2019

## January

* January 1
	+ All works published in 1923 except sound recordings (see 2022 scheduled events) enter the public domain in the United States, the first works to do so since the passage of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
	+ Jair Bolsonaro begins his four-year term as President of Brazil.
	+ Unmanned space probe *New Horizons* makes a close approach of the Kuiper belt object (KBO) 486958 Arrokoth at 05:33 UTC.
	+ Qatar withdraws from OPEC.
	+ Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria.
* January 2 – Great Belt Bridge rail accident: A DSB express passenger train is hit by a semi-trailer from a passing cargo train on the western bridge of the Great Belt Fixed Link in Denmark, killing eight people and making it the deadliest rail accident in the country since 1988.
* January 3 – Chinese probe Chang'e 4 becomes the first human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon.
* January 5 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople issues a formal decree granting independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from the Russian Orthodox Church.
* January 6 – Muhammad V of Kelantan abdicates the federal throne as the 15th monarch of Malaysia, making him the first Malaysian monarch to do so.
* January 7 – A faction of the Armed Forces of Gabon announces a coup d'état. Gabon's government later declares that it has reasserted control.
* January 10 – Venezuela enters a constitutional crisis as Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly declare incumbent President Nicolás Maduro "illegitimate" and start the process of attempting to remove him.
* January 15 – Nairobi DusitD2 complex attack: A terrorist attack at an upscale hotel and office complex in Nairobi, Kenya, kills 21 people (including 5 attackers) and injures 28 more.
* January 17 – A vehicle-bound suicide bomb attack in Bogotá, Colombia, kills 22 people and injures 68 others, making it the deadliest attack on the Colombian capital since 2003.
* January 18 – Fuel thieves rupture a pipeline in Tlahuelilpan, Mexico, and a subsequent explosion kills at least 137 people and injures dozens more.
* January 19 – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Tongoy, Coquimbo Region in Chile, causing two deaths and as many as 200,000 people left without power. Despite its moderate magnitude, since it was an intraplate earthquake, it caused some serious damage in La Serena and nearby cities.
* January 21 – 2019 Piper PA-46 Malibu crash: An aircraft carrying new Cardiff City F.C. footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson *en route* from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales, goes missing over the English Channel. Sala's body is recovered on February 7.
* January 23 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Thousands of people protest in favor of disputed interim President Juan Guaidó. Several people are killed, and President Maduro severs diplomatic ties with the United States.
* January 25 – A mine tailings dam breaks in the Brazilian city of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais. At least 248 people are killed, with 22 missing.
* January 27 – Two bombs at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Philippines, kill at least 20 people and leave more than 100 others injured.
* January 28 – The U.S. Justice Department charges Chinese tech firm Huawei with multiple counts of fraud, raising U.S.–China tensions.

## February

* February 1 – U.S. President Donald Trump confirms that the U.S. will leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, citing Russian non-compliance. The next day, Russia follows suit with suspension of its obligations to the treaty.
* February 3 – Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.
* February 5 – The Taliban kills at least 47 people in attacks while Afghan–Taliban peace talks are taking place in Moscow. 12 others are injured.
* February 6 – The Freedom House organization states that Hungary was no longer a free country, making it the first country in the European Union to be labelled as "partly free". It also stated that neighboring Serbia was no longer a free country as well.
* February 7 – 2019 Haitian protests: Anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse begin in several cities across the country.
* February 12 – The Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia, officially ending a decades-old dispute with Greece and paving the way for the former's integration into NATO and the European Union.
* February 13 – A suicide bomb attack on a vehicle kills at least 27 Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran. It is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iran in years.
* February 14 – A suicide bomb attack on a vehicle convoy in Indian-administered Kashmir kills at least 40 Indian security personnel, making it the deadliest attack on India's security personnel in Kashmir in three decades.
* February 20 – A major fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh kills at least 78 people.
* February 21 – SpaceIL launches the *Beresheet* probe, the world's first privately financed mission to the Moon.
* February 23
	+ 2019 Nigerian general election, for the President; all 360 seats in the House of Representatives and all 110 seats in the Senate.
	+ 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: President Maduro severs diplomatic ties with Colombia as humanitarian aid attempts to enter the country across the border.
* February 26–27 – The Indian Air Force launches airstrikes on purported militant camps in Balakot, Pakistan; according to Indian claims, "a very large number of ... terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis" were killed, although Pakistan denied the claims and a number of neutral sources suggest that this was not the case. The following day, Pakistan retaliated, leading to the shooting down of an Indian MiG-21 fighter, whose pilot was repatriated on March 1. The incidents led to the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff.
* February 27 – Ramses Station rail disaster: A train smashes into a barrier inside Ramses Station in Cairo, Egypt, causing an explosion and a fire, killing 25 people and injuring 40 others.
* February 27–28 – The 2019 North Korea–United States summit is held in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is the second summit between United States President Donald Trump and the North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un.

