May 2011: US president Barack Obama and his national security team in the now famous photograph of them watching the mission to kill Osama bin Laden unfold in real time.© Profound Whatever/Flickr/some rights reserved

November 2011: A police officer pepper sprays students at a protest in California sparked a series of online memes, as Xeni Jardin explains. © nolnet/Flickr/some rights reserved

October 2011: Fighting continues in Libya between anti-Gaddafi forces and loyalists, as the rebels mount a massive attack on Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. © yappen all day long/Flickr/some rights reserved