| January 1 | Czech Republic assumes EU presidency |
| January 1 | Slovakia replaces its national currency, the Slovak koruna, with the Euro |
| January 3 | Israel launches an invasion of the Gaza strip |
| January 7 | Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, endorses Russia's decision to turn off gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine |
| January 13 | After two years of trying to maintain order, Ethiopian military forces start pulling out of Somalia |
| January 15 | U.S. Airways plane ditches in the Hudson River - all 155 passengers survive |
| January 17 | Israel declares a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza War, effective January 18, as Hamas declares a ceasefire of its own |
| January 20 | Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States |
| February 1 | The Russian Orthodox Church enthrones Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow as Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church |
| February 2 | Iran launches first domestically made satellite, Omid, into orbit |
| February 7 | Melbourne, Australia records highest-ever temperature, sparking the deadliest brushfires in Australian history |
| February 10 | A large amount of space debris is created when a Russan and American satellite collide over Siberia |
| February 11 | Morgan Tsvangirai becomes Prime Minister of Zimbabwe after agreeing to share power with President Robert Mugabe |
| February 26 | Former Serbian President Milan Mulutinovic is acquitted of war crimes during the Kosovo War |
| March 2 | Joao Bernardo Vierira, President of Guinea-Bissau is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau |
| March 4 | An arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is issued for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur |
| March 4 | Eight people are killed, several injured, after gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketeers in Lahore, Pakistan |
| March 17 | Marc Ravalomanana, President of Madagascar, is overthrown. New President, Andry Rajoelina, is appointed by the military |
| March 27 | At least 99 people are killed after flash flooding and the failure of the Situ Gintung dam in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia |
| April 2 | At the 21st NATO Summit, new Secretary General, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is appointed |
| April 6 | Nearly 300 people are killed and 1,500 injured near L'Aquila, Italy, after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes |
| April 7 | Former President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, receives 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces |
| April 17 | The 5th Summit of the Americas takes place in Port of Spain, Trinidad, thirty-four heads of government attend |
| April 24 | Concern about spreading influenza from Mexico and the United States to other countries is expressed by the WHO |
| May 4 | Peace talks witht he Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger are held by the President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou |
| May 9 | A large column of advancing rebels are defeated by Chadian forces |
| May 18 | The C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group meets for the third time in Seoul |
| May 23 | Under investigation for bribery during his Presidency, former President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, commits suicide |
| May 25 | North Korea announces a successful nuclear test in North Hamgyong, the U.N. Security Council condems the test |
| June 1 | En route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic ocean, killing all 228 on board |
| June 11 | The "swine flu", the H1N1 influenza strain is the first condition deemed a global pandemic since the Hong Kong flu of 1967 - 1968 |
| June 18 | The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS is launched by NASA to probe the Moon |
| June 25 | Internet traffic reaches unprecedented levels after entertainer Michael Jackson's death triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief |
| June 30 | One person out of 183 passengers and crew survives the crash of Yemenia Flight 626 off the coast of Moroni, Comoros |
| July 1 | Sweden takes over the presidency of the European Union |
| July 15 | Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, all 168 on board are killed |
| July 16 | The parliament of Iceland votes to pursue joining the European Union |
| July 22 | A solar eclipse, the longest in history, lasts up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean |
| July 25 | Dozens are killed and injured when wildfires spread across France, Spain, Sardinia and Greece |
| August 1 | Buddhist Treasures buried during the 1930's Mongolian Communist Purge, were discovered in the Gobi desert |
| August 2 | Two previously unknown works by Mozart - a concerto movement and a prelude, are performed in Salzburg, Austria |
| August 4 | Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has 4,000 prisoners death sentences commuted to life imprisonment |
| August 5 | The engine on an airbus A320 plane catches fire at Paris-Orly airport, eight people are injured |
| August 6 | A crowd of 50,000 people participate in a memorial service at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park |
| August 9 | Typhoon Morakat approaches southeastern China, over one million people are evacuated |
| August 11 | A new species of a giant carnivorous plant, Nepethes attenboroughii, is discovered in the central Phillipines highlands |
