February 12, 2009 (Thursday)
- Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes in Clarence Center, New York, killing 50 people. (Buffalo News) (CNN)
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board concludes that Canada geese caused US Airways Flight 1549 to ditch into New York City's Hudson River. (CNN)
- Pope Benedict XVI condemns any denial of the Holocaust as "intolerable and altogether unacceptable". (New York Times)
- Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdraws his nomination as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. (BBC)
- Iraq's Parliament demands reparations from Israel for an attack on a nuclear reactor in 1981. (Haaretz).
- Hamas agrees to an 18-month truce in its conflict with Israel, which has not yet responded. (Al Jazeera)
- Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. reopens for the bicentennial of assassinated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's birth. (BBC)
- Late 2000s recession:
- Japanese electronics company Pioneer Corporation will leave the television business and cut 10,000 jobs. (AFP via Google News)
- European steelmaker Corus Group cuts 3,500 jobs. (Business Standard)
- A man is arrested after threatening self-immolation outside the Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland. (RTÉ)
- Taliban militants kill 26 people in attacks on three government buildings in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Sky News)
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez alleges that the Army attempted to overthrow his government. (AFP via France 24)[permanent dead link]
- Australia announces a national day of mourning for victims of bushfires in Victoria. (CNN)
- The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, is robbed. (RTÉ)
- Indian businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant, Surender Koli, are convicted of murder. (BBC)
- Dutch Member of Parliament and Islam critic Geert Wilders is denied entry into the United Kingdom. (BBC)
- Microsoft places a US$250,000 bounty on the Conficker computer worm's creator. (PC World)
- China's Sanlu Group declares bankruptcy, due to the country's 2008 milk scandal. (BBC)