Years of events - for those who can see it through the years from Year 2000 onwards

Year 2008 continues...

July 2 – Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces.
July 7 – A suicide-bomber drives an explosives-laden automobile into the front gates of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 58 and injuring over 150.
July 7–July 9 – The 34th G8 summit is held in Tōyako, Hokkaidō, Japan.
July 10 – Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges, by a UN Tribunal accusing him of war crimes.
July 15–July 20 – World Youth Day takes place in Sydney, Australia. Pope Benedict XVI appears at the event.[56]
July 21 – Radovan Karadžić, the first president of the Republika Srpska, is arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on allegations of war crimes, following a 12-year-long manhunt.[57]
July 22 – The United Progressive Alliance-led government in India survives a crucial no-confidence vote, based on disagreements between the Indian National Congress and Left Front, over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
July 23 – Ram Baran Yadav is sworn in as the first President of Nepal.[58]
July 25 – A series of seven bomb blasts rock Bangalore, India, killing two and injuring 20; the next day, a series of bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, kills 45 and injures over 160 people.
July 27 – At least 17 are killed and over 154 wounded in 2 blasts in Istanbul.
July 28 – At least 48 are dead and over 287 injured after bombs explode in Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq.[59][60]
[edit]August
August 1
A total eclipse of the Sun is visible from Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China.[61]
George Tupou V is crowned as the new King of Tonga, an event that had been delayed for over two years following the 2006 Nuku'alofa riots.[62]
August 3 – A stampede at a Hindu temple at Naina Devi in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, India, kills 162 and injures 400.
August 4 – Two members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which had threatened to attack the Beijing Olympics, kill 16 and injure another 16 officers at a police station in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China.[63][64]
August 6 – President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi of Mauritania is deposed in a military coup d'état.
August 7 – The 2008 South Ossetia war begins, as Georgia and Russia launch a major offensive inside the separatist region of South Ossetia after days of border skirmishes between the two sides.
August 8–August 24 – The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China.[65]
August 10 – A propane facility explodes in Toronto overnight and causes a large-scale evacuation, resulting in 2 deaths.
August 15 – Pushpa Kamal Dahal (known as Prachanda) is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, after the Nepalese monarchy was abolished in May.[66]
August 17 – Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning eight.[67]
August 18 – Pervez Musharraf resigns as President of Pakistan, under impeachment pressure from the coalition government.[68]
August 19
Taliban insurgents kill 10 and injure 21 French soldiers in an ambush in Afghanistan.[69]
A suicide bomber rams a car into an Algerian military academy, killing 43 and injuring 45.[70]
August 20 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport with 172 on board. Of them, 154 die and 18 survive.[71]
August 21 – At least 60 die following twin suicide bombings outside the Pakistan Ordnance Factories in Wah, Pakistan.
August 22 – Pirates hijack German, Iranian, and Japanese cargo ships off the coast of Somalia, in seven such attacks since June 20.[72]
August 24
An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10, including four Americans on a humanitarian mission.[73]
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes upon takeoff near Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68.[74]
August 26 – Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[75]
August 26–September 1 – Hurricane Gustav makes landfall on Louisiana as Category 2 and kills seven in the United States, after making landfall on western Cuba as Category 4, and killing 66 in Haiti, eight in the Dominican Republic, and 11 in Jamaica.[76][77]
August 28–September 7 – Hurricane Hanna kills seven in the United States, and 529 in Haiti, mostly due to deluges and mudslides.[78]
[edit]September


