Events

January

• January 1 – Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
• January 1 – The Czech Republic takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from France.
• January 1 – Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture.
• January 1 – Slovakia adopts the Euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak koruna.
• January 3 – Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as the Gaza War enters its second week.
• January 7 – Russia shuts off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorses the move and urges greater international involvement in the energy dispute.
• January 13 – Ethiopian military forces begin pulling out of Somalia, where they have tried to maintain order for nearly two years.
• January 17 – Israel announces a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza War. It comes into effect the following day, on which Hamas declares a ceasefire of its own.
• January 20 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th, and first African American, President of the United States.
• January 21 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Intermittent air strikes by both sides of the preceding war continue in the weeks to follow.
• January 22 – Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is captured by Rwandan forces after crossing over the border into Rwanda.
• January 26 – The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape.
• January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse; Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.

February

• February 1 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• February 1 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.
• February 7 – The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the highest-ever temperature (46.4°C, 115°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
• February 8 – The Taliban releases a video of Polish geologist Piotr Stańczak, whom they had abducted a few months earlier, being beheaded. It is the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since American journalist Daniel Pearl was executed in 2002.
• February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.
• February 11 – Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe following the power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe signed in September, 2008.
• February 17 – The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next 3 months.
• February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.

March


• March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
• March 3 – Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing eight people and injuring several others.
• March 4 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
• March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
• March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of rallies in Antananarivo. The military appoints opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the new president.

April

Train commuters in Mexico City wearing surgical masks due to the outbreak of swine flu
• April 1 – Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• April 2 – The second G-20 summit, involving state leaders rather than the usual finance ministers, meets in London. Its main focus is an ongoing global financial crisis.
• April 3–4 – The 21st NATO Summit is held, 60 years after the founding of the organization. Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is appointed as the new Secretary General of NATO.
• April 5 – North Korea launches the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of—but no official reaction from—the United Nations Security Council.
• April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500.
• April 7 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
• April 10 – A political crisis begins in Fiji when President Josefa Iloilo suspends the nation's Constitution, dismisses all judges and constitutional appointees and assumes all governance in the country after the Court of Appeal rules that the government of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is illegal.
• April 11–12 – The Fourth East Asia Summit is postponed after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas.
• April 17 – Thirty-four heads of state and government meet in Port of Spain, Trinidad for the 5th Summit of the Americas.
• April 18 – Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, is sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage by an Iranian court. She is released the following month, after an appeals court reduces and suspends her sentence.
• April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.
• April 24 – The World Health Organization expresses concern at the spread of influenza from Mexico and the United States to other countries.International cases and resulting deaths are confirmed.
• April 29 – Amidst Russia's effort to improve relations with NATO and with the West in general, NATO expels two Russian diplomats from NATO headquarters in Brussels over a spy scandal in Estonia. Russia's Foreign Ministry criticises the expulsions.

May

• May 18 – The third C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul.
• May 18 – Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE.
• May 23 – Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun, under investigation for alleged bribery during his presidential term, commits suicide.
• May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.

June

A clash between pro-Zelaya protesters and the Honduran military
• June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
• June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic, becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation.
• June 13 – Following the reelection of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supporters of defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi accuse the government of fraud, and launch a series of sustained protests.
• June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
• June 20 – The death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian student shot during a protest, is captured on what soon becomes a viral video that helps to turn Neda into an international symbol of the civil unrest following the presidential election.
• June 21 – As a step toward total independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland assumes control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources. Greenlandic becomes the official language.
• June 25 – The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief. Online, reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes internet traffic to potentially unprecedented and historic levels.
• June 28 – The Supreme Court of Honduras orders the arrest and exile of President Manuel Zelaya, claiming he was violating the nation's constitution by holding a referendum to stay in power. The United Nations and the Organization of American States condemn the coup d'état.
• June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.

July

• July 1 – Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union.
• July 4 – The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya.
• July 5 – Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
• July 7 – A public memorial service is held for musician Michael Jackson. It is regarded as one of the most prominent funerals of all time.
• July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
• July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.
• July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

August

• August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.
• August 4 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry earlier in the year, after former U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.
• August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.
• August 20 – Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.

