2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
Political turmoil in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain drove oil prices to $95/barrel in late February 2011. A few days prior, oil prices on the NYMEX closed at $86. Oil prices topped at $103 on February 24 where oil production is curtailed to the political upheaval in Libya.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
Oil supplies remained high, and Saudi Arabia assured an increase in production to counteract shutdowns. Still, the Mideast and North African crisis led to a rise in oil prices to the highest level in two years, with gasoline prices following. Though most Libyan oil went to Europe, all oil prices reacted. The average price of gasoline in the United States increased 6 cents to $3.17.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
On March 1, 2011, a significant drop in Libyan production and fears of more instability in other countries pushed the price of oil over $100 a barrel in New York trading, while the average price of gas reached $3.37. Despite Saudi promises, the sour type oil the country exported could not replace the more desirable sweet Libyan oil. On March 7, 2011, the average price of gas having reached $3.57, individuals were making changes in their driving.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
The weakened U.S. Dollar resulted in a spike to $112/barrel with the national average of $3.74/gallon – with expectations of damaging the U.S. economy suggestive of a long-term recession. As of April 26, the national average was $3.87 – with a fear of $4/gallon as the nationwide average prior to the summer driving season.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
The national average rose on May 5, 2011 for the 44th straight day, reaching $3.98. However, that same day, West Texas Intermediate crude fell below $100 a barrel, the lowest since March 16. This came after crude oil for June delivery reached $114.83 on May 2, the highest since September 2008, before closing at $97.18 on May 6, a day after dropping 9%, the most dramatic single-day drop in over two years. Gas prices fell slightly on May 6, and experts predicted $3.50 a gallon by summer.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
In mid-June, West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell nearly $2 to $93.01, the lowest price since February. The dollar was up and the euro and other currencies down, and the European economic crisis made investors concerned. London Brent crude fell 81 cents to $113.21. On June 15 the Energy Information Association said oil consumption was down 3.5% from a year earlier, but wholesale gasoline demand was up for the first time in several weeks.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
The price of gas on June 17 was $3.67.5 a gallon, 25.1 cents lower than a month earlier but 96.8 cents above a year earlier. On June 24, the price of gas was $3.62.8 and expected to go much lower due to the opening of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. U.S. oil prices fell below $90 before rising again, and Brent crude fell 2%. However, on June 29, West Texas intermediate crude had risen to $94.96, almost $5 above the lowest point reached after the previous week's action.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
One reason was the falling dollar, as Greece appeared less likely to default on its debt; concern over the Greek debt crisis had caused falling oil prices. After another week, oil for August delivery had risen from $90.61 to $98.67 and gas prices were up five cents. Increased worldwide demand was one reason. Brent Crude remained high at $118.38 partly due to supply problems in Europe, including lower North Sea production and the continuing war in Libya.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
On August 4, the price of oil dropped 6% to its lowest level in 6 months. On August 5, the price had dropped $8.82 in a week to $86.88 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The same pessimistic economic news that caused stock prices to fall also decreased expected energy demand, and experts predicted a gas price drop of 35 cents per gallon from the average of $3.70. On August 8, oil fell over 6%, in its largest drop since May, to $81, its lowest price of the year. On September 24, oil reached $79.85, down 9% for the week, due to concerns about another recession and the overall world economy. The average price of gas was $3.51, with predictions of $3.25 by November, but it was below $3 in some markets.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2011
During October, the price of oil rose 22%, the fastest pace since February, as worries over the U.S. economy decreased, leading to predictions of $4 by early 2012. As of November 8, the price reached $96.80. Gas prices were not following the increase, due to lower demand resulting from the economy, the normal decrease in travel, lower oil prices in other countries, and production of winter blends which cost less. The average rose slightly to $3.41 but predictions of $3.25 were made.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
Shortages of oil could have resulted if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of exported oil travels, as a result of sanctions due to the country's nuclear policies. The price of oil stayed near $100 throughout January because of concerns over supplies, and the European debt situation. The average price of gas was $3.38 on January 20, up 17 cents from a month earlier. Another factor was planned closing of refineries in the U.S. and Europe due to lower demand.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
By early February, the national average was $3.48, though oil prices were at $98, the lowest in six weeks, and U.S. demand was the lowest since September 2001. On February 20, benchmark March crude oil reached $105.21, the highest in nine months. This came one day after Iran's oil ministry announced an end to sales to British and French companies; though this would have little actual impact on supplies, fears resulted in higher prices. Also, approval of the bailout plan for Greece was expected, and China's action to raise the money supply was likely to stimulate the economy.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
Brent crude was up 11% for the year to $119.58 on February 17, with cold weather in Europe and higher Third World demand, and West Texas Intermediate crude was up 19% to $103.24. The average price of gas was $3.53. On February 29, the average was $3.73. The average peaked at $3.94 early in April, and on April 24, it was $3.85 compared to $3.86 a year earlier; it had been two years since gas prices were lower than the previous year.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
Crude oil prices were down; West Texas Intermediate was $103.55 a barrel, down from over $107 late in March, and Brent Crude $118.16 after peaking above $128 in March. On May 7, benchmark U.S. crude reached $95.34, the lowest price of the year, after voters in France and Greece ousted government officials who would cut spending to solve the debt crisis. Benchmark oil in New York actually rose for two days straight early in June, to $84.29. With U.S. oil supplies the highest since 1990, gas reached $3.57 on June 5.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
After falling again to its lowest price since October 2011, Benchmark crude rose 5.8% to $82.18 on June 29, with Brent crude up 4.5% to $95.51. European bailout efforts included lending money to banks, decreasing likelihood of failures. Also, European countries decided not to buy Iranian oil. The price of gas was $3.35, the lowest since January 6. On July 17, Benchmark Crude reached $89.22 and Brent crude $104 after good economic news in the United States. Gas rose to $3.40.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
On August 7, a California refinery fire contributed to a jump in oil futures. Other refinery problems, a pipeline leak, fears about Iran, the crisis in Syria, North Sea problems, and Tropical Storm Ernesto all contributed to a 20% jump in oil prices in six weeks. The price of gas reached $3.63 but was not expected to go much higher. Good economic news in the United States contributed to oil reaching its highest price since May on August 17, with Benchmark Crude reaching $96.01, while Brent crude fell slightly to $113.71.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
Early in September, a mix of bad economic news from the United States and good economic news from Europe caused the price of oil to fall slightly. On September 4, Benchmark Crude reached $95.41, with Brent crude at $114.84. The price of gas went down slightly to $3.82 but was still the highest ever for Labor Day weekend. Hurricane Isaac contributed to a temporary spike in gas prices, but on September 12 gas once again rose, to $3.86, as refineries cut production prior to the switch from summer blend gasoline to winter blend.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
Benchmark Crude also reached its highest level since early May and continued to rise above $99 after Federal Reserve announcements of actions to improve the economy and the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks. Brent crude rose slightly to nearly $116. Early in October, the average gas price was $3.78 and falling, though still a record for the month. Late in the month, the average reached $3.62 after a 13-cent drop in a week, the most since November 2008. Brent crude was down $8 in the previous month.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
By the start of November, the average was $3.54, partly due to lower demand after Hurricane Sandy. Crude oil futures fell after Barack Obama was re-elected November 6. After Thanksgiving, lower U.S. oil inventories, good economic news in the United States and good news relating to the Greek bailout helped push Brent crude up to $111.04, and benchmark oil for January delivery to $87.92; benchmark oil reached $86.24 on November 28, and gas was $3.41.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2012
On December 13, Brent crude was down to $109.20, while benchmark oil fell slightly due to U.S. fiscal cliff concerns and rose due to Federal Reserve efforts to help the U.S. economy, ending the day at $86.77. In mid-December, gas prices reached $3.25, the lowest for 2012. Oil was trading for between $84 and $90.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
On January 17, with good economic news in the United States, Benchmark oil reached its highest level since September, going over $95. Brent crude rose above $110. Gas was at $3.29.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
Refinery shutdowns led to a dramatic rise in gas prices. Late in February, gas was at $3.78, up 14 cents from a week earlier. On February 25, with European stock markets doing well, Benchmark crude for April rose above $94 after a significant drop the previous week due to news the Federal Reserve might end its stimulus efforts, making the dollar stronger. Brent crude was over $115. Two days later gas reached its highest point, $3.79 a gallon.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
By mid-April, with low demand expected due to negative economic news, gas was down to $3.56 as Brent crude fell to $103.04, its lowest price since July. With economic problems worldwide leading to low demand, gas prices fell 3% in April, the most in a month in ten years, to the lowest level for that month since 2010.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
Before Memorial Day, when gas was $3.63, gas supplies fell even though oil supplies were the highest in 35 years. U.S. economic news was also negative. On May 30, Benchmark crude for July rose slightly to $93.61 after falling the previous day, and Brent crude fell slightly to $102.19. On June 5 the price of oil rose again with supplies lower. Benchmark crude rose above $94. The price of gas was $3.62. On June 12, the International Energy Agency said demand for oil would still rise in 2013, but not as much as previously believed due to the economy.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
Also, May OPEC production was the highest in seven months. Benchmark crude fell slightly to $95.31, and Brent crude rose to $103.27. On June 20, with the Federal Reserve stating that its stimulus program could end if the U.S. economy continued to improve, as well as economic problems in China, Benchmark crude fell below $97. Brent crude fell to $104.24.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
On July 10, oil prices were the highest in more than a year as a result of lower supplies and trouble in Egypt. In the past week, Brent crude had climbed 7% to $108.51. Because too much oil was being produced for the infrastructure to handle it, West Texas Intermediate was lower than Brent crude for several years; it has returned to being consistent with Brent. On July 5 it reached $103.22. On July 19 with good economic news in the United States, Benchmark crude reached $108.05, while gas was $3.67, the highest on a Friday since March 22.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
Brent crude was at $108.07. Gas was $3.63 on August 1, though good economic news in the U.S., China and Europe meant oil was going up again after a decline the previous week. Benchmark crude reached $107.89, while Brent crude was $109.54. On August 16 Benchmark oil was $107.46 after six days of increases as Egypt's problems continued. The concern was access to the Suez Canal, which appears unlikely to be a problem but still concerns companies. Brent crude was $110.48 on August 19.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
On August 28 West Texas intermediate reached $110.10, the highest since May 2011, and Brent crude reached $116.61, its highest point since February 19, due to concern about U.S. involvement in Syria. Meanwhile, inventories in the United States had their biggest increase in four months. Benchmark crude rose to $107.56 on September 11 due to lower supplies after dropping due to hopes for a peaceful Syria solution; Brent crude rose to $111.50.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
Gas was $3.59 at the start of the month, but at the end of September, the price of gas was $3.39, the lowest for the time of year since 2010. The New York Mercantile Exchange price on September 27 was $102.87. Refineries had no hurricanes or other problems. Benchmark crude fell to $103.31 on October 3 after the U.S. government shutdown, and Brent crude was $109. On October 21, Benchmark crude was $99.22, the first time below $100 since July. Higher supplies and fewer threats from the Middle East were the reasons. Brent crude was $109.64 and gas reached $3.35.