The CMS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider
September 1–September 14 – Hurricane Ike makes landfall on Texas as Category 2 and kills 27 in the United States, after killing four in Cuba, one in the Dominican Republic, and 75 in Haiti.[79][80]
September 2 – Political crisis in Thailand: Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand declares a state of emergency in Bangkok.[81]
September 3
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan survives an assassination attempt near Islamabad, while on his way to meet British Leader of the Opposition David Cameron.
President's Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat hold peace talks in Nicosia, aimed at reunifying Cyprus.[82][83]
September 6 – At least eight boulders dislodge from a cliff near Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 90 and burying an estimated 500 people.[84]
September 9 – Political crisis in Thailand: The Constitutional Court of Thailand orders Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign, after he is paid for appearing on a television cooking show.[85]
September 10
The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.[86][87]
The 2008 Bandar Abbas earthquake strikes southern Iran, killing 7 and injuring 45 people.[88]
September 12 – A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130.[89]
September 14
Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm, Russia, killing all 88 on board.[90]
Churches are attacked in Mangalore and southern Karnataka, India, leading to Christian protests and strong police suppression.[91]
September 15
Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, laying the catalyst for the Global financial crisis.
September 17 – The International Astronomical Union classifies Haumea as the 5th dwarf planet in the Solar System.[92]
September 19–September 25 – Typhoon Hagupit kills 17 in China, eight in the Philippines, one in Taiwan, and 41 in Vietnam.[93]
September 20 – A suicide truck bomb explosion destroys the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 60 and injuring 266.[94][95][96]
September 25 – Shenzhou 7, the third manned Chinese spaceflight and the first with three crew members, is successfully launched. China becomes the third country ever to conduct a spacewalk.[97]
September 28 – SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes the world's first privately developed space launch vehicle to successfully make orbit.[98][99]
September 29 – The DOW loses 777 points, the biggest one-day point decline ever. The drop came after the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bank bailout plan.
September 30 – A Jodhpur temple stampede in western India kills over 224 people, and injures 400.[100][101]
[edit]October
October 3 – Global financial crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.[102]
October 6
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second of three flybys of Mercury, decreasing the velocity for orbital insertion on March 18, 2011.[103][104]
An earthquake measuring 6.6 magnitude kills at least 65 in Kyrgyzstan.[105]
Symantec acquired PC Tools for $262,000,000.[106]
October 7
Global financial crisis: Russia agrees to provide Iceland with a four-billion-euro loan.[107][108]
The meteoroid 2008 TC3 impacts Earth, becoming the first such object to be discovered prior to impact.[109]
October 9 – Global financial crisis: Following a major banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of the three largest banks in the country: Kaupthing Bank,[110][111] Landsbanki,[112][113] and Glitnir.[114][115]
October 12 – Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup win the 2008 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for Ford and Triple 8.
October 14 – Canadian federal election, 2008: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is re-elected with a stronger minority government.
October 17 – The United Nations General Assembly elects Turkey, Austria, Japan, Uganda, and Mexico to two-year terms on the Security Council.[116]
October 21 – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.[117][118][119][120]
October 22 – The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft on a lunar exploration mission.[121][122]
October 29
Global financial crisis: Hungary's currency and stock markets rise on the news that it will receive an international economic bailout package worth $25 billion from the IMF, European Union, and World Bank.[123]
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, forming the world's largest commercial carrier.[124]

Year 2008 continues...

