. Floods and landslides devastated towns in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro, killing dozens of people and bringing the death toll on Wednesday from days of heavy rain in southern Brazil to at least 127. REUTERS/Bruno Domingos

23. Occupy Wall Street protesters march and hold signs in New York City on September 17, 2011. Frustrated protesters had been speaking out against corporate greed and social inequality on and near Wall Street for the previous two weeks, further sparking a protest movement that spread across the world. Original here. (CC BY SA Carwil Bjork-James

24. A P-51 Mustang airplane crashes into the edge of the grandstands at the Reno Air show on September 16, 2011, in Reno, Nevada. The World War II-era fighter plane flown by a veteran Hollywood stunt pilot Jimmy Leeward plunged Friday into the edge of the grandstands during the popular air race creating a horrific scene strewn with smoking debris. Eleven people were killed, including Leeward, and at least 74 were hurt. (AP Photo/Ward Howes)

25. A Pakistani woman displaced by the floods walks along a flooded road holding an axe to cut wood, in Digri district near Hyderabad, Pakistan, on September 19, 2011. The United Nations appealed for $357 million Sunday to help millions of Pakistanis affected by floods that have damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and destroyed millions of acres of crops. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

26. A Russian Soyuz TMA-21 space capsule descends about 150 km south-east of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on September 16, 2011. NASA Astronaut Ron Garan and Russian Cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev returned from more than five months onboard the International Space Station, where they served as members of the Expedition 27 and 28 crews. As the Space Shuttle program was shut down earlier in the year, NASA astronauts will now have to rely on Russian rockets to ferry them into orbit, until a new manned U.S. space program is ready, possibly by 2019. (AP Photo/Sergei Ilnitsky, pool)

27. Tropical Storm Irene - A downed tree crushes an old home on Dent Street in the Georgetown section of Washington, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, brought down by rain and wind from Hurricane Irene. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

28. In San Francisco, Nick Galloro, of Berkeley, holds a sign during a rally against banking institutions as part of the Occupy Wall Street campaign in California, on September 29, 2011. (Reuters/Stephen Lam)

29. Flood in Pakistan - Residents on donkey cart ride past closed shops through a flooded street in the Badin district of Pakistan's Sindh province, on September 18, 2011. (Reuters/Akhtar Soomro)

30. The Tribute in Light shines above lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and One World Trade Center, left, on September 10, 2011 in New York, one day before the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

31. Sgt. 1st Class Justin Hathaway braves a sandstorm after leaving the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq and U.S. Forces-Iraq Provost Marshal Office at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, on September 27, 2011. American troops are scheduled to completely withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, after nearly nine years of occupation. (Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo/USAF)

32. Syria - In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and provided by Shaam News Network, Anti-Syrian President Bashar Assad protesters, shout slogans as they protest at al-kessour area, in Homs province, Syria, on September 29, 2011. Angry supporters of President Bashar Assad's regime hurled tomatoes and eggs at the U.S. ambassador to Syria as he entered the office of a leading opposition figure and then tried to break into the building, trapping him inside for three hours. The Arab Spring reached Syria in March, but protesters met stiff resistance as Assad's troops launched deadly attacks, even using tanks to fire on residential areas. Broad restrictions on press coverage have made reporting from Syria extremely difficult throughout the year. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network)

33. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-133 crew takes a break from a simulated launch countdown to ham it up on the 195-foot level of Launch Pad 39A. From left are, Pilot Eric Boe, Mission Specialist Michael Barratt, Commander Steve Lindsey, and Mission Specialists Tim Kopra, Nicole Stott, and Alvin Drew. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)

34. LIBYA - Anti-Qaddafi fighters fire a rocket launcher near Sirte, Libya, one of Muammar Qaddafi's last remaining strongholds, on September 24, 2011. Libyan provisional government forces backed by NATO warplanes swarmed into the city of Sirte on Saturday but weathered heavy sniper fire as they tried to win control of the city. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

35. A picture of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung decorates a building in the capital Pyongyang, early October 5, 2011. North Korea appeared to make small, tightly-controlled steps toward the West in 2011, including an agreement with the Associated Press to set up the first permanent text and photo bureau operated by a Western news organization in the capital of Pyongyang. (Reuters/Damir Sagolj

