NEW YORK: The killing of Osama Bin Laden during a raid by Navy SEALs on his hideout in Pakistan was the top news story of 2011, followed by Japan’s earthquake/tsunami disaster, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of US editors and news directors.
The death of Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader who masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, received 128 first-place votes out of 247 ballots cast for the top 10 stories.The Japan disaster was next, with 60 first-place votes. Placing third were the Arab Spring uprisings that rocked North Africa and the Middle East. The international flavor of these top stories contrasted with last year’s voting — when the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was the top story, President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul was No. 2, and the US midterm elections were No. 3. Here are 2011’s top 10 stories, in order:
1. OSAMA BIN LADEN’S DEATH: He’d been the world’s most-wanted terrorist for nearly a decade, ever since a team of his Al-Qaeda followers carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In May, the long manhunt ended with a nighttime assault by a special operations squad on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden was shot dead by one of the raiders, and within hours his body was buried at sea.
2. JAPAN’S TRIPLE DISASTER: A 9.0-magnitude earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast in March unleashed a tsunami that devastated scores of communities, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead or missing and wreaking an estimated $218 billion in damage.
3. ARAB SPRING: It began with demonstrations in Tunisia that rapidly toppled the longtime strongman. Spreading like a wildfire, the Arab Spring protests sparked a revolution in Egypt that ousted Hosni Mubarak, fueled a civil war in Libya that climaxed with Muammar Qaddafi’s death, and fomented an uprising in Syria. Bahrain and Yemen also experienced unrest.
4. EU FISCAL CRISIS: The European Union was hit with relentless fiscal turmoil. In Greece, austerity measures triggered strikes, protests and riots, while Italy’s economic woes toppled Premier Silvio Berlusconi. France and Germany led efforts to ease the debt crisis; Britain balked at proposed changes.
5. US ECONOMY: By some measures, the US economy gained strength as the year progressed. Hiring picked up a bit, consumers were spending more, and the unemployment rate finally dipped below 9 percent. But millions of Americans remained buffeted by foreclosures, joblessness and benefit cutbacks, and investors were monitoring the European fiscal crises.6. PENN STATE SEX SCANDAL: One of America’s most storied college football programs was tarnished in a scandal that prompted the firing of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno. One of his former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of sexually molesting 10 boys; two senior Penn State officials were charged with perjury; and the longtime president was ousted.
7. QADDAFI TOPPLED IN LIBYA: After nearly 42 years of mercurial and often brutal rule, Muammar Qaddafi was toppled. Anti-government protests escalated into an eight-month rebellion, backed by NATO bombing, that shattered his regime, and Qaddafi finally was tracked down and killed in the fishing village where he was born.8. US FISCAL SHOWDOWNS: Partisan divisions in Congress led to several showdowns on fiscal issues. A fight over the debt ceiling prompted Standard & Poor’s to strip the US of its AAA credit rating. Later, the so-called “supercommittee” failed to agree on a deficit-reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion — triggering automatic spending cuts of that amount starting in 2013.
9. OCCUPY WALL STREET: It began on Sept. 17 with a protest at a New York City park near Wall Street, and within weeks spread to scores of communities across the US and abroad. The movement depicted itself as leaderless and shied away from specific demands, but succeeded in airing its complaint that the richest 1 percent of Americans benefit at the expense of the rest. As winter approached, police dismantled several of the protest camps.
10. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS SHOT: The popular third-term Congresswoman from Arizona suffered a severe brain injury when she and 18 other people were shot by a gunman as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket in January. Six people died, and Giffords’ painstaking recovery is still in progress.Among the news events falling just short of the Top 10 were the death of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, Hurricane Irene, the devastating series of tornados across Midwest and Southeastern US, and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that barred gays from serving openly in US military.
