2011 in paleontology, Archosauromorphs, Newly named basal archosauromorphs
A member of Archosauriformes of uncertain phylogenetic placement. Originally classified as a doswelliid, but subsequently argued to be an erpetosuchid archosaur.


2011 in paleontology, Archosauromorphs, Newly named basal archosauromorphs
A tanystropheid, a new genus for "Tanystropheus" antiquus (von Huene, 1905).


2011 in paleontology, Synapsids, Newly named non-mammalian synapsids
A basal, saber-toothed herbivorous anomodont. The type species is Tiarajudens eccentricus.


2011 in paleontology, Footnotes, Complete author list
As science becomes more collaborative, papers with large numbers of authors are becoming more common. To prevent the deformation of the tables, these footnotes list the contributors to papers that erect new genera and have many authors.


2011 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


2011 in poetry, Events
"received confirmation from the laboratory at the University of Calgary that my poetic cipher, gene X-P13, has in fact caused E. coli to fluoresce red in our test-runs—meaning that, when implanted in the genome of this bacterium, my poem (which begins “any style of life/ is prim...”) does in fact cause the bacterium to write, in response, its own poem (which begins “the faery is rosy/ of glow...”)."


2011 in poetry, Works published in English, New Zealand, Poets in Best New Zealand Poems
Poems from these 25 poets were selected by Chris Price for Best New Zealand Poems 2010, published online this year:


2011 in poetry, Works published in English, United States, Poets in The Best American Poetry 2011
These poets appeared in The Best American Poetry 2011. David Lehman, general editor, and Kevin Young, guest editor (who selected the poetry):


2011 in poetry, Awards and honors by country, United States awards and honors, From the Poetry Society of Virginia Student Poetry Contest
2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 8: Virginia Student Prize :: Judge:  Dr. Kate Simpson, Winchester, VA


2011 in poetry, Awards and honors by country, United States awards and honors, From the Poetry Society of Virginia Student Poetry Contest
2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 7: College/University :: Judge:  Bob Kelly, Newport News, VA


2011 in poetry, Awards and honors by country, United States awards and honors, From the Poetry Society of Virginia Student Poetry Contest
2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 6: Grades 11 & 12 :: Judge:  Nancy Powell, Hampton, VA


2011 in poetry, Awards and honors by country, United States awards and honors, From the Poetry Society of Virginia Student Poetry Contest
2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 5: Grades 9 & 10:: Judge:  Pete Freas, Chesapeake, VA


2011 in poetry, Awards and honors by country, United States awards and honors, From the Poetry Society of Virginia Student Poetry Contest
2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 4: Grades 7 & 8 :: Judge:  ijil Rainbow Hawk Giver, Norfolk, VA


2011 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


2011 in politics
These are some of the notable events relating to politics in 2011.


2011 in professional wrestling
2011 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.


2011 in professional wrestling, Title changes, WWE
Prior to the end of the first WWE brand extension in August, Raw and SmackDown each had a world championship and a secondary championship, while the women's championship and male tag team championship were shared across the two brands.


2011 in public domain
When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2011. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.


2011 in public domain, Entered the public domain in countries with life + 70 years
With the exception of Belarus & Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on January 1, 2011.


2011 in public domain, Entered the public domain in countries with life + 50 years
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.


2011 in public domain, Entering the public domain in countries with life + 80 years
Spain (for creators that died before 1987), Colombia and Equatorial Guinea  have a copyright term of life + 80 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes one notable work that entered the public domain on 1 January 2011 for each creator.


2011 in public domain, Entering the public domain in the United States
In the United States, the copyright status of works extends for the life of the author or artists, plus 70 years. If the work is owned by a corporation, then the copyright extends 95 years.


2011 in public domain, Entering the public domain in the United States
Due to the passing of the Copyright Term Extension Act (Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act) in 1998, no new works will enter the public domain in this jurisdiction until 2019.


2011 in radio
The following is a list of events affecting radio broadcasting in 2011. Events listed include radio program debuts, finales, cancellations, and station launches, closures and format changes, as well as information about controversies.


2011 in radio, Events, February
Top 40/CHR WDOD/Chattanooga changed its moniker from "The Mountain" to "Hits 96."


2011 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2011.


2011 in rock music
This article summarizes the events related to rock music for the year of 2011.


2011 in rugby league
Top-level rugby league in 2011 centered on Australasia's 2011 NRL season and the Super League XVI. High-profile representative competitions included the 2011 Four Nations (held in Wales and England), the 2011 State of Origin series and the 2011 European Cup. 2013 World Cup qualifying also took place in 2011.


2011 in science
The year 2011 involved many significant scientific events, including the first artificial organ transplant, the launch of China's first space station and the growth of the world population to seven billion. The year saw a total of 78 successful orbital spaceflights, as well as numerous advances in fields such as electronics, medicine, genetics, climatology and robotics.


2011 in science
2011 was declared the International Year of Forests and Chemistry by the United Nations.


2011 in spaceflight
The year 2011 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight, including the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle after its final flight in July 2011, and the launch of China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, in September. A total of 84 orbital launches were conducted over the course of the year, of which 78 were successful. Russia, China and the United States conducted the majority of the year's orbital launches, with 35, 19 and 18 launches respectively; 2011 marked the first year that China conducted more successful launches than the United States. Seven crewed missions were launched into orbit during 2011, carrying a total of 28 astronauts to the International Space Station. Additionally, the Zenit-3F and Long March 2F/G carrier rockets made their maiden flights in 2011, while the Delta II Heavy made its last.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight
A total of 84 orbital launches were attempted in 2011, with 78 being reported as successful; 80 launches reached orbit. 35 launches were conducted using Russian and former Soviet rockets, whilst China launched 19 rockets, and the United States launched 18. Europe conducted five launches, India and Japan launched three rockets each, and Iran conducted one launch.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
Seven crewed spaceflights – four Soyuz and three Space Shuttle missions – were launched in 2011, carrying a total of 28 astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. At the beginning of the year, the Expedition 26 crew was aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The first crewed flight of 2011 was STS-133, the final flight of the Space Shuttle  Discovery, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 24 February. STS-133 carried Leonardo, the final American pressurised module of the ISS, for installation. Discovery returned to Earth on 9 March.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
On 16 March, Expedition 27 began aboard the ISS with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft, which had been docked since October 2010. On 4 April, Soyuz TMA-21 launched to the space station, delivering a further three crewmembers. On 16 May, Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Endeavour launched to the station on its final mission, STS-134, delivering and installing the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, before returning to Earth on 1 June. Expedition 28 began aboard the ISS on 23 May with the departure of Soyuz TMA-20, which had been launched in December 2010, and landed in the early morning of 24 May. Three more crewmembers were launched to the space station aboard Soyuz TMA-02M on 7 June.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
The final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, began on 8 July with the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, carrying supplies for the ISS aboard the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). After resupplying the space station, Atlantis returned to Earth, landing at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility at 09:57 UTC on 21 July, and concluding thirty years of Space Shuttle operations. Two days before landing, Atlantis deployed PSSC-2, the last satellite to be launched from a Space Shuttle.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
On 29 September, China launched its first space station module, Tiangong-1, which was placed into orbit by a Long March 2F/G carrier rocket flying from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. Although no crewed missions to Tiangong-1 were conducted in 2011, the uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, which was launched on 31 October, docked twice with the module to test its systems in preparation for a successful 2012 crewed docking.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
ISS Expedition 28 ended, and Expedition 29 began, with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-21 on 16 September. The launch of Soyuz TMA-22 did not take place until 14 November, having been delayed by reliability concerns surrounding the Soyuz rocket after an uncrewed launch failure in August. A week later, Soyuz TMA-02M undocked, beginning Expedition 30, with the Soyuz spacecraft landing on 22 November. The final crewed launch of the year took place on 21 December, when Soyuz TMA-03M was launched to bring a further three crewmembers to the ISS.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Crewed launches
Ten spacewalks were conducted in 2011, all of them by ISS or Space Shuttle astronauts. The final spacewalk by a Space Shuttle crew was conducted on 27 May, during the STS-134 mission.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Robotic exploration
Numerous scientific exploration missions were begun in 2011. In March 2011, the MESSENGER probe became the first artificial satellite of the planet Mercury. In July, the Dawn spacecraft became the first artificial satellite of the asteroid 4 Vesta. The Mars Science Laboratory – at the time, the largest Mars rover ever constructed – was launched in November, conducting a successful landing on Mars in August 2012.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
Six orbital launches failed in 2011, four of which failed to achieve orbit and the remaining two reached lower orbits than expected. The first failure occurred on 1 February, when a Rokot with a Briz-KM upper stage placed Kosmos 2470 into a useless orbit, from which it could not recover. The failure was later traced to a software problem on the Briz-KM.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
The next failure occurred on 4 March, when the payload fairing of a Taurus-XL failed to separate, resulting in the rocket being too heavy to reach orbit. The Glory climate research satellite was lost in the failure, along with the KySat-1, Hermes and Explorer-1 [PRIME] CubeSats. The previous Taurus-XL launch, carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory in February 2009, also failed due to the fairing not separating.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
No more launch failures occurred until mid-August when, over the space of a week, three consecutive orbital launches failed. On 17 August, a Proton-M/Briz-M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Ekspress-AM4 communications satellite. In the morning of 18 August, the rocket's upper stage failed to conduct the fourth of five planned burns due to an attitude control system malfunction, leaving the spacecraft in a parking orbit. Later that same day, a Long March 2C launched from Jiuquan carrying the Shijian XI-04 satellite.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
The second stage vernier engine's mounting suffered a structural failure, resulting in a loss of control, and the rocket failed to reach orbit. Finally, on 24 August, a Soyuz-U carrying the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station suffered a third-stage engine failure and also failed to attain orbit.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
The final launch failure of 2011 occurred on 23 December, when a Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat carrying the Meridian 5 satellite failed to achieve orbit due to a third-stage malfunction. Debris fell over Novosibirsk Oblast, with one piece hitting a house; however, no casualties were reported.


