What Happened in 2008 — Events, Births & Deaths

A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people.

British Airways Flight 38 crashes short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring 47.

The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.

Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.

A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.

Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.

Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.

A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.

The Japanese WINDS satellite is launched.

Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years.

The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this was the first such event to take place in North Korea.

Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later.

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence withdraws Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan after news of his deployment is leaked to foreign media.

Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.

The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections; as a result ten people are killed.

A suicide bomber kills 68 people in the Karrada district of Karrada in Baghdad

A gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.

A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet.

Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people.

GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.

Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India.

Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

Drolma Kyi arrested by Chinese authorities.

ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.

Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.

The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.

Kata Air Transport Flight 007 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Chișinău International Airport, killing eight.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.

Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.

Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.

Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police; 39 policemen injured, one police dog injured and 39 arrested.

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.

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.

NASA's Phoenix lander touches down in the Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.

Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.

Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted.

TACA Flight 390 overshoots the runway at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and crashes, killing five people.

Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds.

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-124 carrying the second portion of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.

A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.

Seven people are killed and 11 more are injured in a massacre in Akihabara.

Two bombs explode at a train station near Algiers, Algeria, killing at least 13 people.

Sudan Airways Flight 109 crashes at Khartoum International Airport, killing 30 people.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit.

Twelve people are killed, including nine clubgoers and three police officers, during a crowd crush in Mexico City.

A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.

In a highly scrutinized election, President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.

Riots erupt in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.

A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people.

Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all war-crimes charges by a United Nations tribunal.

Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001.

Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.

Fifty-six people are killed and over 200 people are injured, in the Ahmedabad bombings in India.

East Coast Jets Flight 81 crashes near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota, killing all eight people on board.

The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.

Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions die on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.

The New England Revolution win the 2008 North American SuperLiga final against the Houston Dynamo.

A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.

A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others.

The 29th modern summer Olympic Games take place in Beijing, China until August 24.

Russo-Georgian War: Russian units occupy the Georgian city of Gori.

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.

American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.

The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.

War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.

Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.

Sixty-five passengers are killed when Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes during an emergency landing at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

A Cessna 208 Caravan crashes in Cabañas, Zacapa, Guatemala, killing 11 people.

A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three people on board.

Iraq War: The United States Armed Forces transfers control of Anbar Province to the Iraqi Armed Forces.

Google launches its Google Chrome web browser.

The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.

A major Channel Tunnel fire breaks out on a freight train, resulting in the closure of part of the tunnel for six months.

The 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train kills 25 people.

Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries.

Aeroflot Flight 821, a Boeing 737-500, crashes into a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway while on approach to Perm International Airport, in Perm, Russia, killing all 88 people on board.

Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

A Learjet 60 carrying musicians Travis Barker and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein crashes during a rejected takeoff from Colombia Metropolitan Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, killing four of the six people on board. Barker and Goldstein both survive.

A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.

Matti Saari kills ten people at a school in Finland before committing suicide.

Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa.

CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk.

Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit by the RatSat mission.

The Singapore Grand Prix is held as Formula One's inaugural night race, with Fernando Alonso winning the event. Almost a year later it was revealed that Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. had been ordered to crash his car to help bring out the safety car and give Alonso the advantage and win.

The stock market crashes with the Dow Jones dropping a then record 778 points after the United States House of Representatives vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act fails during the beginning stages of the Great Recession.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the U.S. financial system is signed by President George W. Bush.

Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Qantas Flight 72 experiences an in-flight upset near Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia, injuring 112.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.

India launches its first uncrewed lunar probe mission Chandrayaan-1.

"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.

A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215.

Lewis Hamilton secured his maiden Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by one point ahead of Felipe Massa at the Brazilian Grand Prix, after a pass for fifth place against the Toyota of Timo Glock on the final lap of the race.

Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as President of the United States.

Over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after communications with the lander were lost.

The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station.

Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.

Mumbai attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai killing 166 citizens by 10 terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based extremist Islamist terrorist organisation.

The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, now out of service, docks in Dubai.

XL Airways Germany Flight 888T: An Airbus A320 performing a flight test crashes near the French commune of Canet-en-Roussillon, killing all seven people on board.

Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

An ash dike ruptures at a solid waste containment area for a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 4.2 million m3 (1.1 billion US gal) of coal fly ash slurry in the largest industrial spill in U.S. history.

A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.

The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches three-week operation on Gaza.

Raegan Revord, American actor

Rémi Himbert, French footballer

Emma Kok, Dutch singer

Abby Ryder Fortson, American actress

Hyein, South Korean singer

Lilliana Ketchman, American dancer and YouTuber

Mathis Jangéal, French footballer

Iain Armitage, American actor

Hudson Meek, American actor (died 2024)

Rio Ngumoha, English footballer

Jackson Robert Scott, American actor

Liamani, American singer and actress

Ella Gross, American singer, model and actress

Ediz Gürel, Turkish chess grandmaster

Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (born 1917)

Judah Folkman, American physician, biologist, and academic (born 1933)

Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (born 1937)

John Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1939)

Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster (born 1936)

Usha Narayanan, Burmese-born First Lady of India (born 1922)

Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and designer (born 1906)

Margaret Truman, American singer and author (born 1924)

František Čapek, Czech canoeist (born 1914)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation (born 1918)

Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (born 1943)

Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (born 1932)

Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (born 1932)

Johnny Weaver, American wrestler and sportscaster (born 1935)

Yegor Letov, Russian singer-songwriter (born 1964)

Ben Chapman, American actor (born 1928)

Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (born 1950)

Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (born 1917)

Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1947)

Hans Raj Khanna, Indian judge and advocate; upholder of civil liberties (born 1912)

Bodil Udsen, Danish actress (born 1925)

William F. Buckley, Jr., American author and journalist, founded the National Review (born 1925)

Janet Kagan, American author (born 1946)

Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (born 1917)

Akira Yamada, Japanese scholar and philosopher (born 1922)

Jeff Healey, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1966)

Joseph Weizenbaum, German computer scientist and author (born 1923)

Jorge Guinzburg, Argentinian journalist and producer (born 1949)

Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French soldier and supercentenarian (born 1897)

Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (born 1920)

Bill Brown, Australian cricketer and soldier (born 1912)

Roland Arnall, French-American businessman and diplomat, 63rd United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (born 1939)

Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer (born 1917)

Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and playwright (born 1929)

Paul Scofield, English actor (born 1922)

Cachao López, Cuban-American bassist and composer (born 1918)

Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (born 1921)

John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist and academic (born 1911)

Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (born 1907)

Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (born 1923)

Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (born 1921)

Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (born 1938)

Anthony Mamo, Maltese judge and politician, 1st President of Malta (born 1909)

Philipp von Boeselager, German soldier and economist (born 1917)

Irv Robbins, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1917)

Jerry Wallace, American singer and guitarist (born 1928)

Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (born 1928)

John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (born 1953)

Robert Rauschenberg, American painter and illustrator (born 1925)

Irena Sendler, Polish nurse and humanitarian (born 1910)

Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1956)

Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (born 1919)

Will Elder, American illustrator (born 1921)

Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (born 1946)

Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (born 1967)

Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and poet (born 1935)

Tommy Lapid, Israeli journalist and politician, 17th Justice Minister of Israel (born 1931)

Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer, founded Saint Laurent Paris (born 1936)

Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1928)

Mel Ferrer, American actor (born 1917)

Miroslav Dvořák, Czech ice hockey player (born 1951)

Derek Tapscott, Welsh footballer and manager (born 1932)

Tim Russert, American journalist and lawyer (born 1950)

Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1914)

Barun Sengupta, Bengali journalist, founded Bartaman (born 1934)

Scott Kalitta, American race car driver (born 1962)

Natalia Bekhtereva, Russian neuroscientist and psychologist (born 1924)

George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (born 1937)

Dody Goodman, American actress and dancer (born 1914)

Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (born 1914)

Hasan Doğan, Turkish businessman (born 1956)

Bruce Conner, American sculptor, painter, and photographer (born 1933)

Dorian Leigh, American model (born 1917)

John Templeton, American-born British businessman and philanthropist (born 1912)

Artie Traum, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (born 1943)

Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (born 1921)

Bruce Edward Ivins, American scientist and bio-defense researcher (born 1946)

Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (born 1985)

Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (born 1929)

Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (born 1917)

Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and politician (born 1926)

Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Zambia (born 1948)

John Russell, English-American author and critic (born 1919)

Geoffrey Perkins, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1953)

Michael Schoenberg, American geophysicist and theorist (born 1939)

Ilarion Ciobanu, Romanian rugby player and actor (born 1931)

Nagi Noda, Japanese director and producer (born 1973)

Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1929)

Peter Leonard, Australian journalist (born 1942)

Loren Pope, American journalist and author (born 1910)

Oliver Crawford, American screenwriter and author (born 1917)

Marc Moulin, Belgian keyboard player, producer, and journalist (born 1942)

Paul Newman, American actor, director, producer, and businessman (born 1925)

Ângelo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer (born 1925)

Bob Friend, English journalist (born 1938)

Eileen Herlie, Scottish-American actress (born 1918)

George Emil Palade, Romanian-American biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912)

Marjorie Fletcher, English Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service (born 1932)

Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (born 1950)

Ernst-Paul Hasselbach, Surinamese-Dutch television host and producer (born 1966)

Neal Hefti, American trumpet player and composer (born 1922)

Edie Adams, American actress and singer (born 1927)

Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (born 1914)

Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (born 1922)

Mike Baker, American singer-songwriter (born 1963)

Pedro Pompilio, Argentinian businessman (born 1950)

Jean Fournet, French conductor (born 1913)

Michael Crichton, American medical doctor, author, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1942)

Kristin Hunter, American author and academic (born 1931)

Robert E. Valett, American psychologist, teacher, and author (born 1927)

George Stephen Morrison, American admiral (born 1919)

Pete Newell, American basketball player and coach (born 1915)

Odetta, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (born 1930)

Henry Molaison, American memory disorder patient (born 1926)

Robert Zajonc, Polish-American psychologist and author (born 1923)

Herbert Hutner, American banker and lawyer (born 1908)

Oliver Postgate, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

Bettie Page, American model (born 1923)

Avery Dulles, American cardinal and theologian (born 1918)

Van Johnson, American actor (born 1916)

León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian engineer and politician, 46th President of Ecuador (born 1931)

James Bevel, American minister and activist (born 1936)

Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (born 1932)

Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (born 1925)

Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (born 1912)