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2008 (MMVIII) was a leap year
starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar Contents · 1Events o 1.3March o 1.4April o 1.5May o 1.6June o 1.7July · 2Deaths o 2.3March o 2.4April o 2.5May o 2.6June o 2.7July · 3Awards o 5.1Books Events[change | change source] January[change | change source] First-ever
photograph of the "unseen side" of Mercury,
taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft
on January 14 ·
January 1 Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro.[1][2] ·
January 1 A suicide bombing occurs
in Zayouna, Baghdad, killing over 25 people during a funeral
over the deaths from the preceding attack.[3] ·
January 2 The price
of petroleum hits $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.[4] ·
January 8 An attempted assassination
of Maldivian president Maumoon
Abdul Gayoom is thwarted after a Boy Scout grabs
the attacker's knife. The Boy Scout is injured, but after a scuffle police
arrest the attacker.[5] ·
January 12 A Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on
board.[6] ·
January 14 At 19:04:39 UTC,
the MESSENGER space probe is at its closest approach
during its first flyby of the planet Mercury.[7] ·
January 15 The Federal
Court of Australia orders a Japanese whaling company to stop
research whaling within their Exclusive
Economic Zone.[8] ·
January 21 Stock markets around the
world plunge amid growing fears of a
U.S. recession, fueled by
the 2007 subprime
mortgage crisis.[9] ·
January 22 Russia stages the largest naval
exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union in the Bay of Biscay. The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov,
along with 11 support vessels and 47 long-range bomber aircraft, practises
strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain, and test-launches nuclear-capable
missiles in foreign waters.[10] ·
January 23 Polish
Air Force EADS
CASA C-295 crashes on approach to the 12th Air Base
near Mirosławiec.
All 20 personnel on board die.[11] ·
January 23 Thousands of Palestinians
cross into Egypt, as the border wall
with Gaza in Rafah is blown up by militants.[12] ·
January 24 A peace deal ends
the Kivu war in
the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.[13] ·
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.[14] ·
January 29 Iran's judiciary sentences to prison
54 Bahα'ν Faith followers
for 'anti-regime propaganda'.[15][16] February[change | change source] ·
February 2 Rebels attack the
capital of Chad, N'Djamena.[17] ·
February 4 Iran opens its first space center and
launches a rocket into space.[18] ·
February 4 A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 1 and wounds 13 in
a Dimona,
Israel shopping center.[19] ·
February 5 U.S. stock market indices
plunge more than 3% after a report shows signs of economic
recession in the service sector. The S&P 500 fall
3.2%, The Dow Jones
Industrial Average 370 points.[20] ·
February 56 A tornado outbreak, the deadliest in 23
years, kills 58 in the Southern United
States.[21] ·
February 7 STS-122: Space Shuttle
Atlantis launches to deliver the European-built Columbus
science laboratory to the International
Space Station.[22] ·
February 10 The 2008
Namdaemun fire severely damages Namdaemun,
the first National Treasure of South Korea.[23] ·
February 11 President of East
Timor Josι 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.[24] ·
February 12 PDVSA, a state oil company in Venezuela, suspends sales of crude oil to ExxonMobil, in response to a legal challenge
by them.[25] ·
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 withdraws from the marine hose business.[26] ·
February 13 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia delivers a formal apology to
the Stolen
Generations.[27] ·
February 17 Kosovo formally declares
independence from Serbia, with support from some countries but
opposition from others.[28] ·
February 18 The British
government introduces emergency legislation temporarily
to nationalize Northern
Rock, the 5th largest mortgage
bank in the UK, due to the bank's financial crisis.[29] ·
February 18 A 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.[30] ·
February 19 Fidel Castro announces his resignation as
President of Cuba, effective February 24.[31] ·
February 20 The United States Navy destroys
a spy
satellite containing toxic fuel, by shooting it down with
a missile launched from the USS
Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean.[32] ·
February 20 A total lunar eclipse crosses North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.[33] ·
February 22 Former building
society Northern
Rock is the first bank in Europe to be taken into state
control, due to the U.S. subprime mortgage financial crisis.[34] ·
February 22 No survivors are found
after a rescue helicopter discovers the wreckage of Santa Bαrbara Airlines Flight 518 just
northeast of Mιrida, Venezuela. The commercial plane had 46
people on board, including crew.[35] ·
February 24 Raϊl Castro is unanimously elected
as President of Cuba by
the National Assembly.[36] March[change | change source] European Jules
Verne ATV docked the to International
Space Station ·
MarchApril Rising food and fuel prices trigger
riots and unrest in the Third World. ·
March 1 In Gaza Strip, at least 52 Palestinians and 2
Israeli soldiers are killed in the most intense Israeli air strikes since
2005.[37] ·
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 Raϊl Reyes is
killed.[38][39] ·
March 6 Eight Israeli civilians are
killed and 9 wounded when a Palestinian attacker
opens fire at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem.[40] ·
March 9 The first European Space
Agency Automated
Transfer Vehicle, a cargo spacecraft for the International
Space Station, launches from Guiana
Space Centre in French Guiana.[41] ·
March 14 Demonstrations by Tibetan separatists turn violent as
rioters target government and Han Chinese-owned buildings. ·
March 15 A gun factory explosion
