2009: Year

2009 was called the:

• International Year of Astronomy.
• International Year of Natural Fibres.
• International Year of Reconciliation.

2009 was the Chinese Year of Earth Ox based on the 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle.

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 – Slovakia uses the Euro as its money, instead of the Slovak koruna.
• January 3 – Israel invades Gaza with its army.
• January 7 – Russia shuts off all gas to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly supports the move and suggests that international observers be brought into the dispute.
• January 12 – The Electronic System for Travel Authorization becomes necessary for travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries before travel to the United States.
• January 13 – Ethiopian military forces start to go home from Somalia, where they have tried to keep order for nearly two years.
• January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549, crash-lands in the Hudson River near Manhattan. All 155 people leave the airplane safely. The accident happened because the plane hit a flock of Canada Geese.
• January 17 – Israel declares a cease-fire against Hamas, even though Hamas does not. This ends Israel's attacks after 22 days of fighting in Gaza.
• January 20 – Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
• January 26 – The International Criminal Court has its first trial. Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is claimed to have used children to make war.
• January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigns.

February

• February 1 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• February 1 – Johanna Sigurdardottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
• February 2 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has launched its own satellite, "Omid", into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket.
• 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 hottest-ever temperature (46.4 °C, 115 °F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are started by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
• February 9 – Victoria (Australia) hottest day, 48.8 °C at Hopetoun.
• February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.
• 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 25 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary force begin mutinying. Over 80 are killed.

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 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

• April 1 – Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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.

May

• May 4 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, holds peace talks with the Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger.
• May 18 – The third C40 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.\

June

• June 1 – An Air France plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, killing all of the 228 people on board.
• June 12 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran. Over the following weeks, thousands of the opposition's supporters protest the results.
  • The end of analog television broadcast in United States.
• June 25 – Music legend Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles at the age of 50.
• June 28 – Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is ousted in a coup.

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 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
• July 16 – Iceland's parliament votes to pursue joining the EU.
• July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to six minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.

August

• 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 the old U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.

September

• September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines.

October

• October 1 – The Ohio Turnpike gets E-ZPass.
• October 2 – Rio de Janeiro is awarded the 2016 Olympic Games.
• October 9 – Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
• October 22 -- Microsoft release operating system Windows 7.

November

• November 20 – The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland was restarted.
• November 30 – The Large Hadron Collider set a new energy record for a particle accelerator.

December

• December 1 – The EU's Lisbon Treaty enters effect.
• December 25 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack on the USA while aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

• January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (born 1924)
• January 3 – Pat Hingle, American actor (born 1924)
• January 12 – Claude Berri, French movie director (born 1934)
• January 27 – John Updike, American writer (born 1932)
• February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (born 1921)
• March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (born 1963)
• April 25 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress (born 1922)
• May 19 – Robert Furchgott, American scientist (born 1916)
• May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean President (born 1946)
• June 3 – David Carradine, American actor (born 1936)
• June 7 – Kenny Rankin, pop and jazz singer and songwriter
• June 8 – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon (born 1935)
• June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1962)
• June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (born 1947)
• June 25 – Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer (born 1958)
• July 1 – Karl Malden, American actor (born 1912)
• July 17 – Walter Cronkite, American news anchor (born 1916)
• July 19 – Frank McCourt, Irish-American writer (born 1930)
• July 31 – Bobby Robson, English football manager (born 1933)
• August 1 – Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines (born 1933)
• August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean President (born 1924)
• August 25 – Ted Kennedy, US Senator (born 1932)
• September 14 – Patrick Swayze, American actor (born 1952)
• September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut
• October 4 – Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician
• October 31 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (born 1911)
• November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977)
• November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1926)
• December 4 – Eddie Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (born 1973)
• December 5 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (born 1926)
• December 17 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919)
• December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (born 1977)
• December 24 – Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan President (born 1916)
• December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian President (born 1940)