November
November 4 – United States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States, and becomes the first African-American President-elect.[125][126][127]
November 6 – King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan is crowned, having ascended to the throne in 2006.[128]
November 7 – The 2008 Pétionville school collapse kills at least 92 in Pétionville, Haiti.
November 8 – An accident aboard Russian submarine K-152 Nerpa kills 20.
November 11 – The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her last voyage from Southampton, UK to Dubai, UAE. She will become a floating hotel at Palm Jumeirah.[129][130]
November 14 – STS-126: The Space Shuttle Endeavour uses the MPLM Leonardo to deliver experiment and storage racks to the International Space Station. There will be only three more launches of Space Shuttle Endeavour after this mission.[131]
November 19 – Claudia Castillo of Spain becomes the first person to have a successful trachea transplant using a tissue-engineered organ.[132]
November 20 – The 2008 Prairie meteoroid falls over Canada.
November 22–November 23 – The APEC Peru 2008 Summit is held in Lima.
November 24 – The 2008 Santa Catarina floods in Santa Catarina, Brazil, kill 126 and force the evacuation of over 78,000 people.
November 25
Greenland holds a referendum for increased autonomy from Denmark. The vote is over 75% in favour.[133]
Political crisis in Thailand: Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy party storm into Suvarnabhumi Airport and block flights from taking off. More protesters seize control of Don Mueang Airport the following day.
A car bomb in St. Petersburg, Russia, kills three people and injures one.
November 26 – November 29 – A series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India by Pakistan-based Islamic militants who lay siege over a hotel for 2 days, results in 195 casualties, and over 250 injured.
November 27 – The longest serving Ocean Liner in history, QE2 is retired from service.
November 29 – Riots in Jos, Nigeria, kill 381, and injure at least 300.
[edit]December
December 1 – A triangular conjunction formed by a new Moon, Venus and Jupiter is a prominent sight in the evening sky.[134]
December 2 – Political crisis in Thailand: After weeks of opposition-led protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolves the governing People's Power Party and two coalition member parties, and bans leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, from politics for five years. As such, Wongsawat promptly resigns and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul as caretaker Prime Minister.[135]
December 3 – The Convention on Cluster Munitions opens for signature in Oslo.[53]
December 4 – Political crisis in Canada: Governor General Michaëlle Jean grants the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament until January 26, 2009, averting a motion of no-confidence by the new opposition coalition led by the Leader of the Opposition Stéphane Dion, and the New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe as a coalition partner.[136]
December 5 – Human remains found in 1991 are identified as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, using DNA analysis.[137]
December 6 – Riots spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by a special guard of the Greek Police.[138]
December 7 – Jamie Whincup wins the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship series for Ford and Triple 8 Racing.
December 10 – The Channel Island of Sark, a British Crown Dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism.[139]
December 11 - Bernard Madoff is arrested by U.S. federal authorities on charges of running a massive decades-long Ponzi scheme swindling thousands of investors - the largest financial fraud in history.
December 12
Switzerland becomes the 25th European country to join the Schengen Agreement, whereby cross-border passport checks will be abolished.[140]
The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's other full moons. The next time these two events coincide will be in 2016.[141]
December 16 – Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru.
December 18 – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicts Théoneste Bagosora and two other senior Rwandan army officers of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences them to life imprisonment.[142]
December 21 – Gwadar Port, Pakistan, becomes fully operational.[143]
December 23 – A military coup d'état is announced in Guinea shortly after the death of long-time President Lansana Conté.[144]


Israeli F-16i of the 107th Squadron preparing for take-off, December 2008
December 27 – Israel initiates "Operation Cast Lead" in the Gaza Strip after launching an extensive wave of airstrikes[145] against military targets, police stations and government buildings within the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire[146] from and arms import into the territory.[147][148] As a result, Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against Southern Israel, reaching the major cities of Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time.[149][150][151]
December 29 – Bangladesh holds its general elections after two years of political unrest over the interim government.[152]
December 31 – An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005.

Year 2009

January


2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
January 1
Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture.
Slovakia adopts the euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak koruna.[4]
January 3 – Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as the Gaza War enters its second week.[5]
January 7 – Russia shuts off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorses the move and urges greater international involvement in the energy dispute.[6]
January 13 – Ethiopian military forces begin pulling out of Somalia, where they have tried to maintain order for nearly two years.[7]
January 17 – Israel announces a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza War. It comes into effect the following day,[8] on which Hamas declares a ceasefire of its own.[9][10][11]
January 21 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.[12] Intermittent air strikes by both sides of the preceding war continue in the weeks to follow.[13][14][15]
January 22 – Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is captured by Rwandan forces after crossing over the border into Rwanda.[16]
January 26
The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape.[17]
The Icelandic government and banking system collapse; Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.[18]
February
February 1
Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.[19]
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.[20]
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 highest-ever temperature (46.4°C, 115°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
February 8 – The Taliban releases a video of Polish geologist Piotr Stańczak, whom they had abducted a few months earlier, being beheaded. It is the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since American journalist Daniel Pearl was executed in 2002.[21]
February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.[22]
February 11 – Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe following the power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe signed in September 2008.[23]
February 17 – The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next three months.[24]
February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.[25]
March
March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.[26]
March 3 – Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing eight people and injuring several others.[27]
March 4 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.[28]
March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
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.[29]
April


