JANUARY 8, 2009 issue
2008 The World in Review
Jan 1-4 – Hundreds die in Kenya after controversial presidential election
Jan 3 – Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee win in Iowa caucuses
Jan 7 – War crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumes at the Hague
Jan 18 – Israel closes all border crossings into Gaza following Palestinian attacks
Jan 28 – U.S. President George W. Bush delivers final State of the Union speech
Feb 3 – The New York Giants upset the undefeated New England Patriots to become Super Bowl champions
Feb 7 – U.S. Senate passes $168 billion economic stimulus package
Feb 12 – Writers’ Guild of America strike ends after three months
Feb 14 – Gunman kills six students at Northern Illinois University
Feb 17 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
Feb 18 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suffers resounding defeat in elections
Feb 19 – Fidel Castro resigns as president of Cuba and transfers power to brother Raúl
Mar 2 – Dmitri Medvedev wins Russian presidential election in landslide; Vladimir Putin to serve as prime minister
Mar 3 – United Nations Security Council sanctions Iran a third time for refusing to halt uranium enrichment
Mar 4 – John McCain secures Republican U.S. presidential nomination
Mar 10 – New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is caught arranging to meet a prostitute
Mar 14 – Chinese police use force to suppress Tibetan protest in Lhasa
Mar 23 – U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000
Mar 24 – Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick indicted on eight felony charges, including obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct
Apr 2 – Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declares victory in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, but incumbent Robert Mugabe refuses to cede power
Apr 6-7 – Human rights protestors clash with police along the Olympic torch relay route in London and Paris
Apr 15 – Pope Benedict XVI makes first visit to United States
Apr 19 – Iraqi forces take control of Basra
Apr 20 – Danica Patrick becomes first woman to win an IndyCar race
Apr 27 – Afghan President Hamid Karzai survives assassination attempt by Taliban militants
May 3 – Cyclone kills 78,000 people in Myanmar
May 8 – North Korea discloses information on plutonium program efforts from 1990, 2003 and 2005
May 10 – Sudanese rebels attempt to attack capital, Khartoum, but are pushed back by government troops
May 10 – Iraqi government and Shiite militia reach cease-fire
May 12 – A 7.9 magnitude earthquake kills 68,000 people and injures thousands more in western China
May 15 – California Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage
May 20 – U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy diagnosed with brain tumor
May 21 – Israel and Syria announce peace talks
May 28 – Nepal’s newly elected government dissolves 239-year-old monarchy and forms a republic
Jun 1 – U.S. casualties in Iraq reach lowest point after 19 fatalities in May
Jun 3 – Barack Obama secures Democratic nomination for the presidency
Jun 9 – Midwest suffers from severe flooding
Jun 10 – U.S. angers Pakistan when 11 Pakistani soldiers are killed in attack aimed at Taliban militants
Jun 12 – Supreme Court rules 5-4 that Guantánamo Bay prisoners have the right to challenge their detention in federal court
Jun 15 – Tiger Woods battles knee pain to defeat Rocco Mediate in the first sudden-death hole of the U.S. Open
Jun 16 – California begins performing same-sex marriages
Jun 19 – Egypt brokers a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas after months of violence
Jun 26 – United States removes North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring countries and lifts some sanctions against the country
Jul 1 – Pentagon announces June 2008 was deadliest month for U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan since 2001
Jul 8 – Seven United Nations peacekeepers die and 22 are injured in attack in Darfur
Jul 8 – U.S. and Czech Republic sign deal allowing U.S. to deploy missile shield on Czech soil; Russia views the move as a threat and strongly objects
Jul 9 – Iran test fires nine long- and medium-range missiles
Jul 14 – International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide
Jul 19 – U.S. participates in talks with Iran
Jul 29 – U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is indicted on seven felony counts
Jul 30 – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, under investigation for fraud, bribery and breach of trust, announces he will step down in September
Aug 7-29 – Violence breaks out in nation of Georgia after Georgian soldiers attack breakaway region of South Ossetia; Russia sends in forces to defend South Ossetia
Aug 8 – China astonishes the world with the most impressive Olympic Opening Ceremony in history
Aug 15 – Nepal elects Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Aug 17 – Swimmer Michael Phelps sets Olympic record with eight gold medals
Aug 22 – Coalition air strike kills dozens of civilians in Afghanistan
Aug 23 – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama selects Sen. Joe Biden as running mate
Aug 28 – China and Iraq sign $3 billion oil contract
Aug 29 – Republican presidential candidate John McCain names Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate
Sep 6 – Slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto’s widower is elected president of Pakistan
Sept 7 – U.S. government takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Sep 15 – President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sign power sharing deal in Zimbabwe
Sep 15 – Dow Jones Industrial Average drops more than 500 points in worse one-day loss since September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
Sep 20 – Bush administration proposes $700 billion bailout for private investment companies plagued with bad mortgages
Sep 16 – U.S. House passes bill to expand offshore drilling for oil 50 miles off Atlantic and Pacific coasts
Sep 27 – Zhai Zhigang makes first ever spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut
Sep 29 – U.S. House rejects $700 billion financial bailout bill and Dow Jones drops 778 points in largest point decline ever
Oct 3 – U.S. House passes bailout plan; President Bush signs measure into law
Oct 10 – Connecticut Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage
Oct 14 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reelected
Oct 17 – Iraq and U.S. complete draft of security agreement calling for all U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by 2011
Oct 27 – Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens convicted of seven felony charges for violating ethics laws
Nov 4 – Barack Obama is elected the 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American president in the nation’s history
Nov 4 – Californians approve constitutional ban against same-sex marriage
Nov 16 – Iraqi Parliament approves security agreement with United States
Nov 18 – Somali pirates hijack Saudi oil tanker loaded with $100 million in oil
Nov 20 – Congress rejects bailout request from U.S. automakers
Nov 26 – Terrorists attack hotels and public areas in Mumbai, India, killing more than 170 and injuring 300
Dec 1 – Indian officials blame Pakistani militants for Mumbai terrorist attacks
Dec 4 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspends Parliament until January 26, 2009, in effort to stave off no confidence vote
Dec 8 – Five guards employed by private security firm Blackwater, based in North Carolina, are charged with manslaughter in the September 2007 shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad
Dec 8 – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four codefendants say they wish to plead guilty to charges of murder and war crimes in planning the September 11 attacks
Dec 9 – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, is arrested by the FBI on corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat
Dec 11 – Pakistani officials detain Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the militant Islamic group Lashkar-e-Taiba thought to be behind Mumbai attacks
Dec 11 – Investment manager Bernard Madoff is charged with defrauding clients of as much as $50 billion in what could be the largest swindle in Wall Street history
Dec 28 – Israel launches air strikes into Gaza
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