- Jan 1 New FINA rules re competition swimsuits come into effect; all body-length swimsuits banned; men's suits to maximally cover from the waist to knee, and women's from shoulder to knee; fabric must be a "textile" or woven material
- Jan 4 The Burj Khalifa, world's tallest building at 829.8 m (2,722 ft), officially opens in Dubai
- Jan 4 The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed HIV infection from its list of communicable diseases of public health significance.
- Jan 7 Muslim gunmen in Egypt kill nine people after opening fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians
- Jan 12 Colombia officially leaves the recession after achieving 2% economic growth in the last quarter of 2009
Earthquake Devastates Haiti
Jan 12 Earthquake devastates Haiti, killing approximately 160,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince
- Jan 14 Yemen declares war on al-Qaeda
- Jan 17 A dragon boat from Chung Ling High School capsizes and collides with a tugboat amid strong currents in Penang, Malaysia, killing 6 people and injuring 12
- Jan 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.
- Jan 26 After 6 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the UK economy officially finally comes out of recession with a GDP growth of 0.1%
Swine Flu Pandemic
Jan 26 The World Health Organization rejects claims that it overstated the severity of the swine flu pandemic under pressure from vaccine companies
Execution
Jan 28 Five murderers of Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged: Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruq Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Bazlul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed
Event of Interest
Feb 18 Bibliothèque nationale de France purchases the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova a for €7 million
- Feb 20 On the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, leaving at least 32 deaths in the worst disaster on the history of the archipelago.
- Feb 22 Taiwan's economy exits from the recession with 9.22% growth in the last quarter of 2009 after increased demand from China and other key markets in the region
Historic Publication
Feb 23 Danielle Steel’s novel “Big Girl” is published
- Feb 23 Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million litres of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.
- Feb 24 Europe risks a double-dip recession after bad results emerge from France, Germany and Italy, it is reported today; the Eurozone only grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009
- Feb 27 8.8 magnitude earthquake rattles central Chile; epicenter just off the coast also triggers a tsunami
Event of Interest
Mar 10 Carlos Slim becomes the first Mexican and person from an emerging economy to top Forbes Richest Person list, with net worth of US$53.5 billion
Event of Interest
Mar 23 US President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act (ACA), nicknamed 'Obamacare', expanding the availability and affordability of health care insurance
- Mar 24 Lee Kun-hee returns to Samsung Electronics chief executive officer (CEO) position after his resignation in April 21, 2008
- Mar 29 Archaeological site of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza purchased by the Mexican state of Yucatán from a private landowner
- Mar 29 Two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40
- Apr 4 Africa's tallest monument, the African Renaissance Monument, dedicated outside Dakar, Senegal, designed by Pierre Goudiaby to commemorate Senegal's 50th anniversary of independence
- Apr 10 Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board including President Lech Kaczyński
- Apr 12 A train derailed near Merano, Italy, after running into a landslide, causing nine deaths and injuring 28 people.
- Apr 14 Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull begins erupting from the top crater in the centre of the glacier
- Apr 15 Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.
- Apr 20 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster
- May 1 Car bomb fails to go off in Times Square, New York City
- May 8 Barrow AFC wins English FA Trophy at Wembley, makes them only team to win it at both Old & New Wembley stadiums
Election of Interest
May 11 David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after forming a coalition government between the Liberal Democrats and his own Conservative Party
Election of Interest
May 11 Imelda Marcos wins election to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing Ilocos Norte province
- May 12 An Afriqiyah Airways Flight crashes and kills everyone but one person on board
- May 14 The 51,700 seat Aviva Stadium is officially opened on the site of the famous old Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin by Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowan
- May 18 Police officer James Crooker is asked to leave the Red and Black Café in Portland, Oregon after co-owner John Langley claimed Crooker's uniformed presence made him uncomfortable
Event of Interest
May 22 Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus' remains are reburied in Frombork Cathedral, Poland after a 200 year search for his tomb
- May 24 Andrew Wakefield, doctor at the center of MMR vaccination scare, struck off the UK medical register after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct
- May 31 Gaza Flotilla raid: Israeli Shayetet 13 soldiers board ships trying to break blockade of Gaze, during violent confrontation aboard MV Mavi Marmara 9 activists killed and several activists and soldiers injured
- Jun 9 Finland falls back into a state of recession after GDP contracted 0.4% in Q1 2010 and 0.2% in Q4 2009
- Jun 9 Hungary comes out of recession after experiencing 0.9% growth in the first quarter as a result of growing exports and effective government spending measures
- Jun 13 64th Tony Awards: "Memphis" & "Red" (play) win
- Jun 22 Danielle Steel’s novel “Family Ties” is published
Event of Interest
Jun 23 Marina Bay Sands casino resort owned by Las Vegas Sands officially opens in Singapore, with an infinity pool on the world's largest cantilevered platform
- Jul 2 Oil tanker truck explosion in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, kills at least 230 people
Famous Photo
Aug 1 200m x 250m photo mosaic commemorating the life of Filipino President Corazon Aquino is unveiled near Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta Park, Manila
- Aug 19 Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait
- Aug 23 Manila hostage crisis, which occurred at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, where a dismissed police officer took hostage a tour bus full of Chinese nationals.
- Aug 25 Panic caused by escaped crocodile being smuggled aboard domestic Filair flight leads to crash of Let L-410 Turbolet passenger aircraft near Bandundu Airport, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all but one of the 21 passengers and crew
- Sep 4 Canterbury earthquake: a 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am causing widespread damage and several power outages.
- Sep 8 Egypt's Minister of Finance, Dr. Youssef Butros Ghali, states that Egypt is emerging from the recession as indicated by increased total revenue from sales taxes and customs revenues
- Sep 9 A court in the Philippines orders Imelda Marcos to repay the government almost $280,000 for funds taken from the National Food Authority by Ferdinand Marcos in 1983
- Sep 20 The National Bureau of Economic Research state today that the US left the recession in June 2009, with managing director Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute saying GDP recovered to 70% of the pre-recession level
- Oct 3 19th Commonwealth Games open in Delhi, India
Event of Interest
Oct 6 Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launch social media app Instagram
Nobel Prize
Oct 7 Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat" [1]
- Oct 10 The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved
Copiapó Mine Rescue
Oct 13 Copiapó mining accident in Chile comes to a happy end as all 33 miners arrive at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground
Election of Interest
Oct 14 Mark Rutte sworn in as Prime Minister of the Netherlands after his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy party became the largest party in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections
Engagement of Interest
Nov 16 Engagement announced between British Prince William and Kate Middleton at Clarence House, London
Event of Interest
Nov 16 In University Park, Texas, the groundbreaking ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center takes place
- Nov 19 New Zealand suffers its worst mining disaster since 1914 when the first of four explosions occurs at the Pike River Mine; 29 people are killed
- Nov 23 The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong occurs on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. The North Korean artillery attack kills 2 civilians and 2 South Korean marines.
Event of Interest
Nov 26 Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair debate - is religion a force for good in the world, in a Monk Debate, Toronto, Canada
Event of Interest
Dec 6 Record price for a printed book when a first edition of "The Birds of America" by John James Audubon auctioned at Sotheby's, London, England, for £7,321,250
- Dec 7 Iceland officially leaves the recession with growth of 1.2% in the third quarter
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm, while imprisoned in China
- Dec 11 Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.
- Dec 12 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, London, England: Europe regains title with an 11-8 win over US; MVP: Darren Appleton (England)
- Dec 22 Repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy", a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the US military, signed into law by President Barack Obama