September

Leaders of the G-20 countries present at the Pittsburgh Summit
• September 25 – At the G-20 Pittsburgh summit, world leaders announce that the G-20 will assume greater leverage over the world economy, replacing the role of the G-8, in an effort to prevent another financial crisis like that in 2008
• September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana begins to cause record amounts of rainfall in Manila, Philippines, leading to the declaration of a "state of calamity" in 25 provinces.
• September 28 – At least 157 demonstrators are killed in a clash with the Guinean military.
• September 29 – An 8.3-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami near the Samoan Islands. Many communities and harbors in Samoa and American Samoa are destroyed, and at least 189 are killed.
• September 30 – A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes just off the coast of Sumatra, killing around 1,000 in Indonesia.

October

Moment of the announcement of Rio de Janeiro as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics
• October 2 – The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.
• October 2 – Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate, having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held in June 2008.
• October 20 – European astronomers discover 32 exoplanets.

November

• November 3 – The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.
• November 3 – The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council, a position he takes up on 1 December 2009.
• November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.
• November 20 – CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland; they had shut it down on September 19, 2008.
• November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 57 are abducted and killed in an election-related massacre in the province of Maguindanao. This appears to be the deadliest attack on journalists in recent history.
• November 27 – Dubai requests a debt deferment following its massive renovation and development projects, as well as the late 2000s economic crisis. The announcement causes global stock markets to drop.

December

• December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.
• December 7 – December 18 – The UNFCCC's United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ1214b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

Deaths

January

* January 1 – Nizar Rayan, Palestinian military and political leader (born 1959)
* January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (born 1924)
* January 1 – Helen Suzman, South African activist and politician (born 1917)
* January 12 – Claude Berri, French film director (born 1934)
* January 12 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (born 1912)
* January 13 – Patrick McGoohan, American-born British actor (born 1928)
* January 14 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican-born American actor (born 1920)
* January 15 – Said Seyam, Palestinian politician (born 1957)
* January 16 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (born 1917)
* January 20 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria (born 1920)
* January 25 – Mamadou Dia, 1st Prime Minister of Senegal (born 1910)
* January 27 – John Updike, American writer (born 1932)
* January 27 – R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (born 1910)
* January 30 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (born 1932)

February

* February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (born 1921)
* February 9 – Eluana Englaro, Italian patient in right-to-die case (born 1970)
* February 25 – Philip José Farmer, American writer (born 1918)
* February 27 – Manea Mănescu, Romanian Prime Minister (born 1916)

March

* March 2 – João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (born 1939)
* March 14 – Alain Bashung, French singer, songwriter and actor (born 1947)
* March 15 – Ron Silver, American actor and political activist (born 1946)
* March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (born 1963)
* March 20 – Abdellatif Filali, 13th Prime Minister of Morocco (born 1928)
* March 25 – Yukio Endo, Japanese gymnast (born 1937)
* March 28 – Janet Jagan, American-born President of Guyana (born 1920)
* March 29 – Maurice Jarre, French composer and conductor (born 1924)
* March 31 – Raúl Alfonsín, 49th President of Argentina (born 1927)

April

* April 12 – Marilyn Chambers, American pornographic actress (born 1952)
* April 12 – Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, American social theorist (born 1950)
* April 14 – Maurice Druon, French novelist (born 1918)
* April 19 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist (born 1930)
* April 22 – Ken Annakin, English film director (born 1914)
* April 22 – Jack Cardiff, English cinematographer (born 1914)
* April 25 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress (born 1922)
* April 28 – Ekaterina Maximova, Soviet-Russian ballerina (born 1939)

May

* May 2 – Augusto Boal, Brazilian theatre director (born 1931)
* May 2 – Jack Kemp, American politician and football player (born 1935)
* May 4 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (born 1933)
* May 9 – Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (born 1930)
* May 13 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian mountaineer (born 1914)
* May 17 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (born 1920)
* May 18 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan militant (born 1954)
* May 19 – Robert F. Furchgott, American scientist (born 1916)
* May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of South Korea (born 1946)
* May 27 – Clive Granger, British economist (born 1934)
* May 30 – Luís Cabral, 1st President of Guinea-Bissau (born 1931)
* May 30 – Ephraim Katzir, 4th President of Israel (born 1916)
* May 30 – Gaafar Nimeiry, 5th President of the Sudan (born 1930)

