- January 2
- The first commercial flight between Western Europe and Baghdad in at least 17 years lands in Iraq from Denmark. [57]
- Sri Lanka's military seizes control of Kilinochchi, the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto capital. [57]
- Maria de Jesus, believed to be the world's oldest living person, dies at age 115 in Tomar, Portugal. [105]
- January 3
- A series of powerful earthquakes hits eastern Indonesia, the strongest with a magnitude of 7.6, north of the city of Manokwari in West Papua province. [57]
- At the Hollywood Wheels Fort Lauderdale auction, a 1965 Shelby 427 SC Cobra CSX 3021 sells for US$3,780,000. [329.120]
- Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as the Gaza War enters its second week. [398]
- January 4
- At least 33 people die in a landslide in northern Guatemala; many more are missing. [57]
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- January 5
- The new US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, opens. The compound is one of the biggest and most expensive embassies the US has ever built, where about 1,200 staff will live and work. [57]
- German billionaire Adolf Merckle commits suicide at age 74, stepping in front of a train in Germany. [35]
- January 6
- Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina is sworn in for a second term as prime minister of Bangladesh. [57]
- January 7
- Russia shuts off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorses the move and urges greater international involvement in the energy dispute. [398]
- In India, software and services company Satyam, founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju admits to years of fraud in the company's accounts, inflating revenues and fabricating non-existent cash balances of about US$1 billion. [425.69]
- January 8
- The Bank of England cuts interest rates to 1.5 percent, the lowest level since the Bank of England was founded in 1694. [57]
- January 11
- The Teartai Prima ferry sinks in high waves off central Indonesia, with the loss of about 225 people. [57]
- January 13
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveils an economic stimulus package worth about 50 billion euros (US$67 billion). [57]
- Ethiopian military forces begin pulling out of Somalia, where they have tried to maintain order for nearly two years. [398]
- Citigroup and Morgan Stanley agree to combine their brokerages, with Morgan Stanley paying Citigroup US$2.7 billion for a 51 percent stake in the joint venture. The new Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will have US$1.7 trillion in client assets. [105]
- January 14
- American department store chain Gottschalks files to reorganize under bankruptcy protection. [35]
- Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip reach 1000, with injuries at nearly 5000, since Israeli launched a campaign to end rocket fire on December 27. Israeli deaths stand at 13. [57]
- American apparel chain Goody's files for bankruptcy to liquidate its remaining 282 stores. [35]
- Canada's Nortel Networks Corporation, North America's biggest telephone equipment maker, files for bankruptcy protection. [35]
- January 15
- The British Government gives the go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow airport. [57]
- A US Airways Airbus 320 Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing into the Hudson River off New York City shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, after birds disable both engines. All 155 passengers and crew members are safely rescued. [5] [105]
- Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, posts its first quarterly loss in 17 years, of US$1.79 billion. [35]
- January
- Zimbabwe issues 100-trillion dollar paper money notes, setting a world record for most zeros (14) printed on a note. [605.162]
- January 16
- Bank of America is rescued by the U.S. government with a US$20 billion bailout and a guarantee for almost $100 billion of potential losses on toxic assets. [35]
- The Slovak koruna currency ceases to be legal tender. [473.46] (January 18 [298.18])
- January 17
- At Gooding's Scottsdale Auction, a 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Trans Am sells for US$407,000. [329.121]
- January 18
- The Danish government unveils a 100 billion crown (US$17.8 billion) bank credit package. [35]
- Israel begins a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, three weeks after launching a full-scale assault against Hamas. The Palestinian militant group announces an immediate ceasefire for a week to give Israel time to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip. Estimate of homeless in Gaza from the fighting: 50,000. [57] [398]
- January 19
- The United Kingdom Government launches a second bank rescue plan, allowing banks to insure themselves against losses on their riskiest assets, offering guarantees on their debt, and setting up a 50 billion-pound (US$75 billion) fund to buy up high-quality securities. [35]
- Royal Bank of Scotland records the biggest loss in UK corporate history, up to 28 billion pounds (US$52 billion), and RBS shares close down 67 percent. The government increases its stake in RBS from 58 percent to 70. [35] [374.71]
- Irish bank shares plunge over 50 percent. [35]
- January 20
- Italian carmaker Fiat and American carmaker Chrysler agree to a global strategic alliance. Fiat will get a 35 percent stake in Chrysler, which will get access to Fiat's fuel-efficient vehicle technologies. [57]
- Israeli troops complete their pullout from Gaza, ending their 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. [35]