Train commuters in Mexico City wearing surgical masks due to the outbreak of swine flu
April 1 – Albania and Croatia are admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
April 2 – The second G-20 summit, involving state leaders rather than the usual finance ministers, meets in London. Its main focus is an ongoing global financial crisis.
April 3–April 4 – The 21st NATO Summit is held, 60 years after the founding of the organization. Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is appointed as the new Secretary General of 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.[30]
April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500.[31]
April 7 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
April 10 – A political crisis begins in Fiji when President Josefa Iloilo suspends the nation's Constitution, dismisses all judges and constitutional appointees and assumes all governance in the country after the Court of Appeal rules that the government of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is illegal.[32]
April 11–April 12 – The Fourth East Asia Summit is postponed after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas.[33][34]
April 12 – U.S. Navy rescues Captain Richard Phillips killing three pirates, and capturing a fourth.
April 17 – Thirty-four heads of state and government meet in Port of Spain, Trinidad for the 5th Summit of the Americas.
April 18 – Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, is sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage by an Iranian court.[35] She is released the following month, after an appeals court reduces and suspends her sentence.
April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.[36]
April 24 – The World Health Organization expresses concern at the spread of influenza from Mexico and the United States to other countries.[37][38][39] International cases and resulting deaths are confirmed.
April 29 – Amidst Russia's effort to improve relations with NATO and with the West in general, NATO expels two Russian diplomats from NATO headquarters in Brussels over a spy scandal in Estonia. Russia's Foreign Ministry criticises the expulsions.[40]
May
May 18
The third C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul.
Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE.[41][42]
May 19 – Sri Lanka announces victory in its 27 year war against the terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
May 23 – Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun, under investigation for alleged bribery during his presidential term, commits suicide.[43]
May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.[44]
June


A clash between pro-Zelaya protesters and the Honduran military
June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic,[45] becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation.
June 13 – Following the apparent reelection of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supporters of defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi accuse the government of fraud, and launch a series of sustained protests.[46]
June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
June 20 – The death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian student shot during a protest, is captured on what soon becomes a viral video that helps to turn Neda into an international symbol of the civil unrest following the presidential election.
June 21 – As a step toward total independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland assumes control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources. Greenlandic becomes the official language.[47]
June 25 – The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief. Online, reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes internet traffic to potentially unprecedented and historic levels.[48][49][50][51]
June 28 – The Supreme Court of Honduras orders the arrest and exile of President Manuel Zelaya, claiming he was violating the nation's constitution by holding a referendum to stay in power.[52] The ouster is condemned by the United Nations, the Organization of American States,[53] and multiple nations around the world.
June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.[54]

Year 2009 continues...


July
July 4 – The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya.[55][56]
July 5 – Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
July 7 – A public memorial service is held for musician Michael Jackson. It is regarded as one of the most prominent funerals of all time.[57][58][59]
July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.[60]
July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
August
August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.[61]
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 former U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.[62]
August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.[63]
August 20 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.[64]
September


Leaders of the G-20 countries present at the Pittsburgh Summit
September 25 – At the G-20 Pittsburgh summit, world leaders announce that the G-20 will assume greater leverage over the world economy, replacing the role of the G-8, in an effort to prevent another financial crisis like that in 2008.[65]
September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana begins to cause record amounts of rainfall in Manila, Philippines, leading to the declaration of a "state of calamity" in 25 provinces.[66]
September 28 – At least 157 demonstrators are killed in a clash with the Guinean military.
September 29 – An 8.3-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami near the Samoan Islands. Many communities and harbors in Samoa and American Samoa are destroyed, and at least 189 are killed.
September 30 – A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes just off the coast of Sumatra, killing around 1,000 in Indonesia.[67]
October


Moment of the announcement of Rio de Janeiro as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics
October 1 – Paleontologists announce the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest remains of a human ancestor yet found.[68]
October 2
The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.
Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate,[69][70][71][72][73] having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held in June 2008.
October 20 – European astronomers discover 32 exoplanets.[74]
November
November 3
The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.[75]
The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council,[76] a position he takes up on 1 December 2009.[77][78][79]
November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.[80][81]
November 20 – CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland; they had shut it down on September 19, 2008.[82][83]
November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 58 are abducted and killed in an election-related massacre in the province of Maguindanao. This appears to be the deadliest attack on journalists in recent history.[84]
November 27 – Dubai requests a debt deferment following its massive renovation and development projects, as well as the late 2000s economic crisis. The announcement causes global stock markets to drop.[85]
December
December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.[86]
December 7 – December 18 – The UNFCCC's United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.[87]
December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ1214b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.[88]

Year 2010


January 8 – The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations.[5]
January 12 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. With a confirmed death toll over 230,000[6][7][8] it is one of the deadliest on record.
January 15 – The longest annular solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium occurs.
January 25 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on board.


