In 2011, protesters overthrew entrenched autocracies, the US caught its most wanted man, a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, a new country was established in South Sudan, the European Union teetered on the verge of collapse while famine ravaged the horn of Africa and demonstrators mobilised across the globe to slam excesses in the financial industry.

As the year comes to an end, Al Jazeera returns to the biggest stories of 2011.