July 21, 2009, 11:58 am
By MATT GROSS
In my romantic travel daydreams, I imagine myself marching off into the hills of Patagonia with nothing in my backpack but a change of underwear and a piece of flint. In reality, however, I — and most travelers today — bring gadgets. Lots of gadgets.
From iPods to noise-canceling headphones, from digital cameras to GPS trackers, they take up space, can consume electricity and distract us from actually enjoying the trip. Gadgets also tend to be expensive, small and easy-to-lose. But gadgets can be both useful and cheap — they can help even budget travelers make the most of their adventures. Here is a list of the 10 gadgets, all under $50, that I either own or have been lusting after.
1. Last summer, when I was hitchhiking across northern Cyprus, a British couple wanted to give me a ride from our hotel. The problem: Their car wouldn’t start. Luckily, I was carrying a Leatherman Skeletool CX, which has pliers, which I used to tighten the battery leads and get the car going. Now I don’t go anywhere without a multitool. I’ve used it to slice goat cheese in Monaco and reattach a suitcase wheel in Vilnius. This week, however, I’m planning to lay aside my Skeletool for the Leatherman Juice C2, which not only costs less ($31.99 at Amazon) but has more tools, including a corkscrew.
2. Caving in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Camping in Oregon. Reading a book on an overnight train from Istanbul to Bucharest. Couldn’t have done any of that without a flashlight. Now, forget about old-school incandescent bulbs — LEDs are the way to go, and from the reviews I’ve read, Cree brand LEDs are both more powerful and less expensive than other brands. The Fenix LD01 ($42 from Amazon) is ridiculously tiny but throws off 80 lumens from a single AAA-powered Cree bulb.
3. Pickpocketing is a major concern of travelers, whether they’re carrying loads of cash or 50 euros that need to last the next two weeks. My solution is to put aside the wallet, often bulky and usually carried in the back pocket, and switch to a money clip, which is slimmer and fits in the harder-for-thieves-to-reach front pocket. It’s not 100 percent foolproof, but I haven’t been robbed in the decade I’ve been using one. I got mine for $10 at a Miami flea market, but if I were getting a new one — and didn’t care about its hideous “Star Trek: The Next Generation” styling — I’d try the Memorex Money Clip Flash Drive ($17.99 at Target stores), which builds in a one-gigabyte USB drive.
Kryptonite R44. Whether you’re securing your belongings at a hostel or lashing up your snowboard, a retractable cable lock is a lightweight essential for travel. Make sure to get one with at least a three-foot cable. The Master Lock 4605D costs about $10 at Amazon, but the $18 Kryptonite R4 has a detachable LED flashlight (no word on whether it’s a Cree).
5. How do you fit a month’s worth of clothes into a 22-inch carry-on? By sucking the air out with vacuum packing bags. Travel Space Bags look like a good value — $7 for two medium bags, $8 for two large at the Container Store — and my fellow travel writer John Rambow tells me he likes them. (I’ll be testing them out on my next trip.) While you’re at it, it never hurts to bring along a half-dozen Ziploc-style bags, too.
6. It used to be that whenever I went abroad, I never had enough adapter plugs for all my devices: laptop, camera charger, cellphone charger and so on. Then, last summer, one of my readers suggested what I should’ve realized all along: If you bring a power strip, you only need one adapter. Since then, I’ve used the Belkin Mini Surge Protector, which has three outlets and two USB jacks (great for MP3 players and cellphones) and costs $25. (Full disclosure: My wife’s cousin works for Belkin.)
7. Whether you’re a snap-happy amateur or a DSLR-toting pro, stabilizing your camera will make for better pictures. Most mini-tripods, however, need a flat surface to rest upon. Not so the Gorillapod, which has flexible, multijointed legs that let it balance just about anywhere, even around vertical poles, tree branches or wherever you want to prop the camera. The original, good for compact cameras, costs $21.95 from its manufacturer, Joby, while a larger version, which can handle the weight of an S.L.R., is $39.95.
8. I don’t even remember where I got my travel first-aid kit, but over the years it’s provided me with bandages, painkillers and other essential tools for dealing with the bumps, scrapes and hangovers associated with long-term budget travel. It’s almost depleted now, so I’m getting REI’s seven-ounce Adventurer Medical kit ($24.95), which has all the usual bandages and tablets, plus safety pins, duct tape, sting-relief wipes and protective nitrile gloves. I almost can’t wait to get hurt!
9. The most important gadgets, in my opinion, are not those that let us travel more easily but those that let us connect with other people. A deck of cards is always in my bag, and I have friends who won’t leave home without a Frisbee. Those aren’t exactly gadgets, though. Speakers for an iPod are nice to have along — the lightweight, $29.99 iSymphony is what I own — but I sometimes feel like iPods promote egotism: Everyone wants to be the D.J. Instead, I love my $30, 4.7-ounce Grundig Mini 300 shortwave radio. It may not have the greatest receiver or speaker, but I remember one night, sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas with a new friend, tuning in to music and news broadcast from India, England, China, Russia, Vietnam and beyond, marveling at how isolated and yet how connected we felt. Nice.
10. Some gadgets are newfangled and exciting, others time-tested and true — which is why, wherever I go, I carry a notepad and a pen. Moleskine is the ultra-popular choice, but I prefer Ecojot’s 3-by-4-inch recycled-paper notepads (about $5), which are smaller and more flexible, but with enough backing to provide a stable writing surface. As for a pen, I buy Muji’s 0.38-millimeter gel-ink ballpoints, $1.25 apiece.
So there you have it, the gadgets no frugal traveler should be without. (And, no, I’m not getting paid to promote any of this stuff.)
Of course, your ideal gadget list will also depend on what kind of frugal traveler you are. Hikers and campers may want headlamps instead of flashlights, or hand-crank radios instead of battery-powered, while urbanites might see little use for a first-aid kit. On top of that, the particular brands and models matter less than what the devices actually do — you may prefer Kryptonite locks over Master, and you know what? That’s O.K. Just bring a retractable cable lock. I’d hate for someone to run off with your tripod, shortwave radio and first-aid kit.
Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated that the Leatherman Juice C2 included scissors. It does not.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Sunday, January 3, 2010
CHINA: Top 10 dramatic moments in 2009
Updated: 2009-12-22 05:56
Editor's Note: For some people 2009 may be another year with no particular meaning or significance, but for many others 2009 has been a year of life and death, a year filled with twists and turns, and a year that is destined to be etched into their memories forever.
Here in a chinadaily.com.cn special, we look back at some of the most unforgettable moments that changed some people's lives and shocked many others.
1. The towering inferno
2. The highway explosion
3. The defiant bidder
4. The safe landing
5. The suicidal jump
6. The sudden release
7. The final revelation
8. The prison break
9. The garrison attack
10. The statuette assault
1. The towering inferno
China Central Television's (CCTV) new tower, also known as the Television Cultural Center, was engulfed in flames on Feb. 9 after an illegal fireworks display was arranged and paid for by CCTV to mark the end of the Lunar New Year festivities. One fireman died fighting the blaze.
The fire at the CCTV building, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and German architect Ole Scheeren, was caused by a combination of the illegal ignition of fireworks and flammable building materials, Beijing's fire authorities said.
2. The highway explosion
Four people were killed and six others were injured after a truck fully-loaded with gunpowder exploded Dec 5 in Central China's Hubei province.
The accident occurred at 00:20 am at a section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Highway in the city of Xiaogan in Hubei. The explosion also damaged more than 300 houses in 10 nearby villages and injured at least 29 villagers, local officials said.
3. The defiant bidder
A Chinese man who successfully bid for two looted bronze sculptures auctioned in Paris says his winning bid will not be paid.
Cai Mingchao, a collection advisor to the National Treasures Fund, bid 31.49 million euros (US$39.63 million) by telephone during an auction at Christie's on February 25, but then said that "this money cannnot be paid" at a press conference.
China has repeatedly demanded the return of the sculptures looted when the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was burned down by Anglo-French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. So far, five of the 12 bronze animal heads have been returned, while the whereabouts of five others are still unknown.
4. The safe landing
A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Jan. 15 after a collision with a flock of birds knocked out both engines, but rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.
Flight 1549 went down minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., splashing into the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.
From 1990 to 2007, there were nearly 80,000 reported incidents of birds striking nonmilitary aircraft, about one strike for every 10,000 flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Agriculture.
5. The suicidal jump
Former Republic of Korea (ROK) President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death Saturday on May 23 while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home. He was 62.
A self-taught lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation's highest office in 2003, Roh had prided himself on being a "clean" politician in a country with a long history of corruption. But allegations that he accepted $6 million in bribes from a Seoul businessman were deeply troubling to the ex-leader and he was still the subject of a corruption probe at the time of his suicide.
6. The sudden release
Former US President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on August 4, and after meeting with the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il, secured the release of two American journalists the next day.
The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of US media outlet Current TV co-founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, were arrested when working on a story near the DPRK-China border in March and were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts" before finally pardoned by Kim Jong Il.
7. The final revelation
After denying his marriage in an interview with Hong Kong's Cable TV in February, veteran Hong Kong actor-singer Andy Lau admitted in August that he and his girlfriend had already married in the US.
He said he did not announce it because he wanted to protect his wife while they tried to have a baby. Lau did not identify his girlfriend, but public marriage records made available online by the Clark County Recorder's Office in Nevada show that Lau and Carol Chu wed on June 24, 2008.
He later apologized for lying about his marriage, saying he behaved inappropriately for a public figure.
8. The prison break
Four convicts broke out of prison after killing a police officer in suburban Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Oct. 17.
They went on the run for three days before three of them were captured and the other one shot dead by local police on Oct. 20.
9. The garrison attack
Public security officials and the military in the southwestern Chongqing municipality are still working to track down an unidentified attacker, who shot dead a sentry on duty outside a garrison on the evening of March 19.
The attacker ran away after firing bullets at the garrison guard and robbing his submachine gun, according to the police.
10. The statuette assault
An attacker hurled a statuette at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking the leader in the face at the end of a rally on Dec. 13 and leaving the stunned 73-year-old media mogul with a broken nose and bloodied mouth.
Police said the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs in Milan was immediately taken into custody. The Italian leader was rushed to a hospital.
His personal doctor said the premier had suffered a fractured nose, two broken teeth and cuts to his lips that required stitches.
He said Berlusconi would be kept in at least overnight for observation and would need up to 15 days to recover.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Editor's Note: For some people 2009 may be another year with no particular meaning or significance, but for many others 2009 has been a year of life and death, a year filled with twists and turns, and a year that is destined to be etched into their memories forever.
Here in a chinadaily.com.cn special, we look back at some of the most unforgettable moments that changed some people's lives and shocked many others.
1. The towering inferno
2. The highway explosion
3. The defiant bidder
4. The safe landing
5. The suicidal jump
6. The sudden release
7. The final revelation
8. The prison break
9. The garrison attack
10. The statuette assault
1. The towering inferno
China Central Television's (CCTV) new tower, also known as the Television Cultural Center, was engulfed in flames on Feb. 9 after an illegal fireworks display was arranged and paid for by CCTV to mark the end of the Lunar New Year festivities. One fireman died fighting the blaze.
The fire at the CCTV building, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and German architect Ole Scheeren, was caused by a combination of the illegal ignition of fireworks and flammable building materials, Beijing's fire authorities said.
2. The highway explosion
Four people were killed and six others were injured after a truck fully-loaded with gunpowder exploded Dec 5 in Central China's Hubei province.
The accident occurred at 00:20 am at a section of the Beijing-Zhuhai Highway in the city of Xiaogan in Hubei. The explosion also damaged more than 300 houses in 10 nearby villages and injured at least 29 villagers, local officials said.
3. The defiant bidder
A Chinese man who successfully bid for two looted bronze sculptures auctioned in Paris says his winning bid will not be paid.
Cai Mingchao, a collection advisor to the National Treasures Fund, bid 31.49 million euros (US$39.63 million) by telephone during an auction at Christie's on February 25, but then said that "this money cannnot be paid" at a press conference.
China has repeatedly demanded the return of the sculptures looted when the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was burned down by Anglo-French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. So far, five of the 12 bronze animal heads have been returned, while the whereabouts of five others are still unknown.
4. The safe landing
A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Jan. 15 after a collision with a flock of birds knocked out both engines, but rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.
Flight 1549 went down minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., splashing into the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.
From 1990 to 2007, there were nearly 80,000 reported incidents of birds striking nonmilitary aircraft, about one strike for every 10,000 flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Agriculture.
5. The suicidal jump
Former Republic of Korea (ROK) President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death Saturday on May 23 while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home. He was 62.
A self-taught lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation's highest office in 2003, Roh had prided himself on being a "clean" politician in a country with a long history of corruption. But allegations that he accepted $6 million in bribes from a Seoul businessman were deeply troubling to the ex-leader and he was still the subject of a corruption probe at the time of his suicide.
6. The sudden release
Former US President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on August 4, and after meeting with the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il, secured the release of two American journalists the next day.
The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of US media outlet Current TV co-founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, were arrested when working on a story near the DPRK-China border in March and were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts" before finally pardoned by Kim Jong Il.
7. The final revelation
After denying his marriage in an interview with Hong Kong's Cable TV in February, veteran Hong Kong actor-singer Andy Lau admitted in August that he and his girlfriend had already married in the US.
He said he did not announce it because he wanted to protect his wife while they tried to have a baby. Lau did not identify his girlfriend, but public marriage records made available online by the Clark County Recorder's Office in Nevada show that Lau and Carol Chu wed on June 24, 2008.
He later apologized for lying about his marriage, saying he behaved inappropriately for a public figure.
8. The prison break
Four convicts broke out of prison after killing a police officer in suburban Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Oct. 17.
They went on the run for three days before three of them were captured and the other one shot dead by local police on Oct. 20.
9. The garrison attack
Public security officials and the military in the southwestern Chongqing municipality are still working to track down an unidentified attacker, who shot dead a sentry on duty outside a garrison on the evening of March 19.
The attacker ran away after firing bullets at the garrison guard and robbing his submachine gun, according to the police.
10. The statuette assault
An attacker hurled a statuette at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking the leader in the face at the end of a rally on Dec. 13 and leaving the stunned 73-year-old media mogul with a broken nose and bloodied mouth.
Police said the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs in Milan was immediately taken into custody. The Italian leader was rushed to a hospital.
His personal doctor said the premier had suffered a fractured nose, two broken teeth and cuts to his lips that required stitches.
He said Berlusconi would be kept in at least overnight for observation and would need up to 15 days to recover.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Top 10 no-nos for civil servants
Updated: 2009-12-29 08:30
Editor's Note: Take it for gospel, or just laugh it away. It's up to you, public servants. Chinese Internet surfers have compiled a handbook of "10 Commandments" for Chinese civil servants in an attempt to give well-meant advice to those serving the people.
The 10 Commandments all have corresponding Party disciplines and laws. Unfortunately, some of these have been neglected or ignored. As a result, many officials became the focal point of public criticism and some were even demoted.
"Better abide by it, and survive."
- Those who are being served.
Commandment 1: Don't talk nonsense
Commandment 2: Don't smoke expensive cigarettes
Commandment 3: Don't wear a luxury watch
Commandment 4: Don't drive a luxury car
Commandment 5: Don't let others hold an umbrella for you
Commandment 6: Don't gawk at hot babes
Commandment 7: Don't arrest Internet whistle-blowers
Commandment 8: Don't grin amid suffering
Commandment 9: Don't use your title just to attract attention
Commandment 10: Don't post a paper on the Internet
Commandment 1: Don't talk nonsense.
When it applies: while being interviewed
Example:
On a site in Xigang village of Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, which originally was planned to be affordable housing for low-income residents, developers had reportedly built 12 villas and two mid-rise buildings at the time of the incident.
When asked by a reporter about that, Lu Jun, then deputy director of the city's urban planning development, retorted: "Do you speak for the Party? Or do you speak for the people?"
Lu's words were recorded by a reporter of China National Radio and broadcast by the radio station in June. It caused a stir on the Internet. Lu was then suspended from his post and went under investigation for the "utterance".
The lesson: They are reporters, not your subordinates! (And they've got digital recorders.)
Commandment 2: Don't smoke expensive cigarettes.
When it applies: during a meeting with official colleagues
Example:
Zhou Jiugeng, the former director of the real estate management bureau of Jiangning district of Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, was exposed by netizens with photos featuring him smoking Nanjing 95 Imperial Cigarettes worth 180 yuan ($26.3) per pack.
Zhou was sentenced to 11 years in jail, with about 1.2 million yuan ($175,000) of personal property confiscated. He was convicted of accepting 1.07 million yuan ($170,000) and HK$110,000 ($14,000) in bribes from contractors, subordinate businesses and officials.
The lesson: Reporters are armed with cameras!
Commandment 3: Don't wear a luxury watch.
When it applies: while delivering a speech
Example:
The Zhou in Commandment 2 again. He was also spotted sporting a Vacheron Constantin watch worth at least 100,000 yuan ($14,642) in online photos during a meeting. Others like Zhou, 15 secretaries of county party committee in Shaanxi province wear luxury watches, photos posted online show.
The lesson: Reporters have cell phones with photo-taking functions.
Commandment 4: Don't drive a luxury car.
When it applies: while purchasing cars for official use
Example:
A notice of the government of Beichuan county, southwest China's Sichuan province, posted online at the beginning of this year, said a contract had been awarded to a car dealer in Mianyang city to buy a Toyota SUV for 1.1 million yuan ($161,051).
Beichuan, one of the worst-hit counties during the earthquake last year, has received financial aid and donations worth of 60 billion yuan. The quake left 10 percent of the county's population of 300,000 dead and destroyed 80 percent of the buildings. Jing Dazhong, chief of the Beichuan county government, told reporters his county purchased the Toyota Land Cruiser "mainly for the use of reconstruction work".
The county also announced that it had asked three other dealers to deliver a Nissan SUV, a Toyota Camry sedan, and a Changfeng SUV.
After waves of debate and queries from Internet users and the general public on the necessity of the purchase, the official responsible for the purchase was transferred to other posts.
The lesson: You're not on vacation while driving an official car!
Commandment 5: Don't let others hold an umbrella for you.
When it applies: during a visit to grassroots government units
Example:
In a blog post by Liao Xingbo, the deputy director-general of the Guangdong provincial health department, a photo with Liao's inferior holding an umbrella for him drew waves of comments online. Liao was reportedly asking a local villager about the source of their drinking water during a visit to the poorest family at the time the photo was taken. They didn't have access to tap water.
An online critic said officials like Liao are used to being taken care of and are too busy to hold an umbrella themselves.
The lesson: You're never too important to hold your own umbrella!
Commandment 6: Don't gawk at hot babes.
When it applies: during a general meeting with the staff
Example:
The dean of a hospital in Beijing surnamed Wu was said to be "drunk" in photos while having a general staff meeting, according to someone who posted the photos. Nicknamed "Drunken Wu," his eyes appeared to be glued to a nurse receiving a certificate from him in one of the photo set. Other scenes included him taking a nap at his desk.
Though it's not clear whether the dean was drunk or not, most online comments mocked the idleness he showed during work hours.
The lesson: Act decent, at least at the moment for a group photo
Commandment 7: Don't arrest Internet whistle-blowers.
When it applies: while being criticized online
Example:
Wang Shuai from Lingbao in central China's Henan province, who lives in Shanghai, was detained in March after he revealed the Dawang government's illegal land acquisition in an online post last May.
Wang was detained for eight days on charges of defamation, but was later released on bail. After investigation, the Henan provincial public security bureau found the accusation to be completely made-up and its director reportedly apologized to Wang later.
Lingbao officials in the public security bureau were also investigated for liability in the case.
The lesson: People have the right of free speech, and it includes cyberspace!
Commandment 8: Don't grin amid suffering.
When it applies: when disaster strikes
Example:
A local official was all smiles while welcoming the nation's top leaders to his badly damaged city after a natural disaster, and he was criticized online for acting improperly.
On the fourth day after the devastating earthquake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province last year, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao paid a visit to Mianyang, one of the hardest-hit areas in Sichuan. Tan Li, then secretary of the Mianyang Municipal Party Committee, was shown in a photo from Xinhua News Agency smiling from ear to ear while welcoming Hu and Wen at the airport.
The lesson: Look somber when big-shots arrive during a time of trouble, even though you know you have a big chance of being promoted.
Commandment 9: Don't use your title just to attract attention.
When it applies: again, when disaster occurs
Example:
Zhang Tongkai, secretary of politics and the law committee of the CPC of Beichuan county, cried "Help, I'm the Secretary" when a search and rescue team arrived at the building where Zhang worked after the quake, according to a report last May.
The lesson: Every life is equally valuable.
Commandment 10: Don't post a paper on the Internet.
