2019

January

 * January 1
 * All works published in 1923 except sound recordings (see 2022 scheduled events) enter the public domain in the United States, the first works to do so since the passage of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
 * Jair Bolsonaro begins his four-year term as President of Brazil.
 * Unmanned space probe New Horizons makes a close approach of the Kuiper belt object (KBO) (486958) 2014 MU69 at 05:33 UTC.
 * Qatar withdraws from OPEC.
 * Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria.
 * January 3 – Chinese probe Chang'e 4 becomes the first human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon.
 * January 5 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople issues a formal decree granting independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from the Russian Orthodox Church.
 * January 6 – Muhammad V of Kelantan abdicates the federal throne as the 15th monarch of Malaysia, making him the first Malaysian monarch to do so.
 * January 7 – A faction of the Armed Forces of Gabon announces a coup d'état. Gabon's government later declares that it has reasserted control.
 * January 10 – Venezuela enters a constitutional crisis as Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly declare incumbent President Nicolás Maduro "illegitimate" and start the process of attempting to remove him.
 * January 15 – Nairobi DusitD2 complex attack: A terrorist attack at an upscale hotel and office complex in Nairobi, Kenya, kills 21 people (including 5 attackers) and injures 28 more.
 * January 17 – A vehicle-bound suicide bomb attack in Bogotá, Colombia, kills 22 people and injures 68 others, making it the deadliest attack on the Colombian capital since 2003.
 * January 18 – Fuel thieves rupture a pipeline in Tlahuelilpan, Mexico, and a subsequent explosion kills at least 124 people and injures 22 others.
 * January 19 – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Tongoy, Coquimbo Region in Chile, causing two deaths and as many as 200,000 people left without power. Despite its moderate magnitude, since it was an intraplate earthquake, it caused some serious damage in La Serena and nearby cities.
 * January 21 – 2019 Piper PA-46 Malibu crash: An aircraft carrying new Cardiff City F.C. footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson en route from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales, goes missing over the English Channel. Sala's body is recovered on February 7.
 * January 23 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Thousands of people protest in favor of disputed interim President Juan Guaidó. Several people are killed, and President Maduro severs diplomatic ties with the United States.
 * January 25 – A mine tailings dam breaks in the Brazilian city of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais. At least 134 people are killed, with almost 200 missing.
 * January 27 – Two bombs at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Philippines, kill at least 20 people and leave more than 100 others injured.
 * January 28 – The U.S. Justice Department charges Chinese tech firm Huawei with multiple counts of fraud, raising U.S.–China tensions.

February

 * February 1 – U.S. President Donald Trump confirms that the U.S. will leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. The next day, Russia follows suit with suspension of its obligations to the treaty.
 * February 3 – Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.
 * February 5 – The Taliban kills at least 47 people in attacks while Afghan–Taliban peace talks are taking place in Moscow. 12 others are injured.
 * February 7 – 2019 Haitian protests: Anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse begin in several cities across the country.
 * February 12 – The Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute with Greece, paving the way for its integration into NATO and the European Union.
 * February 13 – A suicide bomb attack on a vehicle kills at least 27 Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran. It is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iran in years.
 * February 14 – A suicide bomb attack on a vehicle convoy in Indian-administered Kashmir kills at least 40 Indian security personnel, making it the deadliest attack on India's security personnel in Kashmir in three decades.
 * February 20 – A major fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh kills at least 78 people.
 * February 21 – SpaceIL launches the Beresheet probe, the world's first privately financed mission to the Moon.
 * February 23
 * 2019 Nigerian general election, for the President; all 360 seats in the House of Representatives and all 110 seats in the Senate.
 * 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: President Maduro severs diplomatic ties with Colombia as humanitarian aid attempts to enter the country across the border.
 * February 26–27 – The Indian Air Force launches airstrikes on purported militant camps in Balakot, Pakistan; according to Indian claims, "a very large number of ... terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis" were killed, although Pakistan denied the claims and a number of neutral sources suggest that this was not the case.  The following day, Pakistan retaliated, leading to the shooting down of an Indian MiG-21 fighter, whose pilot was repatriated on March 1. The incidents led to the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff.
 * February 27 – Ramses Station rail disaster: A train smashes into a barrier inside Ramses Station in Cairo, Egypt, causing an explosion and a fire, killing 25 people and injuring 40 others.
 * February 27–28 – The 2019 North Korea–United States summit is held in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is the second summit between United States President Donald Trump and the North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un.

