2008

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday, in the Anno Domini (or common) era, in accordance to the Gregorian calendar.

2008 has been designated as:

• International Year of Planet Earth;
• European Year of Intercultural Dialogue;
• Australian Year of the Scout;
• International Year of the Potato;
• International Year of Sanitation.

In Chinese astrology, most of 2008, starting with February 7 will overlap with the Year of the Rat (Dates before February 7 are Year of the Pig). The next Year of the Rat will be in 2020.

Events

January

• January 1 - Cyprus, Malta and Akrotiri and Dhekelia adopted the euro.
• January 1 - Slovenia takes over the presidency of European Union as the first of new member states.
• January 1 - The Venezuelan bolívar is expected, as a result of a government decree is
• January 1 - 30 people killed in Baghdad funeral bombing during Iraq War

sued on March 7, 2007, to be revalued at a ratio of 1 to 1000 and renamed the bolívar fuerte (ISO 4217 code: VEF).

Predicted and scheduled events

January

• January - The iPhone by Apple Inc. will be released in Canada
• January - Building for the new Liverpool Arena should be completed.
• January - The Andean Community and Mercosur will fully integrate into the Union of South American Nations.
• January 3 - Iowa Presidential Caucus
• January 5 - Early presidential elections will be held in Georgia.
• January 7- Ohio State plays Louisiana State in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship game.
• January 8 - New Hampshire Presidential primary
• January 14 - January 27 - 2008 Australian Open Tennis Championships at Melbourne Park.
• January 21 - Scheduled opening ceremony of the 2008 African Cup of Nations to be held in Ghana.
• January 25 - Scheduled opening day of Techfest to be held at IIT Bombay in India.
• January 26 - Bishop Wim Eijk is to be installed as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht.
• January 26 - India's republic day.
• January 30 - Scientists give a 1 in 25 chance that asteroid 2007 WD5 will hit the planet Mars on this date.

February

• February - General election to be held in Pakistan.
• February - Chief of the Defence Staff (Canada) General Rick Hillier's term is set to end.
• February 3 - Super Bowl XLII held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
• February 7 - A partial Solar eclipse over eastern Australia, Antarctica and New Zealand.
• February 10 - The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
• February 11 - Inaugural events celebrating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
• February 14 - The Space Shuttle Endeavour is to lift off on mission STS-123 to add the first section of the Japanese Kibo module to the International Space Station.
• february 14- Valentine's Day

• February 17 - The 50th annual Daytona 500 to be held at Daytona Beach, Florida.
• February 21 - Total lunar eclipse - North and South America, Europe, Africa and Western Asia.
• February 24 - The 80th Academy Awards will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.
• February 27 - The Santo Domingo Metro is expected to be completed and ready for test-runs by the Dominican Republic Government.

March

• March 2 - 2008 Russian presidential election.
• March 9 and March 16 - Municipal election in France. (announcement in French)
• March 9 - Tentative date for the Spanish general election.
• March 9 - Tentative date for the Andalusian autonomic election.
• March 14 - Iranian parliamentary election, 2008.
• March 16 - The 2008 Formula 1 World Championship begins in Melbourne, Australia
• March 22 - Republic of China presidential election to be held in Taiwan
• March 28 - The 2008 Major League Soccer season starts
• March 30 - Nationals Park officially opens up for business when the Washington Nationals host the Atlanta Braves in their first ever baseball game on Sunday Night Baseball in Washington, DC

April

• April 6 - The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 comes into force in the UK.
• April 20 - Elections in Paraguay
• April 28 - The First Cathedral celebrates 40 years as a Christian ministry.

May

• May - Large Hadron Collider (located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland) is scheduled to begin operation, it will become the world’s largest particle physics laboratory when it begins operations.
• May 1 - Local elections, for 143 English councils and all Welsh councils, to take place in the United Kingdom.
• May 14 - The UEFA Cup Final to be held at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester.
• May 16 - Dominican Republic presidential elections.
• May 21 - The UEFA Champions League Final to be held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
• May 24 - The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Final will take place in Belgrade, Serbia, following semi finals on May 20 and 22.
• May 25 - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft will land on Mars.
• May 25 - The 92nd edition of the Indianapolis 500 will be run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the main race of the IndyCar Series.

June

• June 7-June 29 - UEFA Euro 2008 Championship tournament. Joint hosts Switzerland and Austria.
• June 9-June 15 - the United States Golf Open 2008 is scheduled at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course).
• June 14 - Expo 2008 scheduled to begin in Zaragoza, Spain.

July

• July 15–July 20 - World Youth Day will occur in Sydney Australia, largest youth gathering in Southern Hemisphere with visit of Pope Benedict XVI.
• July 31 - Bill Gates will step down from daily duties at the Microsoft Corporation after over three decades.

August

• August 2-August 9 - The National Eisteddfod of Wales will be held in Cardiff, South Wales
• August 8-August 24 - The 2008 Summer Olympics will take place in Beijing, China.
• August 11 - Elections are held in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Governor, Regional Vice Governor and Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly following Republic Act No. 9333.
• August 14 - 2008 Formula Zero Championship begins in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

September

• September 27 - The Australian Football League Grand Final will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

October

• October 30-November 16 — The inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup will be held in New Zealand.

November

• November 2 - The 2008 Formula 1 World Championship will end at São Paulo, Brazil
• November 4 - Presidential election slated in the United States to elect the 44th President of the United States. Congressional Elections for the House of Representatives and one third of the Senators (second class).
• November 4 - Gubernatorial election slated in Puerto Rico to elect the Governor of the island.
• November 15 - New Zealand will hold a general election on or before this date.
• November 20-December 7 - 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup to be held in Chile.
• November 28 - Legislative election in Romania.

