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:
In Chinese astrology, Year of the Rat began on February 7, succeeding Year of the Pig.
Events
January
- January 1 - Cyprus, Malta, and Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopt the euro.[6][7]
- 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 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 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 - 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'í religion followers for charity work.[11][12]
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.
March
April
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 Mars.
- May 28 - The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is established after the Assembly votes overwhemingly in favor of abolishing the country's 240-year-old monarchy. Girija Prasad Koirala becomes temporary Head of State.
June
- 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 7 to death, and wounds 10, before being arrested.
- June 10 - Fire engulfs Sudan Airways Flight 109 after landing in Khartoum, Sudan, 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 21 - The first veneration ever held outside Vatican City is held in Beirut, Lebanon.
- 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 re-elected with 85.5% of the vote in the second round of the controversial Zimbabwean presidential election.
- June 27 - Two ministers of the Guatemalan government are killed in a helicopter crash in Alta Verapaz.
July
Predicted and scheduled events
July
August
- August 1 - Beijing south railway station, the largest passenger station in Asia, will reopen following a reconstruction project.[37]
- August 1 - Total solar eclipse visible from northern Canada (Nunavut), northern part of Russia, western Mongolia, and China; and seen as partial elsewhere in eastern North America, Europe, and Asia.
- August 2–August 16 - World Gliding Championships will be held in Lüsse, Germany.[38]
- August 6–August 10 - Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Denver, Colorado.[39]
- August 7 - The Large Hadron Collider (located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland) is to begin operation; it will be the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.[40]
- August 8–August 24 - The 2008 Summer Olympics will take place in Beijing, China.
- August 11 - Computerized elections to be held in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao: Regional Governor, Regional Vice Governor and Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly following Republic Act No. 9333.[41]
- August 22 - 2008 Formula Zero Championship begins in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.[42]
- August 25–August 28 - Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado for U.S. presidential election.
September
October
November
December
Unknown dates
Ongoing events
Deaths
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Main article: Deaths in 2008
January
- 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 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, 2nd President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
- January 28 - Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens (b. 1939)
February
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