January
01 – Slovakia adopts the Euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak Koruna.
01 – A Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer shoots and kills Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, at Fruitvale Station in Oakland, United States. The event becomes one of the inciting incidents for the global ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
01 – 67 people die, and 222 are injured in a nightclub fire at Santika Club in Bangkok, Thailand.
03 – Israeli tanks and troops launch a ground invasion to reoccupy Gaza, Palestine.
03 – The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is launched.
15 – US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger lands Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, New York, shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in an accident that becomes known as the “Miracle on the Hudson”, as all 155 people on board are rescued.
20 – Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the office. Obama wins the largest share of the popular vote won by a Democrat since Lyndon B Johnson in 1964.
21 – Virginia Tech student Zhu Haiyang decapitates fellow student Yang Xin. Zhu is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
26 – The first trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) opens. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage and rape.
31 – At least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, Kenya, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
February
01 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world’s first openly lesbian head of government.
01 – Pittsburgh Steelers beat Arizona Cardinals, 27-23, in Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
03 – Eric Holder becomes the first African American US Attorney General, succeeding Michael Mukasey.
05 – The American guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii, damaging the ship as well as a coral reef.
07 – Bushfires in Victoria, Australia, leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in the country’s history.
12 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes near Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board the aircraft and one person on the ground.
18 – British fantasy author Terry Pratchett receives a knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
25 – Bangladesh Rifles stage a mutiny in Pilkhana, Dhaka, taking over the Border Guards headquarters and killing 57 army officers and 17 civilians.
26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.
26 – Yugoslav Army General Nebojsa Pavkovic is convicted of committing crimes against humanity during the Kosovo War and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
March
02 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
03 – The Sri Lankan cricket team is attacked by terrorists while on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore for their second Test against Pakistan. The match is abandoned.
04 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, becoming the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC.
11 – 17 people are killed in a school shooting in Winnenden, Germany.
17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d’état, following a month of unrest in Antananarivo.
25 – The gay dating site Grindr is launched by Joel Simkhai.
28 – The first cases of H1N1 swine flu in the United States occur in two people in California.
April
01 – Albania and Croatia join NATO.
03 – Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
05 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passes over mainland Japan, which prompts an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council.
06 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing 308 and injuring more than 1,500.
07 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
12 – President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority makes a courtesy phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, restarting the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue.
12 – A US Navy SEAL team rescues Captain Richard Phillips from the hijacked MV Maersk Alabama, killing three Somali pirates and capturing a fourth.
13 – US record producer Phil Spector is found guilty of the second-degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
30 – The United Kingdom formally ends combat operations in Iraq.
30 – A failed attack on the Dutch Royal Family results in seven deaths and 17 injured.
30 – The American Chrysler automobile company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
May
01 – Carol Ann Duffy becomes the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly LGBTQ person to be appointed as British Poet Laureate.
01 – Same-sex marriage is legalised in Sweden.
09 – Jacob Zuma is sworn in as the President of South Africa.
11 – An American soldier opens fire at a counselling centre at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, killing five US soldiers and wounding three others.
16 – The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under Manmohan Singh is returned with an increased mandate in India’s General Election.
16 – Alexander Rybak wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway, singing Fairytale.
17 – The video game Minecraft – the best-selling video game of all time – is first released to the public.
18 – The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending the Sri Lankan Civil War and almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
24 – Manchester United wins 1-0 at Hull City Stadium to win the English Premier League title.
25 – North Korea conducts its second nuclear test.
30 – Chelsea beats Everton, 2-1, in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
June
01 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
05 – At least 32 people are killed in Peru during clashes between the police and indigenous protesters.
08 – The first section of the High Line park, built on an old elevated railway, opens in New York City from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street.
11 – The World Health Organisation declares H1N1 – commonly referred to as “swine flu” – to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years.
12 – Analogue television ends in the United States as part of the digital television transition.
