2019

2019 was the 2,019th year of the Common Era and the last year of the 2010s decade.

Events[]

1 January - Jair Bolsonaro assumes office as President of Brazil; Austria legalizes same-sex marriage.
5 January - The Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally receives independence from the Russian Orthodox Church through Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople's decree.
7 January - Failed coup attempt in Gabon.
10 January - Venezuela's National Assembly and its president, Juan Guaido, declare incumbent president Nicolas Maduro "illegitimate"
14 January - Mayor of Gdansk, Poland Pawel Adamowicz is stabbed to death by an insane man.
18 January - 137 people are killed when Mexican fuel thieves inadvertently trigger an explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo.
23 January - Thousands of people protest against the Maduro regime, resulting in a crackdown which killed several people. Maduro severs diplomatic ties to the United States.
28 January - The US Justice Department charges the Chinese tech firm Huawei with multiple counts of fraud, leading to increased US-Chinese tensions.
1-2 February - The United States leaves the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 due to Russian non-compliance; Russia leaves the next day.
3 February - Pope Francis becomes the first Pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.
6 February - Freedom House declares that Hungary and Serbia are no longer free countries.
7 February - Anti-government protests break out in Haiti.
12 February - The "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" renames itself to North Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute with Greece and paving the way for its integration into the European Union and NATO.
23 February - Maduro severs ties with Colombia due to its humanitarian support amid the Venezuelan protests.
27-28 February - Donald Trump meets with Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam.
3 March - An unmanned SpaceX spacecraft docks at the International Space Station
10 March - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes, killing all 157 people on board
15 March - White supremacist terrorist Brenton Tarrant kills 51 people and injures 50 others in two attacks targeting mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
19 March - Nursultan Nazarbayev resigns as President of Kazakhstan after 29 years in office; the capital of Astana is renamed "Nur-Sultan" the following day in his honor.
23 March - The Islamic State is defeated in Syria as the Syrian Democratic Forces liberate Baghuz Fawqani from the group's control.
2 April - Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns as President of Algeria amid widespread protests, ending his two decades in office.
4 April - The Libyan National Army launches a surprise offensive against the Government of National Accord amid the Second Libyan Civil War.
11 April - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London. That same day, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is overthrown in a coup, ending his 30-year tenure in power.
15 April - Amid Holy Week, a major fire nearly destroys Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
17 April - Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia shoots himself before he can be arrested on corruption charges.
21 April - The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, carried out by National Thowheeth Jamaath, kill 259 people and injure over 500.
26 April - Avengers: Endgame is released in theatres, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time.
30 April - Japanese emperor Akihito abdicates in favor of his son Naruhito; Guaido launches a failed uprising against Maduro
3-6 May - Clashes between Hamas and Israel leave 20 Palestinians dead.
5 May - Aeroflot Flight 1492 crashes in Moscow, killing 41 of the 78 people on board.
6 May - The Syrian Arab Army initiates Operation Dawn of Idlib to wipe out the remaining rebel strongholds in Idlib Governorate.
12 May - Four commercial ships are sabotaged by Iran in the Persian Gulf, leading to the start of the Persian Gulf crisis.
17 May - Taiwan legalizes same-sex marriage.
19 May - Google pulls Android update support for Huawei phone, as well as the Google Play Store and Gmail apps.
23 May - Narendra Modi's ruling BJP party wins a landslide victory at the Indian general election
24 May - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective 7 June
26-27 May - Over 50 prisoners are killed in four prison riots in Amazonas, Brazil
2 June - King Juan Carlos I of Spain retires from public life
3 June - More than 100 protesters are killed by the Sudanese Janjaweed in the "Khartoum massacre".
3-5 June - Trump visits Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May in the United Kingdom in the first official US state visit to the UK since 2011; he also leaves D-Day commemorative ceremonies early because of his annoyance with the rain.
6 June - Sudan is suspended from the African Union in the aftermath of the Khartoum massacre
9 June - The 2019-20 Hong Kong protests begin in response to an unpopular extradition bill in the largest protests since the 1997 handover.
11 June - Botswana decriminalizes homosexuality.
12 June - Ecuador legalizes same-sex marriage.
13 June - Two oil tankers are attacked by Iran in the Gulf of Oman amid the Persian Gulf crisis.
15 June - The Hong Kong government indefinitely suspends the extradition bill, but refuses to totally withdraw it.
17 June - The 2019 Borno bombings kill 30 and injure over 40 in Borno, Nigeria.
18 June - The USA sends 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran.
20 June - Iran shoots down an American RQ-4 Global Hawk drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
22 June - Amhara Region president Ambachew Mekonnen and military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen are assassinated in a failed coup attempt in Ethiopia.
