January 12: A series of
street protests broke out in several cities across Romania. The protests turned violent, with both protesters and members of the Gendarmerie being injured during the ensuing clashes.[1]
January 13: The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank on the night of January 13, 2012 after hitting a reef off the Italian coast and running aground at
Isola del Giglio,
Tuscany, requiring the evacuation of the 4,252 people on board. Thirty-two citizens drowned and other 64 people were injured.[2]
January 18: English version of Wikipedia was down for 24 hours in protest of
SOPA and
PIPA, two projects that provided for drastic measures against sites with "pirated" content. Were subsequently withdrawn.
January 23:
European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an "unprecedented" oil embargo against
Iran over its nuclear programme, banning all new oil contracts with the country.[3]
January 30: Leaders of the 27 EU member states met in
Brussels, at a special summit, to discuss a clear strategy against the debt crisis. In
Belgium was held a general strike.
February 8: Italy's
Mount Etna erupted into life during the night of 8–9 February, spewing forth lava fountains which brightened the midnight sky. The eruption followed a period of intermittent activity and produced a plume of ash which led to the temporary cancellation of some flights at the nearby Catania airport.[5]
February 11: Protests against
ACTA in more than 200 European cities. Protests broke out in Poland, spreading in several European countries such as
Sweden,
Germany,
France or
Romania.
February 12: 500,000 protesters gathered in
Athens outside the Parliament House to voice opposition to
Lucas Papademos' caretaker cabinet's austerity measures, the
Fifth austerity package which was being debated in Parliament. Following these street demonstrations, 45 buildings were set ablaze, 25 protesters and 40 officers were injured.[6]
February 17:
Christian Wulff resigned as
President of Germany, facing the prospect of prosecution for allegations of corruption relating to his prior service as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.
February 19
Iran suspends oil exports to
United Kingdom and
France following sanctions put in place by the EU and the United States in January.[7]
A series of explosions take place in a nightclub in
Sighetu Marmaţiei (
Romania). Following the deflagration, a citizen was killed and other 20 people were injured.[8]
February 21:
Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, €130-billion Greek bailout.[9]
Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin wins the presidential election in the first round with over 63% of the vote, beating veteran Communist opponent
Gennady Zyuganov into second place on 17%. Putin will serve a newly extended six-year term, beginning in May.[10] Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers report irregularities at a third of monitored polling stations. Opponents take to the streets of several major cities to protest at the conduct of the election, and the police arrest hundreds.
March 5: A
MAI employer shot eight people in a hair salon,
Bucharest. Following the massacre, two people died and six others were seriously injured.[12]
March 13
A bus carrying Belgian and Dutch students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in
Sierre Tunnel (
Switzerland), killing 28 people, of which 22 were 12-year-old students. Another 24 students were taken to hospital with injuries.[13]
After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition.[14]
EU finance ministers decided to block funds worth €495-million for Hungary, due to the excessive budget deficit.
Mohammed Merah, adherent of the Islamist organization al-Qaeda, opened fire in
Ozar Hatorah schoolyard (
Toulouse,
France), killing three children, a teenager and a rabbi. President
Nicolas Sarkozy suspended his electoral campaign and announced maximum terrorist alert in Toulouse. The perpetrator was killed in the morning of March 22, following a siege at his apartment in Toulouse.[15]
A series of devastating wildfires burst out in several Romanian counties.[16]
March 31: A blast at a chemical plant of
Evonik Industries AG in the
city of Marl in
Germany's Ruhr valley killed at least one person and left two others injured.[17]
April 4: Serbian pro-Western President
Boris Tadić resigned, paving the way for early presidential election where he will face strong challenge from a nationalist candidate.[20]
April 6
Members of the anti-terrorist squad of the Hungarian police have captured a man suspected of killing four relatives and injuring three others with a machete.[21]
April 13: Three people died and another 13 were injured when a German regional train collided with a works engine near the town of
Offenbach am Main.[23]
Romania's government has been unseated in a no-confidence vote, just two months after taking office. The opposition seized on public anger over austerity measures to oust prime minister
Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu. Romanian President
Traian Băsescu designated left-wing opposition leader
Victor Ponta as new prime minister.[27][28][29]
May 2: The Hungarian candidate
János Áder was elected
president with an absolute majority.