March

 * March 3
 * An unmanned demonstration flight of the new crew capable version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, intended to carry American astronauts into space, achieves successful autonomous docking with the International Space Station.
 * The 2019 Estonian parliamentary election takes place, for all 101 seats in the Riigikogu.
 * March 5 – A second case of sustained remission from HIV is reported, ten years after the Berlin Patient.
 * March 6 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Venezuela expels German ambassador Daniel Kriener for his alleged meddling in internal affairs.
 * March 10 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi, crashes shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa killing all 157 people on board. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 models were subsequently grounded worldwide.
 * March 12 – Cargo ship Grande America sinks after it caught fire on March 10 in the Bay of Biscay, approximately 200 km west of France, causing a 2,200-tonne oil spill.
 * March 13
 * March 2019 North American blizzard: A winter storm completes its explosive intensification over the Southern Rocky Mountains region, which began the day before, becoming a powerful "bomb cyclone" and triggering severe blizzard conditions across much of the Southwestern and Central United States.
 * Australian Cardinal George Pell is sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996.
 * March 15
 * 51 people are killed and 50 others injured in terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, both of which were the target of shootings by Australia-born Brenton Harrison Tarrant. It is the deadliest mass shooting and terrorist attack in New Zealand history and described by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". Subsequently Facebook announced they had disabled 1.5 million videos of the gunman's rampage.
 * Cyclone Idai makes landfall on Mozambique, causing at least 1,073 fatalities, as well as causing mass flooding and power outages in southern Africa.
 * March 19 – Nursultan Nazarbayev resigns as President of Kazakhstan after 29 years in office and appoints Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as acting president. Astana is renamed Nur-Sultan the following day in his honor.
 * March 20 – Europe's antitrust regulators fine Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed against Google by the European Union.
 * March 21 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui, Jiangsu, China, kills at least 78 people and injures more than 600 others. Its powerful impact registered as an artificial earthquake.
 * March 23
 * The final territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, located in Al-Baghuz Fawqani, Syria, is liberated.
 * An estimated 400,000 people march in central London in protest against Brexit.
 * March 24
 * The 2019 Thai general election takes place, for all 500 seats in the House of Representatives.
 * A four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign is published by the U.S. Attorney General William Barr. It concludes that there was no collusion with Russia – the basis of the investigation – but on the issue of obstruction of justice states: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him".
 * March 26 – The European Parliament votes by 348 to 278 in favour of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which expands legal liability for websites and includes the controversial Article 13.
 * March 31 – Taiwan scrambles its fighter aircraft after two Chinese jets crossed a maritime border between the two nations. Just the day before, Japan had similarly scrambled its jets when the Chinese flew between two Japanese islands, Miyako and Okinawa.

April

 * April 2 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns as President of Algeria amid widespread protests, after nearly two decades in office.
 * April 4 – Second Libyan Civil War: The Libyan National Army (LNA) launches a surprise offensive in western Libya, moving units towards the Government of National Accord-held capital Tripoli and capturing Gharyan. The LNA says that the operation, ordered by General Khalifa Haftar, is aimed at "cleansing the western zone from terrorist groups".
 * April 9 – The April 2019 Israeli legislative election takes place, for all 120 seats in the Knesset.
 * April 10
 * Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, located in the centre of the M87 galaxy.
 * Fossil fragments found in the Callao Cave in the Philippines reveal the existence of the Homo luzonensis species of humans. The species is named after the island where it was discovered, Luzon.
 * April 11
 * WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London.
 * Amid mass protests, Omar al-Bashir is deposed as President of Sudan in a coup d'état, after nearly 30 years in office.
 * The 2019 Indian general election begins, along with elections in six states. Counting takes place on 23 May.
 * April 15 – During Holy Week, a major fire engulfs Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, resulting in the roof and main spire collapsing.
 * April 16 – The Howse Peak avalanche kills three noted mountaineers: Austrians Hansjörg Auer and David Lama, and Canadian Jess Roskelley.
 * April 17
 * The 2019 Indonesian general election takes place; for the President, 575 seats in the People's Representative Council, and 136 seats in the Regional Representative Council.
 * At least 28 people are killed in a bus crash on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
 * April 18
 * The full 448-page report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States Presidential Election (the Mueller Report) is released in redacted form.
 * NepaliSat-1 is launched. It is Nepal's first ever research satellite to be sent into space.
 * April 21
 * A series of bomb attacks occur at eight locations in Sri Lanka, including three churches, four hotels and one housing complex in Colombo, on Easter Sunday, leaving at least 253 people dead and over 500 injured.  This is the first major terrorist attack in the country since the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in 2009.
 * Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine in a runoff election. Zelensky previously portrayed a fictional Ukrainian president in the television series Servant of the People.
 * April 25 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Russia to hold a series of summits with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.
 * April 28
 * The 2019 Spanish general election takes place, for all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of the 266) seats in the Senate. The PSOE, under Pedro Sánchez, wins the most seats, but not an outright majority.
 * Victor Vescovo achieves the deepest dive of any human in history, as he reaches Challenger Deep within the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,928 m (35,853 ft).
 * April 29 – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization, appears in undated footage released by the group, his first appearance on video since 2014. In the video, he references the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, indicating it was filmed very recently.
 * April 30
 * Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates from his throne, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in almost two centuries. The abdication ends the Heisei era of Japan and ushers in the Reiwa era with new emperor Naruhito ascending the throne on 1 May.
 * 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis: Venezuelan opposition leader and disputed interim President Juan Guaidó leads an attempted uprising against President Nicolás Maduro.