When it applies: when writing a thesis before graduation
Example:
At first, he was the youngest mayor in China and many questioned his competency. Then, 29-year-old Zhou Senfeng, mayor of Yicheng in central China's Hubei province, was accused of plagiarism in a published thesis before he got his master's degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
It was not clear the accusation had any ground. Without an expert assessment, it is hard to conclude whether Zhou plagiarized or he was wrongly accused of it.
The lesson: Think before you write!
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Editor's Note: Take it for gospel, or just laugh it away. It's up to you, public servants. Chinese Internet surfers have compiled a handbook of "10 Commandments" for Chinese civil servants in an attempt to give well-meant advice to those serving the people.
The 10 Commandments all have corresponding Party disciplines and laws. Unfortunately, some of these have been neglected or ignored. As a result, many officials became the focal point of public criticism and some were even demoted.
"Better abide by it, and survive."
- Those who are being served.
Commandment 1: Don't talk nonsense
Commandment 2: Don't smoke expensive cigarettes
Commandment 3: Don't wear a luxury watch
Commandment 4: Don't drive a luxury car
Commandment 5: Don't let others hold an umbrella for you
Commandment 6: Don't gawk at hot babes
Commandment 7: Don't arrest Internet whistle-blowers
Commandment 8: Don't grin amid suffering
Commandment 9: Don't use your title just to attract attention
Commandment 10: Don't post a paper on the Internet
Commandment 1: Don't talk nonsense.
When it applies: while being interviewed
Example:
On a site in Xigang village of Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, which originally was planned to be affordable housing for low-income residents, developers had reportedly built 12 villas and two mid-rise buildings at the time of the incident.
When asked by a reporter about that, Lu Jun, then deputy director of the city's urban planning development, retorted: "Do you speak for the Party? Or do you speak for the people?"
Lu's words were recorded by a reporter of China National Radio and broadcast by the radio station in June. It caused a stir on the Internet. Lu was then suspended from his post and went under investigation for the "utterance".
The lesson: They are reporters, not your subordinates! (And they've got digital recorders.)
Commandment 2: Don't smoke expensive cigarettes.
When it applies: during a meeting with official colleagues
Example:
Zhou Jiugeng, the former director of the real estate management bureau of Jiangning district of Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, was exposed by netizens with photos featuring him smoking Nanjing 95 Imperial Cigarettes worth 180 yuan ($26.3) per pack.
Zhou was sentenced to 11 years in jail, with about 1.2 million yuan ($175,000) of personal property confiscated. He was convicted of accepting 1.07 million yuan ($170,000) and HK$110,000 ($14,000) in bribes from contractors, subordinate businesses and officials.
The lesson: Reporters are armed with cameras!
Commandment 3: Don't wear a luxury watch.
When it applies: while delivering a speech
Example:
The Zhou in Commandment 2 again. He was also spotted sporting a Vacheron Constantin watch worth at least 100,000 yuan ($14,642) in online photos during a meeting. Others like Zhou, 15 secretaries of county party committee in Shaanxi province wear luxury watches, photos posted online show.
The lesson: Reporters have cell phones with photo-taking functions.
Commandment 4: Don't drive a luxury car.
When it applies: while purchasing cars for official use
Example:
A notice of the government of Beichuan county, southwest China's Sichuan province, posted online at the beginning of this year, said a contract had been awarded to a car dealer in Mianyang city to buy a Toyota SUV for 1.1 million yuan ($161,051).
Beichuan, one of the worst-hit counties during the earthquake last year, has received financial aid and donations worth of 60 billion yuan. The quake left 10 percent of the county's population of 300,000 dead and destroyed 80 percent of the buildings. Jing Dazhong, chief of the Beichuan county government, told reporters his county purchased the Toyota Land Cruiser "mainly for the use of reconstruction work".
The county also announced that it had asked three other dealers to deliver a Nissan SUV, a Toyota Camry sedan, and a Changfeng SUV.
After waves of debate and queries from Internet users and the general public on the necessity of the purchase, the official responsible for the purchase was transferred to other posts.
The lesson: You're not on vacation while driving an official car!
Commandment 5: Don't let others hold an umbrella for you.
When it applies: during a visit to grassroots government units
Example:
In a blog post by Liao Xingbo, the deputy director-general of the Guangdong provincial health department, a photo with Liao's inferior holding an umbrella for him drew waves of comments online. Liao was reportedly asking a local villager about the source of their drinking water during a visit to the poorest family at the time the photo was taken. They didn't have access to tap water.
An online critic said officials like Liao are used to being taken care of and are too busy to hold an umbrella themselves.
The lesson: You're never too important to hold your own umbrella!
Commandment 6: Don't gawk at hot babes.
When it applies: during a general meeting with the staff
Example:
The dean of a hospital in Beijing surnamed Wu was said to be "drunk" in photos while having a general staff meeting, according to someone who posted the photos. Nicknamed "Drunken Wu," his eyes appeared to be glued to a nurse receiving a certificate from him in one of the photo set. Other scenes included him taking a nap at his desk.
Though it's not clear whether the dean was drunk or not, most online comments mocked the idleness he showed during work hours.
The lesson: Act decent, at least at the moment for a group photo
Commandment 7: Don't arrest Internet whistle-blowers.
When it applies: while being criticized online
Example:
Wang Shuai from Lingbao in central China's Henan province, who lives in Shanghai, was detained in March after he revealed the Dawang government's illegal land acquisition in an online post last May.
Wang was detained for eight days on charges of defamation, but was later released on bail. After investigation, the Henan provincial public security bureau found the accusation to be completely made-up and its director reportedly apologized to Wang later.
Lingbao officials in the public security bureau were also investigated for liability in the case.
The lesson: People have the right of free speech, and it includes cyberspace!
Commandment 8: Don't grin amid suffering.
When it applies: when disaster strikes
Example:
A local official was all smiles while welcoming the nation's top leaders to his badly damaged city after a natural disaster, and he was criticized online for acting improperly.
On the fourth day after the devastating earthquake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province last year, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao paid a visit to Mianyang, one of the hardest-hit areas in Sichuan. Tan Li, then secretary of the Mianyang Municipal Party Committee, was shown in a photo from Xinhua News Agency smiling from ear to ear while welcoming Hu and Wen at the airport.
The lesson: Look somber when big-shots arrive during a time of trouble, even though you know you have a big chance of being promoted.
Commandment 9: Don't use your title just to attract attention.
When it applies: again, when disaster occurs
Example:
Zhang Tongkai, secretary of politics and the law committee of the CPC of Beichuan county, cried "Help, I'm the Secretary" when a search and rescue team arrived at the building where Zhang worked after the quake, according to a report last May.
The lesson: Every life is equally valuable.
Commandment 10: Don't post a paper on the Internet.
When it applies: when writing a thesis before graduation
Example:
At first, he was the youngest mayor in China and many questioned his competency. Then, 29-year-old Zhou Senfeng, mayor of Yicheng in central China's Hubei province, was accused of plagiarism in a published thesis before he got his master's degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
It was not clear the accusation had any ground. Without an expert assessment, it is hard to conclude whether Zhou plagiarized or he was wrongly accused of it.
The lesson: Think before you write!
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: Top 10 crackdowns 2009
Updated: 2009-12-30 08:36
Editor's note: Internet porn, drunk driving, human trafficking, someone wandering around the neighborhoods in pajamas...The Chinese government has good reason to keep itself busy all year long. Here are the year's top ten crackdowns, some are timely, some are belated and some are disputable, but all have had an impact on our daily lives.
1. Chongqing triad
2. Online porn
3. Drunk driving
4. Mobile porn
5. Soccer scandals
6. File-sharing websites
7. Human trafficking
8. Pajamas wearing in public
9. Celebrity endorsements
10. Phone scams
1. Chongqing triad
On the morning of October 16, Chongqing Party secretary Bo Xilai told the public for the first time about what set off the "anti-mobster" storm in Chongqing over the past year. He said: "We didn't strike out against mobsters on our own initiative, it was they who forced us to take steps."
The city started a massive crackdown on organized crime in June, exposing deep ties between police and criminals. A spokesman for the municipal procuratorate said at the time police had arrested 700 in connection with gang-related crimes in Chongqing in the year till November.
2. Online porn
China began a high-profile crackdown on Internet porn in January, targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google and Baidu.
The government temporarily shut down access to Google in June after reports that it was providing links to pornographic content.
In the same month, the government ordered all new personal computers produced or sold in China after July 1 to carry "Green Dam-Youth Escort," filtering software designed to block pornographic content. The software was declared "not compulsory" by the government in August after it aroused huge controversy, as Internet users complained of privacy invasion and blocking information.
3. Drunk driving
After a number of deadly road accidents caused by drunk driving, China launched a two-month "zero-tolerance" campaign on August 15.
Drunk drivers caught, had their licenses suspended for three or six months and, in serious cases, the driver detained for 15 days. If a drunk driver was caught twice within one year, his or her license was revoked for two to five years.
Here are some of the dreadful accidents caused by drink drivers this year: A motorist in Heilongjiang Province killed two people and injured 23 while driving under the influence of alcohol on August 5. A car careened out of control on a busy Nanjing street, killing five people, including a seven-month pregnant woman on June 30. On Aug 4, a drunk driver in Hangzhou killed a 16-year-old girl. Two days later, another drunk driver in Shanghai killed a four-year-old boy and injured three others.
4. Mobile porn
China had just got Internet porn under control, and then the country had to deal with WAP porn sites.
On Dec 8, nine government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, General Administration of Press and Publication, and State Council Information Office launched a crackdown on cell phone porn. The campaign will continue until May.
5. Soccer scandals
After World Cup failure in 2002, Chinese football was supposed to disappear from the public eye. However, it returned for all the wrong reasons. The recent exposure of illegal gambling and match-fixing in China's top professional football league shocked tens of millions of fans.
The Ministry of Public Security announced in November that a number of former players, soccer officials and club officials had been detained for match-fixing and gambling in Chinese soccer.
"China's football is critically ill. The roots must be pulled up along with the grass," quoted Xinhua News Agency in a report.
6. File-sharing websites
Movie fans were left stunned when they visited popular websites that offer free entertainment downloads only to find they had been closed down by regulators after China ramped up its battle against copyright infringement.
The move left millions of Chinese users disappointed after they checked out their favorite BitTorrent (BT) websites.
As long as websites don't resolve copyright problems, they won't be allowed to reopen, said an official with the online video and audio program department under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
7. Human trafficking
China has been faced with more organized and more professional cross-border human trafficking crimes in recent years. Child trafficking within China has penetrated almost all provinces.
In the six-month special anti-trafficking operation this year leading up to mid-October, Chinese police cracked 1,717 cases, rescuing more than 6,000 women and children.
8. Pajamas wearing in public
Nowhere else in China will you find residents wandering around their neighborhoods in distinctive pajamas as in Shanghai. The local government launched a controversial city-wide campaign to stop local residents from wearing their pajamas in public.
The "No Pajamas in Public Be Civilized" campaign is part of its efforts to present Shanghai as "an international metropolis" and show a "civilized" face of the city to foreign visitors, when it hosts the World Expo next May.
9. Celebrity endorsements
In China, it is quite common to find celebrities acting in misleading commercials and bragging about the magic effects of certain products.
Following a series of scandals involving products that have killed or poisoned consumers, China's new food safety law, which came into effect on June 1, stipulates that celebrities should be held responsible for the substandard food products they promote in commercials.
But there is no law regulating liabilities in other products, including medicines.
10. Phone scams
The public security ministry launched a four-month campaign starting June 12 after fraud cases through phone calls and text messages increased in recent years across the country.
Criminals often hook their victims by claiming to be from banks or the police, tricking victims into calling fake numbers and giving their account details. The thieves will also cheat the victims by telling them they have won prizes or even fake the kidnapping of a family members.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Editor's note: Internet porn, drunk driving, human trafficking, someone wandering around the neighborhoods in pajamas...The Chinese government has good reason to keep itself busy all year long. Here are the year's top ten crackdowns, some are timely, some are belated and some are disputable, but all have had an impact on our daily lives.
1. Chongqing triad
2. Online porn
3. Drunk driving
4. Mobile porn
5. Soccer scandals
6. File-sharing websites
7. Human trafficking
8. Pajamas wearing in public
9. Celebrity endorsements
10. Phone scams
1. Chongqing triad
On the morning of October 16, Chongqing Party secretary Bo Xilai told the public for the first time about what set off the "anti-mobster" storm in Chongqing over the past year. He said: "We didn't strike out against mobsters on our own initiative, it was they who forced us to take steps."
The city started a massive crackdown on organized crime in June, exposing deep ties between police and criminals. A spokesman for the municipal procuratorate said at the time police had arrested 700 in connection with gang-related crimes in Chongqing in the year till November.
2. Online porn
China began a high-profile crackdown on Internet porn in January, targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google and Baidu.
The government temporarily shut down access to Google in June after reports that it was providing links to pornographic content.
In the same month, the government ordered all new personal computers produced or sold in China after July 1 to carry "Green Dam-Youth Escort," filtering software designed to block pornographic content. The software was declared "not compulsory" by the government in August after it aroused huge controversy, as Internet users complained of privacy invasion and blocking information.
3. Drunk driving
After a number of deadly road accidents caused by drunk driving, China launched a two-month "zero-tolerance" campaign on August 15.
Drunk drivers caught, had their licenses suspended for three or six months and, in serious cases, the driver detained for 15 days. If a drunk driver was caught twice within one year, his or her license was revoked for two to five years.
Here are some of the dreadful accidents caused by drink drivers this year: A motorist in Heilongjiang Province killed two people and injured 23 while driving under the influence of alcohol on August 5. A car careened out of control on a busy Nanjing street, killing five people, including a seven-month pregnant woman on June 30. On Aug 4, a drunk driver in Hangzhou killed a 16-year-old girl. Two days later, another drunk driver in Shanghai killed a four-year-old boy and injured three others.
4. Mobile porn
China had just got Internet porn under control, and then the country had to deal with WAP porn sites.
On Dec 8, nine government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, General Administration of Press and Publication, and State Council Information Office launched a crackdown on cell phone porn. The campaign will continue until May.
5. Soccer scandals
After World Cup failure in 2002, Chinese football was supposed to disappear from the public eye. However, it returned for all the wrong reasons. The recent exposure of illegal gambling and match-fixing in China's top professional football league shocked tens of millions of fans.
The Ministry of Public Security announced in November that a number of former players, soccer officials and club officials had been detained for match-fixing and gambling in Chinese soccer.
"China's football is critically ill. The roots must be pulled up along with the grass," quoted Xinhua News Agency in a report.
6. File-sharing websites
Movie fans were left stunned when they visited popular websites that offer free entertainment downloads only to find they had been closed down by regulators after China ramped up its battle against copyright infringement.
The move left millions of Chinese users disappointed after they checked out their favorite BitTorrent (BT) websites.
As long as websites don't resolve copyright problems, they won't be allowed to reopen, said an official with the online video and audio program department under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
7. Human trafficking
China has been faced with more organized and more professional cross-border human trafficking crimes in recent years. Child trafficking within China has penetrated almost all provinces.
In the six-month special anti-trafficking operation this year leading up to mid-October, Chinese police cracked 1,717 cases, rescuing more than 6,000 women and children.
8. Pajamas wearing in public
Nowhere else in China will you find residents wandering around their neighborhoods in distinctive pajamas as in Shanghai. The local government launched a controversial city-wide campaign to stop local residents from wearing their pajamas in public.
The "No Pajamas in Public Be Civilized" campaign is part of its efforts to present Shanghai as "an international metropolis" and show a "civilized" face of the city to foreign visitors, when it hosts the World Expo next May.
9. Celebrity endorsements
In China, it is quite common to find celebrities acting in misleading commercials and bragging about the magic effects of certain products.
Following a series of scandals involving products that have killed or poisoned consumers, China's new food safety law, which came into effect on June 1, stipulates that celebrities should be held responsible for the substandard food products they promote in commercials.
But there is no law regulating liabilities in other products, including medicines.
10. Phone scams
The public security ministry launched a four-month campaign starting June 12 after fraud cases through phone calls and text messages increased in recent years across the country.
Criminals often hook their victims by claiming to be from banks or the police, tricking victims into calling fake numbers and giving their account details. The thieves will also cheat the victims by telling them they have won prizes or even fake the kidnapping of a family members.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: Favorite Stories of 2009
Updated: 2009-12-31 07:02
Debuts, deaths and Disney
By Peng Yining and Zhang Yuchen (China Daily)
China Daily asked its foreign readers in China and overseas to vote for their favorite stories of 2009. Peng Yining and Zhang Yuchen take a look how they answered.
1. 60th anniversary of the founding of New China
Looking at China's history over the past 60 years, it is apparent that, despite much suffering, the country has achieved huge political, economic and social success, especially during the past three decades.
A grand parade in Beijing on Oct 1, led by the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force, showcased some of China's latest achievements in defense modernization. About 8,000 military officers, along with tanks and other vehicles, formed columns stretching 3 km.
The military parade was followed by a civilian procession featuring six massive performing groups and 36 formations of about 100,000 people. In addition, 60 floats represented everything from the country's geographic areas to last year's Beijing Olympics.
Everyday life in China is a parade on a grander scale, with citizens now able to enjoy things their ancestors did not dare contemplate 100 years ago, things their grandparents took for luxury 60 years ago, and things their parents did not even know how to attempt 30 years ago.
2. Barack Obama's historic visit to China
Barack Obama became the first United States president to visit China in his first year of taking office when he arrived in Shanghai on Nov 15 as part of his first Asia tour.
During one of his trademark town hall-style meetings with youths at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum on Nov 16, the 48-year-old president reiterated that the US does not seek to contain China's rise and welcomes China as a "strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations".
After the speech, Obama departed for Beijing, where he spent two days in talks with President Hu Jintao, National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPC) Chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.
China and the US signed a joint statement on Nov 17 highlighting joint efforts to combat climate change and promote the clean energy industry. The countries also reiterated a commitment to building a "positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship in the 21st century".
Obama capped his four-day visit with a trip to the Great Wall in northern Beijing on Nov 18.
3. Climate change
Leaders from about 100 nations, along with thousands of negotiators from almost 200, flocked to Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, for the United Nation's 12-day climate change conference on Dec 7. The talks were intended to seal a deal on the fight against global warming after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived on Dec 16 to join world leaders for the crucial last two days of negotiations, during which he told US President Barack Obama climate change is a global challenge, as well as an important field for cooperation between China and the US. The key to this issue is to stick to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", said Wen.
The Chinese premier said his country has always regarded addressing climate change as an important strategic task and that, between 1990 and 2005, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) were reduced by 46 percent. "Building on that, we have set a new target of cutting carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent on the 2005 level by 2020," Wen told delegates.
The conference ended on Dec 19 with the Copenhagen Accord. Although the document was not legally binding, it firmly upheld the basic framework and principles established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.
4. July 5 riots in Xinjiang
The violence that broke out in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on July 5 left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
Rioters gathered in downtown streets at 8 pm and began beating pedestrians, vandalizing cars and buses, and looting shops. The mayhem quickly spread to other areas. Most of those killed or injured were ethnic Han Chinese, while most of the rioters were Uygurs armed with bricks and batons.
Chinese authorities accused Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the World Uygur Congress who lives in exile in the US, of orchestrating the violence by using mobile phone text messaging and social networking websites. The central government blocked access to the Internet in Xinjiang just 24 hours after the violence, and its Web service to this day remains restricted.
Police asked the local procuratorate to approve the arrests of 575 suspected rioters. The authority granted 430 and, so far, 22 people have been sentenced to death for murder and other crimes during or after the July 5 riot.
5. H1N1 flu
Since the first confirmed case of H1N1 flu on the Chinese mainland on May 11, there have been 326 reported deaths from the virus, which quickly spread across the globe after initial reports in Mexico.
Pregnant women make up almost 14 percent of the victims of H1N1 on the Chinese mainland, while men account for 58 percent, according to official figures. About 90 of the 326 H1N1 deaths were reported between Dec 14 and 20, said Ministry of Health officials. During that period, 6,129 cases were reported.
A vaccine developed in China was approved on Sept 3 and, as of Dec 21, more than 40 million people had been inoculated nationwide.
The Chinese government planned to vaccinate 65 million - 5 percent of the country's population - before the end of 2009. Health workers, public service workers and students are priority groups for the vaccine.
6. Adoption of the Food Safety Law
China's top legislature, the NPC Standing Committee, approved the Food Safety Law on Feb 28, providing a legal basis for the government to strengthen control "from the production line to the dining table".
The law, implemented on June 1, enhanced monitoring and supervision, and toughened safety standards. It stipulated substandard products must be recalled and promised severe punishments for rule-breakers.
All chemicals and materials not on the list of authorized additives were banned from food production, with the new regulations insisting "only items proved to be safe and necessary are allowed to be listed as food additives".
The NPC Standing Committee gave the nod to the hotly debated draft law following a spate of food scandals triggered vehement calls for an overhaul of China's monitoring system.
