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Introductory material |
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Events of the early 2010s are so far confined to the current year and are still being compiled.
Current events of of the first quarter 2011 and second quarter 2011 can be considered.
Events of January 2011, February 2011, and March 2011 can be considered.
January 2011 can be connected.
1 January 2011 Over a thousand dead blackbirds and other fowl fell out of the sky in Arkansas after a violent tornado outbreak and hailstorm.
Government
2 January 2011 US President Barack Obama signed the 9/11 health bill into law to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others sickened by toxic fumes and dust after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
2 January 2011 A 2009 Wikileaks document from the US embassy in Tel Aviv said that Israel is preparing for large scale war against Hamas or Hezbollah, and quoted the Israeli chief of staff as saying that the Israel Defense Forces must be prepared to stop the firing of rockets on Tel Aviv.
2 January 2011 The U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced that, due to the late passage of the extension of the Bush tax cuts and other itemizations, up to 50 million Americans will not be able to file their 2010 tax returns until mid-February.
3 January 2011 According to a new Wikileaks document, U.S. ambassador to France, Craig Stapleton, asked Washington to penalize nations, including France, who do not support genetically modified crops.
3 January 2011 A study reported that 61% of Americans believe the best way to solve the budget deficit is to raise taxes for the wealthiest, in contrast to a plan by Republicans to permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
3 January 2011 Republican U.S. Representative Darrell Issa called for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over lack of progress in prosecuting Julian Assange, and plans were announced of holding a congressional inquiry into Wikileaks and Assange.
5 January 2011 The 112th United States Congress was convened. Republican Representative John Boehner of Ohio is elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, succeeding Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.
6 January 2011 The United States protested strongly to Vietnam after a U.S. diplomat was attacked and injured by Vietnamese police when he went to visit a detained religious dissident.
6 January 2011 A U.S. plan to force gun dealers in states which border Mexico to report cases where individuals bought multiple high-powered rifles in under 5 days, was stalled due to opposition from gun lobbies. Approximately 90% of crime guns seized in Mexico originate in the U.S., and over 30,000 people have died in Mexico due to drug cartel violence since 2006.
6 January 2011 The U.S. planned to send another 1,400 marines to Afghanistan, where approximately 100,000 U.S. troops are already engaged in the War in Afghanistan.
6 January 2011 A U.S. soldier received 90 days hard labour and must testify in the FOB Ramrod kill team case for keeping war souvenir photos, beating a platoon member and smoking hashish while involved with the FOB Ramrod kill team during the War in Afghanistan.
7 January 2011 A lawsuit by the estate of Adrian Jacobs against Scholastic, claiming that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire plagiarised one of his own works, is dismissed by a court in the United States.
7 January 2011 The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts uphelds a lower court ruling that halted the efforts of two large banks to foreclose in cases in which they failed to prove they were holding the mortgages in question.
8 January 2011 United States govt. attempts to access private information: It was revealed that the United States has subpoenaed Twitter for personal information regarding people connected to Wikileaks, including founder Julian Assange, suspected source of leaks Bradley Manning, and supporter Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of Iceland's Althing. Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir describes attempts by America to access her private information as "completely unacceptable", demanded to see the ambassador and began legal action against the United States. The WikiLeaks website requested that Google and Facebook make public any subpoenas they are given by the American government.
Local
2 January 2011 Flooding occurs along the San Antonio River in Monterey County, California as flooding from previous weeks subsided.
3 January 2011 Scientists were investigating the sudden dieoff of over 5,000 Red-winged Blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas, United States, on New Year's Eve.
3 January 2011 In another event not far way from the bird dieoff, scientists were investigating a fish kill of nearly 100,000 drum in the Arkansas River.
4 January 2011 51-year-old Texan Cornelius Dupree, freed on parole in July 2010 after serving 30 of a 75 year sentence for aggravated robbery, had his conviction quashed after he was found to be innocent of the crime through DNA evidence.
