January 12 – The Electronic System for Travel Authorization becomes necessary for travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries before travel to the United States.[7]
January 13 – Ethiopian military forces start to go home from Somalia, where they have tried to keep order for nearly two years.[8]
January 26 – The International Criminal Court has its first trial. Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is claimed to have used children to make war.[9]
January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigns.
February
February 1 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
February 1 – Johanna Sigurdardottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
February 2 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has launched its own satellite, "Omid", into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket.[10]
February 7 – The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the hottest-ever temperature (46.4°C, 115°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are started by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.[12]
February 17 – The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next 3 months.
February 25 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary force begin mutinying. Over 80 are killed.
March
March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.[13]
March 3 – Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing eight people and injuring several others.[14]
March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of rallies in Antananarivo. The military appoints opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the new president.
April
April 1 – Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
April 5 – North Korea launches the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of—but no official reaction from—the United Nations Security Council.
April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500.[15]
May
May 4 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, holds peace talks with the Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger.
May 18 – The third C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul.
May 18 -Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE.\[16]
June
June 1 – An Air France plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, killing all of the 228 people on board.
June 12 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran. Over the following weeks, thousands of the opposition's supporters protest the results.
July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to six minutes and 38.8seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.