The clock counting down to the opening of Olympics Games in Downtown Vancouver.
[edit]February
February 3 – The sculpture L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.[9][10][11]
February 12 – February 28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.
February 18 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, is overthrown after a group of soldiers storms the presidential palace[12] and form a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy headed by chef d'escadron Salou Djibo.[13]
February 27 – An 8.8-magnitude earthquake occurs in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific and killing at least 525.[14] The earthquake is one of the largest in recorded history.
[edit]March
March 16 – The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire.[15]
March 26 – The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sinks off the country's west coast, killing 46. In May, an independent investigation blames North Korea, which denies the allegations.[16][17]


Volcano plume from on Eyjafjallajokull 17 April 2010.
[edit]April
April 7 – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flees Bishkek amid fierce rioting, sparking a sociopolitical crisis. Former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva is placed at the head of an interim government as the opposition seizes control.[18]
April 10 – The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in western Russia.[19][20]
April 13 – A 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurs in Qinghai, China, killing at least 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.[21]
April 14 – Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.[22][23][24]
April 20 – The Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers. The resulting Horizon oil spill, one of the largest in history, spreads for several months, damaging the waters and the United States coastline, and prompting international debate and doubt about the practice and procedures of offshore drilling.[25][26]
April 27 – Standard & Poor's downgrades Greece's sovereign credit rating to junk four days after the activation of a €45-billion EU–IMF bailout, triggering the decline of stock markets worldwide and of the euro's value,[27][27][28] and furthering a European sovereign debt crisis.
[edit]May
May 2 – The eurozone and the International Monetary Fund agree to a €110 billion bailout package for Greece. The package involves sharp Greek austerity measures.[29]
May 4 – Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sells in New York for US$106.5 million, setting another new world record for a work of art sold at auction.[30][31][32]
May 7 – Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred.[33][34]
May 12 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes at runway at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, killing 103 of the 104 people on board.[35]
May 19 – Protests in Bangkok, Thailand, end with a bloody military crackdown, killing 91 and injuring more than 2,100.[36][37]
May 20
Scientists announce that they have created a functional synthetic genome.[38]
Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.[39][40]
May 22 – Air India Express Flight 812 overshoots the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.[41]
May 31 – Nine activists are killed in a clash with soldiers when Israeli Navy forces raid and capture a flotilla of ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade.[42][43]
[edit]June
June 9 – Ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks results in the deaths of hundreds.[44]
June 11 – July 11 – The 2010 FIFA World Cup is held in South Africa, and is won by Spain, with the runner-up being Holland.


Satellite images of the upper Indus River valley comparing water-levels on 1 August 2009 (top) and 31 July 2010 (bottom) during the flooding in Pakistan

Year 2010 continues...

July
July 8 – The first 24-hour flight by a solar-powered plane is completed by the Solar Impulse.[45]
July 25 – Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.[46]
July 29 – Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding (pictured) in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.[47]
[edit]August
August 10 – The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.[48]