## March

* March 3
	+ An unmanned demonstration flight of the new crew capable version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, intended to carry American astronauts into space, achieves successful autonomous docking with the International Space Station.
	+ The 2019 Estonian parliamentary election takes place, for all 101 seats in the Riigikogu.
* March 5 – A second case of sustained remission from HIV is reported, ten years after the Berlin Patient.
* March 6 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Venezuela expels German ambassador Daniel Kriener for his alleged meddling in internal affairs.
* March 10 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi, crashes shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa killing all 157 people on board. All Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are subsequently grounded worldwide.
* March 12 – Cargo ship *Grande America* sinks after it caught fire on March 10 in the Bay of Biscay, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) west of France, causing a 2,200-tonne oil spill.
* March 13
	+ March 2019 North American blizzard: A winter storm completes its explosive intensification over the Southern Rocky Mountains region, which began the day before, becoming a powerful "bomb cyclone" and triggering severe blizzard conditions across much of the Southwestern and Central United States.
	+ Australian Cardinal George Pell is sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996.
* March 15
	+ 51 people are killed and 50 others injured in terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, both of which were the target of shootings by Australia-born Brenton Harrison Tarrant. It is the deadliest mass shooting and terrorist attack in New Zealand's history and described by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". Subsequently, Facebook announced they had disabled 1.5 million videos of the gunman's rampage.
	+ Cyclone Idai makes landfall on Mozambique, causing at least 1,073 fatalities, as well as causing mass flooding and power outages in southern Africa.
* March 19
	+ Nursultan Nazarbayev resigns as President of Kazakhstan after 29 years in office and appoints Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as acting president. Astana is renamed Nur-Sultan the following day in his honor.
	+ American Karen Uhlenbeck is the first woman to win the Abel Prize for outstanding contributions to mathematics.
* March 20
	+ Europe's antitrust regulators fine Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed against Google by the European Union.
	+ Disney acquires the rights to 21st Century Fox leaving out a few assets to be spun-off to the newly formed Fox Corporation.
* March 21 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui, Jiangsu, China, kills at least 78 people and injures more than 600 others. Its powerful impact registered as an artificial earthquake.
* March 23
	+ The final territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, located in Al-Baghuz Fawqani, Syria, is liberated.
	+ An estimated 400,000 people march in central London in protest against Brexit.
* March 24
	+ The 2019 Thai general election takes place, for all 500 seats in the House of Representatives.
	+ A four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign is published by the U.S. Attorney General William Barr. It concludes that there was no collusion with Russia – the basis of the investigation – but on the issue of obstruction of justice states: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him".
* March 26 – The European Parliament votes by 348 to 278 in favour of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which expands legal liability for websites and includes the controversial Article 13.
* March 31 – Taiwan scrambles its fighter aircraft after two Chinese jets crossed a maritime border between the two nations. Just the day before, Japan had similarly scrambled its jets when the Chinese flew between two Japanese islands, Miyako and Okinawa.

## April

* April 2 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns as President of Algeria amid widespread protests, after nearly two decades in office.
* April 4 – Second Libyan Civil War: The Libyan National Army (LNA) launches a surprise offensive in western Libya, moving units towards the Government of National Accord-held capital Tripoli and capturing Gharyan. The LNA says that the operation, ordered by General Khalifa Haftar, is aimed at "cleansing the western zone from terrorist groups".
* April 9 – The April 2019 Israeli legislative election takes place, for all 120 seats in the Knesset.
* April 10
	+ Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, located in the centre of the M87 galaxy.
	+ Fossil fragments found in the Callao Cave in the Philippines reveal the existence of the *Homo luzonensis* species of humans. The species is named after the island where it was discovered, Luzon.
* April 11
	+ WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London.
	+ Amid mass protests, Omar al-Bashir is deposed as President of Sudan in a coup d'état, after nearly 30 years in office.
	+ The 2019 Indian general election begins, along with elections in six states. Counting takes place on 23 May.
* April 14 – The 2019 Finnish parliamentary election takes place, for all 200 seats in the Parliament.
* April 15 – During Holy Week, a major fire engulfs Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, resulting in the roof and main spire collapsing.
* April 16 – The Howse Peak avalanche kills three noted mountaineers: Austrians Hansjörg Auer and David Lama, and Canadian Jess Roskelley.
* April 17
	+ The 2019 Indonesian general election takes place; for the President, 575 seats in the People's Representative Council, and 136 seats in the Regional Representative Council.
	+ At least 29 people are killed in a bus crash on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
* April 18
	+ The full 448-page report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States Presidential Election (the Mueller Report) is released in redacted form.
	+ NepaliSat-1 is launched. It is Nepal's first ever research satellite to be sent into space.
* April 21
	+ A series of bomb attacks occur at eight locations in Sri Lanka, including three churches, four hotels and one housing complex in Colombo, on Easter Sunday, leaving 259 people dead and over 500 injured. This is the first major terrorist attack in the country since the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in 2009.
	+ Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine in a runoff election. Zelensky previously portrayed a fictional Ukrainian president in the television series *Servant of the People*.
* April 25 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Russia to hold a series of summits with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.
* April 26 – *Avengers: Endgame* is released in theaters, breaking many box-office records, including becoming the highest grossing movie of all time.
* April 28
	+ A general election takes place in Spain, for all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of the 266) seats in the Senate. The PSOE, under Pedro Sánchez, wins the most seats, but not an outright majority.
	+ Victor Vescovo achieves the deepest dive of any human in history, as he reaches Challenger Deep within the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,928 m (35,853 ft).
* April 29 – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization, appears in undated footage released by the group, his first appearance on video since 2014. In the video, he references the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, indicating it was filmed very recently.
* April 30
	+ Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates from his throne, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in almost two centuries. The abdication ends the Heisei era of Japan and ushers in the Reiwa era with new emperor Naruhito ascending the throne on 1 May.
	+ 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Venezuelan opposition leader and disputed interim President Juan Guaidó leads an attempted uprising against President Nicolás Maduro.