- The Bank of Canada cuts borrowing costs to a record low to one percent. The previous record low was 1.12 percent in 1958. [105]
- Barack Hussein Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. [35] [398]
- January 21
- The U.S. Senate endorses former New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. [105]
- Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Intermittent air strikes by both sides of the preceding war continue in the weeks to follow. [398]
- January 22
- The Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang, China, sentences two men (Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping) to execution and gives former top executive Tian Wenhua of the Sanlu Group a life sentence for their roles in the country's deadly tainted milk scandal. Others of 12 defendants were given prison terms of five to 15 years. At least six children died, and close to 300,000 people became ill from drinking milk intentionally contaminated with melamine, used to give milk an apparently higher nutrition content in protein tests. [105]
- Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is captured by Rwandan forces after crossing over the border into Rwanda. [398]
- January 23
- German memory chip maker Qimonda files for insolvency. [35]
- South Korea's Samsung Electronics posts its first-ever quarterly loss, at 937 billion won (US$682 million). [35]
- US President Barack Obama orders the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be closed within a year. [57] (January 22 [374.38])
- Japan launches an H-2A rocket carrying eight satellites into space; one satellite is to monitor greenhouse gases over the Earth's surface. [35]
- January 24
- At Mecum's auction in Kissimmee, Florida, a 1963 Corvette Z06 Sting Ray Gulf Oil race car sells for US$1,050,000. [329.122]
- January 25
- Sri Lankan troops capture the last Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu in the north-east of the island. [57]
- January 26
- The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape. [398]
- The Icelandic government and banking system collapse; Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns. [398]
- The world's largest drug company, Pfizer of New York, announces it will acquire rival Wyeth for US$68 billion. [35] [374.70]
- January 27
- In Los Angeles, California, a woman gives birth to octuplets, believed to be only the second set of eight babies born in the United States. [35]
- UK business secretary Lord Mandelson announces 2.3 billion pound (US$3.2 billion) package of loan guarantees to support car makers. [374.63]
- January 28
- The US House of Representatives passes President Barack Obama's US$819 billion economic stimulus package, voting 244 to 188. [57]
- January 29
- Ford Motor Company reports a record US$14.6 billion full-year loss. [35]
- Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson's single "My Life Would Suck Without You" makes the largest ever leap to number one in Billboard chart history, rising 96 places in one week. [457]
- January 30
- Moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is elected Somalia's new president by a secret ballot of members of parliament. [57]
- January 31
- Johanna Sigurdardottir is named new interim prime minister of Iceland by the country's coalition political parties. [57]
- The Porsche Museum opens in Stuttgart, Germany, with space for about 80 vehicles and 200 small exhibits. [329.6]
- January (month)
- During the month, U.S. employers cut 741,000 jobs, the biggest monthly loss in 60 years. [35]
- Job losses in Canada for the month: 129,000, putting the jobless rate at 7.2 percent. [105]
- U.S. auto sales: 800,000 cars, a 27-year low. [35]
- February 1
- Zimbabwe currency reform drops twelve zeroes, making Z$1 trillion equal to a new Z$1. Inflation rate in the country is about 5 billion-trillion (21 zeroes). [307.28]
- Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. [398]
- Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland. [398]
- February 2
- Odyssey Marine of Florida announces it has discovered the wreck of the British warship HMS Victory in the English Channel. The ship sunk in a storm in 1744 with 1150 sailors and four tons of gold. [298.1] [480.5]
- February 3
- Iran launches Omid, a domestically-made research and telecom satellite into orbit for the first time. [35]
- Spectrum Brands, maker of Ray-O-Vac batteries, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. [35]
- Colombian Farc rebels release former provincial governor Alan Jara, held hostage since July 2001. [35]
- February 5
- The Bank of England reduces interest rates to a record low of 1 percent. [57]
- February 6
- Kyrgyzstan decides to shut a U.S. air base in Manas, used as an important staging post for U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan. [35]
- February 7
- A rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante automobile, which sat in a Tyneside garage for 47 years, sells at auction for 3.4 million euros (US$4.4 million) in Paris, France. [57]
- Bolivia's President Evo Morales enacts a new constitution to empower the country's indigenous majority and allows for land reform. [57]
- At the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany, World Coin News presents awards to winners of its 26th annual Coin of the Year contest (for 2007-dated coins). Coin of the Year: 500-tugrik silver coin of Mongolia, portraying a gulo gulo with diamonds for eyes. [286.1] [298.1]
- The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. [398]
- The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment aid reaches a record high of 4.99 million, the highest since records began in 1967. [35]