Winning 158 from 165 votes, the rules said the State Council would set up a State-level food safety commission to oversee the entire food monitoring system, which due to a lack of efficiency has long been blamed for repeated scandals.
7. China's 8-percent growth rate
The nation's economy grew by just 9 percent this year, the lowest in seven years, which experts blamed on the global financial crisis. It brought to an end a five-year streak of double-digit expansion.
China has been under great pressure to realise 8-percent growth - the target announced by Premier Wen Jiabao in March - as the government has long believed it essential to the populous developing nation.
A massive economic stimulus package featuring a two-year investment plan worth 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) was implemented in the first quarter. It was originally adopted in November 2008, shortly after the start of the world economic slowdown, along with more pro-growth economic policies such as expanding the "home appliances to the countryside" program.
Official figures show GDP grew 8.9 percent in the third quarter, accelerating from 7.9 percent in the second and 6.1 percent in the first. For the first three quarters, the annualized GDP growth reached 7.7 percent.
8. PLA Navy takes on Somali pirates
China launched its first overseas military mission since 1949 on Dec 26, 2008, when it sent its first fleet of People's Liberation Army warships to the coast of Africa to protect merchant vessels from Somali pirates.
Leaving from Sanya port, Hainan province, they traveled more than 4,500 nautical miles and arrived on Jan 6. By the time they were relieved by the second fleet on April 2 , the Haikou, Wuhan and Weishanhu had escorted 130 vessels, as well as rescued three foreign merchant ships from pirates, according to statistics from the Ministry of Transport.
The mission has included more than 3,300 troops, while figures show the PLA Navy has in 12 months of operations escorted 1,300 merchant vessels, including 405 foreign ships and 18 from Taiwan province.
Four batches of destroyers and frigates have so far been deployed to the Gulf of Aden.
9. Forced demolitions
When Tang Fuzhen was told her home in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, was in the way of a highway project and would be demolished, she doused herself in petrol and set fire to herself in protest on Nov 13.
That same month, the media also highlighted the case of a woman in Minhang district, Shanghai, who threw petrol bombs at a demolition crew outside her home in June last year. Officials planned to raze the building to make way for a transportation hub for the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
Both "nail houses" - a term used to describe when people refuse to move out of homes slated for demolition - shocked citizens across China and turned the spotlight onto the rights of homeowners and forced demolitions by local governments. The central government announced on Dec 7 it would look into the issue of housing demolition regulations.
The most famous "nail house" case was in Chongqing in 2007 when a couple stopped developers from demolishing their home for three years until they received suitable compensation.
10. Disneyland in Shanghai
Construction of a Disneyland on the east bank of Huangpu River in Shanghai finally got the green light on Nov 4. The theme park will cost an estimated 25 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) and will open its gates as early as 2014. It is expected to cover an area of 116 hectares, 10 hectares fewer than the Disneyland in Hong Kong.
Walt Disney Co. will reportedly take a 43-percent equity stake in Shanghai Disneyland, while a joint-venture holding company formed by a consortium of Chinese companies owned by the municipal government will own the majority 57 percent.
The park will be the fourth Disneyland outside of the US - the others are in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong - and is one of the largest-ever foreign investments in China's mainland.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Debuts, deaths and Disney
By Peng Yining and Zhang Yuchen (China Daily)
China Daily asked its foreign readers in China and overseas to vote for their favorite stories of 2009. Peng Yining and Zhang Yuchen take a look how they answered.
1. 60th anniversary of the founding of New China
Looking at China's history over the past 60 years, it is apparent that, despite much suffering, the country has achieved huge political, economic and social success, especially during the past three decades.
A grand parade in Beijing on Oct 1, led by the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force, showcased some of China's latest achievements in defense modernization. About 8,000 military officers, along with tanks and other vehicles, formed columns stretching 3 km.
The military parade was followed by a civilian procession featuring six massive performing groups and 36 formations of about 100,000 people. In addition, 60 floats represented everything from the country's geographic areas to last year's Beijing Olympics.
Everyday life in China is a parade on a grander scale, with citizens now able to enjoy things their ancestors did not dare contemplate 100 years ago, things their grandparents took for luxury 60 years ago, and things their parents did not even know how to attempt 30 years ago.
2. Barack Obama's historic visit to China
Barack Obama became the first United States president to visit China in his first year of taking office when he arrived in Shanghai on Nov 15 as part of his first Asia tour.
During one of his trademark town hall-style meetings with youths at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum on Nov 16, the 48-year-old president reiterated that the US does not seek to contain China's rise and welcomes China as a "strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations".
After the speech, Obama departed for Beijing, where he spent two days in talks with President Hu Jintao, National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPC) Chairman Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.
China and the US signed a joint statement on Nov 17 highlighting joint efforts to combat climate change and promote the clean energy industry. The countries also reiterated a commitment to building a "positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship in the 21st century".
Obama capped his four-day visit with a trip to the Great Wall in northern Beijing on Nov 18.
3. Climate change
Leaders from about 100 nations, along with thousands of negotiators from almost 200, flocked to Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, for the United Nation's 12-day climate change conference on Dec 7. The talks were intended to seal a deal on the fight against global warming after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived on Dec 16 to join world leaders for the crucial last two days of negotiations, during which he told US President Barack Obama climate change is a global challenge, as well as an important field for cooperation between China and the US. The key to this issue is to stick to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", said Wen.
The Chinese premier said his country has always regarded addressing climate change as an important strategic task and that, between 1990 and 2005, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) were reduced by 46 percent. "Building on that, we have set a new target of cutting carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent on the 2005 level by 2020," Wen told delegates.
The conference ended on Dec 19 with the Copenhagen Accord. Although the document was not legally binding, it firmly upheld the basic framework and principles established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.
4. July 5 riots in Xinjiang
The violence that broke out in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on July 5 left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
Rioters gathered in downtown streets at 8 pm and began beating pedestrians, vandalizing cars and buses, and looting shops. The mayhem quickly spread to other areas. Most of those killed or injured were ethnic Han Chinese, while most of the rioters were Uygurs armed with bricks and batons.
Chinese authorities accused Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the World Uygur Congress who lives in exile in the US, of orchestrating the violence by using mobile phone text messaging and social networking websites. The central government blocked access to the Internet in Xinjiang just 24 hours after the violence, and its Web service to this day remains restricted.
Police asked the local procuratorate to approve the arrests of 575 suspected rioters. The authority granted 430 and, so far, 22 people have been sentenced to death for murder and other crimes during or after the July 5 riot.
5. H1N1 flu
Since the first confirmed case of H1N1 flu on the Chinese mainland on May 11, there have been 326 reported deaths from the virus, which quickly spread across the globe after initial reports in Mexico.
Pregnant women make up almost 14 percent of the victims of H1N1 on the Chinese mainland, while men account for 58 percent, according to official figures. About 90 of the 326 H1N1 deaths were reported between Dec 14 and 20, said Ministry of Health officials. During that period, 6,129 cases were reported.
A vaccine developed in China was approved on Sept 3 and, as of Dec 21, more than 40 million people had been inoculated nationwide.
The Chinese government planned to vaccinate 65 million - 5 percent of the country's population - before the end of 2009. Health workers, public service workers and students are priority groups for the vaccine.
6. Adoption of the Food Safety Law
China's top legislature, the NPC Standing Committee, approved the Food Safety Law on Feb 28, providing a legal basis for the government to strengthen control "from the production line to the dining table".
The law, implemented on June 1, enhanced monitoring and supervision, and toughened safety standards. It stipulated substandard products must be recalled and promised severe punishments for rule-breakers.
All chemicals and materials not on the list of authorized additives were banned from food production, with the new regulations insisting "only items proved to be safe and necessary are allowed to be listed as food additives".
The NPC Standing Committee gave the nod to the hotly debated draft law following a spate of food scandals triggered vehement calls for an overhaul of China's monitoring system.
Winning 158 from 165 votes, the rules said the State Council would set up a State-level food safety commission to oversee the entire food monitoring system, which due to a lack of efficiency has long been blamed for repeated scandals.
7. China's 8-percent growth rate
The nation's economy grew by just 9 percent this year, the lowest in seven years, which experts blamed on the global financial crisis. It brought to an end a five-year streak of double-digit expansion.
China has been under great pressure to realise 8-percent growth - the target announced by Premier Wen Jiabao in March - as the government has long believed it essential to the populous developing nation.
A massive economic stimulus package featuring a two-year investment plan worth 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) was implemented in the first quarter. It was originally adopted in November 2008, shortly after the start of the world economic slowdown, along with more pro-growth economic policies such as expanding the "home appliances to the countryside" program.
Official figures show GDP grew 8.9 percent in the third quarter, accelerating from 7.9 percent in the second and 6.1 percent in the first. For the first three quarters, the annualized GDP growth reached 7.7 percent.
8. PLA Navy takes on Somali pirates
China launched its first overseas military mission since 1949 on Dec 26, 2008, when it sent its first fleet of People's Liberation Army warships to the coast of Africa to protect merchant vessels from Somali pirates.
Leaving from Sanya port, Hainan province, they traveled more than 4,500 nautical miles and arrived on Jan 6. By the time they were relieved by the second fleet on April 2 , the Haikou, Wuhan and Weishanhu had escorted 130 vessels, as well as rescued three foreign merchant ships from pirates, according to statistics from the Ministry of Transport.
The mission has included more than 3,300 troops, while figures show the PLA Navy has in 12 months of operations escorted 1,300 merchant vessels, including 405 foreign ships and 18 from Taiwan province.
Four batches of destroyers and frigates have so far been deployed to the Gulf of Aden.
9. Forced demolitions
When Tang Fuzhen was told her home in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, was in the way of a highway project and would be demolished, she doused herself in petrol and set fire to herself in protest on Nov 13.
That same month, the media also highlighted the case of a woman in Minhang district, Shanghai, who threw petrol bombs at a demolition crew outside her home in June last year. Officials planned to raze the building to make way for a transportation hub for the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
Both "nail houses" - a term used to describe when people refuse to move out of homes slated for demolition - shocked citizens across China and turned the spotlight onto the rights of homeowners and forced demolitions by local governments. The central government announced on Dec 7 it would look into the issue of housing demolition regulations.
The most famous "nail house" case was in Chongqing in 2007 when a couple stopped developers from demolishing their home for three years until they received suitable compensation.
10. Disneyland in Shanghai
Construction of a Disneyland on the east bank of Huangpu River in Shanghai finally got the green light on Nov 4. The theme park will cost an estimated 25 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) and will open its gates as early as 2014. It is expected to cover an area of 116 hectares, 10 hectares fewer than the Disneyland in Hong Kong.
Walt Disney Co. will reportedly take a 43-percent equity stake in Shanghai Disneyland, while a joint-venture holding company formed by a consortium of Chinese companies owned by the municipal government will own the majority 57 percent.
The park will be the fourth Disneyland outside of the US - the others are in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong - and is one of the largest-ever foreign investments in China's mainland.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: Top 10 movies 2009
Updated: 2009-12-31 09:01
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
The country's movie-making industry is experiencing a boom, with ticket sales increasing and more quality offerings from homegrown talents.
Box office takings in China have been rising 20 percent annually for the past five years, and though Hollywood blockbusters such as Transformers 2 and 2012 were the most profitable films this year, local productions were big hits too.
And 2009 was a bumper year for moviegoers with the gross box office surpassing last year's 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) to reach 6 billion yuan.
Following, are 10 significant local films and though they are not all artistically refined, they made a big impact in 2009.
The Message (风声), Overheard (窃听风云), Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) and Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城) excel in terms of acting and storytelling; while Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼), Crazy Racer (疯狂的赛车) and Cow (斗牛) were breakout movies in their genres.
The Founding of a Republic (建国大业) and A Simple Noodle Story (三枪拍案惊奇) provided big talking points in the film industry; while City of Life and Death (南京!南京!) was appreciated for tackling a sensitive issue and raising discussion.
(1)A Simple Noodle Story (三枪拍案惊奇)
The film marked Zhang Yimou's return to cinema after he directed the spectacular Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last year.
Adapted from the Coen Brothers' 1984 crime thriller Blood Simple, the film is a combination of slapstick and thriller.
The slapstick part is mainly provided by three actors of er'renzhuan - folk duets featuring ballads, dancing and cheap jokes - and raised great controversy.
(2)The Message (风声)
The spy thriller is one of the most refined films of the year. To begin with, each of the seven main actors did a brilliant job in putting life into their characters. Secondly, the script is well written. Set during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the movie centers on a cat-and-mouse game between a Japanese chief and five suspects, one of whom is a planted agent. The story is full of unexpected twists, yet convincing at the same time.
In addition, the Oscar-winning designer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙), Tim Yip, made the entire wardrobe by hand. The set, two villas perched on a seaside cliff, features vintage furniture and ornaments collected from all over the country. The antique sofas, lights, tableware and LPs cost more than 4 million yuan ($585,420). The film won five nominations and the Best Actress award at the 46th Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan.
(3)Cow (斗牛)
Cow is almost a one-man show. It signifies the coming-of-age for Huang Bo, the comedian who specializes in playing low-life characters. His nabbing of the Golden Horse - as best actor for this performance - is much deserved.
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) is as often filmed in China, as the European theater of WWII is for Western cinema. So it is not easy to squeeze anything fresh out of it. Writer and director Guan Hu adopted a small-scale approach that was ingenious in both concept and execution. The story revolves around a cow, a gift from a European country, and how it has an unexpected impact on different people, including Japanese soldiers.
The flashbacks are seamless. The locale is so intricately integrated into the plot the audience has a strong sense of participation. All characters are richly delineated and not even the Japanese invaders are caricatured. An actor with star power may boost the box office, but Huang Bo brings out the poignancy of the human dilemma in this slightly farcical tale.
(4)Overheard (窃听风云)
Written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, writers behind the Infernal Affairs (无间道) trilogy, Overheard focuses on insider trading, which has rarely been depicted in Hong Kong films.
Three wiretappers at the Hong Kong commercial crime investigation bureau find out about a listed company trying to manipulate the stock market. With the crucial information in hand and facing the temptation of getting rich overnight, they trap themselves in a fatal dilemma.
Stocks have been a big issue in the Chinese mainland, too, since the market hit a record 6,000 points in 2007, attracting millions of investors, ranging from tycoons to school kids.
With the help of his father and brother, both senior policemen, Mak talked with many former staffers at the Hong Kong commercial crime bureau, which investigates commercial fraud, computer crime and counterfeiting. He also asked for help from actress Anita Yuen, who has 10 family members working in the Hong Kong police force. The film tells an engaging story and the three Hong Kong actors, Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo, and Daniel Wu all did a great job.
(5)Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼)
China has lacked a popular homemade cartoon series, while Japanese manga is hugely popular around the world.
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is an exception. The film is about a battle of wits between a herd of goats and a couple of wolves and earned more than 80 million yuan ($11.7 million), at a cost of just 6 million yuan.
Its success is largely attributed to a fan base reared on 500 episodes of a TV series aired on 50 channels nationwide.
Now, the smart sheep and stupid wolves are as well known as Mickey Mouse among children here.
A sequel will be released in February, 2010.
China has been working hard to produce its own cartoons and there are currently 5,600 animation companies employing at least 200,000 people. Other locally-made favorites include The Story of Hongmao and Lantu (虹猫蓝兔) and Calabash Boys (葫芦娃).
(6)Crazy Racer (疯狂的赛车)
The film's director Ning Hao is called "China's Guy Ritchie" thanks to his quick-paced, smart and hilarious black comedies.
The film features four groups and more than 10 characters. Major personalities include a cyclist, a fraudulent sexual-enhancement medicine salesman and his overweight wife, several gangs and two stupid murderers.
These characters find their lives interwoven with one another - and with murder, suspense and humor - in convincing and comical ways.
Ning came up with the original storyline in late 2006, and spent eight months with eight writers drafting the script. He was so demanding that at least six writers ran out of ideas.
One of the writers used an abacus to calculate the characters' intricate relationships with each other. He described the writing process as deciphering a "calculus" formula.
Another writer drew a story map of the characters' relationships. But it was so complex that it confused even Ning.
The film was one of the funniest of the year.
(7)The Founding of a Republic (建国大业)
This film was an event in the industry because about 80 stars, many of whom are A-listers such as Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi and Jet Li, appeared in it. Some of China's most famous directors, such as Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, played parts too.
And all of them worked for free.
The stellar cast is largely attributed to the clout of Han Sanping, the film's co-director and head of China Film Group (CFG), the State-owned conglomerate. Han is a senior producer and CFG is the No 1 film company in the industry.
Telling a story of how the People's Republic of China was founded, the film was a tribute to the 60th anniversary of the country's founding.
It raked in 400 million yuan ($58 million), compared to the 430 million yuan of Transformers 2 in June.
(8)The City of Life and Death (南京！南京！)
Any film on the Nanjing Massacre will create a stir in China, especially if it is directed by a young Chinese director and narrated from an original point of view.
The film was controversial because it centered on director Lu Chuan's depiction of the Japanese troops.
Usually, in film treatments of the massacre, in which about 300,000 civilians and soldiers lost their lives, Japanese troops are portrayed as devils, rather than rounded individuals.
In Lu's film, soldiers share happy moments, making a pot of tasty soup, and one of them falls in love with a comfort woman. At the same time, they were part of a fine-tuned and ruthless killing machine. Some viewers were irritated, calling Lu a traitor who tried to humanize the Japanese invaders, while others marveled at his courage to raise a new point of view.
(9)Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾)
Ann Hui's follow-up to her much-acclaimed The Way We Are (天水围的日与夜) is not really a sequel, but rather a presentation of the flip side of the coin.
Tinshuiwai, the Hong Kong residential community where both stories take place, is known for the family tragedy on which Night and Fog is based. But the Chinese titles are so similar they can be seen as an organic whole.
While The Way We Are depicts the subtlety and warmth of Chinese relationships, Night and Fog dives into the violent world of one family. A middle-aged Hongkonger marries a young mainland beauty with a shady past. Her can-do spirit clashes with his slothful dependence on welfare. When violence spirals out of control, she and her twin daughters fall victim to his inner demon and to a bureaucratic system.
As usual, Hui's latest offering has great acting, clear exposition, with rich textures and much food for thought.
(10)Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)
China's so-called costume blockbusters are often disappointing because they seldom live up to their hype. But not this film. The 16 A-listers embody their characters perfectly and the story - eight grassroots heroes' voluntarily protecting the revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat-sen in 1906 - fully engage the viewers. Also, the film stands out from conventional action films by being free of action in the first half, while the second half is a kind of action tsunami of dazzling kungfu scenes. Both parts are effective. The drama part is touching and the action part exciting.
Raymond Zhou has contributed to the story
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
The country's movie-making industry is experiencing a boom, with ticket sales increasing and more quality offerings from homegrown talents.
Box office takings in China have been rising 20 percent annually for the past five years, and though Hollywood blockbusters such as Transformers 2 and 2012 were the most profitable films this year, local productions were big hits too.
And 2009 was a bumper year for moviegoers with the gross box office surpassing last year's 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) to reach 6 billion yuan.
Following, are 10 significant local films and though they are not all artistically refined, they made a big impact in 2009.
The Message (风声), Overheard (窃听风云), Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) and Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城) excel in terms of acting and storytelling; while Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼), Crazy Racer (疯狂的赛车) and Cow (斗牛) were breakout movies in their genres.
The Founding of a Republic (建国大业) and A Simple Noodle Story (三枪拍案惊奇) provided big talking points in the film industry; while City of Life and Death (南京!南京!) was appreciated for tackling a sensitive issue and raising discussion.
(1)A Simple Noodle Story (三枪拍案惊奇)
The film marked Zhang Yimou's return to cinema after he directed the spectacular Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last year.
Adapted from the Coen Brothers' 1984 crime thriller Blood Simple, the film is a combination of slapstick and thriller.
The slapstick part is mainly provided by three actors of er'renzhuan - folk duets featuring ballads, dancing and cheap jokes - and raised great controversy.
(2)The Message (风声)
The spy thriller is one of the most refined films of the year. To begin with, each of the seven main actors did a brilliant job in putting life into their characters. Secondly, the script is well written. Set during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the movie centers on a cat-and-mouse game between a Japanese chief and five suspects, one of whom is a planted agent. The story is full of unexpected twists, yet convincing at the same time.
In addition, the Oscar-winning designer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙), Tim Yip, made the entire wardrobe by hand. The set, two villas perched on a seaside cliff, features vintage furniture and ornaments collected from all over the country. The antique sofas, lights, tableware and LPs cost more than 4 million yuan ($585,420). The film won five nominations and the Best Actress award at the 46th Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan.
(3)Cow (斗牛)
Cow is almost a one-man show. It signifies the coming-of-age for Huang Bo, the comedian who specializes in playing low-life characters. His nabbing of the Golden Horse - as best actor for this performance - is much deserved.