| August 14 | More than 2,000 people found in Poland's largest mass grave during World War II are reburied in a military cemetary |
| August 19 | U.S. Army officer William Calley publicly apologizes for the mass killings in the Vietnamese community of My Lai |
| August 22 | Fearing that turkeys contracted swine flu from humans, two turkey farms in Valparaiso, Chile are quarantined |
| September 1 | Phillipine police arrest a new terror suspect one week after the head of the militant Rajah Solaiman Movement is captured |
| September 2 | A bomb explodes outside of Athens' stock exchange, damaging the building and a female passer-by |
| September 4 | North Korea claims it has entered the final phase of uranium enrichment, tells the United Nations it is open to dialogue |
| September 9 | President Obama promises the will 'get something done this year' on healthcare reform |
| September 11 | Inmates at Iraq's notoriuous Abu Grraib prison start a fire and clash with guards during two days of unrest |
| September 16 | An Australian navy ship intercepts a boat carrying 60 suspected asylum seekers |
| September 19 | Panic ensues when an earthquake strikes off the Bali coast in Indonesia, causing few injuries and little material damage |
| September 23 | A gun battle between U.S. agents and suspected people smugglers shuts down San Ysidro U.S. Mexico border crossing |
| September 26 | Two mass graves relating to Columbia's long fight with the Farc, were found in northwest and south Columbia |
| October 2 | The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro |
| October 5 | A train travelling through heavy rain in Hua Hin in southern Thailand, is derailed, killing serval people and injuring dozens |
| October 14 | A new kind of flying reptile fossil, Darwinopterus, lived over 160 million years ago, is found in China |
| October 14 | U.S. Senate Committee passes healthcare reform bill, hailed as a 'critical milestone' by President Obama |
| October 15 | Six people sentenced to death over ethnic rioting in July that killed almost 200 in the region of Xinjiang |
| October 18 | A Sri Lankan migrant ship seized off of Canada's Pacific Coast, carried 76 suspected Sri Lankan immigrants |
| October 20 | European astronomers discover 32 extrasolar planets, or exoplanets - planets that orbit a star other than the Sun |
| October 24 | A magnitude 7.0 quake strikes off the coast of Indonesia, setting off a tsunami alert which is then withdrawn |
| October 26 | U.S. Scientists believe to have discovered an antibody that can miminize internal bleeding in trauma victims |
| October 29 | Oil giant Dutch Shell warns its outlook remains uncertain after reporting its quarterly profit fell by 73% |
| October 31 | Margarito Montes, a prominent union leader, is found among fifteen people killed on a ranch in northern Mexico |
| November 1 | U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urges Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume as soon as possible |
| November 6 | U.S. Commerce Department imposes high anti-dumping tariffs up to 99% on imports of Chinese tubular goods |
| November 7 | Eight Eastern Europeans are accused of stealing $9 million in a huge computer payroll scam |
| November 9 | President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, urges his armed forces to prepare for a possible war with Columbia |
| November 14 | Slovenia agrees to allow Russia's South Stream gas pipeline to Europe pass through their country |
| November 15 | Kosovo holds its first local election since declaring independence from Serbia |
| November 18 | The 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index reports declares Somalia the most corrupt, New Zealand is least corrupt, among 180 countries |
| November 20 | An ethnic conflict over fishing rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills 100 people, displaces 50,000 |
| November 25 | A Pakistan court charges seven suspects involved in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai |
| November 29 | Pirates from Somalia capture the Maran Centaurus, a Greek-owned oil tanker, off the coast of Somalia |
| December 1 | For the first time in 17 years, North Korea raises the value of its currency |
| December 4 | 20 people are killed in a fire at a nightclub in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, Indonesia |
| December 5 | Tens of thousands in Rome, Italy, participate in a demonstration demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Burlusconi |
| December 7 | The United Nations opens its Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen |
| December 8 | At a ceremony in eastern Shan State, Burma, authorities burn $93 million in seized narcotic drugs |
| December 12 | Cuban and Venezuelan leaders sign over $3.2 billion worth of trade and cooperation agreements |
| December 13 | Italian Prime Minister Silvio Burlusconi is knocked to the ground and hit in the face after a political rally in Milan, Italy |
| December 15 | U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish hosts urged countries to agree on a new U. N. pact aimed at averting climate change and global warming |
| December 18 | 30,000 Phillipine people remain in temporary shelter as scientists predict the Mount Mayon volcano will erupt in the coming weeks |
| December 20 | Nearly 100 people are killed by a runaway truck at a market in Kogi State, Nigeria |
BrainyHistory