Luis Urzúa, the leader of the trapped miners and the last of the 33 to be lifted to freedom, celebrates with President Piñera at San José Mine, during "Operación San Lorenzo".
[edit]October
October 10 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved, with the islands being split up and given a new constitutional status.[49]
October 13 – Thirty-three miners near Copiapó, Chile, trapped 700 metres underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, are brought back to the surface after surviving for a record 69 days.[50]
October 22 – The International Space Station surpasses the record for the longest continuous human occupation of space, having been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000 (3641 days).[51][52]
October 23 – In preparation for the Seoul summit, finance ministers of the G-20 agree to reform the International Monetary Fund and shift 6% of the voting shares to developing nations and countries with emerging markets.[53]
October 25 – An earthquake and consequent tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, kills over 400 people and leaves hundreds missing.[54]
October 26 – ongoing[when?] – Repeated eruptions of Mount Merapi volcano in Central Java, Indonesia, and accompanying pyroclastic flows of scalding gas, pumice, and volcanic ash descending the erupting volcano kill three hundred people and force hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.[55][56][57]
[edit]November
November 4 – Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.[58]
November 11 – November 12 – The G-20 summit is held in Seoul, South Korea. Korea becomes the first non-G8 nation to host a G-20 leaders summit.[59]
November 13 – Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her house arrest.[60]
November 17 – Researchers at CERN trap 38 antihydrogen atoms for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped antimatter.[61]
November 20 – Participants of the 2010 NATO Lisbon summit issued the Lisbon Summit Declaration.
November 21 – Eurozone countries agree to a rescue package for the Republic of Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility in response to the country's financial crisis.[62][63][64]
November 22 – A stampede during Bon Om Thook (Khmer Water Festival) celebrations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, kills 347.[65]
November 23 – North Korea shells Yeonpyeong Island, prompting a military response by South Korea. The incident caused an escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula and prompted widespread international condemnation. The United Nations declared it to be one of the most serious incidents since the end of the Korean War.[66][67][68]
November 28 – WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked "secret" or "confidential".[69][70]
November 29 – The European Union agree to an €85 billion rescue deal for Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility, the International Monetary Fund and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.[71]
November 29 – December 10 – The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Cancún, Mexico. Also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16), it served too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6).[72][73]
[edit]December
December 21 – The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern winter solstice and Southern summer solstice since 1638 takes place.[74][75]

Year 2011

January 4 – Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi dies after setting himself on fire a month earlier, sparking anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring.[3][4]
January 9–15 – Southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence. The Sudanese electorate votes in favour of independence, paving the way for the creation of the new state in July.[5][6]
January 11 – Flooding and mudslides in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro kills 903.[7]
January 14 – Arab Spring: The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly violent protests; President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power.[8][9]
January 24 – 37 people are killed and more than 180 others wounded in a bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.[10][11][12]
[edit]February
February 11 – Arab Spring: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.[13]
February 22 - March 14 – Uncertainty over Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a two-week period following the Arab Spring,[14] causing the 2011 energy crisis.
[edit]March
March 11 – A 9.1-magnitude[15] earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing 15,840 and leaving another 3,926 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.[16]
March 15 – Arab Spring: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain declares a three-month state of emergency as troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council are sent to quell the civil unrest.[17][18]
March 17 – Arab Spring and the 2011 Libyan civil war: The United Nations Security Council votes 10-0 to create a no-fly zone over Libya in response to allegations of government aggression against civilians.[19]
March 19 – Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support of leader Muammar Gaddafi,[20] military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973 begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.[21]
[edit]April
April 11 – Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested in his home in Abidjan by supporters of elected President Alassane Ouattara with support from French forces thereby ending the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis and civil war.[22]
April 29 – An estimated two billion people[23] watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.
[edit]May
May 1 – U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, has been killed during an American military operation in Pakistan.[24]
May 16 – The European Union agree to €78 billion rescue deal for Portugal. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund.[25]
May 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.[26][27]
[edit]June
June 4 – Chile's Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate.
June 5 – Arab Spring: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury sustained during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters celebrate his transfer of power to his Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi.[28]
June 12 – Arab Spring: Thousands of Syrians flee to Turkey as Syrian troops lay siege to Jisr ash-Shugur.[29]

Year 2011 continues...