## May

* May 1
	+ King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand marries his personal bodyguard Suthida Tidjai – a commoner – in a surprise ceremony, making her queen consort of Thailand.
	+ Russian President Vladimir Putin signs into law a controversial "sovereign internet" bill that allows Russian authorities to better monitor internet routing and to steer Russian internet traffic away from foreign servers. Proponents of the bill say it ensures Russian internet security and decreases dependence on foreign servers while critics argue it gives new censorship powers to the government and is a part of a global trend of cyber-balkanization.
* May 3 – The number of deaths from the Kivu Ebola outbreak exceeds 1,000. It is the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, only surpassed by the Western African Ebola virus epidemic of 2013–2016.
* May 3–6 – May 2019 Gaza–Israel clashes: The Gaza–Israel conflict escalates after the Israeli military launches airstrikes into Gaza killing more than 20 Palestinians including a pregnant woman and a toddler following the injury of two soldiers from Gazan sniper fire.
* May 4–6 – Coronation of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.
* May 5 – Aeroflot Flight 1492 crash-lands and bursts into flames at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, killing 41 of the 78 people on board.
* May 6
	+ In its first report since 2005, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns that biodiversity loss is "accelerating", with over a million species now threatened with extinction; the decline of the natural living world is "unprecedented" and largely a result of human actions, according to the report.
	+ Syrian Civil War: The Syrian Army launches a major ground offensive against one of the last rebel strongholds in the country.
* May 8 – A British teenager, Isabelle Holdaway, 17, is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
* May 10 – Amid ongoing negotiations, the United States' 25 percent tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports takes effect, escalating tensions between the two nations in the ongoing China–United States trade war.
* May 12 – May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident: Four commercial ships, including two Saudi Aramco oil tankers, are damaged near the port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. The United Arab Emirates claims the incident was a "sabotage attack", while an early United States assessment reportedly blames Iran for the attack. The incident occurs during a time of regional tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with the U.S. just weeks prior deploying strategic bombers, a carrier strike group and other military assets to the Persian Gulf following intelligence reports of an alleged plot by Iran to attack U.S. forces in the region.
* May 13
	+ The 2019 Philippine general election takes place, for all 297 seats in the House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Senate.
	+ Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape allegation investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Swedish prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the United Kingdom after he has served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.
* May 14–18 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 takes place in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is won by Dutch entrant Duncan Laurence with the song "Arcade".
* May 17
	+ Taiwan's parliament becomes the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.
	+ Ibiza affair: A corruption scandal involving the Vice-Chancellor of Austria Heinz-Christian Strache and deputy leader of the Freedom Party Johann Gudenus offering to fix state contracts with a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch at a 2017 meeting in Spain leads to the collapse of the coalition government and calls for snap elections.
* May 18 – 2019 Australian federal election: Scott Morrison's Liberal/National Coalition Government is narrowly re-elected, defeating the Labor Party led by Bill Shorten.
* May 19
	+ Eleven people are killed in a shooting at a bar in Belém, Brazil.
	+ China–United States trade war: Google pulls Android update support for Huawei phones, as well as the Google Play Store and Gmail apps, after the Chinese technology company was blacklisted by the United States.
* May 20 – The redefinition of the SI system of measurement adopted by the majority of countries in the world takes effect.
* May 23–26 – The 2019 European Parliament election takes place. The election has a 51 percent voter turnout, the highest since the first direct elections in 1979.
* May 23
	+ 2019 Indian general election: Narendra Modi secures a landslide win, with his party BJP alone gaining 303 of the 543 seats in parliament, and his political alliance winning 353 seats of the 543.
	+ Botswana lifts its five-year prohibition on elephant hunting.
* May 24
	+ British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Conservative leader, effective June 7, 2019.
	+ A prison riot in Acarigua, Venezuela, leaves 29 prisoners dead and 19 guards injured.
* May 26–27 – Amazonas prison massacres: More than 50 prisoners are killed in a series of riots at four different prisons in Amazonas, Brazil.
* May 27 – U.S. President Donald Trump, during an official state visit to Japan, is the first foreign leader to meet with Japanese emperor Naruhito.
* May 29
	+ Former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits is elected the 10th President of Latvia.
	+ Sinking of *Hableány*: The *Hableány*, a sightseeing river cruise ship on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary, collides with another vessel and sinks with two Hungarian crew members and 33 South Korean tourists on board. At least 27 people were killed and one other remains missing.
	+ Less than two months after the April 9 Israeli legislative elections, the Israeli Knesset dissolves itself and votes to hold new elections in September 17, after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to assemble a coalition government within the allotted time.
* May 30 – July 14 – The 2019 Cricket World Cup is held in England and Wales, and is won by England.
* May 30 – South Korean newspaper *The Chosun Ilbo* reports that North Korea executed nuclear envoy Kim Hyok-chol and four other diplomats in March after the failed February Hanoi summit with the United States. The newspaper also reports that Kim Yong-chol, a top aide to Kim Jong-un, was sentenced to hard labor during the purge.

