Striking images from the world of business

The world of business went through its share of ups and downs in 2011. It was a year that saw the demise of one of the world's most respected tech wizards, Steve Jobs.

Take a glimpse at the striking images from the world of business in 2011.

Technology and design admirers flocked to Apple stores worldwide to express their sorrow at the death of Steve Jobs, the visionary who transformed the daily lives of millions.

The Apple co-founder who inspired the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad died at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He stepped down as Apple chief executive in August this year.

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A Orthodox priest uses his iPhone before conducting a prayer in Alexandria. The iPhone still reigns as the most sought after smartphone.

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US President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Warren Buffett at the White House in Washington.

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The Occupy movement is an international protest movement against economic and social inequality.

The first Occupy protest to receive wide coverage was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, which began on September 17, 2011.

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A pedestrian passes a shop in Brighton southern England on December 15, 2011.  

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Investors react in front of screens containing stock information at a brokerage house in Huaibei, Anhui province.

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A demonstrator covers her eyes with a mock currency note during a demonstration calling for "Democracia Real , Ya! (Real Democracy, Now!)" in Malaga, southern Spain on May 15, 2011.

Demonstrators from different cities around Spain took part in protests against the ongoing financial crisis, politicians and bankers.

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According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), e-waste is the fastest growing commodity in the waste stream, with a growth rate five times that of other parts of the business such as industrial waste.

The burgeoning middle classes in fast-growth China and India mean there are more computers and mobiles, adding to e-cycling growth.

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The number nine, representing longevity, is considered auspicious in Chinese culture.

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Police in riot gear clashed with protesters in Oakland, firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators lingering in the streets after a day of mostly peaceful rallies against economic inequality and police brutality.

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Astrium is a subsidiary of EADS that designs and builds the Ariane 5 European satellite launcher.

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A shopkeeper looks out for customers from a window of his mask shop in Kathmandu.

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A farmer sells white radish at a wholesale market in Jammu.

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A group of Thais use primitive tools and methods to extract gold from self-run mines near the country's biggest and most modern Chatree gold mine.

A family working at the mine can get around one gram of gold per day which they sell at the site for about 1000 Thai bahts ($32).

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Police cleared out anti-Wall Street protesters from Oakland's City Hall plaza, arresting 32 people but avoiding the sort of clashes that marked a previous attempt to shut down the Occupy Oakland camp.

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New Volkswagen models Golf Cabriolet and Passat are stored at the 'CarTowers' in the theme park 'Autostadt' next to the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg.  

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Men work on the roof of the new concourse at King's Cross station in London. The station which serves the east coast mainline is undergoing a 500 million pounds ($824 million) redevelopment, which is due to be completed by the end of the year.

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Submerged vehicles are seen at the Honda factory in Ayutthaya province. Clean-up work is under way at four industrial estates in Thailand's central Ayutthaya province as water has receded after devastating floods last month, and some factories are already back at work, officials said on Monday.

Honda Motor Co, the hardest hit of the Japanese car firms, said it would take longer for its production to be up and running again.

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A passenger sleeps inside the Alaska Airlines check-in area in Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Achorage, Alaska.

Passengers were left stranded as flights in Anchorage were cancelled to villages in northwest Alaska as an "epic" storm was bearing down on western Alaska, the National Weather Service said, warning that it could be one of the worst on record for the state.

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A woman reads her book at the check-in lines of a Johannesburg-bound Qantas flight at Perth international airport.
Tens of thousands of stranded Qantas Airways passengers are pinning their hopes on a government-appointed tribunal on Sunday ordering an end to the industrial action that grounded the Australian national carrier's entire fleet.

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Greece faces its worst year of recession this year but could be on the way to recovery by 2013, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said.

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A model presents Toyota's concept vehicle Fun-Vii at a pre-Tokyo Motor show reception in a showroom in Tokyo.

The whole body of the concept car can be used as a display space, with the body color and display content changeable at will, and allows the vehicle to function as a terminal for displaying messages or other information, the company said.

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Shoppers pay for their purchases at an Old Navy store as "Black Friday" shoppers get an early start at the Citadel outlet stores on Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, California November 24, 2011.

Bargain hunters flocked to US stores late Thursday and overnight Friday, searching for deals while fretting about their own shaky economic well-being.

Some stores, looking to grab as big a piece as possible of what is expected to be a middling holiday shopping season, pushed post-Thanksgiving openings into Thursday evening or opened at midnight for the first time in years, getting a jump start on 'Black Friday', the traditional beginning to the US holiday shopping season.

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A high speed bullet train runs past a railway bridge past carriage wreckage (below) after two trains crashed and derailed in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province July 25, 2011.

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All Nippon Airways (ANA) President and Chief Executive Shinichiro Ito holds a bouquet of flowers as he waves with passengers, ANA employees and officials before boarding a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at Narita airport in Narita, east of Tokyo.

The Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner takes its first paying passengers aloft on Wednesday, showing off a carbon-composite design its maker says is lighter, more economical to fly and more comfortable than its metal rivals currently plying the airways.

The special charter flight by the twin-engined jet from Tokyo to Hong Kong comes after years of delays as Boeing engineers had to deal with glitches and parts delays, leaving some $16 billion of inventory at Boeing's plants.

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Margery Gunter, who turns 87 later this month and is almost completely deaf, stands at the door of her home in Immokalee, Florida.

America's leading mortgage lenders vowed in March to end the dubious foreclosure practices that caused a bruising scandal last year. But a Reuters investigation finds that many are still taking the same shortcuts they promised to shun, from sketchy paperwork to the use of "robo-signers."

In its effort to seize the two-bedroom ranch house of 87-year-old Margery Gunter in this down-on-its-luck Florida town, OneWest Bank recently filed a court document that appears riddled with discrepancies.

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Fake foreign brand handbags are displayed inside a store at Baiyun World Leather Market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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Activists demonstrate near Wall Street in protest of the massive budget cuts being proposed in the debt-ceiling talks in New York.

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A dealer reacts on the trading floor of IG Index in the City of London August 11, 2011.

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A Paris Autolib' electric car is parked near the Eiffel tower during a presentation ride in Paris on December 2, 2011.

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