July 9 – South Sudan secedes from Sudan, per the result of the independence referendum held in January.[31]
July 20
Goran Hadžić is detained in Serbia, becoming the last of 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.[32]
The United Nations declares a famine in southern Somalia, the first in over thirty years.[33]
July 21 – Space Shuttle Atlantis lands successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135, concluding NASA's space shuttle program.[34]
July 22 – 77 people are killed in twin terrorist attacks in Norway after a bombing in the Regjeringskvartalet government center in Oslo and a shooting at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya.[35][36][37][38]
July 31
In Thailand over 12.8 million people are affected by severe flooding. The World Bank estimates damages at 1,440 billion baht (US$45 billion).[39] Some areas are still six feet under water, and many factory areas remained closed at the end of the year. 815[40] people are killed, with 58 of the country's 77 provinces affected.[41]
Arab Spring: Because of the uncertaintities associated with a clamp-down of the free press, there are believed to be at least 121 people killed in a Syrian Army tank raid on the town of Hama and over 150 people are reportedly killed across the country.[42][43][44] The total dead throughout Syria may never be known, but an estimate as of September 24 is 3,000.
[edit]August
August 5
NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.
Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[45]
August 20–28 – Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take control of the nation's capital, effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.[46][47][48]
[edit]September
September 5 – India and Bangladesh sign a pact to end their 40-year border demarcation dispute.[49]
September 10 – Zanzibar ferry sinking: The MV Spice Islander I, carrying at least 800 people, sinks off the coast of Zanzibar, killing 240 people.[50]
September 12 – Approximately 100 people die after a petrol pipeline explodes in Nairobi.[51]
September 17 – Occupy Wall Street protests begin in the United States. This develops into the Occupy movement which spreads to 82 countries by October.[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]
September 19 – With 434 dead, the United Nations launches a $357 million appeal for victims of the 2011 Sindh floods in Pakistan.[61]
[edit]October
October 4
2011 Mogadishu bombing: 100[62] people are killed in a car bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu.[63]
The death toll from the flooding of Cambodia's Mekong River and attendant flash floods reaches 207.[64][65]
October 18 – Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner swap, in which the captured Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks.[66][67][68]
October 20
Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is killed in Sirte, with National Transitional Council forces taking control of the city, and ending the war.[69][70][71][72]
Basque separatist militant organisation ETA declares an end to its 43-year campaign of political violence, which has killed over 800 people since 1968.[73]
October 23 – A magnitude 7.2 Mw earthquake jolted eastern Turkey near the city of Van, killing 604 people, and damaging about 2,200 buildings.[74]
October 27 – After an emergency meeting in Brussels, the European Union announced an agreement to tackle the European sovereign debt crisis which includes a writedown of 50% of Greek bonds, a recapitalisation of European banks and an increase of the bailout fund of the European Financial Stability Facility totaling to €1 trillion.[75][76]
October 31
Date selected by the UN as the symbolic date when global population reaches seven billion.[77]
UNESCO admitted Palestine as a member, following a vote in which 107 member states supported and 14 opposed.[78]
[edit]November
November 26 – The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, the most elaborate Martian exploration vehicle to date, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center. It is slated to land on Mars on August 5, 2012.[79][80][81]
[edit]December
December 15 – The United States formally declares an end to the Iraq War. While this ends the insurgency it begins another.[82][83][84][85][86]
December 16 – Tropical Storm Washi causes 1,268 flash flood fatalities in the Philippines with 85 people officially listed as missing.[87]
December 29 – Samoa and Tokelau move from east to west of the International Date Line, thereby skipping December 30, in order to align their time zones better with their main trading partners.[87]

Year 2012

January 23 – Iran–European Union relations: The European Union adopts an embargo against Iran in protest of that nation's continued effort to enrich uranium.[2]
February
February 1 – At least 79 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured after a football match in Port Said, Egypt.[3][4]
February 6 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.[5][6]
February 15 – A fire at a prison in Comayagua, Honduras kills 360.[7]
February 19 – Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January.[8]
February 21 – Greek government debt crisis: Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, €130-billion Greek bailout.[9]
February 27 – Arab Spring: As a result of ongoing protests, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is succeeded by Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi.[10]
March
March 4 – A series of explosions are reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, with at least 250 people dead.[11][12]
March 13 – After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition.[13]
March 22 – The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices.[14]
April
April 6 – The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally declares the independence of Azawad from Mali.[15]
April 12 – Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup d'état and take control of the capital city, Bissau. They arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a presidential election campaign.[16]
April 13 – Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite, explodes shortly after launch. The United States and other countries had called the impending launch a violation of United Nations Security Council demands.[17] The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the republic.[17]
April 26 – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War.[18]
May
May 2 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for US$120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art.[19][20]
May 12 – The 2012 World Expo begins in Yeosu, South Korea. It is scheduled to end on August 12.[21]
May 22 – Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 634 metres high, is opened to public.[22]
June
June 5–6 – The century's second and last solar transit of Venus occurs. The next pair are predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.[23]
June 24
Shenzhou 9, a Chinese spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts, including the first-ever female one, docked manually with an orbiting module Tiangong 1, first time as the country, making them as the third country, after the United States and Russia, to successfully perform the mission.[24]
Lonesome George, the last known individual of the Pinta Island Tortoise subspecies, dies at a Galapagos National Park, thus making the subspecies extinct.[25]
July
July 4 – CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.[26][27][28][29][30]
July 27 – August 12 – The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, United Kingdom.[31]
July 30–31 – In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India blackouts leave 620 million people without power.

