Historical Events in 2008

Events 1 - 200 of 305

• Jan 1 A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples comes into effect.
• Jan 1 Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.

• Jan 8 New Jersey officially apologizes for slavery, becoming the first Northern state to do so.
• Jan 13 Orlando Magic knock down a then NBA-record 23 3-pointers in 37 attempts (62.2%); Jameer Nelson goes 5-for-5 from beyond the arc as Magic beat the Sacramento Kings, 139-107
• Jan 14 MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby
• Jan 15 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority members celebrate 100th anniversary by donating $1 million to scholarship funds at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

• Jan 20 Frenchman Francis Joyon becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world, taking 57 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes
• Jan 21 Fears of a possible US recession cause a Black Monday for global stock markets, European stocks suffer their worst result since 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%
• Jan 21 The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies
• Feb 1 Canadian jockey Russell Baze rides his 10,000th career winner aboard Two Step Cat in 3rd race at Golden Gate Fields, Albany, CA; prevails in a 3-horse photo finish
• Feb 1 Minnesota starter Johan Santana signs a 6-year, $137.5 million deal with the New York Mets to become the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history; trade from Twins to Mets official the next day

• Feb 5 A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves at least 58 dead, the most since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 88.
• Feb 8 Nebraska bans electric chair as sole execution method

• Feb 10 The 2008 Namdaemun fire severely damages Namdaemun, the first National Treasure of South Korea.
• Feb 11 In East Timor, assassination attempts were made on Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta. Both failed.
• Feb 13 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes an historic apology to Indigenous Australians, especially to the Stolen Generations who suffered forced child removal and assimilation [1]
• Feb 13 The LZR Racer Suit is unveiled in NYC; line of competition swimsuits made by Speedo using high-tech fabric of woven elastane-nylon & polyurethane; times went down dramatically; rules changed 2010
• Feb 14 Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 24 casualties; 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injured.
• Feb 17 50th Daytona 500: Ryan Newman wins shootout going into the final turn from Tony Stewart, and the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle
• Feb 17 Kosovo declares independence from Serbia

• Feb 19 Serzh Sargsyan wins the Armenian Presidential Election
• Feb 19 Toshiba announces its formal recall of its HD DVD video format, ending the format war between it and Sony's Blu-Ray Disc

• Feb 23 B-2 Spirit of the USAF crashes at Guam. Crew survives but aircraft written off, the most expensive air crash in human history (aircraft alone cost $1.2Bn). B-2 had a perfect safety record before the crash; not one B-2 ever crashed.

• Feb 26 Global Seed Vault officially opens in Svalbard, Norway, to help preserve diversity and loss from other genebanks
• Feb 28 Former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra is arrested on corruption charges upon returning to Thailand after months of exile.
• Mar 2 Riots in Yerevan, Armenia concerning the Armenian presidential election, 2008 come to a fatal end, with police forces clashing with civilians in their peaceful protest, resulting in 8 deaths.

• Mar 12 Streaming service Hulu launches for public access in the United States
• Mar 13 Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000.00 an ounce for the first time

• Mar 16 Rock Musical "Next to Normal" by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey premieres Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in New York (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2010) [1]
• Mar 17 Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York resigns after scandal involving a high-end prostitute; David Paterson becomes acting governor
• Mar 17 The popular online game for children, Fantage, is launched
• Mar 19 GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed
• Mar 22 French Swimmer Alain Bernard sets world record of 47.50 for 100m freestyle long course after winning the European LC Championships 2008
• Mar 24 Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
• Mar 31 Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service
• Apr 1 New York Yankees set a MLB record by winning their 11th straight home opener, 3-2 against Toronto Blue Jays

• Apr 4 Raid on Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owned YFZ Ranch in Texas; 401 children and 133 women taken into state custody

• Apr 8 The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines completes, in Bahrain.

