2009

2009 (MMIX) was .
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.
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 - 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 degC, 115 degF) 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 degC 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, Joao 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'etat, 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 Kwangmyongsong-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 Urumqi, 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.