June

* June 2 – David Eddings, American author (born 1931)
* June 3 – David Carradine, American actor (born 1936)
* June 3 – Koko Taylor, American musician (born 1928)
* June 6 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
* June 8 – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon (born 1935)
* June 12 – Félix Malloum, 3rd President of Chad (born 1932)
* June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1962)
* June 17 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-British social theorist and politician (born 1929)
* June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (born 1947)
* June 25 – Michael Jackson, American performer and recording artist (born 1958)
* June 30 – Pina Bausch, German choreographer (born 1940)

July

* July 1 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (born 1952)
* July 1 – Karl Malden, American actor (born 1912)
* July 4 – Allen Klein, American businessman (born 1931)
* July 6 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (born 1932)
* July 6 – Robert McNamara, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1916)
* July 17 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician (born 1921)
* July 17 – Walter Cronkite, American newscaster (born 1916)
* July 17 – Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (born 1927)
* July 19 – Frank McCourt, Irish-American author (born 1930)
* July 26 – Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (born 1919)
* July 31 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (born 1933)

August

* August 1 – Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines (born 1933)
* August 5 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter (born 1914)
* August 6 – John Hughes, American film director and writer (born 1950)
* August 6 – Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter (born 1950)
* August 11 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American founder of the Special Olympics (born 1921)
* August 13 – Les Paul, American musician and inventor (born 1915)
* August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, 15th President of South Korea (born 1925)
* August 24 – Toni Sailer, Austrian alpine ski racer (born 1935)
* August 25 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (born 1932)
* August 26 – Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Iraqi politician and theologian (born 1953)
* August 27 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Soviet-Russian author (born 1913)

September

* September 8 – Aage Bohr, Danish physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1922)
* September 11 – Juan Almeida, Cuban revolutionary and politician (born 1927)
* September 11 – Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (born 1958)
* September 12 – Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)
* September 12 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player (born 1921)
* September 14 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (born 1952)
* September 17 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist militant (born 1968)
* September 18 – Irving Kristol, American writer and political commentator (born 1920)
* September 23 – Ertuğrul Osman, 43rd Head of the Ottoman Dynasty (born 1912)
* September 25 – Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (born 1923)
* September 28 – Guillermo Endara, President of Panama, 1989-1994 (born 1936)
* September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1930)

October

* October 2 – Marek Edelman, Polish political and social activist (born 1922)
* October 4 – Shōichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (born 1953)
* October 4 – Günther Rall, German fighter pilot (born 1918)
* October 4 – Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (born 1935)
* October 5 – Israel Gelfand, Soviet-American mathematician (born 1913)
* October 7 – Irving Penn, American photographer (born 1917)
* October 13 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (born 1927)
* October 19 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (born 1918)
* October 30 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist (born 1908)
* October 31 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (born 1911)

November

* November 3 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish novelist (born 1906)
* November 8 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
* November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977)
* November 15 – Patriarch Pavle, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (born 1914)
* November 15 – Pierre Harmel, 39th Prime Minister of Belgium (born 1911)
* November 16 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (born 1978)
* November 20 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer (born 1925)
* November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1926)
* November 24 – Samak Sundaravej, 25th Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1935)
* November 30 – Milorad Pavić, Serbian writer (born 1929)

December

* December 3 – Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (born 1919)
* December 4 – Eddie Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (born 1973)
* December 4 – Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Soviet-Russian actor (born 1928)
* December 5 – Alfred Hrdlicka, Austrian artist (born 1928)
* December 5 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (born 1926)
* December 9 – Gene Barry, American actor (born 1919)
* December 13 – Paul Samuelson, American economist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)
* December 16 – Roy E. Disney, American businessman (born 1930)
* December 16 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician (born 1956)
* December 17 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919)
* December 19 – Hosein-Ali Montazeri, Iranian scholar and human rights activist (born 1922)
* December 19 – Kim Peek, American savant (born 1951)
* December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (born 1977)
* December 21 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biologist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
* December 23 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (born 1910)
* December 24 – Rafael Caldera, 54th and 60th President of Venezuela (born 1916)
* December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia (born 1940)