May 3: At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in an apparent suicide car bomb attack and follow-up blast in the Russian city of
Makhachkala.[30]
May 4: More than 140 people were injured at a political rally in the central square of
Armenia's capital, when clusters of balloons exploded.[31]
May 7: A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the western part of
Azerbaijan, at a depth of 23 km. At least two people died following the seism. About 1,050 families whose homes were damaged during the
earthquake were placed in tents.[32]
May 10: At least 116 people were injured after a crash involving three trams in western
Bucharest, capital city of
Romania.[33]
May 15: Nearly 7,000 demonstrators have marched through
Moldova's capital
Chișinău to denounce
Russia's continued influence in their country.[34]
May 21: At least 13 Albanian university students lost their lives when their bus plunged into a gorge near the town of
Elbasan.[37]
May 22: A
magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck 24 km west of
Bulgaria's capital
Sofia, at a depth of 9.4 km.[38] A citizen died from heart attack, several buildings were damaged.
May 25: Three people were killed and other 18 wounded after a suicide bombing in central
Turkey.[39]
May 26: An 18-year-old man was arrested in
Finland over a
shooting spree that left two people dead and eight wounded.[40]
May 29: A
magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck
Medolla (
Italy), at a depth of 9.6 km.[41] At least 17 people were killed and over 350 injured. More than 15,000 people were left homeless, after their homes were seriously damaged or even destroyed.
June 6: Severe
windstorms,
thunderstorms and
hailstorms hit
Romania. Several localities were flooded due to heavy rains in late-May and early-June. Roads were blocked due to
landslides and rockfalls. At least five people were killed from the break out of violent storms.[45]
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the
Dodecanese Islands (
Greece), at a depth of 30 km. A big rock avalanche hit the city of
Fethiye (
Turkey). Several houses and minarets of mosques were damaged. At least 64 people were injured during the seism.[47]
June 29:
Turkey has begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along its border with
Syria after last week's downing of a Turkish military plane.[49]
July 12: Nine climbers have been killed in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of
Chamonix.[55]
July 15: One person has been killed and at least 10 others injured during a series of freak
tornadoes in northern and western
Poland.[56]
July 18: An explosion has killed at least seven people on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the eastern Bulgarian city of
Burgas.[57] More than 20 people were also injured when the bus exploded at Burgas airport, by the
Black Sea.[58]
July 23: A series of violent
wildfires burst out in
Spain's north-eastern
Catalonia region, killing three people.[59][60] Strong winds gusting up to 90 km/h have rendered one fire "out of control", Catalonia's interior minister said. Fires of this ampleness were also reported in
Portugal's southern
Algarve region.[61]
August
August 9: 11 people have died and 39 were injured after the bus in which they were entered in a ditch in
Ungheni District (
Moldova).[62]
August 14
A fireworks explosion over a church bell tower set the sky ablaze and resulted in 28 injuries during a festival in eastern
Spain.[63]
Violent clashes between youths and police in the northern French city of
Amiens left 17 police officers injured and several public buildings set on fire.[64][65][66]
August 20: At least eight people have been killed and 64 more wounded after a remote-controlled car bomb explodes in Turkish city of
Gaziantep.[67][68]
August 21: The Constitutional Court of Romania decided to invalidate the results of the referendum for the impeachment of President Traian Băsescu.[69] People met this decision with deprecation, thousands of people protesting against Traian Băsescu's reinstatement.[70]
August 23: A hot air balloon has crashed and caught fire in
Slovenia, killing four people and injuring at least 28 others, including children.[71]
August 29: Three
Georgian special forces personnel and 11 suspected militants have been killed in an army operation along the border with
Russia.[72]
A baby has died and 42 people have been seriously injured after a bus of Romanian tourists crashed near
Vidauban (
France).[74] Prime Minister
Victor Ponta called, at the Government, a crisis cell composed of ministers of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Health and State Secretary
Raed Arafat, as a result of this accident.[75]
The ceiling of a bus station in Russian town of
Belovo collapsed during repair work, killing at least one person and injuring 13.[76]
A total of 16 whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of
Scotland. Ten others were refloated after being kept alive by vets from British Divers and Marine Life Rescue.[77]
Kurdish rebels armed with machine-guns and rocket launchers attacked a security complex in southeastern
Turkey overnight, triggering
fierce fighting that left about 30 people dead.[78]
September 5: An explosion at an ammunition store in Turkey has killed 25 soldiers and wounded four others.[79]
September 6: 61 people have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of western Turkey.[80]
September 10: At least 80 police officers were injured after violence erupted during a Kurdish cultural festival in the southwest Germany city of