2011 in spaceflight, Overview of orbital spaceflight, Launch failures
In November 2011, Russia's Fobos-Grunt Martian sample return probe launched successfully, but experienced a malfunction post-launch and became stranded in orbit. The spacecraft, which was Russia's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since the 1996 Mars 96 mission, disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean on 15 January 2012. China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, which was being carried by the same rocket as Fobos-Grunt, was also lost in the incident.


2011 in spaceflight, Orbital launch statistics, By country
For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.


2011 in sports
The year 2011 in sports saw a number of significant events, some of which are listed below.


2011 in sports, Cheerleading
April 28, – May 2, – The Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA


2011 in sports, Kickboxing
The following is a list of major noteworthy kickboxing events during 2011 in chronological order.


2011 in sports, Mixed martial arts
The following is a list of major noteworthy MMA events during 2011 in chronological order.


2011 in sports, Netball
2011 April 15 – 20th	National Netball Championships 17/U & 19/U


2011 in sports, Netball
September 8 – 11th	NetFest 2011 – Netball on the Gold Coast


2011 in squash sport
This article lists the results for the sport of Squash in 2011.


2011 in sumo
The following are the events in professional sumo during 2011.


2011 in tennis
This page covers all the important events in the sport of tennis in 2011. Primarily, it provides the results of notable tournaments throughout the year on both the ATP and WTA Tours, the Davis Cup, and the Fed Cup.


2011 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The following lists events that happened during 2011 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


2011 in the Netherlands
This article lists some of the events that took place in the Netherlands in 2011.


2011 in the Philippines
2011 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in the year 2011.


2011 in the Philippines, National holidays
Holidays in italics are "special days", while those in regular type are "regular holidays".


2011 in the Philippines, National holidays
In addition, several other places observe local holidays, such as the foundation of their town. These are also "special days".


2011 in the Philippines, Films
List of top films at the Philippine Box-Office chart published by Box Office Mojo.


2011 in the United Arab Emirates
Events from the year 2011 in the United Arab Emirates.


2011 in the environment
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 2011. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.


2011 in the sport of athletics
In 2011, the foremost athletics event was the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu. The other major global level competition held in 2011 was the World Cross Country Championships.


2011 in the sport of athletics
The 2011 season marked the re-establishment of the African Cross Country Championships, an event created in response to the change of the World Cross Championships from an annual to a biennial format. It was also the first year since 1992 that the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was not held, as that competition also switched to a two-year schedule.


2011 in the sport of athletics, Further reading
Annual season reviews from IAAF by A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava:


2011 in video games
Numerous video games were released in 2011. Many awards went to games such as Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. 2011 also marked the worldwide release of the Nintendo 3DS.


2011 in video games, Critically acclaimed titles
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.


2011 in video games, Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2011 in North America.


2011 in video games, Series with new entries
Series with new installments in 2011 include Ace Combat, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Call of Juarez, Cities XL, Crysis, Dead Space, Deus Ex, Dragon Age, Driver, Duke Nukem, Dynasty Warriors, The Elder Scrolls, F.E.A.R, Forza Motorsport, Gears of War, Infamous, Killzone, The Legend of Zelda, LittleBigPlanet, Mario Kart, Modern Combat, Mortal Kombat, MX vs. ATV, Need for Speed, Operation Flashpoint, Pokémon, Portal, Rayman, Red Faction, Red Orchestra, Resistance, Saints Row, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Total War, Tropico, Uncharted, and The Witcher.


2011 in video games, Series with new entries
In addition, 2011 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Bastion, Dark Souls, Dead Island, Homefront, L.A. Noire, Minecraft, and Rage.


2011 in video games, Game releases
The list of games released in 2011 in North America.


2011 in weightlifting
This article lists the main weightlifting events and their results for 2011.


2011 in women's ice hockey
Notable events of 2011 in women's ice hockey. See also List of years in women's ice hockey. The following are the women's ice hockey events of the year 2011 throughout the world.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh in India, has faced protests against its proposed forced land acquisition in 2011. These protests have been centred on the twin adjacent villages of Bhatta and Parsaul near Dankaur (Greater Noida) in Gautam Buddha Nagar district and have resulted in sporadic incidents of violence since January of that year. In August 2010 there had been protests against the state government in Delhi and these had resulted in three deaths.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh
The issue is controversial because around 65% of the Indian population is economically dependent on agriculture but the government has the power to requisition any private land which it thinks is needed for a "public purpose". Past examples of this included several acquisitions by regional authorities across India for the purpose of developing Special Economic Zones to boost the economy and create jobs. In this instance, the state government of Uttar Pradesh has requisitioned the land for the building of the Yamuna Expressway, a road linking Agra to Greater Noida (near Delhi).


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition in India
Laws relating to land acquisition in India, by the government from the governed, date back to 1800s. Amongst these were:


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
Since its independence in 1947 and through 1991, India's economic progress was slow. With market reforms and economic liberalisation in India starting in 1991, India has emerged as a rapidly growing economy. This economic growth demands infrastructure.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
According to a McKinsey report, India has ~500 kilometers of paved road per 1000 square kilometers, but the road quality is well below global standards, close to 90% of highways are structurally inadequate to support the 10.2 tonne load per axle that trucks carry. Similarly, McKinsey believes India's port and power generation infrastructure is already stretched, and major improvements are needed to support India's economic growth.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
India has launched an array of projects to meet these infrastructure needs. According to MoSPI, India's Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, as of January 2011, over 140 mega infrastructure projects were in progress, financed by the central government of India, each worth over Rs. 10 billion ($225 million), and a combined total of over Rs. 5,37,628 crores ($100+ billion). Of these, as of January 2011, 50% of the projects were delayed between few months to as much as 6 years. The Government of India claims one of the causes for these delays is land acquisition issues such as high land compensation demanded by farmers.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
In addition to mega projects by India's central government, numerous large projects are under progress led by state governments or private entrepreneurs. For example, the Uttar Pradesh government has launched a number of energy projects and expressway projects such as Yamuna Expressway and the Ganga Expressway. The Haryana government has launched the KMP Expressway project.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
Infrastructure is also necessary in India for disaster relief and disaster prevention. According to The Indian Red Cross, the Indian sub-continent is highly prone to droughts, floods and other natural calamities. Floods are the most regular and devastating, with an average of 18.6 million hectare of land is flooded annually, and over 40 million hectare of land is flood prone. Drought is an eternal feature of Indian livelihood. 18% of the country's total area, and 68% of the total cultivated area is estimated as drought prone. Approximately half of the Indian population is affected by drought annually.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
Earthquakes and cyclones are other major sources of disasters, with the Indian Ocean amongst one of the six key cyclone prone regions in the world. According to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, between 1990–2000, about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year, over 4000 people lost their lives every year in India, and the nation suffers heavy losses in economic assets from these disasters every year. India's Ministry of Home Affairs reports that it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected by natural disasters; additionally, these disasters retard socio-economic development, further impoverishing the impoverished.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
The routine flood relief, drought relief, and other disaster relief efforts lead to diversion of scarce resources from development to rehabilitation and reconstruction. As a result, the Government of India has sought a paradigm shift by focusing on investments in mitigation, which it believes are much more cost effective than expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Disaster mitigation infrastructure investments are amongst the priorities of the Indian government. These infrastructures require land.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
The World Bank estimates India will add over 90 million people to its population between 2009 and 2015 (an average of 15 million people per year). India needs homes to house its growing population. Even without the needs of its growing population, India faces shortages of urban and rural housing for its existing population. Homes and housing projects require land.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
The government of Uttar Pradesh has launched several initiatives on infrastructure and urban development. Three of these focus on expressways, namely: Yamuna Expressway, Ganga Expressway and Upper Ganga Canal Expressway. Each of these expressways pass along the major rivers and rural regions of Uttar Pradesh. The infrastructure development department of the government of Uttar Pradesh, in its 2007 proposal request for one of these expressways, cites the following benefits for the infrastructure project and the associated land works identified in the proposal:


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
The International Monetary Fund has identified land acquisition as a significant constraint to India's infrastructure needs. The IMF believes structural reforms are needed in India to lower the cost of infrastructure, encourage private investment, and allow more efficient use of public resources.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Need of land for infrastructure development
According to The World Bank, about 60% of India's land is agricultural land and 70% of India's population is rural. All infrastructure projects, and particularly roads that connect cities and farmlands, impact the farmers and their ability to earn a livelihood from farms.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, 2007–2011 Land acquisitions
The Yamuna Expressway project is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The expressway aims to connect Greater Noida and Agra, and open up avenue for industrial and urban development. The authority for its implementation was initiated by the democratically elected state government of Uttar Pradesh in April 2001. The land acquisition process began in September 2007.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, 2007–2011 Land acquisitions
The first 40 kilometers of the Yamuna Expressway is located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, passing Noida, followed by 20 kilometers in Aligarh district, passing Tappal. The next 90 kilometers are in Mathura district, followed by approximately 15 kilometres in Agra district, with the expressway ending near Etmadpur, a village in Agra. The expressway has been paved to be six lanes, with space to expand to eight lanes. The total width of the six lane dual carriageway is about 38 meters, and will be about 45 meters when the expressway is expanded from six lanes to eight lanes. The total length of the expressway is 165 kilometers. The total land dedicated for the Yamuna Expressway is about 7.5 square kilometers (~3 square miles).


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, 2007–2011 Land acquisitions
Uttar Pradesh, one of the states in northern region of India, has total area of 294,411 square kilometers (113,673 sq mi). The Yamuna Expressway Project is larger than just the expressway. The Project aims to dedicate land for industrial and urban development. The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority has notified 133 villages for land acquisition purposes.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition process in Uttar Pradesh
In 2011, the state government of Uttar Pradesh announced "Karar Niyamavali" as the guiding policy for land acquisition by the government from the citizens of its state.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition process in Uttar Pradesh
"Karar Niyamavali" policy's section 6 provides certain protections to any farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted. The rules require that any such transaction be considered for appeal and cancelled. The farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted has a right to compensation and damages from the state government whenever fraud is discovered and reported.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition process in Uttar Pradesh
The announced policy for land acquisition by Uttar Pradesh has three parts:


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition process in Uttar Pradesh
The land acquisition policy announced in June 2011 by the state government of Uttar Pradesh provides the following compensation to the farmers from whom land is being acquired,:


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition controversies
There have been past controversies elsewhere in India regarding land acquisition proposals, including those of 2008 regarding the Singur Tata Nano controversy at Singur in West Bengal, and protests in 2009 at Chandigarh.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Land acquisition controversies
In addition, there have been allegations of arrangements between politicians, the police, bureaucracy and the land mafia, including in the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The allegations claim that the nexus has used the existing land acquisition law, which dates from 1894, for commercial or corporate gain.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline
The cause of the May 2011 protests in Uttar Pradesh are disputed: the protestors claim that they are a direct consequence of the land acquisition has been challenged by the state government, which has stated that the acquisitions had been completed by July 2010 and that the 2011 protests were due to "anti-social" elements encouraging the violence. The farmers believe that the compensation paid by the state government for their land was inadequate, whereas the government believes it to be generous.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 6 May
Three officials from the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, a public transport body, were kidnapped by inhabitants of Bhatta village and Parsaul village near Dankaur while in the area to conduct a survey.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 7–9 May
Violence erupted on 7 May as police moved in to rescue the abducted men, This included a three-hour gun battle between the villagers and police force, which led to the death of two policemen and two civilians, as well as several injured casualties. A number of local farmers were arrested, entry to the village was effectively shut off and Section 144 (a measure to limit unlawful assembly) was imposed in an attempt to quell the troubles.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 7–9 May
The violence continued on 8 May and the state government deployed 2,000 policemen on 9 May.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 11 May
Rahul Gandhi, the president of the Indian youth congress reached the village after eluding the police. He conducted a dharna and was subsequently briefly taken into "preventative custody".


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 16–19 May
Rahul Gandhi claimed that he had seen evidence that many farmers had been murdered and some women raped during the state reaction to the protests. He had seen a heap of ash in the village "with dead bodies inside". There were claims that the situation was now being exploited for political ends by the Congress Party, of which Gandhi and his extended family are prominent members, with elections being due to take place in the state.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2011, 16–19 May
However, an investigation by the BBC could find nothing to support the allegations, although there was anger regarding the violent beatings and similar actions which had occurred. It was suggested that the numerous farmers who were missing had simply fled the village and not yet returned. Gandhi subsequently attempted to backtrack on his remarks, claiming that he had been misrepresented and then that he had based his comments on conversations with the villagers, but the BBC reporter maintained that he had in fact made the allegations as originally reported. The governing Bahujan Samaj Party subsequently announced that Gandhi's allegations were baseless.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Protest timeline, 2012, 6 March
Rahul Gandhi and his Indian National Congress party made land acquisition protests and farmer agitation as one of the 2012 Assembly Election issues in Bhatta village and Parsaul village. The party nominee, Dhirendra Singh, however was rejected by the electorate of both Bhatta and Parsaul. Instead, Vedram Bhati of the incumbent party BSP was elected back to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections of 2012.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Crushed Dreams Documentary
Many film makers used the Bhatta Parsaul incident in their movies, like Matru ki Bijali Ka Mandola and Ranjhna. Some local journalists who have been covered the Bhatta Parsaul farmer's protest and bloody fighting between farmers and police, also making a Documentary on the issue of land acquisition and its implications on society. "Crushed Dreams" named documentary is produced by Pankaj Parashar, Chief Sub Editor Hindustan daily and directed by Pradeep Singh & Abhishek kumar a Journalist & Documentary Film maker. Documentary has been certified by Central Board of Film Certification, New Delhi on 30 August 2013 under V/U category.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Crushed Dreams Documentary
The documentary contains the interviews of widows of Bhatta Parsaul and Ghodi Bachheda villages, who were sought dead in police firing during protest against the land acquisition. Environment decay, Out of control pollution, Liquor abuse in youth generation, Over expanses in marriages and Critical conditions of landless families in region are the subjects of Crushed Dreams.


2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh, Proposed new Land Acquisition Act
Manmohan Singh, Prime minister of India, has promised to amend the old land acquisition bill and to introduce a new Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill in the Monsoon parliamentary session of 2011. JD-U leader Sharad Yadav has demanded that the government stops land acquisition until parliament has enacted a new law, although it is unclear whether he was referring to the state government or that of India as a whole.


2011 local electoral calendar
This local electoral calendar for the year 2011 lists the subnational elections held in 2011 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states. By-elections and sub-national referendums are also included.


2011 magicJack season
The 2011 MagicJack season was the club's first year of existence under the moniker "MagicJack". Prior to the franchise purchase and relocation, the team had been playing in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area under the name "Washington Freedom". Including the Freedom's history and records, this is MagicJack's eighth season of existence.


2011 magicJack season
The club finished the regular season in third place, amassing a record of nine wins, two ties and seven losses. During the playoffs, MagicJack won the opening round against Boston Breakers, before being eliminated by Philadelphia Independence in the Super Semifinals.


2011 magicJack season, Standings
Blue denotes regular season champion, and top seed in 2011 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs. Green denotes team has spot in 2011 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs.


2011 magicJack season, Standings
Source: *MagicJack was docked one point on 12 May for various violations of league standards. * *Boston wins head-to-head 2-1-1 over Sky Blue.


2011 magicJack season, Team
Final 2011 MagicJack rosterNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2011 military intervention in Libya
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five abstentions, the UN Security Council's intent was to have "an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute “crimes against humanity” ... [ imposing] a ban on all flights in the country's airspace — a no-fly zone — and tightened sanctions on the [Muammar] Qadhafi regime and its supporters."


2011 military intervention in Libya
American and British naval forces fired over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, while the French Air Force, British Royal Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force undertook sorties across Libya and a naval blockade by Coalition forces. French jets launched air strikes against Libyan Army tanks and vehicles. The intervention did not employ foreign ground troops.


