JANUARY: Spain assumes EU presidency. US and UK close Yemen embassies following alleged al-Qaeda threats.
Amid criticisms, Kazakhstan becomes the first former Soviet republic to chair the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Haiti suffers its worst earthquake in 200 years. It kills 200,000 and levels much of the capital including government and UN buildings. Google threatens to stop co-operating with Chinese over censorship. Saddam Hussein aide “Chemical Ali” executed.
FEBRUARY
US president Barrack Obama presents a $3.8 trillion 10-year budget plan. Six thousand US, Afghan, and British troops storm Marja, Afghanistan, in the largest offensive since 2001; president Hamid Karzai condemns US attacks that kill civilians.
European Court of Justice rules that Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank cannot be considered Israeli. Chile asks for help after an earthquake kills 750 and displaces 1.5 million.
MARCH
No Iraqi coalition wins enough votes for a majority in parliament; more than 60 per cent vote; election day bombs kill at least 38. Obama signs healthcare overhaul Bill. Female suicide bombers in Moscow subway stations kill at least 39 people; 12 killed in attacks in the north Caucasus region of Dagestan.
APRIL
Rescuers free last of 142 trapped in a flooded coal mine in China. Six killed in Taliban attack on US’s Pakistan consulate, “in retaliation” for American missile strikes and Pakistani military operations. Kyrgyzstan president forced to flee amid protests over utility price rises and 70 deaths. Russia, US sign “New Start” nuclear arms control pact and agree to act with unity against perceived Iranian nuclear threat. Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife are among 96 killed in a plane crash. Earthquake in China kills at least 400, injuring 10,000. Icelandic volcanic ash disrupts thousands of flights in the Americas and Europe. Greek protests and riots greet the government’s request of a $60bn aid package from the EU and IMF.
Amnesty International says political uncertainty in Iraq has led to an upsurge in violence.
MAY
After two months of protests and scores of deaths “red shirt” supporters of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrender. Picasso painting sells for record $106.5m. British prime minister Gordon Brown resigns after UK elections produce a hung parliament and then a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. Obama nominates Elena Kagan, former dean of Harvard Law School, to US Supreme Court. Turkey recalls its ambassador after nine Turks are killed in an Israeli commando attack on a ship bound for Gaza as part of an international aid flotilla. Top financial chief and co-founder of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan killed in Pakistan. Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi, head of the Iraqiya Alliance, is the surprise election winner, but his 91 seats are not enough to form a government. The April collapse of the BP Deepwater Horizon rig and leak in the Gulf of Mexico is believed to be biggest in history.
JUNE
Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama quits amid claims he was indecisive. UN Security Council passes more sanctions against Iran. US finds $1 trillion in untapped deposits of iron, copper, gold, and lithium in Afghan mountains. After demeaning remarks about US administration, Gen Stanley McChrystal replaced as Afghan commander by Gen David Petraeus. Street fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks escalates in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, leaving at least 2,000 dead.
JULY
Belgium takes over EU presidency. US swaps 10 spies for four Russians purportedly spying for the US. Somalian Islamic insurgent group Shabab claims responsibility for bombings that kill 70 soccer fans in Uganda. BP sacks chief executive Tony Hayward (left) over his response to oil spill. Stampede at German "Love Parade" kills 21, injures 500.
AUGUST
Russian president Valdimir Putin bans export of grains following widespread drought and 800 wildfires. China's economy officially becomes world's second largest. Flooding in Pakistan kills almost 2,000 people, and 14 million are displaced. Obama announces withdrawal of combat troops in Iraq. Iraq's top commander warns the army won't be ready to take over for another decade; Tariq Aziz, once the international face of Saddam Hussein's regime, accuses Obama of "leaving Iraq to the wolves".
SEPTEMBER
Obama announces he will not approve an extension of a Bush-era law that gives a tax break for the wealthy. BP well finally sealed. Syria and Iraq restore diplomatic ties a year after breaking them off.