Mannheim. More than 30 people were arrested.[81]
September 11
Three people were killed and 65 others were critically injured as a Polish bus crashes in the eastern French city of
Mulhouse.[82]
At least 35 people have been injured after two trams collided in
The Hague.[83]
14 Vietnamese migrant workers were killed when a three-story building caught fire in the Russian town of
Yegoryevsk. At least one person was hospitalized with injuries.[85]
Ten people were killed when an An-28 passenger plane crashed in Russia's
Kamchatka Peninsula. Regional authorities announced that another four people were seriously injured in the crash.[citation needed]
September 14: At least four Russian tourists have died and 30 others were injured after their bus overturned in northern
Greece.[citation needed]
September 16
More than 10,000 people manifested on
Chișinău streets on account of the
reunification of Moldova and Romania.[86] Moldovan Prime Minister,
Vlad Filat, announced that he would prohibit any public manifestation regarding the reunification with Romania.[87]
At least ten people, including a child, were killed when a minibus collided with a truck on a highway in the
Stavropol region in southern
Russia.[88]
September 18: More than 20 people died after drinking bootleg spirits tainted with methanol in the Czech region of
Moravia.[90] Czech police have charged 22 people in connection with the case.
September 19: Two people were killed and four others were gravely wounded by a rabid bear in
Southern Carpathians.[91] The local authorities decreed state of alert in the area until its shooting or, eventually, until bears vaccination against rabies.
September 29: At least ten people have died after heavy rains triggered flash floods in southern
Spain.[92]
September 30: 35 people were reportedly injured after a tornado hit a fairground and flattened a ferris wheel in the Spanish
region of Valencia.[93]
October
October 3:
Turkish army launched an artillery strike on
Syria in retaliation for a Syrian mortar attack, which killed at least 5. The
NATO ambassadors called on Syria to immediately end its "aggressive acts" against Turkey after an emergency meeting in
Brussels. Turkey also turned to the
United Nations Security Council, writing a letter asking the highest UN decision-making body to stop Syria's aggression.[94]
October 12: The
European Union has been awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for "the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe".[95][96]
October 22: Six scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter by an Italian court for failing to give adequate warning of an
earthquake that killed more than 300 people in
L'Aquila in 2009.[100]
October 23: Some 150,000 people joined a march protest in the Hungarian capital of
Budapest against Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán.[citation needed]
November 7: At least 100,000 angry Greek protesters clashed with riot police in front of the
Hellenic Parliament, as far as lawmakers voted to approve a
new austerity package needed to unlock vital aid and avert bankruptcy.[101] More than 35 people were detained.[102]
November 9: An Algerian military cargo plane has crashed in southern
France. All six people on board were reported dead.[103]
November 10: 17 soldiers have been killed in a helicopter crash in southeast
Turkey.[citation needed]
November 13
A passenger train has crashed into a railway repair trolley in a tunnel in northern
Montenegro, killing two people and injuring 28 others.[104]
At least four people were reported dead after severe floods hit northern and central
Italy.[105]
November 14: Workers across the
European Union have launched an unprecedented string of strikes in a co-ordinated battle against austerity cuts.[106] The manifestations turned violent in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish capitals, where indignant protesters clashed with riot police.[107]
November 16: 13 people were injured and 12 people have been left homeless after an F3 tornado hit
Algarve,
Portugal.[108]
November 30: Protesters have clashed with riot police in
Slovenia's capital
Ljubljana during a rally against budget cuts and alleged corruption.[115][116] During the clashes, 15 people were injured and 33 arrested.[117]
December
December 5: At least three people were killed and nine others were missing after a
cargo ship with a Ukrainian and Russian crew sank in a
storm off
Istanbul's
Black Sea coast.[118]
December 13: Five workers have been killed and nine others seriously injured in the collapse of a building that was under construction in the Russian city of
Taganrog.[119][120]
July 5:
The Shard, the tallest building in the
European Union and the tallest habitable free-standing structure in the
UK at 309.6 metres (1,016 ft), is officially opened.[132][133]
January 12: A series of
street protests broke out in several cities across Romania. The protests turned violent, with both protesters and members of the Gendarmerie being injured during the ensuing clashes.[1]
January 13: The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank on the night of January 13, 2012 after hitting a reef off the Italian coast and running aground at
Isola del Giglio,
Tuscany, requiring the evacuation of the 4,252 people on board. Thirty-two citizens drowned and other 64 people were injured.[2]
January 18: English version of Wikipedia was down for 24 hours in protest of
SOPA and
PIPA, two projects that provided for drastic measures against sites with "pirated" content. Were subsequently withdrawn.
