国内英语新闻:Chinese online media unveil top 10 domestic, international news events of 2011

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese media organizations on Thursday unveiled the top 10 domestic and international news events of 2011.

The selection of news events, the eighth of its kind in China, was jointly carried out by 46 major online media providers, including people.com.cn and Xinhuanet.com.

The following are the top 10 domestic news events of 2011:

-- China launched a series of tough government measures to cool off the property market, including higher mortgage rates, a ban on third-home mortgage loans and purchase restrictions. The State Council, or China's Cabinet, introduced a policy package urging enhanced efforts to ensure the healthy development of the property sector and to promote the construction of affordable housing units for low-income families.

-- More than 90 central government departments publicized their 2010 and 2011 spending on government-funded overseas travel, receptions and official cars upon an order issued after an executive meeting of the State Council in May.

-- China's amended Criminal Law criminalized all drunk driving incidents starting May 1. The previous law imposed criminal penalties on drunk drivers only when they caused serious traffic accidents.

-- Food safety scandals erupted in great number in 2011. Authorities busted farmers for adding clenbuterol, a known carcinogen, to pig feed in order to grow leaner pigs.

-- In a speech delivered on July 1 at a ceremony marking the 90th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, hailed the Party's achievements and stressed efforts for the future development of the country and the Party.

-- On July 23, a high-speed train rammed into a stalled train near the city of Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, leaving 40 dead and 191 injured.

-- The launch and safe return of the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft marked the successful completion of China's first space docking mission, with the spacecraft docking with the Tiangong-1 space lab module.

-- A gathering was held on Oct. 9 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of China's 1911 Revolution, which ended 2,000 years of imperial rule in the country by toppling the Qing Dynasty.

-- The 17th Central Committee of the CPC concluded its sixth plenary session in October, adopting a landmark guideline for improving the nation's cultural soft power and promoting Chinese culture. The CPC Central Committee also pledged enhanced efforts to promote the healthy and positive development of Internet culture.

-- Ethics and morality were heavily discussed in the public sphere, with two incidents stoking debate. In July, a woman in east China's city of Hangzhou caught a two-year-old girl who plunged from the window of a 10th-floor apartment, winning praise from people across the country. However, in late August, a bus driver in east China's Jiangsu province stopped to save an old woman who was hit by a three-wheeled vehicle, only to find himself held accountable for the accident.

The following are the top 10 international news events of 2011:

-- Strong turbulence was encountered by several countries in western Asia and northern Africa.

-- On March 11, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck Japan and triggered a huge tsunami, killing over 15,000 people and causing radioactive leaks from several reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

-- On May 1, U.S. Navy commandos killed al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden in a cross-border raid at Abbotabad.

-- On July 10, Rupert Murdoch's News International company closed its News of the World tabloid after it was accused of hacking the mobile phones of dead crime victims to access saved messages.

-- With the world economy staggering under the European and U.S. debt crises, the Occupy Wall Street movement was launched on Sept. 17, protesting corruption and greed in the financial sector.

-- Apple co-founder and longtime Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs passed away in October at the age of 56 after years of fighting pancreatic cancer.

-- On March 19, NATO launched airstrikes in Libya to impose a no-fly zone under a UN Security Council resolution. On Oct. 20, Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed as his hometown of Sirte fell to rebel forces.

-- A report published by the UN Population Fund showed that the world's population reached 7 billion on Oct. 31, 2011.

-- On March 7, U.S. credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit rating of the Greek sovereign debt to B1, marking the start of the European sovereign debt crisis and worsening the economic situation in the eurozone.

-- Kim Jong Il, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), died on Dec. 17, 2011 from "a great mental and physical strain."