5 January 2011 A 17-year-old student at Millard South High School, in Omaha, Nebraska, shot an assistant principal to death and wounded the school principal before turning the gun onto himself.
8 January 2011 A shooting rampage took place at a supermarket in Tucson in the U.S. state of Arizona. Twenty were shot, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Six others were confirmed dead, including District Court judge John Roll.
Government
9 January 2011 The U.S. ambassador to Iceland was summoned in relation to secret United States attempts to access private details concerning Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir. The matter is described as "very serious".
9 January 2011 Hillary Rodham Clinton of the United States spoke out against Iran in Abu Dhabi during a five-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar. She requests that the world increase its pressure on Iran, a country she considers "a serious concern".
9 January 2011 United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates flew to China for a four-day trip after expressing American worries that the Chinese "clearly have potential to put some of our [military] capabilities at risk", adding that America has "to pay attention to them" and "respond appropriately with our own programmes".
10 January 2011 Former Republican United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering.
12 January 2011 The President of the United States Barack Obama addressed the nation about the 2011 Tucson shooting following a visit to Representative Gabrielle Giffords in hospital.
13 January 2011 U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, announced she would not seek re-election in 2012.
13 January 2011 The WikiLeaks website honoured a pledge made in July by offering financial aid to the legal team of Bradley Manning, a soldier accused by the United States of providing secret U.S. embassy cables for international public consumption.
14 January 2011 A closed-door briefing occurs at New York City's United Nations building. Behind it around 150 non-American diplomats objected to the American government about a decision by the country's banks to end services for diplomatic missions, with some diplomats suggesting the UN budget could be affected.
14 January 2011 The Obama administration in the United States eased travel and other restrictions on Cuba.
14 January 2011 The United States Treasury Department said "no" to calls by enraged American politicians to have Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks website added to its economic blacklist or sanctions list like so-called "terrorist groups". The Treasury Department cites a lack of "evidence at this time".
14 January 2011 Reince Priebus of Wisconsin was elected as the chairman of the United States Republican National Committee.
13 January 2011 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revoked a permit for a proposed coal mine in West Virginia which would have been one of America's largest citing "destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water".
Local
9 January 2011 Aftermath of the 2011 Tucson shooting: Officials investigating the shooting, who were seeking a second person of interest, have cleared the other person of involvement in the shooting. Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, known for frequently disagreeing with the United States, condemned the shooting as "atrocious", "absurd" and "unjustifiable".
9 January 2011 American politician Sarah Palin was criticised for targeting the shot Gabrielle Giffords electoral district with crosshairs on her website along with 19 other rivals before the attack.
10 January 2011 Aftermath of the 2011 Tucson shooting: A judge denied bail to gunman Jared Loughner, who is accused of killing six and injuring 14 including a federal judge and U.S. Congresswoman. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was able to respond correctly to simple commands.
11 January 2011 Dr Conrad Murray was ordered to face a trial for the manslaughter of Michael Jackson in California.
14 January 2011 A court in America sentenced Abdel Nur of Guyana to 15 years imprisonment after charging him with participation in a plot to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
14 January 2011 2011 Tucson shooting: American politician Sarah Palin used the term "blood libel" to describe those who criticized her for the use of inflammatory rhetoric, leading to an uproar. 9 year old Christina-Taylor Green, the youngest victim killed in the shooting, was buried.
Economics
10 January 2011 U.S. chemical company DuPont bought out Danish food ingredient and enzyme company Danisco for $5.8billion.
13 January 2011 Executives of the troubled U.S. book retailer Borders meet with publishers to appeal for financing.
13 January 2011 United States banks foreclosed on a record one million mortgages in 2010.
13 January 2011 Major credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s warn the U.S. that its increasing national debt may lead to a lowering of the nation's credit rating.
11 January 2011 Thousands of airline flights are cancelled in the south, Great Lakes and northeast regions of the United States due to storms.