in Gλrdec, Albania kills more than 30. Over the
following week, Albania, Kosovo, and some surrounding countries
supply and support Gλrdec'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.[42] ·
March 24 Bhutan holds its first-ever general elections.[43] ·
March 25 A 414 square kilometer (160
sq. mi.2) 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 are held
in Zimbabwe.[44] April[change | change source] ·
April 8 Privy
Council of Sark dismantles its feudal system to comply with the European
Convention on Human Rights.[45] and the first elections under the new law will be
held in December 2008 and the new chamber will first convene in January 2009.[46][47][48] ·
April 15 A Hewa
Bora Airways DC-9 crashes into a residential area
of Goma, Democratic
Republic of the Congo. ·
April 17 Raila Odinga becomes the new Prime
Minister of Kenya after the formation of a coalition government, ending the political
crisis in Kenya. ·
April 22 Surgeons at London's Moorfields
Eye Hospital perform the first operations using bionic
eyes, implanting them into 2 blind patients. ·
April 27 The Taliban attempts to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a military parade
in Kabul.[49] ·
April 28 India sets a world record by sending
10 satellites into
orbit in a single launch.[50] ·
April 28 71 die in a train crash in Shandong, China.[51] May[change | change source] An earthquake in Sichuan, China killed nearly 80,000 people ·
May 3 Over 133,000 in Burma/Myanmar are killed by Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster since
the Boxing Day
Tsunami in 2004. ·
May 7 Dmitry Medvedev takes
office as President of Russia,
replacing Vladimir Putin. ·
May 8 Start of armed clashes and
fighting in Lebanon. ·
May 11 Burma/Myanmar holds a constitutional referendum. ·
May 12 Over 69,000 are killed in
central south-west China by the Wenchuan quake,
an earthquake measuring 7.9 Moment magnitude
scale. The epicenter is 90 kilometers (55 miles) west-northwest of
the provincial capital Chengdu, Sichuan province. ·
May 13 A series of bomb blasts kills
at least 63 and injures 216 in Jaipur, India. ·
May 14 NASA announces the discovery
of Supernova
remnant G1.9+0.3. ·
May 15 An oil pipeline explosion in
Ijegun, Nigeria kills 100. ·
May 23 The Union of South American Nations, a supranational
union,[52] 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 2 countries. ·
May 25 NASA's Phoenix spacecraft becomes
the first to land on the northern polar region of Mars.[53] ·
May 28 The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is
established after the Assembly votes overwhelmingly in favor
of abolishing the country's 240-year-old
monarchy. Girija Prasad
Koirala becomes temporary head of state. ·
May 30 The Convention on Cluster Munitions is
adopted in Dublin.[54] June[change | change source] ·
June 1 A fire at Universal Studios Hollywood destroys 118,000 to
175,000 copies of master tapes. ·
June 2 A car bomb explodes outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least five. ·
June 8 In the Akihabara area of Tokyo, Japan, a 25-year-old man stabs
seven to death and wounds 10, before being arrested. ·
June 10 Fire engulfs Sudan
Airways Flight 109 after it lands in Khartoum, killing 44. ·
June 11 The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope is
launched. ·
June 11 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizes to
Canada's First Nations for
the Canadian residential school system. ·
June 12 Ireland votes
to reject the Treaty of Lisbon,
in the only referendum to be held by a European Union member state on the
treaty. ·
June 14 A 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, kills 12 and injures more than 400. ·
June 14 September 14 Expo 2008 is
held in Zaragoza, Spain, with the topic of "Water
and sustainable development". ·
June 22 Typhoon
Fengshen hits the Philippines and capsizes the
ferry MV
Princess of the Stars, leaving hundreds dead or missing. ·
June 27 President Robert Mugabe is reelected with 85.5%
of the vote in the second round of the controversial Zimbabwean presidential election. ·
June 27 After three decades as the
Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down from daily duties
to concentrate on philanthropy.[55][56] July[change | change source] 34th G8 summit heads of delegations
in Tōyako, Japan ·
July 2 Νngrid
Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces. ·
July 7 A suicide-bomber drives an explosives-laden automobile into
the front gates of the Indian embassy
in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 58 and injuring over
150. ·
July 79 The 34th G8 summit is held in Tōyako,
Hokkaidō, Japan. ·
July 10 Former Macedonian Interior
Minister Ljube
Bokoski is acquitted of all charges, by a UN Tribunal accusing him of war crimes. ·
July 1520 World
Youth Day takes place in Sydney, Australia. Pope Benedict XVI appears
at the event.[57] ·
July 21 Radovan
Karadić, the first president of the Republika Srpska,
is arrested in Belgrade, Serbia on allegations of war crimes,
following a 12-year long manhunt.[58] ·
July 22 The United Progressive Alliance-led government in India
survives a crucial no-confidence
vote, based on disagreements between the Indian National
Congress and Left Front,
over the Indo-US nuclear deal. ·
July 23 Ram Baran Yadav is
sworn in as the first President of Nepal.[59] ·
July 25 A series of seven bomb blasts rock Bangalore, India, killing two and injuring 20; the next
day, a series
of bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, kills 45 and injures over 160 people. ·
July 27 At least 17 are killed and
over 154 wounded in 2
blasts in Istanbul. ·
July 28 At least 48 are dead and over
287 injured after bombs explode in Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq.[60][61] August[change | change source] ·
August 1 A total eclipse of the Sun is visible from
Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia,
Mongolia, and China.[62] ·
August 1 George
Tupou V is crowned as the new King of Tonga, an event that had been delayed for