January 23:
European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an "unprecedented" oil embargo against
Iran over its nuclear programme, banning all new oil contracts with the country.[3]
January 30: Leaders of the 27 EU member states met in
Brussels, at a special summit, to discuss a clear strategy against the debt crisis. In
Belgium was held a general strike.
February 8: Italy's
Mount Etna erupted into life during the night of 8–9 February, spewing forth lava fountains which brightened the midnight sky. The eruption followed a period of intermittent activity and produced a plume of ash which led to the temporary cancellation of some flights at the nearby Catania airport.[5]
February 11: Protests against
ACTA in more than 200 European cities. Protests broke out in Poland, spreading in several European countries such as
Sweden,
Germany,
France or
Romania.
February 12: 500,000 protesters gathered in
Athens outside the Parliament House to voice opposition to
Lucas Papademos' caretaker cabinet's austerity measures, the
Fifth austerity package which was being debated in Parliament. Following these street demonstrations, 45 buildings were set ablaze, 25 protesters and 40 officers were injured.[6]
February 17:
Christian Wulff resigned as
President of Germany, facing the prospect of prosecution for allegations of corruption relating to his prior service as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.
February 19
Iran suspends oil exports to
United Kingdom and
France following sanctions put in place by the EU and the United States in January.[7]
A series of explosions take place in a nightclub in
Sighetu Marmaţiei (
Romania). Following the deflagration, a citizen was killed and other 20 people were injured.[8]
February 21:
Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, €130-billion Greek bailout.[9]
Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin wins the presidential election in the first round with over 63% of the vote, beating veteran Communist opponent
Gennady Zyuganov into second place on 17%. Putin will serve a newly extended six-year term, beginning in May.[10] Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers report irregularities at a third of monitored polling stations. Opponents take to the streets of several major cities to protest at the conduct of the election, and the police arrest hundreds.
March 5: A
MAI employer shot eight people in a hair salon,
Bucharest. Following the massacre, two people died and six others were seriously injured.[12]
March 13
A bus carrying Belgian and Dutch students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in
Sierre Tunnel (
Switzerland), killing 28 people, of which 22 were 12-year-old students. Another 24 students were taken to hospital with injuries.[13]
After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition.[14]
EU finance ministers decided to block funds worth €495-million for Hungary, due to the excessive budget deficit.
Mohammed Merah, adherent of the Islamist organization al-Qaeda, opened fire in
Ozar Hatorah schoolyard (
Toulouse,
France), killing three children, a teenager and a rabbi. President
Nicolas Sarkozy suspended his electoral campaign and announced maximum terrorist alert in Toulouse. The perpetrator was killed in the morning of March 22, following a siege at his apartment in Toulouse.[15]
A series of devastating wildfires burst out in several Romanian counties.[16]
March 31: A blast at a chemical plant of
Evonik Industries AG in the
city of Marl in
Germany's Ruhr valley killed at least one person and left two others injured.[17]
April 4: Serbian pro-Western President
Boris Tadić resigned, paving the way for early presidential election where he will face strong challenge from a nationalist candidate.[20]
April 6
Members of the anti-terrorist squad of the Hungarian police have captured a man suspected of killing four relatives and injuring three others with a machete.[21]
April 13: Three people died and another 13 were injured when a German regional train collided with a works engine near the town of
Offenbach am Main.[23]
Romania's government has been unseated in a no-confidence vote, just two months after taking office. The opposition seized on public anger over austerity measures to oust prime minister
Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu. Romanian President
Traian Băsescu designated left-wing opposition leader
Victor Ponta as new prime minister.[27][28][29]
May 2: The Hungarian candidate
János Áder was elected
president with an absolute majority.