• Apr 18 NBA owners give approval of a potential Seattle SuperSonics' relocation to Oklahoma City in a 28–2 vote by the Board of Governors
• Apr 20 Danica Patrick driving for Andretti Green Racing wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi; first female driver in history to win an IndyCar Series race
• Apr 21 The United States Air Force retires the F-117 Nighthawk stealth surface-attack aircraft
• Apr 26 NFL Draft: University of Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long first pick by Miami Dolphins

• May 1 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.
• May 2 Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 130,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless

• May 6 Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

• May 12 Wenchuan earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000, injuring 374,643 and leaving homeless between 4.8 million and 11 million people

• May 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.
• May 17 Dale Jarrett's final race, the All-Star race, before joining ESPN's NASCAR coverage full-time

• May 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.
• May 25 61st Cannes Film Festival: "The Class" directed by Laurent Cantet wins the Palme d'Or
• May 28 The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

• Jun 1 A fire at the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood destroys several icons from movies, such as Courthouse Square, the clock tower from Back to the Future, and the King Kong exhibit on the studio tour.
• Jun 1 Jason Koumas captains Wales for the first time

• Jun 4 Stanley Cup Final, Civic Center, Pittsburgh, PA: Detroit Red Wings defeat Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 for a 4-2 series win; Red Wings' 11th Championship
• Jun 7 Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland formed as second-largest European national park, combining Skaftafell and Jökulsárgljúfur parks and the Vatnajökull ice cap (World Heritage Site 2019) [1]

• Jun 8 The Akihabara massacre took place on the Sunday-pedestrian-zoned Chūōdōri street. A man killed seven in an attack on a crowd using a truck and a dagger.
• Jun 10 The Gora Prai airstrike by the United States reportedly kills 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops.

• Jun 12 Ireland rejects the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum, thus putting into question the reform programme of the European Union.

• Jun 13 "Viva la Vida" single released by Coldplay, - their 1st US No. 1, (Grammy Song of the Year)
• Jun 15 62nd Tony Awards: "In the Heights" (musical) & "August: Osage County" (play) win
• Jun 17 First day of legal same-sex marriage in California

• Jun 23 Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners hits a grand slam home run against New York Mets, 1st pitcher since Steve Dunning in 1971
• Jun 25 Atlantis Plastics shooting, An employee shot and killed five people after an argument, which ended in the gunman's suicide in Henderson, Kentucky
• Jun 26 NBA Draft: Memphis point guard Derrick Rose first pick by Chicago Bulls
• Jun 26 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.

• Jun 29 Thomas Beatie, the world's first pregnant man, gives birth to a daughter

• Jul 1 Denmark is the first European economy to confirm it is in recession since the global credit crunch began; its GDP shrinks 0.6% in the first quarter after a 0.2% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2007
• Jul 2 A settlement is reached allowing former NBA franchise the Seattle SuperSonics to move to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; new owner Clay Bennett agrees to pay City of Seattle $45 million to wriggle out of last 2 years of KeyArena lease
• Jul 2 Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.

• Jul 10 Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a UN Tribunal accusing him of war crimes
• Jul 12 Canadian harness racer John Campbell wins his 10,000th race as a driver by guiding 'Share the Delight' to victory in the 6th race at Meadowlands Racetrack

• Jul 16 Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim is arrested on sodomy charges in Malaysia

• Jul 23 Cape Verde joins the World Trade Organization, becoming its 153rd member.
• Jul 28 Historic Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier burns down for a second time in 80 years
• Aug 1 Russian supported forces of self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia attack Georgian villages, breaking a 1992 cease-fire agreement

• Aug 6 A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'etat in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
• Aug 6 Access 31 TV stops broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia
• Aug 7 Russo-Georgian War: Georgia moves troops into Russian supported self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia in response to aggression; 1st European war of the 21st century.
• Aug 8 Russo-Georgian War: Russia launches a full-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia, referring to it as a 'peace enforcement' operation after Georgia responded to aggression from South Ossetian
• Aug 8 XXIX Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing, China
• Aug 9 United States takes all 3 medals in women's fencing sabre event at the Beijing Olympics; first US podium sweep of a fencing event since 1904; Mariel Zagunis takes gold ahead of Sada Jacobson & Rebecca Ward

• Aug 10 British cyclist Nicole Cooke wins the road race at the Beijing Olympics; Great Britain's 200th gold in the modern Olympics
• Aug 11 Abhinav Bindra wins men's 10m air rifle at the Beijing Olympics, the first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India, and India's first gold medal in any Olympic event since 1980

• Aug 11 Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima repeats 1st leg of his Athens Olympics 100/200m breaststroke double at the Beijing Games winning the 100m in world record 58.91; goes on to win 200m event
• Aug 11 The US 4 x 100m freestyle replay team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones & Jason Lezak beats France by 8 seconds to win gold and smash world record at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 12 American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 3rd of 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics when he takes the 200m freestyle in world record 1:42.96
• Aug 12 American swimmer Natalie Coughlin becomes the first to successfully defend the gold medal in the women's 100 m backstroke when she wins event at the Beijing Olympics