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) is as often filmed in China, as the European theater of WWII is for Western cinema. So it is not easy to squeeze anything fresh out of it. Writer and director Guan Hu adopted a small-scale approach that was ingenious in both concept and execution. The story revolves around a cow, a gift from a European country, and how it has an unexpected impact on different people, including Japanese soldiers.
The flashbacks are seamless. The locale is so intricately integrated into the plot the audience has a strong sense of participation. All characters are richly delineated and not even the Japanese invaders are caricatured. An actor with star power may boost the box office, but Huang Bo brings out the poignancy of the human dilemma in this slightly farcical tale.
(4)Overheard (窃听风云)
Written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, writers behind the Infernal Affairs (无间道) trilogy, Overheard focuses on insider trading, which has rarely been depicted in Hong Kong films.
Three wiretappers at the Hong Kong commercial crime investigation bureau find out about a listed company trying to manipulate the stock market. With the crucial information in hand and facing the temptation of getting rich overnight, they trap themselves in a fatal dilemma.
Stocks have been a big issue in the Chinese mainland, too, since the market hit a record 6,000 points in 2007, attracting millions of investors, ranging from tycoons to school kids.
With the help of his father and brother, both senior policemen, Mak talked with many former staffers at the Hong Kong commercial crime bureau, which investigates commercial fraud, computer crime and counterfeiting. He also asked for help from actress Anita Yuen, who has 10 family members working in the Hong Kong police force. The film tells an engaging story and the three Hong Kong actors, Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo, and Daniel Wu all did a great job.
(5)Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼)
China has lacked a popular homemade cartoon series, while Japanese manga is hugely popular around the world.
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is an exception. The film is about a battle of wits between a herd of goats and a couple of wolves and earned more than 80 million yuan ($11.7 million), at a cost of just 6 million yuan.
Its success is largely attributed to a fan base reared on 500 episodes of a TV series aired on 50 channels nationwide.
Now, the smart sheep and stupid wolves are as well known as Mickey Mouse among children here.
A sequel will be released in February, 2010.
China has been working hard to produce its own cartoons and there are currently 5,600 animation companies employing at least 200,000 people. Other locally-made favorites include The Story of Hongmao and Lantu (虹猫蓝兔) and Calabash Boys (葫芦娃).
(6)Crazy Racer (疯狂的赛车)
The film's director Ning Hao is called "China's Guy Ritchie" thanks to his quick-paced, smart and hilarious black comedies.
The film features four groups and more than 10 characters. Major personalities include a cyclist, a fraudulent sexual-enhancement medicine salesman and his overweight wife, several gangs and two stupid murderers.
These characters find their lives interwoven with one another - and with murder, suspense and humor - in convincing and comical ways.
Ning came up with the original storyline in late 2006, and spent eight months with eight writers drafting the script. He was so demanding that at least six writers ran out of ideas.
One of the writers used an abacus to calculate the characters' intricate relationships with each other. He described the writing process as deciphering a "calculus" formula.
Another writer drew a story map of the characters' relationships. But it was so complex that it confused even Ning.
The film was one of the funniest of the year.
(7)The Founding of a Republic (建国大业)
This film was an event in the industry because about 80 stars, many of whom are A-listers such as Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi and Jet Li, appeared in it. Some of China's most famous directors, such as Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, played parts too.
And all of them worked for free.
The stellar cast is largely attributed to the clout of Han Sanping, the film's co-director and head of China Film Group (CFG), the State-owned conglomerate. Han is a senior producer and CFG is the No 1 film company in the industry.
Telling a story of how the People's Republic of China was founded, the film was a tribute to the 60th anniversary of the country's founding.
It raked in 400 million yuan ($58 million), compared to the 430 million yuan of Transformers 2 in June.
(8)The City of Life and Death (南京！南京！)
Any film on the Nanjing Massacre will create a stir in China, especially if it is directed by a young Chinese director and narrated from an original point of view.
The film was controversial because it centered on director Lu Chuan's depiction of the Japanese troops.
Usually, in film treatments of the massacre, in which about 300,000 civilians and soldiers lost their lives, Japanese troops are portrayed as devils, rather than rounded individuals.
In Lu's film, soldiers share happy moments, making a pot of tasty soup, and one of them falls in love with a comfort woman. At the same time, they were part of a fine-tuned and ruthless killing machine. Some viewers were irritated, calling Lu a traitor who tried to humanize the Japanese invaders, while others marveled at his courage to raise a new point of view.
(9)Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾)
Ann Hui's follow-up to her much-acclaimed The Way We Are (天水围的日与夜) is not really a sequel, but rather a presentation of the flip side of the coin.
Tinshuiwai, the Hong Kong residential community where both stories take place, is known for the family tragedy on which Night and Fog is based. But the Chinese titles are so similar they can be seen as an organic whole.
While The Way We Are depicts the subtlety and warmth of Chinese relationships, Night and Fog dives into the violent world of one family. A middle-aged Hongkonger marries a young mainland beauty with a shady past. Her can-do spirit clashes with his slothful dependence on welfare. When violence spirals out of control, she and her twin daughters fall victim to his inner demon and to a bureaucratic system.
As usual, Hui's latest offering has great acting, clear exposition, with rich textures and much food for thought.
(10)Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)
China's so-called costume blockbusters are often disappointing because they seldom live up to their hype. But not this film. The 16 A-listers embody their characters perfectly and the story - eight grassroots heroes' voluntarily protecting the revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat-sen in 1906 - fully engage the viewers. Also, the film stands out from conventional action films by being free of action in the first half, while the second half is a kind of action tsunami of dazzling kungfu scenes. Both parts are effective. The drama part is touching and the action part exciting.
Raymond Zhou has contributed to the story
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: 10 Movies most discussed in 2009
These are the films that had people talking . . .
No. 1: A Simple Noodle Story
If you expect too many laughs, then you might find it hard to laugh.
No. 2: Bodyguards And Assassins
A must see action movie in 2009.
No. 3: The Founding of a Republic
It's like reading a history book with no pain.
No. 4: The Message
Guessing is one difficult thing. Keeping secret is another.
No. 5: City of Life and Death
Movies force people to remember the incident of Nanking Massacre.
No. 6: This is it
No one can talk bad of dead people, but what about the living?
No. 7: Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf
Big Big Wolf is a model husband for modern ladies.
No. 8: Avatar
Do you feel movie tickets are expensive? No！ The market determines the price.
No. 9: 2012
Good science fiction and a cautionary tale.
No.10 : Surrogates
Invention changes the process of human revolution.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
No. 1: A Simple Noodle Story
If you expect too many laughs, then you might find it hard to laugh.
No. 2: Bodyguards And Assassins
A must see action movie in 2009.
No. 3: The Founding of a Republic
It's like reading a history book with no pain.
No. 4: The Message
Guessing is one difficult thing. Keeping secret is another.
No. 5: City of Life and Death
Movies force people to remember the incident of Nanking Massacre.
No. 6: This is it
No one can talk bad of dead people, but what about the living?
No. 7: Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf
Big Big Wolf is a model husband for modern ladies.
No. 8: Avatar
Do you feel movie tickets are expensive? No！ The market determines the price.
No. 9: 2012
Good science fiction and a cautionary tale.
No.10 : Surrogates
Invention changes the process of human revolution.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: Catchwords that struck a chord in 2009
Updated: 2010-01-01 08:58
Society
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Celebrations of a nation's founding. A path-breaking US president. A flu which raised fears of a global pandemic. A summit of the world's top 20 economies held against the backdrop of a global financial crisis.
These were among the topics that garnered the most media attention, says an annual report on the most popular catchwords of the year, based on their use in China's mainstream media.
They were jointly released yesterday by the National Language Resource Monitor and Research Centre, Beijing Language and Cultural University and China Communication University.
The top 10 catchwords according to the report are:
60th anniversary of the founding of New China: A nation swelled with pride as it had plenty to celebrate with pomp and pageantry.
Implementation of scientific outlook of development: A doctrine that promotes coordinated development on the basis of social harmony, environmental protection and energy conservation, in addition to economic expansion.
H1N1: The global outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus, often referred to as "swine flu" in the media.
Barack Obama: China, along with the rest of the world, was captivated as the first black president was sworn in the US.
Climate change: One of the hottest topics which reached a crescendo at the Copenhagen conference last month.
(11th Chinese) National Games: The 13-day event ended successfully on Oct 28 with host Shandong topping the medals table.
G20 Summit: The leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies met in Pittsburgh against the backdrop of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Post-quake reconstruction: The massive efforts to rebuild homes and infrastructure in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, which were hit hard by the devastating earthquake on May 12, 2008.
Crackdown on organized crime: An effort that intensified in 2009, most notably in Chongqing, where a massive crackdown on gangs that began in June has resulted in more than 2,900 suspected gangsters or officials protecting them being detained.
Medical reform plan: A blueprint for health care reform over the next decade unveiled in April, which kicked off a long-awaited plan to fix the ailing medical system and ensure fair and affordable care for all 1.3 billion citizens.
The report also listed 120 other keywords covering social, political, economic and cultural affairs. Some examples are:
"Being employed" was the most popular term of the year in the social sector.
The term originated from a practice by many universities listing jobless fresh college graduates as "employed". Names were included in employment agreements to boost the universities' standing in campus recruitment but the graduates did not actually have jobs.
"The popularity of 'being employed' is an irony given the fact that a large number of college graduates are unemployed this year," the report said.
Lou Cuicui, meaning fragile building, originated from a new 13-story apartment building in Shanghai which collapsed in June because of shoddy construction.
"We are entering an era where there is no guarantee for the quality of real estate in which people invest their life savings," the report said.
Other words that typified social problems were "fake banknotes", "drag racing" and the "hide-and-seek incident".
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Society
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Celebrations of a nation's founding. A path-breaking US president. A flu which raised fears of a global pandemic. A summit of the world's top 20 economies held against the backdrop of a global financial crisis.
These were among the topics that garnered the most media attention, says an annual report on the most popular catchwords of the year, based on their use in China's mainstream media.
They were jointly released yesterday by the National Language Resource Monitor and Research Centre, Beijing Language and Cultural University and China Communication University.
The top 10 catchwords according to the report are:
60th anniversary of the founding of New China: A nation swelled with pride as it had plenty to celebrate with pomp and pageantry.
Implementation of scientific outlook of development: A doctrine that promotes coordinated development on the basis of social harmony, environmental protection and energy conservation, in addition to economic expansion.
H1N1: The global outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus, often referred to as "swine flu" in the media.
Barack Obama: China, along with the rest of the world, was captivated as the first black president was sworn in the US.
Climate change: One of the hottest topics which reached a crescendo at the Copenhagen conference last month.
(11th Chinese) National Games: The 13-day event ended successfully on Oct 28 with host Shandong topping the medals table.
G20 Summit: The leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies met in Pittsburgh against the backdrop of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Post-quake reconstruction: The massive efforts to rebuild homes and infrastructure in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, which were hit hard by the devastating earthquake on May 12, 2008.
Crackdown on organized crime: An effort that intensified in 2009, most notably in Chongqing, where a massive crackdown on gangs that began in June has resulted in more than 2,900 suspected gangsters or officials protecting them being detained.
Medical reform plan: A blueprint for health care reform over the next decade unveiled in April, which kicked off a long-awaited plan to fix the ailing medical system and ensure fair and affordable care for all 1.3 billion citizens.
The report also listed 120 other keywords covering social, political, economic and cultural affairs. Some examples are:
"Being employed" was the most popular term of the year in the social sector.
The term originated from a practice by many universities listing jobless fresh college graduates as "employed". Names were included in employment agreements to boost the universities' standing in campus recruitment but the graduates did not actually have jobs.
"The popularity of 'being employed' is an irony given the fact that a large number of college graduates are unemployed this year," the report said.
Lou Cuicui, meaning fragile building, originated from a new 13-story apartment building in Shanghai which collapsed in June because of shoddy construction.
"We are entering an era where there is no guarantee for the quality of real estate in which people invest their life savings," the report said.
Other words that typified social problems were "fake banknotes", "drag racing" and the "hide-and-seek incident".
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
CHINA: 2009 top ten news
Editor's Note: China has taken the lead in recovering from the global financial crisis, and offers huge market potential in many industries. Here are ten areas where China has scored - or is destined to make – number one in the year 2009, as selected by China Daily website editors. We have left infrastructure projects, which include many top 10 candidates, for a separate category.
1. Fastest GDP growth
2. World's No 1 exporter
3. Top IPO destination
4. World's biggest auto market
5. Best performing air transport industry
6. World's longest natural gas pipeline
7. World's largest gold consumer
8. China leads in nuke capacity
9. China's average housing prices top the world
10. World's largest wind turbine market
1. Fastest GDP growth
With the world still haunted by recession, China seems to be the promise land with a 7.7 percent year-on-year economic growth rate in the first three quarters.
The figures outperform all the other countries, including India, China’s old rival in terms of economic growth rate, ensuring China an annual GDP growth over 8 percent in 2009.
China’s year-on-year GDP growth stood at 6.1 percent, 7.9 percent and 8.9 percent respectively for quarter one to quarter three, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, showing a robust but stable recovery.
China, together with other emerging economies, plays an important part in leading the world out of the economic downturn, analysts said.
2. World's No 1 exporter
China will "very probably" surpass Germany to become the world's largest exporter this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on December 27.
According to the World Trade Organization, during the first half of 2009, China had, for the first time in the past seven years, edged narrowly ahead of Germany in exports. During the January-June period, China exported goods worth $521.7 billion, slightly more than Germany, which exported $521.6 billion worth of goods.
Economists predicted such momentum will be sustained during the second half of 2009 and the years ahead, especially with the toll the financial crisis has taken on developed countries, including Germany.
Although the figure for December has not yet been announced, Zhong Shan, vice-minister of commerce, predicted that China’s exports for the whole year in 2009 will drop by 16.5 percent year-on-year to $1.19 trillion. Given the drops in China’s exports that have already taken place this year, that actually means that exports for December will likely grow by 9.6 percent compared to last year, to $121.86 billion.
3. Top IPO destination
Chairmen of the boards from companies ring the bell in Shenzhen Wuzhou Hotel on Dec 30, to announce the first batch of companies' IPO debut on China's Nasdaq-like ChiNext bourse.
Companies raised more capital through initial public offerings (IPOs) on Chinese stock exchanges, including in Hong Kong, than in the US this year – the first time the US has not been the top IPO destination since 2006.
Companies raised $51.6 billion in China, including $27.2 billion in Hong Kong and $24.4 billion on the mainland. In the US, companies only raised $26.5 billion, according to statistics from the British research company Dealogic.
Companies from the mainland accounted for 46 of the 66 new listings on the Hong Kong exchange this year. China Minsheng Banking Corporation raised the most, with HK$30.2 billion ($3.89 billion), and eight of the top ten largest IPOs were mainland companies.
4. World's biggest auto market
GM sold 1.459 million vehicles in China in the first 10 months. Hao Ran
China's total vehicle sales exceeded 12 million in the January-November period, retaining its leading position in auto sales and production since January, according to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
China sold 7.22 million new vehicles in 2006, overtaking Japan as the second-largest auto market after the US. In January 2009, China sold 735,500 home-made vehicles, surpassing US as the world’s top auto market.
China’s auto sales hit 10.9 million in the first ten months of this year, up 37.8 percent over the same period last year, breaching the 10-million barrier for the first time ever.
Boosted by government stimulus measures such as tax cuts and subsidies for trade-ins, sales of all automobiles for the whole year are set to break the 13 million barrier, which has consolidated China’s top position in the global automobile market.
5. Best performing air transport industry
Tourists bound for an overseas destination board an Air China flight at Beijing Capital International Airport. [Agencies]
China’s air transport industry made a total profit this year of 11.8 billion yuan ($1.73 billion) as of November, defying a forecast by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that the industry would lose $11 billion globally this year.
"The performance of China's air transport industry is the best in the world," Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China（CAAC）, told China Central Television.
The figure, which includes profits from both airlines and airports, released by CAAC on its website on December 14, shows that China’s airlines have weathered the global financial crisis without too much turbulence.
A strong domestic market and the government's policy support have contributed to the profits, analyst said.
6. World's longest natural gas pipeline
Chinese President Hu Jintao, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov turn on the flow of natural gas together in the gas plant on the right bank of the Amu Darya River, Turkmenistan, on Dec 14, 2009. The four leader attended the inauguration ceremony of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline here on Dec 14.[Xinhua]
A new “Silk Road” linking China and Central Asia was opened on December 14: a 1,833-km natural gas pipeline, that starts in Turkmenistan, and winds its way through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China's Xinjiang region. It is the world’s longest natural gas pipeline ever constructed.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and his counterparts from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan jointly opened the pipeline at a ceremony in Turkmenistan. Hu said the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline is a model of solidarity and mutually beneficial cooperation among the four countries.
Once it reaches full capacity between 2012 and 2013, it will be able to deliver 40 billion cubic meters of gas each year. That is more than half of China's current annual gas consumption.
China consumed 77.8 billion cubic meters of gas in 2008.
7. World's largest gold consumer
A couple selects gold jewlry at Caibai Store. Gold rings and necklaces are popular New Year gifts among local people. [Mirror Evening News]
China is set to overtake India as the world's No 1 gold consumer this year.
Metals consulting firm GFMS projects that China's gold demand will total 432 tons this year, and that India's will total 422 tons.
Gold demand in India fell by more than half in the first nine months of this year through September, according to the World Gold Council. In contrast, China's demand was up 8 percent in the same period.
8. China leads in nuke capacity
Chinese vice premier Li Keqiang (R) and visiting French Prime Minister Francois Fillon unveils the biggest Sino-French joint venture to construct and operate the first-phase project of the Taishan nuclear power plant at a ceremony marking the official start of construction of the plant in Guangdong province, Dec 21, 2009 [Xinhua].
With 24 nuclear power blocks under construction and a planned capacity of 25.4 gigawatts, China now has the world’s largest nuclear power capacity under construction, according to a December 26 report of the National Development and Reform Commission.
China recently started constructing the Taishan nuclear plant in Guangdong province, which is expected to be the world’s largest after completion. A total of 50.2 billion yuan ($7.35 billion) was invested in the first-phase project, whose unit capacity can amount to 1.75 million kilowatts.
According to China’s nuclear power plants long and mid-term development plan, the installed capacity is expected to reach 40 million kilowatts by 2020 generating 260 billion to 280 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, accounting for 4 percent to 6 percent of the country's total.
China now has 11 nuclear reactors in operation, with a total nuclear power installed capacity of 9.08 gW.
9. China's average housing prices top the world
China’s average housing prices have topped the world when compared to average incomes, Xie Guozhong, board member of Rosetta Stone Advisors said.
According to statistics of the first three quarters of this year, the average annual income of Beijing residents amounted to 26,720 yuan ($3,913.18). If a couple wanted to buy a 100-sq m second-hand apartment on loan they needed to save money for 49 years without spending a penny as the price would now be two million yuan.
The same situation is happening in other first-tier cities.
Research held by the Beijing News showed 80 percent of the 50 main buildings being sold in Beijing this year had a price rally of more than 50 percent.
The loose monetary policies of the Chinese government have spurred a record of $1.27 trillion in loans this year and the huge liquidity had created serious bubbles in China’s stock and real estate markets that threaten the economy.
China’s real estate market will not show a downward trend unless the US Federal Reserve increases the interest rate, which will lead to the appreciation of the dollar and obvious inflation expectations.
10. World's largest wind turbine market
China is overtaking the US as the world’s largest market for the installation of wind turbines in 2009, People’s Daily reported, citing Arthouros Zervos, president of European Wind Energy Association.
In the first half of this year, China had new wind turbine installations producing 4.5 million kilowatts of power, surpassing the US, which had new wind turbine installation of 4 million kilowatts of power in the same period.
The data of China’s total wind turbine installation of 2009 is yet to be announced, but it is predicted to overtake the US as the world's largest market for wind turbines this year.
The government’s encouraging policies are seen as the main driving force to help create huge market demand for wind turbines. As a result, manufacturers propped up and investment flocked into the sector.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
1. Fastest GDP growth
2. World's No 1 exporter
3. Top IPO destination
4. World's biggest auto market
5. Best performing air transport industry
6. World's longest natural gas pipeline
7. World's largest gold consumer
8. China leads in nuke capacity
9. China's average housing prices top the world
10. World's largest wind turbine market
1. Fastest GDP growth
With the world still haunted by recession, China seems to be the promise land with a 7.7 percent year-on-year economic growth rate in the first three quarters.
The figures outperform all the other countries, including India, China’s old rival in terms of economic growth rate, ensuring China an annual GDP growth over 8 percent in 2009.
China’s year-on-year GDP growth stood at 6.1 percent, 7.9 percent and 8.9 percent respectively for quarter one to quarter three, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, showing a robust but stable recovery.
China, together with other emerging economies, plays an important part in leading the world out of the economic downturn, analysts said.