2011 military intervention in Libya
The Libyan government response to the campaign was totally ineffectual, with Gaddafi's forces not managing to shoot down a single NATO plane despite the country possessing 30 heavy SAM batteries, 17 medium SAM batteries, 55 light SAM batteries (a total of 400–450 launchers, including 130–150 2K12 Kub launchers and some 9K33 Osa launchers), and 440–600 short-ranged air-defense guns. The official names for the interventions by the coalition members are Opération Harmattan by France; Operation Ellamy by the United Kingdom; Operation Mobile for the Canadian participation and Operation Odyssey Dawn for the United States. Italy initially opposed the intervention but then offered to take part in the operations on the condition that NATO took the leadership of the mission instead of individual countries (particularly France). As this condition was later met, Italy shared its bases and intelligence with the allies.


2011 military intervention in Libya
From the beginning of the intervention, the initial coalition of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, UK and US expanded to nineteen states, with newer states mostly enforcing the no-fly zone and naval blockade or providing military logistical assistance. The effort was initially largely led by France and the United Kingdom, with command shared with the United States. NATO took control of the arms embargo on 23 March, named Operation Unified Protector.


2011 military intervention in Libya
An attempt to unify the military command of the air campaign (whilst keeping political and strategic control with a small group), first failed over objections by the French, German, and Turkish governments. On 24 March, NATO agreed to take control of the no-fly zone, while command of targeting ground units remains with coalition forces. The handover occurred on 31 March 2011 at 06:00 UTC (08:00 local time). NATO flew 26,500 sorties since it took charge of the Libya mission on 31 March 2011.


2011 military intervention in Libya
Fighting in Libya ended in late October following the death of Muammar Gaddafi, and NATO stated it would end operations over Libya on 31 October 2011. Libya's new government requested that its mission be extended to the end of the year, but on 27 October, the Security Council unanimously voted to end NATO's mandate for military action on 31 October.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Proposal for the no-fly zone
Both Libyan officials and international states and organizations called for a no-fly zone over Libya in light of allegations that Muammar Gaddafi's military had conducted airstrikes against Libyan rebels in the Libyan Civil War.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
Initial NATO planning for a possible no-fly zone took place in late February and early March, especially by NATO members France and the United Kingdom. France and the UK were early supporters of a no-fly zone and had sufficient airpower to impose a no-fly zone over the rebel-held areas, although they might need additional assistance for a more extensive exclusion zone.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
The US had the air assets necessary to enforce a no-fly zone, but was cautious about supporting such an action prior to obtaining a legal basis for violating Libya's sovereignty. Furthermore, due to the sensitive nature of military action by the US against an Arab nation, the US sought Arab participation in the enforcement of a no-fly zone.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
At a congressional hearing, United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates explained that "a no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defences ... and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that's the way it starts."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
On 19 March, the deployment of French fighter jets over Libya began, and other states began their individual operations. Phase One started the same day with the involvement of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
On 24 March, NATO ambassadors agreed that NATO would take command of the no-fly zone enforcement, while other military operations remained the responsibility of the group of states previously involved, with NATO expected to take control as early as 26 March. The decision was made after meetings of NATO members to resolve disagreements over whether military operations in Libya should include attacks on ground forces. The decision created a two-level power structure overseeing military operations. In charge politically was a committee, led by NATO, that included all states participating in enforcing the no-fly zone, while NATO alone was responsible for military action. Royal Canadian Air Force Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard has been appointed to command the NATO military mission.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement
After the death of Muammar Gaddafi on 20 October 2011, it was announced that the NATO mission would end on 31 October.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement, Operation names
Before NATO took full command of operations at 06:00 GMT on 31 March 2011, the military intervention in the form of a no-fly zone and naval blockade was split between different national operations:


2011 military intervention in Libya, Enforcement, Forces committed
Naval blockade by British frigate HMS Cumberland (here pictured with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in view)


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction
Since the start of the campaign, there have been allegations of violating the limits imposed upon the intervention by Resolution 1973 and by US law. At the end of May 2011, Western troops were captured on film in Libya, despite Resolution 1973 specifically forbidding "a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory". In the article however, it reports that armed Westerners but not Western troops were on the ground.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction
In a March 2011 Gallup poll, 47% of Americans had approved of military action against Libya, compared with 37% disapproval.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction
On 10 June, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates criticized some of the NATO member nations for their efforts, or lack thereof, to participate in the intervention in Libya. Gates singled out Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and the Netherlands for criticism. He praised Canada, Norway and Denmark, saying that although those three countries had only provided 12% of the aircraft to the operation, their aircraft had conducted one-third of the strikes.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction
On 24 June, the US House voted against Joint Resolution 68, which would have authorized continued US military involvement in the NATO campaign for up to one year. The majority of Republicans voted against the resolution, with some questioning US interests in Libya and others criticizing the White House for overstepping its authority by conducting a military expedition without Congressional backing. House Democrats were split on the issue, with 115 voting in favor of and 70 voting against. Despite the failure of the President to receive legal authorization from Congress, the Obama administration continued its military campaign, carrying out the bulk of NATO's operations until the overthrow of Gadaffi in October.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction
On 9 August, the head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova deplored a NATO strike on Libyan State TV, Al-Jamahiriya, that killed 3 journalists and wounded others. Bokova declared that media outlets should not be the target of military activities. On 11 August, after the NATO airstrike on Majer (on 9 August) that allegedly killed 85 civilians, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all sides to do as much as possible to avoid killing innocent people.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Responsibility to protect
The military intervention in Libya has been cited by the Council on Foreign Relations as an example of the responsibility to protect policy adopted by the UN at the 2005 World Summit. According to Gareth Evans, "[t]he international military intervention (SMH) in Libya is not about bombing for democracy or Muammar Gaddafi's head. Legally, morally, politically, and militarily it has only one justification: protecting the country's people."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Responsibility to protect
However, the Council also noted that the policy had been used only in Libya, and not in countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, undergoing a political crisis at the time, or in response to protests in Yemen. A CFR expert, Stewert Patrick, said that "There is bound to be selectivity and inconsistency in the application of the responsibility to protect norm given the complexity of national interests at stake in...the calculations of other major powers involved in these situations." In January 2012, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the International Legal Assistance Consortium published a report describing alleged human rights violations and accusing NATO of war crimes.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Reaction within Libya
According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2012, 75% of Libyans were in favor of the NATO intervention, compared to 22% who were opposed. A 2011 Orb International poll also found broad support for the intervention, with 85% of Libyans saying that they strongly supported the action taken to remove the Ghadafi regime.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, U.S. House of Representatives
On 3 June 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution, calling for a withdrawal of the United States military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya. It demanded that the administration provide, within 14 days, explanation of why the President Barack Obama did not come to Congress for permission to continue to take part in the mission.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, U.S. House of Representatives
On 13 June, the House passed resolution prohibiting the use of funds for operations in the conflict, with 110 Democrats and 138 Republicans voting in favor.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, U.S. House of Representatives
On 24 June, the House rejected Joint Resolution 68, which would have provided the Obama administration with authorization to continue military operations in Libya for up to one year.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism
The military intervention was criticized, both at the time and subsequently, on a variety of grounds.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, United Kingdom Parliament Investigation
An in depth investigation into the Libyan intervention and its aftermath was conducted by the U.K. Parliament's House of Commons' cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee, the final conclusions of which were released on 14 September 2016 in a report titled Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK's future policy options. The report was strongly critical of the British government's role in the intervention. The report concluded that the government "failed to identify that the threat to civilians was overstated and that the rebels included a significant Islamist element."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, United Kingdom Parliament Investigation
In particular, the committee concluded that Gaddafi was not planning to massacre civilians, and that reports to the contrary were propagated by rebels and Western governments. The feared threat of the massacre of civilians was not supported by the available evidence, according to the parliamentary report. For example, on 17 March 2011 Gaddafi had given Benghazi rebels the offer of peaceful surrender and when Gaddafi had earlier retaken Ajdabiya from rebel forces there were no massacres of non-combatants.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, United Kingdom Parliament Investigation
Alison Pargeter, a freelance Middle East and North Africa (MENA) analyst, told the Committee that when Gaddafi's forces re-took Ajdabiya they did not attack civilians, and this had taken place in February 2011, shortly before the NATO intervention. She also said that Gaddafi's approach towards the rebels had been one of "appeasement", with the release of Islamist prisoners and promises of significant development assistance for Benghazi.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, United Kingdom Parliament Investigation
According to the report, France's motive for initiating the intervention was economic and political as well as humanitarian. In a briefing to Hillary Clinton on 2 April 2011, her adviser Sidney Blumenthal reported that, according to his conversations with French intelligence officers, France's motives for overthrowing Gaddafi included to increase France's share of Libya's oil production, strengthen French influence in Africa, and improve President Sarkozy's standing at home. The report also found that "Intelligence on the extent to which extremist militant Islamist elements were involvedin the anti-Gaddafi rebellion was inadequate."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Criticism from world leaders
The intervention prompted a widespread wave of criticism from several world leaders, including: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei (who said he supported the rebels but not Western intervention), Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (who referred to Gaddafi as a "martyr"), South African President Jacob Zuma, and President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe (who referred to the Western nations as "vampires"), as well as the governments of Raúl Castro in Cuba, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Kim Jong-il in North Korea, Hifikepunye Pohamba in Namibia, and others.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Criticism from world leaders
Gaddafi himself referred to the intervention as a "colonial crusade ... capable of unleashing a full-scale war", a sentiment that was echoed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: "[UNSC Resolution 1973] is defective and flawed... It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades." President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China said, "Dialogue and other peaceful means are the ultimate solutions to problems," and added, "If military action brings disaster to civilians and causes a humanitarian crisis, then it runs counter to the purpose of the UN resolution."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Criticism from world leaders
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was critical of the intervention as well, rebuking the coalition in a speech at the UN in September 2011. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, despite the substantial role his country played in the NATO mission, also spoke out against getting involved: "I had my hands tied by the vote of the parliament of my country. But I was against and I am against this intervention which will end in a way that no-one knows" and added "This wasn't a popular uprising because Gaddafi was loved by his people, as I was able to see when I went to Libya."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Criticism from world leaders
Despite its stated opposition to NATO intervention, Russia abstained from voting on Resolution 1973 instead of exercising its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council; four other powerful nations also abstained from the vote—India, China, Germany, and Brazil—but of that group only China has the same veto power.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Other criticisms
Criticisms have also been made on the way the operation was led. According to Michael Kometer and Stephen E Wright of the French Institute of International Relations, the outcome of the Libyan intervention was reached by default rather than by design. It appears that there was an important lack of consistent political guidance caused particularly by the vagueness of the UN mandate and the ambiguous consensus among the NATO-led coalition. This lack of clear political guidance was translated into an incoherent military planning on the operational level. Such a gap may impact the future NATO's operations that will probably face trust issues.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Other criticisms
The American Libertarian Party opposed the U.S. military intervention and LP Chair Mark Hinkle in a statement described the position of the Libertarian Party: "President Obama's decision to order military attacks on Libya is only surprising to those who actually think he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. He has now ordered bombing strikes in six different countries, adding Libya to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen." Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader branded President Obama as a "war criminal" and called for his impeachment.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Other criticisms
A 2013 paper by Alan Kuperman in International Security journal argued that NATO went beyond its remit of providing protection for civilians and instead supported the rebels by engaging in regime change. It argued that NATO's intervention likely extended the length (and thus damage) of the civil war, which Kuperman argued could have ended in less than two months without NATO intervention.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Other criticisms
The paper argued that the intervention was based on a misperception of the danger Gadaffi's forces posed to the civilian population, which Kuperman suggests was caused by existing bias against Gadaffi due to his past actions (such as support for terrorism), sloppy and sensationalistic journalism during the early stages of the war and propaganda from anti-government forces. Kuperman suggests that this demonization of Gadaffi, which was used to justify the intervention, ended up discouraging efforts to accept a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, turning a humanitarian intervention into a dedicated regime change.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Reaction, Criticism, Other criticisms
Micah Zenko argues that the Obama administration deceived the public by pretending the intervention was intended to protect Libyan civilians instead of achieving regime change when "in truth, the Libyan intervention was about regime change from the very start".