Afghan parliamentary polls marred by Taliban violence, widespread fraud and a long delay in announcing results.
OCTOBER
A sludge reservoir bursts in Hungary, sending 200 million gallons of toxic mud into villages, killing at least eight people and forcing hundreds from their homes. After 69 days trapped in a mine half a mile underground, 33 Chilean miners are rescued.
The White House lifts a moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil and gas, which has been in place since BP explosion. Leading members of Taliban and Karzai meet to discuss end of nine-year Afghan war. Mass protests and violence in France over president Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. In the largest attack on Iraqi Christians since 2003, an al-Qaeda-affiliated massacre at a church in Baghdad leaves 58 dead and scores wounded. Tariq Aziz is sentenced to death.
NOVEMBER
Dilma Rousseff elected Brazil's first woman president. UK and France sign a 50-year defence deal. Democrats lose control of the US House of Representatives and suffer Senate losses. Ugandan president says Africans must go to the moon to find out what the Americans are doing there. Parcel bombs addressed to the German, French and Italian leaders intercepted. Obama delights his hosts by backing India's demand for a permanent UN Security Council seat. Israel pushes ahead with plans to build 1,300 new apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem, despite fierce opposition from Palestinians, as Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu visits the US, apparently looking for ways to revive the peace talks.
European Council president Herman Van Rompuy expresses concern about increasing nationalism in the EU. Portuguese public sector strike is held in protest at an austerity package.
UN official in Gaza, John Ging, says there has been "no material change" for the population despite an easing of Gaza's blockade.
Ireland fails to block an EU deal allowing transfer to Israel of sensitive data on Europeans.
Death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic reaches 900. A stampede in Phnom Penh kills at least 339.
Following a sham election, thousands greet Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (above) after her release from years of house arrest.
Israel's Knesset passes a law requiring that a referendum be held to ratify any peace agreement which involves Israel relinquishing territory.
Pope Benedict suggests that "in certain cases" in the fight against HIV/Aids condoms can be "justified". Twenty-nine trapped New Zealand miners declared dead. Newly reappointed Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki promises to form a cabinet.
Middle Eastern leaders have repeatedly urged the US to attack Iran, according to disclosures from 250,000 US intelligence documents leaked to WikiLeaks. Ireland's multibillion-euro EU/IMF bailout agreed.
DECEMBER
Russia threatens to deploy its own nuclear weapons if it is shut out of a Nato missile defence shield agreed at a November summit. Turkey sends help to Israel's forest fires.
Egyptian opposition boycotts second round of "fraudulent" elections. China tries to prevent war between North and South Korea following North's November attack on the South's Yeonpyeong Island.
Rioting Haitians say the ruling party fixed presidential elections. Chilean prison fire kills 83.
Twenty-six former EU notables, including Javier Solana and Mary Robinson, urge sanctions on Israel as US abandons direct talks and efforts to dissuade Israel from illegal settlement building. WikiLeaks promises to continue leaks following arrest of founder Julian Assange.
Prince Charles's car attacked in London student protests.
A modest climate change plan is agreed at Mexican summit.
Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo receives Nobel Peace Prize in absentia. Bomber dies in Stockholm terror attack. Ivory Coast troops loyal to incumbent president in stand-off against the UN-backed winner of disputed elections. France asks citizens to leave west African country where civil war threatens.
"The Elders", including ex-US president Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson, say a new approach to the Israel/Palestinian issue should prioritise agreement on borders and security. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak denies fraud. Kosovo successfully holds first elections since independence. Riots greet Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's narrow confidence vote win.
At least 27 people die when a boatload of suspected asylum seekers crashes into rocks on Australia's Christmas Island.
At an EU summit the leaders of the 27 member agreed to amend the Lisbon Treaty to empower leaders to set up a permanent bailout fund in 2013.
Obama signs into law repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and US Senate ratifies the New Start treaty that the US president and Russian president Dmitri Medvedev agreed in April.