2. World's No 1 exporter
China will "very probably" surpass Germany to become the world's largest exporter this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on December 27.
According to the World Trade Organization, during the first half of 2009, China had, for the first time in the past seven years, edged narrowly ahead of Germany in exports. During the January-June period, China exported goods worth $521.7 billion, slightly more than Germany, which exported $521.6 billion worth of goods.
Economists predicted such momentum will be sustained during the second half of 2009 and the years ahead, especially with the toll the financial crisis has taken on developed countries, including Germany.
Although the figure for December has not yet been announced, Zhong Shan, vice-minister of commerce, predicted that China’s exports for the whole year in 2009 will drop by 16.5 percent year-on-year to $1.19 trillion. Given the drops in China’s exports that have already taken place this year, that actually means that exports for December will likely grow by 9.6 percent compared to last year, to $121.86 billion.
3. Top IPO destination
Chairmen of the boards from companies ring the bell in Shenzhen Wuzhou Hotel on Dec 30, to announce the first batch of companies' IPO debut on China's Nasdaq-like ChiNext bourse.
Companies raised more capital through initial public offerings (IPOs) on Chinese stock exchanges, including in Hong Kong, than in the US this year – the first time the US has not been the top IPO destination since 2006.
Companies raised $51.6 billion in China, including $27.2 billion in Hong Kong and $24.4 billion on the mainland. In the US, companies only raised $26.5 billion, according to statistics from the British research company Dealogic.
Companies from the mainland accounted for 46 of the 66 new listings on the Hong Kong exchange this year. China Minsheng Banking Corporation raised the most, with HK$30.2 billion ($3.89 billion), and eight of the top ten largest IPOs were mainland companies.
4. World's biggest auto market
GM sold 1.459 million vehicles in China in the first 10 months. Hao Ran
China's total vehicle sales exceeded 12 million in the January-November period, retaining its leading position in auto sales and production since January, according to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
China sold 7.22 million new vehicles in 2006, overtaking Japan as the second-largest auto market after the US. In January 2009, China sold 735,500 home-made vehicles, surpassing US as the world’s top auto market.
China’s auto sales hit 10.9 million in the first ten months of this year, up 37.8 percent over the same period last year, breaching the 10-million barrier for the first time ever.
Boosted by government stimulus measures such as tax cuts and subsidies for trade-ins, sales of all automobiles for the whole year are set to break the 13 million barrier, which has consolidated China’s top position in the global automobile market.
5. Best performing air transport industry
Tourists bound for an overseas destination board an Air China flight at Beijing Capital International Airport. [Agencies]
China’s air transport industry made a total profit this year of 11.8 billion yuan ($1.73 billion) as of November, defying a forecast by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that the industry would lose $11 billion globally this year.
"The performance of China's air transport industry is the best in the world," Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China（CAAC）, told China Central Television.
The figure, which includes profits from both airlines and airports, released by CAAC on its website on December 14, shows that China’s airlines have weathered the global financial crisis without too much turbulence.
A strong domestic market and the government's policy support have contributed to the profits, analyst said.
6. World's longest natural gas pipeline
Chinese President Hu Jintao, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov turn on the flow of natural gas together in the gas plant on the right bank of the Amu Darya River, Turkmenistan, on Dec 14, 2009. The four leader attended the inauguration ceremony of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline here on Dec 14.[Xinhua]
A new “Silk Road” linking China and Central Asia was opened on December 14: a 1,833-km natural gas pipeline, that starts in Turkmenistan, and winds its way through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China's Xinjiang region. It is the world’s longest natural gas pipeline ever constructed.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and his counterparts from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan jointly opened the pipeline at a ceremony in Turkmenistan. Hu said the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline is a model of solidarity and mutually beneficial cooperation among the four countries.
Once it reaches full capacity between 2012 and 2013, it will be able to deliver 40 billion cubic meters of gas each year. That is more than half of China's current annual gas consumption.
China consumed 77.8 billion cubic meters of gas in 2008.
7. World's largest gold consumer
A couple selects gold jewlry at Caibai Store. Gold rings and necklaces are popular New Year gifts among local people. [Mirror Evening News]
China is set to overtake India as the world's No 1 gold consumer this year.
Metals consulting firm GFMS projects that China's gold demand will total 432 tons this year, and that India's will total 422 tons.
Gold demand in India fell by more than half in the first nine months of this year through September, according to the World Gold Council. In contrast, China's demand was up 8 percent in the same period.
8. China leads in nuke capacity
Chinese vice premier Li Keqiang (R) and visiting French Prime Minister Francois Fillon unveils the biggest Sino-French joint venture to construct and operate the first-phase project of the Taishan nuclear power plant at a ceremony marking the official start of construction of the plant in Guangdong province, Dec 21, 2009 [Xinhua].
With 24 nuclear power blocks under construction and a planned capacity of 25.4 gigawatts, China now has the world’s largest nuclear power capacity under construction, according to a December 26 report of the National Development and Reform Commission.
China recently started constructing the Taishan nuclear plant in Guangdong province, which is expected to be the world’s largest after completion. A total of 50.2 billion yuan ($7.35 billion) was invested in the first-phase project, whose unit capacity can amount to 1.75 million kilowatts.
According to China’s nuclear power plants long and mid-term development plan, the installed capacity is expected to reach 40 million kilowatts by 2020 generating 260 billion to 280 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, accounting for 4 percent to 6 percent of the country's total.
China now has 11 nuclear reactors in operation, with a total nuclear power installed capacity of 9.08 gW.
9. China's average housing prices top the world
China’s average housing prices have topped the world when compared to average incomes, Xie Guozhong, board member of Rosetta Stone Advisors said.
According to statistics of the first three quarters of this year, the average annual income of Beijing residents amounted to 26,720 yuan ($3,913.18). If a couple wanted to buy a 100-sq m second-hand apartment on loan they needed to save money for 49 years without spending a penny as the price would now be two million yuan.
The same situation is happening in other first-tier cities.
Research held by the Beijing News showed 80 percent of the 50 main buildings being sold in Beijing this year had a price rally of more than 50 percent.
The loose monetary policies of the Chinese government have spurred a record of $1.27 trillion in loans this year and the huge liquidity had created serious bubbles in China’s stock and real estate markets that threaten the economy.
China’s real estate market will not show a downward trend unless the US Federal Reserve increases the interest rate, which will lead to the appreciation of the dollar and obvious inflation expectations.
10. World's largest wind turbine market
China is overtaking the US as the world’s largest market for the installation of wind turbines in 2009, People’s Daily reported, citing Arthouros Zervos, president of European Wind Energy Association.
In the first half of this year, China had new wind turbine installations producing 4.5 million kilowatts of power, surpassing the US, which had new wind turbine installation of 4 million kilowatts of power in the same period.
The data of China’s total wind turbine installation of 2009 is yet to be announced, but it is predicted to overtake the US as the world's largest market for wind turbines this year.
The government’s encouraging policies are seen as the main driving force to help create huge market demand for wind turbines. As a result, manufacturers propped up and investment flocked into the sector.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
RUSSIA: 2009 in Review
RIAN News Service looks back at the main events of the outgoing year; below starts a month-by-month review of 2009:
January 1
* Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, but increases shipments to other European states
January 7
* Russian energy giant Gazprom halts gas supplies to Ukraine for transit to Europe
January 9
* Russian and British shareholders of Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP sign a deal to complete the process of settling their conflict started in September 2008
January 10
* Russia and the European Union sign a protocol to set up an international commission to control the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine
January 13
* Russian energy giant Gazprom gives the go-ahead to resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine
January 15
* Russian investigators close their probe into the 1918 murder of the last tsar and his family, and the identification of their remains discovered in the Urals in 1991 and 2007
* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il taps his third son to be his successor and sends his nomination to the leadership of the ruling party
January 19
* Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer for the family of a Chechen woman murdered in 2000 by Russian army colonel Yury Budanov, and Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasia Baburova are shot dead in downtown Moscow
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a decree banning exports of military and dual purpose products to Georgia
* Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz signs a contract on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine for 2009-2019
January 20
* Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the U.S. in Washington, becoming the country's first African-American head of state
January 21
* Israel completes its troop pullout from Gaza more than three weeks after the start of its assault on the coastal enclave
January 27
* Metropolitan Kirill is elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church, becoming the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
February 1
* The Russian Orthodox Church enthrones its new leader, Patriarch Kirill
February 2
* Russian international Andrei Arshavin signs for Arsenal
February 3
* Moscow and Minsk sign an agreement on the joint protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State's airspace and the creation of an integrated regional air defense network
February 5
* The Faina Ukrainian cargo ship captured by Somali pirates in September 2008 with 20 crewmembers on board is released after a ransom is paid
February 10
* Israel holds early parliamentary elections
February 11
* Russian and Indian warships complete the final stage of the INDRA-2009 joint naval exercises, practicing anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast
February 12
* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe extends a mandate for its unarmed military observers in Georgia
February 15
* Bolivia's President Evo Morales arrives in Moscow on the first official visit to Russia to sign a number of agreements, including in the energy and military-technical sectors
February 16
* Russian prosecutors give the go ahead for a new criminal case to be brought against the jailed Yukos founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev
February 17
* Russia's antimonopoly regulator launches suits against the country's largest crude producers - TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft, LUKoil and Rosneft - over fuel market violations in late 2008
February 19
* The jury acquits all defendants suspected of involvement in the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya
February 20
* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signs a decree to close the Manas U.S. airbase used since 2001 to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan
February 22
* The Idex-2009 international defense exhibition and conference opens in Abu Dhabi
February 24
* The European Union announces the inclusion of Belarus in its Eastern Partnership (EaP) program
March 1
* Russia holds local legislature and mayoral elections across the country on the single day of voting
* China's first lunar probe ends its 16-month mission with a planned crash into the moon's surface
March 2
* Russia's major political party United Russia, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wins polls to legislatures in all nine participating regions, its first election test since the country was hit by a financial crisis last year
March 3
* Ukraine's parliament votes overwhelmingly to dismiss Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko over his handling of a territorial dispute with Romania and policies damaging ties with Russia
March 4
* The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over war crimes against civilians in Sudan's Darfur Province
March 6
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton make a symbolic "reboot" to improve relations between the two countries when they met in Geneva
March 7
* Kyrgyzstan's parliament approves the termination of agreements with 11 countries on the deployment of their military contingents at the Manas airbase in the north of the country
March 9
* North Korea puts its armed forces on full combat readiness and cuts off the only direct hotline with South Korea's military in response to plans for joint military exercises by South Korea and the U.S.
* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is unanimously reelected to the country's parliament with 100% voter turnout
March 10
* A teenage gunman opens fire at random in a secondary school in southwest Germany, killing 16, and shoots himself after being cornered by police, national media reported, citing police sources
March 16
* The trial of Josef Fritzl, accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children, begins in the Austrian town of St. Poelten
March 17
* Russia signs agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia on giving the republics financial aid in socio-economic development and balancing their budgets
March 30
* Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Chechen Vostok battalion, is in hospital in a serious condition after surviving an assassination attempt in Dubai
April 1
* Albania and Croatia officially become NATO's newest members, bringing the number of countries in the military alliance to 28
* U.S. and Russian Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet for the first time in London and announce the restart of talks on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty
April 2
* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signs a law to end the deployment of foreign military contingents at the Manas airbase in the north of the country
April 3
* Leaders of NATO member countries gather for a two-day summit to mark NATO's 60th anniversary and discuss new challenges facing the world's most powerful military alliance
April 5
* North Korea launches a long-range rocket over Japan, defying world pressure
April 6
* Powerful earthquake hits the mountainous region of Abruzzo in central Italy, killing up to 300 people and leaving around 50,000 homeless
April 15
* India successfully test-fires a Prithvi-II ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead
April 16
* The counter-terrorism operation that was launched in Russia's volatile republic of Chechnya in 1999 finishes
April 21
* Russia and China agree to build a new branch from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline toward China
April 23
* Armenia and Turkey agree on a "roadmap" aimed at normalizing bilateral relations
April 25
* North Korea restarts work at nuclear facilities that produce weapons-grade plutonium following the withdrawal from six-nation talks on its controversial nuclear and missile programs
April 30
* The World Health Organization raises its level of swine flu pandemic alert from phase 4 to 5, one step short of a full-scale pandemic
May 6
* A NATO airstrike leaves around 100 civilians killed in the western Afghan province of Farah
May 7
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev marks his first year in office
May 9
* A military parade involving over 9,000 personnel and dozens of military vehicles and airplanes is held on Moscow’s Red Square to mark Victory Day
May 10
* The Eurovision 2009 song contest opens in Moscow
May 12
* Russia and Japan sign an intergovernmental nuclear cooperation deal during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tokyo
May 13
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approves a national security strategy to last until 2020
May 22
* U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law legislation to reduce the financing of wasteful and inefficient military programs
May 23
* German President Horst Koehler is reelected by a special federal assembly for the second five-year presidential term
May 25
* North Korea carries out three test launches of short-range ground-to-air missiles following a successful nuclear test
May 26
* North Korea fires two short-range missiles into the Pacific, in apparent defiance against international pressure over its May 25 nuclear test
May 31
* South Ossetia holds parliamentary elections, with four parties competing for 34 seats in the republic's legislature
June 2
* Japan's Nissan Motor Company opens a car plant in St. Petersburg at a ceremony attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
June 3
* The U.S. government admits to accidentally publishing "highly confidential" information on hundreds of civilian nuclear sites, including detailed maps showing fuel stockpiles, on the internet
* Russian uranium trader Tekhsnabexport signs a contract with U.S. firm Exelon to supply enriched uranium in 2014-2020
June 4
* U.S. President Barack Obama calls for a new beginning in relations between the United States and the Muslim world at a long-awaited speech in Egypt
June 11
* The World Health Organization (WHO) declares its first flu pandemic of the 21st century following an emergency meeting on the swine flu outbreak that has hit 74 countries
June 12
* The parliament of Georgia unanimously passes resolutions on the formal withdrawal of the former Soviet republic from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
June 13
* Iran's hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins the June 12 election with 63% of the votes cast in his favor, leaving his rival, reformist former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, far behind
June 19
* European Union leaders unanimously endorse Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as president of the 27-nation bloc's executive body, the European Commission
June 22
* The president of Russia's volatile southern republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, is hospitalized after being seriously injured in an assassination attempt
June 25
* U.S. President Barack Obama extends sanctions against North Korea for one more year as the reclusive country is still considered a threat to the United States
* Russia's Supreme Court overturns not-guilty verdicts for three men charged over the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and orders a retrial
* 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles at the age of 50
July 2
* North Korea conducts four test launches of short-range missiles
* Police and security forces prevent assassination of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov
July 4
* North Korea test launches seven ballistic missiles from its eastern coast
July 6
* U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow on his first visit to Russia since his victory in November's presidential elections
July 8
* Russia's newest Borey class strategic nuclear submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky completes the first round of sea trials
July 13
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in South Ossetia on his first visit
July 16
* Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Gholam Reza Aghazadeh resigns
July 22
* Yury Solomonov, the head of the research institute that designed the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile, resigned after a series of unsuccessful test launches
July 23
* Iceland officially applies to join the European Union
July 26
* India launches its first nuclear-powered submarine for sea trials
July 26
* Kyrgyzstan's president wins reelection with 76.4% of the vote
July 31
* Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, starts the second stage of new sea trials
August 1
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev sign a memorandum on Russian military presence in Kyrgyzstan
August 3
* Anders Fog Rasmussen, inaugurated as NATO's new secretary general, starts work in the alliance's headquarters in Brussels
August 5
* Former U.S. President Bill Clinton secures the release of two American journalists detained by North Korea in March
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for his second term as Iran's president in a ceremony in the country's parliament
August 7
* Typhoon Morakot, the deadliest in history, hits Taiwan leaving 461 people killed
August 11
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev holds off sending Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine over Kiev's anti-Russian policies
August 14
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet for an informal summit in Sochi, the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics
August 16
* One of three pilots rehearsing a flight of two Su-27 fighters ahead of MAKS-2009 air show is killed as the military aircraft collides southeast of Moscow
August 17
* A disaster at Russia’s largest hydropower plant, Sayano-Shushenskaya, in south Siberia leaves 75 people killed and destroys a turbine hall
August 18
* The Russian frigate Ladny frees the Arctic Sea cargo ship in the Atlantic without firing a single shot with eight suspected hijackers detained
* Iran signals readiness to hold talks with the West on its nuclear program without any preliminary conditions
* Georgia officially ends its membership of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
August 31
* Turkey and Armenia agree at talks mediated by Switzerland to start "internal political consultations" on establishing diplomatic relations
September 1
* Border traffic between North and South Korea resumes, following months of heavy restrictions imposed by the North
September 2
* Moldova's acting president Vladimir Voronin formally resigns to become a member of parliament, after strongly criticizing the incoming leadership
September 4
* North Korea begins the final stage of uranium enrichment, a method of producing nuclear weapons
September 7
* Greek President Karolos Papoulias signs a decree dismissing the country's parliament and setting early elections for October 4
September 10
* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country recognizes Georgia's two former breakaway republics as independent states
September 11
* Moldova's parliament appoints newly elected parliamentary speaker Mihai Ghimpu as acting president
September 14
* Yukiya Amano is approved as the next head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei from December
September 16
* The European Parliament votes to give European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso a second five-year term in office
* The Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Taro Aso, resigns at an emergency session of the country's parliament
September 17
* U.S. President Barack Obama confirms that Washington is scrapping the Bush administration’s plans for a missile shield in Central Europe
September 18
* The first phase of massive joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises begins with the involvement of some 100 aircraft and 12,600 military personnel
September 22
* The highest-level conference on climate change opens at the United Nations to negotiate a new deal on how to combat global warming
September 24
* Russia's president arrives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a summit of the Group of 20 richest nations to move the focus onto trade and economic issues
September 25
* All members of the Group of 20 leading economies agree at their summit in Pittsburgh to continue state support measures to prevent a deepening of the economic crisis
September 27
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces victory for a new coalition of her conservative Christian Democrats and pro-business Free Democrats after the general election
September 28
* Iran test launches the longest-range missile in its arsenal as tensions grow with the West over its nuclear program
September 30
* Three new crewmembers on board a Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft successfully blast off to the International Space Station
October 1
* The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejects Georgia's motion to strip Russia of voting rights over last year's conflict in South Ossetia
* The People's Republic of China celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding with a vast display of the country's military might on Tiananmen Square
October 2
* Russia extends a moratorium on human cloning that expired two years ago by five years
October 3
* Ireland votes "Yes" to the Lisbon Treaty setting out rules for decision-making in the European Union
October 5
* The Nobel Prize for medicine is given to three U.S. scientists for their research into how the human body protects chromosomes
October 6
* Three scientists share the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics for helping develop fiber optic cables and digital photography technology
October 9
* U.S. President Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
October 10
* Turkey and Armenia sign historic accords restoring diplomatic relations and opening borders between the two countries
October 19
* Ukraine officially launches a presidential election campaign, the first since the 2004 "orange revolution" that swept Viktor Yushchenko to power
October 22
* Russia's Memorial human rights group is awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament
October 25
* At least 136 people are killed and more than 500 wounded in one of this year's deadliest attacks in Iraq
October 30
* Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader Roberto Micheletti agree a deal that could pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement
November 2
* Hamid Karzai is declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election when officials scrapped the second round of voting following the withdrawal of his opponent
* Russian-Israeli businessman Shabtai von Kalmanovich is shot dead in central Moscow bringing an end to a colorful life that had seen a flirtation with showbiz and a conviction for spying
November 3
* Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic attends a court session in The Hague for the first time, telling the judges he needed more time to prepare his defense
* Czech President Vaclav Klaus signs the EU's Lisbon Treaty after the country's Constitutional Court rules that the ambitious reform treaty was in line with the Czech constitution
November 4
* Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, incumbent mayor of New York, is reelected for a third term
* U.S. General Motors (GM) board of directors decides against selling Germany's Opel to the Magna-Sberbank consortium and to retain its big European car division
November 6
* Honduran de-facto leader Roberto Micheletti announces the formation of a reconciliation government
November 9
* Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez calls on his country to prepare for a possible war, once again criticizing a military cooperation agreement between Colombia and the U.S.