2011 military intervention in Libya, Costs
On 22 March 2011, BBC News presented a breakdown of the likely costs to the UK of the mission. Journalist Francis Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis, estimated that flying a Tornado GR4 would cost about £35,000 an hour (c. US$48,000), so the cost of patrolling one sector of Libyan airspace would be £2M–3M (US$2.75M–4.13M) per day. Conventional airborne missiles would cost £800,000 each and Tomahawk cruise missiles £750,000 each.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Costs
Professor Malcolm Charmers of the Royal United Services Institute similarly suggested that a single cruise missile would cost about £500,000, while a single Tornado sortie would cost about £30,000 in fuel alone. If a Tornado was downed the replacement cost would be upwards of £50m. By 22 March the US and UK had already fired more than 110 cruise missiles. UK Chancellor George Osborne had said that the MoD estimate of the operation cost was "tens rather than hundreds of millions". On 4 April Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said that the RAF was planning to continue operations over Libya for at least six months.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Costs
The total number of sorties flown by NATO numbered more than 26,000, an average of 120 sorties per day. 42% of the sorties were strike sorties, which damaged or destroyed approximately 6,000 military targets. At its peak, the operation involved more than 8,000 servicemen and women, 21 NATO ships in the Mediterranean and more than 250 aircraft of all types. By the end of the operation, NATO had conducted over 3,000 hailings at sea and almost 300 boardings for inspection, with 11 vessels denied transit to their next port of call. Eight NATO and two non-NATO countries flew strike sorties. Of these, Denmark, Canada, and Norway together were responsible for 31%, the United States was responsible for 16%, Italy 10%, France 33%, Britain 21%, and Belgium, Qatar, and the UAE the remainder.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Aftermath
Since the end of the war, which overthrew Gaddafi, there has been violence involving various militias and the new state security forces. The violence has escalated into the Second Libyan Civil War. Critics described the military intervention as "disastrous" and accused it of destabilizing North Africa, leading to the rise of Islamic extremist groups in the region. Libya became what many scholars described as a failed state — a state that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly.


2011 military intervention in Libya, Aftermath
Libya has become the main exit for migrants trying to get to Europe. In September 2015, South African President Jacob Zuma said that "consistent and systematic bombing by NATO forces undermined the security and caused conflicts that are continuing in Libya and neighbouring countries ... It was the actions taken, the bombarding of Libya and killing of its leader, that opened the flood gates."


2011 military intervention in Libya, Aftermath
U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged there had been issues with following up the conflict planning, commenting in an interview with The Atlantic magazine that British Prime Minister David Cameron had allowed himself to be "distracted by a range of other things".


2011 murder of the Ding family
The 2011 murder of the Ding family occurred in  Wootton, a suburb of Northampton, England, in late April. Four members of the Ding family—Professor Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, his wife Helen Chui and their daughters Xing and Alice—were found murdered at their home in Wootton at 6:00 pm on Sunday, 1 May 2011. They were thought to have been murdered two days earlier between about 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Friday, 29 April 2011.


2011 murder of the Ding family
Northamptonshire Police named Anxiang Du, a businessman from Coventry who had been involved in a legal dispute with the Ding family, as the prime suspect in the case. Du fled the murder scene in the Ding's rented car; he drove to London and travelled to Paris by coach. He continued through France, Spain and finally to Morocco, prompting a worldwide manhunt. He lived in a partly built block of flats for 14 months before he was arrested and extradited to the UK.