May

 * May 1
 * King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand marries his personal bodyguard Suthida Tidjai – a commoner – in a surprise ceremony, making her queen consort of Thailand.
 * Russian President Vladimir Putin signs into law a controversial "sovereign internet" bill that allows Russian authorities to better monitor internet routing and to steer Russian internet traffic away from foreign servers. Proponents of the bill say it ensures Russian internet security and decreases dependence on foreign servers while critics argue it gives new censorship powers to the government and is a part of a global trend of cyber-balkanization.
 * May 3 – The number of deaths from the Kivu Ebola outbreak exceeds 1,000. It is the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, only surpassed by the West African Ebola virus epidemic of 2013–2016.
 * May 3–6 – May 2019 Gaza–Israel clashes: The Gaza–Israel conflict escalates after the Israeli military launches airstrikes into Gaza killing more than 20 palestinians including a pregnant woman and a toddler following the injury of two soldiers from Gazan sniper fire.
 * May 4–6 – Coronation of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.
 * May 5 – Aeroflot Flight 1492 crash-lands and bursts into flames at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, killing 41 of the 78 people on board.
 * May 6
 * In its first report since 2005, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns that biodiversity loss is "accelerating", with over a million species now threatened with extinction; the decline of the natural living world is "unprecedented" and largely a result of human actions, according to the report.
 * Syrian Civil War: The Syrian Army launches a major ground offensive against one of the last rebel strongholds in the country.
 * May 8 – A British teenager, Isabelle Holdaway, 17, is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
 * May 10 – Amid ongoing negotiations, the United States' 25 percent tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports takes effect, escalating tensions between the two nations in the ongoing China–United States trade war.
 * May 12 – May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident: Four commercial ships, including two Saudi Aramco oil tankers, are damaged near the port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. The United Arab Emirates claims the incident was a "sabotage attack", while an early United States assessment reportedly blames Iran for the attack. The incident occurs during a time of regional tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with the U.S. just weeks prior deploying strategic bombers, a carrier strike group and other military assets to the Persian Gulf following intelligence reports of an alleged plot by Iran to attack U.S. forces in the region.
 * May 13
 * The 2019 Philippine general election takes place, for all 297 seats in the House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Senate.
 * Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape allegation investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Swedish prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the United Kingdom after he has served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.
 * May 14–18 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 takes place in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is won by Dutch entrant Duncan Laurence with the song "Arcade".
 * May 17
 * Taiwan's parliament becomes the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.
 * Ibiza affair: A corruption scandal involving the Vice-Chancellor of Austria Heinz-Christian Strache and deputy leader of the Freedom Party Johann Gudenus offering to fix state contracts with a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch at a 2017 meeting in Spain leads to the collapse of the coalition government and calls for snap elections.
 * May 18 – 2019 Australian federal election: Scott Morrison's Liberal/National Coalition Government is narrowly re-elected, defeating the Labor Party led by Bill Shorten.
 * May 19
 * Eleven people are killed in a shooting at a bar in Belém, Brazil.
 * China–United States trade war: Google pulls Android update support for Huawei phones, as well as the Google Play Store and Gmail apps, after the Chinese technology company was blacklisted by the United States.
 * May 20 – The redefinition of the SI system of measurement adopted by the majority of countries in the world takes effect.
 * May 23–26 – The 2019 European Parliament election takes place. The election has a 51 percent voter turnout, the highest since the first direct elections in 1979.
 * May 23
 * 2019 Indian general election: Narendra Modi secures a landslide win, with his party BJP alone gaining 303 of the 543 seats in parliament, and his political alliance winning 353 seats of the 543.
 * Botswana lifts its five-year prohibition on elephant hunting.
 * May 24
 * British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Conservative leader, effective 7 June 2019.
 * A prison riot in Acarigua, Venezuela, leaves 29 prisoners dead and 19 guards injured.
 * May 26–27 – Amazonas prison massacres: More than 50 prisoners are killed in a series of riots at four different prisons in Amazonas, Brazil.
 * May 27 – U.S. President Donald Trump, during an official state visit to Japan, is the first foreign leader to meet with Japanese emperor Naruhito.
 * May 29
 * Former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits is elected the 10th President of Latvia.
 * Sinking of Hableány: The Hableány, a sightseeing river cruise ship on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary, collides with another vessel and sinks with two Hungarian crew members and 33 South Korean tourists on board. At least 25 people have been found dead and 3 others remain missing.
 * Less than two months after the April 9 Israeli legislative elections, the Israeli Knesset dissolves itself and votes to hold new elections in September 17, after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to assemble a coalition government within the allotted time.
 * May 30–July 14 – The 2019 Cricket World Cup is held in England and Wales, with matches at 10 venues in nine cities. The opening match and final will be in London, with the final at Lord's.
 * May 30 – South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reports that North Korea executed nuclear envoy Kim Hyok-chol and four other diplomats in March after the failed February Hanoi summit with the United States. The newspaper also reports that Kim Yong-chol, a top aide to Kim Jong-un, was sentenced to hard labor during the purge.