2011–2013 world oil market chronology, 2013
On November 13, Brent crude reached $107.12 and was $13.24 higher than West Texas Intermediate, the largest difference since April, due to trouble in Libya and sanctions against Iran. On November 25, Benchmark crude decreased to $93.92 while Brent crude reached $110.41 after the agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program. On December 16, Benchmark crude rose to $97.44 and Brent crude reached $110.53 with good economic news from Europe and more Libya trouble. Gas was $3.23, three cents higher than a month earlier. On December 27, due to a better economy in the United States leading to higher demand, oil closed about $100 for the first time since October. Gas was $3.27, two cents below a year earlier.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya
Since late 2011, Kenya has seen an upsurge in violent terrorist attacks. Kenyan government officials asserted that many of the murders and blasts were carried out by Al-Shabaab in retaliation for Operation Linda Nchi, a coordinated military mission between the Somalian military and Kenyan military that began in October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. According to Kenyan security experts, the bulk of the attacks were increasingly carried out by radicalized Kenyan youth who were hired for the purpose. Kenya security officials also indicated that they were part of death squads, which carried out many of the killings under the orders of a government security council. By mid-2014, the cumulative attacks began affecting Kenya's tourism industry, as Western nations issued travel warnings to their citizens.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
Since the Operation Linda Nchi began, Al-Shabaab vowed retaliation against the Kenyan authorities. At the militant group's urging, a significant and increasing number of terrorist attacks in Kenya have since been carried out by local Kenyans, many of whom are recent converts to Islam. Estimates in 2014 placed the figure of Kenyan fighters at around 25% of Al-Shabaab's total forces. Referred to as the "Kenyan Mujahideen" by Al-Shabaab's core members, the converts are typically young and overzealous, poverty making them easier targets for the outfit's recruitment activities.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
Because the Kenyan insurgents have a different profile from the Somali and Arab militants that allows them to blend in with the general population of Kenya, they are also often harder to track. Reports suggest that Al-Shabaab is attempting to build an even more multi-ethnic generation of fighters in the larger region. One such recent convert who helped carry out the Kampala bombings but now cooperates with the Kenyan police believes that in doing so, the group is essentially trying to use local Kenyans to do its "dirty work" for it while its core members escape unscathed. According to diplomats, Muslim areas in coastal Kenya and Tanzania, such as Mombasa and Zanzibar, are also especially vulnerable for recruitment.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
In December 2014, Kenyan Anti- Terrorism Police Unit officers confessed to Al-Jazeera that they were responsible for almost 500 of the extrajudicial killings. The murders reportedly totaled several hundred homicides every year. They included the assassination of Abubaker Shariff Ahmed "Makaburi", an Al-Shabaab associate from Kenya, who was among 21 Muslim radicals allegedly murdered by the Kenyan police since 2012. According to the agents, they resorted to killing after the Kenyan police could not successfully prosecute terror suspects.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
In doing so, the officers indicated that they were acting on the direct orders of Kenya's National Security Council, which consisted of the Kenyan President, Deputy President, Chief of the Defence Forces, Inspector General of Police, National Security Intelligence Service Director, Cabinet Secretary of Interior, and Principal Secretary of Interior. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the National Security Council of Kenya members denied operating an extrajudicial assassination program. Additionally, the officers suggested that Western security agencies provided intelligence for the program, including the whereabouts and activities of government targets.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
They asserted that Britain supplied further logistics in the form of equipment and training. One Kenyan officer within the council's General Service Unit also indicated that Israeli instructors taught them how to kill. The head of the International Bar Association, Mark Ellis, cautioned that any such involvement by foreign nations would constitute a breach of international law. The United Kingdom and Israel denied participation in the Kenyan National Security Council's reported death squads, with the UK Foreign Office indicating that it had approached the Kenyan authorities over the charges.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Background
By May 2014, the United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia began issuing travel warnings to their citizens in Kenya. This had an immediate impact on Kenya's tourism industry, as European visitors left the country and hotel establishments were consequently forced to lay off staff. The U.S. also reduced its staff levels at its Nairobi embassy. In June 2014, the U.K. likewise shut down its Honorary Consulate in Mombasa over security concerns.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2011
The first attack by al-Shabaab was on a blue-collar bar known as Mwaura's in downtown Mfangano Street in Nairobi on Monday, 24 October 2011, at around 1:15 am. The hurled grenade left one person dead and wounded more than 20. Police said that the weapon used was a Russian-made F1 grenade.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2011
A second blast occurred later the same day, when a grenade was tossed out of a moving vehicle into the Machakos bus terminus. 59 men and ten women were subsequently hospitalised, of which two were in intensive care and five people were confirmed dead.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2011
The attacks came only two days after the United States warned of "imminent" terror attacks. The US warning had implied that al-Shabaab would carry out reprisals in response to Kenyan troops' incursion into Somalia in mid-October. Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, a recent Kenyan Muslim convert, was arrested in connection with the two blasts and was sentenced to life in prison after having pleaded guilty to all charges.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2011
Al-Shabaab was suspected of carrying out a few more attacks in October as well. In November 2011, Al-Shabaab attacked several other locations including the East African Pentecostal Church, a military convoy, and a Holiday Inn hotel. The militant group is suspected of carrying out nine attacks in Kenya in December 2011; some of the attacks resulted in injuries and casualties while some resulted in no injuries.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
Militants were responsible for several attacks over the first few months of 2012. In January, there were three reported attacks, including the killing of the chairperson of the Community Peace and Security Team in Hagadera camp as well as several police officers. It was also reported that Kenyan police seized explosive equipment in an Ifo camp in the Dadaab complex, arresting nine suspects. In February, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack that resulted in the death of a police officer and a civilian while injuring two other civilians. On 10 March 2012, six were killed and over sixty were injured after four grenades were thrown into a Machakos bus station in Nairobi.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
On Sunday, 29 April 2012, around 8:50am, an attack took place at God's House of Miracles Church at Ngara Estate in Nairobi. As reported by one of the dailies, an attacker, who goes by the name Amar, entered the church and left. He later came back and took a seat in the back, hurling the grenade at worshipers while they had been called by the pastor to the pulpit. The experts said that the grenade used had been made in China.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
One person died and 11 people were admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
On Tuesday, 15 May, three hand grenades were hurled at the Bella Vista nightclub in Mombasa, Kenya, killing one and leaving five others injured. The attacker also fired indiscriminately after he was denied entry into the Bella Vista club. A woman died as a result of a gunshot to the chest the two guards were injured. A suspect who had sustained injuries in the attack was arrested in connection to the assault. A bus ticket to Nairobi was recovered from the suspect and a magazine loaded with eight rounds of ammunition. Police arrested a suspect Mr. Thabit Jamaldin Yahya. He is still in remand.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
On Monday, 28 May, a blast went off from inside the Sasa Boutique located within Assanand's House on Nairobi's Moi Avenue. 27 people were injured in the blast, and it was reported that four were in critical condition. Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said that the explosion was the result of either a grenade or a bomb. Over the course of four other May attacks, one police officer was killed and numerous others were injured.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
On Sunday, 24 June at around 10 pm EAT, another grenade attack was reported at a Jericho Beer Garden in Mishomoroni, Kisauni Constituency in Mombasa, Kenya. The bar was packed with patrons who had gathered to watch the UEFA European Championships 2012 football match between England and Italy. The grenade killed one person on the spot while two more died due to injuries while they were receiving treatment at the Coast general hospital. 30 more were injured, including a suspect who was alleged to be part of the attackers, a 9-year-old boy.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, January – June
This attack happened on the same day the Kenyan Navy had taken away two explosive devices that had been found floating in the Indian Ocean. The US government (through its embassy in Kenya) had issued a warning to its citizens to leave the coastal city of Mombasa due to a possible imminent attack. Athman Salim, a 23-year-old Kenyan day labourer from the Kilifi District was the main suspect of the attack. Although a Muslim, Athman denied any involvement with extremist groups or having ever journeyed to Somalia. He claimed that he had visited the pub to listen some local music, and indicated that he had never worked outside the city of Mombasa. He was released on 9 July after spending 10 days in Nyali police station.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On 1 July at around 10:15 am EAT, masked gunmen attacked two churches (the Central Catholic Cathedral and AIC churches) simultaneously in Garissa, located approximately 140 kilometres from the Somali border. The assailants killed seventeen people and left fifty injured. The churches are 3 kilometres apart and the dead included two police officers, four men, nine women and two children. The North Eastern Police Provincial Officer (PPO) Philip Ndolo reported that the gunmen attacked the two policemen first and took their firearms before they proceeded to attack the churches.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
The attackers used pistols to shoot the policemen at point blank range and then snatched their G3 rifles which were later used to shoot at the AIC church worshipers indiscriminately. No shooting was reported at the Catholic's Central Cathedral but a hand grenade was set off, resulting in less casualties than the AIC attack. The Supreme Muslim Council (SUPKEM) in Kenya warned of a misinterpretation of this attack as a religious war against the Christians. A joint effort by the Kenya Police, Administration Police, National Security Intelligence Service and the paramilitary General Service Unit saw the arrest of 83 suspects in connection with the attack during a massive security swoop after the attack.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
Four people were reported injured on 18 July when two hand grenades went off at a barbershop in Wajir. In addition, three police officers were injured on 25 July when their patrol hit a landmine.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
Police also arrested a man who was carrying two grenades at the Nakuru Agricultural Show shortly before President Mwai Kibaki arrived to deliver a speech. It was also reported that they arrested two men with four hand grenades in Kitale as they were boarding a Nairobi-bound bus; a third man escaped capture.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On the evening of 3 August, one person was killed and six more were left injured at the Eastleigh neighbourhood near the Kenya Airforce headquarters in Nairobi. The attack came on the eve of a visit by Hillary Clinton, the United States secretary of state. The suicide bombing was inadvertently carried out by an innocent carrier of the detonated home-made device. The attackers have adopted a new way of executing their plans by giving unsuspecting citizens armed home-made explosives that they in turn detonate remotely at a safe distance.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