30 June - In a meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump becomes the first sitting US president to cross the Korean DMZ amid denuclearization talks.
1 July - Trade war begins between Japan and South Korea.
3 July - An LNA airstrike on the Tajoura Detention Center kills at least 53 prisoners and injures 130 others.
12 June - al-Shabaab's Asasey Hotel attack in Kismayo, Somalia kills at least 26 people.
16 July - Ursula von der Leyen becomes the first female President of the European Commission.
17 July - Mexican drug lord El Chapo is sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years, in the USA.
18 July - 36 people are killed and more than 30 other injured by a disgruntled anime artist in an arson attack on an anime company's offices in Kyoto, the deadliest building fire in Japan in 18 years.
19 July - The IRGC Navy seizes a British tanker and a Liberian-flagged tanker in the Persian Gulf.
21 July - 100 Triads armed with batons attack commuters indiscriminately at the Yuen Long station in Hong Kong, injuring 45.
24 July - Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
30 July - India bans Muslim triple talaq divorces.
3 August - American white supremacist terrorist Patrick Crusius massacres 23 people and injures 23 others at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, inspired by Donald Trump's rhetoric about a "Hispanic invasion".
4 August - The 2019 Cairo bombing kills over 20 and injures over 47, while a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio kills 9 and injures 27 just thirteen hours after the El Paso shooting.
5 August - India revokes Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy.
11 August - 227 people die in floods across the Indian Subcontinent.
12 August - Hong Kong International Airport is closed by the protests
16 August - Russian airstrike kills 20 civilians in the Hass refugee camp in Syria.
19 August - Anti-Indonesian government protests erupt in Papua.
21 August - Massive wildfires break out in the Brazilian Amazon
25 August - Two Israeli drones are destroyed during an attack on Beirut, Lebanon.
4 September - The Hong Kong security bill is formally withdrawn
7 September - Trump calls off peace talks with the Taliban following the September 2019 Kabul bombings
10 September - The UK Parliament is prorogued (shut down) to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny of the Prime Minister's Brexit plans
14 September - Houthi drones attack two Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais.
19 September - A US airstrike kills 30 Afghan nut farmers and injures 40 in Nangarhar
21 September - Trump sends hundreds of more US troops to the Middle East as Saudi Arabia and Iran brace for war
23 September - Russia adopts the Paris climate agreement
24 September - The UK Supreme Court invalidates the prorogation of Parliament; the Supreme Court of Spain removes Francisco Franco's body from the Valle de los Caidos to a private crypt; US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi announces the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.
27 September - Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and Swedish green activist Greta Thunberg lead a 500,000-person protest march in Montreal; 4 million go on strike around the world.
4 October - Hong Kong Executive Carrie Lam bans the wearing of face masks, which have been widely used by protesters
5 October - 91 Iraqis are killed while protesting Iran's meddling in Iraqi politics.
8 October - Protesters seize the presidential palace in Quito, Ecuador amid protests over President Lenin Moreno's controversial removal of fuel subsidies
9 October - Turkey launches Operation Peace Spring against Rojava in Syria; Trump responds by withdrawing US troops and abandoning the Kurds.
14 October - Violent protests erupt across Catalonia as nationalist leaders are sentenced to 9-13 years in prison for sedition.
17 October - The Mexican government captures El Chapo's son Ovidio Guzman Lopez in Culiacan, but is forced to release him after the Sinaloa Cartel takes hostages amid several shootouts across the city in the "Battle of Culiacan".
18 October - The 2019-20 Chilean protests begin in response to metro fare hikes
19 October - 1 million protesters march through London to demand a second Brexit vote
23 October - The bodies of 39 Vietnamese undocumented immigrants are found in the trailer of a refrigerator truck in Grays, Essex, England after being transported from Northern Ireland on a container ship.
26 October - The Amazon Catholic bishops synod proposes that married men be ordained as priests
27 October - IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is killed by US special forces in the Barisha raid
30 October - Twitter bans all political advertising worldwide
4 November - Nine American Mormons are massacred by La Linea and the Sinaloa Cartel in Bavispe, Sonora, Mexico while en route to a wedding. Trump threatens to send troops to Mexico; that same day, the USA begins the process of leaving the Paris Agreement.