Culture
14 January 2011 American actress Zsa Zsa Gabor had her leg amputated.
Government
16 January 2011 The online edition of The New York Times reported that U.S. and Israeli intelligence services collaborated in the development of the destructive computer worm Stuxnet to record Iranian operations and send them spinning out of control ahead of a sabotage attack against Iran. Testing was reported to have occurred at the heavily guarded Dimona complex in the Negev desert in Israel.
18 January 2011 United States Senate: Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, announced he would not run again in the 2012 Senate election. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, also decided not to run for re-election in 2012.
18 January 2011 The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Justice Department approved a $28 billion merger of Comcast and NBC Universal with critics complaining of even greater media consolidation in the U.S. and how this merger removes competitive forces and hurts consumers.
20 January 2011 New trials were reported to be starting soon at Guantánamo Bay after the United States Congress blocked President of the United States Barack Obama's attempts to close the prison; The Pentagon refused to comment.
Economics
19 January 2011 China and the United States signed a $45 billion export deal, including 200 Boeing airplanes.
21 January 2011 Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. was found guilty of misleading investors, and fined $6.7 million.
21 January 2011 Bank of America reported a loss of $1.2 billion.
21 January 2011 Paul Volcker stepped down as the head of U.S. President Barack Obama's advisory panel, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was the guiding force behind recent legislation pressing investment banks to spin off their proprietary trading and branded hedge funds.
21 January 2011 Four banks, with total assets of $2.7billion were ordered closed in the U.S.; 157 American banks failed last year.
Culture
16 January 2011 NFL Playoffs New York Jets defeat the New England Patriots
20 January 2011 The largest rocket ever launched from the west coast of the U.S. was launched carrying a secret payload; speculated to be a spy satellite.
21 January 2011 MSNBC terminated a contract with their highest rated cable news host, Keith Olbermann.
Local
19 January 2011 Prosecutors in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania charged a Philadelphia illegal abortionist with eight counts of murder for killing a patient and seven live born babies.
19 January 2011 A United States Federal grand jury indicted Jared Lee Loughner for attempted murder of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides with further charges pending.
20 January 2011 Agents of the United States charged 127 alleged mafia members in the northeast of the country.
21 January 2011 United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords left the hospital in Tucson, Arizona for rehabilitation in Houston, Texas less than two weeks after the 2011 Tucson shooting.
Government
23 January 2011 WikiLeaks revelations: A "spy" computer was found in an office next to Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir who has been the target in the United States Department of Justice/Twitter case concerning the WikiLeaks website. Nearly two months after the WikiLeaks website launched the release of U.S. diplomatic cables, the total amount released stands at just over 1 per cent of its trove. Speaking in Der Sonntag, WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange criticised the arrest of a Swiss bank employee who passed on details of tax evasion to the website and suggests that the Swiss authorities ought to instead investigate the tax evasion that has been uncovered. Rudolf Elmer has been detained for the weekend.
25 January 2011 U.S. envoy Jeffrey Feltman expressed his hope that the "example" of the ongoing Tunisian uprising can bring reform to other parts of region, despite U.S. backing for the deposed Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime.
24 January 2011 NBC News reported that United States investigators had been unable to link Bradley Manning to Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
25 January 2011 The United States described the Israeli commission of inquiry into the May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid as "an independent report, credible and impartial and transparent", but says the “primary forum” for examining the event was the international committee operating under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
25 January 2011 A U.S. judge sentenced Ahmed Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee to have a civilian trial in America, to life imprisonment for conspiracy to destroy government buildings. He was found "not guilty" of 285 other charges filed against him, including 200 counts of murder and dozens of other charges.
26 January 2011 U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address calling on the United States Congress to improve the nation's "crumbling" infrastructure, saying it will create jobs and help the nation compete in the global economy.
28 January 2011 The Daily Telegraph reported that the American government secretly backed leading figures behind the unfolding Egyptian uprising.
25 January 2011 The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a panel appointed by the U.S. Congress to study the causes of the 2007-08 financial crisis, referred certain cases of potentially criminal action to the Justice Department. The names of the suspected individuals have not been disclosed.
