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| Establishments - Disestablishments |
| Works and introductions categories |
| Works - Introductions |
2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap
year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar.
2008 has been designated as:
In Chinese astrology, most of 2008, starting with February 7, will overlap with the Year of the Rat (dates before
February 7 are Year of the Pig). The next
Year of the Rat will be in 2020.
This year will be the only year in the 21st century during which two dates correspond to
perfect numbers; one is June 28 (composed of the perfect
numbers 6 and 28), which is always a date composed of perfect numbers, and
the other is August 12 (composed of the perfect number 8128, as in August 12, 2008). The next year during which there will be two dates composed of perfect
numbers is the year 3008.
Events
January
- January 1 - Smoking banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) in
Portugal, France and the U.S. states of Illinois and Arizona.
- January 1 - Cyprus, Malta,
and Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopt the euro.[8][9]
- January 1 - Slovenia takes over the presidency of
European Union as the first of new member states.[10]
- January 1 - The Venezuelan bolívar, as a
result of a government decree issued on March 7, 2007, is revalued
at a ratio of 1 to 1000 and renamed the Bolívar fuerte (ISO
4217 code: VEF).
- January 2 - The price of petroleum hits
US$100 per barrel for the first time.
- January 2 - Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek resigns after admitting to being filmed by CCTV cameras in a hotel room having sex with a female friend.
- January 3 - A car bomb detonates, killing at least 4 and injuring 68, in Diyarbakır, Turkey. Police blame Kurdish rebels.
- January 4 - An unforecasted blizzard creates havoc across eastern Northern Ireland, with falls of 8 inches in one hour.
- January 4 - The 30th Dakar Rally is cancelled due to
international political tension and the murder of four French tourists on December 24,
2007.
- January 8 - An attempted assassination of Maldivian
president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is thwarted because a Boy Scout grabbed the attacker's knife. The Boy Scout was injured, but after a scuffle ensued police arrested
the attacker.
- January 12 - The Kuomintang (KMT)-led
Pan-Blue Coalition wins the legislative elections in Taiwan
with over 70% of the votes.
- January 12 - A Macedonian Army
Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of
Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board.[11]
- January 13 - Two Australians arrive in
New Plymouth, New Zealand by kayak and become the first people in history to paddle from Australia to New Zealand.
- January 13 - Katsuaki Watanabe, President and
CEO of Toyota, announces that they will deliver a significant fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), powered by lithium-ion batteries, by 2010.
MESSENGER assembly at Astrotech.
- January 14 - At 19:04:39 UTC, the
MESSENGER space probe is at its closest approach during
its first flyby of the planet Mercury.[12]
- January 15 - Federal Court of
Australia orders a Japanese whaling company to stop research whaling within their Exclusive Economic Zone.
- January 16 - The South Korean Presidential
Transition Team announces a plan to merge the Unification Ministry, which works
toward unification with North Korea, with the Foreign Ministry, but does not follow through
on the idea.[13]
- January 17 - British Airways Flight 38 Boeing 777 lands short of runway at London Heathrow Airport,
injuring 19 among the 152 people on board.[14]
- January 20 - Presidential
election in Serbia.
- January 20 - Legislative elections in Cuba.
- 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 21 - The first National Fetish Day is held in the
United Kingdom, promoting the rights of the BDSM
community.
- 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 Mirosławiec. 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 - Peter Hain resigns as British
Wales Secretary and British Work and Pensions Secretary after the Electoral Commission refers the failure to report donations to the
Metropolitan Police. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called a quick
cabinet reshuffle.
February
- February 5 - Super Tuesday, massive multi-state primary
in U.S. presidential election, with primaries and caucuses in
24 states, is held.
- 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 7 - General election
called for Belize's 31 House seats; a referendum to be held simultaneously to determine
whether the upper house should be elected.
- February 9 - Camden Market area in
London, United Kingdom is devastated by fire, causing
evacuations in nearby houses and flats.
- February 10 - Wooden part of Namdaemun, a
600-year-old historic gate located in Seoul, South Korea, was
arsoned.[27]
- February 10 - An oil platform in the
North Sea is evacuated by helicopter and plane after an apparent security threat.[28]
- February 10 - Worldwide protests against alleged corruption in the Church of Scientology by the internet group 'Anonymous' as part of 'Project Chanology'.