The attackers have been using ordinary home equipment like the transistor radios and gas cylinders in their new methods. This attack on 3 August blew the upper torso of the carrier of the transistor radio which contained the explosive. On 28 August, three Kenyan policeman are killed and over a dozen wounded in a grenade attack during riots in the port city of Mombasa over the killing of Islamist cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On 30 September, at around 10:30am, a 9-year-old boy was killed when a grenade was hurled towards Sunday school children at St Polycarp Anglican Church along Juja road in Nairobi. On 21 September, four police officers and three civilians were injured during a series of two explosions. The first explosion targeted a GSU lorry and the secondary explosion went off when officers rushed to the scene.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
There were several attacks on Administration Police officers in September. On 30 September, two police officers were shot dead from behind while patrolling along Ngamia road in Garissa. Additionally, on 15 September, two Administration Police officers were injured in an explosion when their vehicle hit a landmine.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On 27 October, CID officer Yussuf Yero was shot and killed in a Hagdera, Daadab mosque as he read the Koran.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On 20 November, Kenya Defence Forces were involved in an operation in Garissa, where KDF soldiers subsequently burned down the local market and shot at a crowd of protesters, killing a woman and injuring 10 people. Another 35 residents received treatment at the provincial hospital after being assaulted by the soldiers, including a chief and two pupils. A group of MPs led by Farah Maalim, accused Kenyan officers of fomenting violence, raping women and shooting at students, and threatened to take the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), if the perpetrators are not brought to justice.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
Maalim also suggested that the deployment of the soldiers was unconstitutional and had not received the requisite parliamentary approval, and that the ensuing rampage cost Garissa entrepreneurs over Sh1.5 billion to Sh2billion in missed revenue. Additionally, Sheikhs with the CPK threatened to sue the military commanders for crimes against humanity committed during the operation. CJPC Bishops also urged Kenyans to resist engaging in violence, and instead to report offences to the relevant authorities.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
Additionally, several police officers were killed and injured as attacks escalated. It was reported that on 11 November at least 38 police officers are killed by cattle rustlers in the northern part of the country. On 1 November, a policeman was on shot dead and another seriously injured on by assailants in Garissa town. The officers were on patrol when they were ambushed by four men, one of whom was a teenager. On 4 November, a policeman has been killed and 10 people were injured in a grenade attack on a church in Kenya.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On Sunday, 18 November, ten people were killed and 25 seriously injured when an explosive went off on a mass transit mini-bus (matatu) in Eastleigh. The explosion is believed to be an improvised explosive device or bomb of some sort. Looting and destruction of Somali-owned homes and shops by angry mobs of young Kenyans ensues. Somalis defend their property, and interpret the bus explosion as a pretext for non-Somalis to steal from their community. Relative calm reportedly returns by mid-afternoon.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On Wednesday, 5 December, around 7pm, an explosion went off in the Joska area of Eastleigh, Nairobi, killing one person and wounding six others. The explosion that occurred during rush hour traffic was caused by a roadside bomb, and was not far from the site of a blast a few weeks earlier.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On Friday, 7 December, around 7:30pm, five people were killed and eight others injured in an explosion near a mosque in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi. The wounded included the area member of parliament Abdi Yusuf Hassan. A second attack was carried out at the same mosque on 16 December, seriously injuring one person.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2012, July – December
On 19 December, two people were injured after two blasts went off outside Al Amin mosque in Eastleigh area of Nairobi. The blasts took place during rush hour Suspected Al-shabab militants shot three people dead and injured one person on Kenyatta Street in Garissa on 20 December at 7 pm. The dead included a banker and a civil servant. On 27 December, at 11 pm a police officer was shot dead while his colleague escaped unharmed after being attacked by suspected Islamists in Mandera town. The assailants also stole a G3 rifle from the two constables.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 4 January, at 7 pm, two people were killed and seven wounded in a grenade attack at Dagahale area in Garissa. The grenade was hurled from a saloon car at a tent where people were chewing khat.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
A grenade was thrown into a police vehicle as it drove past a crowd along Ngamia road near the local District Officer's (DO) office on 7 January 2013. Four people including three police officers were seriously wounded in a grenade attack on a police car in Garissa town. On 8 January, one of the wounded, a 22-year-old man, succumbed to injuries. The number of wounded admitted in hospital was confirmed as eight people including four police officers.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On the evening of 9 January, two grenades were thrown into the World Food Programme (WFP) compound in Mandera Town. There were no injuries reported. The blast occurred as a group of worshipers was leaving a nearby mosque after their prayers.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 16 January, suspected Islamic militants shot dead five people and injured three others at a restaurant in the eastern city of Garissa. Authorities said they believed the gunmen belonged to the Al-Shabaab group, as the victims included a senior prison warden, fitting a pattern of attacks against security forces.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
Two men believed to be suicide bombers of Somali origin died on the morning of 17 January 2013 after improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had gone off in Hagdera refugee camp in Dadaab.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 31 January, a blast injured three Kenyan policemen during the evening in the Dagahalley area of the northern town of Dadaab. The explosion had targeted a police vehicle. Police had earlier in the evening recovered two hand grenades.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 2 February, a KDF soldier was killed in a blast in Wajir after a terrorist who appeared to know him hurled a grenade at the man and his girlfriend. The officer was among several people on a break from the coordinated Linda Nchi operation in southern Somalia between the Somali military and Kenyan forces against the Al-Shabaab insurgents. Two other policemen were wounded in the explosion, while the woman had injuries to her legs.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 5 February, an administration police sergeant was assassinated in Garissa. He had just arrived in the town from his habitual station in Dadaab when one of several gunmen shot him in the head. The assailants escaped the scene by foot, with police making no arrests.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On the evening of 18 April, four armed men walked into the Kwa Chege Hotel in Garissa and started shooting. At least six people were shot dead and ten others seriously wounded.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, January – June
On 9 June, nearly simultaneous evening attacks in Eastleigh (Nairobi) and Likoni (Mombasa) left at least 15 people injured.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, July—December
On 21 September 2013, armed gunmen attacked the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, killing at least 69 people and injuring more than 175. The President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly lost "very close family members" in the attack. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall. The attack was thought to be orchestrated by extremists against non-Muslim Kenyans and Westerners in the area.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, July—December
On 13 December 2013, double blasts in the northeastern town of Wajir killed one individual and wounded at least three other people.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2013, July—December
On 14 December 2013, a hand grenade was thrown onto a minibus in Eastleigh. The Saturday evening explosion killed at least 4 people and wounded 36 others. It was the fourth such attack to occur during the 50th anniversary week of Kenya's independence. 13 people died since 10 December 2013, with no group claiming responsibility for the assaults.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 14 March 2014, in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, two terrorists were arrested while driving a car carrying two improvised bombs.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 19 March 2014, Kenyan police unintentionally parked a car outside their office that was carrying a massive cache of terrorist explosives, including 130 pounds of plastic.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 31 March 2014, a pair of explosions killed six people in Eastleigh. Occurring along 11th street around 7:30pm, one of the blasts took place near a food kiosk; the other near a bus stop.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 1 April 2014, in the Eastleigh district of Nairobi, six people were killed and dozens more injured when terrorists exploded bombs at two separate locations about three hundred meters apart.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 9 April 2014, it was reported that twelve shops in the Nairobi city center were being investigated for funneling money to terrorists.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 23 April 2014, a car exploded at the Pangani police station in Nairobi, killing the four occupants: the driver, a passenger, and two police officers who had boarded the vehicle to guide it to the police station. A second vehicle with explosives was subsequently found abandoned just blocks away.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 3 May 2014, twin terrorist attacks in the port city of Mombasa killed three people.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 4 May 2014, on the Thika Highway in Nairobi, terrorists exploded homemade bombs on two commuter buses, nearly simultaneously and about a kilometer apart. According to the report, at least three people were killed and at least sixty-two others injured.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 16 May 2014, at Gikomba Market in Nairobi, twin explosions claimed the lives of more than ten people.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 23 May 2014, a grenade was thrown at a police vehicle carrying two suspects in the City of Mombasa. Two people were injured.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 16 June 2014, at least 48 people were killed when suspected Shebab militants from Somalia stormed into a Kenyan coastal town and launched a major assault on a police station, hotels and government offices, officials said. Around 50 heavily armed gunmen drove into the town of Mpeketoni, near the coastal island and popular tourist resort of Lamu, late on Sunday. Witnesses said they first attacked a police station, before starting to randomly shoot at civilians, some of whom had been watching the World Cup in local bars and hotels.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
In late 2014, two attacks believed to have been carried out by Al Shabaab killed 64 persons in Mandera County. On 22 November 2014, gunmen attacked a bus traveling from Mandera to Nairobi, killing 28 persons, mostly teachers and government workers heading to Nairobi for the December holidays.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Timeline, 2014
On 2 December 2014, Al-Shabaab militants attacked and killed a further 36 quarry workers, many of whom were non-Muslims, near Mandera Town.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Prosecution and arrests
Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, a recent Kenyan Muslim convert, was arrested in connection with the two October 2011 blasts and was sentenced to life in prison after having pleaded guilty to all charges. Going by the adopted name Mohamed Seif, Oliacha reportedly smiled at cameras, stated that he harboured no regrets, and indicated that he would not appeal his sentence.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Prosecution and arrests
On 20 September 2012, Abdimajid Yasin Mohamed, alias Hussein, was sentenced to 59 years in prison. He was charged alongside Abdi Adan alias Salman Abdi, who denies the allegations and whose case is still pending. Yasin was ordered to undergo psychiatric examination after he pleaded guilty upon arrest on 14 Sep, doctors found him fit to stand trial. The two suspects arrested in Eastleigh with bombs, grenades and a cache of weapons that included six suicide bombs, 12 grenades, four AK 47 rifles and 480 bullets recovered from them as police thwarted a major terror plot in Nairobi.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Prosecution and arrests
Police arrested a suspect, Thabit Jamaldin Yahya, in connection with an attack at Mombasa Bella Vista bar in May 2012. He is still in remand.


2011–2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, Prosecution and arrests
On 29 September 2012, police arrested over 60 people with possession of bomb making materials. The arrested were on board a bus from Garissa to Nairobi when police discovered the materials. They all disowned the luggage with material.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms
The 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms were a series of political, economic and administrative reforms in Myanmar undertaken by the military-backed government. These reforms include the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and subsequent dialogues with her, establishment of the National Human Rights Commission, general amnesties of more than 200 political prisoners, institution of new labour laws that allow labour unions and strikes, relaxation of press censorship, and regulations of currency practices. As a consequence of the reforms, ASEAN has approved Myanmar's bid for the chairmanship in 2014. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar on 1 December 2011, to encourage further progress; it was the first visit by a Secretary of State in more than fifty years. United States President Barack Obama visited one year later, becoming the first US president to visit the country.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms
Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, participated in by-elections held on 1 April 2012 after the government abolished laws that led to the NLD's boycott of the 2010 general election. She led the NLD in winning the by-elections in a landslide, winning 41 out of 44 of the contested seats, with Aung San Suu Kyi herself winning a seat representing Kawhmu Constituency in the lower house of the Myanmar Parliament. However, uncertainties exist as some other political prisoners have not been released and clashes between Myanmar troops and local insurgent groups continue.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Background
Burma was under military rule from 1962 to 2010. In 2008, the ruling Junta, State Peace and Development Council, announced the new constitution as a part of roadmap to democracy. The constitution, which reserves 25% of the Hluttaw legislature's seats for military, is seen by the opposition as a tool for continuing military control of the country. A constitution referendum was held in 2008 amid Cyclone Nargis. Observers criticised the referendum for voter intimidation, electoral fraud and advance voting. Nevertheless, on 15 May 2008, the junta announced that the constitution had been approved by 92.4% of voters, claiming a 99% turnout in the two-thirds of the region that had held the vote.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Background
An election was held in 2010. The military backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory. The United Nations and Western countries expressed concerns about the conduct of the elections.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms
Nevertheless, the government has embarked reforms toward liberal democracy, mixed economy, and reconciliation, although the motives of such reforms are still debated.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Corruption
In March 2012, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw passed a law that will increase the wages of all public sector employees, including soldiers, an additional cost-of-living allowance of 30,000 kyat (US$38), along with a daily wage increase of 1,100 to 2,100 kyat ($1.40–$2.70) for full-time employees, purportedly to tackle corruption in the government. The law will be effective 1 April 2012, when the 2012 Burmese by-elections take place.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Corruption
On 12 March 2012, The Voice, a weekly news journal published an article that highlighted 6 ministries: the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry of Industry 1 and Ministry of Industry 2, as misusing funds and misstating finances, based on internal parliamentary audit reports. Two days later, the Ministry of Mines announced that it would file a lawsuit against the journal.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Political reforms
The pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest on 13 November 2010. After her release, she held a series of dialogues with President Thein Sein and Minister Aung Kyi. Although the discussions were not publicised, the state media reported that "the two sides have agreed to set aside the differences and work together in matters of common interests that will really benefit the country and the people" Aung San Suu Kyi's ability to travel freely throughout the country is seen as an improvement compared to her trips in 2003 which met with a government sponsored massacre.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Political reforms
Aung San Suu Kyi's party, National League for Democracy boycotted the 2010 election. The election law enacted by the SPDC did not allow ex-prisoners to become members of registered political parties. If NLD decided to register, it would have to expel its members who were imprisoned. But in November, the government erased the clause in a parliamentary section. After the amendments, NLD leaders have unanimously decided to register for the by-election.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Censorship
The government has relaxed press and internet censorship laws, for example allowing photographs of Aung San Suu Kyi to be published on the front page of local newspapers. Tint Swe, the head of the country's censorship authority, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, said that censorship is incompatible with democratic practices and should be abolished. A presidential adviser has indicated that press censorship will be abolished in 2012 under new media legislation. In September 2011, several banned websites including YouTube, Democratic Voice of Burma and Voice of America have been unblocked.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Censorship
In January 2012, the Ministry of Information announced that it had forwarded a draft of a new media and press law to the Attorney General's Office for review. The draft law, which will need to be approved by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (National Parliament), borrows some language from similar laws in Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The draft law, which is adapted from the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law, will not be submitted during the second parliamentary session.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Censorship
In March 2012, Minister of Information, Kyaw Hsan, said that the country was undergoing a 3-step process in reforming the media regulation: (1) relaxation of regulations to allow individual publications to exercise self-censorship and accountability, (2) promulgation of a new print media law, (3) regulation of print media through the new print media law. On a similar note, Yi Htut, the Information and Public Relations Division's Director-General stated that the new media law would avoid the extremes of the past, outline journalists' rights and responsibilities and that he was in consultation with UNESCO experts with regard to the new law.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
The government has convened an independent National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) consisting of 15 retired bureaucrats and academics. Analysts have questioned the panel's will and ability to challenge the government, but the commission has challenged the President's claims that there are no political prisoners in Myanmar, calling for all political prisoners' release.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
Two general amnesties were held in 2011 releasing between 10,000 and 40,000 prisoners, although only about 300 of them are considered political prisoners by monitor groups such as the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). After the second general amnesty, some prominent prisoners of conscience such as comedian Zarganar have been released, while others such as 8888 Uprising leader Min Ko Naing remained in prison. The government also approved the NHRC's suggestion to relocate political prisoners so that their family members can easily contact them.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
There are varying definitions of "political prisoner", but Amnesty International and the NLD consider Myanmar to have 600 political prisoners. On 13 January 2012, another amnesty was announced, freeing 88 Generation Student Group activists Min Ko Naing, Htay Kywe, Ko Ko Gyi, Nilar Thein, Mie Mie, and Mya Aye, as well as Shan leader Khun Htun Oo, Saffron Revolution leader U Gambira, former prime minister Khin Nyunt, blogger Nay Phone Latt, and a number of imprisoned Democratic Voice of Burma reporters.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
As of March 2012, various organisations have identified upwards of 619 remaining political prisoners (AAP has identified 413) in jail. As of April 2013, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are currently 176 political prisoners, in Burmese prisons. On 23 July 2013, another amnesty was announced and 73 political prisoners were released, but about 100 political prisoners were still remained.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
In October 2011, the government passed new International Labour Organization-approved legislation that allows for labour unions with at least 30 members, the right to strike, given 2 weeks' notice. This law, effective 9 March 2012, also provides for punishment of employers who dismiss workers on strike or unionised workers with up to a year in prison and a fine of 100,000 kyat, as well punishment of workers who stage illegal strikes, with up to a year in jail and a fine of 30,000 kyat.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
On 16 March 2012, the Ministry of Labour signed a memorandum of understanding with the ILO to end forced labour by 2015.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Human rights
The government has however, denied the presence of other human right issues such as alleged army abuses against ethnic minorities, claiming that in ethnic areas, only local insurgent groups violate human rights. The government has accused the Kachin Independence Army of planting bombs, destroying bridges and trading in illegal drugs. Insurgent groups have resumed fighting since a 2008 ceasefire in opposition to the new constitution of Myanmar that requires all armed forces be under the control of the national Defense Service. Peace talks were held in November to reach a compromise.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Economics
Since 2011, Myanmar has embarked on policy reforms of anti-corruption laws, currency exchange rates, foreign investment laws and taxation. Foreign investment increased from US$300 million in 2009–10 to a US$20 billion in 2010–11, (about 667%). The large inflow of capital resulted in a stronger valuation of the kyat (Burmese currency) by about 25 percent. In response, the government relaxed import restrictions and abolished export taxes. Despite current currency problems, the Burmese economy is expected to grow by about 8.8 percent in 2011.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Economics
Myanmar has a complex foreign exchange system with black markets, foreign exchange certificates, and multiple exchange rates. On request of the government to alleviate its souring currency conditions, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team visited Myanmar in October. After the visit, the government allowed private banks to engage in the foreign exchange market.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Economics
The Central Bank of Myanmar is currently embarking on a plan to unify the country's multiple exchange rate system. From April 2012 to April 2013, the official exchange rate of 6.4 kyats to US$1 (a rate that has not changed since 1977, when it was pegged to the IMF's special drawing rights) will be floated up, to foster an interbank money market. From 2013 to 2014, the most widely used informal black market rate will be completely eliminated.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Economics
The informal exchange rates are used for most daily transactions, while the overvalued official exchange rate is used to calculate government revenue and state-owned enterprises. There are other informal exchange rates, such an exchange rate used by UN agencies and international NGOs (450 kyat to US$1 in 2010), a customs rate, and an official market rate. Such discrepancies have distorted national accounts (since firms are required to report all transactions in Burmese kyat at the official rate) and reduced transparency and accountability. According to some banking sources, the official exchange rate will be raised and set at 820 kyat per USD. On 2 April 2012, the Central Bank of Myanmar began trading at the new reference exchange rate of 818 kyat to 1 US dollar.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Reforms, Economics
In March 2012, a draft foreign investment law emerged, the first in more than 2 decades. This law would oversee unprecedented liberalisation of the economy. Foreigners will no longer require a local partner to start a business in the country, because they will be able to legally lease land. The draft law also stipulates that Burmese citizens must constitute at least 25% of the firm's skilled workforce, and with training, increased in increments of 25% up to 75% in subsequent years.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, International reaction
Although the government has been applauded for the reforms, many countries remain "cautiously optimistic". Japan has resumed sending aid which was suspended after the 2007 killing of a Japanese journalist. ASEAN has approved Burma's bid for chair in 2014.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, International reaction
The United States, Australia and the EU have called for further action, such as the unconditional release of all political prisoners, as a prerequisite for the lifting of international sanctions on the Myanma government. The United States appointed a special envoy, Derek Mitchell, to chart a new policy from Myanmar away from isolation.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, International reaction, Improvement in U.S.-Burmese relations
Following the government reforms in 2011 and the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the country, the U.S. announced several initiatives, including the removal of some curbs on foreign aid, aimed at re-engagement with Myanmar, a step toward the restoration of full diplomatic relations. In January 2012, following the release of prominent political prisoners including Min Ko Naing, the U.S. and Myanmar restored full diplomatic relations and exchanged ambassadors, though further ties would be dependent on additional reforms.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, International reaction, Improvement in U.S.-Burmese relations
In September 2016, the Cardin-McCain Burma Strategy Act of 2016, a piece of bipartisan proposed U.S. legislation, was introduced to the Senate. The legislation seeks to set "'benchmarks and guidelines' on sanctions relief by calling on the U.S. Secretary of State to assess and make recommendations regarding modifying or lifting sanctions, with a focus on issues such as democracy and ethnic reconciliation." The legislation would also authorize humanitarian aid; authorize economic aid to support Burmese civil society groups; create a Burma-America Development Fund to foster private-sector investment; and authorize limited military-to-military relations.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
Neither Western sanctions nor Asian constructive engagement should be credited for what we are witnessing today.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
Experts caution that the reforms will be disproved by the hardliners and probably lead to counterrevolution. But, Minister U Kyaw Hsan said there is no intention to retract reforms.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
The motives of such reforms are also debated. Marie Lall, a BBC South Asia analyst attributes Burma's bid for the Asean chair in 2014, the needs to reform the economy for ASEAN Free Trade Area and the government's desire to win the election in 2015 as the main motives of the reforms.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
In a February 2012 interview, Aung San Suu Kyi has said that the reforms can still be reversed and urged observers to wait until after the 2012 by-elections and any subsequent policy changes to make a better assessment:


