June 18, 2009 (Thursday)
- North Korea considers launching a missile towards Hawaii. (BBC)
- An Atlas V rocket launches the LRO and LCROSS spacecraft to explore the Moon.(BBC)
- Continental Flight 61, a Boeing 777 containing 247 passengers flying from Brussels, Belgium, to Newark, New Jersey, United States, lands safely at Newark Liberty International Airport, after the 61-year-old pilot died mid-flight. (WCBS)
- 2009 Iranian election protests:
- Iran is accused of altering a photo to make a crowd at a pro-Ahmedinejad rally appear larger. (Christian Science Monitor)
- Supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi hold a mass rally in Tehran mourning those killed during protests after the disputed election. (Reuters) (Sky News)
- Seven Gambian journalists are charged with seditious publication for reprinting a press union statement criticising President Yahya Jammeh. (IOL)
- Canada's annual seal hunt ends with lower than expected totals. (BBC)
- Another attack occurs on Romanians in Belfast, on this occasion against a family in the east of the city. (BBC)
- Chancellor Alistair Darling states there is "growing evidence" that government measures have stabilised the British banking system and economy. (Sky News)
- The expense claims of British Members of Parliament are published online. (The Times) (BBC)
- The High Court rules that Suzanne Breen, an editor of the Sunday Tribune, need not hand over her notes on the Real IRA to police as it would endanger her life. (BBC) (RTÉ)
- A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Medina Hotel in Beledweyne, Somalia, killing 10 people. Among the dead is Omar Hashi Aden, Somalia's Security Minister. (BBC)
- Several Al-Qaeda militants are killed by a Malian army offensive near the Algerian border. (Taipei Times)
- Islamic militants allied to Al-Qaeda launch an attack on a convoy escorting Chinese workers in Mansoura, Algeria, killing 24 policemen. (Irish Times) (BBC)
- Loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland begin to decommission their weapons. (BBC) (RTÉ)
- Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora of rock band Bon Jovi are inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York. (BBC) (CBC)
- South Africa receives its first case of swine flu via the United States. (BBC)
