• The 72-year-old American soap opera Guiding Light will broadcast its final episode on September 18. (Reuters)
• The United States and Russia begin Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. (The Australian)
• Local government in England undergoes structural changes. (BBC)
• A Computer virus called Conficker was spread through millions of computers, getting onto their computers and destroying files, and sharing information. This was supposed to be a April Fools Joke.
• Ukraine will hold a presidential election on October 25. (AFP via Google News)
• At least eight people are killed when a Eurocopter AS332 ditches into the North Sea. (AFP via Google News)
• Five thousand people protest in London as the G-20 begins its summit. (BBC)
• Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that the Annapolis Conference "has no validity." (BBC)
• New South Wales, Australia, declares its flooded Mid North Coast a disaster area. (ABC News Australia)
• Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (AFP via Google News)
• The United States' World War II motor ship City of Rayville is located near Australia. (The Age)
• Sweden's Parliament legalizes same-sex marriage. (AFP via Google News)
• A bomb damages a statue of Vladimir Lenin near Finlyandsky Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Moscow Times)

• Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace will cut 3,000 jobs. (AP via Washington Post)
• United States Federal Judge John D. Bates rules that enemy combatants incarcerated at the U.S. Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan, have rights to legal trials. (BBC)
• The Group of 20 announces a US$1-trillion agreement to combat the current financial crisis. (BBC)
• Reinsurer Swiss Re will cut 1,000 jobs. (Sky News)
• Lewis Hamilton of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is disqualified from the 2009 Australian Grand Prix for 'deliberately misleading' the International Automobile Federation. (BBC) (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing an Internet leak of the upcoming film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. (BBC)
• Mexico's Federal Investigations Agency arrests alleged drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Leyva in Mexico City. (BBC)
• The South African National Congress condemns the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu's criticism of the party. (BBC)
• Bangladesh's government outlaws begging in order to eliminate it by 2014. (BBC)

• The United States economy lost 663,000 jobs in March, raising the unemployment rate to 8.5%. (New York Times)
• Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is inaugurated as Prime Minister. (CNN)
• French police arrest 300 protesters as a NATO summit begins in Strasbourg. (Sky News)
• Four soldiers die as Thailand's Army and Cambodia's Army exchange gunfire near the Preah Vihear Temple. (CNN)
• The U.S. state of Iowa's Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage. (KCCI)
• Approximately 40 people riot in Clondalkin, near West Dublin, Ireland. (Evening Herald)
• Fourteen people die and 26 are injured during a shooting at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York. (CNN)
• Scottish footballers Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor receive lifetime bans from the Scottish Football Association and are transfer-listed by Rangers Football Club. (BBC) (The Guardian)

• The Llaima volcano in Chile begins emitting lava and ash, prompting evacuations and landslide warnings. (Sky News Australia)
• Three police officers are killed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. (CNN)
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development blacklists Costa Rica, Malaysia and the Philippines as non-cooperative tax havens. (BBC)
• A U.S. drone aircraft's missile kills 13 people in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (ABC News Australia)
• Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen will become NATO's Secretary General on August 1. (Reuters)
• Six Frontier Corpsmen are killed during a suicide attack in Islamabad, Pakistan. (GEO TV)
• Mon Mome wins the 2009 Grand National in Aintree, England. (BBC)
• The Balochistan Liberation United Front releases United Nations official John Solecki from captivity in Quetta, Pakistan. (BBC)

• The Communist Party wins an absolute majority in Moldova's parliamentary election. (AFP via Google News)
• North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command report that North Korea's Bright Star-2 communications satellite did not reach Earth's orbit. (CNN)
• U.S. President Barack Obama announces his plan for worldwide nuclear disarmament. (AFP via Google News)
• The second round of Macedonia's presidential election takes place. (BBC)

• Convicted murderer Annika Östberg is transferred to Sweden from California's Institution for Women. (The Local)
• Six car bombs kill at least 34 people and injure 139 others in Baghdad, Iraq. (AFP via News Limited)
• A "significant explosive event" occurs at the Mount Redoubt volcano in Alaska. (KTUU)
• At least 207 people are killed and 1,500 injured during a 6.3-magnitude earthquake near L'Aquila, Italy. (CNN)
• Afghanistan's government will review a recently approved version of sharia law that legalizes spousal rape. (CNN)
• Gjorge Ivanov of VMRO–DPMNE wins Macedonia's presidential election. (BBC)
• Somali pirates hijack five ships from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Germany, France, and Yemen. (CNN) (BBC)
• Indonesia's National Police shoot nine demonstrators at a pre-election protest in Nabire, West Papua. (ABC)

• Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announces an emergency budget. (RTÉ) (Irish Times)
• The Israel Police kill a Palestinian motorist in East Jerusalem as he rams them with his automobile. (Al Jazeera)
• United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan overturns the conviction of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. (CNN)
• Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is convicted of violating human rights and imprisoned until 2034. (Washington Post)
• Malaysia holds by-elections in Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang, and Batang Ai. (BBC)
• Demonstrators in Chişinău protest the Communist Party's absolute majority in Moldova's parliamentary election. (BBC)
• Two people are killed and two injured during a shooting in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. (BBC)
• Twenty-four people are killed as a Fokker F27 airliner crashes in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. (Sky News)
• French police raid the Basque Homeland and Freedom's "bomb factory" in Grenoble, Isère. (BBC)
• Australia's government announces a A$43-billion investment for the National Broadband Network. (BBC)
• The General Assembly legalizes same-sex marriage in Vermont, United States. (Burlington Free Press)

• Thousands of people in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrate the “successful” launch of the Bright Star-2 communications satellite into Earth's orbit. (BBC)
• Chinese and Russian cyber-spies allegedly infiltrate the United States' electrical grid. (AP) (Wall Street Journal)
• Police in Chişinău reclaim Moldova's Parliament from protesters of the Communist Party's absolute majority in the country's legislative election. (BBC)
• Thirty thousand National United Front demonstrators assemble at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Chinese President Hu Jintao meet in Beijing. (AFP)
• One person is killed and four are injured in a shooting in Temecula, California, United States. (Sky News)
• Somali pirates hijack the Danish container ship MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean. (BBC)
• A rogue French Foreign Legionnaire kills four people in Chad. (BBC)
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development removes Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the Philippines from its blacklist of non-cooperative tax havens. (BBC)
• The United Kingdom Independent Police Complaints Commission announces an inquest into Ian Tomlinson's death. (The Guardian)

• Shia Islamists under cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protest in Baghdad, Iraq, on the anniversary of its capture by the United States Armed Forces in 2003. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• Algeria's presidential election takes place. (VoA) (BBC)
• Indonesia's legislative election takes place. (New York Times)
• Riots occur after Baloch National Movement President Ghulam Mohammed Baloch is discovered dead near Turbat, Pakistan. (BBC)
• Kim Jong-il appears publicly for the first time since August 2008 for reelection as North Korea's Great Leader. (Irish Times) (BBC)
• Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling resigns as patron of Scotland's Multiple Sclerosis Society. (BBC)
• Forty-six foreign nationals depart Belfast, Northern Ireland, after riots during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. (BBC)
• Demonstrators assemble in Tbilisi, Georgia, to demand the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. (Sky News)
• The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency allegedly decommissions its black sites worldwide. (BBC)
• Bishop Harold Miller of the Church of Ireland advises a boycott of television on Good Friday. (BBC)
• The 18th series of DIY SOS started broadcasting on this date.

• Cape Fear Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, and New Frontier Bank in Greeley, Colorado, are shut down. (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)
• At least 27 tornadoes kill six people throughout the Southern United States. (CNN)
• The Fourth East Asia Summit begins in Pattaya, Thailand. (Xinhua)
• China imposes pay limits for executive officers of state-owned financial institutions. (Xinhua)
• Japan strengthens its economic sanctions against North Korea, following the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2. (CNN)
• Fijian President Josefa Iloilo suspends the Constitution and dismisses the Court of Appeal. (New Zealand Stuff)
• Mexico City closes freshwater supplies to 5,000,000 people for 36 hours to combat shortages. (BBC)
• Japan announces a US$150-billion economic stimulus package. (BBC)
• Three people are shot at OAED Vocational College near Athens, Greece. (BBC)