- 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.[29]
- 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.[30]
- February 12 - Steven Spielberg announces that
he will no longer act as artistic director for opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing because the Chinese government hasn't done enough to help end ethnic conflict in
Darfur.[31]
- February 12 - Bridgestone, under investigation for
an alleged price-fixing cartel, uncovers improper payments of at least 150 million yen to
foreign governments and withdrew from the marine hose business.[32]
- February 13 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of
Australia delivers a formal apology to the Stolen
Generations.[33]
- February 13 - Prime Minister of
Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dissolves the Malaysian parliament.[34]
- February 14 - Steven Kazmierczak shoots dead five students and injures another 18 at Northern
Illinois University.
- February 16 - Václav Klaus is re-elected as the President of the
Czech Republic.
- February 17 - Complete Smoking ban including
nightclubs, pubs, and bars, takes in effect in Thailand.[35]
- February 17 - A suicide bombing by a
Taliban member kills up to 80 in Kandahar, Afghanistan[36]
- February 17 - Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, despite opposition from Serbia,
Russia, China, Spain, Romania, and other nations. However Albania, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, U.K., and U.S. express support after an emergency meeting of the
United Nations Security Council.[37]
- February 17 - Presidential
election in Cyprus.
- February 18 - Athens is left paralysed after being hit
by its worst snowstorms in more than 50 years.
- February 18 - The British government
introduces emergency legislation temporarily to nationalize Northern Rock, the fifth largest mortgage bank in the UK, due to
NR's financial crisis.[38]
- 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.[39]
- February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his
resignation as President of Cuba, to be effective on February 24.
- February 19 - Crude oil closes above $100 USD per barrel for the first time ever,
settling at $100.01.
- February 19 - Presidential
election in Armenia.
- 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.[40]
- February 20 - Total lunar eclipse -
North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Western Asia.
- February 21 - Hundreds of thousands of Serbs take to the
streets in Belgrade to protest against Kosovo's declaration of independence and the partial international recognition of
it.
- February 21 - Official launch of International Year of
Languages on International Mother Language Day at
UNESCO.[41]
- February 22 – The Australian Parliament descends into chaos with opposition
frontbenchers ejected, question time suspended and speakers unable to control the house. A cardboard cut-out of the Prime
Minister is brought into the parliament by opposition members angry about sitting time on a Friday.[42]
- 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 23 - A B-2 Spirit crashes shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base
in Guam. Both pilots eject from the plane before it crashes.
- February 24 - Dimitris Christofias is
elected President of Cyprus after the second round of voting in the country's
presidential election.
- February 24 - Raúl Castro is unanimously elected as
President of Cuba by the National Assembly.
- February 24 - The 80th Academy Awards,
hosted by Jon Stewart, are held at the Kodak Theatre
in Hollywood, California[43], with No Country for Old Men winning
Best Picture.[44]
- February 25 - Lee Myung-bak starts his five-year
term as the 17th President of South Korea.
- February 26 - The New York Philharmonic
Orchestra performs in North Korea.[45]
- February 27 - Earthquake hits
Lincolnshire, United Kingdom registering a reading
between 4.7 and 5.4 on the Richter Scale.
- February 27 - Jemaah Islamiyah leader
Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore.[46]
- February 28 - Former Prime
Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra is arrested on corruption charges upon
returning to Thailand after months of exile.[47]
March
- March 1 - Singapore Flyer, the world's tallest
observation wheel (ferris wheel), opens to the
public.
- 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 Russian presidential
election: Dmitry Medvedev is elected President of Russia with about 70% of the vote. He is scheduled to succeed Vladimir Putin in May.[48]
- 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 3 - U.S.-based Sea Shepherd conservation group
injures four Japanese whalers near Antarctica by throwing bottles of butyric acid at their vessel.[49]
- March 6 - No one is injured when a small bomb explodes at an unoccupied U.S. military
recruiting station in Times Square, New York
City.
- March 6 - Eight Israeli civilians are killed and nine wounded when a Palestinian
attacker opens fire at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem.