Year 2012 continues...

August 3 - A plane crashes due to weather conditions.
August 5 - New sanctions passed against Iran.
August 8 - Lebanon / Israel tensions flare up.
August 13 - Mitt Romney announces health problem.
August 21 - Israeli false flag.
August 22 - Major earthquake.

The future can always change, but possibly Obama is President 2 terms and afterwards Andrew D. Basiago is President. All truth will be revealed.

Year 2012 continues...

August

August 6 – Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, successfully lands on Mars.[35]
August 31
Researchers successfully perform the first implantation of an early prototype bionic eye with 24 electrodes.[36]
Armenia severs diplomatic relations with Hungary, following the extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent pardoning of Ramil Safarov, who was convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004. The move is also met with fierce criticism from other countries.[37]

September

September 7 – Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran and ordered the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, over support for Syria, nuclear plans and alleged rights abuses.[38]

September 11 – 22 – A series of protests, some of them violent, is directed against United States diplomatic missions worldwide, as well as diplomatic missions of Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom in some countries, after the screening of a Youtube trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims. In Libya the attacks result in the deaths of the United States Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, and 3 other Americans.

Interesting, what is your source?

I stopped being with the protesters.

Year 2012 continues...

October

October 14 – Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without any machine assistance during a record space dive out of the Red Bull Stratos helium-filled balloon from 24 miles (39 kilometers) over Roswell, New Mexico in the United States.
October 24 – 30 – Hurricane Sandy kills at least 185 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption to the eastern seaboard of the United States.

November

November 7 – Barack Obama has won the 2012 presidential election for a second term, overcoming a determined challenge from Mitt Romney and the worst election-day unemployment rate since World War II.
November 14 – 21 – Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. In the following week 140 Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of violence. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the week-long escalation in hostilities in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.
November 25 – December 9 – Typhoon Bopha, known as "Pablo" in the Philippines, kills at least 1,067 with around 838 people still missing. The typhoon caused considerable damage in the island of Mindanao.
November 29 – The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status.

December

December 8 – In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020.

Year 2013

January

January 16 – 20 – An estimated 41 international workers are taken hostage in an attack at a gas facility near In Aménas, Algeria, with a subsequent raid by Algerian forces resulting in multiple fatalities.

February

February 15 – A meteor explodes over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,491 people and damaging over 4,300 buildings. It is the most powerful meteor to strike Earth's atmosphere in over a century. The incident, along with a coincidental flyby of an asteroid, prompts international concern regarding the vulnerability of the planet to meteor strikes.
February 28 – Benedict XVI resigns as Pope, the first to do so since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.

March

March 13 – Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected the 266th pope, taking the name Francis. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.
March 16 – The European Union agree to €10 billion rescue deal for Cyprus. The bailout loan was equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. The deal included bank deposit levy for Cypriot depositors, which in turn set off a large bank run.
March 24 – 2012–2013 Central African Republic conflict: Central African Republic President François Bozizé is overthrown after he flees to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the onset of the rebels capture the nation's capital.
March 27 – Canada becomes the first country to withdraw from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

April

April 2 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons.
April 15 – Two bombs explode at the Boston Marathon, in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States, killing 3 and injuring 264 others.
April 24 – An eight-story commercial building collapses in Savar Upazila near the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, resulting 1,127 deaths, 2,500 injured and scores more trapped. The accident is the world's deadliest structural collapse and the third worst industrial disaster in history.
April 30 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicates, and Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, ascends the throne as King of the Netherlands. He is the first king of the Netherlands since the death of his great-great-grandfather William III in 1890.

I love this Guide Book, keep at it my friend!!!!