* Russian physicist and Nobel laureate Vitaly Ginzburg dies in Moscow at the age of 94
November 10
* The Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, forms a new government with the militant group Hezbollah-led opposition, putting an end to months of political uncertainty in the country
November 12
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivers his second state of the nation address to both houses of parliament in the Grand Kremlin Palace
November 13
* President Barack Obama renews U.S. economic sanctions against Iran for another year
November 19
* EU leaders choose Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to be the first president of the European Union and Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton as new EU foreign policy chief
* Russia's Constitutional Court prolongs a moratorium on the death penalty, which was due to expire on January 1, until it is banned completely
November 24
* Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz agree to reduce Russian national gas deliveries by 35% in 2010, from the previously contracted 52 billion cubic meters to 33.75 bcm
November 26
* The Honduras Supreme Court dismisses ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's claim for reinstatement
* The Russian government approves a national energy strategy until 2030 that envisages raising oil output up to 530-535 million metric tons from last year's 488 million
November 27
* Three carriages of the Nevsky Express high-speed train travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg derail, killing 28 passengers and injuring at least 90, an emergencies official
November 29
* Switzerland votes to ban the construction of new minarets, disappointing the country's Muslims but making those who proposed the nationwide referendum rejoice at its results
November 30
* The UN Security Council extends the mandate of an international anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia for another year
* Serbian poet, novelist and historian Milorad Pavic died of heart failure at the age of 80
* The trial of Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk, charged with involvement in the murder of 27,900 people during World War II, starts in Munich
* The Large Hadron Collider sets a new world record accelerating its twin beams of protons to unprecedented energy levels
December 1
* The European Union's Lisbon treaty, aimed at streamlining institutions and raising the bloc's global standing, comes into force
December 2
* U.S. President Barack Obama outlines a new strategy on Afghanistan, saying 30,000 troops would be additionally deployed by next summer
December 3
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a decree to establish diplomatic relations with Vatican City, and meets with Pope Benedict XVI
* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fields a wide range of questions from the Russian public during his live TV and radio phone-in, which lasted for four hours
December 5
* A fire caused by an indoor fireworks display at the Lame Horse nightclub in the Urals city of Perm leaves 152 people dead
December 7
* The 15th UN climate change conference, a result of two-year international talks on a binding treaty to cut the global emission of greenhouse gases, opens in Copenhagen
December 8
* At least 100 people are killed and more than 100 were injured as a result of coordinated bomb attacks in Iraq's capital of Baghdad
December 10
* U.S. President Barack Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Norway but acknowledges the controversy over the award, as his country continues to fight two wars
* Russia successfully test launches a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile
December 14
* Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is attacked by a mentally ill man after his party meeting in Milan and taken to hospital
December 15
* Nauru, the world's smallest island state, recognizes the independence of the former Georgian republic of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
December 16
* Iran successfully tests an upgraded version of its long range solid-fuel Sejil-2 missile
* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pays his first official visit to Russia and meets with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
* Yegor Gaidar, one of the leading architects of free market reforms in post-Soviet Russia, dies at the age of 53
December 17
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a national climate doctrine
December 19
* The climate summit in Copenhagen accepts a summary document
* Two people are killed in an explosion when a memorial to WWII heroes is demolished in Georgia's second largest city, Kutaisi
December 24
* Russia and Georgia agree to reopen a border checkpoint closed since July 2006
December 25
* Pope Benedict XVI is knocked down at St. Peter's Basilica during the Christmas Eve service
December 26
* Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko wins the Russian Figure Skating Championships to become an eight-time national champion
December 28
* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin officially launches the East-Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline during his visit to the region
Sources:
2009 Review: January
2009 Review: February
2009 Review: March
2009 Review: April
2009 Review: May
2009 Review: June
2009 Review: July
2009 Review: August
2009 Review: September
2009 Review: October
2009 Review: November
2009 Review: December
January 1
* Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, but increases shipments to other European states
January 7
* Russian energy giant Gazprom halts gas supplies to Ukraine for transit to Europe
January 9
* Russian and British shareholders of Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP sign a deal to complete the process of settling their conflict started in September 2008
January 10
* Russia and the European Union sign a protocol to set up an international commission to control the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine
January 13
* Russian energy giant Gazprom gives the go-ahead to resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine
January 15
* Russian investigators close their probe into the 1918 murder of the last tsar and his family, and the identification of their remains discovered in the Urals in 1991 and 2007
* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il taps his third son to be his successor and sends his nomination to the leadership of the ruling party
January 19
* Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer for the family of a Chechen woman murdered in 2000 by Russian army colonel Yury Budanov, and Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasia Baburova are shot dead in downtown Moscow
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a decree banning exports of military and dual purpose products to Georgia
* Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz signs a contract on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine for 2009-2019
January 20
* Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the U.S. in Washington, becoming the country's first African-American head of state
January 21
* Israel completes its troop pullout from Gaza more than three weeks after the start of its assault on the coastal enclave
January 27
* Metropolitan Kirill is elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church, becoming the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
February 1
* The Russian Orthodox Church enthrones its new leader, Patriarch Kirill
February 2
* Russian international Andrei Arshavin signs for Arsenal
February 3
* Moscow and Minsk sign an agreement on the joint protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State's airspace and the creation of an integrated regional air defense network
February 5
* The Faina Ukrainian cargo ship captured by Somali pirates in September 2008 with 20 crewmembers on board is released after a ransom is paid
February 10
* Israel holds early parliamentary elections
February 11
* Russian and Indian warships complete the final stage of the INDRA-2009 joint naval exercises, practicing anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast
February 12
* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe extends a mandate for its unarmed military observers in Georgia
February 15
* Bolivia's President Evo Morales arrives in Moscow on the first official visit to Russia to sign a number of agreements, including in the energy and military-technical sectors
February 16
* Russian prosecutors give the go ahead for a new criminal case to be brought against the jailed Yukos founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev
February 17
* Russia's antimonopoly regulator launches suits against the country's largest crude producers - TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft, LUKoil and Rosneft - over fuel market violations in late 2008
February 19
* The jury acquits all defendants suspected of involvement in the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya
February 20
* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signs a decree to close the Manas U.S. airbase used since 2001 to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan
February 22
* The Idex-2009 international defense exhibition and conference opens in Abu Dhabi
February 24
* The European Union announces the inclusion of Belarus in its Eastern Partnership (EaP) program
March 1
* Russia holds local legislature and mayoral elections across the country on the single day of voting
* China's first lunar probe ends its 16-month mission with a planned crash into the moon's surface
March 2
* Russia's major political party United Russia, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wins polls to legislatures in all nine participating regions, its first election test since the country was hit by a financial crisis last year
March 3
* Ukraine's parliament votes overwhelmingly to dismiss Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko over his handling of a territorial dispute with Romania and policies damaging ties with Russia
March 4
* The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over war crimes against civilians in Sudan's Darfur Province
March 6
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton make a symbolic "reboot" to improve relations between the two countries when they met in Geneva
March 7
* Kyrgyzstan's parliament approves the termination of agreements with 11 countries on the deployment of their military contingents at the Manas airbase in the north of the country
March 9
* North Korea puts its armed forces on full combat readiness and cuts off the only direct hotline with South Korea's military in response to plans for joint military exercises by South Korea and the U.S.
* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is unanimously reelected to the country's parliament with 100% voter turnout
March 10
* A teenage gunman opens fire at random in a secondary school in southwest Germany, killing 16, and shoots himself after being cornered by police, national media reported, citing police sources
March 16
* The trial of Josef Fritzl, accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children, begins in the Austrian town of St. Poelten
March 17
* Russia signs agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia on giving the republics financial aid in socio-economic development and balancing their budgets
March 30
* Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Chechen Vostok battalion, is in hospital in a serious condition after surviving an assassination attempt in Dubai
April 1
* Albania and Croatia officially become NATO's newest members, bringing the number of countries in the military alliance to 28
* U.S. and Russian Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet for the first time in London and announce the restart of talks on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty
April 2
* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signs a law to end the deployment of foreign military contingents at the Manas airbase in the north of the country
April 3
* Leaders of NATO member countries gather for a two-day summit to mark NATO's 60th anniversary and discuss new challenges facing the world's most powerful military alliance
April 5
* North Korea launches a long-range rocket over Japan, defying world pressure
April 6
* Powerful earthquake hits the mountainous region of Abruzzo in central Italy, killing up to 300 people and leaving around 50,000 homeless
April 15
* India successfully test-fires a Prithvi-II ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead
April 16
* The counter-terrorism operation that was launched in Russia's volatile republic of Chechnya in 1999 finishes
April 21
* Russia and China agree to build a new branch from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline toward China
April 23
* Armenia and Turkey agree on a "roadmap" aimed at normalizing bilateral relations
April 25
* North Korea restarts work at nuclear facilities that produce weapons-grade plutonium following the withdrawal from six-nation talks on its controversial nuclear and missile programs
April 30
* The World Health Organization raises its level of swine flu pandemic alert from phase 4 to 5, one step short of a full-scale pandemic
May 6
* A NATO airstrike leaves around 100 civilians killed in the western Afghan province of Farah
May 7
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev marks his first year in office
May 9
* A military parade involving over 9,000 personnel and dozens of military vehicles and airplanes is held on Moscow’s Red Square to mark Victory Day
May 10
* The Eurovision 2009 song contest opens in Moscow
May 12
* Russia and Japan sign an intergovernmental nuclear cooperation deal during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tokyo
May 13
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approves a national security strategy to last until 2020
May 22
* U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law legislation to reduce the financing of wasteful and inefficient military programs
May 23
* German President Horst Koehler is reelected by a special federal assembly for the second five-year presidential term
May 25
* North Korea carries out three test launches of short-range ground-to-air missiles following a successful nuclear test
May 26
* North Korea fires two short-range missiles into the Pacific, in apparent defiance against international pressure over its May 25 nuclear test
May 31
* South Ossetia holds parliamentary elections, with four parties competing for 34 seats in the republic's legislature
June 2
* Japan's Nissan Motor Company opens a car plant in St. Petersburg at a ceremony attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
June 3
* The U.S. government admits to accidentally publishing "highly confidential" information on hundreds of civilian nuclear sites, including detailed maps showing fuel stockpiles, on the internet
* Russian uranium trader Tekhsnabexport signs a contract with U.S. firm Exelon to supply enriched uranium in 2014-2020
June 4
* U.S. President Barack Obama calls for a new beginning in relations between the United States and the Muslim world at a long-awaited speech in Egypt
June 11
* The World Health Organization (WHO) declares its first flu pandemic of the 21st century following an emergency meeting on the swine flu outbreak that has hit 74 countries
June 12
* The parliament of Georgia unanimously passes resolutions on the formal withdrawal of the former Soviet republic from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
June 13
* Iran's hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins the June 12 election with 63% of the votes cast in his favor, leaving his rival, reformist former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, far behind
June 19
* European Union leaders unanimously endorse Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as president of the 27-nation bloc's executive body, the European Commission
June 22
* The president of Russia's volatile southern republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, is hospitalized after being seriously injured in an assassination attempt
June 25
* U.S. President Barack Obama extends sanctions against North Korea for one more year as the reclusive country is still considered a threat to the United States
* Russia's Supreme Court overturns not-guilty verdicts for three men charged over the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and orders a retrial
* 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles at the age of 50
July 2
* North Korea conducts four test launches of short-range missiles
* Police and security forces prevent assassination of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov
July 4
* North Korea test launches seven ballistic missiles from its eastern coast
July 6
* U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow on his first visit to Russia since his victory in November's presidential elections
July 8
* Russia's newest Borey class strategic nuclear submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky completes the first round of sea trials
July 13
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in South Ossetia on his first visit
July 16
* Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Gholam Reza Aghazadeh resigns
July 22
* Yury Solomonov, the head of the research institute that designed the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile, resigned after a series of unsuccessful test launches
July 23
* Iceland officially applies to join the European Union
July 26
* India launches its first nuclear-powered submarine for sea trials
July 26
* Kyrgyzstan's president wins reelection with 76.4% of the vote
July 31
* Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, starts the second stage of new sea trials
August 1
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev sign a memorandum on Russian military presence in Kyrgyzstan
August 3
* Anders Fog Rasmussen, inaugurated as NATO's new secretary general, starts work in the alliance's headquarters in Brussels
August 5
* Former U.S. President Bill Clinton secures the release of two American journalists detained by North Korea in March
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for his second term as Iran's president in a ceremony in the country's parliament
August 7
* Typhoon Morakot, the deadliest in history, hits Taiwan leaving 461 people killed
August 11
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev holds off sending Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine over Kiev's anti-Russian policies
August 14
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet for an informal summit in Sochi, the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics
August 16
* One of three pilots rehearsing a flight of two Su-27 fighters ahead of MAKS-2009 air show is killed as the military aircraft collides southeast of Moscow
August 17
* A disaster at Russia’s largest hydropower plant, Sayano-Shushenskaya, in south Siberia leaves 75 people killed and destroys a turbine hall
August 18
* The Russian frigate Ladny frees the Arctic Sea cargo ship in the Atlantic without firing a single shot with eight suspected hijackers detained
* Iran signals readiness to hold talks with the West on its nuclear program without any preliminary conditions
* Georgia officially ends its membership of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
August 31
* Turkey and Armenia agree at talks mediated by Switzerland to start "internal political consultations" on establishing diplomatic relations
September 1
* Border traffic between North and South Korea resumes, following months of heavy restrictions imposed by the North
September 2
* Moldova's acting president Vladimir Voronin formally resigns to become a member of parliament, after strongly criticizing the incoming leadership
September 4
* North Korea begins the final stage of uranium enrichment, a method of producing nuclear weapons
September 7
* Greek President Karolos Papoulias signs a decree dismissing the country's parliament and setting early elections for October 4
September 10
* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country recognizes Georgia's two former breakaway republics as independent states
September 11
* Moldova's parliament appoints newly elected parliamentary speaker Mihai Ghimpu as acting president
September 14
* Yukiya Amano is approved as the next head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei from December
September 16
* The European Parliament votes to give European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso a second five-year term in office
* The Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Taro Aso, resigns at an emergency session of the country's parliament
September 17
* U.S. President Barack Obama confirms that Washington is scrapping the Bush administration’s plans for a missile shield in Central Europe
September 18
* The first phase of massive joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises begins with the involvement of some 100 aircraft and 12,600 military personnel
September 22
* The highest-level conference on climate change opens at the United Nations to negotiate a new deal on how to combat global warming
September 24
* Russia's president arrives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a summit of the Group of 20 richest nations to move the focus onto trade and economic issues
September 25
* All members of the Group of 20 leading economies agree at their summit in Pittsburgh to continue state support measures to prevent a deepening of the economic crisis
September 27
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces victory for a new coalition of her conservative Christian Democrats and pro-business Free Democrats after the general election
September 28
* Iran test launches the longest-range missile in its arsenal as tensions grow with the West over its nuclear program
September 30
* Three new crewmembers on board a Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft successfully blast off to the International Space Station
October 1
* The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejects Georgia's motion to strip Russia of voting rights over last year's conflict in South Ossetia
* The People's Republic of China celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding with a vast display of the country's military might on Tiananmen Square
October 2
* Russia extends a moratorium on human cloning that expired two years ago by five years
October 3
* Ireland votes "Yes" to the Lisbon Treaty setting out rules for decision-making in the European Union
October 5
* The Nobel Prize for medicine is given to three U.S. scientists for their research into how the human body protects chromosomes
October 6
* Three scientists share the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics for helping develop fiber optic cables and digital photography technology
October 9
* U.S. President Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
October 10
* Turkey and Armenia sign historic accords restoring diplomatic relations and opening borders between the two countries
October 19
* Ukraine officially launches a presidential election campaign, the first since the 2004 "orange revolution" that swept Viktor Yushchenko to power
October 22
* Russia's Memorial human rights group is awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament
October 25
* At least 136 people are killed and more than 500 wounded in one of this year's deadliest attacks in Iraq
October 30
* Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader Roberto Micheletti agree a deal that could pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement
November 2
* Hamid Karzai is declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election when officials scrapped the second round of voting following the withdrawal of his opponent
* Russian-Israeli businessman Shabtai von Kalmanovich is shot dead in central Moscow bringing an end to a colorful life that had seen a flirtation with showbiz and a conviction for spying
November 3
* Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic attends a court session in The Hague for the first time, telling the judges he needed more time to prepare his defense
* Czech President Vaclav Klaus signs the EU's Lisbon Treaty after the country's Constitutional Court rules that the ambitious reform treaty was in line with the Czech constitution
November 4
* Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, incumbent mayor of New York, is reelected for a third term
* U.S. General Motors (GM) board of directors decides against selling Germany's Opel to the Magna-Sberbank consortium and to retain its big European car division
November 6
* Honduran de-facto leader Roberto Micheletti announces the formation of a reconciliation government
November 9
* Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez calls on his country to prepare for a possible war, once again criticizing a military cooperation agreement between Colombia and the U.S.
* Russian physicist and Nobel laureate Vitaly Ginzburg dies in Moscow at the age of 94
November 10
* The Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, forms a new government with the militant group Hezbollah-led opposition, putting an end to months of political uncertainty in the country
November 12
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivers his second state of the nation address to both houses of parliament in the Grand Kremlin Palace
November 13
* President Barack Obama renews U.S. economic sanctions against Iran for another year
November 19
* EU leaders choose Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to be the first president of the European Union and Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton as new EU foreign policy chief
* Russia's Constitutional Court prolongs a moratorium on the death penalty, which was due to expire on January 1, until it is banned completely
November 24
* Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz agree to reduce Russian national gas deliveries by 35% in 2010, from the previously contracted 52 billion cubic meters to 33.75 bcm
November 26
* The Honduras Supreme Court dismisses ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's claim for reinstatement
* The Russian government approves a national energy strategy until 2030 that envisages raising oil output up to 530-535 million metric tons from last year's 488 million
November 27
* Three carriages of the Nevsky Express high-speed train travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg derail, killing 28 passengers and injuring at least 90, an emergencies official
November 29
* Switzerland votes to ban the construction of new minarets, disappointing the country's Muslims but making those who proposed the nationwide referendum rejoice at its results
November 30
* The UN Security Council extends the mandate of an international anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia for another year
* Serbian poet, novelist and historian Milorad Pavic died of heart failure at the age of 80
* The trial of Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk, charged with involvement in the murder of 27,900 people during World War II, starts in Munich
* The Large Hadron Collider sets a new world record accelerating its twin beams of protons to unprecedented energy levels
December 1
* The European Union's Lisbon treaty, aimed at streamlining institutions and raising the bloc's global standing, comes into force
December 2
* U.S. President Barack Obama outlines a new strategy on Afghanistan, saying 30,000 troops would be additionally deployed by next summer
December 3
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a decree to establish diplomatic relations with Vatican City, and meets with Pope Benedict XVI
* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fields a wide range of questions from the Russian public during his live TV and radio phone-in, which lasted for four hours
December 5
* A fire caused by an indoor fireworks display at the Lame Horse nightclub in the Urals city of Perm leaves 152 people dead
December 7
* The 15th UN climate change conference, a result of two-year international talks on a binding treaty to cut the global emission of greenhouse gases, opens in Copenhagen
December 8
* At least 100 people are killed and more than 100 were injured as a result of coordinated bomb attacks in Iraq's capital of Baghdad
December 10
* U.S. President Barack Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Norway but acknowledges the controversy over the award, as his country continues to fight two wars
* Russia successfully test launches a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile
December 14
* Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is attacked by a mentally ill man after his party meeting in Milan and taken to hospital
December 15
* Nauru, the world's smallest island state, recognizes the independence of the former Georgian republic of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
December 16
* Iran successfully tests an upgraded version of its long range solid-fuel Sejil-2 missile
* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pays his first official visit to Russia and meets with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
* Yegor Gaidar, one of the leading architects of free market reforms in post-Soviet Russia, dies at the age of 53
December 17
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a national climate doctrine
December 19
* The climate summit in Copenhagen accepts a summary document
* Two people are killed in an explosion when a memorial to WWII heroes is demolished in Georgia's second largest city, Kutaisi
December 24
* Russia and Georgia agree to reopen a border checkpoint closed since July 2006
December 25
* Pope Benedict XVI is knocked down at St. Peter's Basilica during the Christmas Eve service
December 26
* Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko wins the Russian Figure Skating Championships to become an eight-time national champion
December 28
* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin officially launches the East-Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline during his visit to the region
Sources:
2009 Review: January
2009 Review: February
2009 Review: March
2009 Review: April
2009 Review: May
2009 Review: June
2009 Review: July
2009 Review: August
2009 Review: September
2009 Review: October
2009 Review: November
2009 Review: December
US & WORLD: Chronology of news events in 2009
Published: December 21, 2009
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JANUARY
Jan. 1
Sixty-six New Year's revelers die and more than 200 are injured in a fire at a Bangkok nightclub.
Longtime Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, creator of Pell Grants, dies at 90.
Jan. 5
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdraws his nomination to be commerce secretary.
Jan. 8
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine becomes chairman of Democratic National Committee.
Jan. 9
Rod Blagojevich becomes first Illinois governor to be impeached.
Son of Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor gets 97 years in prison in torture case.
Jan. 12
President George W. Bush asks Congress to release remaining $350 billion in bailout money.
Jan. 15
Roland Burris sworn in as U.S. senator, chosen by embattled Illinois Gov. Blagojevich to take President-elect Barack Obama's former seat.