## June

* June 2
	+ Nearly five years after abdication, King Juan Carlos I of Spain retires from public life.
	+ 2019 San Marino referendum: Sammarinese voters vote to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and initiate a popular legislative initiative for the reform of the electoral system.
* June 3 – Khartoum massacre: More than 100 people are killed when Sudanese troops and Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a protest camp outside of a military headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan.
* June 3–5 – U.S. President Donald Trump makes a state visit to the United Kingdom, meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May. It is the first official state visit to the U.K. by a sitting U.S. president since 2011. Trump also attends D-Day commemorative ceremonies.
* June 5–8 – Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a state visit to Russia, where he also attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
* June 5 – The 2019 Danish general election takes place, for all 179 seats in the Folketing.
* June 6
	+ 2018–19 Sudanese protests: The African Union suspends Sudan's membership "with immediate effect" after the Khartoum massacre.
	+ Following results from the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, a new government is formed consisting of 58 percent women.
* June 7 – British Prime Minister Theresa May resigns as leader of the Conservative Party.
* June 7 – July 7 – The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup is held in France and is won by the United States.
* June 9
	+ 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Over 1 million people in Hong Kong protest against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China. It is the largest protest in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.
	+ A large explosive eruption of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia sends a 7,000-meter ash column, generating a pyroclastic flow 3–3.5 kilometers long towards the south and southeast of the mountain.
* June 11 – Botswana decriminalizes homosexuality.
* June 12
	+ The Supreme Court of Ecuador rules in favor of same-sex marriage, making it legal throughout the country.
	+ 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: The Hong Kong government and police controversially declare that the protest has "turned into a riot".
* June 13 – June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident: Two oil tankers are attacked near the Strait of Hormuz while transiting the Gulf of Oman amid heightened tension between Iran and the United States, with the latter blaming the former for the incident.
* June 14 – Jane Goodall, British primatologist, is awarded the *2019 Luxembourg Prize for Outstanding Environmental Peace*.
* June 15 – 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Hong Kong announces it will indefinitely suspend the controversial extradition bill, but protests continue, this time calling for the total withdrawal of the bill and the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
* June 16 – A large-scale power outage hits Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay, affecting nearly 50 million people.
* June 17 – A triple suicide blast kills 30 and injures over 40 in Borno, Nigeria, at a hall where people were watching a football match.
* June 18 – The U.S. sends an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East as tensions build with Iran.
* June 19 – Four men are charged with murdering the 298 passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the airliner shot down while flying over Ukraine in July 2014.
* June 20–21 – Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a state visit to North Korea. It is his first visit to the country as president and the first visit to North Korea by a Chinese leader since Hu Jintao's visit 14 years prior.
* June 20 – June 2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone: Iran shoots down a United States RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz after claiming it violated their airspace. The U.S. claims it was shot down in international airspace in an "unprovoked attack".
* June 22 – 2019 Amhara Region coup d'état attempt: In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen are assassinated.
* June 27 – Angara Airlines Flight 200 overruns the runway during landing and collides with a building, killing the captain and flight engineer, and injuring a further 22 people. 45 people survive the crash at Nizhneangarsk Airport, Russia.
* June 30 – During a trilateral gathering at the Panmunjom Truce Village between South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump, Trump becomes the first sitting U.S. president to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone and enter North Korea. Trump and Kim also agree to restart stalled denuclearization negotiations.

## July

* July – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports, on August 15, that July 2019 was the hottest month on record globally, at 0.95 °C (1.71 °F) above the 20th-century average.
* July 1
	+ Japan resumes commercial whaling after a 30-year moratorium, following its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission.
	+ Japan announces tightening high-tech exports to South Korea, thus begin the trade dispute between the two countries.
	+ The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Iran has breached the limit on its stockpile of enriched uranium.
	+ 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: During the annual July 1 protests that mark the anniversary of the British handover of the city to China, a group of a few hundred protesters stormed the Hong Kong legislature, defacing various portraits and destroying furniture before being dispersed by police using tear gas.
	+ A fire on the Russian deep-diving submarine *Losharik* kills 14 crew members. Submarine commander Denis Dolonsky was among those killed.
* July 2 – A total solar eclipse occurs over South America. It is the 58th solar eclipse from Saros cycle 127.
* July 3 – 2019 Tajoura migrant center airstrike: An airstrike by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army hits the Tajoura Detention Center outside Tripoli, Libya, while hundreds of people are inside the facility, killing at least 53 of them and injures 130 others.
* July 7 – The 2019 Greek legislative election takes place. Leader of the Opposition Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from New Democracy, wins the election and is sworn in Prime Minister as left-wing incumbent Alexis Tsipras falls to second place.
* July 10 – The last Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the line in Puebla, Mexico. The last of 5,961 "Special Edition" cars will be exhibited in a museum.
* July 12 – Asasey Hotel attack: A car bomb and a gun attack kill at least 26 people, including two prominent journalists and nine foreigners, in Kismayo, Somalia. Islamist group al-Shabaab claims responsibility.
* July 13 – Hurricane Barry strikes the Gulf Coast, killing one and causing over $500 million (2019 USD) in damages.
* July 16 – The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen as the new President of the European Commission. Succeeding Jean-Claude Juncker, she will be sworn in on December 1, 2019. She is the first female to be elected to this office in EU history.
* July 17
	+ Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, which became the biggest supplier of drugs to the U.S., is sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.
	+ The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the Kivu Ebola epidemic to be a public health emergency of international concern.
* July 18 – 36 people are killed and more than 30 others injured after an arson attack at an animation company in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the deadliest massacres in the country's history since the end of World War II and the deadliest building fire in the country in 18 years, since the Myojo 56 building fire in 2001.
* July 19 – The Iranian Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captures British tanker *Stena Impero* and temporarily seizes British-operated and Liberian-flagged tanker *Mesdar* in the Persian Gulf. The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warns there will be "serious consequences" if Iran does not release the tanker.
* July 21 – A mob of over 100 suspected triad members dressed in white and armed with batons attack commuters indiscriminately at MTR Yuen Long station in Hong Kong, injuring 45, including a pro-democracy legislator and a pregnant woman. Hong Kong police have been accused of allowing the violence to happen due to their delayed response and decision to limit emergency services in the area. (*The Guardian*) (SCMP)
* July 24 – Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
* July 26 – August 11 – The 2019 Pan American Games are held in Lima, Peru.
* July 30 – India bans triple *talaq*.

