The long civil war in Sri Lanka ends with the conclusive defeat of the Tamil Tigers by government forces

North Korea announces that it has carried out a second successful nuclear test

The World Health Organization declares that "swine flu" (strain H1N1, spreading from Mexico), has reached the status of a pandemic

Iran's declaration that its presidential election has been a landslide victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brings vast crowds of protesters onto the streets

The sudden death of the pop star Michael Jackson triggers a world-wide emotional response

Iran's Guardian Council decrees that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election was valid, amid increasingly strong crackdown on any sign of dissent

Riots break out in Urumchi, in northwest China, in hostilities between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released as being terminally ill and returns from Scotland to Libya

The Treaty of Lisbon, rejected by the Irish people in 2008, is approved in a second referendum

The Czech Republic becomes the final member state of the European Union to approve the Lisbon Treaty, completing the process of ratification

Herman van Rompuy, the prime minister of Belgium, is voted the first full-time president of the European Council

CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider, which has been shut down since a serious failure in Sepember 2008

Global stock markets fall when Dubai seems in danger of being unable to service its massive $80 billion of debt

The Treaty of Lisbon is passed into law in the European Union

Abu Dhabi provides Dubai with $10 billion of debt relief, reducing the threat of a new major financial crisis

Tauatomo Mairau, a descendant of the Tahitian royal family, claims the title of King of Tahiti and demands (unsuccessfully) the return to him by France of the royal lands annexed in 1880

A major earthquake around L'Aquila, in Italy, kills more than 300 people after experts advise local people that it is safe to stay at home

The Orleans House Gallery reaches the final shortlist of four for the prestigious £100,000 annual prize awarded each year by the Art Fund

Pina Bausch dies, just two days before shooting is due to begin on Pina, the Wim Wenders documentary later premiered at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival

In his Signs and Wonders exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Edmund de Waal displays hundreds of small porcelain works high up round the base of the dome

Marie NDiaye wins the Prix Goncourt with Trois femmes puissantes ("Three Strong Women"), a story of family relationships linking France and Senegal

The Fujifilm 3D W1 is the first camera on the market capable of taking stereoscopic images

The Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai is inaugurated, entering the record books as the world tallest building at 828 m (2717 ft)

Haiti is devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, causing more than 230,000 deaths

A sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, L'Homme qui marche, sets a new auction record for a work of art at £65 million (US$103.7 million)