2009 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century – 21st century – 22nd century
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s – 2000s – 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years:	2006 2007 2008 – 2009 – 2010 2011 2012

2009 (MMIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was also the last year of the 2000s decade.

2009 was called the:

Events
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
Deaths
Images for kids
See also

Events

January

January 1 – Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
January 1 – The Czech Republic takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from France.
January 1 – Slovakia uses the Euro as its money, instead of the Slovak koruna.
January 3 – Israel invades Gaza with its army.
January 7 – Russia shuts off all gas to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly supports the move and suggests that international observers be brought into the dispute.
January 12 – The Electronic System for Travel Authorization becomes necessary for travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries before travel to the United States.
January 13 – Ethiopian military forces start to go home from Somalia, where they have tried to keep order for nearly two years.
January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549, crash-lands in the Hudson River near Manhattan. All 155 people leave the airplane safely. The accident happened because the plane hit a flock of Canada Geese.
January 17 – Israel declares a cease-fire against Hamas, even though Hamas does not. This ends Israel's attacks after 22 days of fighting in Gaza.
January 20 – Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
January 26 – The International Criminal Court has its first trial. Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is claimed to have used children to make war.
January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigns.

February

February 1 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
February 1 – Johanna Sigurdardottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
February 2 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has launched its own satellite, "Omid", into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket.
February 7 – The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the hottest-ever temperature (46.4 °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 9 – Victoria (Australia) hottest day, 48.8 °C at Hopetoun.
February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.
February 17 – The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next 3 months.
February 25 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary force begin mutinying. Over 80 are killed.

March

March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
March 3 – Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing eight people and injuring several others.
March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'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.

May

May 4 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, holds peace talks with the Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger.
May 18 – The third C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul.
May 18 -Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE.

June

June 1 – An Air France plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, killing all of the 228 people on board.
June 12 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran. Over the following weeks, thousands of the opposition's supporters protest the results.
June 25 – Music legend Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles at the age of 50.
June 28 – Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is ousted in a coup.

July

July 1 – Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union.
July 4 – The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya.
July 5 – Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
July 16 – Iceland's parliament votes to pursue joining the EU.
July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to six minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.

August

August 4 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned, for illegal entry earlier in the year, after the old U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.

September

September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines.

October

October 1 – The Ohio Turnpike gets E-ZPass.
October 2 – Rio de Janeiro is awarded the 2016 Olympic Games.
October 9 – Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

November

November 20 – The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland was restarted.
November 30 – The Large Hadron Collider set a new energy record for a particle accelerator.

December

December 1 – The EU's Lisbon Treaty enters effect.
December 25 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack on the USA while aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.