US Airways jet crash-lands in Hudson River after striking birds. All 155 people aboard survive.
Jan. 16
Painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91.
Jan. 20
Obama sworn in as 44th president.
Jan. 23
New York Gov. David Paterson chooses Democratic Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Jan. 26
Nadya Suleman gives birth in California to world's longest-surviving set of octuplets.
Jan. 29
Blagojevich convicted at impeachment trial and barred from office. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn sworn in as Illinois governor.
Jan. 30
Michael Steele elected first black chairman of Republican National Committee.
Jan. 31
More than 100 people die in Molo, Kenya, after overturned gasoline tanker catches fire.
------
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1
Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Arizona Cardinals 27-23 to win Super Bowl XLIII.
Feb. 3
Eric Holder becomes first black U.S. attorney general.
Feb. 4
Obama imposes $500,000 cap on executive pay for companies receiving federal bailout money.
Feb. 5
USA Swimming suspends Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps for three months after photo showing him inhaling from marijuana pipe becomes public.
Feb. 8
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss win album of the year Grammy for ''Raising Sand.''
Feb. 9
New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez admits he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.
Feb. 11
President Robert Mugabe swears in longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai as Zimbabwe's prime minister.
All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada pleads guilty to lying to Congress about steroids in baseball.
Rep. John Dingell of Michigan becomes longest-serving member of U.S. House.
Feb. 12
Commuter plane crashes into a Buffalo, N.Y., home, killing all 49 aboard and a person in the house.
Feb. 13
Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America files for bankruptcy after salmonella outbreak.
Feb. 17
Obama signs $787 billion economic rescue plan.
Feb. 20
Dow Jones industrial average ends week at 7365, lowest level in more than six years.
Feb. 22
The late actor Heath Ledger wins best supporting actor Oscar for ''The Dark Knight''; ''Slumdog Millionaire'' wins best picture.
Mine blast in northern China kills 77.
Feb. 26
Pentagon says it will allow some media coverage of returning war dead, with family approval.
Feb. 27
Obama announces plan to pull all U.S. combat brigades out of Iraq by August 2010.
The Rocky Mountain News ceases publishing; last edition goes on sale.
------
MARCH
March 2
Obama appoints Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of health and human services.
The Coast Guard, searching for a boat carrying NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and two others, finds overturned boat and one survivor off Florida.
March 6
U.S. reports jobless rate reached 8.1 percent in February, highest since 1983.
March 9
Obama says he's lifting a ban on federal money for embryonic stem cell research.
March 10
Shooting spree in southern Alabama leaves 10 dead, including gunman.
March 11
German prosecutors charge retired Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his time as a Nazi camp guard.
Teen goes on shooting spree, starting at a school in Winnenden, Germany, and kills 15 people before committing suicide.
March 12
Insurance broker announces Chicago's Sears Tower will be renamed Willis Tower.
Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at President George W. Bush gets three-year sentence.
March 16
Austrian Josef Fritzl pleads guilty to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children.
March 17
Seattle Post-Intelligencer publishes final print edition.
March 18
Chief of bailed-out insurance giant AIG grilled by furious lawmakers over $165 million in bonuses; some executives volunteer to return money.
Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, dies after skiing accident.
March 21
Man wanted for violating parole kills four police officers in Oakland, Calif.
March 22
Plane headed to Montana ski resort nose-dives into cemetery short of runway, killing all 14 aboard, including seven children.
March 27
Suicide bomber destroys Pakistan mosque, killing at least 48.
March 29
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner resigns under White House pressure.
Gunman kills seven residents of North Carolina nursing home and a nurse.
--------
APRIL
April 3
Shooting at immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., kills 14, including gunman.
Iowa Supreme Court unanimously legalizes gay marriage.
U.S. reports unemployment reached 8.5 percent in March, highest in quarter-century.
April 4
Gunman kills three Pittsburgh police officers responding to call by his mother, who wanted him removed from home.
April 5
North Korea launches long-range rocket toward Pacific Ocean.
April 7
Vermont becomes fourth state to legalize gay marriage after Legislature overrides governor's veto.
Charges dismissed against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.
April 8
Somali pirates hijack U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama and take captain hostage.
April 9
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart killed in car crash by a suspected drunken driver.
Kim Jong Il re-elected as North Korean leader.
April 10
Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby arrested in connection with death of 8-year-old California girl whose body was found in suitcase.
April 12
American ship captain Richard Phillips rescued from Somali pirates.
Angel Cabrera of Argentina wins golf's Masters.
April 13
Music producer Phil Spector found guilty of second-degree murder in shooting of actress Lana Clarkson; later sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.
April 15
Army soldier convicted of murder in 2007 deaths of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis and sentenced to life in prison.
April 20
Medical student Philip Markoff arrested in death of masseuse he met through Craigslist.
April 22
FDA says 17-year-old girls can get ''morning after'' birth control without prescription.
April 25
Bea Arthur, star of TV shows ''Maude'' and ''The Golden Girls,'' dies at 86.
April 27
Low-flying plane, later determined to be an Air Force One jet, panics New Yorkers.
General Motors announces plans to cut 21,000 hourly jobs and scrap Pontiac brand.
April 28
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania defects from Republican Party, joins Democrats.
April 29
CDC says swine flu killed 23-month-old Mexican child in Texas; first swine flu death in U.S.
April 30
Chrysler files for bankruptcy; federal government pledges up to $8 billion in additional aid and to back warranties.
------
MAY
May 1
Supreme Court Justice David Souter says he's retiring, effective in late June.
May 2
Jack Kemp, former quarterback, congressman and vice presidential nominee, dies at 73.
U.S. warplane in Afghanistan kills estimated 78 Taliban fighters and 26 civilians, prompting investigation.
May 5
Texas health officials confirm first death of U.S. resident with swine flu.
May 6
Governor signs bill making Maine fifth state to legalize gay marriage; law is later overturned by public vote.
May 7
Jury convicts former soldier of raping and killing 14-year-old Iraqi girl after slaying her family.
Former Illinois police Sgt. Drew Peterson indicted on murder charge in death of third wife.
May 11
Defense Secretary Robert Gates names Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal top military commander in Afghanistan, replacing Gen. David McKiernan.
May 12
Five Miami men convicted in plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago's Sears Tower.
May 14
Chrysler announces intent to eliminate 789 dealerships as part of restructuring.
May 15
General Motors tells about 1,100 dealers their franchises will be terminated.
May 20
Suspended NFL star Michael Vick released from prison to begin two months' home confinement.
May 21
Sherpa guide breaks his own record, reaching summit of Mount Everest a 19th time.
May 23
Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, 62, leaps to his death amid widening corruption scandal.
May 26
Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor to be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
California's Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
May 28
Kavya Shivashankar, 13-year-old from Kansas, spells ''laodicean'' (indifference to religion) to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
May 29
Jay Leno leaves NBC's ''Tonight Show'' after 17 years.
May 30
Susan Boyle places second on ''Britain's Got Talent'' and is admitted to a medical clinic the next day.
May 31
George Tiller, rare provider of late-term abortions, is shot and killed in Kansas church.
Millvina Dean, last living Titanic survivor, dies at 97.
------
JUNE
June 1
Air France Flight 447, carrying 228 people, disappears in thunderstorms over Atlantic following automated reports of failing systems and conflicting speeds.
General Motors becomes largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy.
Conan O'Brien debuts as ''Tonight Show'' host.
June 3
New Hampshire becomes sixth state to legalize gay marriage.
June 4
A retired State Department worker and his wife are arrested on charges of spying for Cuba for three decades.
June 7
Roger Federer wins his first French Open.
''Billy Elliot'' wins 10 Tony Awards.
June 8
North Korea's highest court sentences American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years' hard labor for trespassing and ''hostile acts.''
June 10
Gunman opens fire at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing a guard.
Donald Trump dismisses Miss California USA Carrie Prejean.
June 11
With swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, World Health Organization declares first global flu pandemic in 41 years.
June 12
U.S. television stations end analog broadcasts.
Congress approves legislation banning ''light'' or candy-flavored cigarettes and requiring tobacco companies to make bigger warning labels and run fewer ads.
U.N. Security Council sanctions North Korea for nuclear test.
Pittsburgh Penguins defeat Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win Stanley Cup.
June 14
Los Angeles Lakers win 15th NBA title in 99-86 Game 5 victory over the Orlando Magic.
June 16
The New York Times reports former baseball star Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance-enhancing drug in 2003.
June 17
U.N. announces economic downturn has led to 1 in 6 people going hungry.
Nevada Sen. John Ensign resigns from GOP leadership a day after admitting affair with former campaign staffer.
Obama extends some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
June 18
$106 billion in emergency war funding passed by Congress provides no money for closing Guantanamo but creates ''cash for clunkers'' program.
June 19
Taken hostage seven months earlier, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter David S. Rohde and Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin escape Pakistani compound.
June 20
Amateur video of 27-year-old Iranian music student Neda Agha Soltan bleeding to death on street during election protests turns her into opposition icon.
Truck bomb kills 72 worshippers leaving Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, wounds nearly 200.
June 22
Washington commuter train rear-ends another during rush hour, killing nine.
Chris Brown pleads guilty to felony assault of ex-girlfriend Rihanna; later sentenced to probation and community labor.
Kate Gosselin, star of ''Jon & Kate Plus 8,'' files for divorce, and TLC announces hiatus the next day.
June 23
''Tonight Show'' sidekick Ed McMahon dies at 86.
June 24
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admits secretly flying to Argentina to visit mistress during mysterious absence.
Plans announced to double Academy Award best picture nominees to 10 for 2010 ceremony.
June 25
Michael Jackson dies at 50 while on verge of comeback tour.
''Charlie's Angels'' star Farrah Fawcett dies at 62.
June 28
TV pitchman Billy Mays, 50, dies at his Florida home of heart disease.
June 29
U.S. completes withdrawal of its combat troops from cities in Iraq.
Bernard Madoff gets 150-year sentence for multibillion-dollar fraud.
U.S. Supreme Court rules white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were denied promotion because of their race.
June 30
Former ''Saturday Night Live'' comedian Al Franken declared winner of Minnesota's eight-month recount; defeats Republican Norm Coleman for U.S. Senate seat.
July 1
"A Streetcar Named Desire" actor Karl Malden dies at 97.
July 3
Sarah Palin announces she will resign as Alaska governor, effective July 26.
July 4
Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair fatally shot by woman who then kills herself.
Statue of Liberty crown reopens to tourists for first time since Sept. 11, 2001.
Serena Williams beats sister Venus for third Wimbledon title.
July 6
Robert McNamara, Pentagon chief who directed escalation of Vietnam War despite private doubts, dies at 93.
July 8
Leaders of world's richest countries pledge to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
South Korea blames North Korea for cyber attacks targeting Web sites in U.S. and South Korea.
July 13
German prosecutors formally charge retired U.S. auto worker John Demjanjuk with 27,900 counts of accessory to murder.
July 17
Walter Cronkite, premier TV anchorman of networks' golden age, dies at 92.
July 22
Obama says police "acted stupidly" in arresting Henry Louis Gates when the black Harvard University scholar was locked of his home.
July 23
Search warrant says Michael Jackson's personal doctor is target of manslaughter probe.
More than 40 New Jersey leaders are arrested in corruption probe.
July 26
Mother drives wrong way on New York highway and crashes into SUV, killing eight people. Toxicology tests show she was drunk and had used marijuana.
July 29
Microsoft and Yahoo announce Internet search partnership.
July 30
Harvard scholar Gates and the officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, have beers with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at White House.
July 31
Three Americans jailed in Iran after crossing border from Iraq and later accused of espionage.
___
AUGUST
Aug. 4
Gunman kills three women and himself in suburban Pittsburgh health club. Diary mentions decades of rejection by women.
Aug. 5
Former President Bill Clinton brings home two U.S. journalists after they were pardoned for entering North Korea illegally.
Aug. 6
Sonia Sotomayor confirmed as first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
John Hughes, director of "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club," dies at 59.
Aug. 7
Leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, dies in CIA missile strike.
Aug. 8
Small plane, helicopter carrying Italian tourists collide above Hudson River, killing all nine people aboard both.
Aug. 11
Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at 88.
Aug. 13
Philadelphia Eagles sign Michael Vick to a one-year deal, prompting criticism from animal rights activists.
Aug. 17
Publisher of Reader's Digest announces plans to seek bankruptcy protection.
Aug. 19
Four members of elite Army special operations unit die when helicopter crashes on Colorado mountain during training mission.
"60 Minutes" creator Don Hewitt dies at 86.
Aug. 20
Reality TV ex-contestant Ryan Jenkins charged with murdering former wife in California, is later found dead of an apparent suicide.
Ex-NY Giant Plaxico Burress pleads guilty to weapons charge, agrees to two-year prison term.
Aug. 21
Lutheran leaders OK sexually active gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy.
Aug. 24
Coroner rules Michael Jackson's death a homicide.
Aug. 25
U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy dies of brain cancer.
Aug. 27
Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped when she was 11, is found alive 18 years after her California abduction.
Aug. 28
Celebrity disc jockey Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, found dead in his New York apartment.
Aug. 29
Eight people die at a mobile home in southeastern Georgia; family member who reported deaths is charged with murder.
Aug. 31
Walt Disney Co. announces $4 billion acquisition of comic book giant Marvel Entertainment.
___
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 2
Pfizer agrees to record $2.3 billion settlement for illegal drug promotion.
Sept. 3
Funeral held for Michael Jackson.
Sept. 9
During Obama's speech to Congress on health care, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouts "You lie!" when the president says illegal immigrants won't be covered.
Fox announces Ellen DeGeneres will be fourth judge on "American Idol."
Sept. 10
Obama accepts apology after Wilson expresses regret for his "lack of civility."
Sept. 11
World's oldest-known person dies at 115 in California.
Sept. 12
Serena Williams launches profane tirade at line judge during the U.S. Open semifinals after being called out for foot fault.
Sept. 13
Body of missing Yale grad student is found in lab wall on what would have been her wedding day. A lab technician is later charged in her death.
Kanye West upstages Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to say Beyonce should have won for best female video instead.
Sept. 14
"Dirty Dancing" star Patrick Swayze dies of pancreatic cancer at 57.
Sept. 15
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the worst recession since the 1930s is probably over.
Sept. 18
Final episode of "Guiding Light" airs, ending 72-year run.
Sept. 23
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi calls U.N. Security Council a "terror council" and accuses it of treating smaller nations as "second class" during rambling speech in New York.
Sept. 27
Director Roman Polanski is taken into Swiss custody for his 1977 U.S. sex crime conviction.
William Safire, Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and former Nixon speechwriter, dies at 79.
Sept. 29
Ex-Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu gets more than 24 years in prison for campaign finance violations.
New York City terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi pleads not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in what authorities say was a planned attack on commuter trains.
___
OCTOBER
Oct. 1
"Late Show" host David Letterman acknowledges sexual relationships with female employees as "48 Hours Mystery" producer Joe Halderman is charged in an alleged blackmail plot.
Oct. 2
Rio de Janeiro wins bid for 2016 Summer Olympics; Chicago is eliminated in first round.
Oct. 7
Fashion and celebrity photographer Irving Penn dies at 92.
Oct. 9
Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.
"Spiritual cleansing" at sweat lodge in Arizona leads to 3 deaths, more than a dozen illnesses.
Oct. 13
Bloomberg agrees to buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw-Hill.
Oct. 15
Report of 6-year-old boy flying inside a helium balloon captivates nation before boy is found safe at home; his parents later plead guilty to filing false report.
Oct. 16
Pigs in Minnesota test positive for the H1N1 virus, the first U.S. cases in swine.
Federal deficit reaches all-time high of $1.42 trillion.
Oct. 21
Northwest Airlines jet overshoots Minneapolis airport by 150 miles; pilots say they were talking about schedules.
Massachusetts man accused of providing support to terrorists by conspiring to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and shoot shoppers at American malls.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jack Nelson of the Los Angeles Times dies at 80.
Oct. 23
Bank closings hit 100 for year.
Oct. 27
Madoff colleague Jeffry M. Picower drowns in Florida after heart attack.
Oct. 28
Sports Illustrated excerpts of eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi's autobiography reveals he ingested crystal meth in 1997.
Oct. 29
Cleveland police discover first remains of 11 slain women on the property of registered sex offender Anthony Sowell.
___
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1
Lender CIT Group files one of the biggest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in U.S. corporate history.
Three North Dakota college softball players believed to be on a stargazing trip drive SUV into pond and drown.
Nov. 3
Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia unseat Democratic governors; Maine residents narrowly vote down same-sex marriage law. Democrat wins upstate New York congressional seat held by Republicans for decades.
Nov. 4
New York Yankees beat Philadelphia Phillies to win their 27th World Series.
Nov. 5
Shooting at Fort Hood Army post leaves 13 people dead and 29 injured.
Nov. 6
U.S. unemployment rate hits double-digit percentage — 10.2 — for second time since World War II.
Nov. 7
House narrowly passes landmark health care changes.
Nov. 9
Dow reaches highest level in more than a year as falling dollar boosts prices for gold, oil and other commodities.
Nov. 10
John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of 2002 sniper attacks that killed 10 in Washington, D.C., region, is executed.
Nov. 11
Longtime CNN host Lou Dobbs announces he is leaving the network.
Taylor Swift named entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.
Nov. 12
Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood massacre.
Nov. 13
Analysis of data from spacecraft NASA intentionally crashed into the moon shows ample water near lunar south pole.
After botched execution in September, Ohio becomes first state to switch from three-drug lethal cocktail to one-drug method.
Nov. 16
U.S. government health task force suggests most women wait until age 50 to get mammograms and then have one every two years, a major reversal that challenges the American Cancer Society's advice to start getting mammograms at 40.
Nov. 17
Sarah Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue" is released; 1 million copies sell in less than two weeks.
Twin Bangladeshi girls who were joined at the top of their heads are separated in Australia after 25 hours of surgery.
Nov. 18
Actor Johnny Depp named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine.
Nov. 19
Oprah Winfrey's production company announces her daytime talk show will end in 2011 after 25 seasons.
Nov. 20
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" takes in $72.7 million to break the single-day domestic box office record held by "The Dark Knight."
Nov. 21
Gas explosion in northern Chinese mine kills at least 108.
Computer hackers break into server at a climate change research center in Britain and post hundreds of private e-mails and documents online, stoking debate over whether scientists have overstated case for man-made climate change.
Nov. 22
Michael Jackson posthumously wins a record four American Music Awards; Taylor Swift is named artist of the year; Adam Lambert's sexually provocative performance draws complaints.
Nov. 23
Susan Boyle's first album, "I Dreamed a Dream," sells more than 700,000 copies in its first week to become top debut of 2009.
Nov. 24
Gate-crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi attend Obama's first White House state dinner uninvited, leading to Secret Service investigation.
Kentucky officials say census worker found bound and hanging from tree with "fed" scrawled across his chest committed suicide.
Nov. 26
Man dies after being stuck upside down in Utah cave for more than a day.
Nov. 27
Tiger Woods crashes SUV outside his Florida mansion, sparking widespread attention to reports of marital infidelity.
Clintons announce daughter Chelsea's engagement to longtime boyfriend.
Nov. 29
Gunman kills four police officers in Washington coffeehouse in what authorities call a targeted ambush, then is shot dead two days later.
Nov. 30
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest atom smasher, breaks world record for proton acceleration.
Serena Williams fined a record $82,500 for tirade at U.S. Open line judge.
___
DECEMBER
Dec. 1
Obama orders 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promises to begin withdrawal in 18 months.
Dec. 3
Comcast and GE announce joint venture plans, with Comcast owning a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal.
Dec. 5
Nightclub blaze in Perm, Russia, kills more than 140 people.
American college student Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito convicted in Italy of murdering Meredith Kercher, her British roommate.
Dec. 7
Federal authorities charge that David Coleman Headley of Chicago scouted potential terrorist targets during five trips to Mumbai before attacks there in November 2008 left 166 people dead.
Dec. 8
String of bombs in Iraq kills 127 people, injures more than 500, damages ministry buildings and flattens courthouse in Baghdad.
Dec. 10
New estimates reveal swine flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans and sickened nearly 50 million, suggesting about 1 in 6 Americans have had the illness.
China overtakes U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles.
Illinois insurance executive pleads guilty to interstate stalking after secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews.
Dec. 12
Houston becomes largest U.S. city to elect openly gay mayor.
Dec. 15
Washington, D.C., council votes to legalize gay marriage.
Evangelist Oral Roberts dies at 91.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JANUARY
Jan. 1
Sixty-six New Year's revelers die and more than 200 are injured in a fire at a Bangkok nightclub.
Longtime Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, creator of Pell Grants, dies at 90.
Jan. 5
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdraws his nomination to be commerce secretary.
Jan. 8
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine becomes chairman of Democratic National Committee.