over two years following the 2006
Nuku'alofa riots.[63] ·
August 3 A stampede at a Hindu temple at Naina Devi in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, India kills 162 and injures 400. ·
August 4 Two members of the East
Turkestan Islamic Movement, which had threatened to attack
the Beijing Olympics, kill
16 and injure another 16 officers at a police station
in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China.[64][65] ·
August 6 President Sidi
Ould Cheikh Abdallahi of Mauritania is deposed in a military coup d'ιtat. ·
August 7 The 2008 South Ossetia
war begins, as Georgia and Russia launch a major offensive inside
the separatist region of South Ossetia after days of border
skirmishes between the two sides. ·
August 824 The 2008 Summer Olympics take
place in Beijing, China.[66] ·
August 15 Pushpa Kamal Dahal (known
as Prachanda) is sworn in
as the first Prime
Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, after
the Nepalese
monarchy was abolished in May.[67] ·
August 17 Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a
single Olympics,
winning eight.[68] ·
August 18 Pervez Musharraf resigns
as President of
Pakistan, under impeachment pressure from the coalition
government.[69] ·
August 19 Taliban insurgents kill
10 and injure 21 French
soldiers in an ambush in Afghanistan.[70] ·
August 19 A suicide bomber rams a car into an Algerian military academy, killing 43
and injuring 45.[71] ·
August 20 Spanair Flight 5022,
from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and
crashes at Barajas
Airport with 172 on board. Of them, 154 die and 18 survive.[72] ·
August 21 At least 60 die following twin
suicide bombings outside the Pakistan Ordnance Factories in Wah, Pakistan. ·
August 22 Pirates hijack German, Iranian, and Japanese cargo ships off the coast
of Somalia, in seven such attacks since June 20.[73] ·
August 24 An aircraft crashes
in Guatemala, killing 10,
including four Americans on
a humanitarian mission.[74] ·
August 24 Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes
upon takeoff near Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68.[75] ·
August 26 Russia unilaterally recognizes the
independence of Georgian breakaway
republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[76] ·
August 26 September 1 Hurricane Gustav makes
landfall on Louisiana as Category 2 and
kills seven in the United States, after making landfall on
western Cuba as Category 4,
and killing 66 in Haiti, eight in the Dominican Republic,
and 11 in Jamaica.[77][78] ·
August 28 September 7 Hurricane Hanna kills
seven in the United States,
and 529 in Haiti, mostly due to floods and mudslides.[79] September[change | change source] ·
September 114 Hurricane Ike makes landfall on Texas as Category 2 and
kills 27 in the United States,
after killing four in Cuba, one in the Dominican Republic,
and 75 in Haiti.[80][81] ·
September 2 Prime Minister of
Japan Yasuo Fukuda resigns,
less than a year after taking office following Shinzo Abe's resignation.[82] ·
September 2 Political
crisis in Thailand: Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand declares a state
of emergency in Bangkok.[83] ·
September 3 Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan survives an assassination
attempt near Islamabad, while on
his way to meet British
Leader of the Opposition David Cameron. ·
September 3 President's Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat hold
peace talks in Nicosia, aimed at
reunifying Cyprus.[84][85] ·
September 6 Asif Ali Zardari is elected President of
Pakistan by the Electoral College of Pakistan.[86] ·
September 6 At least eight boulders dislodge from a cliff
near Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 90 and burying an
estimated 500 people.[87] ·
September 9 Political
crisis in Thailand: The Constitutional Court of Thailand orders Prime Minister Samak
Sundaravej to resign, after he is paid for appearing on
a television cooking show.[88] ·
September 10 The proton beam is
circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron
Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator,
located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.[89][90] ·
September 12 A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles,
California, killing 25 and injuring 130.[91] ·
September 14 Aeroflot
Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm, Russia, killing all 88 on board.[92] ·
September 15 Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition
leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign
a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister
of Zimbabwe. ·
September 15 Lehman
Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection. ·
September 17 The International
Astronomical Union classifies Haumea as
the 5th dwarf planet in
the Solar System.[93] ·
September 1925 Typhoon
Hagupit kills 17 in China,
eight in the Philippines, one
in Taiwan, and 41 in Vietnam.[94] ·
September 20 A suicide truck bomb explosion destroys
the Marriott
Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 60 and injuring
266.[95][96][97] ·
September 21 President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa resigns after accepting a
call by the African
National Congress.[98] ·
September 24 The Diet of Japan elects Taro Aso as the new Prime Minister of
Japan.[99] ·
September 25 Kgalema Motlanthe is elected by the National
Assembly of South Africa as the President of
South Africa, succeeding Thabo Mbeki.[100] ·
September 25 Shenzhou 7,
the third manned Chinese
spaceflight and the first with three crew members, is
successfully launched. China becomes
the third country ever to conduct a spacewalk.[101] ·
September 28 SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes
the world's first privately developed space launch vehicle to
successfully make
orbit.[102][103] ·
September 30 A Jodhpur
temple stampede in western India kills over 224 people, and
injures 400.[104][105] October[change | change source] ·
October 3 Global financial crisis: U.S.