• Anti-government protests cancel the Fourth East Asia Summit in Pattaya, Thailand. (BBC)
• Abdelaziz Bouteflika is reelected as President of Algeria. (AP via Google News)
• A gunman kills one person and injures three others in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (BBC)
• The French Navy rescues four hostages and kills two Somali pirates on the hijacked yacht Tanit in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)

• Thai political crisis:
  • Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and its surrounding areas. (RadioFree Europe)
  • Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urges the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship to revolt. (CNN)
• Sri Lanka's Armed Forces temporarily suspend their offensive against the Tamil Tigers to allow civilians to find refuge. (Al Jazeera)
• Pope Benedict XVI says that only reconciliation can resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. (MSNBC)
• Ángel Cabrera wins the PGA Tour's 2009 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, United States. (Yahoo)
• Captain Richard Phillips of the MV Maersk Alabama, who was abducted by Somali pirates, is rescued. (CNN)

Easter 2009

• A fire destroys a homeless hostel and kills at least 22 people in Kamień Pomorski, Poland. (BBC)
• The Taliban's Students' Movement imposes sharia law in Swat, Pakistan. (Reuters)
• Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says that anti-government protests in Bangkok are "under control". (BBC)
• Mass media in Fiji protest against government censorship. (Al Jazeera)
• China's government publishes a National Human Rights Action Plan. (Xinhua)
• An unmanned Palestinian fishing vessel explodes near an Israeli Navy patrol in the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
• United States Representative Donald M. Payne comes under mortar fire at Aden Adde International Airport in Somalia. (Telegraph)
• Protests against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili continue in Tbilisi. (RIA Novosti) (AFP)
• At least four Lebanese Ground Forces soldiers are killed near Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley. (Los Angeles Times)
• The U.S. federal government will rescind travel and gift restrictions to Cuba. (Miami Herald)
• The United Nations Security Council condemns North Korea's launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2. (Sky News)

• North Korea will depart the six-party talks and resume its nuclear program. (BBC)
• French fishing vessels institute blockades at Boulogne-sur-Mer and Dunkirk to protest the Common Fisheries Policy. (BBC)
• Somali pirates hijack the merchant vessels Irene of Greece and Sea Horse of Lebanon. (Sky News)
• The Camel Reproduction Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, announces the birth of Injaz, the first cloned camel. (Telegraph)

• China launches a second satellite as part of its Compass global navigation system. (Xinhua)
• Swiss investment bank UBS AG will cut 8,700 jobs. (Sky News)
• The Pitcairn Islands abolish alcohol prohibition. (RNZI)
• The French Navy captures 11 Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)
• The United States' consumer price index records its first year-on-year deflation since 1955. (Times Online)
• The Tax Day Tea Party protests against higher taxes and out-of-control government spending began rallying across the United States. [WSJ)

• Sweden's National Museum of Science and Technology publicly displays a confiscated Pirate Bay server. (The Local)
• China's economy grows by 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, the lowest increase since 1999. (Xinhua)
• The Naxalite movement kills 17 people as India's general election begins. (Times Online)
• A landslide in Kyrgyzstan kills at least 16 people. (BBC)
• Bolivian police kill three people - Hungarian Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, Irishman Michael Dwyer, and Romanian Magyarosi Arpak - and arrest two others over an alleged plot to assassinate President Evo Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera. (RTÉ) (BBC)

• An airplane crash kills 11 people in Papua, Indonesia. (UPI)
• American Sterling Bank in Sugar Creek, Missouri, is closed. (MarketWatch)
• The Bangladesh Police arrest 31 suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir members for planning terrorism. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Irish political party Fianna Fáil departs the Alliance for Europe of the Nations and joins the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. (EurActiv)
• Two earthquakes kill 22 people in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. (Sky News)
• Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, and Carl Lundström of The Pirate Bay are found guilty of copyright infringement and imprisoned until 2010. (New Zealand Herald)
• People's Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul is injured in an apparent assassination attempt in Bangkok, Thailand. (Los Angeles Times)
• A recount in Moldova's parliamentary election confirms an "emphatic win" by the Communist Party. (Russia Today)
• The trial of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasāb resumes. (Al Jazeera)
• Serbian President Boris Tadić visits Kosovo. (Deutsche Welle)
• The Czech Republic invites Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko to a European Union summit in May. (RIA Novosti)
• Botswana will reduce its output of diamonds by more than 50% in 2009. (AFP)
• Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina issues an arrest warrant for former President Marc Ravalomanana. (News 24)
• South Africa's Army enters KwaZulu-Natal province to prevent violence during the upcoming general election. (BBC)
• Canada restores citizenship to foreigners in an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1977. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Fifth Summit of the Americas begins in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Barbados Advocate)