## August

* August 1 – Danish polar research institution Polar Portal reports a large spike in Greenland ice loss, with 11 billion tons melted in one day and 197 gigatonnes during the month of July.
* August 2
	+ The United States officially withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty established with Russia in 1987.
	+ 2019 Japan–South Korea trade dispute: Japan announces the removal of South Korea from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on August 28.
* August 3 – A mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, United States, leaves 22 people dead and 24 others injured.
* August 4
	+ 2019 Cairo bombing: A car crashes into three other cars causing an explosion outside the National Cancer Institute Egypt in Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 20 people and injuring 47 others.
	+ 2019 Dayton shooting: Ten people, including the perpetrator, are killed and 27 others injured in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, United States, just 13 hours after the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
* August 5
	+ Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir: India revokes the part of its constitution that gives Indian-administered Kashmir special status in an unprecedented move.
	+ 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Amid ongoing protests, Hong Kong is hit by the first general strikes of their kind since 1967.
* August 7 – The Singapore Convention on Mediation, also known as the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, comes into effect with 46 countries ratifying it. States that have ratified the treaty will have to ensure that international commercial settlement agreements are enforced by their courts.
* August 8 – Nyonoksa radiation accident: Reports indicate that there may have been a nuclear explosion at the Nyonoksa weapons-testing site in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. At least five people were killed and three others injured in the blast, with radiation levels in Severodvinsk, 29 miles (47 km) away from the site, being 20 times above normal levels temporarily.
* August 10
	+ Morogoro tanker explosion: A fuel tanker truck explodes in Morogoro, Tanzania, killing at least 89 people and injuring dozens more.
	+ 32 are killed and 1,000,000 evacuated as Typhoon Lekima makes landfall in Zhejiang, China. Earlier it had caused flooding in the Philippines.
* August 10–25 – 2019 Canary Islands wildfires: A number of forest fires break out in the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote. The fires on the island of Gran Canaria were the most severe, resulting in the loss of large areas of the island's forests and leading to the evacuation of thousands of residents from a number of towns and villages.
* August 11 – 2019 Indian floods: At least 114 people, including 57 in Kerala, 30 in Karnataka and 27 in Maharashtra, are reported to have died in monsoon-related floods in India. At least 227 died across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
* August 12
	+ 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Hong Kong International Airport is closed due to protests.
	+ 2019 Japan–South Korea trade dispute: South Korea announces the removal of Japan from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on September 18.
	+ The Trump administration announces it will delay its proposal for 10 percent tariffs slated to take effect from September 1 on certain consumer goods from China while exempting other products — less than two weeks after Trump announced the new proposed tariffs.
* August 13 – The main yield curve for U.S. Treasury bonds inverts, as the yield rate for 2-year bonds rises higher than the yield rate for 10-year bonds.
* August 14 – The Dow Jones plunges more than 500 points, due to concerns over the yield curve inversion.
* August 15 – The European Central Bank shuts down PNB Banka after ruling it had become insolvent; this bank, previously called Norvik Banka, was Latvia's sixth-largest lender, and was a critic of the Baltic country's financial authorities.
* August 18 – 100 activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after once covering six square miles (15.5 km2).
* August 19 – 2019 Papua protests erupt, mainly across Indonesian Papua, in response to an incident in Surabaya where a group of Papuan students were arrested for alleged disrespect of the Indonesian flag. In Jayapura, Sorong, Fakfak, Timika and Manokwari, protests turned violent, with various private buildings and public facilities being damaged or burned. The protests and unrest were described by Reuters as "the most serious civil unrest in years over perceived racial and ethnic discrimination."
* August 21
	+ 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires: Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reports fires burning in the Amazon rainforest at a record rate, with more than 36,000 in the year to date, while smoke reaches São Paulo more than 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away.
	+ Giuseppe Conte offers his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy in order to avoid a no-confidence motion.
* August 23 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron describe the widespread Amazon fires as an international emergency, urging the matter to be discussed at the weekend's G7 summit.
* August 25 – 2019 Beirut drone crash: According to Lebanese officials, two Israeli drones attack Beirut, Lebanon. One crashed into the roof of the Hezbollah Media Center, about 45 minutes before the second exploded in the air and damaged the building. It was the first such incident between Israel and Lebanon since the 2006 Lebanon War.