36. A businessman sticks his tongue out in jest as he walks past tents erected by protesters from the Occupy London Stock Exchange group, as they continue their demonstration that started on Saturday outside St Paul's Cathedral in London, on October 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham

37. A protester's face is cleaned after he was pepper-sprayed by police at the Occupy Denver camp on October 29, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Following a march by protesters, police tried to tear down some newly-erected tents at the encampment and and a melee ensued. Police detained about a half dozen people and pepper-sprayed others before calling for reinforcements. (John Moore/Getty Images

38. Miss Angola Leila Lopes is crowned by Miss Universe 2010 Ximena Navarrete of Mexico after being named Miss Universe 2011 in Sao Paulo. Source: Reuters

39. Earthquake in Turkey - Rescue workers carry Azra Karaduman, a two-week-old baby girl, from a collapsed building in Ercis, near the eastern Turkish city of Van, on October 25, 2011. The baby was rescued alive from the rubble of a collapsed building on Tuesday, 46 hours after an earthquake struck southeast Turkey, a Reuters Television journalist said. Her mother, Semiha, who was also rescued, had been clasping her daughter to her chest. (Reuters/Stringer)

40. © Gaetan LUCI / Palais Princier - Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Princess of Monaco during their religious wedding ceremony at the Monaco palace, Saturday, July 2, 2011.

41. Typhoon Nalgae - Rescuers ferry residents to safer grounds as others wade through floodwaters on the second day of massive flooding at Calumpit township, Bulacan province north of Manila, Philippines Saturday Oct.1, 2011. Typhoon Nalgae, the second typhoon in a week to hit the rain-soaked northern Philippines, added misery to thousands of people, some of whom are still perched on rooftops while several other Asian nations also reeled from flooding. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

42. Libya's new regime forces fire their weapons at fighters loyal to fugitive strongman Muammar Qaddafi as a comrade plays a guitar during a battle in Sirte on October 10, 2011, in a drive to control Qaddafi's hometown after a month-long siege. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

43. National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters take part in a street battle in the center of the city on October 14, 2011 in Sirte, Libya. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

44. The race car of driver Will Power (left) goes airborne during a multiple-car crash at the IZOD IndyCar World Championship race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 16, 2011. The motor racing world was left reeling from the death of time-two Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon, who was killed in the crash, as the season-ending celebration turned to disaster. (Reuters/Barry Ambrose)

45. Following the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on October 5th, Hong Kong design student Jonathan Mak poses with a symbol he designed in tribute, on October 6, 2011. Nineteen-year-old Mak's poignant tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs became an internet hit with its minimalist, touching symbolism and brought a job offer and a flood of commemorative merchandise using his design. (Reuters/Bobby Yip)

46. mask-wearing protester uses his laptop computer in the Occupy LSX camp outside St Paul's Cathedral, ahead of a demonstration against higher tuition fees and privatization in universities on November 9, 2011 in London, England. Around 4,000 police officers were on duty and were allowed to deploy baton rounds if needed. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

47. Robotics student Gildo Andreoni interacts with a Dexmart robotic hand built at the University of Bologna in the Robotville exhibition at the Science Museum on November 29, 2011, in London, England. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

48. Mississipi Flooding - Homes on Mud Island sit in floodwater Tuesday, May 10, 2011, in Memphis, Tenn. Jeff Roberson / APT he diversion flooded about 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland and 100 homes in the state

49. Ocean waves stained red with blood crash ashore as inhabitants of the Faroe Islands catch and slaughter pilot whales (Globicephala melaena) during the traditional "Grindadrap" (whale hunting in Faroese) near the capital Torshavn, on November 22, 2011. The Faroese are descendents of Vikings, and pilot whales have been a central part of their diet for more than 1,000 years. They crowd the animals into a bay and kill them. "Grindadrap" whaling is not done for commercial purposes, the meat can not be sold and is divided evenly between members of the local community. (Reuters/Andrija Ilic)

50. Anti-government protesters wave Bahraini flags and gesture as they participate in a rally and march that drew tens of thousands to Maqsha, Bahrain, just outside the capital of Manama, on November 25, 2011. Participants in the rally, organized by several opposition societies, waved Bahraini flags along with those of Arab spring countries Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt, while calling for the fall of the Bahraini government, freedom for prisoners and democracy in the Gulf island kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)