• France's National Police arrest ETA military leader Jurdan Martitegi in Montauriol. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• Canada's HMCS Winnipeg and the United States' USS Halyburton thwart Somali pirates' attack on a Norwegian oil tanker. (MSN)
• Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is charged with espionage and imprisoned in Iran until 2017. (BBC)
• An explosion at a warehouse kills at least 18 people in Hunan Province, China. (BBC)
• The Abu Sayyaf Group releases Swiss Red Cross worker Andreas Notter from captivity in the Philippines. (Reuters)
• The Netherlands' Korps Commandotroepen rescue 20 Yemeni hostages from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)

• Eight corrections officers are killed in an ambush during a prisoner transfer in Nayarit, Mexico. (AP via Google)
• United States President Barack Obama announces that Central Intelligence Agency personnel who employed enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects will not be prosecuted. (BBC)
• The Fifth Summit of the Americas ends in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Canadian Press)
• The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta releases British hostage Robin Barry Hughes. (CNN)

• The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes are announced. (New York Times)
• Oracle Corporation purchases Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion. (MarketWatch)
• India's Space Research Organization launches its RISAT-2 reconnaissance satellite. (CNN-IBN)
• The National Unity Party wins Northern Cyprus's legislative election. (BBC)
• The hijacker of CanJet Flight 918 surrenders and releases his six hostages. (BBC) (Sky News)
• Durban Review Conference:
  • The United Nations World Conference against Racism begins in Geneva, Switzerland. (Telegraph)
  • A protester throws an object at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and yells, "Racist, racist!" (BBC)
  • Several delegations exit during an anti-Israel speech by President Ahmadinejad. (Reuters) (Telegraph)
• China's government discovers 3,850 kilometres (2,390 mi) more of the Great Wall of China. (BBC)

• Yahoo! will cut between 600 and 700 jobs. (AP via Forbes)
• Twelve navies from the Americas begin annual UNITAS Gold exercises near Florida, United States. (Miami Herald)
• The World Digital Library launches at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France. (AFP via Google News)
• The Wall Street Journal reports that cyber-spies have hacked the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter Program. (Reuters)
• The United Kingdom's Retail Prices Index records negative inflation for the first time since 1960. (BBC)
• Twenty-four people are killed during combat between the Mungiki criminal organization and citizens of Karatina in Kenya. (BBC)
• The smallest confirmed extrasolar planet, Gliese 581 e, is discovered. (MSNBC)

• The United Kingdom's new government budget will increase borrowing and tax high-income earners to 50%. (Washington Post)
• South Africa's general election begins. (Reuters)
• The Naxalite movement releases 500 hostages from a hijacked train in Latehar, India. (Sky News)
• Argentina claims 1,700,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi) of the World Ocean. (BBC)
• Japan reports its first annual trade deficit since 1981. (BBC)

• General Motors will temporarily close 13 factories in the United States and Mexico. (AP via Miami Herald)
• The Taliban's Students' Movement captures Buner District in Pakistan. (WSJ)
• Judge Tomas Norström of The Pirate Bay's trial is revealed to be a member of the same copyright protection organizations as several entertainment industry representatives. (TT via The Local)
• India's general election begins its second of five phases. (BBC)
• The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the world economy will not recover until 2010. (CNN)
• Prime Minister of Lesotho Pakalitha Mosisili survives an apparent assassination attempt. (BBC)
• Two suicide attacks near Baqubah and in Baghdad, Iraq, kill at least 87 people. (CNN)
• Iraq's government calculates that more than 110,000 Iraqis have died since the Iraq War began in 2003. (AP)

