2008
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
News by month
Arts
Architecture - Art - Literature (Poetry) - Music (Country, Metal, UK) - Film - Television - Home video
Politics
Science and technology
Sports
Sport - Athletics (Track and Field) - Australian Football League - Baseball - Football (soccer) - Ice Hockey - Motorsport - Tennis - National Rugby League
By place
Argentina - Australia - Canada - China -France - India - Iran - Iraq - Ireland - Japan - Kenya - Luxembourg - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Norway - Pakistan - Singapore - South Africa - United Kingdom - United States - Zimbabwe
Other topics
Deaths - Awards - Games - Law - Religious leaders - Video gaming
Birth and death categories
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Works and introductions categories
2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.
2008 has been designated as:
International Year of Languages;[1] International Year of Planet Earth;[2] International Year of the Potato;[3] International Year of Sanitation;[4] European Year of Intercultural Dialogue;[5]
In Chinese astrology, Year of the Rat began on February 7, succeeding Year of the Pig.
Contents
[edit] Events
[edit] January
January 1 - Cyprus, Malta, and Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopt the euro.[6][7] January 1 - The Venezuelan bolÃvar, as a result of a government decree issued on March 7, 2007, is revalued at a ratio of 1 to 1000 and renamed the BolÃvar fuerte (ISO 4217 code: VEF). January 2 - The price of petroleum hits US$100 per barrel for the first time. January 3 - A car bomb detonates, killing at least 4 and injuring 68, in Diyarbakır, Turkey. Police blame Kurdish rebels. January 8 - An attempted assassination of Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is thwarted after a Boy Scout grabbed the attacker's knife. The Boy Scout was injured, but after a scuffle ensued police arrested the attacker. January 12 - A Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board.[8] January 14 - At 19:04:39 UTC, the MESSENGER space probe is at its closest approach during its first flyby of the planet Mercury.[9] January 15 - Federal Court of Australia orders a Japanese whaling company to stop research whaling within their Exclusive Economic Zone. January 21 - Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. recession, fueled by the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis. January 22 - Russia stages the largest naval exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union in the Bay of Biscay, amid deteriorating relations with the West. The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, along with 11 support vessels and 47 long-range bomber aircraft, practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain, and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles on foreign waters. January 23 - Polish Air Force CASA C-295 crashes during approach to the 12th Air Base near MirosÅ‚awiec. All 20 personnel on board die. January 23 - Thousands of Palestinians cross into Egypt, as the border wall with Gaza in Rafah is blown up by militants. January 24 - A peace deal ends the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. January 24 - Iraqi Parliament adopts a new national flag, removing three stars associated with the Baath Party; a permanent design is expected within the next year. January 25 - China's worst snowstorm since 1954 kills 133, delays traffic, and causes massive power outages in central and southern parts of the country.[10] January 29 - Iran's judiciary sentences to prison 54 Bahá'à religion followers for charity work.[11][12]
[edit] February
February 2 - Rebels attack the capital of Chad, N'Djamena. February 4 - Iran opens its first space center and launches a rocket to space.[13] February 4 - A Palestinian suicide bomber kills one and wounds thirteen in a Dimona, Israel shopping center.[14] February 5 - U.S. stock market indices plunge more than 3% after a report showed signs of economic recession in the service-sector. The S&P 500 fell 3.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 370 points. February 5–February 6 - A tornado outbreak, the deadliest in 23 years, kills 58 in the Southern United States. February 7 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-122 to deliver the European-built Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station. February 11 - President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta is seriously wounded in an attack on his home by rebel soldiers. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed by Ramos-Horta's security guards during the attack.[15] February 12 - PDVSA, a state oil company in Venezuela, has suspended sales of crude oil to Exxon Mobil, in response to a legal challenge by them.[16] February 12 - Bridgestone, under investigation for an alleged price-fixing cartel, uncovers improper payments of at least 150 million Japanese Yen to foreign governments and withdrew from the marine hose business.[17] February 13 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia delivers a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.[18] February 14 - Steven Kazmierczak shoots dead five students and injures another 18 at Northern Illinois University. February 17 - A suicide bombing by a Taliban member kills up to 80 in Kandahar, Afghanistan[19] February 17 - Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, with support from some countries but opposition from others.[20] February 18 - The British government introduces emergency legislation temporarily to nationalize Northern Rock, the fifth largest mortgage bank in the UK, due to the bank's financial crisis.[21] February 18 - General election is held in Pakistan, delayed from January 8 due to riots in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Opposition parties, including Bhutto's, take more than half of the seats, while President Pervez Musharraf's party suffers a huge defeat.[22] February 19 - Crude oil closes above $100 USD per barrel for the first time ever, settling at $100.01. February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective on February 24. February 20 - United States Navy destroys a spy satellite containing toxic fuel by shooting it down with a missile launched from USS Lake Erie in the Pacific ocean.[23] February 20 - Total lunar eclipse - North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Western Asia. February 22 - No survivors are found after a rescue helicopter discovers the wreckage of Santa Barbara Flight 518 just northeast of Mérida, Venezuela. The commercial plane had 46 people on board, including crew. February 24 - Raúl Castro is unanimously elected as President of Cuba by the National Assembly.