Economics
25 January 2011 The Financial Accounting Standards Boards (FASB) abandoned plans to ceate a new mark-to-market rule for the value of the loans that banks carry on their books.
27 January 2011 Internet retailer Overstock.com has amended its complaint in a long-standing lawsuit against Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch to demand treble damages under New Jersey's racketeering statute. Merrill Lynch is a subsidiary of Bank of America.
27 January 2011 Giant media conglomerate News Corp. says it will launch a digital newspaper as content of Apple's iPad, on 2 February. This is a later launch date than many had expected.
29 January 2011 Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs triples the base salary of its chief executive Lloyd Blankfein to $2 million, up from $600,000, after the bank's profit falls by 38 per cent.
Local
24 January 2011 Jared L. Loughner pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the 2011 Tucson shooting and the attempted murder of United States Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
27 January 2011 The Supreme Court in the U.S. state of Illinois ruled that Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff to President of the United States Barack Obama, was eligible to run for Mayor of Chicago.
28 January 2011 Hundreds of people attend an event at Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida to mark the 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. (BBC)
27 January 2011 Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the University of Michigan announce a breakthrough to fight bacteria by developing a technique that neutralizes the ability of bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. (The Jerusalem Post)
2011 week 6 can be considered.
Government
31 January 2011 Roger Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the Health insurance mandate of President Barack Obama's health care reforms are unconstitutional.
31 January The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened a mass meeting of United States ambassadors from around the world.
Economics
30 January 2011 Alpha Natural Resources bought out Massey Energy for $7.1billion, making Alpha the second largest U.S. coal mining company by market value.(Reuters)
Local
30 January 2011 A wildfire in the U.S. state of Oklahoma forces evacuations in Logan County and the closure of State Highway 105.
February 2011 can be connected
Government
1 February 2011 U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower who is thought to have revealed secret U.S. government documents to the international public, was reported to be held in solitary confinement awaiting trial by the United States for seven months now, treatment which the United Nations deems a form of torture when used for such prolonged periods.
1 February 2011 The United States urged Iran to halt executions after the hanging of a Dutch-Iranian woman, Zahra Bahrami, accused of being drug smuggler; the U.S. State Department expresses concern that Iran "continues to deny its citizens their human rights" and that cases, trials, and sentences continue to proceed "without transparency and the due process rights enshrined in Iran's own constitution."
2 February 2011 The United States Senate voted down a repeal of healthcare reforms 47-51.
2 February 2011 Colleen LaRose, known as "Jihad Jane", pleaded guilty to participating in a terrorist plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist whose work offended many Muslims.
2 February 2011 United States federal judge Carl J. Barbier ruled that Deepwater Horizon oil spill compensation fund administrator Ken Feinberg should advise people that he is working for BP.
3 February 2011 Awal Gul, an Afghan accused of being a Taliban base commander, who had been imprisoned without charge since 2002, died while exercising at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
5 February 2011 The Daily Telegraph published WikiLeaks cables stating that the United States provided Russia with the United Kingdom's serial numbers of every Trident missile, which are manufactured and maintained in the U.S. and supplied to Britain, in return for the Russians signing the New START treaty.
5 February 2011 Former President of the United States George W. Bush canceled a planned appearance in Switzerland; Human Rights Watch linked the cancellation to growing pressure for Bush to be arrested over his approval of waterboarding torture, saying Bush is "avoiding handcuffs".
2 February 2011 WikiLeaks revealed that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation of a previously unknown group of men believed to be involved in the September 11 attacks.
Economics
4 February 2011 The court-appointed trustee for creditors of Bernie Madoff claimed that the owners of the New York Mets owes $300 million.
4 February 2011 Target Corp. has agreed to pay $22.5 million in settlement with the Government of California and local governments in settlement over alleged illegal hazardous waste dumping.