16 – Formation of BRICS economic bloc, comprising Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
19 – British forces begin Operation Panther’s Claw, with 350 troops making an aerial assault on Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan.
21 – Greenland gains self-rule.
22 – Nine people are killed, and 80 people are injured when a Red Line (Washington Metro) train rear-ends another train between Takoma and Fort Totten stations.
25 – Singer Michael Jackson dies of “acute propofol intoxication” in Los Angeles, aged 50. The Los Angeles Medical Examiner concludes that his death was a homicide. He had been administered propofol (an anaesthetic) and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines by his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who is convicted of involuntary manslaughter in November 2011 and released in 2013 after serving two years in prison.
25 – Actress Farrah Fawcett dies of cancer at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She is 62.
29 – A freight train carrying liquefied petroleum gas derails at Viareggio railway station in Lucca, Italy, killing 32 people and injuring 26.
29 – US financier Bernie Madoff is sentenced to 150 years in maximum-security prison for conducting a massive Ponzi scheme.
30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.
July
04 – Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair is shot and killed by his girlfriend in Nashville, Tennessee.
04 – The Statue of Liberty’s crown reopens to the public after eight years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks.
15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908, en route from Tehran, Iran, to Yerevan, Armenia, crashes into the Jannatabad village in Qazvin Province, killing all 168 on board.
17 – Two bombs explode separately at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people (including 2 suicide bombers) and injuring 53.
August
01 – Former President of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino, dies at the age of 76 of cardiopulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer.
04 – Kim Jong-il meets former President Bill Clinton and pardons and releases captured American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were found guilty of entering the country illegally.
07 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 673 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.
08 – A small plane and a tour helicopter collide over the Hudson River in New York.
16 – Track legend Usain Bolt breaks the 100m world record with a staggering time of 9.58 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, cementing his status as a sports icon.
19 – A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565.
28 – Noel Gallagher, the guitarist of British band Oasis, quits the band, citing an inability to be with his brother Liam.
September
05 – The Staffordshire Hoard, the largest Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork hoard ever found with over 4,600 items, is discovered on farmland near Hammerwich, England.
14 – Actor Patrick Swayze dies at his home, 20 months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He is just 57.
16 – Mary Allin Travers – former singer with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary – dies from complications related to a marrow transplant she received as treatment for leukaemia. She is 72.
18 – The final episode of the soap opera The Guiding Light is broadcast, ending a 72-year run on radio and television.
26 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, causing 956 deaths and $6.2 billion in damage.
27 – German federal elections return Angela Merkel for a second term as Chancellor at the head of a centre-right coalition government.
28 – At least 157 demonstrators are massacred by the Guinean military at the Stade du 28 Septembre during a protest against the government that came to power in a coup d’état in 2008.
October
22 – Microsoft releases Windows 7.
22 – Former Uruguayan dictator Gregorio Álvarez is sentenced to 25 years in prison for aggravated murder of 37 Uruguayan dissidents who had fled to Argentina.
24 – A passenger train derails in Giza, Egypt, due to animals on the tracks. 50 people are killed, and 30 people are injured.
25 – Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people.
November
05 – Major Nidal Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist, fatally shoots 13 people and injures more than 30 others in an incident at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. At his court-martial in 2013, Hasan is found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death.
27 – Pro-golf titan Tiger Woods crashes his vehicle outside his Florida home, unleashing a colossal tabloid media feeding frenzy regarding his personal life.
December
10 – US President Barack Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
11 – Angry Birds, a Finnish puzzle video game, is released internationally and becomes a massive global success.
25 – Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo is sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing for “inciting subversion of state power”.
27 – The World Health Organisation says 208 countries, territories and communities have reported H1N1 cases, including at least 12,220 deaths.
28 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, as Shia Muslims observe the Day of Ashura.
Also this year . . .
- Usain Bolt is the World Sportsman of the Year.
- Stefanía Fernández (Venezuela) is crowned Miss Universe.