01 Jan 2008
|
event
|
Cyprus and Malta join the Eurozone. |
|
17 Jan 2008
|
event
|
British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777. |
|
05 Feb 2008
|
event
|
A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57. |
|
11 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Namdaemun, a 550-year-old gate in South Korea, was toppled by fire. |
|
11 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack. |
|
13 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations. |
|
14 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in six fatalities (including gunman) and 21 injuries. |
|
17 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Kosovo declares independence as the Republic of Kosovo. |
|
23 Feb 2008
|
event
|
A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2. |
|
24 Feb 2008
|
event
|
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years. |
|
01 Mar 2008
|
event
|
The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections 2008, as a result ten people are killed. |
|
06 Mar 2008
|
event
|
A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem. |
|
13 Mar 2008
|
event
|
Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time. |
|
14 Mar 2008
|
event
|
A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet. |
|
19 Mar 2008
|
event
|
GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed. |
|
24 Mar 2008
|
event
|
Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election. |
|
03 Apr 2008
|
event
|
Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be removed and taken into state custody. |
|
03 Apr 2008
|
event
|
ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations. |
|
06 Apr 2008
|
event
|
The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists. |
|
08 Apr 2008
|
event
|
The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain. |
|
20 Apr 2008
|
event
|
Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race. |
|
22 Apr 2008
|
event
|
The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service. |
|
30 Apr 2008
|
event
|
Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia, are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, one of his sisters. |
|
01 May 2008
|
event
|
The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. |
|
02 May 2008
|
event
|
Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people. |
|
02 May 2008
|
event
|
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless. |
|
10 May 2008
|
event
|
An EF4 tornado strikes the Oklahoma–Kansas state line, killing 21 people and injuring over 100. |
|
12 May 2008
|
event
|
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud. |
|
12 May 2008
|
event
|
An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people. |
|
13 May 2008
|
event
|
The Jaipur bombings in Rajasthan, India results in dozens of deaths. |
|
15 May 2008
|
event
|
California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional. |
|
22 May 2008
|
event
|
The Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between May 22 and May 31, 2008. The tornadoes strike 19 states and one Canadian province. |
|
23 May 2008
|
event
|
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries. |
|
25 May 2008
|
event
|
NASA's Phoenix lander lands in Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life. |
|
26 May 2008
|
event
|
Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million. |
|
28 May 2008
|
event
|
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty. |
|
29 May 2008
|
event
|
A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people. |
|
11 Jun 2008
|
event
|
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century. |
|
27 Jun 2008
|
event
|
In a highly scrutizined election President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters. |
|
01 Jul 2008
|
event
|
Rioting erupts in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections. |
|
10 Jul 2008
|
event
|
Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a United Nations Tribunal accusing him of war crimes. |
|
13 Jul 2008
|
event
|
Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban & al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army & Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001. |
|
16 Jul 2008
|
event
|
Sixteen infants in Gansu Province, China, who had been fed on tainted milk powder, are diagnosed with kidney stones; in total an estimated 300,000 infants are affected. |
|
21 Jul 2008
|
event
|
Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first president of Nepal. |
|
01 Aug 2008
|
event
|
Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. |
|
06 Aug 2008
|
event
|
A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. |
|
07 Aug 2008
|
event
|
The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia. |
|
08 Aug 2008
|
event
|
A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others. |
|
08 Aug 2008
|
event
|
The opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing. |
|
13 Aug 2008
|
event
|
South Ossetian War: Russian units occupy the Georgian city of Gori. |
|
16 Aug 2008
|
event
|
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level. |
|
06 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Turkish President Abdullah Gül attends an association football match in Armenia after an invitation by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan, making him the first Turkish head of state to visit the country. |
|
07 Sep 2008
|
event
|
The US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. |
|
10 Sep 2008
|
event
|
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland. |
|
12 Sep 2008
|
event
|
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train kills 25 people. |
|
13 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries. |
|
13 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas. |
|
14 Sep 2008
|
event
|
All 88 people on board Aeroflot Flight 821 are killed when the plane crashes on approach to Perm Airport. |
|
15 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. |
|
20 Sep 2008
|
event
|
A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others. |
|
23 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide. |
|
25 Sep 2008
|
event
|
China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7. |
|
26 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel. |
|
27 Sep 2008
|
event
|
CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7. |
|
28 Sep 2008
|
event
|
SpaceX launches the first private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit. |
|
29 Sep 2008
|
event
|
Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history. |
|
03 Oct 2008
|
event
|
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the U.S. financial system is signed by President George W. Bush. |
|
10 Oct 2008
|
event
|
The 2008 Orakzai bombing kills 110 and injures 200 more. |
|
15 Oct 2008
|
event
|
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst day in the Dow's history based on a percentage drop. |
|
22 Oct 2008
|
event
|
India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1. |
|
24 Oct 2008
|
event
|
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices. |
|
29 Oct 2008
|
event
|
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five. |
|
04 Nov 2008
|
event
|
Barack Obama becomes the first person of African-American descent to be elected President of the United States. |
|
26 Nov 2008
|
event
|
Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba. |
|
06 Dec 2008
|
event
|
The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer. |
|
09 Dec 2008
|
event
|
The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's election to the Presidency. |
|
11 Dec 2008
|
event
|
Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. |
|
14 Dec 2008
|
event
|
Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq. |
|
22 Dec 2008
|
event
|
An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry. |
|
24 Dec 2008
|
event
|
Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400. |
|
27 Dec 2008
|
event
|
Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza. |
|