| 2008-01-21
Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%.
|
| 2008-11-11
The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) sets sail on her final voyage to Dubai.
|
| 2008-03-24
Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
|
| 2008-06-11
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an 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.
|
| 2008-09-15
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.
|
| 2008-09-28
SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
|
| 2008-03-13
Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.
|
| 2008-03-19
GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
|
| 2008-10-22
India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1.
|
| 2008-02-04
The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme begins to operate in the UK.
|
| 2008-02-13
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
|
| 2008-05-12
An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
|
| 2008-06-08
The Akihabara massacre takes place in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Tomohiro Katō drives a two-ton truck into a crowd before leaving the truck and attacking people with a knife.
|
| 2008-11-20
After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.
|
| 2008-04-03
SWAT teams members raid the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas after getting a call claiming underage marriages and child abuse were going on inside the ranch.
|
| 2008-02-14
Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injuries.
|
| 2008-05-02
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 130,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
|
| 2008-09-21
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
|
| 2008-03-31
Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service
|
| 2008-08-20
Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. 146 people are killed in the crash, 8 more die afterwards. Only 18 people survive.
|
| 2008-12-06
The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the murder of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.
|
| 2008-05-22
The Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between 22 May and 31 May 2008. The tornadoes struck 19 states and one Canadian province.
|
| 2008-02-23
A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
|
| 2008-08-18
President Of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.
|
| 2008-11-22
YouTube hosts the largest ever live broadcast, YouTube Live.
|
| 2008-11-25
A car bomb in St. Petersburg, Russia, kills three people and injures one.
|
| 2008-10-03
The $700 billion bailout bill for the US financial system is signed by President Bush.
|
| 2008-07-21
Bosnian-Serb war criminal Radovan Karadžić is arrested in Serbia and is indicted by the UN's ICTY tribunal.
|
| 2008-08-06
A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
|
| 2008-02-05
A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves 57 dead, the most since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 88.
|
| 2008-11-04
Proposition 8 passes in California, representing the first ever elimination of an existing right to marry for LGBT couples.
|
| 2008-04-30
Two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and one of his sisters.
|
| 2008-12-14
President George W. Bush makes his fourth and final (planned) trip to Iraq as president and is almost struck by two shoes thrown at him by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi during a news conference in Baghdad.
|
| 2008-01-01
Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.
|
| 2008-04-04
In a raid on the FLDS's YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children and 133 women are taken into state custody.
|
| 2008-08-26
Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
|
| 2008-10-24
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
|
| 2008-10-10
The 10 October 2008 Orakzai bombing kills 110 and injures 200 more.
|
| 2008-06-26
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual right, and that the District of Columbia handgun ban is unconstitutional.
|
| 2008-09-07
The US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
|
| 2008-11-04
Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.
|
| 2008-05-28
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
|
| 2008-06-09
In the town of Lake Delton, Wisconsin, Lake Delton drains as a result of heavy flooding breaking the dam holding the lake back.
|
| 2008-08-13
Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history with his win in the men's 200m butterfly.
|
| 2008-04-03
ATA Airlines, once one of the 10 largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in 5 years and ceases all operations.
|
| 2008-09-27
CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
|
| 2008-12-02
Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigns after the 2008 Thailand political crisis.
|
| 2008-09-10
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.
|
| 2008-08-07
Georgia launches a military offensive against South Ossetia to counter the alleged Russian invasion, starting the South Ossetia War.
|
| 2008-02-17
Kosovo declares independence.
|
| 2008-12-27
Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza - Operation Cast Lead
|
| 2008-07-28
The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.
|
| 2008-05-01
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.
|
| 2008-03-06
A Palestinian gunman shoots and kills 8 students and critically injures 11 in the library of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, in Jerusalem, Israel.
|
| 2008-11-26
The first of many attacks on Mumbai, India are fired. These ten coordinated attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists kill 164 and injure more than 300 people in Mumbai.
|
| 2008-05-07
Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as Russia's president.
|
| 2008-10-29
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to 5.
|
| 2008-07-02
Ingrid Betancourt, and 14 other hostages held by FARC guerrillas, are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.
|
| 2008-12-08
Kirsty Williams is elected as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. She becomes the first female leader of a political party in Wales.
|
| 2008-09-13
Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
|
| 2008-07-01
Rioting erupted in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.
|
| 2008-11-21
Jaboy Castro established the Book of Love.
|
| 2008-08-17
By winning the Men's 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
|
| 2008-07-10
Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a United Nations Tribunal accusing him of war crimes.
|
| 2008-02-24
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
|
| 2008-04-22
The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service.
|
| 2008-12-11
Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
|
| 2008-05-06
Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
|
| 2008-09-26
Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel.
|
| 2008-04-20
Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
|
| 2008-05-23
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.
|
| 2008-12-09
The Governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's election to the Presidency.
|
| 2008-03-29
Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time.
|
| 2008-09-12
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Pacific Union Freight Train kills 25 people.
|
| 2008-03-17
Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigns after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson becomes New York State governor.
|
| 2008-03-01
The Armenian police clashed with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections 2008 killing at least 10 people.
|
| 2008-09-23
Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.
|
| 2008-09-25
China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
|
| 2008-09-24
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.
|
| 2008-05-15
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.
|
| 2008-04-08
The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
|
| 2008-09-29
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.
|
| 2008-07-04
Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.
|
