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Events in 2009 and 31-2

Events in the world in the birth year of Pinterest.Com

• Jan. 3: After more than a week of intense air strikes, Israeli troops crossed the border into Gaza, launching a ground war against the militant Palestinian group, Hamas. More than 430 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed since the fighting began Dec. 27, 2008. Jan. 17: Israel announces unilateral cease-fire in Gaza. Hamas says it will continue to fight as long as Israeli troops remain in the area. Jan. 18: Hamas announces cease-fire in response to Israel's promise of peace.
• Jan. 31: Iraq holds local elections to create provincial councils. More than 14,000 people run for just 440 seats on councils around the country. The elections are notable for their lack of violence and the noticeably diminished role the U.S. played in their implementation.
• Feb. 1: Johanna Sigurdardottir takes office as Iceland's first female prime minister.
• Feb. 7: The worst wildfires in Australia's history kill at least 181 people in the state of Victoria, injure more than a hundred, and destroy more than 900 homes.
• March 3: A group of 12 gunmen in Pakistan attack the national cricket team of Sri Lanka and their police escorts. Six policemen are killed in the attack, as well as two bystanders.
• March 4: The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir, charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
• March 17: Madagascar's president Marc Ravalomanana resigns after a bitter, three-month-long power struggle with opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. Ravalomanana hands power over to the military, which in turn transfers control to Andry Rajoelina.
• April 1: Sweden becomes the fifth European country to legalize same-sex marriage. The other countries with the same rights are The Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Spain.
• April 26: H1N1 (swine flu) has killed as many as 103 people in Mexico, most likely the epicenter of the worldwide outbreak. April 29: At least 150 in Mexico are dead from H1N1.
• May 1: For the first time in 341 years, a woman is appointed as poet laureate of the United Kingdom. Carol Ann Duffy, 53, will take over the post from current poet laureate Andrew Motion.
• June 1: In the worst aviation disaster since 2001, Air France Flight 447 disappears somewhere off the northeast coast of Brazil with 228 people on board, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
• June 8: A court in North Korea convicts American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling of "illegal entry" and sentences them to 12 years in a labor prison. The women were employed by Current TV and were arrested in March while working on a story about North Korean refugees.
• June 13: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins his reelection campaign by a landslide victory with almost 63% of the vote, while main challenger Mir Hussein Moussavi receives just under 34%. Accusations of ballot tampering and fraud leads to wide-scale and deadly protests in Tehran. June 21: The death toll in the Iranian protests reaches at least 17, according to state media. June 22: The Guardian Council, Iran's oversight group, admits to irregularities in the recent presidential election, revealing that votes counted in about 50 cities exceed the number of eligible voters by 3 million. They claim the mistake does not affect the final election result, however. June 30: The Guardian Council of Iran announces that the election of President Ahmadinejad is valid.
• June 28: Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a military coup. Zelaya had faced wide criticism recently for attempting to extend presidential term limits. June 30: Roberto Micheletti, named the interim president by the Honduran Congress, threatens Zelaya with arrest if he returns to the country.
• June 30: As a signal of the United States' diminishing role in Iraq, and in compliance with the status of forces agreement between the U.S. and Iraq, U.S. troops complete their withdrawal from Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, and transfer the responsibility of securing the cities to Iraqi troops. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki names June 30 "National Sovereignty Day" and declares a public holiday.
• July 6: Rioting in Urumqi, China between two ethnic groups—Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese—kills at least 156 people.
• Aug. 4: The government of North Korea pardons two imprisoned American journalists after former President Bill Clinton visits the country and its president, Kim Jong-il. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested in March and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison for "illegal entry" into the country.
• Aug. 5: Controversial president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term amid a crisis in Iran sparked by the June election that was widely condemned as rigged in Ahmadinejad's favor. The vote set off protests that resulted in mass arrests of opposition figures, journalists, and lawyers.
• Aug. 5: Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, is killed by a C.I.A. drone strike in South Waziristan. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, the terrorist attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan in Sept. 2008, and dozens of other suicide bombings have been attributed to Mehsud.
• Aug. 20: Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan terrorist convicted of bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 and killed 270 people, is freed from prison on compassionate grounds by Scotland's Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill. He is suffering from terminal prostate cancer and is expected to die within three months.
• Aug. 30: Japan's opposition party, the Democrats, win in a landslide over the ruling Liberal Democrats, who have been in power nearly uninterrupted for a half-century.
• Aug. 20: Afghanistan holds provincial and presidential elections. Violence spiked in the days leading up to the elections. More than 30 candidates challenged incumbent President Hamid Karzai, with Abdullah Abdullah as the most formidable contender. Early results put Karzai well ahead of Abdullah, but allegations of widespread and blatant fraud surfaced immediately. Sept. 8: The United Nations-backed commission that is reviewing the presidential election in Afghanistan orders a recount of the votes, citing evidence of fraud. Oct. 31: Abdullah Abdullah withdraws from the second round of Afghanistan's presidential race in Afghanistan in protest of the Karzai administration's refusal to dismiss election officials accused of taking part in the widespread fraud that marred the first round of the election. Results released earlier in October showed that Karzai came up short in garnering 50% of the vote, necessitating a second round of voting. Nov. 20: Karzai is sworn in as the president of Afghanistan, marking the beginning of his second five-year term.
• Oct. 2: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil wins the bid for the 2016 Olympics and will be the first South American city to host the Games. Rio beat Tokyo, Madrid, and Chicago, Ill.
• Oct. 25: Two suicide bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 155 people and wound 500 others. These are the deadliest attacks in the country since 2007, and raise the question of the safety of Iraq.
• Oct. 30: The U.S. brokers an agreement between ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and self-appointed leader of the country, Roberto Micheletti, that left Zelaya's reinstatement up to a congressional vote, called for the establishment of a government of national unity and a truth commission, and required Zelaya to abandon a referendum on constitutional reform. Nov. 19: Micheletti agrees to temporarily cede power to his cabinet ministers while awaiting presidential election day, scheduled for November 29. (Nov. 29): Conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo wins the presidential election, beating his main opponent, Elvín Santos, by a wide margin.
• Nov. 5: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces he will not seek reelection in Jan. 2010's general and presidential elections, citing the protracted impasse between Israelis and Palestinians and the United States' failure to aggressively take steps toward negotiating a settlement.
• At least 21 men and women are killed and 22 are missing in a rash of election-related violence in the Philippines. The victims were en route to file candidacy papers for Esmael Mangudadatu, who intends to run for governor of Maguindanao, a province on the island of Mindanao. Family members of Mangudadatu are among the dead. Nov. 25: The number of victims in the Philippines election killings rises to 57. Authorities voice their suspicion of a powerful clan tied to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; Andal Ampatuan Jr., the son of the current governor of Maguindanao and the prime suspect in the murders, turns himself in.
• Dec. 5: An Italian jury convicts Amanda Knox, an American student, of murdering her former roommate, English student Meredith Kercher, in 2007. Knox and Kercher were exchange students in Italy at the time. Knox's then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was also convicted. They received prison sentences of 26 and 25 years, respectively.
• Dec. 18: President Barack Obama announces that the U.S., China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have reached an agreement to combat global warming. The accord that will set up a system for monitoring pollution reduction, require richer nations to give billions of dollars to poorer nations more greatly affected by climate change, and set a goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050.