The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has selected the ten most significant events in the world in 2012.

1. The issue of sea and island sovereignty became hot in the East Sea and Northeast Asia .
The territorial and territorial sea sovereignty disputes between China and several Southeast Asian countries in the East Sea as well as those between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands and between Japan and the Republic of Korea over the Takeshima/Dokdo islands raised tension in the region.

2. The crisis in Syria seriously escalated.
The conflict between forces supporting President Basa Al-Assad and the opposition camp in the country seriously escalated, leaving more than 42,000 people dead and forcing over 3 million others to seek refuge. Major countries still saw differences and deep division over the issue while the United Nations failed to give out an effective solution to the crisis.

3. The 18 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) accomplished the transfer of leadership between generations.
The congress took place from November 8-14. Xi Jinping was elected as General Secretary of the CPC and Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission.

4. Vladimir Putin returned to Kremlin Palace
Vladimir Putin won the presidential election on March 4 and again undertook the highest position of Russia while his predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, became Prime Minister. The Russian President put the focus on national unity in national development, building Russia in a modern and comprehensive manner and increasing connectivity efforts in the post-Soviet space.

5. US President Barack Obama was re-elected for a second term.
W ith his triumph over M. Romney of the Republican Party on November 6, US President Barack Obama will stay in the White House for one more term and continue with the foreign policy focusing on adjusting the “rebalancing” strategy towards Asia-Pacific.

6. Myanmar recorded important results in its comprehensive reform.
The reform process in Myanmar saw positive results that were acknowledged by the international community. The parliamentary by-elections in April strengthened the domestic harmony and conciliation and expanded the country’s cooperative ties with other nations and international organisations.

7. Palestine was upgraded to observer state status at the United Nations.
The UN General Assembly on November 29 voted for a resolution to upgrade Palestinian status from "observer entity" to "non-member observer state". This was an important political success of the Palestinian people in their struggle to build an independent state with its own sovereignty in line with the UN resolutions and international law.

8. The European Union (EU) agreed to supervise banks in the Eurozone.
The EU leaders reached a consensus on the establishment of a single supervisory mechanism on the Eurozone banking system in order to restrain the crisis. This event would not only affect Europe’s banking system in the future but also remove some barriers in solving bad debts and providing financial assistance for Greece , the weakest link in the public debt crisis that began in 2009.

9. Higgs boson-like particle was discovered.
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research ( CERN ) discovered a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson. This was an important research achievement paving the way for more detailed research into characteristics of the new particle as well as opening up the possibilities of discovering other mysteries in space.

10. Spain successfully defended the European Football Championship title for the first time.
The Spanish football team came down in history as the first team winning the EURO Championship for two consecutive years and also the first European team securing three consecutive large championships titles, namely EURO 2008, World Cup 2010 and EURO 2012./.VNA