2008
2008 Time Line
January 2008
- January 2: The price of petroleum reaches $100 a barrel in the United States
- January 11: Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, dies
- January 17: Former chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer dies
- January 21: Worldwide stock markets plummet
- January 22: American actor Heath Ledger dies
- January 24: Parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo agree to peacefully end the Kivu conflict
- January 28: President George W. Bush's last State of the Union speech
February 2008
- February 3: The New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots to become the Super Bowl Champions
- February 4: Iran launches its first rocket into outer space
- February 5&6: Tornadoes kill over 50 people in the Southern United States
- February 10: 50th Grammy Award ceremony in Los Angeles
- February 17: Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
- February 12: The Writers Guild Strike ends
- February 19: Fidel Castro resigns as President of Cuba
- February 20: Total lunar eclipse in the Western Hemisphere
- February 24: Jon Stewart hosts the 80th Academy Awards
March 2008
- March 1: More than 50 are killed during an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip
- March 4: John McCain becomes the Republican candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
- March 10-16: Protests in Tibet are met with violence from Chinese officials, killing up to 80 people
- March 19: Science Fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke dies
- March 24: Bhutan holds its first elections
- March 28: Elections are held in Zimbabwe
April 2008
- April 5: American actor and former NRA president Charlton Heston dies
- April 15-20: Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States
- April 18: A 5.2 magnitude earthquake hits Illinois
- April 22: London doctors perform the first bionic eye transplants
- April 28: India launches ten satellites into orbit at once, setting a new record
May 2008
- May 3: A cyclone in Myanmar kills over 100,000 people
- May 11: An earthquake in China kills over 60,000 people
- May 15: California legalizes same-sex marriage
- May 25: The NASA Phoenix spacecraft reaches Mars
- May 26: American actor and director Sydney Pollack dies
- May 28: Nepal is re-established as The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
June 2008
- June 1: Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent dies
- June 7: Hillary Clinton endorses Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee
- June 12: Irish voters reject the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum
- June 13: American journalist Tim Russert dies
- June 22: Comedian George Carlin dies
- June 27: Robert Mugabe is re-elected President of Zimbabwe
July 2008
- July 2: FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt is released
- July 4: Former North Carolina senator Jesse Helms dies
- July 7-9: Japan hosts the 2008 G8 Summit
- July 11: The iPhone 3G becomes available for purchase
- July 15-28: The Catholic Church-sponsored World Youth Day 2008 is held in Sydney, Australia
- July 19: Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama embarks on a congressional tour of the Middle East and Europe
- July 22: Actress Estelle Getty dies at age 84
- July 24: Ford Motor Company reports a loss of $8.7 billion in the second quarter of 2008, the largest single-quarter loss in company history
- July 29: A magnitude 5.4 Chino Hills Earthquake strikes just outside the Los Angeles suburb of Chino Hills
- July 30: NASA scientists report the discovery of liquid lakes on the surface of Saturn's moon, Titan
August 2008
- August 7-12: The dispute in the Georgian region of South Ossetia escalates into a war between Georgia and Russia
- August 8: The 2008 Summer Olympics begin with opening ceremonies in Beijing, China
- August 9: American tourist Todd Bachman is stabbed to death while visiting Beijing's Drum Tower
- August 9: Comedian Bernie Mac dies at the age of 50
- August 13: Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the top Olympic gold medal winner of all time
- August 18: President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns
- August 18: Maoist leader Prachanda is sworn in as Nepal's new Prime Minister
- August 22: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama selects Joe Biden as his running mate
- August 25: The 2008 Democratic National Convention begins in Denver, Colorado