May 3: At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in an apparent suicide car bomb attack and follow-up blast in the Russian city of
Makhachkala.[30]
May 4: More than 140 people were injured at a political rally in the central square of
Armenia's capital, when clusters of balloons exploded.[31]
May 7: A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the western part of
Azerbaijan, at a depth of 23 km. At least two people died following the seism. About 1,050 families whose homes were damaged during the
earthquake were placed in tents.[32]
May 10: At least 116 people were injured after a crash involving three trams in western
Bucharest, capital city of
Romania.[33]
May 15: Nearly 7,000 demonstrators have marched through
Moldova's capital
Chișinău to denounce
Russia's continued influence in their country.[34]
May 21: At least 13 Albanian university students lost their lives when their bus plunged into a gorge near the town of
Elbasan.[37]
May 22: A
magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck 24 km west of
Bulgaria's capital
Sofia, at a depth of 9.4 km.[38] A citizen died from heart attack, several buildings were damaged.
May 25: Three people were killed and other 18 wounded after a suicide bombing in central
Turkey.[39]
May 26: An 18-year-old man was arrested in
Finland over a
shooting spree that left two people dead and eight wounded.[40]
May 29: A
magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck
Medolla (
Italy), at a depth of 9.6 km.[41] At least 17 people were killed and over 350 injured. More than 15,000 people were left homeless, after their homes were seriously damaged or even destroyed.
June 6: Severe
windstorms,
thunderstorms and
hailstorms hit
Romania. Several localities were flooded due to heavy rains in late-May and early-June. Roads were blocked due to
landslides and rockfalls. At least five people were killed from the break out of violent storms.[45]
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the
Dodecanese Islands (
Greece), at a depth of 30 km. A big rock avalanche hit the city of
Fethiye (
Turkey). Several houses and minarets of mosques were damaged. At least 64 people were injured during the seism.[47]
June 29:
Turkey has begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along its border with
Syria after last week's downing of a Turkish military plane.[49]
July 12: Nine climbers have been killed in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of
Chamonix.[55]
July 15: One person has been killed and at least 10 others injured during a series of freak
tornadoes in northern and western
Poland.[56]
July 18: An explosion has killed at least seven people on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the eastern Bulgarian city of
Burgas.[57] More than 20 people were also injured when the bus exploded at Burgas airport, by the
Black Sea.[58]
July 23: A series of violent
wildfires burst out in
Spain's north-eastern
Catalonia region, killing three people.[59][60] Strong winds gusting up to 90 km/h have rendered one fire "out of control", Catalonia's interior minister said. Fires of this ampleness were also reported in
Portugal's southern
Algarve region.[61]
August
August 9: 11 people have died and 39 were injured after the bus in which they were entered in a ditch in
Ungheni District (
Moldova).[62]
August 14
A fireworks explosion over a church bell tower set the sky ablaze and resulted in 28 injuries during a festival in eastern
Spain.[63]
Violent clashes between youths and police in the northern French city of
Amiens left 17 police officers injured and several public buildings set on fire.[64][65][66]
August 20: At least eight people have been killed and 64 more wounded after a remote-controlled car bomb explodes in Turkish city of
Gaziantep.[67][68]
August 21: The Constitutional Court of Romania decided to invalidate the results of the referendum for the impeachment of President Traian Băsescu.[69] People met this decision with deprecation, thousands of people protesting against Traian Băsescu's reinstatement.[70]
August 23: A hot air balloon has crashed and caught fire in
Slovenia, killing four people and injuring at least 28 others, including children.[71]
August 29: Three
Georgian special forces personnel and 11 suspected militants have been killed in an army operation along the border with
Russia.[72]
A baby has died and 42 people have been seriously injured after a bus of Romanian tourists crashed near
Vidauban (
France).[74] Prime Minister
Victor Ponta called, at the Government, a crisis cell composed of ministers of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Health and State Secretary
Raed Arafat, as a result of this accident.[75]
The ceiling of a bus station in Russian town of
Belovo collapsed during repair work, killing at least one person and injuring 13.[76]
A total of 16 whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of
Scotland. Ten others were refloated after being kept alive by vets from British Divers and Marine Life Rescue.[77]
Kurdish rebels armed with machine-guns and rocket launchers attacked a security complex in southeastern
Turkey overnight, triggering
fierce fighting that left about 30 people dead.[78]