2011 murder of the Ding family
Du was tried at Northampton Crown Court in November 2013. He was found guilty of the murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Background
The Ding family were of Chinese descent: Professor Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, his wife Helen Chui and their two daughters Xing (aged 18) and Alice (aged 12). Alice and Xing were talented musicians. Xing had excelled in school and 'has now been awarded four posthumous A* grades [at A-level] in Chemistry, Classic Latin, Mathematics and Biology, after the exams boards used her existing work to predict the grades she would have achieved'. She had already accepted an offer from the University of Nottingham to study Medicine in the autumn.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Background
They were all stabbed to death at their home in Pioneer Close, part of the re-developed Royal Pioneer Corps' Simpson Barracks in Wootton, a modern suburb of Northampton just over 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the town centre.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Background
Anxiang Du was a businessman who had run a Chinese herbal remedy shop in Birmingham with the Dings. Since 1999, he and his wife had been engaged in a ten-year legal dispute with the Dings after their partnership failed. He faced a legal bill of around £88,000 after losing his final appeals. On 28 April 2011, Du was served with a court order preventing him from disposing of his assets.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
At 10:44 am on 29 April 2011, Anxiang Du boarded a train from Coventry to Birmingham, carrying a knife and his passport, after leaving his family a farewell note. He boarded another train in Birmingham and travelled to Northampton. From Northampton town centre, Du travelled by bus to Wootton, arriving there at around 1:35 pm.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
Du killed the Ding family around two hours later at around 3:30 pm. The murders took place at the Dings' house in Pioneer Close, Wootton Fields. Du stabbed Jeff and Helen Ding to death in their kitchen before going upstairs to find the two girls, Xing and Alice, in a bedroom. Du stabbed Jeff 23 times, Helen 13 times, Xing 11 times and Alice 4 times. During the attacks a 999 call, during which the screams of both girls could be heard, was made from Alice Ding's mobile telephone at 3:32 pm.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
The call was mishandled by Northamptonshire Police, which sent officers to a different address. The call was considered closed when nothing was found there. Du stole the family's Vauxhall Corsa; at 09:43 pm that evening he stopped at junction 15a services on the M1 motorway where he bought a map of Northamptonshire. He tried to call upon another former business partner who lived in the county, but he was not at home. From there, Du drove to London. As the car entered the capital, automatic number plate recognition cameras failed to detect the car. He abandoned the Dings' car in St. John's Wood, where it remained for eleven days and accrued nine parking tickets.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
On 30 April, Du bought a one-way coach ticket to Paris using his own passport. Sometime that day, his wife reported him missing. On 1 May, at 8:00 am, police called at the Dings' house looking for Du, but left when nobody answered the door. The Dings' bodies were discovered by a neighbour later that day. Du travelled through France and Spain, and took a ferry  from Algeciras to Tangier in Morocco. He travelled onwards to Oujda near the border with Algeria, where he was arrested as a suspected illegal immigrant. Moroccan police released him because they could not determine his identity and were unaware that he was wanted in the UK.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
Du remained in Morocco for a further 14 months; in mid-2012, Northamptonshire Police announced they believed he was in that country. A photograph of Du was printed in a local newspaper and a construction worker recognised him. A man believed to be Du was found living in a partly built block of flats where he slept on a makeshift bed and cooked food on a small gas-powered stove. He was arrested on 7 July 2012. Police officers visited Madrid and believe their inquiries there "played a significant part in the suspect's apprehension". Officers made a formal application for extradition with the Home Office, although there was no formal extradition arrangement with Morocco.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline
On 10 July 2012, it was confirmed that the arrested man was chief suspect Anxiang Du. On 19 July 2012, a 54-year-old woman in Coventry, a woman aged 39 in Gloucester, a 22-year-old woman in Southend and a man aged 25 in London were arrested. They were all held on suspicion of conspiracy to assist an offender and were bailed until a later date.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline, Extradition and trial
On 20 February 2013, Anxiang Du was extradited to the UK with the approval of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice working with the British Home Office. Du appeared in the Magistrates' court at Northampton on 21 February 2013 and was charged with the murders of the Ding family. He was remanded in custody and  appeared at Northampton Crown Court the following day. A provisional trial date was set for 5 August 2013 and was expected to last 10 days. Du was next due to appear in Northampton Crown Court on 7 May 2013 for a plea and case management hearing.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline, Extradition and trial
This was moved to Nottingham on 10 May 2013. It was later reported that the trial date could be changed to 29 July 2013 following information on the availability of experts. However, when Du made his plea and case management hearing on 10 May 2013, a Mandarin interpreter failed to arrive at the court. The plea and case management hearing was then re-set for July with a trial due to begin on 12 November 2013.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline, Extradition and trial
On 18 July 2013 Du appeared at Northampton Crown Court but only spoke to confirm his name. No plea could be heard at the hearing as tests were still being conducted. He was expected to appear before the court again on 17 October to enter a plea but this was postponed until 4 November when Du denied four counts of murder. The trial started on 12 November 2013.


2011 murder of the Ding family, Timeline, Extradition and trial
The jury was sent out to consider its verdict on 26 November and returned to court around midday on 27 November finding Du guilty of the murder of the four members of the Ding family. On 28 November 2013 Du, aged 54 at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years. In June 2014 it was reported that Du was to appeal his minimum 40-year term. The appeal was rejected with the statement that the trial judge's approach could not be faulted and that even more draconian whole-life tariffs had been upheld in other cases of whole families being murdered – including that of Jeremy Bamber.


2011 national electoral calendar
This national electoral calendar for the year 2011 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2011 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.


2011 national road cycling championships
The 2011 national road cycling championships began in January in Australia and New Zealand. Most of the European national championships take place in June.


2011 national road cycling championships, Jerseys
The winner of each national championship wears the national jersey in all their races for the next year in the respective discipline, apart from the World Championships, or unless they are wearing a category leader's jersey in a stage race. Most national champion jerseys tend to represent a country's flag or use the colours from it. Jerseys may also feature traditional sporting colours of a country that not derived from a national flag, such as the National colours of Australia on the jerseys of Australian national champions.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf
On April 8, 2011, the Iraqi Army launched a raid against the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MKO), an Iranian opposition group based at Camp Ashraf. 34 people were killed and 318 injured in the raid. The attack was denounced as a "massacre" by PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi and U.S. Senator John Kerry.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Background
Camp Ashraf is located northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, and is the seat of the PMOI. Iraq and Iran have designated the PMOI a terrorist group, though not the United States, European Union or United Nations. The PMOI was welcomed into Iraq in the 1980s by then-President Saddam Hussein who funded and armed the group, which fought alongside Iraqi forces during the Iran–Iraq War.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Background
Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, U.S. troops took control of Camp Ashraf and disarmed its fighters. In return, the U.S. military signed an agreement which provided the camp's 3,400 residents protected status under the Geneva Conventions.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Background
In 2009, the U.S. military handed over control to the Shi'a dominated Iraqi government, which has repeatedly vowed to close the camp as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly been trying to bolster his country's ties with Iran.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Background
The Iraqi Army has raided Camp Ashraf prior to the April 2011 attack. In July 2009, Iraqi security forces entered the camp, killing at least nine people and injuring some 400 people.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Raid
Prior to the raid, tensions had been building between the Iraq army and Ashraf residents, who feared an impending attack as soldiers built up their forces outside the camp. The Iraqi general, Ali Ghaidan Majid, who led the raid stated it was in response to Ashraf residents tossing rocks at his troops and throwing themselves in front of military vehicles.


2011 raid on Camp Ashraf, Raid
Following the raid, which left 34 dead, the PMOI released footage filmed and edited by members of the group, which show Iraqi soldiers firing at unarmed civilians at Camp Ashraf, and using military vehicles to herd and run down crowds of people. Iraqi authorities, on the other hand, claimed that only three people were killed resisting a military operation to return land from camp residents to farmers.


2011 reasons of the Supreme Court of Canada
The table below lists the decisions (known as reasons) delivered from the bench by the Supreme Court of Canada during 2011. The table illustrates what reasons were filed by each justice in each case, and which justices joined each reason. This list, however, does not include reasons on motions.