## September

* September 1 – Hurricane Dorian makes landfall on The Bahamas, with sustained wind speeds of 185 mph. 43 deaths are reported.
* September 2
	+ Sinking of MV *Conception*: 34 people are killed following a fire and subsequent sinking of a dive boat near Santa Cruz Island, California, United States. It is the worst maritime disaster in California in more than 150 years.
	+ Iranian woman Sahar Khodayari sets herself on fire after being arrested for attending a soccer game in Iran. She dies a week later.
* September 4 – 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces the official withdrawal of the controversial Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, and setting up of an independent study to probe social and economic inequality within the territory.
* September 6 – Chandrayaan-2, India's second lunar probe, was successful to put the orbit in lunar orbit, but the lander *Vikram* crashes into the surface of the moon.
* September 7
	+ Afghan peace process: U.S. President Donald Trump announces he "called off" planned peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David after they claimed responsibility for the September 2 and 5 bombings in Kabul which killed a U.S. soldier, among others.
	+ Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and 66 others are released in a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.
* September 10 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom is prorogued amid unprecedented protests from opposition MPs, who hold up signs in the House of Commons and refuse to back the shutdown.
* September 11 – Astronomers announce the detection of water in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b, the first such discovery for an exoplanet in the habitable zone around a star.
* September 14 – 2019 Abqaiq–Khurais attack: Two Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais, Saudi Arabia, are attacked by drones, resulting in fires. Houthi militants claim responsibility, saying that they used ten drones for the attack. Aramco's oil exports and production are disrupted by five million barrels a day, close to half of the entire Saudi Arabian oil exports.
* September 16 – A gas explosion in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia sets off a fire in a bioweapons plant that houses viruses including smallpox, ebola and anthrax.
* September 17 – Israel holds legislative elections for the second time in 2019, after the 21st Knesset voted to dissolve itself due to Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to cobble a parliamentary coalition.
* September 19 – 30 Afghan nut farmers are killed and 40 injured in a U.S. drone attack in Nangarhar Province.
* September 20 – An international strike and protest led by young people and adults is held three days before the latest UN Climate Summit, to demand action be taken to address the climate crisis. The event is one of the largest climate mobilizations in history.
* September 20 – November 2 – The 2019 Rugby Union World Cup is held in Japan; the South Africa Springboks defeat the England national rugby union team 32–12.
* September 21 – U.S. President Donald Trump approves deployment of several hundred troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates following the September 14 attack on Saudi oil refineries. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran vow to defend themselves.
* September 22 – Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Dorian makes landfall on The Bahamas, the official death toll stands at 52 and 1,300 are reported missing. Rescuers report the widespread stench of rotting bodies in the rubble.
* September 23
	+ One of the largest and oldest travel firms, Thomas Cook, goes bankrupt as last-minute rescue negotiations fail, stranding 600,000 tourists worldwide.
	+ Russia formally adopts the Paris climate agreement.
* September 24
	+ The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously rules that the September 2019 prorogation of Parliament was unlawful and void.
	+ The Supreme Court of Spain unanimously rules in favour of the exhumation of the remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco from the Valle de los Caídos. He was finally exhumed on 24 October, being re-inhumed in a private crypt with his wife.
	+ U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announces the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
* September 27 – 500,000 people march in a climate change protest led by activist Greta Thunberg and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal, Canada. 4,000,000 go on strike around the world.
* September 28
	+ The 2019 Afghan presidential election takes place.
	+ Hurricane Lorenzo becomes the furthest northeast Category 5 hurricane on record.
* September 30 – The Republic of Ireland promises to plant 440 million trees in twenty years to combat climate change.