September 5: An explosion at an ammunition store in Turkey has killed 25 soldiers and wounded four others.[79]
September 6: 61 people have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of western Turkey.[80]
September 10: At least 80 police officers were injured after violence erupted during a Kurdish cultural festival in the southwest Germany city of
Mannheim. More than 30 people were arrested.[81]
September 11
Three people were killed and 65 others were critically injured as a Polish bus crashes in the eastern French city of
Mulhouse.[82]
At least 35 people have been injured after two trams collided in
The Hague.[83]
14 Vietnamese migrant workers were killed when a three-story building caught fire in the Russian town of
Yegoryevsk. At least one person was hospitalized with injuries.[85]
Ten people were killed when an An-28 passenger plane crashed in Russia's
Kamchatka Peninsula. Regional authorities announced that another four people were seriously injured in the crash.[citation needed]
September 14: At least four Russian tourists have died and 30 others were injured after their bus overturned in northern
Greece.[citation needed]
September 16
More than 10,000 people manifested on
Chișinău streets on account of the
reunification of Moldova and Romania.[86] Moldovan Prime Minister,
Vlad Filat, announced that he would prohibit any public manifestation regarding the reunification with Romania.[87]
At least ten people, including a child, were killed when a minibus collided with a truck on a highway in the
Stavropol region in southern
Russia.[88]
September 18: More than 20 people died after drinking bootleg spirits tainted with methanol in the Czech region of
Moravia.[90] Czech police have charged 22 people in connection with the case.
September 19: Two people were killed and four others were gravely wounded by a rabid bear in
Southern Carpathians.[91] The local authorities decreed state of alert in the area until its shooting or, eventually, until bears vaccination against rabies.
September 29: At least ten people have died after heavy rains triggered flash floods in southern
Spain.[92]
September 30: 35 people were reportedly injured after a tornado hit a fairground and flattened a ferris wheel in the Spanish
region of Valencia.[93]
October
October 3:
Turkish army launched an artillery strike on
Syria in retaliation for a Syrian mortar attack, which killed at least 5. The
NATO ambassadors called on Syria to immediately end its "aggressive acts" against Turkey after an emergency meeting in
Brussels. Turkey also turned to the
United Nations Security Council, writing a letter asking the highest UN decision-making body to stop Syria's aggression.[94]
October 12: The
European Union has been awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for "the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe".[95][96]
October 22: Six scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter by an Italian court for failing to give adequate warning of an
earthquake that killed more than 300 people in
L'Aquila in 2009.[100]
October 23: Some 150,000 people joined a march protest in the Hungarian capital of
Budapest against Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán.[citation needed]
November 7: At least 100,000 angry Greek protesters clashed with riot police in front of the
Hellenic Parliament, as far as lawmakers voted to approve a
new austerity package needed to unlock vital aid and avert bankruptcy.[101] More than 35 people were detained.[102]
November 9: An Algerian military cargo plane has crashed in southern
France. All six people on board were reported dead.[103]
November 10: 17 soldiers have been killed in a helicopter crash in southeast
Turkey.[citation needed]
November 13
A passenger train has crashed into a railway repair trolley in a tunnel in northern
Montenegro, killing two people and injuring 28 others.[104]
At least four people were reported dead after severe floods hit northern and central
Italy.[105]
November 14: Workers across the
European Union have launched an unprecedented string of strikes in a co-ordinated battle against austerity cuts.[106] The manifestations turned violent in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish capitals, where indignant protesters clashed with riot police.[107]
November 16: 13 people were injured and 12 people have been left homeless after an F3 tornado hit
Algarve,
Portugal.[108]
November 30: Protesters have clashed with riot police in
Slovenia's capital
Ljubljana during a rally against budget cuts and alleged corruption.[115][116] During the clashes, 15 people were injured and 33 arrested.[117]
December
December 5: At least three people were killed and nine others were missing after a
cargo ship with a Ukrainian and Russian crew sank in a
storm off
Istanbul's
Black Sea coast.[118]
December 13: Five workers have been killed and nine others seriously injured in the collapse of a building that was under construction in the Russian city of
Taganrog.[119][120]
July 5:
The Shard, the tallest building in the
European Union and the tallest habitable free-standing structure in the
UK at 309.6 metres (1,016 ft), is officially opened.[132][133]