6 November - The 2019 Fada N'gourma attack in Burkina Faso leaves 37 dead and 60 injured.
7 November - Democratic Republic of the Congo rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes
12-14 November - Israel launches Operation Black Belt in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against PIJ attacks.
13 November - Public impeachment hearings against Trump begin in the House of Representatives; all schools in Hong Kong are closed due to the protests
17 November - Clashes break out between the HKPD and protesters occupying the polytechnic university, with protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and bricks at police
19 November - Google launches the Stadia video game platform
21 November - Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust
23 November - An independence referendum in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea sees voters overwhelmingly choose independence; the last known Sumatran rhino in Malaysia dies.
27 November - The USA imposes sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials considered responsible for human rights abuses
30 November - A shootout between the Northeast Cartel and Mexican Federal Police in Villa Union, Coahuila leaves 22 dead in the country's largest ever shootout
December - The COVID-19 pandemic begins in Wuhan, Hubei, China.
9 December - The World Anti-Doping Agency bans Russia from international sport for four years for doping offenses.
10 December - Social democrat Sanna Marin becomes the world's youngest serving prime minister after becoming PM of Finland
16 December - Pope Francis abolishes pontifical secrecy in sex abuse cases
17 December - China's first domestically build aircraft carrier enters service
18 December - The US House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against Trump, making him the third president to be impeached in the nation's history
19 December - Libya's Government of National Accord enters a formal military alliance with Turkey.
20 December - Trump creates the US Space Force, dedicated to space warfare
23 December - Five men are sentenced to death and three others to 24 years in prison for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder
28 December - A truck bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia kills 78 and wounds 125.
29 December - The Taliban approves a temporary ceasefire in Afghanistan
31 December - The Popular Mobilization Forces' attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad leads to Trump ordering retaliation against the PMF and its Iranian backers.
Notable people who passed away in 2019 include: Jose Ramon Fernandez, Moshe Arens, Jaime Rosenthal, Pawel Adamowicz, Carol Channing, Babiker Awadalla, James Ingram, Albert Finney, Jan Olszewski, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, Li Rui, Karl Lagerfeld, Peter Tork, Antoine Gizenga, France-Albert Rene, Andre Previn, Klaus Kinkel, Luke Perry, Jose Pedro Perez-Llorca, Carmine Persico, Irsen Kucuk, Sebastiano Tusa, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly, Dick Dale, Donald Kalpokas, Frans Andriessen, Larry Cohen, Rafi Eitan, Abdul Latif Dayfallah, Nipsey Hussle, Mirjana Markovic, Alan Garcia, Le Duc Anh, Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Negasso Gidada, John Singleton, Ali Mroudjae, Sprent Dabwido, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Peggy Lipton, Silver King, Unita Blackwell, Doris Day, the Grumpy Cat, Bob Hawke, Carlos Altamirano, Nickey Iyambo, Glauco Sansovini, Ahmad Shah of Pahang, Prem Tinsulanonda, Apolo Nsibambi, Edward Seaga, Leon Redbone, Billy McKee, Franco Zeffirelli, Mohamed Morsi, Etika, Demetris Christofias, Billy Drago, Momir Bulatovic, Lee Iacocca, Ross Perot, Fernando de la Rua, Rip Torn, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Rutger Hauer, Li Peng, Sadou Hayatou, Thomas Remengesau Sr., Nuon Chea, Toni Morrison, Alejandro Serrano, Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Fonda, Jacques Diouf, Tim Fischer, David Koch, Dawda Jawara, Valerie Harper, Robert Mugabe, B.J. Habibie, Akilisi Pohiva, Eddie Money, Lol Mahamat Choua, Ric Ocasek, Imata Kabua, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Su Beng, Robert Hunter, Jacques Chirac, Ismail Petra of Kelantan, Kornel Morawiecki, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Diahann Carroll, Ginger Baker, Hevrin Khalaf, Sulli, Lho Shin-yong, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, John Witherspoon, Jan Strasky, Ralph T. O'Neal, Adnan Pachachi, D.M. Jayaratne, Yasar Buyukanit, Eugene Camara, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Shelley Morrison, Rene Auberjonois, Caroll Spinney, Juice Wrld, Danny Aiello, Marko Orlandic, Mustafa Mujezinovic, Don Imus, and Djimrangar Dadnadji.