The 2009 G20 London Summit, held on April 2, 2009, brought together world leaders to address the global financial crisis. It was Chaired by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, resulting in a significant trillion pledge to stimulate the global economy, restore credit, and strengthen financial regulations, to help halt the recession.
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What Happened in April?
Sieges, raids, and monumental deaths. Discover key historical events from April that influenced the world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Danish/U.S. cargo ship Maersk Alabama, sailing under the U.S. flag, is hijacked on April 8, 2009 ,by pirates in the Somali Basin at a distance of 240 nautical miles of the Somalia coast. The siege ended after a rescue effort by the United States Navy on April 12.
It was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked by pirates, who had previously extorted significant ransoms. No successful pirate seizure of a ship traveling under the U.S. flag had taken place since the early 19th century.
The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano intensifies on April 14, 2010, sending a massive ash plume into the atmosphere, posing a significant danger to Jet aircraft engines and causing the largest closure of airspace in Europe since World War II, disrupting travel for millions of passengers and cargo flights for more than a week.
Bjarki Sigursveinsson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, kills 11 people and leads to a massive oil spill. Days after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, underwater cameras revealed the damaged wellhead pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. By the time the well was capped 87 days later on July 15, 2010, over three million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf. More
Prince William and Catherine Middleton marry at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011. The ceremony was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and was attended by 1,900 guests and watched by over 2 billion viewers. Following their wedding, they were named the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The Boston Marathon bombing occurs on April 15, 2013, killing three people and injuring hundreds. More
The extremist group Boko Haram abducts 276 schoolgirls on April 14, 2014 from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria, leading to international outrage.
The South Korean, Sewol ferry sank on April 16, 2014 while in route from Incheon towards Jeju City in South Korea. Of the 476 people on board, there were only 172 survivors. 304 of those on board died, 250 of whom were students from Danwon.
The South Korea government's Board of Audit and Inspection revealed that the Korean Register's licensing was based on falsified documents. and the amount of cargo carried was twice the legal limit On 12 February 2015, Kim Kyung-il, the coastguard captain responsible for rescue efforts, was sentenced to four years in prison for negligence and falsified reporting and Lee Joon-seok, the South Korean captain of the Sewol ferry to life in prison on a murder charge for the killing of more than 300 people, mostly children.
Nepal is hit by a devastating 7.8 earthquake, on April 25, 2015 resulting in widespread destruction and more than eight thousand deaths. The earth quake was followed by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock on May 12. More
The Paris Agreement on climate change, is signed on April 22, 2016 (Earth Day) by 174 countries and the European Union, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
The United States drops the "Mother of All Bombs" (MOAB), the largest non-nuclear bomb, on ISIS targets in Afghanistan, on April 13, 2017. The device is officially known as the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast. More
The leaders of North and South Korea meet for the first time in more than a decade, on April 27, 2018, pledging to work toward peace and denuclearization.
Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, and released it on April 10, 2019. The black hole is about 55 million light-years away, in the center in the Virgo cluster. The supermassive black hole has a mass approximately 6.5 billion times that of our Sun.
The Event Horizon Telescope, is a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration which are not physically connected but are able to synchronize their recorded data with hydrogen masers, a type of atomic clocks which allows the to precisely times their observations. Led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, the collaboration includes over 300 members aiming to image black holes to test Einstein’s general relativity. The same team of scientists released the first image of the black hole at the center of our own galaxy, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), in 2022.
The 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, suffers a devastating fire on April 15, 2019, causing significant damage including the collapse of its iconic spire and most of the roof with significant interior damage. The cathedral underwent a major restoration and officially reopened on December 7, 2024. More
Japan's Emperor Akihito officially announces his abdication from the Japanese throne. The 85-year-old was given permission to abdicate after saying he felt unable to fulfil his role because of his age and declining health. His abdication took place on April 30, 2019.
At midnight, his son, Crown Prince Naruhito,became the new emperor. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had announced in December 2017 that Akihito's abdication would take place at the end of 30 April 2019, The abdication of Emperor Akihito was the first of a Japanese emperor in 200 years. More
Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, is found guilty on April 20, 2021, of murdering George Floyd, sparking global conversations about racial justice and police brutality.
A total solar eclipse moved across North America, on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun and the sky darkens as if it were dawn or dusk. It was the second North America's total solar eclipse in seven years.
Pope Francis dies at age 88, on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, of stroke and subsequent heart failure, a day after making an Easter Sunday appearance to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis was elected as the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, becoming the first Latin American pope. Pope Francis charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. More
Syria ends 29-year military presence in Lebanon on April 26, 2005, as the last of Syria's soldiers and intelligence agents leave Lebanon. Syria's chief of staff General Ali Habib declared that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations under a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.