- March 6 - The United States Department
of Defense banned Google from taking street-level photographs of US Military installations.[50]
- March 8 - General election in Malaysia: First time since the 1969 elections that
the Barisan Nasional coalition fails to win a two-thirds supermajority in the
Dewan Rakyat.
- March 25 - Yousaf Raza Gillani becomes the 27th
Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- March 25 - A 160-square-mile (414 km2) chunk of Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf disintegrates, leaving the entire
Connecticut-sized 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.[55]
- March 29 - An oil depot in Dagestan, Russia explodes.[56]
- March 29 - Earth Hour (8 - 9 PM local time) in
locations worldwide.
- March 29 - Brazilian 5-year-old girl Isabella Nardoni is thrown out of the window of her father's apartment, triggering extensive media coverage
throughout the country.[57]
- March 30 - A plane crashed into a row of houses in
Farnborough, London, England, killing two pilots
and three passengers.[58]
- March 30 - Smoking is banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) on the
Isle of Man.
- March 31 - Milan, Italy is selected to host Expo 2015.
- March-April - Rising food and fuel
prices trigger riots and unrest in the Third World.
April
- April 2 - The 20th NATO summit begins in
Bucharest, Romania.
- April 3 - Jules Verne ATV docks to the International Space Station.
- April 3 - Albania and Croatia are invited to join NATO in 2009. The
membership bid of the Republic of Macedonia is rejected due to opposition by
Greece.[59] Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro engage in an
Intensified Dialogue with NATO.
- April 6 - Presidential
election in Montenegro.
- April 6 - The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 comes into
force in the UK.[60]
- April 9 - Parliamentary elections in South Korea.
- April 10 - Assembly
elections in Nepal: Maoists win
a plurality of seats in the Assembly in the first election in Nepal in nine years.
- April 13 - Elections in Italy: The Silvio Berlusconi-led coalition, which consists of the
People of Freedom, Lega Nord, and Movement for Autonomy parties, wins a majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
- April 13 - Trevor Immelman wins the
2008 Masters Tournament.
- April 15 - A Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 commercial airplane crashes into a residential area of
Goma, DR Congo.
- April 15-April 20 - Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States. Among his
destinations are the White House, The
Catholic University of America, the United Nations General
Assembly, and the site of the fallen World Trade Center. Benedict XVI also
celebrated Mass at Nationals Park and
Yankee Stadium.
- April 18 - A magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurs outside of
West Salem, Illinois. It is one of the strongest earthquakes in the
midwestern state in 40 years.
- April 20 - Fernando Lugo is elected President of Paraguay. This is the first time in 61 years that the Colorado Party has lost a presidential
election.
- April 22 - Surgeons at London's Moorfields Eye
Hospital perform the first operations using bionic eyes, implanting them into
two blind patients.
- April 23 - In the Canadian province of Ontario, a bill
banning pesticides is passed, making it the only place in North America to pass pesticide restriction laws of this degree.
Pesticide use is permitted only on golf courses and selected other places.
- April 24 - Teachers in England and Wales stage the first national
strike in more than 20 years over issues of pay.
- April 27 - The Taliban attempts to assassinate
Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a military parade in
Kabul.[61]
- April 28 - India sets a world record by sending 10
satellites into orbit in a single launch[62].
- April 28 - 71 die in a train crash in Shandong, China.[63]
- April 28 - The Fritzl incest case is widely publicized
after a 42-year-old Austrian woman tells local authorities that she has been imprisoned and abused by her father, Josef Fritzl,
since 1984.
May
- May 1 - Local elections, for 137
English councils and all Welsh councils, take place in the United Kingdom.
- May 1 - Elections for the London Mayor
and London Assembly take place.
- May 1 - Entry into force of the London
Agreement, aimed at reducing the translation costs associated with European
patents.
- May 2-May 3 - Ohrid Summit
2008. Meeting of Presidents of Central European States in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia.
- May 4 - More than 22,000 are killed by Cyclone Nargis in
Myanmar.
- May 6 - Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Bertie Ahern tenders his resignation to the
President of Ireland and as leader of his political party Fianna Fáil. Brian Cowen (elected April
9) takes over as leader of Fianna Fáil.
Predicted and scheduled events
May