## October

* October 1
	+ 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China: In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the largest-ever military parade and mass pageant in the history of China takes place in Beijing.
	+ 2019 Hong Kong protests: A protester is shot in the chest with a live round of ammunition and critically injured.
	+ The Nanfang'ao Bridge, the only steel single-arch bridge in Taiwan, collapses, killing six people and injuring more than twenty others.
* October 2 – 25 soldiers are killed and 60 missing following attacks on two army camps in Boulkessi and Mondoro, Mali.
* October 3
	+ Paris police headquarters stabbing: A man stabs five officers at the central police headquarters in Paris, France, killing four of them. The attacker, shot dead by other officers, was an administrative intelligence employee at the station.
	+ The European Court of Justice rules that Facebook must take down a post about Austrian politician Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek. The post originated in Ireland and the court ruled that the post defamed and insulted the politician and must be removed all over the world.
	+ European Commission spokesperson Daniel Rosario threatens retaliatory measures if the United States imposes a US$7.5-billion (approximately €6.8-billion) tariff on products such as olives, whiskey, wine, cheese, yogurt, and airplanes. The tariffs are scheduled to take place on October 18.
* October 4 – 2019 Hong Kong protests: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the Chief Executive in Council invokes the Emergency Regulations Ordinance and banning the face mask in public gatherings with immediate effect.
* October 5 – 2019 Iraqi protests: 91 people are killed by police during a week of demonstrations in Iraq.
* October 6 – The 2019 Portuguese legislative election takes place, for all 230 seats to the Assembly of the Republic.
* October 8
	+ 2019 Ecuadorian protests: The Government of Ecuador, headed by President Lenín Moreno, moves to Guayaquil as the Carondelet Palace in Quito is overtaken by protesters and chaos persists in the capital.
	+ About 200 Extinction Rebellion activists block the gates of Leinster House (parliament) in the Republic of Ireland.
* October 9
	+ 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey announces a military invasion of north-eastern Syria, targeting the SDF and other Kurdish militias.
	+ The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the U.N. Human Rights Office issue a report that says that U.S. bombings in Nimroz and Farah Province, Afghanistan, that killed 39 civilians are unlawful. The U.S. said the attacks were against drug labs that fund the Taliban.
* October 12 – Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, the biggest storm to hit the region in decades, with over seven million people urged to evacuate.
* October 13 – The 2019 Polish parliamentary election takes place, for all 460 seats in the Sejm and all 100 seats in the Senate.
* October 14
	+ Trial of Catalonia independence leaders: The Supreme Court of Spain sentences nine Catalan independence movement leaders to 9 to 13 years of prison for sedition and misuse of public funds. Three others are disqualified for 1 year and 8 months for disobedience. Violent protests erupt across Catalonia.
	+ A *New York Times* investigation reveals that Russian planes have bombed at least 50 hospitals and clinics in opposition-held Idlib, Syria.
* October 17 – Shootouts erupt in Culiacán, Mexico, after the arrest of El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzmán López, on an arrest warrant for drug dealing in the United States. Eight people are killed and 56 convicts escape from prison; 7 are recaptured by October 18. Guzmán López is released in an effort to restore peace and to prevent more bloodshed.
* October 18
	+ NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conduct the first all-female spacewalk outside of the International Space Station.
	+ Riots in Chilean capital city Santiago erupt as civil unrest escalated as a reaction to a series of economic measures and Government's declarations labeled as abuse by protesters
* October 19 – An estimated one million people march through London in a protest organised by People's Vote, to demand a second referendum on Brexit.
* October 20 – 2019 Bolivian general election: Evo Morales defeated his nearest rival by 10%, but after multiple allegations of irregularities the Organization of American States said it had found "clear manipulations" of Bolivia's voting system; Morales called for a new election.
* October 21 – The 2019 Canadian federal election takes place, for all 338 seats in the House of Commons of Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party win a narrow victory to form a minority government.
* October 23
	+ The bodies of 39 people are found in a truck container in Essex, England. A 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland is arrested on suspicion of murder.
	+ Google announces that its 53-qubit "Sycamore" processor has achieved quantum supremacy. IBM disputes the claim.
* October 25 – Tourists visit the summit of Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) for the last time, as a ban on climbing the famous rock in Australia's Northern Territory comes into effect.
* October 26 – The Amazon Catholic bishops synod proposes that married men be ordained as priests, which would reverse the Church's centuries-old discipline of celibacy.
* October 27
	+ U.S. President Donald Trump announces that the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a U.S. special forces operation. It was reported that al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being chased into a tunnel.
	+ The 2019 Argentine general election takes place. Peronist candidate Alberto Fernández is elected President getting 48% of the vote, defeating President Mauricio Macri. Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is elected Vice President.
	+ The 2019 Uruguayan general election takes place.
* October 30
	+ Social media website Twitter bans all political advertising worldwide.
	+ An earthquake of 6.6. Mw rocks the Philippine island of Mindanao two days after an earthquake killed eight and left 12,000 people homeless.
* October 31
	+ A fire destroys much of the 500-year-old Japanese Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
	+ A train catches fire near Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan. The blaze, sparked by gas used by passengers cooking on board, kills at least 74 people.
	+ Heavy rain and flooding leave 3 dead and 200,000 people are homeless in Beledweyne, Somalia. Meanwhile, 29 are dead and 29,000 homeless due to flooding in nearby Kenya.

## November

* November 2 – Pirates take nine crew members from Norwegian ship *MV Bonita*, owned by J. J. Ugland, near Cotonou, Benin.
* November 4
	+ LeBarón family massacre: Nine Americans are killed when Mexican gang members open fire on their vehicles while driving to a wedding about 70 miles (110 km) south of the Mexico–United States border.
	+ Amnesty International alleges that Bangladesh killed 466 people in 2018 under the guise of an anti-drugs campaign in what appears to be a wave of extrajudicial executions.
	+ The United States formally begins process to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
* November 5
	+ 11,000 scientists from around the world publish a study in the journal *BioScience*, warning "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency".
	+ Air pollution in parts of India hits record levels.
* November 6 – 2019 Fada N'gourma attack: At least 37 people are killed and 60 others injured when gunmen attack a Canadian gold mining company convoy on a road in Burkina Faso.
* November 7 – Former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the longest sentence ever handed down by the International Criminal Court.
* November 9
	+ The Supreme Court of India awards a holy site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh to Hindus, rejecting a Muslim claim. The move is likely to spur sectarian disputes.
	+ Cyclone Bulbul kills seven in West Bengal, India and seven in Bangladesh. 2,000,000 people are evacuated.
* November 10
	+ The November 2019 Spanish general election takes place, for all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of the 266) seats in the Senate.
	+ 2019 Bolivian protests: President Evo Morales resigns after calling for a re-vote in the disputed elections.
* November 11
	+ A transit of Mercury occurs.
	+ 2019 Hong Kong protests: A traffic officer shot a youth in Sai Wan Ho during city-wide strike. A man was also set on fire by protesters on the same day.
* November 13
	+ Public impeachment hearings against U.S. President Donald Trump begin in the House of Representatives.
	+ The Chinese University of Hong Kong officially announces a premature end to the semester as a result of large-scale protests and civil unrest. Besides CUHK, several Hong Kong universities switch to online learning and suspend on-campus class. The Education Bureau in Hong Kong officially announces to close all schools in Hong Kong due to the ongoing protests.
* November 14 – Italy declares a state of emergency in Venice following record flooding.
* November 17 – 2019 Hong Kong protests: Police use tear gas and water cannons against protesters who try to break through cordons and reach The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is at the center of a week-long standoff between demonstrators and law enforcement. Protesters fight back with Molotov cocktails, arrows, and bricks.
* November 19 – Google enters the video game market with the launch of Stadia.
* November 21 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
* November 23
	+ An independence referendum begins in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Voters overwhelmingly choose independence.
	+ The last known Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia dies.
* November 24 – 2019 Busy Bee crash: A plane crashes shortly after takeoff in a densely populated area of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 19 people on board and at least 10 more on the ground.
* November 25
	+ The World Meteorological Organization reports that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high of 407.8 parts per million, with "no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline."
	+ IPv4 address exhaustion: The RIPE NCC, which is the official regional Internet registry (RIR) for Europe, officially announces that it has run out of IPv4 addresses.
* November 26
	+ 2019 Albania earthquake: 51 people are killed and around 2,000 others injured in a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Albania. The earthquake is the strongest to hit Albania in more than 40 years, and the world's deadliest earthquake in 2019.
	+ 2019 Chilean protests: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issue reports on Chile's situation denouncing grave human rights violations, including excesive violence use and detention abuses by police forces. Among police brutality acts there are records of police agents firing non-lethal ammunition to protesters' faces against provider's regulations, resulting in more than 200 people with severe eye trauma and more than 50 requiring prosthetic eyes.
* November 27 – The U.S. Government passes the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
* November 30 – 22 people (two civilians, four police officers and 16 drug dealers) are killed in a shootout in Villa Unión, Coahuila, Mexico, the largest such crime in the country's history.
* November 30 – December 11 – The 2019 Southeast Asian Games are held in the Philippines.

