Steve Jobs unveils the first iPhone, accelerating the era of touchscreen smartphones.
Vietnam becomes the 150th member of the World Trade Organization.
A person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the white paper describing Bitcoin, the first decentralised cryptocurrency.
Barack Obama wins the presidential election, becoming the first African American elected to the office.
Hurricane Katrina strikes the US Gulf Coast, breaching New Orleans' levees and killing more than 1,300 people.
Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students launch the social network Facebook at Harvard; it later reaches billions of users.
A US-led coalition invades Iraq and topples Saddam Hussein, beginning a long period of occupation and conflict.