US Federal estimates are that more than 200 million gallons of oil have spilled into the sea from the Deepwater Horizon disaster (the Exxon Valdez figure was 11 million)

Thirty-three miners are brought safely to the surface after being trapped deep underground for 69 days in the San José mine in Chile

Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest in Rangoon under certain conditions

CERN announces its successful production and brief capture of atoms of antihydrogen, the first observed example of antimatter

North Korea shells the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, causing four deaths and a dangerous deterioration in relations with South Korea

Wikileaks publishes another batch of US government documents, this time diplomatic cables of which about 100,000 are maked 'secret' or 'confidential'

The European Union agrees a rescue package of €85 billion to deal with the financial crisis in the republic of Ireland

Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, sets himself on fire in protest at harassment and confiscation of his wares by local officials

Demonstrators gather in the streets of Sidi Bouzid as news of Mohamed Bouazizi's action spreads, in a mood that sparks the Tunisian revolution and the 'Arab Spring'

A total lunar eclipse in the northern hemisphere coincides with the winter solstice for the first time since 1638

MAXXI, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, opens in Rome, built to an award-winning design by Zaha Hadid

Kay Ryan's The Best of It spans a career of forty-five years with a wealth of poems, usually short, witty and iconoclastic but also often tender and full of joy

Apple releases the first version of the iPad, immediately setting a standard for digital tablets

At the age of ninety-eight Louise Bourgeois creates I Do, two flowers growing from a single stem, in support of Freedom to Marry, a group campaigning to legitimize same-sex marriage

Anti-gpovernment protests begin in Jordan, soon causing King Abdullah to form a new cabinet with the brief to introduce reform

Ben Ali, in control of Tunisia for 23 years, resigns and flees to Saudi Arabia after four weeks of mounting tension and violence in the streets

Inspired by the example of Tunisia, a day of revolt is organized in Egypt, in protest against police methods and to coincide with National Police Day

Recognizing the use made by demonstrators of Facebook and Twitter, the Egyptian government shuts down internet access for most of the country

Protests begin in Syria, rising over the following months to the level of an uprising as demands for Bashar al-Assad to resign are met with increasing brutality

A major demonstration is held in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, demanding the resignation of the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh

On what becomes known as the 'Friday of Anger' hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Egypt after Friday prayers, a developing tradition in the Arab Spring

The results are published of the Southern Sudan referendum on independence, with more than 98% voting in favour of the break from Sudan

After nearly three weeks of escalating violence in Egypt, President Mubarak announces his resignation

Demonstrations over the arrest of a human rights lawyer in Benghazi, Libya's second city, are violently broken up by the police

Police in Bahrain make a night raid on peaceful protesters encamped in the capital city's Pearl Roundabout, killing three