President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into
law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to
purchase failing bank assets.[106] ·
October 6 NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second
of three flybys of Mercury,
decreasing the velocity for orbital
insertion on March 18, 2011.[107][108] ·
October 6 An
earthquake measuring 6.6 magnitude kills
at least 65 in Kyrgyzstan.[109] ·
October 7 Global financial crisis: Russia agrees to provide Iceland with a four-billion-euro loan.[110][111] ·
October 7 The meteoroid 2008 TC3 impacts Earth, becoming the first such object to be
discovered prior to impact.[112] ·
October 9 Global financial crisis: Following a major
banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes
control of the three largest banks in the country: Kaupthing
Bank,[113][114] Landsbanki,[115][116] and Glitnir.[117][118] ·
October 17 The United
Nations General Assembly elects Turkey, Austria, Japan, Uganda, and Mexico to two-year terms on the Security Council.[119] ·
October 21 The Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over
10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as
well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.[120][121][122][123] ·
October 22 The Indian
Space Research Organisation successfully launches theChandrayaan-1 spacecraft on a lunar
exploration mission.[124][125] ·
October 29 Global financial crisis: Hungary's currency and stock markets rise on
the news that it will receive an international economic
bailout package worth $25 billion from the IMF, European Union, and World Bank.[126] ·
October 29 Delta Air Lines merges
with Northwest Airlines,
forming the world's largest commercial carrier.[127] November[change | change source] ·
November 4 United
States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President
of the United States and Joe Biden is elected the 47th Vice
President. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President-elect.[128][129][130] ·
November 6 King Jigme
Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan is crowned, having ascended to
the throne in 2006.[131] ·
November 7 The 2008 Pιtionville school collapse kills
at least 92 in Pιtionville, Haiti. ·
November 8 An accident aboard Russian submarine K-152 Nerpa kills
20. ·
November 11 The RMS
Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her last voyage from Southampton, UK to Dubai, UAE. She
will become a floating hotel at Palm
Jumeirah.[132][133] ·
November 14 STS-126:
The Space Shuttle
Endeavour uses the MPLM Leonardo to deliver experiment and storage racks to
the International
Space Station. There will be only three more launches of Space Shuttle
Endeavour after this mission.[134] ·
November 19 Claudia Castillo of Spain becomes the first person to have
a successful trachea transplant using
a tissue-engineered organ.[135] ·
November 20 The 2008
Prairie meteoroid falls over Canada. ·
November 22 23 The APEC
Peru 2008 Summit is held in Lima. ·
November 24 The 2008
Santa Catarina floods in Santa Catarina, Brazil kill 126 and force the
evacuation of over 78,000 people. ·
November 25 Greenland holds a referendum for increased autonomy
from Denmark. The vote is over 75% in favour.[136] ·
November 25 Political
crisis in Thailand: Protesters from the People's
Alliance for Democracy party storm into Suvarnabhumi Airport and
block flights from taking off. More protesters seize control of Don
Mueang Airport the following day. ·
November 25 A car bomb in St. Petersburg, Russia, kills three people and injures one. ·
November 26 November 29 A series of
terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India by Pakistan-based Islamic militants kills
195, and injures at least 250. ·
November 27 The longest serving Ocean
Liner in history, QE2 is
retired from service. ·
November 29 Riots in Jos,
Nigeria kill 381, and injure at least 300. December[change | change source] ·
December 1 A triangular conjunction formed
by a new Moon, Venus and Jupiter is a prominent
object in the evening sky.[137] ·
December 2 Political
crisis in Thailand: After weeks of opposition-led
protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolves
the governing People's Power Party and two coalition
member parties, and bans leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai
Wongsawat, from politics for five years. As such, Wongsawat
promptly resigns and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat
Chanweerakul as caretaker Prime Minister.[138] ·
December 3 The Convention on Cluster Munitions opens
for signature in Oslo.[54] ·
December 4 Political crisis in Canada: Governor
General Michaλlle Jean grants
the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament
until January 26, 2009, averting a motion of
no-confidence by the new opposition coalition led by
the Leader
of the Opposition Stιphane Dion,
and the New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, with Bloc Quιbιcois leader Gilles Duceppe as a coalition partner.[139] ·
December 5 Human remains found in
1991 are identified as Tsar Nicholas II of
Russia, using DNA analysis.[140] ·