2011 royal tour of Canada
The 2011 royal tour of Canada by Prince William, and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, took place between 30 June and 8 July 2011. The tour saw the newlywed couple visit all of Canada's regions. It was the first such tour undertaken by the Duke and Duchess since their marriage two months prior, and the first duties the couple carried out as members of the Canadian Royal Family. The tour was followed by more than 1,300 accredited media. It included the first use of the Duke of Cambridge's royal standard for Canada, the first Canadian citizenship ceremony attended by royalty, Canada Day ceremonies attended by approximately 800,000 people, and many smaller events across the country.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Background
The tour fell on the 225th anniversary of the first royal visit to Canada, by then Prince William (later King William IV), as part of a naval contingent.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Background
The tour was organised by Kevin S. MacLeod, Canadian Secretary to the Queen, who has organised every royal visit to Canada since 1987. Tour organization took only three months instead of the usual 12. The couple travelled with a pared-down entourage of seven, including British police that have no jurisdiction in Canada. MacLeod let them make the tour much less formal than some previous. The inclusion of Prince Edward Island, at the apparent request of Catherine, stands in contrast to previous tours. The 1983 tour of Canada by Prince Charles and newly-wed Diana reflected his interests, as well as Canadian priorities, but none of Diana's own interests.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Background
1,300 journalists were accredited for this tour, including 241 foreign ones. The tour included a chartered plane to PEI. British news outlet ITN filmed a documentary on the tour.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour
The royal tour took place from 30 June to 8 July 2011.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour
During the tour, Catherine had made a point of wearing Canadian fashion designers at various points throughout the trip. Departing from Britain, she wore a navy blue blazer by Toronto-based Smythe les Vestes, On arrival, her outfit was by Montreal designer Erdem Moralioglu. Even when wearing foreign designers, as on Canada Day, the white-dress outfit had domestic influences such a red hat with fabric maple leaves, and Queen Elizabeth II's maple leaf brooch first worn during her 1951 tour of Canada. CBS News royal contributor Victoria Arbiter suggested Catherine might wear 40 outfits on the trip.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
On Thursday, 30 June, the couple departed Britain for Canada, travelling on a Canadian military plane. Upon landing at Macdonald-Cartier International Airport on Thursday, 30 June, the cockpit showed the Duke of Cambridge's Personal Canadian Flag; the newly adopted flag was previewed only the day before by Canadian federal government officials. Among the dignitaries greeting the couple were John Baird, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, David McGuinty, Ottawa South MP, William JS Elliott, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
The couple proceeded to a wreath laying at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, at the Canadian National War Memorial, their first public event as a couple since the wedding. After meeting with veterans, their first walkabout as a couple was considered unhurried, as they were 10 minutes late for their next appearance.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
The Duke and Duchess then headed to Rideau Hall, residence of the Governor General of Canada, for their official Welcome to Canada and Ottawa Ceremony by Governor General David Johnston; attendance turnout was around 6,000 people, double the turnout of people at the War Memorial. The Duke inspected the Guard of Honour, including the Army, the Air Force and the Navy. The Royal Salute, composed by Edward VIII, played on bagpipes. The event was followed with a Celebration of Youth Barbecue Reception at Rideau Hall.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
On Canada Day, 1 July, on what would have been Diana, Princess of Wales' 50th birthday, the couple attended a citizenship ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Civilization; this was the first time that members of the Royal Family participated in a Canadian citizenship ceremony. Pipe Major of The Sons of Scotland played as they entered the ceremony to a tune which was "St. Andrews Courtship", a work by Pipe Major Bethany Bisaillion, created for them. The event attracted protesters who strummed guitars and wave placards outside event, in protest of mandatory pledging allegiance to the Queen.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
This was followed by the Canada Day Parliament Hill Noon Show, a public event, arriving in the State Landau. Performers included the Sam Roberts Band, Great Big Sea, Corb Lund, and Maria Aragon. The show was broadcast on CBC Television and radio in English and French. The couple returned in the evening for additional performances, and fireworks; this was considered a significant security risk.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, National Capital Region
The couple began 2 July at the Canadian War Museum, unveiling the mural "The Canadians Opposite Lens" by Augustus John. From there, the couple proceeded to Montreal, Quebec's Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
Outside their first stop, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre, Reseau de Resistance du Québécois (RRQ) protesters' bilingual placards called the couple "parasites". Onlookers and well-wishers outnumbered the protester "10 to 1", according to media reports. The RRQ had hired 40 security guards to keep their protesters in check. Entering the hospital swiftly, the Duke and Duchess were at the hospital to meet with patients and their families.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
The couple received cooking classes at l'Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec. The Mouvement pacifique pour l'indépendence du Québec was planning to protest the visit by dressing in peasant costumes, outside the institute.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
The couple departed from Montreal for Quebec City at 9:55 pm, on HMCS Montréal.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
After saying Morning Prayer with the crew of HMCS Montréal, the ship docked at Quebec City, Quebec. Crowds gathered on the boardwalk to Chateau Frontenac, and along to the Plains of Abraham. The couple will tour la Maison Dauphine, an organization which serves street youth, where they will have a private talk with a small group, to here the youth's stories.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
The first public event of the day was just after noon, a Freedom of the City Ceremony at Quebec City Hall (Hôtel de ville de Québec). William's speech, delivered entirely in French, included "You, the Québécois and Québécoise, have such vitality and vigour. It is simply a pleasure to be here." Sovereigntist group Réseau de Résistance du Québécois expected 300 protesters for their demonstration outside City Hall; media reported about 200 showed up. Protesters noted that they did have a plane flyover city hall with a separatist banner.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
The next public event is a community celebration in Lévis, Quebec, touring Fort Numéro Un de Lévis. From there, they went to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for the evening.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Ontario and Quebec, Quebec
The royal couple arrived in Montreal in the evening and attended a cooking class with students at the Institut de Tourisme et d'Hotellerie du Québec. Jean Charest, the premier of Quebec, and his wife accompanied the couple in the class. The two couples had supper together after the short workshop. Upon their arrival at the Institut, the couple was greeted by approximately 500 fans and protesters.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Prince Edward Island
After visiting Province House, PEI's provincial legislature at Charlottetown, the couple learned of Canadian military accomplishments in Prince Edward Island National Park, before William took part in "a training session for the 'waterbird' emergency landing procedure in a Sea King helicopter at Dalvay-by-the-Sea." The day was rainy. At the hotel, a National Historic Site of Canada, the couple was welcomed to PEI by a traditional Miqmah smudging ceremony, and sampled several kinds of local foods. Aboriginal, Acadian and Celtic cultural and culinary traditions. The couple challenged each other to a dragon boat race. William's team won by half a length.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Prince Edward Island
Then on Dalvay Beach the couple chatted with beach volleyball players, sand castle builders and baked-lobster chefs. The final public event of the day was in Summerside, where the couple watched a Search and Rescue exercise at Summerside Harbour with the Canadian Coast Guard. The couple then flew to Yellowknife Airport, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories arriving in the early evening.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Prince Edward Island
Local actors playing characters Anne Shirley and Matthew Cuthbert (Tess Benger and Kris Tusler) in Anne of Green Gables: The Musical appeared as guests. The province was Catherine's choice for the tour.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Northwest Territories
At 11:40 am, Tuesday, 5 July, the couple participated in a public event, an Official Arrival to the Northwest Territories. William and Catherine arrived at Somba K'e Civic Plaza to take part in Aboriginal traditions and activities, including traditional drumming, dancing and sports. The ceremony was to highlight the historic and continuing cooperation between the Northwest Territories' Aboriginal peoples and residents of other cultures. The Duke's speech included the phrase "thank you" in both the Na-Dene and Inuvialuktun languages. In a street hockey game, Prince William took three shots on goal, but the young goaltender kept him from scoring.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Northwest Territories
A session of the Youth Parliament at the Legislative Assembly was followed by a visit to Blachford Lake, which included the First Canadian Ranger Patrol Group and Dechinta: Bush University Centre for Research and Learning.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
The original public schedule for Wednesday, 6 July was listed as a day off for the royal couple. The unannounced stop was made in Slave Lake, Alberta, where the royal couple toured the town that was partially destroyed by a wildfire in May. Arriving at the town's airport, the couple met with Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and the Mayor of Slave Lake, Karina Pillay-Kinnee. They met with emergency services personnel from the fire department, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the medical response team at Northern Lakes College.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
At the gym of Northern Lakes College, the couple met with some of the families affected by the fire. The town was in the midst of dealing with flooding of Sawridge Creek. At 1:30 pm, they went back to the Slave Lake Airport and continued on their way to Calgary. They spent the night at the private Skoki Ski Lodge, a National Historic Site near Lake Louise, within the Rocky Mountain-area Banff National Park. Much of the press coverage for this part of the tour discussed the remoteness of the site, which includes only outhouses. No official comment was made on whether it was retrofitted, at least temporarily.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
Arriving in Calgary in the afternoon, at Calgary International Airport, the Duke and Duchess were presented with the usual headgear in the White Hat Ceremony, but didn't wear them. They toured the University of Calgary Ward of the 21st Century Research and Innovation Centre (W21C), and attended an evening Government of Canada reception at the BMO Stampede Park. The latter included the creation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Parks Canada Youth Ambassadors Program. The city gave free wristbands to public events, to lessen the volume of people.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
The first event of the Friday, 8 July, the day for the couple was to launch the Calgary Stampede Parade at Bow Valley College. The parade is run by the same organization as the top-level rodeo event itself. The parade attracted a record crowd of 425,000 people.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
The Vancouver Humane Society, the League Against Cruel Sports, and Fight Against Animal Cruelty had all asked that the royal couple not visit the Stampede, deeming it animal cruelty; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) suggested that they were approaching a "hotbed of controversy". If they don't cancel the event, PETA called on locals to protest at the event. The stampede has often attracted animal rights activists, on years without special guests. A horse died of a leg injury in the Stampede's first night, in spite of an "extensive overhaul to its animal care standards".