Jan. 9
Rod Blagojevich becomes first Illinois governor to be impeached.
Son of Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor gets 97 years in prison in torture case.
Jan. 12
President George W. Bush asks Congress to release remaining $350 billion in bailout money.
Jan. 15
Roland Burris sworn in as U.S. senator, chosen by embattled Illinois Gov. Blagojevich to take President-elect Barack Obama's former seat.
US Airways jet crash-lands in Hudson River after striking birds. All 155 people aboard survive.
Jan. 16
Painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91.
Jan. 20
Obama sworn in as 44th president.
Jan. 23
New York Gov. David Paterson chooses Democratic Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Jan. 26
Nadya Suleman gives birth in California to world's longest-surviving set of octuplets.
Jan. 29
Blagojevich convicted at impeachment trial and barred from office. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn sworn in as Illinois governor.
Jan. 30
Michael Steele elected first black chairman of Republican National Committee.
Jan. 31
More than 100 people die in Molo, Kenya, after overturned gasoline tanker catches fire.
------
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1
Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Arizona Cardinals 27-23 to win Super Bowl XLIII.
Feb. 3
Eric Holder becomes first black U.S. attorney general.
Feb. 4
Obama imposes $500,000 cap on executive pay for companies receiving federal bailout money.
Feb. 5
USA Swimming suspends Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps for three months after photo showing him inhaling from marijuana pipe becomes public.
Feb. 8
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss win album of the year Grammy for ''Raising Sand.''
Feb. 9
New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez admits he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.
Feb. 11
President Robert Mugabe swears in longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai as Zimbabwe's prime minister.
All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada pleads guilty to lying to Congress about steroids in baseball.
Rep. John Dingell of Michigan becomes longest-serving member of U.S. House.
Feb. 12
Commuter plane crashes into a Buffalo, N.Y., home, killing all 49 aboard and a person in the house.
Feb. 13
Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America files for bankruptcy after salmonella outbreak.
Feb. 17
Obama signs $787 billion economic rescue plan.
Feb. 20
Dow Jones industrial average ends week at 7365, lowest level in more than six years.
Feb. 22
The late actor Heath Ledger wins best supporting actor Oscar for ''The Dark Knight''; ''Slumdog Millionaire'' wins best picture.
Mine blast in northern China kills 77.
Feb. 26
Pentagon says it will allow some media coverage of returning war dead, with family approval.
Feb. 27
Obama announces plan to pull all U.S. combat brigades out of Iraq by August 2010.
The Rocky Mountain News ceases publishing; last edition goes on sale.
------
MARCH
March 2
Obama appoints Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of health and human services.
The Coast Guard, searching for a boat carrying NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and two others, finds overturned boat and one survivor off Florida.
March 6
U.S. reports jobless rate reached 8.1 percent in February, highest since 1983.
March 9
Obama says he's lifting a ban on federal money for embryonic stem cell research.
March 10
Shooting spree in southern Alabama leaves 10 dead, including gunman.
March 11
German prosecutors charge retired Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his time as a Nazi camp guard.
Teen goes on shooting spree, starting at a school in Winnenden, Germany, and kills 15 people before committing suicide.
March 12
Insurance broker announces Chicago's Sears Tower will be renamed Willis Tower.
Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at President George W. Bush gets three-year sentence.
March 16
Austrian Josef Fritzl pleads guilty to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children.
March 17
Seattle Post-Intelligencer publishes final print edition.
March 18
Chief of bailed-out insurance giant AIG grilled by furious lawmakers over $165 million in bonuses; some executives volunteer to return money.
Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, dies after skiing accident.
March 21
Man wanted for violating parole kills four police officers in Oakland, Calif.
March 22
Plane headed to Montana ski resort nose-dives into cemetery short of runway, killing all 14 aboard, including seven children.
March 27
Suicide bomber destroys Pakistan mosque, killing at least 48.
March 29
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner resigns under White House pressure.
Gunman kills seven residents of North Carolina nursing home and a nurse.
--------
APRIL
April 3
Shooting at immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., kills 14, including gunman.
Iowa Supreme Court unanimously legalizes gay marriage.
U.S. reports unemployment reached 8.5 percent in March, highest in quarter-century.
April 4
Gunman kills three Pittsburgh police officers responding to call by his mother, who wanted him removed from home.
April 5
North Korea launches long-range rocket toward Pacific Ocean.
April 7
Vermont becomes fourth state to legalize gay marriage after Legislature overrides governor's veto.
Charges dismissed against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.
April 8
Somali pirates hijack U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama and take captain hostage.
April 9
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart killed in car crash by a suspected drunken driver.
Kim Jong Il re-elected as North Korean leader.
April 10
Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby arrested in connection with death of 8-year-old California girl whose body was found in suitcase.
April 12
American ship captain Richard Phillips rescued from Somali pirates.
Angel Cabrera of Argentina wins golf's Masters.
April 13
Music producer Phil Spector found guilty of second-degree murder in shooting of actress Lana Clarkson; later sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.
April 15
Army soldier convicted of murder in 2007 deaths of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis and sentenced to life in prison.
April 20
Medical student Philip Markoff arrested in death of masseuse he met through Craigslist.
April 22
FDA says 17-year-old girls can get ''morning after'' birth control without prescription.
April 25
Bea Arthur, star of TV shows ''Maude'' and ''The Golden Girls,'' dies at 86.
April 27
Low-flying plane, later determined to be an Air Force One jet, panics New Yorkers.
General Motors announces plans to cut 21,000 hourly jobs and scrap Pontiac brand.
April 28
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania defects from Republican Party, joins Democrats.
April 29
CDC says swine flu killed 23-month-old Mexican child in Texas; first swine flu death in U.S.
April 30
Chrysler files for bankruptcy; federal government pledges up to $8 billion in additional aid and to back warranties.
------
MAY
May 1
Supreme Court Justice David Souter says he's retiring, effective in late June.
May 2
Jack Kemp, former quarterback, congressman and vice presidential nominee, dies at 73.
U.S. warplane in Afghanistan kills estimated 78 Taliban fighters and 26 civilians, prompting investigation.
May 5
Texas health officials confirm first death of U.S. resident with swine flu.
May 6
Governor signs bill making Maine fifth state to legalize gay marriage; law is later overturned by public vote.
May 7
Jury convicts former soldier of raping and killing 14-year-old Iraqi girl after slaying her family.
Former Illinois police Sgt. Drew Peterson indicted on murder charge in death of third wife.
May 11
Defense Secretary Robert Gates names Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal top military commander in Afghanistan, replacing Gen. David McKiernan.
May 12
Five Miami men convicted in plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago's Sears Tower.
May 14
Chrysler announces intent to eliminate 789 dealerships as part of restructuring.
May 15
General Motors tells about 1,100 dealers their franchises will be terminated.
May 20
Suspended NFL star Michael Vick released from prison to begin two months' home confinement.
May 21
Sherpa guide breaks his own record, reaching summit of Mount Everest a 19th time.
May 23
Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, 62, leaps to his death amid widening corruption scandal.
May 26
Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor to be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
California's Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
May 28
Kavya Shivashankar, 13-year-old from Kansas, spells ''laodicean'' (indifference to religion) to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
May 29
Jay Leno leaves NBC's ''Tonight Show'' after 17 years.
May 30
Susan Boyle places second on ''Britain's Got Talent'' and is admitted to a medical clinic the next day.
May 31
George Tiller, rare provider of late-term abortions, is shot and killed in Kansas church.
Millvina Dean, last living Titanic survivor, dies at 97.
------
JUNE
June 1
Air France Flight 447, carrying 228 people, disappears in thunderstorms over Atlantic following automated reports of failing systems and conflicting speeds.
General Motors becomes largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy.
Conan O'Brien debuts as ''Tonight Show'' host.
June 3
New Hampshire becomes sixth state to legalize gay marriage.
June 4
A retired State Department worker and his wife are arrested on charges of spying for Cuba for three decades.
June 7
Roger Federer wins his first French Open.
''Billy Elliot'' wins 10 Tony Awards.
June 8
North Korea's highest court sentences American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years' hard labor for trespassing and ''hostile acts.''
June 10
Gunman opens fire at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing a guard.
Donald Trump dismisses Miss California USA Carrie Prejean.
June 11
With swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, World Health Organization declares first global flu pandemic in 41 years.
June 12
U.S. television stations end analog broadcasts.
Congress approves legislation banning ''light'' or candy-flavored cigarettes and requiring tobacco companies to make bigger warning labels and run fewer ads.
U.N. Security Council sanctions North Korea for nuclear test.
Pittsburgh Penguins defeat Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win Stanley Cup.
June 14
Los Angeles Lakers win 15th NBA title in 99-86 Game 5 victory over the Orlando Magic.
June 16
The New York Times reports former baseball star Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance-enhancing drug in 2003.
June 17
U.N. announces economic downturn has led to 1 in 6 people going hungry.
Nevada Sen. John Ensign resigns from GOP leadership a day after admitting affair with former campaign staffer.
Obama extends some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
June 18
$106 billion in emergency war funding passed by Congress provides no money for closing Guantanamo but creates ''cash for clunkers'' program.
June 19
Taken hostage seven months earlier, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter David S. Rohde and Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin escape Pakistani compound.
June 20
Amateur video of 27-year-old Iranian music student Neda Agha Soltan bleeding to death on street during election protests turns her into opposition icon.
Truck bomb kills 72 worshippers leaving Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, wounds nearly 200.
June 22
Washington commuter train rear-ends another during rush hour, killing nine.
Chris Brown pleads guilty to felony assault of ex-girlfriend Rihanna; later sentenced to probation and community labor.
Kate Gosselin, star of ''Jon & Kate Plus 8,'' files for divorce, and TLC announces hiatus the next day.
June 23
''Tonight Show'' sidekick Ed McMahon dies at 86.
June 24
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admits secretly flying to Argentina to visit mistress during mysterious absence.
Plans announced to double Academy Award best picture nominees to 10 for 2010 ceremony.
June 25
Michael Jackson dies at 50 while on verge of comeback tour.
''Charlie's Angels'' star Farrah Fawcett dies at 62.
June 28
TV pitchman Billy Mays, 50, dies at his Florida home of heart disease.
June 29
U.S. completes withdrawal of its combat troops from cities in Iraq.
Bernard Madoff gets 150-year sentence for multibillion-dollar fraud.
U.S. Supreme Court rules white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were denied promotion because of their race.
June 30
Former ''Saturday Night Live'' comedian Al Franken declared winner of Minnesota's eight-month recount; defeats Republican Norm Coleman for U.S. Senate seat.
July 1
"A Streetcar Named Desire" actor Karl Malden dies at 97.
July 3
Sarah Palin announces she will resign as Alaska governor, effective July 26.
July 4
Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair fatally shot by woman who then kills herself.
Statue of Liberty crown reopens to tourists for first time since Sept. 11, 2001.
Serena Williams beats sister Venus for third Wimbledon title.
July 6
Robert McNamara, Pentagon chief who directed escalation of Vietnam War despite private doubts, dies at 93.
July 8
Leaders of world's richest countries pledge to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
South Korea blames North Korea for cyber attacks targeting Web sites in U.S. and South Korea.
July 13
German prosecutors formally charge retired U.S. auto worker John Demjanjuk with 27,900 counts of accessory to murder.
July 17
Walter Cronkite, premier TV anchorman of networks' golden age, dies at 92.
July 22
Obama says police "acted stupidly" in arresting Henry Louis Gates when the black Harvard University scholar was locked of his home.
July 23
Search warrant says Michael Jackson's personal doctor is target of manslaughter probe.
More than 40 New Jersey leaders are arrested in corruption probe.
July 26
Mother drives wrong way on New York highway and crashes into SUV, killing eight people. Toxicology tests show she was drunk and had used marijuana.
July 29
Microsoft and Yahoo announce Internet search partnership.
July 30
Harvard scholar Gates and the officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, have beers with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at White House.
July 31
Three Americans jailed in Iran after crossing border from Iraq and later accused of espionage.
___
AUGUST
Aug. 4
Gunman kills three women and himself in suburban Pittsburgh health club. Diary mentions decades of rejection by women.
Aug. 5
Former President Bill Clinton brings home two U.S. journalists after they were pardoned for entering North Korea illegally.
Aug. 6
Sonia Sotomayor confirmed as first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
John Hughes, director of "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club," dies at 59.
Aug. 7
Leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, dies in CIA missile strike.
Aug. 8
Small plane, helicopter carrying Italian tourists collide above Hudson River, killing all nine people aboard both.
Aug. 11
Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at 88.
Aug. 13
Philadelphia Eagles sign Michael Vick to a one-year deal, prompting criticism from animal rights activists.
Aug. 17
Publisher of Reader's Digest announces plans to seek bankruptcy protection.
Aug. 19
Four members of elite Army special operations unit die when helicopter crashes on Colorado mountain during training mission.
"60 Minutes" creator Don Hewitt dies at 86.
Aug. 20
Reality TV ex-contestant Ryan Jenkins charged with murdering former wife in California, is later found dead of an apparent suicide.
Ex-NY Giant Plaxico Burress pleads guilty to weapons charge, agrees to two-year prison term.
Aug. 21
Lutheran leaders OK sexually active gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy.
Aug. 24
Coroner rules Michael Jackson's death a homicide.
Aug. 25
U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy dies of brain cancer.
Aug. 27
Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped when she was 11, is found alive 18 years after her California abduction.
Aug. 28
Celebrity disc jockey Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, found dead in his New York apartment.
Aug. 29
Eight people die at a mobile home in southeastern Georgia; family member who reported deaths is charged with murder.
Aug. 31
Walt Disney Co. announces $4 billion acquisition of comic book giant Marvel Entertainment.
___
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 2
Pfizer agrees to record $2.3 billion settlement for illegal drug promotion.
Sept. 3
Funeral held for Michael Jackson.
Sept. 9
During Obama's speech to Congress on health care, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouts "You lie!" when the president says illegal immigrants won't be covered.
Fox announces Ellen DeGeneres will be fourth judge on "American Idol."
Sept. 10
Obama accepts apology after Wilson expresses regret for his "lack of civility."
Sept. 11
World's oldest-known person dies at 115 in California.
Sept. 12
Serena Williams launches profane tirade at line judge during the U.S. Open semifinals after being called out for foot fault.
Sept. 13
Body of missing Yale grad student is found in lab wall on what would have been her wedding day. A lab technician is later charged in her death.
Kanye West upstages Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to say Beyonce should have won for best female video instead.
Sept. 14
"Dirty Dancing" star Patrick Swayze dies of pancreatic cancer at 57.
Sept. 15
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the worst recession since the 1930s is probably over.
Sept. 18
Final episode of "Guiding Light" airs, ending 72-year run.
Sept. 23
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi calls U.N. Security Council a "terror council" and accuses it of treating smaller nations as "second class" during rambling speech in New York.
Sept. 27
Director Roman Polanski is taken into Swiss custody for his 1977 U.S. sex crime conviction.
William Safire, Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and former Nixon speechwriter, dies at 79.
Sept. 29
Ex-Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu gets more than 24 years in prison for campaign finance violations.
New York City terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi pleads not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in what authorities say was a planned attack on commuter trains.
___
OCTOBER
Oct. 1
"Late Show" host David Letterman acknowledges sexual relationships with female employees as "48 Hours Mystery" producer Joe Halderman is charged in an alleged blackmail plot.
Oct. 2
Rio de Janeiro wins bid for 2016 Summer Olympics; Chicago is eliminated in first round.
Oct. 7
Fashion and celebrity photographer Irving Penn dies at 92.
Oct. 9
Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.
"Spiritual cleansing" at sweat lodge in Arizona leads to 3 deaths, more than a dozen illnesses.
Oct. 13
Bloomberg agrees to buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw-Hill.
Oct. 15
Report of 6-year-old boy flying inside a helium balloon captivates nation before boy is found safe at home; his parents later plead guilty to filing false report.
Oct. 16
Pigs in Minnesota test positive for the H1N1 virus, the first U.S. cases in swine.
Federal deficit reaches all-time high of $1.42 trillion.
Oct. 21
Northwest Airlines jet overshoots Minneapolis airport by 150 miles; pilots say they were talking about schedules.
Massachusetts man accused of providing support to terrorists by conspiring to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and shoot shoppers at American malls.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jack Nelson of the Los Angeles Times dies at 80.
Oct. 23
Bank closings hit 100 for year.
Oct. 27
Madoff colleague Jeffry M. Picower drowns in Florida after heart attack.
Oct. 28
Sports Illustrated excerpts of eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi's autobiography reveals he ingested crystal meth in 1997.
Oct. 29
Cleveland police discover first remains of 11 slain women on the property of registered sex offender Anthony Sowell.
___
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1
Lender CIT Group files one of the biggest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in U.S. corporate history.
Three North Dakota college softball players believed to be on a stargazing trip drive SUV into pond and drown.
Nov. 3
Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia unseat Democratic governors; Maine residents narrowly vote down same-sex marriage law. Democrat wins upstate New York congressional seat held by Republicans for decades.
Nov. 4
New York Yankees beat Philadelphia Phillies to win their 27th World Series.
Nov. 5
Shooting at Fort Hood Army post leaves 13 people dead and 29 injured.
Nov. 6
U.S. unemployment rate hits double-digit percentage — 10.2 — for second time since World War II.
Nov. 7
House narrowly passes landmark health care changes.
Nov. 9
Dow reaches highest level in more than a year as falling dollar boosts prices for gold, oil and other commodities.
Nov. 10
John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of 2002 sniper attacks that killed 10 in Washington, D.C., region, is executed.
Nov. 11
Longtime CNN host Lou Dobbs announces he is leaving the network.
Taylor Swift named entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.
Nov. 12
Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood massacre.
Nov. 13
Analysis of data from spacecraft NASA intentionally crashed into the moon shows ample water near lunar south pole.
After botched execution in September, Ohio becomes first state to switch from three-drug lethal cocktail to one-drug method.
Nov. 16
U.S. government health task force suggests most women wait until age 50 to get mammograms and then have one every two years, a major reversal that challenges the American Cancer Society's advice to start getting mammograms at 40.
Nov. 17
Sarah Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue" is released; 1 million copies sell in less than two weeks.
Twin Bangladeshi girls who were joined at the top of their heads are separated in Australia after 25 hours of surgery.
Nov. 18
Actor Johnny Depp named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine.
Nov. 19
Oprah Winfrey's production company announces her daytime talk show will end in 2011 after 25 seasons.
Nov. 20
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" takes in $72.7 million to break the single-day domestic box office record held by "The Dark Knight."
Nov. 21
Gas explosion in northern Chinese mine kills at least 108.
Computer hackers break into server at a climate change research center in Britain and post hundreds of private e-mails and documents online, stoking debate over whether scientists have overstated case for man-made climate change.
Nov. 22
Michael Jackson posthumously wins a record four American Music Awards; Taylor Swift is named artist of the year; Adam Lambert's sexually provocative performance draws complaints.
Nov. 23
Susan Boyle's first album, "I Dreamed a Dream," sells more than 700,000 copies in its first week to become top debut of 2009.
Nov. 24
Gate-crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi attend Obama's first White House state dinner uninvited, leading to Secret Service investigation.
Kentucky officials say census worker found bound and hanging from tree with "fed" scrawled across his chest committed suicide.
Nov. 26
Man dies after being stuck upside down in Utah cave for more than a day.
Nov. 27
Tiger Woods crashes SUV outside his Florida mansion, sparking widespread attention to reports of marital infidelity.
Clintons announce daughter Chelsea's engagement to longtime boyfriend.
Nov. 29
Gunman kills four police officers in Washington coffeehouse in what authorities call a targeted ambush, then is shot dead two days later.
Nov. 30
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest atom smasher, breaks world record for proton acceleration.
Serena Williams fined a record $82,500 for tirade at U.S. Open line judge.
___
DECEMBER
Dec. 1
Obama orders 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promises to begin withdrawal in 18 months.
Dec. 3
Comcast and GE announce joint venture plans, with Comcast owning a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal.
Dec. 5
Nightclub blaze in Perm, Russia, kills more than 140 people.
American college student Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito convicted in Italy of murdering Meredith Kercher, her British roommate.
Dec. 7
Federal authorities charge that David Coleman Headley of Chicago scouted potential terrorist targets during five trips to Mumbai before attacks there in November 2008 left 166 people dead.
Dec. 8
String of bombs in Iraq kills 127 people, injures more than 500, damages ministry buildings and flattens courthouse in Baghdad.
Dec. 10
New estimates reveal swine flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans and sickened nearly 50 million, suggesting about 1 in 6 Americans have had the illness.
China overtakes U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles.
Illinois insurance executive pleads guilty to interstate stalking after secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews.
Dec. 12
Houston becomes largest U.S. city to elect openly gay mayor.
Dec. 15
Washington, D.C., council votes to legalize gay marriage.
Evangelist Oral Roberts dies at 91.
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