[edit] March
March 1 - In Gaza Strip at least 52 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers are killed in the most intense Israeli air strikes since 2005. March 2 - 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis: Venezuela and Ecuador move troops to the Colombian border following a Colombian raid against FARC guerrillas inside Ecuador's national territory in which senior commander Raúl Reyes was killed. March 6 - Eight Israeli civilians are killed and nine wounded when a Palestinian attacker opens fire at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. March 9 - First European Space Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station, launches from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. March 14 - Demonstrations by Tibetan separatists turn violent as rioters target government and Han Chinese-owned buildings. March 14 - Legislative election in Iran. March 15 - In Albania a huge explosion of a gun factory in Gerdec kills more than 30 people. Over the following week, Albania, Kosovo and some surrounding countries supply and support Gerdec's population with food, blood etc. March 19 - An exploding star halfway across the visible universe becomes the farthest known object ever visible to the naked eye.[24] March 20 - The United States enacts economic sanctions against Iran.[citation needed] March 24 - Bhutan holds its first-ever general elections.[25] March 25 - A 160-square-mile (414 km2) chunk of Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf disintegrates, leaving the entire shelf at risk. March 25 - African Union and Comoros forces invade the rebel-held island of Anjouan. March 29 - Presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe.[26] March 30 - A plane crashed into a row of houses in Farnborough, London, England, killing two pilots and three passengers.[27] March–April - Rising food and fuel prices trigger riots and unrest in the Third World.
[edit] April
April 8 - Sark dismantled its feudal system to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Privy Council approved the Sark law reforms,[28] and the first elections under the new law will be held in December 2008 and the new chamber will first convene in January 2009.[29][30][31] April 15 - A Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 commercial airplane crashes into a residential area of Goma, DR Congo. April 22 - Surgeons at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital perform the first operations using bionic eyes, implanting them into two blind patients. April 27 - The Taliban attempts to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a military parade in Kabul.[32] April 28 - India sets a world record by sending 10 satellites into orbit in a single launch.[33] April 28 - 71 die in a train crash in Shandong, China.[34]
[edit] May
May 3 - Over 133,000 in Myanmar are killed by Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster since the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. May 7 - Violence breaks out in Beirut, Lebanon and spreads to nearby areas over the next few days. May 10 - Myanmar holds a constitutional referendum. May 12 - Over 69,000 are killed in central China by an earthquake measuring 8.0Mw. The epicenter is 90 kilometers (55 miles) west-northwest of Chengdu. May 13 - A series of bomb blasts kills at least 63 and injures 216 in Jaipur, India. May 15 - An oil pipeline explodes in Ijegun, Nigeria, killing 100. May 23 - The Union of South American Nations, a supranational union, is created by a union between the Andean Community and Mercosur. May 23 - The International Court of Justice awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries. May 25 - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands on