December 29 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1938)
Events
January 1 - A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples comes into effect.
January 1 - Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.
January 8 - New Jersey officially apologizes for slavery, becoming the first Northern state to do so.
January 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 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%.
January 21 - The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies.
February 5 - A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves 57 dead, the most since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 88.
February 8 - Nebraska bans electric chair as sole execution method.
February 10 - The 2008 Namdaemun fire severely damages Namdaemun, the first National Treasure of South Korea.
February 11 - In East Timor, assassination attempts were made on Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta. Both failed.
February 13 - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes an historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
February 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.
February 17 - Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
February 19 - Toshiba announces its formal recall of its HD DVD video formatting, ending the format war between it and Sony's Blu-Ray Disc
February 23 - a B-2 Spirit of the USAF crashes at Guam. The crew survived but the aircraft was written off, making it the most expensive air crash in human history (the aircraft alone cost $1.2Bn). The B-2 had a perfect safety record before the crash; not one B-2 ever crashed.
February 24 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
February 25 - The country of Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
February 28 - Former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra is arrested on corruption charges upon returning to Thailand after months of exile.
March 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.
March 13 - Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000.00 an ounce for the first time.
March 17 - New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute. David Paterson becomes acting New York State governor.
March 19 - GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed on this day.
March 22 - The French Swimmer Alain Bernard sets the world record of 47.50 for the 100 m freestyle long course after winning the European LC Championships 2008.
March 24 - Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
March 31 - Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service.
April 4 - The raid on the FLDS owned ranch called the YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children were taken into custody. 133 woman were taken into state custody also, the total number of woman and children is 534.
April 8 - The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines completes, in Bahrain.
April 16 - Start of Papal Journey of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States.
April 19 - Bowie Seamount on the coast of British Columbia, Canada becomes a Marine Protected Area.
April 20 - Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
April 21 - The United States Air Force retires the F-117 Nighthawk.
April 30 - Two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia were confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and one of his sisters.
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 - 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 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 28 - The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
May 31 - Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7m/s) 9.72 seconds.
June 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.
June 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.
June 9 - In the town of Lake Delton, Wisconsin, Lake Delton drained as a result of heavy flooding breaking the dam holding the lake back.
June 10 - The Gora Prai airstrike by the United States reportedly kills 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops.
June 11 - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an official historic apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children were isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.
June 12 - Ireland rejects the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum, thus putting into question the reform programme of the European Union.
June 17 - First day of legal same-sex marriage in California.
June 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.
June 27 - Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of Microsoft Corporation to work full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
June 29 - Thomas Beatie, the world's first pregnant man, gives birth to a daughter.
July 2 - Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.
July 10 - Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a UN Tribunal accusing him of war crimes.
July 21 - Bosnian-Serb war criminal Radovan Karadžić is arrested in Serbia and is indicted by the UN's ICTY tribunal.
July 23 - Cape Verde joins the World Trade Organization, becoming its 153rd member.
July 28 - The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for a second time in 80 years.
August 6 - A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'etat in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
August 7 - Georgia launches a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, from Russian control, starting the South Ossetia War.
August 9 - The launch of the new Philippine network, TV5.
August 13 - Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an indivdual in Olympic history with his win in the men's 200m butterfly.
August 16 - Usain Bolt sets a new 100 metres dash world record of 9.69 seconds at the Beijing 2008 summer olympics.
August 17 - By winning the Men's 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
August 18 - President Of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.
August 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.
August 26 - Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
August 27 - Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
September 7 - The US Government takes control of the two largest largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
September 10 - The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.
September 13 - Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
September 15 - Lehman Brothers file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. History.
September 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.
September 21 - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa resigns from office, effective September 25.
September 21 - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel formally resigns from office, effective as soon as his successor Tzipi Livni has successfully assembled a new government.
September 21 - Final baseball game played at Yankee Stadium.
September 25 - China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7. Defying terrorist threats, Paul McCartney plays a concert before 40,000 fans in Israel.
September 27 - CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
September 29 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffers a 777.68 point drop, the most points ever lost in a single trading session.
October 3 - The $700 billion bailout bill for the US financial system is signed by President Bush.
October 10 - Martti Ahtisaari of Finland wins Nobel Peace Prize.
October 13 - After its largest one-week drop in the midst of the Global financial crisis of September–October 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 936 points, its single highest surge ever.
October 13 - HM Treasury infused £37 billion ($64 billion, 47 billion euros) of new capital-bailout into Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Lloyds TSB and HBOS Plc, to avert a financial sector collapse.
October 22 - India launches its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1.
October 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.
November 4 - United States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States and Joe Biden is elected the 47th Vice President. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President-elect.
November 7 - The 2008 Pétionville school collapse kills at least 92 in Pétionville, Haiti.
November 8 - An accident aboard Russian submarine K-152 Nerpa kills 20.
November 11 - The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her last voyage from Southampton, UK to Dubai, UAE. She will become a floating hotel at Palm Jumeirah.
November 14 - STS-126: The Space Shuttle Endeavour uses the MPLM Leonardo to deliver experiment and storage racks to the International Space Station. There will only be 3 more launches of Space Shuttle Endeavour after this mission.
November 19 - Claudia Castillo of Spain becomes the first person to have a successful trachea transplant using a tissue-engineered organ.
November 20 - The 2008 Prairie meteoroid falls over Canada.
November 24 - The 2008 Santa Catarina floods in Santa Catarina, Brazil kill 126 and force the evacuation of over 78,000 people.
November 25 - Greenland holds a referendum for increased autonomy from Denmark. The vote is over 75% in favour.
November 25 - Political crisis in Thailand: Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy party storm into Suvarnabhumi Airport and block flights from taking off. More protesters seize control of Don Mueang Airport the following day.
November 26 - A series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India kills 195, and injures at least 250.
November 29 - Riots in Jos, Nigeria kill 381, and injure at least 300.
December 1 - A triangular conjunction formed by a new Moon, Venus and Jupiter is a prominent object in the evening sky.
December 2 - Political crisis in Thailand: After weeks of opposition-led protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolves the governing People's Power Party and 2 coalition member parties, and bans leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, from politics for 5 years. As such, Wongsawat promptly resigns and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul as caretaker Prime Minister.
December 4 - Political crisis in Canada: Governor General Michaëlle Jean grants the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament until January 26, 2009, averting a motion of no-confidence by the new opposition coalition led by the Leader of the Opposition Stéphane Dion, and the New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe as a coalition partner.
December 5 - The remains found in 1991 are finally identified as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, using DNA analysis.
December 6 - Riots spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by a special guard of the Greek Police.
December 10 - The Channel Island of Sark, a British crown dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism.
December 12 - Switzerland becomes the 25th European country to join the Schengen Agreement, whereby cross-border passport checks will be abolished.
December 12 - The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year's other full moons. The next time these 2 events coincide will be in 2016.
December 16 - Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru.
December 18 - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicts Théoneste Bagosora and 2 other senior Rwandan army officers of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences them to life imprisonment.
December 21 - Gwadar port, Pakistan becomes fully operational.
December 23 - A military coup d'état is announced in Guinea shortly after the death of long-time President Lansana Conté.
December 27 - Israel initiates a series of airstrikes followed by an invasion in Gaza Strip, killing at least 460 (including at least 75 civilians) and wounding over 2,700.
December 28 - Bangladesh holds its general elections after 2 years of political unrest over the interim government.
December 31 - An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005.