December 6 Riots
spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by
a special guard of the Greek Police.[141] ·
December 10 The Channel Island of Sark, a British crown dependency,
holds its first fully democratic elections under a new
constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to
abolish feudalism.[142] ·
December 12 Switzerland becomes the 25th European
country to join the Schengen
Agreement, whereby cross-border passport checks will be abolished.[143] ·
December 12 The Moon moves into its nearest point
to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest
phase of the Lunar Cycle. The
Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's other full
moons. The next time these two events coincide will be in 2016.[144] ·
December 16 Ruins of
an ancient Wari city
are discovered in northern Peru. ·
December 18 The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicts Thιoneste
Bagosora and two other senior Rwandan army officers of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes and sentences them to life imprisonment.[145] ·
December 21 Gwadar port, Pakistan becomes fully operational.[146] ·
December 23 A military
coup d'ιtat is announced in Guinea shortly after the death of
long-time President Lansana
Contι.[147] ·
December 27 Israel initiates a series of airstrikes followed by an
invasion in Gaza Strip, killing at least 1300 (including at least
416 children)[148] and wounding over 2,700. ·
December 29 Bangladesh holds its general elections after two years
of political unrest over the interim government.[149] ·
December 31 An extra leap second (23:59:60)
is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005. Deaths[change | change source] Main article: Deaths in 2008 January[change | change source] Main article: Deaths
in January 2008 ·
January 3 Yo-Sam Choi,
Korean boxer (b. 1972) ·
January 10 Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress and
television personality (b. 1921) ·
January 11 Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer,
explorer, and philanthropist (b. 1919) ·
January 15 Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982) ·
January 16 Nikola
Kljusev, Macedonian Prime Minister (b. 1927) ·
January 17 Bobby Fischer, American-Icelandic chess
grandmaster (b. 1943) ·
January 19 Suzanne Pleshette,
American actress (b. 1937) ·
January 22 Heath Ledger, Australian actor (b. 1979) ·
January 22 Claude
Piron, Swiss linguist and psychologist (b. 1931) ·
January 26 George
Habash, Palestinian politician (b. 1926) ·
January 27 Gordon B. Hinckley,
American Mormon leader (b. 1910) ·
January 27 Suharto, President of Indonesia (b. 1921) ·
January 28 Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens
(b. 1939) February[change | change source] ·
February 2 Joshua Lederberg,
American molecular biologist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925) ·
February 5 Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1917) ·
February 7 Andrew
Bertie, British Grand Master of the Order of Malta (b. 1929) ·
February 9 Baba Amte,
Indian social activist (b. 1914) ·
February 10 Roy Scheider, American actor (b. 1932) ·
February 11 Alfredo
Reinado, East Timorese rebel (b. 1967) ·
February 11 Tom Lantos,
American politician (b. 1928) ·
February 12 Imad
Mughniyah, Lebanese militant (b. 1962) ·
February 12 Badri
Patarkatsishvili, Georgian businessman and politician (b. 1955) ·
February 13 Kon
Ichikawa, Japanese movie director (b. 1915) ·
February 13 Henri
Salvador, French singer (b. 1917) ·
February 18 Alain
Robbe-Grillet, French writer and movie maker (b. 1922) ·
February 19 Natalia
Bessmertnova, Russian ballerina (b. 1941) ·
February 19 Yegor Letov,
Russian singer (b. 1964) ·
February 23 Janez Drnovek,
Slovenian President and Prime Minister of (b. 1950) ·
February 23 Paul Frθre,
Belgian racing driver (b. 1917) ·
February 27 William F.
Buckley, Jr., American writer and conservative commentator
(b. 1925) ·
February 27 Ivan
Rebroff, German singer (b. 1931) March[change | change source] ·
March 1 Raϊl Reyes,
Colombian guerrilla (b. 1948) ·
March 2 Jeff Healey,
Canadian musician (b. 1966) ·
March 3 Giuseppe
Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor (b. 1921) ·
March 3 Norman Smith, English singer and record
producer (b. 1923) ·
March 4 Gary Gygax, American writer and game
designer (b. 1938) ·
March 6 Peter
Poreku Dery, Ghanaian cardinal (b. 1918) ·
March 5 Joseph Weizenbaum,
German-American writer and computer scientist (b. 1923) ·
March 14 Chiara
Lubich, Italian Catholic activist (b. 1920) ·
March 18 Anthony Minghella,
English movie director and screenwriter (b. 1954) ·
March 19 Arthur C. Clarke,
English writer, inventor, and futurist (b. 1917) ·
March 19 Hugo Claus,
Flemish writer, painter and movie director (b. 1929) ·
March 19 Paul Scofield, English actor (b. 1922) ·
March 22 Adolfo
Suαrez Rivera, Mexican cardinal (b. 1927) ·
March 24 Neil Aspinall, British record producer and
business executive (b. 1942) ·
March 24 Richard Widmark,
American actor (b. 1914) ·
March 26 Manuel Marulanda,
Colombian guerrilla (b. 1930) ·
March 27 Jean-Marie