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
"Ultimate power still rests with the army so until we have the army solidly behind the process of democratisation we cannot say that we have got to a point where there will be no danger of a U-turn. Many people are beginning to say that the democratisation process here is irreversible. It's not so. We must wait until after the elections to find out whether or not there have been real changes. And depending on these changes, there should be suitable changes in policy."


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
In Freedom House's 2012 Freedom in the World, the country's civil liberties rating improved from 7 to 6, because of increased public discussion and news and politics media coverage, and reduced restrictions on education. The report also noted:


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
Despite these initial signs of progress, it remained unclear how far the reforms would go, and numerous conflicts between the government and the country’s ethnic minority militias remained unresolved.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis
Scholar Thant Myint-U has observed that military representatives and MPs have not necessarily voted on party lines on important issues, noting that party organisations are still relatively undeveloped.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
Human Rights Watch has criticised a new assembly law, the Law Relating to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession, signed on 2 December 2011, for restricting the right to protest and failing to meet international standards. The law requires would-be protesters to seek permission from township police five days in advance, including such details on the demonstration as the slogans to be used, and gives authority arbitrary powers to deny citizens the right to protest.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
Regarding the 2012 by-elections, the National League for Democracy has pointed out irregularities in voter lists, rule violations by local election committees and vote-buying practices by the Union Solidarity and Development Party. On 21 March 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi was quoted as saying "Fraud and rule violations are continuing and we can even say they are increasing."


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
The country still lacks an independent judiciary system, which remains politicised and closely tied to the government. For instance, lawyers who defend prisoners of conscience are routinely stripped of their license to practice law, while sentences are arbitrarily administered. A March 2012 United Nations report states:


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
Myanmar lacks an independent, impartial and effective judiciary, which is not only essential for its transition to democracy but also necessary to uphold the rule of law, ensure checks and balances on the executive and the legislative, and safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms in Myanmar.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
A Human Rights Watch report, released in March 2012, states that human rights abuses by the Tatmadaw continue, especially in border regions, such as Kachin State, where 75,000 civilians have been displaced, since hostilities broke out in 2011 between the rebel group Kachin Independence Army and Burmese government soldiers. According to the report, forced labour and military conscription, blockage of international aid, attacks on civilians and private properties, rape and torture, as well as use of landmines, continue to be practised in the country.


2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, Analysis, Criticisms
Ironically, after the military regime started to lift autocratic controls, the already persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority suffered further repression in part because "Free speech empowered preachers of anti-Muslim hatred." This atmosphere led to events such as the 2012 Rakhine State riots and 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis. However, many human rights activists and people in Burma believe that this ethnic hatred is a direct result of military rule, as the military promoted an extreme form of Burman nationalism during the years 1962–2011.


2011–2017 California drought
The 2011–2017 California drought persisted from December 2011 to March 2017 and consisted of the driest period in California's recorded history, late 2011 through 2014. The drought wiped out 102 million trees from 2011 to 2016, 62 million of those during 2016 alone. The cause of the drought was attributed to a ridge of high pressure in the Pacific Sea — the "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" — which often barred powerful winter storm from reaching the state.


2011–2017 California drought
By February 2017, the state's drought percentage returned to lower levels seen before the start of the drought. This change was due to an exceedingly wet pattern caused by atmospheric river-enhanced Pacific storms, which caused severe flooding.


2011–2017 California drought
In mid-March 2019, California was declared drought-free except for a small pocket of "abnormally dry" conditions in Southern California. This declaration followed a series of powerful Pacific storms during the first few months of the year, which coincided with the U.S. experiencing drought conditions in the fewest parts of the country since 2000.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2013
In 2013, the total rainfall was less than 34% of what was expected. Many regions of the state accumulated less rainfall in 2013 than any other year on record. As a result of this, many fish species were threatened. Streams and rivers were so low that fish couldn't get to their spawning grounds, and survival rates of any eggs that were laid were expected to be low. Lack of rainfall had caused the mouths of rivers to be blocked off by sand bars which further prevented fish from reaching their spawning grounds. Stafford Lehr, Chief of Fisheries within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that 95% of winter run salmon didn’t survive in 2013.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
According to the NOAA Drought Task Force report of 2014, the drought was not part of a long-term change in precipitation and was a symptom of the natural variability, although the record-high temperature that accompanied the recent drought may have been amplified due to human-induced global warming. This was confirmed by a 2015 scientific study which estimated that global warming "accounted for 8–27% of the observed drought anomaly in 2012–2014... Although natural variability dominates, anthropogenic warming has substantially increased the overall likelihood of extreme California droughts."


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
By February 1, 2014, Felicia Marcus, the chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, claimed the 2014 drought "is the most serious drought we've faced in modern times." Marcus argues that California needs to "conserve what little we have to use later in the year, or even in future years." Pritchett & Manning 2009 showed that the alkali meadow vegetation plant community is groundwater dependent and that this characteristic buffers the system from the effects of drought.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
This means that certain plants are actually able to help prevent droughts, but can only do so if groundwater is maintained at a certain level. One of the reasons that the study was conducted was to ascertain whether the Owens Valley region of California could handle any practiced or proposed groundwater extraction.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
In February 2014, the Californian drought reached for the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project to shortages of water supplies. The California Department of Water Resources planned to reduce water allocations to farmland by 50%. California's 38 million residents experienced 13 consecutive months of drought. This is particularly an issue for the state's 44.7 billion dollar agricultural industry, which produces nearly half of all U.S.-grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
This is after the LADWP expected to increase the pumping of aquifers to about 1.36×108 m3 a year (City of Los Angeles and County of Inyo 1991) but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that a sustainable pumping rate is a third lower, at around 8.64×107 m3 a year (Danskin 1998).


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
According to NASA, tests published in January 2014 have shown that the twelve months prior to January 2014 were the driest on record, since record-keeping began in 1885. In mid-May 2014, the US Drought Monitor analysis showed that 100% of California was already under "Severe Drought" or a higher level. The 2014 drought is considered the worst in 1,200 years. As California received additional rainfall in December 2014, this was not expected to end California's drought, and trees were at risk due to weakened roots.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
Experts also noted that due to the soil's extreme dryness and low groundwater levels, it would take significantly more rain—at least five more similar storms—to end the drought. On December 18, it was revealed that almost all of the Exceptional Drought in Northern California had been reduced to Extreme Drought severity, as a result of the winter storms that brought rain to California during December.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
In 2014, a study by the UC California Institute for Water Resources was released which found that rainfall has been abnormally high since the late 1800s. According to Professor Scott Stine from Cal State East Bay, California experienced its wettest period in seven thousand years during the 20th century, according to his study of tree stumps around Mono Lake, Tenaya Lake and other parts of the Sierra Nevada. Stine was quoted as saying in the National Geographic Magazine, "What we have come to consider normal is profoundly wet,". This view was backed by Lynn Ingram of University of California, Berkeley, and Glen MacDonald of UCLA.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
Lack of water due to low snowpack prompted Californian governor Jerry Brown to order a series of stringent mandatory water restrictions on April 1, 2015. Brown ordered cities and towns to reduce their water usage by 25%, which would amount in 1.5 million acre-feet of water in the nine months following the mandate in April. However, Brown's water restrictions were been criticized because they were not applied to California's agricultural sector, which uses around 80% of California's developed water supply.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife closed dozens of streams and rivers to fishing in 2014. Lehr has said that he fears coho salmon may go completely extinct south of the Golden Gate Bridge in the near future. In early 2014 the main stems of the Eel, Mad, Smith, Van Duzen, and Mattole rivers were closed pending additional rainfall. Large areas of the Russian and American rivers were closed indefinitely. Most rivers in San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were also closed pending further rainfall. Other actions were also taken, such as releasing more water from the Kent Dam in hopes of raising the levels in the Lagunitas Creek watershed—one of the last spawning grounds that wild coho can still reach.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2014
Protesters said that banning fishing would disrupt the economy and threaten the livelihoods of individuals who rely on salmon fishing during the winters. Officials, however, highlighted that it would help prevent species that are already in trouble from slipping to extinction.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2015
In May 2015, a state resident poll conducted by Field Poll found that two out of three respondents agreed that it should be mandated for water agencies to reduce water consumption by 25%.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2015
The 2015 prediction of El Niño to bring rains to California raised hopes of ending the drought. In the spring of 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration named the probability of the presence of El Niño conditions until the end of 2015 at 80%. Historically, sixteen winters between 1951 and 2015 had created El Niño. Six of those had below-average rainfall, five had average rainfall, and five had above-average rainfall. However, as of May 2015, drought conditions had worsened and above average ocean temperatures had not resulted in large storms.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2015
The drought led to Governor Jerry Brown's instituting mandatory 25 percent water restrictions in June 2015.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2015
In response to heightening drought conditions, California tightened fishing restrictions in many areas of the state. Streams and rivers on the northern coast had unprecedented amounts of fishing bans. In February 2015, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to further tighten regulations on both recreational and commercial fishing, and the U.S. Endangered Species Act listed steelhead as threatened and coho salmon as endangered.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2016
Many millions of California trees died from the drought—approximately 102 million, including 62 million in 2016 alone. By the end of 2016, 30% of California had emerged from the drought, mainly in the northern half of the state, while 40% of the state remained in the extreme or exceptional drought levels.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2017
Heavy rains in January 2017 had significant benefit to the state's northern water reserves, despite widespread power outages and erosional damage in the wake of the deluge. Among the casualties of the rain was 1,000 year-old Pioneer Cabin Tree in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which toppled on January 8, 2017.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2017
Since then, a very large percentage of the drought has been eliminated in California due to a persistent weather pattern which allowed rounds of storm systems to consistently hammer the state, with the snowpack rising to well above average. By January 24, 2017, not one portion of the state was in "Exceptional" drought, the highest category on the Drought Monitor. On February 21, no part of the state was in the next-lower category of "Extreme" drought, and over 60% of the state's area was no longer in any level of drought.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2017
A record year of precipitation in California certainly brought the state out of the bad situation and more or less back to equilibrium. Unexpectedly, this occurred during a La Niña winter because California typically benefits from the El Niño winters, which were occurring in the recent precious years.


2011–2017 California drought, History, 2017
On April 7, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown declared the drought over. However, according to the United States Drought Monitor the state was not entirely drought-free until March 12, 2019.


2011–2017 California drought, Mitigation
Beginning in 2008, millions of floating plastic shade balls were dropped on reservoirs to prevent evaporative losses and enhance water quality. An instance of this was performed on the Los Angeles reservoir in 2014. The shade balls were supposed to be the most cost-effective way to cover the body of water amongst all the available options. One of the concerns with this method, however, was the amount of water required to make the shade balls themselves.


2011–2017 California drought, Mitigation
Scientists determined that the amount of time that the shade balls need to be deployed for the water costs in production to be balanced is between one and two and a half years. In 2018 the PBS News Hour reviewed the use of the balls, stating that since their deployment in 2014 the shade balls should have surpassed their water cost in the water they have saved.


2011–2017 California drought, Mitigation, Long-term mitigation
Voters' approval of the Proposition 1 water bond in 2014 has been interpreted as an eagerness to add flexibility to California's water system. The 2014 Proposition 1 allocated almost 8 million dollars towards various projects related to the conservation and quality of California’s water. The money was supposed to be divided into various categories to distribute the improvement of the state’s entire water system. Four years after this passed, only about 80 percent of the budget has been spent on the improvements laid out in the bill.


2011–2017 California drought, Mitigation, Long-term mitigation
In early 2016, Los Angeles County began a proactive cloud-seeding program. Cloud-seeding is the process of emitting specific chemicals into the sky usually from the ground or a plane. This is supposed to create an environment with increased rainfall given certain prerequisite weather conditions. Even though many Americans find this process to be almost superstitious, there is science to support its legitimacy. However, rainfall studies have shown rainfall to improve by around 5 to 15 percent in optimal weather conditions. The issue at hand is whether or not the cost of the operation is worth it with the amount of improvement and the reliability.