• Swine influenza kills at least 68 people and infects at least 1,000 more in Mexico. (CNN)
• A suicide attack kills at least 60 people and injures 125 more in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters)
• Two American Current TV journalists will be tried on criminal charges in North Korea. (Sky News)
• Northern Mariana Islands Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Villagomez is convicted of fraud, wire fraud, and bribery. (Saipan Tribune)
• Democrat Scott Murphy wins New York's 20th congressional district special election. (New York Times)
• American Southern Bank in Kennesaw, Georgia, is closed. (MarketWatch)
• The bovine genome is sequenced. (Science)
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• Mexico's government declares a state of emergency to combat the outbreak of swine influenza. (Reuters)
• Ethiopia arrests 35 people in connection with Berhanu Nega's plan to overthrow the government. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
• The African National Congress loses its supermajority in South Africa's National Assembly. (BBC)
• North Korea begins to reprocess fuel rods at its Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. (BBC)
• Iceland's legislative election occurs. (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
• Somali pirates hijack Germany's MV Patriot and release a Greek ship. (Reuters) (AP)
• University of Georgia Professor George Zinkhan allegedly kills three people in Athens, Georgia, United States. (AJC) (The Times)

• Eleven Justice and Equality Movement members are sentenced to death for attacking Khartoum, Sudan, in 2008. (BBC)
• The United States declares a public health emergency over the outbreak of swine influenza. (New York Times)
• Incumbent President Rafael Correa claims victory in Ecuador's general election. (CNN)
• The cruise ship MSC Melody thwarts an attack by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (AP via Los Angeles Times)

• A low-flying Boeing VC-25, Air Force One, causes momentary panic in New York City, New York, United States. (New York Times)
• Mexico reports 149 deaths from the outbreak of swine influenza. (BBC)
• General Motors announces that its Pontiac brand will be eliminated by 2010. (AP via Google News)
• Japan's NEC Corporation and Renesas Technology announce their intentions to merge. (AP via Forbes)
• Yemen's military rescues four oil tankers from Somali pirates. (BBC)
• A 5.6-magnitude earthquake strikes near Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico. (Sky News)
• The People's Armed Forces invade Madagascar's constitutional court. (BBC)
• A police officer suffers a mental breakdown and kills 3 people in Moscow, Russia. (BBC) (RTÉ)

• The first transgenic, fluorescent dogs are cloned in South Korea. (AP via Google News)
• United States Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switches from the Republican to the Democratic Party. (CNN)
• Sri Lanka's government denies Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt a visa. (Reuters)
• A 3.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Ulverston, Cumbria, England. (Sky News)
• The Russian destroyer Admiral Panteleyev detains 29 suspected Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (UPI)

• The United States economy contracts by 6.1% in the first fiscal quarter of 2009. (AP via New York Times)
• Swine influenza outbreak:
  • The United States suffers its first death. (USA Today)
  • Mexico reports 159 deaths and 2,500 suspected cases. (Sky News)
  • The World Health Organization raises its Pandemic Alert Level to five. (BBC)
• India's government locks down Srinagar, Kashmir, to prevent anti-election protests. (AFP via Google News)
• Australia announces the deployment of 450 additional soldiers to the Afghanistan War. (AAP via News Limited)
• Pakistan:
  • The Armed Forces kill more than 50 Taliban militants while capturing Daggar, Buner Valley. (Reuters)
  • At least 23 people are killed as riots erupt in North Karachi. (Daily Times)
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Solomon Islands is officially opened. (BBC)

• President of the United States Barack Obama delivers his 3rd primetime news conference on his 100th day in office

• Swine influenza outbreak:
  • President Felipe Calderón partially closes Mexico's economy for five days. (The Irish Times)
  • The World Health Organization changes the strain's name to influenza A (H1N1). (The Irish Times)
• Chrysler declares bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Code. (CNN-IBN)
• Seven people are killed and 17 injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. (BBC)
• The third round of India's general election takes place. (Reuters via Telegraph)
• The United Kingdom ends combat operations in the Iraq War. (BBC)
• Eight National Army soldiers are killed during combat with the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia. (BBC)
• Twelve people are killed at the State Oil Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan. (BBC)
• Helios Airways and four executives are charged with 119 counts of manslaughter over the crash of Flight 522 in 2005. (AP)
• The Italian cargo ship Jolley Smeraldo evades an attempted hijacking by Somali pirates. (UPI)
• The Los Angeles Police Department identifies the suspected serial killer John Floyd Thomas, Jr. (LA Times)
• Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye replaces Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré as Prime Minister of Senegal. (Radio Netherlands)