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
Barred from attending the 2010 Stampede parade, attempts to block street preacher Art Pawlowski were unsuccessful. He planned to have his group march following the parade proper, or set up a protest. There were no reports on whether he followed through.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Tour, Alberta
Later events included a reception at the ENMAX Conservatory, Calgary Zoo, hosted by the Alberta Government, and a public Official Departure Ceremony. Finally, after a nine-day Canadian tour that "far exceeded" expectations, according to Prince William, and was by all accounts a huge success, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge boarded a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft, and departed the Realm, their last stop in North America being a visit to Los Angeles, California.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Post-tour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge departed Canada on 8 July, aboard a Canadian Forces jet bound for Los Angeles, US. Upon arrival in the Californian city they were greeted by Canadian Consul General David Fransen, California Governor Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Being greeted by the Canadian Consul-General first, Prince William had, according to the CBC, departed as a prince of Canada rather than a foreign prince. On 9 July, the couple attended the inaugural BAFTA Brits to Watch event at the downtown Belasco Theater.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Reception
A poll conducted before the tour showed 54% of those between 18 and 34 who were polled were indifferent to the tour.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Reception
Public events during the tour drew big crowds. On Canada Day at Parliament Hill, attendance was 300,000 in the morning, and a half-million in the evening. The National Capital Commission had speculated half a million would show up at the morning event.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Reception
The Canadian tour become a subject of controversy, as the Royal couple planned to attend the annual Calgary Stampede, an event that features steer busting and calf roping and is condemned by animal welfare experts. The rodeo was banned in the United Kingdom in 1934. Animal Rights groups from Britain and Canada have written to Clarence House urging the couple not to attend the event.


2011 royal tour of Canada, Reception
The tour attracted small crowds and protests in the province of Quebec. Quebec MNA Amir Khadir, a leader of the leftist party Québec solidaire, referred to the royal couple as "parasites" ahead of the visit, calling the tour "a waste of public funds". In Montreal they were met by approximately 500 supporters and 100 protesters and in Quebec City they were met by several hundred supporters and about 200 protesters, some wearing black and waving flags.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
On August 18, 2011, a series of cross-border attacks with parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of presumably 12 militants in four groups. The attacks occurred after Israel's interior security service Shin Bet had warned of an attack by militants in the region and Israeli troops had been stationed in the area. The militants first opened fire at an Egged No. 392 bus as it was traveling on Highway 12 in the Negev near Eilat.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
Several minutes later, a bomb was detonated next to an Israeli army patrol along Israel's border with Egypt. In a third attack, an anti-tank missile hit a private vehicle, killing four civilians. Eight Israelis – six civilians, one Yamam special unit police sniper and one Golani Brigade soldier—were killed in the multiple-stage attack. The Israel Defense Forces reported eight attackers killed, and Egyptian security forces reported killing another two.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
Five Egyptian soldiers were also killed. According to Egypt, they were killed by Israeli security forces chasing militants across the Egyptian border, while an Israeli military officer initially said they were killed by a suicide bomber who had fled across the border into Egypt. The five deaths triggered a diplomatic row between Egypt and Israel and led to mass protests outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo. According to media reports, Egypt threatened to withdraw its ambassador to Israel, but Egypt's foreign minister later denied this. Israel expressed regret over the deaths, and sent a letter of apology to Egypt. The IDF was ordered to conduct a military probe of the incident, and on August 25, 2011, Israel agreed to a joint investigation with Egypt of the events.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
The identity of the attackers, three of whom were reportedly Egyptian, is not widely agreed upon, and so far no group took responsibility for the attacks. The Israeli government accused the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Gaza-based coalition of Palestinian militant groups, of orchestrating the attacks, but the PRC denied involvement. However, Israel attacked seven targets in the Gaza Strip immediately after the terror attacks in the Negev, killing five members of the PRC, including its leader.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
On August 21, 2011, an informal ceasefire was called by Israel and Hamas after days of escalating violence in which fifteen Palestinians were killed and many were wounded. More than 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza into Israel, killing one Israeli and wounding more than a dozen. The ceasefire was broken almost immediately by rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel, followed by retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, killing at least seven Palestinians, among them two leaders of the Islamic Jihad. On August 26, 2011, Gaza militants called a second truce. On March 9, 2012, Israel Air Force, in a strike on Palestinian targets in Gaza, killed the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhir al-Qaisi, whom Israel considers as "one of the masterminds" of the August 18, 2011 attacks.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
The southern part of Israeli Highway 12 runs adjacent to Israel's border with Egypt. It was the scene of previous shooting attacks in the 1990s. In the late 2000s, the Israeli government decided to build the Israel–Egypt barrier, although by 2011 only 10% of it had been completed, none close to the site of the attack.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution militant organizations increased their activity in the Sinai Peninsula and Al-Qaeda militants groups were established, after Egyptian police had all but completely withdrawn from the northern Sinai, dominated by Bedouin tribes. During the months preceding the cross-border attacks, Egypt reinforced its forces with about 1,000 additional soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula, with the consent of Israel, after a series of five bombings had disrupted the flow of natural gas to Israel.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
On July 30, militants staged an attack on an Egyptian police station in El-Arish, killing six.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
On August 2, a group claiming to be the Sinai wing of Al Qaeda declared its intention to create an Islamic caliphate in the Sinai.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
On August 14, 2011, Egyptian forces swept the Sinai Peninsula in search of terror cells. Jordanian intelligence informed the Israelis that they had information about an impending terror attack in the south of Israel. Two days prior to the attack, the Egyptian army captured four Islamist insurgents as they prepared to blow up a gas pipeline in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, Background
Israeli interior security service Shin Bet had warned of terrorist attacks being planned in the region in an area 80 kilometers long, presuming that they would take place at night. The warnings led to a massive deployment of IDF troops, and the closing of Highway 12, which was reopened only on the day of the attack at the order of head of IDF's southern command Tal Russo.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
The original attacks occurred in three coordinated stages. They were carried out by 12 militants in four groups dispersed over an area 12 kilometers long. At least some of the attackers wore brown uniforms, similar to those used by the Egyptian Army. Israeli military and police forces, in cooperation with Shin Bet, began pursuing the perpetrators immediately after the attacks commenced and locked down the area.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
The attacks commenced around 12:00 pm (UTC+2) near the Ein Netafim spring, on Highway 12 from Mitzpe Ramon to Eilat, when three militants spread out about 200 meters from one another, armed with suicide bomb vests, grenades, RPGs, and machine guns opened fire on an Egged passenger bus on line 392, carrying mostly soldiers but also some civilians. Seven passengers were wounded, most of them soldiers. According to eyewitnesses, a white car was following the bus, and a group of people dressed in military uniforms got out and opened fire. The bus driver, Benny Belevsky, did not stop the bus and sped away, getting to an IDF post near the Netafim Border Crossing.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
The militants, dressed in brown uniforms resembling those of the Egyptian Army, then began attacking passing vehicles, waving white handkerchiefs to fool motorists. One of the militants attacked a bus that drove by and detonated the suicide bomb belt he was wearing, killing himself and the bus driver, who had stopped the empty bus. Another militant opened fire at a passing car and killed the female driver. The same militant then fired an RPG at an Israeli Air Force helicopter, but missed.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
An IDF jeep from the Golani Brigade then arrived at the scene and ran over the militant, killing him. Another Golani Brigade jeep arrived, and ran over a roadside bomb. As the soldiers exited the damaged vehicle, the surviving militant opened fire at them. Soldiers and Yamam special police officers then located the militant and killed him in a gunbattle. Two other militants then opened fire at them from Egyptian territory. Israeli forces briefly crossed the border and killed both of the militants. One Israeli soldier was killed by friendly fire during the engagement and several soldiers were wounded. The Egyptian Army informed the IDF that its soldiers killed two more militants in the Sinai.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
In the third attack, which occurred around 12:35, mortar shells were fired at soldiers carrying out routine maintenance work at the security fence constructed along the border between Israel and Egypt. No one was hurt in the attack.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
Around 13:30, not far from the first shooting incident, militants opened fire, including with an anti-tank missile, at a bus and private car on route 90, a desert road near the border with Jordan. According to medics, five people were killed in the attacks. Seven people were wounded when another private vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile. Eyewitnesses suggested that some of the attackers may have been wearing Egyptian Army uniforms. Two IAF helicopters were called to the scene in order to evacuate those wounded.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
Around 18:30, an Israeli patrol was fired on from the Egyptian border as it searched for militants. Israeli troops returned fire, and the shooting lasted for about an hour. A sniper from the Yamam special police unit was critically wounded and later died. News of the firefight interrupted a briefing by the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
According to an Egyptian probe, Israeli troops entered the Sinai Peninsula chasing after the terrorists, exchanging fire with Egyptian police, and an Israeli helicopter fired two rockets at the terrorists and machine guns at Egyptian security personnel, killing an Egyptian officer and two policemen. In a later incident, first reported as a suicide bomb attack, another two Egyptian soldiers were killed, presumably also by Israeli forces. Some Israeli sources claimed that an IDF investigation said that the IDF's attack helicopters avoided hitting the Egyptian military and that it remains unclear who fired the deadly shots.


2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks, August 18 cross-border attacks and immediate Israeli response
The five deaths triggered a diplomatic row between the two countries and lead to mass protests in Cairo outside the Israeli embassy.