December

• December 15 - The Netherlands Antilles will be formally abolished.
• December 30 - Burj Dubai expected to be completed. It will be the world's tallest building.

Unknown dates

• The United Nations is to review drug policies around the world.
• The United Kingdom plans to complete a 5-year process to cease analog television broadcasts region-by-region, starting with Border. This process has already begun.
• New China Central Television headquarters buildings open.

Ongoing Events

• Iraq War
• War in Afghanistan
• Conflict in Darfur
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2008

2008 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	2008 MMVIII
Ab urbe condita	2761
Armenian calendar	1457 ԹՎ ՌՆԾԷ
Assyrian calendar	6758
Baháʼí calendar	164–165
Balinese saka calendar	1929–1930
Bengali calendar	1415
Berber calendar	2958
British Regnal year	56 Eliz. 2 – 57 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2552
Burmese calendar	1370
Byzantine calendar	7516–7517
Chinese calendar	丁亥年 (Fire Pig) 4705 or 4498     — to — 戊子年 (Earth Rat) 4706 or 4499
Coptic calendar	1724–1725
Discordian calendar	3174
Ethiopian calendar	2000–2001
Hebrew calendar	5768–5769
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2064–2065
- Shaka Samvat	1929–1930
- Kali Yuga	5108–5109
Holocene calendar	12008
Igbo calendar	1008–1009
Iranian calendar	1386–1387
Islamic calendar	1428–1430
Japanese calendar	Heisei 20 (平成２０年)
Javanese calendar	1940–1941
Juche calendar	97
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4341
Minguo calendar	ROC 97 民國97年
Nanakshahi calendar	540
Thai solar calendar	2551
Tibetan calendar	阴火猪年 (female Fire-Pig) 2134 or 1753 or 981     — to — 阳土鼠年 (male Earth-Rat) 2135 or 1754 or 982
Unix time	1199145600 – 1230767999

Major religious holidays

• January 7 - Christmas in Eastern Christianity
• February 6 - Ash Wednesday
• March 17 - St. Patrick's Day celebrated in Ireland and the United States
• March 20 - March Equinox, also known as Ostara
• March 20 - Purim
• March 23 - Easter Sunday, the earliest Easter has fallen since 1913
• March 25 - Holi
• April 20 - Passover
• April 27 - Pascha in Eastern Christianity
• May 1 - Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
• May 20 - Vesak in Buddhism
• June 9 - Shavuot
• June 20 - June Solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha
• August 1 - Lammas, a Cross-quarter day
• September 22 - September Equinox, also known as Mabon
• September 30 - Rosh Hashana
• October 2 - Eid ul-Fitr
• October 9 - Yom Kippur
• October 28 - Diwali
• November 1 - Samhain, a Cross-quarter day and Neopagan new year
• December 21 - December Solstice, also known as Yule
• December 8 - Eid ul-Adha
• December 21 - Hanukkah begins at sundown
• December 25 - Christmas in Western Christianity

2008 in fiction

Books

• Isaac Asimov's 1955 short story Franchise takes place in 2008, the premise being that the U.S. president will be selected by a computer program looking for the "most representative citizen".
• John Barnes, Mother of Storms (1995) begins with a 2008 UN resolution barring any nation from acquiring nuclear weapons after June 1, 2008, subject to penalty of preemptive strike.
• Gregory Benford's books The Jupiter War and The Threads of Time are set in 2008.
• The Galactic Milieu Series by Julian May features Earth's first contact with an alien race on June 20, 2008
• In Francis Anderson's 1992 book "Future Undetermined" the UN bans civilians from owning handguns on March 29.
• Ian McDonald's "Chaga Saga" (Evolution's Shore and Kirinya) begins with the March 13, 2008 impact arrival of the plant form Chaga from outer space.
• Alan E. Nourse's 1957 book Rocket to Limbo begins with the March 3, 2008 launch of the starship Argonaut on a centuries long trip to Alpha Centauri
• The Mote in God's Eye (1974) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle postulates that faster than light travel is perfected in 2008.
• The Next War, a controversial 1996 novel about the post-Soviet era, co-authored by former U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, looks at a possible 2008 nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia.

Computer and video games

Set in 2008:

• Ghost Recon (2001): Russia attempts to reunite the Soviet Union and invades several Eastern European countries. The UN intervenes with peacekeeping forces.
• Splinter Cell series: Sam Fisher goes undercover.
• Shattered Union: U.S. President David Jefferson Adams is elected in a Sham election, and becomes the most unpopular president in U.S. history.
• Twisted Metal 3 (1998)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)

Film

• Jason X (Friday the 13th series, 2002): Mass murderer Jason Voorhees is captured for the 2nd time and sentenced to death. Though the US government is unsure how to execute him, an electric chair, a gas chamber, a firing squad, and hanging are all tried - none of which work.
• The Lake House (2006): The ending takes place on Valentine's Day, 2008.
• 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007): The final act takes place in Tokyo during 2008.
• Set in 2008:
  • Silent Running (1971)
  • Southland Tales (2007)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Television

• Dawson's Creek (2003 series finale): The characters meet once again. Dawson is creator of a television series, The Creek, based on his life.
• Futurama (1999 episode "Space Pilot 3000"): Suicide booths are invented.
• The 2007 series of Doctor Who Present time (Such as Smith and Jones) is primarily set in 2008.

External links

• 2008 Calendar at Internet Accuracy Project