• Aug 13 American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins 3 gold medals, all in world record time, in the one day at the Beijing Olympics; 200m I/M (1:54.23), 200m butterfly (1.52.03) and 4 x 200m freestyle relay (6:58.56)
• Aug 13 Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice wraps up the medley double at the Beijing Olympics when she swims world record 2:08.45 to win the 200m I/M gold medal
• Aug 13 Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini sets new world record 1:54.82 to claim 200m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; runner-up Sara Isaković is Slovenia's first Olympic swim medal winner
• Aug 13 The Baltic state slides into recession with a 0.9% fall in second-quarter GDP after a drop of 0.5% in the first quarter; it falls deeper into recession in the third quarter when the economy contracted 3.3%
• Aug 14 A popular Chinese 1-2 in the 200m butterfly at the Beijing Olympics with Liu Zige swimming world record 2:04.18 to beat teammate Jiao Liuyang
• Aug 14 Australian women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer & Linda Mackenzie swims world record 7:44.31 to beat China and take the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 14 French swimmer Alain Bernard wins the coveted 100m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics beating Eamon O'Sullivan of Australia by 0.11
• Aug 14 Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima repeats his Athens Olympics 100/200m breaststroke double at the Beijing Games winning the 200m in Olympic record 2:07.64
• Aug 15 American breaststroker Rebecca Soni avenges her defeat to Leisel Jones of Australia in the 100m when she swims world record 2:20.22 to beat Jones in 200m at the Beijing Olympics

• Aug 15 Despite China winning the women's gymnastics team all-round gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson go 1-2 in the individual all-round
• Aug 15 German swimmer Britta Steffen beats Australian Libby Trickett by 0.04 to win the blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 15 Lee Berger and his nine-year-old son, Matthew, discover the two-million-year-old fossils of a new species of human ancestor (Australopithecus sediba) at Malapa Cave, South Africa
• Aug 16 American swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 7th of 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics when he takes the 100m butterfly in Olympic record 50.58; beats Milorad Čavić of Serbia by 0.01
• Aug 16 British cyclist Bradley Wiggins becomes the first rider ever to successfully defend his Olympic title in the individual pursuit when he takes gold at the Beijing Olympics

• Aug 16 British swimmer Rebecca Adlington wraps up the 400/800m freestyle double at the Beijing Olympics with a world record 8:14.10 in the 800
• Aug 16 British team of Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed & Andrew Triggs Hodge wins the men's rowing coxless fours in Beijing, the third straight Olympics that Great Britain wins gold in this event
• Aug 16 César Cielo wins the men's 50m freestyle in 21.30 in Beijing, Brazil's first ever swimming Olympic gold medal
• Aug 16 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt sets new world record of 9.69 seconds to win the coveted 100m gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics
• Aug 16 Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe swims a world record 2:05.24 to beat American Margaret Hoelzer by 1.01 and win the 200m backstroke at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 16 New Zealand rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell successfully defend their 2004 Olympic title in the women's double sculls by beating Germany by 0.01 seconds at the Beijing Games
• Aug 16 Romanian rower Georgeta Andrunache wins the women's coxless pairs at the Beijing Olympics; her 5th career gold medal, and her 3rd consecutive Olympic gold in the event
• Aug 16 South Korean weightlifter Jang Mi-Ran wins the women's unlimited (+75 kg) division at the Beijing Olympics by breaking world records 5 times: once in snatch, twice in clean-and-jerk, and twice in total
• Aug 17 Australian women's 4 x 100m medley relay team of Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper & Libby Trickett upset the United States to win the gold medal in world record 3:52.69 at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 17 China wins its 33rd gold medal of the Beijing Olympics by beating Singapore in the table tennis women's team event; most successful Olympiad ever for China; wins all 10 singles and all 5 doubles matches
• Aug 17 Four years after winning Olympic silver in the rowing quad sculls in Athens, Briton Rebecca Romero becomes only 2nd woman to earn medals in 2 different sports at the summer Games when she wins the pursuit track cycling gold in Beijing
• Aug 17 German swimmer Britta Steffen beats American Dara Torres by 0.01 in the 50m to wrap up the 50/100m double at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 17 Gulnara Samitova-Galkina of Russia wins the 3,000m steeplechase gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in world record 8:58.81
• Aug 17 Jamaica dominates the 100m at the Beijing Olympics with Shelly-Ann Fraser taking the gold medal in 10.78; her teammates Sherone Simpson & Kerron Stewart dead-heat for silver in 10.98
• Aug 17 Rafael Nadal of Spain beats Chile's Fernando González 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to win the men's tennis singles at the Beijing Olympics; Spain's first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis

• Aug 17 US team Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen & Jason Lezak wins 4 x 100m medley relay at the Beijing Olympics in world record 3:29.34; Phelps' 8th gold medal of Games breaks Mark Spitz's 1972 record (7)
• Aug 18 An American 1-2-3 in the 400m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics; Angelo Taylor wins gold in 47.25 ahead of Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson
• Aug 18 Belarus weightlifter Andrei Aramnau breaks 3 world records, for the snatch, clean & jerk, and total, on the way to winning the men's 105kg gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 18 Emulating the Chinese women, the men win the team table tennis gold medal at the Beijing Olympics without losing a match; win all 10 singles and all 5 doubles matches
• Aug 18 President of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigns due to pressure from opposition
• Aug 18 Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva sets a new world record of 5.05m to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; her 24th world record
• Aug 19 Britain's Victoria Pendleton beats Anna Mears in the women's cycling sprint final at the Beijing Olympics; GB dominates the track winning 7 of 10 gold medals
• Aug 19 Chris Hoy encapsulates British dominance of track cycling at the Beijing Olympics beating teammate Jason Kenny to win the sprint, adding to his keirin and team sprint gold medals

• Aug 19 Reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu wins the women's 400m at the Beijing Olympics; GB's 50th gold medal in Olympic track & field competition
• Aug 19 The men's gymnastics program at the Beijing Olympics concludes with the home team from China dominating the medals tally takes 7 of 8 gold medals; Zou Kai wins 3
• Aug 20 Russian long-distance swimmer Larisa Ilchenko wins inaugural women's open water marathon (10k) in 1:59:27.7 at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 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.
• Aug 20 Usain Bolt of Jamaica wraps up the 100/200m double in style with a new 200m world record 19.30 at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 21 After winning the event in Athens, Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown makes it consecutive 200m Olympic titles beating American Allyson Felix by 0.19 in Beijing
• Aug 21 American pair Misty May-Treanor & Kerry Walsh dominate China's Tian Jiathe & Wang Jie 21-18, 21-18 in the beach volleyball final to repeat of their gold medal from Athens; don't lose a set in the competition
• Aug 21 An American sweep of the 400m medals at the Beijing Olympics; LeShawn Merritt wins gold in 43.75 ahead of Jeremy Wariner and David Neville
• Aug 21 Daniëlle de Bruijn scores a match winning 7 goals as the Netherlands upset the United States 9-8 to take the women's water polo gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 21 Dutch swimmer and cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden wins inaugural men's open water marathon (10k) in 1:51:51.6 at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 21 Japan edges the United States 3-1 for the gold medal in the final of the women's softball tournament at the Beijing Olympics

• Aug 22 American decathlete Brian Clay wins 4 of the 10 events and finishes 2nd in 2 others to dominate field and take the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 22 Anne-Caroline Chausson of France and Māris Štrombergs of Latvia win the inaugural gold medals in BMX, winning the women's and men's events respectively at the Beijing Olympics
• Aug 22 Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba wraps up the women's 5,000/10,000m double at the Beijing Olympics when she takes gold in the 5k in an Olympic record 15:41.40
• Aug 22 Maurren Higa Maggi wins the women's long jump with a leap of 7.04m at the Beijing Olympics; Brazil's first ever gold medal in any women's individual event
• Aug 22 Russia wins the women's 4 × 100 m relay ahead of Belgium & Nigeria at the Beijing Olympics; disqualified in 2016 when reanalysis of Yulia Chermoshanskaya’s samples result in positive test for prohibited substances
• Aug 22 Steven Hooker wins the men's pole vault with 5.96m at the Beijing Olympics; Australia's first gold medal in men's athletics since 1968
• Aug 22 The Jamaican team led by Usain Bolt smashes the world 4 x 100m relay record in the final at the Beijing Olympics; disqualified in 2017 as Nesta Carter tests positive for prohibited substance
• Aug 23 Australian diver Matthew Mitcham wins the men's 10m platform gold medal with final dive at the Beijing Olympics; prevents Chinese from winning every diving event; achieves highest score for an individual dive in Olympic history (112.10)

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