- February 8
- Death toll in Australia reaches 130 from brushfires, the deadliest fire disaster in Australia's history. [105]
- The Taliban releases a video of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak, whom they had abducted a few months earlier, being beheaded. [398]
- February 9
- Egyptian archaeologists find 22 mummies and eight wooden and stone sarcophagi in a burial chamber at the Saqqara site, dating back 2,600 to 4,000 years. [57]
- February 10
- U.S. Treasury chief Timothy Geithner unveils a bank rescue plan of US$2 trillion to buy up bad assets and restore credit. [35]
- General Motors Corp announces it will cut its global salaried work force by about 10,000, or 14 percent. [35]
- A general election is held in Israel. Tzipi Livni's Kadima party wins the most votes (28 seats of 120) but the Likud party's Benjamin Netanyahu (27 seats) will likely be called on to form a coalition government. [35]
- The U.S. Senate passes its own US$838 billion version of a rescue plan to fight the deepening recession, voting 61 to 37. [35]
- An American Iridium Satellite-operated communications satellite and the defunct Russian Cosmos-2251 military satellite collide at about 485 miles above the Russian Arctic, leaving a debris field of millions of pieces. This is the first publicly known satellite collision. [35] [316.A6] [398]
- Swiss bank UBS posts the biggest annual corporate loss in Swiss history, 19.7 billion francs (US$17 billion). [35]
- February 11
- Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. [57] [398]
- The Irish government announces it will invest 7 billion euros (US$9 billion) in two of the country's biggest banks, the Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland. [57]
- February 12
- Colgan Air's Continental Connection Flight 3407 Dash 8 Q400 turboprop commuter plane nosedives and slams into a home in western New York state, killing all 49 people aboard and one on the ground. [35]
- February 13
- The U.S. House of Representatives approves (246-183) a US$787 billion package of spending (64 percent) and tax cuts (36 percent). [35]
- The U.S. House of Congress approves (60-38) the US$787 billion government spending package. [105]
- February 15
- Venezuela president Hugo Chavez wins an election that allows him to seek another term as president. [35]
- February 17
- US President Barack Obama signs into law a US$787 billion economic stimulus plan. [57]
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges Texas billionaire Allen Stanford and three of his companies with fraudulently selling US$8 billion in high-yield certificates of deposit. Stanford International Bank is based in Antigua with 30,000 clients in 131 countries and US$8.5 billion in assets. [35]
- The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next three months. [398]
- February 20
- Spot gold hits a peak of US$1005.40, its highest since March 18, 2008. [35]
- Swedish carmaker Saab (a unit of American carmaker General Motors) files for protection from creditors while it tries to find a new partner and raise funds. [35]
- Israeli President Shimon Peres asks Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form Israel's next government. [57]
- February 22
- An explosion in a coking coal mine in China kills 74 miners in Shanxi province. [35]
- Canada's Lotto 6/49 lottery top prize of CDN$50.3 million is won by holders of four winning tickets. The prize is the second-biggest jackpot in Canadian lottery history. [105]
- February 23
- American Express offers US$300 to a limited number of U.S. card holders who pay off their balances and close their accounts. [35]
- The Standard & Poor's 500 Index post its lowest closes since the spring of 1997, dropping 26.71 points, or 3.47 percent, to 743.34. [35]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average posts its lowest closes since the spring of 1997, dropping 250.73 points, or 3.40 percent, to 7,114.94. [35]
- February 24
- Henri Matisse' Cowslips on blue and pink cloth painting sells for a record 32 million euros at auction in Paris, France. A sculpture by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi sells for a record 29 million euros. A chair designed by Eileen Grey of two wooden dragons supporting a leather seat and back sells for US$28.3 million, a record price for a piece of furniture. [57] [374.92] [486.64]
- February 25
- In Canada, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec pension fund reveals that it lost CDN$39.8 billion last year, 1/4 of its assets, the biggest loss in its history. [105]
- February 26
- American automaker General Motors reports it lost US$30.8 billion for 2008. Over the past four years, the company's US$82 billion losses is equivalent to about $56 million a day. [35]
- Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War. [398]
- US President Barack Obama proposes a 2009/10 budget of US$3.6 trillion, with a US$1.75 trillion deficit, the highest ever, amounting to a 12.3 percent share of the economy, the largest since 1945. Planned spending includes US$634 billion to pay for healthcare reform, US$200 billion fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an extra US$250 billion set aside in case it is needed to bail out US banks. [35] [57]
- February (month)
- U.S. unemployment rate: 8.1 percent (12.5 million people), a 25-year high; job losses during the month: 651,000. [35]
- North American movie theater box office receipts: US$770 million, a new record for February, in inflation-adjusted numbers. [332.C1]
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