2012
2012 (MMXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th  year of the 3rd millennium, the 12th  year of the 21st century, and the  3rd   year of the 2010s decade.


2012 (1982 album)
2012 is the second album by American hip hop duo 1982, composed of Statik Selektah and Termanology. Guest appearances include Mac Miller, Bun B, Shawn Stockman (of Boyz II Men), Roc Marciano, Havoc (of Mobb Deep), Freddie Gibbs, Crooked I and Lil' Fame (of M.O.P).


2012 (Chixdiggit EP)
2012 is the second EP by Canadian pop punk band Chixdiggit. It was released by Fat Wreck Chords on September 16, 2016. The album only consists of one track, which contains 19 songs, each one about a city the band had a show in during their 2012 tour. The single track challenges the NOFX claim to have recorded the longest punk song.


2012 (It Ain't the End)
"2012 (It Ain't the End)" is a song by British recording artist, Jay Sean, taken from the compilation album, Hit the Lights. It features Trinidadian rapper and labelmate Nicki Minaj, and is the album's lead single. The song was produced by OFM production team J-Remy and Bobby Bass. It was released to US radio stations and as a digital download to iTunes on 3 August 2010. The title is a reference to the 2012 phenomenon.


2012 (It Ain't the End), Critical reception
'2012' received mixed reviews by About.com and Digital Spy. Bill Lamb from About.com rated the single 4 out of 5 stars commenting on "The powerful vocal kickoff", "Expansive world party atmosphere" and "Nicki Minaj on guest raps". Lamb noted that the song was similar to that of "Down" and concluded that "2012 (It Ain't the End) feels like a wise move for Jay Sean capitalising on the party success of his two prior hits "Down" and "Do You Remember" while moving into an even more expansive sound".


2012 (It Ain't the End), Critical reception
Robert Copsey from Digital Spy rated the song with 3 out of 5 stars, commenting that: "'2012' finds him recreating the USA-slaying synthpop/R&B sound of his breakthrough – and there's no denying it's catchy as an October cold. Of course, no one expects lyrical innovation from a song about partying, but lines like "We gonna party like it's 2012" and "Party like it's the end of the world" are so timeworn that even Nicki Minaj struggles to breathe fresh life into it".


2012 (It Ain't the End), Chart performance
"2012 (It Ain't the End)" debuted at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart week of 13 August 2010, later peaking at number 31. It peaked at number 34 on the US Pop Songs chart and climbed for a few weeks from its debut at number 92 to its ultimate height at number 23 on the Canadian Hot 100 . The single also debuted at number 40 on the ARIA Charts for the chart week of 26 August 2010 and at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, on the issue of 24 October 2010.


2012 (It Ain't the End), Music video
The music video for "2012 (It Ain't the End)" was shot in Los Angeles on 19 July 2010, with Nicki Minaj. The video is set to many flashing lights and a typical hip-hop club scene environment. But in post-production, Sean says the music video's director Erik White would be zooming out to show parties in three cities around the world. "There's all these wonderful ideas the director Erik White has been telling me [about]." 'They are gonna zoom out, and it's gonna zoom into Tokyo! And the world is gonna spin around!' And I'm like, 'Really? That's amazing!'


2012 (It Ain't the End), Music video
So for me, I'm looking forward to seeing those effects." "The concept of the video is basically all about throwing the biggest party, celebrating life. It's basically going around the world, from London to Tokyo to New York, seeing people celebrating good times." The video should have a premiered on 8 August 2010 on MTV, however the same day Sean confirmed on Twitter that the premiere has been rescheduled. The video leaked on 14 August 2010, but Jay Sean confirmed that the leaked version of the video wasn't the final version.


2012 (It Ain't the End), Music video
The video features a cameo appearance from former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, Cash Money Records CEO Birdman, writer Jared Cotter, producers J-Remy and Bobby Bass, and Thara. On 24 August 2010 was the final version of the video was released to VEVO. The prelude and the music video of his song "Break Your Back" can be heard and seen in the end of the music video, but the full version is yet to be released.


2012 (It Ain't the End), Music video
The video won Best Video in the 2011 UK Asian Music Awards.


2012 (Loudness album)
2012 (stylized 2･0･1･2) is the 25th studio album by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness, released on August 22, 2012. "The Voice of Metal" is about and dedicated to the late Ronnie James Dio.


2012 (Loudness album), Track listing
All lyrics are written by Minoru Niihara, English lyrics co-written by Takashi Kanazawa; all music is composed by Akira Takasaki, except where noted.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP)
2012 is an EP by grime supergroup Ruff Sqwad. It was released on 24 January 2012 by Takeover Entertainment as a free downloadable EP prior to the release of Ruff Sqwad's third solo studio album, Guns and Roses Volume. 3.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP)
The EP's cover art is a cyberart image of interstellar medium and estrasolar system coordinates, formatted curvilinear coordinates in grey with the color blue as a background.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP)
The "2012 EP" is marked as the group's build up to their third studio album, Guns and Roses Volume. 3, due to be released near the end of 2012 on Takeover Entertainment.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP), Background and recording
The "2012 EP", came after the success of the song 'Mario Balotelli', which was included on Tinchy Stryder's fifth extended play, The Wish List. Ruff Sqwad recorded 12 tracks with the sounds having Tinchy Stryder written all over them, and has been compared to Tinchy Sttryder's second studio album Catch 22.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP), Collaborations
In the "2012 EP", Ruff Sqwad collaborated with JME of Boy Better Know and D Double E of the Newham Generals.


2012 (Ruff Sqwad EP), Reception
The MTV News stated that with the 2012 EP, "nobody likes change, and it seems like they’ve stuck to a formula that they know works. So, regardless of the fact that it may sound a little 2010/11, it’s a sturdy offering scattered with beats that will make you bop your head and lyrics that will make you rewind from time to time".


2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed and written by Roland Emmerich. It was produced by Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon, and Larry J. Franco, and written by Kloser and Emmerich. The film stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. Based on the 2012 phenomenon, its plot follows geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) and novelist Jackson Curtis (Cusack) as they experience the events that the phenomenon predicted.


2012 (film)
Filming, originally planned for Los Angeles, began in Vancouver in August 2008. After a lengthy advertising campaign which included the creation of a website from its main characters' point of view and a viral marketing website on which filmgoers could register for a lottery number to save them from the ensuing disaster, 2012 was released on November 13, 2009, to commercial success, grossing over $769 million worldwide against a production budget of $200 million, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2009. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for its visual effects, but criticism of its screenplay and runtime.


2012 (film), Plot
In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley visits astrophysicist Satnam Tsurutani in India and learns that an exotic new type of neutrinos from a huge solar flare are heating Earth's core. In Washington, D.C., Helmsley presents his information to White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser, who brings him to meet U.S. President Thomas Wilson.


2012 (film), Plot
In 2010, Wilson and other world leaders begin a secret project to ensure humanity's survival. China and the G8 nations begin building nine arks, each capable of carrying 100,000 people, in the Himalayas near Cho Ming, Tibet. Nima, a Buddhist monk, is evacuated and his brother Tenzin joins the ark project. Funding is raised by secretly selling tickets to the rich and famous for €1 billion per person. By 2011, valuable art is moved to the arks but art expert and First Daughter Laura Wilson is told it is being sent to the Alps for preservation.


2012 (film), Plot
In 2012, struggling Manhattan Beach, California-based science-fiction writer Jackson Curtis is a chauffeur for Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov. Jackson's former wife Kate and their children, Noah and Lilly, live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. When they enter an area fenced off by the United States Army, they are caught and brought to Adrian, who is studying the geology of the area and has read Jackson's books. After being released they meet conspiracy theorist Charlie Frost, who hosts a radio show from the park about the end of the world.


2012 (film), Plot
That night, after the military evacuates Yellowstone, Charlie shows Jackson his video of Charles Hapgood's theory that polar shift and the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar predict a 2012 phenomenon and the end of the world. Charlie reveals that anyone attempting to inform the public was or will be killed. After Jackson and his children return home, the sudden departure of Karpov makes Jackson realize Charlie was right and he races to get to his family as a large earthquake hits California.


2012 (film), Plot
Jackson gets everyone into his limousine and they go to Santa Monica Airport, where they jump into a private Cessna 340A. Gordon is convinced to fly the plane even though he protests he has no experience with this particular plane. With the land collapsing behind them, Gordon gets them off the ground just in time. As the Earth-crust displacement begins, causing a 10.9 magnitude earthquake, Gordon, Jackson, Kate, and the children escape Los Angeles as much of the West Coast sinks into the Pacific Ocean.


2012 (film), Plot
The group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve a map from Charlie with the arks' location. As they leave, the Yellowstone Caldera erupts; Charlie stays behind to finish his radio broadcast and dies during the eruption. The group lands in Las Vegas because they need a larger plane to get to China and run into Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg, his girlfriend Tamara and their pilot Sasha. Sasha and Gordon fly them out in an Antonov An-500 as the Yellowstone ash cloud envelops Las Vegas.