Balestre, French sports executive (b. 1921) ·
March 30 Dith Pran, Cambodian-American
photojournalist (b. 1942) ·
March 31 Jules
Dassin, American movie director (b. 1911) April[change | change source] ·
April 3 Hrvoje
Ćustić, Croatian footballer (b. 1983) ·
April 5 Charlton Heston,
American actor (b. 1923) ·
April 10 Ernesto
Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal (b. 1919) ·
April 12 Patrick Hillery,
6th President of Ireland (b. 1923) ·
April 13 John
Archibald Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (b. 1911) ·
April 14 Ollie Johnston, American animator (b. 1912) ·
April 15 Benoξt Lamy,
Belgian movie writer-director (b. 1945) ·
April 16 Edward
Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917) ·
April 17 Aimι
Cιsaire, French Martinican poet and politician (b. 1913) ·
April 29 Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and writer,
discoverer of LSD (b. 1906) May[change | change source] ·
May 1 Anthony Mamo, 1st President of Malta
(b. 1909) ·
May 2 Philipp
von Boeselager, German military officer (b. 1917) ·
May 3 Leopoldo Calvo
Sotelo, Spanish Prime Minister of (b. 1926) ·
May 8 Franηois
Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982) ·
May 10 Leyla
Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928) ·
May 12 Robert
Rauschenberg, American pop artist (b. 1925) ·
May 12 Irena Sendler, Polish humanitarian (b. 1910) ·
May 13 Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of
Kuwait (b. 1930) ·
May 13 Bernardin
Gantin, Beninese cardinal (b. 1922) ·
May 15 Willis Lamb,
American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913) ·
May 23 Cornell
Capa, Hungarian-American photographer (b. 1918) ·
May 24 Rob Knox,
British actor (b. 1989) ·
May 26 Sydney Pollack, American actor, director,
and producer (b. 1934) ·
May 28 Sven
Davidson, Swedish tennis player (b. 1928) ·
May 29 Luc Bourdon, Canadian Hockey player
(b. 1987) June[change | change source] ·
June 1 Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer
(b. 1936) ·
June 1 Tommy Lapid,
Israeli television presenter, journalist, and politician (b. 1931) ·
June 2 Bo Diddley, American musician (b. 1928) ·
June 3 Mel Ferrer,
American actor, director, and producer (b. 1917) ·
June 4 Agata
Mrσz-Olszewska, Polish volleyball player (b. 1982) ·
June 7 Dino Risi, Italian director (b. 1916) ·
June 8 aban
Bajramović, Serbian musician (b. 1936) ·
June 9 Algis
Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer (b. 1931) ·
June 9 Karen
Asrian, Armenian chess grandmaster (b. 1980) ·
June 10 Chinghiz Aitmatov,
Kyrgyzstani writer (b. 1928) ·
June 11 Ove
Andersson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1939) ·
June 11 Vυ Văn
Kiệt, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1922) ·
June 13 Tim Russert, American journalist (b. 1950) ·
June 15 Stan
Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (b. 1946) ·
June 17 Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
(b. 1922) ·
June 18 Jean
Delannoy, French movie director (b. 1908) ·
June 22 George Carlin, American writer, actor, and
comedian (b. 1937) ·
June 23 Arthur
Chung, President of Guyana (b. 1918) ·
June 24 Leonid Hurwicz, American economist and
mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917) ·
June 27 Sam
Manekshaw, Field Marshall of Indian Army (b.1914) ·
June 28 Ruslana
Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (b. 1987) ·
June 29 Don S.
Davis, American actor (b. 1942) July[change | change source] ·
July 4 Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921) ·
July 4 Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916) ·
July 5 Renι Harris,
President of Nauru (b. 1947) ·
July 9 Seamus
Brennan, Irish politician (b. 1948) ·
July 11 Michael E. DeBakey,
American surgeon and inventor (b. 1908) ·
July 12 Tony Snow, American political commentator
(b. 1955) ·
July 13 Bronisław
Geremek, Polish social historian and politician (b. 1932) ·
July 15 Gyφrgy
Kolonics, Hungarian canoeist (b. 1972) ·
July 22 Estelle Getty, American actress (b. 1923) ·
July 23 Kurt
Furgler, Swiss politician (b. 1924) ·
July 25 Johnny
Griffin, American saxophonist (b. 1928) ·
July 25 Randy
Pausch, American writer and computer scientist (b. 1960) ·
July 27 Youssef
Chahine, Egyptian movie director (b. 1926) ·
July 29 Mate Parlov,
Croatian boxer (b. 1948) August[change | change source] ·
August 1 Harkishan Singh
Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916) ·
August 3 Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) ·
August 9 Bernie Mac, American actor and comedian
(b. 1957) ·
August 9 Mahmoud
Darwish, Palestinian poet (b. 1941) ·
August 10 Isaac Hayes, African-American musician
(b. 1942) ·
August 11 Fred
Sinowatz, Austrian politician (b. 1929) ·
August 13 Henri
Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1904) ·
August 15 Jerry Wexler, American music producer
(b. 1917) ·
August 16 Ronnie Drew, Irish singer (b. 1934) ·
August 16 Masanobu
Fukuoka, Japanese microbiologist (b. 1913) ·
August 19 Levy Mwanawasa, President of Zambia
(b. 1948) ·
August 20 Hua Guofeng, Chinese premier (b. 1921) ·
August 23 Thomas Huckle Weller,
American virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915) ·
August 28 Phil Hill, American race car driver
(b. 1927) September[change | change source] ·
September 1 Don LaFontaine, American voice actor
(b. 1940) ·
September 6 Antonio
Innocenti, Italian cardinal (b. 1915) ·
September 6 Anita Page, American actress (b. 1910) ·
September 9 Nouhak Phoumsavanh,
President of Laos (b. 1910) ·
September 12 David Foster Wallace,
American writer (b. 1962) ·
September 15 Richard Wright,
English musician (b. 1943) ·
September 18 Mauricio
Kagel, Argentine composer (b. 1931) ·
September 26 Paul Newman, American actor (b. 1925) October[change | change source] ·
October 1 Boris
Efimov, Russian political cartoonist (b. 1900) ·
October 6 Paavo
Haavikko, Finnish poet (b. 1931) ·
October 8 George Emil Palade,
Romanian cell biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912) ·
October 10 Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman
(b. 1947) ·
October 10 Alexey
Prokurorov, Russian cross-country skier (b. 1964) ·
October 11 Jφrg Haider, Austrian politician (b. 1950) ·
October 13 Guillaume
Depardieu, French actor (b. 1971) ·
October 13 Antonio Josι Gonzαlez Zumαrraga, Ecuadorian
cardinal (b. 1925) ·
October 13 Alexei
Cherepanov, Russian Hockey Player (b. 1989) ·
October 20 Sur Emmanuelle,
Belgian-born French nun (b. 1908) ·
October 25 Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani singer (b. 1942) ·
October 26 Tony
Hillerman, American writer (b. 1925) ·
October 31 Studs Terkel, American writer and liberal
commentator (b. 1912) November[change | change source] Michael Crichton 1942-2008 ·
November 1 Jacques
Piccard, Swiss explorer and engineer (b. 1922) ·
November 1 Yma Sumac,
Peruvian soprano (b. 1922) ·
November 4 Michael Crichton,
American writer and producer (b. 1942) ·
November 4 Juan
Camilo Mouriρo, Mexican politician (b. 1971) ·
November 10 Kiyoshi
Itō, Japanese mathematician (b. 1915) ·
November 10 Miriam Makeba, South African singer
(b. 1932) ·
November 12 Mitch
Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1946) ·
November 13 Paco
Ignacio Taibo I, Mexican writer and journalist (b. 1924) ·
November 14 Tsvetanka
Khristova, Bulgarian athlete (b. 1962) ·
November 22 Ibrahim
Nasir, Maldivian President (b. 1926) ·
November 27 Vishwanath Pratap
Singh, Indian Prime Minister (b. 1931) ·
November 29 Jψrn Utzon, Danish architect (b. 1918) December[change | change source] ·
December 1 Mikel Laboa,
Basque singer and songwriter (b. 1934) ·
December 2 Odetta,
American singer (b. 1930) ·
December 5 Alexy II, Russian Orthodox Patriarch
(b. 1929) ·
December 5 Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress
(b. 1924) ·
December 9 Yuri
Glazkov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1939) ·
December 9 Draan Jerković,
Croatian football player and manager (b. 1936) ·
December 11 Daniel Carleton
Gajdusek, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923) ·
December 11 Bettie Page, American pin-up model (b. 1923) ·
December 12 Avery Dulles, American Roman Catholic
Cardinal (b. 1918) ·
December 12 Van Johnson, American actor (b. 1916) ·
December 12 Tassos Papadopoulos,
5th President of Cyprus (b. 1934) ·
December 13 Horst
Tappert, German actor (b. 1923) ·
December 15 - Leσn Febres Cordero,
46th President of Ecuador (b. 1931) ·
December 18 Majel Barrett, American actress (b. 1932) ·
December 18 Mark Felt, American FBI agent, "Deep
Throat" from the Watergate scandal (b. 1913) ·
December 20 Olga
Lepeshinskaya, Russian ballerina (b. 1916) ·
December 20 Robert Mulligan,
American director (b. 1925) ·
December 22 Lansana
Contι, President of Guinea (b. 1934) ·
December 24 Harold Pinter, English playwright (b. 1930) ·
December 24 Samuel P. Huntington,
American political scientist (b. 1927) ·
December 25 Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress
(b. 1927) ·
December 29 Freddie Hubbard,
American jazz trumpeter (b. 1938) Awards[change | change source] Nobel Prizes[change | change
source] ·
Chemistry Martin Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, Roger Y. Tsien ·
Literature Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clιzio ·
Physics Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide
Maskawa, Yoichiro Nambu ·
Physiology
or Medicine Franηoise
Barrι-Sinoussi, Harald zur Hausen, Luc Montagnier Major religious holidays[change | change
source]
·
January 7 Christmas in Eastern Christianity ·
January 10 Islamic
New Year by Lunar calendar ·
February 5 Carnival (Shrove Tuesday) ·
February 6 Ash Wednesday, observance of Lent begins ·
February 7 Chinese New Year ·
March 1 Saint David's Day,
celebrated in Wales and the United States. ·
March 15 Saint Patrick's Day,
celebrated in Ireland, the United States, and most of the
English-speaking world. (Held on March 15 instead of the usual 17th to avoid
the second day in Holy Week).[150] This March 17 will be the last one to fall
within Holy Week until 2160.[151] ·
March 20 March Equinox, also known as Ostara ·
March 21 Nowruz (Iranian New Year holiday) ·
March 21 Good Friday ·
March 23 Easter Sunday, the earliest Easter has