June

 * June 2
 * Nearly five years after abdication, King Juan Carlos I of Spain retires from public life.
 * 2019 San Marino referendum: Sammarinese voters vote to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and initiate a popular legislative initiative for the reform of the electoral system.
 * June 3 – Khartoum massacre: More than 100 people are killed when Sudanese troops and Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a protest camp outside of a military headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan.
 * June 3–5 – U.S. President Donald Trump makes a state visit to the United Kingdom, meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May. It is the first official state visit to the U.K. by a sitting U.S. president since 2011. Trump also attends D-Day commemorative ceremonies.
 * June 5 – The 2019 Danish general election takes place, for all 179 seats in the Folketing.
 * June 6
 * 2018–19 Sudanese protests: The African Union suspends Sudan's membership "with immediate effect" after the Khartoum massacre.
 * Following results from the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, a new government is formed consisting of 58 percent women.
 * June 7 – British Prime Minister Theresa May resigns as leader of the Conservative Party.
 * June 7–July 7 – The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup is held in France, with matches in nine cities. The opening match is held in Paris, and the final will be at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon.
 * June 9
 * 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Over 1 million people in Hong Kong protest against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China. It is the largest protest in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.
 * A large explosive eruption of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia sent a 7,000-meter ash column, generating a pyroclastic flow 3–3.5 kilometers long towards the south and southeast of the mountain.
 * June 11 – Botswana decriminalizes homosexuality.
 * June 12
 * The Supreme Court of Ecuador rules in favor of same-sex marriage, making it legal throughout the country.
 * 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill riot: The Hong Kong government and police controversially declare that the protest has "turned into a riot".
 * June 13 – June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident: Two oil tankers are attacked near the Strait of Hormuz while transiting the Gulf of Oman amid heightened tension between Iran and the United States, with the latter blaming the former for the incident.
 * June 15 – 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests: Hong Kong announces it will indefinitely suspend the controversial extradition bill, but protests continue, this time calling for the total withdrawal of the bill and the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
 * June 16 – A large-scale power outage hits Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay, affecting nearly 50 million people.
 * June 17 – A triple suicide blast kills 30 and injures 40 in Borno, Nigeria, at a hall where people were watching a football match.
 * June 18 – The U.S. sends an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East as tensions build with Iran.
 * June 19 – Four men are charged with murdering the 298 passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the airliner shot down while flying over Ukraine in July 2014.
 * June 20 – June 2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone: Iran shoots down a United States RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz after claiming it violated their airspace. The U.S. claims it was shot down in international airspace in an "unprovoked attack".
 * June 22 – 2019 Amhara Region coup d'état attempt: In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen are assassinated.