Culture
2 February 2011 American rock duo The White Stripes announce that they are breaking up.
5 February 2011 Inception and The Social Network win top prizes at the Writers Guild of America awards. (Los Angeles Times)
4 February 2011 The Cleveland Cavaliers match the United States National Basketball Association record for a single-season losing streak by losing their 23rd straight match to the Memphis Grizzlies. (ESPN)
5 February 2011 Richard Dent, Marshall Faulk, Ed Sabol, Deion Sanders, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter and Shannon Sharpe are elected to the United States Pro Football Hall of Fame. (USA Today), (Washington Post)
5 February 2011 The Cleveland Cavaliers set a new record for consecutive losses in a single National Basketball Association season in the United States. (ESPN)
4 February 2011 NASA astronaut Mark E. Kelly, the husband of Rep Gabrielle Giffords shot last month, announces that he will resume training to command the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final mission STS-134 in April. (Politico)
Local
4 February 2011 American football Falling ice injures seven people at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, due to host Super Bowl XLV on Sunday. (Dallas News)
4 February 2011 Albert Haynesworth of the Washington Redskins is charged with assault in Reston, Virginia following an alleged road rage incident. (Washington Post)
4 February 2011 Thousands of people attended the funeral of Hmong General Vang Pao in Fresno, California.
1 February 2011 US blizzard The United States National Weather Service issues a blizzard warning for nine states in the Midwestern United States with a storm affecting a total of 30 states from Texas to Maine. (Chicago Tribune), (Bloomberg), (AP), (Washington Post), (AFP via Adelaide Now) The storm is expected to affect as much as a third of the U.S. population, and has already created dangerous travel conditions and forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and the closure of major interstate highways.(Reuters)(VOA) Chicago's Midway International Airport closes due to the snow with 1,300 flights cancelled at O'Hare Airport. (Chicago Sun Times) The Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker declares a state of emergency in southern Wisconsin as a result of the blizzard. (Channel 3000)
2 February 2011 Six thousand flights are cancelled in the United States following the January 31–February 2, 2011 North American winter storm. (AP via Centre Daily)
4 February 2011 The death toll from the January 31–February 2, 2011 North American winter storm is at least a dozen. (AP via Los Angeles Times)
6 February 2011 One student was killed and 11 injured following shootings at a party in Youngstown, Ohio. Two men were later arrested in connection with the incident.
7 February 2011 United States diplomatic cables leak: Newly released cables reveal Australia and the United States formed an alliance in February 2008 to share secret intelligence from spy satellite. Newly released cables sent from the U.S. embassy in Cairo in 2008 refer to Egypt's Defence Minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, as "Mubarak's poodle", though conclude that he "retains Mubarak's support, and could easily remain in place for years to come".
8 February 2011 The United States House of Representatives failed to pass extensions of key provisions of the USA Patriot Act by the necessary two-thirds majority.
9 February 2011 U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claimed the possibility of terrorism being carried out against the country "has evolved significantly" and, she claims, is "at its most heightened state" since the 9/11 attacks".
9 February 2011 US Representative Chris Lee representing New York's 26th congressional district resigned after it is revealed that he sent a racy photo to a woman who was not his wife.
9 February 2011 The United States Democratic Leadership Council consisting of centrist Democrats announced that it will wind up.
9 February 2011 Daniel Patrick Boyd pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in a trial in the US state of North Carolina.
2011 week 8, 2011 week 9, and 2011 week 10 can be connected.
March 2011 including 2011 week 10, 2011 week 11, 2011 week 12, 2011 week 13, and 2011 week 14 can be connected.
April 2011 including 2011 week 14, 2011 week 15, 2011 week 16, 2011 week 17, and 2011 week 18 can be connected.
May 2011 including 2011 week 19, 2011 week 20, 2011 week 21, 2011 week 22, and 2011 week 23 can be connected.
June 2011 including 2011 week 23,2011 week 24, 2011 week 25, 2011 week 26, and 2011 week 27 can be connected.
July 2011 including 2011 week 27 can be connected.