fallen since 1913 ·
April 20 Passover, Palm Sunday in Eastern Christianity ·
April 27 Pascha (or Easter) in Eastern
Christianity ·
May 1 Ascension of Jesus in Western Christianity ·
May 1 Beltane,
a Cross-quarter
day ·
May 19 or May 20 Vesak (the birthday of the Buddha) in Buddhism ·
June 5 Ascension of Jesus in
Eastern Christianity ·
June 15 Pentecost in Eastern Christianity ·
June 20 June Solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha ·
June 22 All Saints' Day in
Eastern Christianity ·
July 5 Saints Cyril
and Methodius day in Eastern Christianity ·
August 1 Lammas,
a Cross-quarter
day ·
August 15 Assumption
of Mary ·
September 1 New Liturgical Year in
Eastern Christianity ·
September 2 Start of Ramadan ·
September 4- Janmastami -Birth
of Lord
Krishna ·
September 22 September Equinox, also known as Mabon ·
September 30 Rosh Hashanah ·
October 1 Eid ul-Fitr ·
October 9 Yom Kippur ·
October 13 Sukkot ·
October 28 Diwali ·
November 1 Samhain, a Cross-quarter
day and Neopagan new year ·
December 8 Immaculate
Conception ·
December 21 Hanukkah begins at sundown ·
December 21 December Solstice, also known as Yule ·
December 25 Christmas in Western Christianity 2008 in fiction[change | change
source] Books[change | change source] ·
Isaac Asimov's 1955 short story Franchise takes
place in 2008, the premise being that the U.S. president will be selected by
a computer program looking for the "most representative citizen". ·
John
Barnes, Mother of Storms (1995) begins with a
2008 UN resolution barring any nation from acquiring nuclear weapons after
June 1, 2008, subject to penalty of preemptive strike. ·
Gregory
Benford's books The Jupiter War and The
Threads of Time are set in 2008. ·
The Galactic
Milieu Series by Julian May features Earth's first contact
with an alien race on June 20, 2008. ·
Ian
McDonald's "Chaga Saga" (Evolution's Shore and Kirinya)
begins with the March 13, 2008 impact arrival of the plant form Chaga from
outer space. ·
Alan E.
Nourse's 1957 book Rocket to Limbo begins with
the March 3, 2008 launch of the starship Argonaut on a centuries-long trip to
Alpha Centauri. ·
The
Mote in God's Eye (1974) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle postulates
that faster-than-light travel is perfected in 2008. ·
The
Next War, a controversial
1996 novel about the post-Soviet era, co-written by former U.S. Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger,
looks at a possible 2008 nuclear confrontation between the United States and
Russia. Computer and video games[change | change
source] Set in 2008: ·
Mega Man (1987) ·
Ghost
Recon (2001): Russia
attempts to reunite the Soviet Union and invades several Eastern European
countries. The UN intervenes with peacekeeping forces. ·
Splinter
Cell series: Sam Fisher goes
undercover. ·
Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)[152] ·
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (2009) ·
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009) Movies[change | change source] Set in 2008: ·
Silent Running[153] (1971) ·
Deterrence (1999) ·
Jason X (Friday the
13th series, 2002):
Mass murderer Jason Voorhees is
captured for the 2nd time and sentenced to death. However, the US government
is unsure how to execute him; an electric chair, a gas chamber, a firing
squad, and hanging are all
tried none of which work. ·
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) ·
The
Lake House (2006):
The ending takes place on Valentine's Day, 2008. ·
Southland
Tales (2007) ·
Split
Second (1992 movie) (1992) ·
5 Centimeters
Per Second (2007):
The final act takes place in Tokyo during 2008. ·
Doomsday (2008): The start of the movie is set
in 2008, when a virus has infected Scotland. ·
Wall
Street 2 (2010): Will
be set in June 2008. Television[change | change source] ·
The
events of the Macross
Zero OVA take
place in 2008. ·
Doraemon: According to the original manga story, a time machine will be invented in 2008. ·
The Future Boy Conan anime (1978) story begins in July 2008,
when a war results in five continents sinking into the sea. ·
According
to the Futurama episode
"Space
Pilot 3000", Stop 'N Drop suicide
booths are claimed to have been "America's
Favorite" since 2008. Whether this is the use of an advertising
hyperbole to indicate that they were introduced in 2008, or that they gained
a plurality of market share in 2008 is not concluded. ·
Dawson's Creek (2003 series finale): The characters
meet once again. Dawson, now 25, is the creator of a television series, The
Creek, based on his life.[154] ·
The 2007
series of Doctor Who: Present time (such as "Smith and Jones") is primarily set in
2008. ·
Heroes: A possible future shown in Out
of Time features the Shanti virus killing about 93% of the
world's population by 2008. Hit Songs[change | change source] ·
Give It 2
Me Madonna ·
Keeps
Gettin' Better Christina Aguilera ·
Party People Nelly and Fergie ·
Dangerous Kardinal Offishall and Akon ·
Paper
Planes - M.I.A. ·
Better
in Time Leona Lewis ·
Gotta
Be Somebody Nickelback ·
Given Up Linkin Park |
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