2012 (film), Plot
Adrian, Carl, and Laura fly to the arks on Air Force One. President Wilson elects to remain in Washington, D.C. to address the nation while billions of people die in earthquakes and megatsunamis worldwide, including himself and the Vice President who is killed in the ash cloud. With the presidential line of succession broken, Carl assumes the position of acting commander-in-chief. When Adrian and Laura are surprised to see mostly wealthy people boarding the arks, Carl explains that they sold tickets to pay for the cost of construction but most of them won’t get on the arks.


2012 (film), Plot
As Jackson's group reaches China, their plane runs out of fuel. Sasha continues flying the plane as the others escape in a Bentley Continental Flying Spur stored in the cargo hold. Sasha is killed when the plane slides off a cliff. The others are spotted by Chinese Air Force helicopters. Yuri and his sons, who have tickets, are brought to the arks but the Curtis family, with Tamara and Gordon, are abandoned. They are picked up by Nima and brought to the arks with his grandparents.


2012 (film), Plot
With Tenzin's help, they stow away on Ark 4, where the U.S. contingent is located. While welding the door closed Tenzin is injured and Gordon is crushed to death by the gears. An impact driver gets lodged in the gears, jamming them and keeping a boarding gate open, which prevents the ship's engines from starting. A large megatsunami is headed for the ark site and Carl orders the loading gates be closed while most people haven’t boarded. Adrian begs the captain and the other arks not to begin the future of humanity with such a cruel act.


2012 (film), Plot
The loading gates are opened and Yuri falls into a deep canyon as he pushes his sons into one of the arks. The wave breaches the Himalayas and the back of the ark fills with water and is set adrift heading for impact with the north face of Mount Everest without the engines needed to avoid a fatal collision. Adrian rushes towards the hydraulic chamber to fix the gears but the flood doors have closed trapping the stowaways and drowning Tamara.


2012 (film), Plot
Jackson hears Adrian say the gears must be cleared but the chamber is flooded so it is a suicide mission. Jackson kisses his family goodbye, takes a deep breath and swims to clear the gears. Noah sneaks off and follows him and together they dislodge the tool. The crew regains control of the Ark before it strikes Mount Everest. Noah makes it back safely followed by Jackson.


2012 (film), Plot
One year, one month and twenty-seven days later, the waters are receding. The arks approach the Cape of Good Hope, where the Drakensberg mountains have now become the highest mountain range on Earth, after the continent of Africa has risen above the waters. Adrian and Laura begin a relationship, while Jackson and Kate rekindle their romance and reunite their family.


2012 (film), Plot, Alternate ending
An alternate ending appears in the film's DVD release. After Captain Michaels (the Ark 4 captain) announces that they are heading for the Cape of Good Hope, Adrian learns by phone that his father, Harry, and Harry's friend Tony survived a megatsunami which capsized their cruise ship, the Genesis. Adrian and Laura strike up a friendship with the Curtis family; Kate thanks Laura for taking care of Lily, Laura tells Jackson that she enjoyed his book Farewell Atlantis, and Jackson and Adrian have a conversation reflecting the events of the worldwide crisis. Jackson returns Noah's cell phone, which he recovered during the Ark 4 flood. The ark finds the shipwrecked Genesis and her survivors on a beach.


2012 (film), Production, Development
Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods was listed in 2012's credits as the film's inspiration, and Emmerich said in a Time Out interview: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods." He and composer-producer Harald Kloser worked closely together, co-writing a spec script (also titled 2012) which was marketed to studios in February 2008. A number of studios heard a budget projection and story plans from Emmerich and his representatives, a process repeated by the director after Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).


2012 (film), Production, Development
Later that month, Sony Pictures Entertainment received the rights to the spec script. Planned for distribution by Columbia Pictures, 2012 cost less than its budget; according to Emmerich, the film was produced for about $200 million.


2012 (film), Production, Development
Filming, originally scheduled to begin in Los Angeles in July 2008, began in Kamloops, Savona, Cache Creek and Ashcroft, British Columbia. With a Screen Actors Guild strike looming, the film's producers made a contingency plan to salvage it. Uncharted Territory, Digital Domain, Double Negative, Scanline, and Sony Pictures Imageworks were hired to create 2012's computer-animated visual effects.


2012 (film), Production, Development
The film depicts the destruction of several cultural and historical icons around the world. Emmerich said that the Kaaba was considered for selection, but Kloser was concerned about a possible fatwā against him.


2012 (film), Production, Marketing
2012 was marketed by the fictional Institute for Human Continuity, featuring a book by Jackson Curtis (Farewell Atlantis), streaming media, blog updates and radio broadcasts from zealot Charlie Frost on his website, This Is The End. On November 12, 2008, the studio released the first trailer for 2012. With a tsunami surging over the Himalayas and a purportedly scientific message that the world would end in 2012, the trailer's message was that international governments were not preparing their populations for the event. The trailer ended with a suggestion to viewers to "find out the truth" by entering "2012" on a search engine. The Guardian called the film's marketing "deeply flawed", associating it with "websites that make even more spurious claims about 2012".


2012 (film), Production, Marketing
The studio introduced a viral marketing website operated by the Institute for Human Continuity, where filmgoers could register for a lottery number to be part of a small population which would be rescued from the global destruction. David Morrison of NASA, who received over 1,000 inquiries from people who thought the website was genuine, condemned it. "I've even had cases of teenagers writing to me saying they are contemplating suicide because they don't want to see the world end", Morrison said. "I think when you lie on the internet and scare children to make a buck, that is ethically wrong." Another marketing website promoted Farewell Atlantis, a fictional novel about the events of 2012.


2012 (film), Production, Marketing
Comcast organized a "roadblock campaign" to promote the film in which a two-minute scene was broadcast on 450 American commercial television networks, local English-language and Spanish-language stations, and 89 cable outlets during a ten-minute window between 10:50 and 11:00 pm Eastern and Pacific Time on October 1, 2009. The scene featured the destruction of Los Angeles and ended with a cliffhanger, with the entire 5:38 clip available on Comcast's Fancast website. According to Variety, "The stunt will put the footage in front of 90% of all households watching ad-supported TV, or nearly 110 million viewers. When combined with online and mobile streams, that could increase to more than 140 million".


2012 (film), Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander. Singer Adam Lambert contributed a song to the film, "Time for Miracles", and expressed his gratitude in an MTV interview. The 24-song soundtrack includes "Fades Like a Photograph" by Filter and "It Ain't the End of the World" by George Segal and Blu Mankuma. The trailer track was "Master of Shadows" by Two Steps From Hell.


2012 (film), Release
2012 was released to cinemas on November 13, 2009, in Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, India, the United States, and Japan. According to the studio, the film could have been completed for a summer release but the delay allowed more time for production.


2012 (film), Release
The DVD and Blu-ray versions were released on March 2, 2010. The two-disc Blu-ray edition includes over 90 minutes of features, including Adam Lambert's music video for "Time for Miracles" and a digital copy for PSP, PC, Mac, and iPod. A 3D version was released in Cinemex theaters in Mexico in February 2010. It was later released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on January 19, 2021.


2012 (film), Reception, Box office
2012 grossed $166.1 million in North America and $603.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $769.6 million against a production budget of $200 million, making it the first film to gross over $700 million worldwide without crossing $200 million domestically. Worldwide, it was the fifth-highest-grossing 2009 film and the fifth-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony-Columbia, (behind Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Skyfall). 2012 is the second-highest-grossing film directed by Roland Emmerich, behind Independence Day (1996). It earned $230.5 million on its worldwide opening weekend, the fourth-largest opening of 2009 and for Sony-Columbia.


2012 (film), Reception, Box office
2012 ranked number one on its opening weekend, grossing $65,237,614 on its first weekend (the fourth-largest opening for a disaster film). Outside North America it is the 28th-highest-grossing film, the fourth-highest-grossing 2009 film, and the second-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony-Columbia, after Skyfall. 2012 earned $165.2 million on its opening weekend, the 20th-largest overseas opening. Its largest opening was in France and the Maghreb ($18.0 million). In total earnings, the film's three highest-grossing territories after North America were China ($68.7 million), France and the Maghreb ($44.0 million), and Japan ($42.6 million).


2012 (film), Reception, Box office
In 2020, the film received renewed interest during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the second-most popular film and seventh-most popular overall title on Netflix in March 2020.


2012 (film), Reception, Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 39% based on 243 reviews and an average rating of 5.02/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Roland Emmerich's 2012 provides plenty of visual thrills, but lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


2012 (film), Reception, Critical response
Roger Ebert praised 2012, giving it 3+1⁄2 stars out of 4 and saying that it "delivers what it promises and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year". Ebert and Claudia Puig of USA Today called the film the "mother of all disaster movies". But Peter Travers of Rolling Stone compared it to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: "Beware 2012, which works the dubious miracle of almost matching Transformers 2 for sheer, cynical, mind-numbing, time-wasting, money-draining, soul-sucking stupidity."


2012 (film), Reception, North Korean ban
North Korea reportedly banned the possession or viewing of 2012. The year was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il-sung, and was designated as "the year for opening the grand gates to becoming a rising superpower"; a film depicting the year negatively was deemed offensive by the North Korean government. Several people in North Korea were reportedly arrested for possessing (or viewing) imported copies of 2012 and charged with "grave provocation against the development of the state".