## December

* December 2 – Typhoon Kammuri hits the Philippines, causing the evacuation of 200,000 people, but without reports of injuries or serious damage.
* December 2–13 – The 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference takes place in Madrid, Spain, after Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced his country could not host the conference due to political unrest in the country.
* December 5
	+ The 2019 Burundi landslide is reported to have caused at least 26 deaths.
	+ Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi asks the House Judiciary Committee to begin drafting the articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump.
* December 8 – A fire at a factory in Delhi, India, kills 43 people and injures at least 50 others.
* December 9
	+ The World Anti-Doping Agency votes unanimously to ban Russia from international sport for four years for doping offences, meaning it will be excluded from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
	+ A volcano erupts on White Island in New Zealand, killing 19 people and injuring 28.
	+ 2019 Chilean Air Force C-130 crash: A Chilean military transport aircraft crashes while en route to Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva in Antarctica, killing all 38 people onboard. The crash site was located on December 12.
* December 10
	+ Sanna Marin, at the age of 34, becomes the world's youngest serving prime minister after being selected to lead Finland's Social Democratic Party.
	+ Democrats in the United States House of Representatives announce formal charges against President Donald Trump, accusing him of abusing power and "obstructing Congress"; he becomes the fourth U.S. president in history to face impeachment.
	+ The 2019 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year is *they* as a 3rd-person singular form.
* December 11 – The World Trade Organization is left unable to intervene in trade disputes after the U.S. blocks the appointment of new panel members.
* December 12
	+ The 2019 United Kingdom general election takes place for all 650 seats in the House of Commons.
	+ It is announced that Israel will hold an unprecedented third general election in less than a year, due to the apparent inability of any of the major parties to be able to form a decisive governing coalition. The election will take place on March 2, 2020.
* December 16 – Pope Francis abolishes pontifical secrecy in sex abuse cases; the move follows the Vatican's Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church months prior. The Pope also raises the definition of "child pornography" from 14 to 18 years old.
* December 17 – *Shandong*, China's first fully domestically built aircraft carrier, enters naval service.
* December 18
	+ The CHEOPS space telescope, whose mission is to study the formation of extrasolar planets and determine their precise radius, likely density and internal structure, is launched.
	+ The U.S. House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president to be impeached in the nation's history.
* December 19
	+ Libya's Government of National Accord activates a cooperation accord with Turkey, allowing for a potential Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War.
	+ A locust plague devastates 173,000 acres (70,000 hectares) of crop and grazing land in Ethiopia and Somalia.
	+ A court in the Philippines convicts Andal Ampatuan Jr., his brother Zaldy Ampatuan and 31 others including three members of the Ampatuan clan, of 57 counts of murder and sentences them to life imprisonment without parole for their role in the Maguindanao massacre.
* December 20
	+ The United States founds the United States Space Force, a branch of the United States Armed Forces dedicated to space warfare.
	+ The Dutch Supreme Court affirms that the Dutch government is responsible for management of carbon dioxide emissions for the country and is bound to protect human rights. The ruling reiterated from the Court of Appeals is that "every country is responsible for its share" of emissions.
* December 23
	+ Five men are sentenced to death and another three face 24 years in prison for their roles in the murder of dissident journalist and *Washington Post* columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
	+ 28 people are killed and 13 others injured after a bus plunges into a ravine on a winding road in South Sumatra.
* December 24 – Thousands of Muslims protest the December 20 burning of four mosques in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia.
* December 25 – 20 people are killed and thousands are left homeless by Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines.
* December 26 – An annular solar eclipse was visible from South Asia. This was a part of Saros 132.
* December 27
	+ Corporate defaults on corporate bonds in China reach a new record.
	+ At least 12 die in a plane crash in Kazakhstan.
* December 28 – A truck bomb attributed to al-Shabaab kills at least 78 and wounds 125 in Mogadishu, Somalia.
* December 29
	+ A report by the Multi-Sector Epidemic Response Committee (CMRE) indicates that 2,231 people have died so far in the 2018–20 Kivu Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
	+ The Taliban's ruling council agrees to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, opening a door to a peace agreement with the United States.
* December 30 – Chinese authorities announce that He Jiankui, who claimed to have created the world's first genetically edited human babies, has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 3 million yuan (US$430,000) for his genetic research efforts.
* December 31 – Iraqi militiamen and protesters breach the front gate checkpoint of the United States embassy in Baghdad following a U.S. military operation that targeted an Iraqi militia on December 29.