// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var year_end_tool = new Array(); year_end_tool.ID = "year_end_tool"; year_end_tool.ID_WB = 28282106; year_end_tool.sPubDate = "12/17/2008 11:10:59 PM GMT"; year_end_tool.navsectionID = "3032506" year_end_tool.appFmt = 9; year_end_tool.itemsPerPage = 1; year_end_tool.appWidth = 624; year_end_tool.appHeader = "Interactive | Chronology of news events in 2008"; year_end_tool.appFooter = "Source: The Associated Press"; year_end_tool.appNavStyle = 4; year_end_tool.instrument = 1; year_end_tool.appLayout = 3; year_end_tool.copyHeight = 600; year_end_tool.copyWidth = 450; year_end_tool.copyMargin = 9; year_end_tool[i++] = new Array("","Introduction ","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081104-obama-family-hmed-915p.hmedium.jpg","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "Scott Olson", "Getty Images", "273", "378", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); year_end_tool[i-1].body = "

In 2008, the word was everywhere. It was something we could believe in. But by the end of 2008 it was not, most definitely, richly jingling in our pockets.

The word was \"change.\" It was what we craved, what we feared, what we endured.

After a long, long campaign, America elected its first African-American president. And it was Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois who first pounded the word into a drumbeat that echoed far beyond politics. In any other year, that victory would have stood alone as a chapter in history.

But this was not any other year.

Global stock markets plunged — and then plunged some more. By the end of the third quarter, one in 10 mortgage holders was in foreclosure or delinquent in payments — a 76 percent increase from the previous year, the Mortgage Bankers Association says.

America cut 533,000 jobs in November alone — the biggest loss in 34 years — shooting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent. And, oh by the way, Americans were told, we’ve actually been in a recession since December 2007.

And then there is the very dangerous world. In Iraq and Afghanistan, war raged on through 2008.

In Zimbabwe, where dictator Robert Mugabe continues to wage war on his own people, the word “inflation” lost all meaning as it reached 231 million percent and a cholera epidemic threatened villages and cities alike. Off the coast of Somalia, an old word — “piracy” — took new and unsettling meaning. In Mumbai, a team of terrorists killed 171 people over three days.

In Iran and North Korea, hostile regimes and nuclear capabilities remained a scary combination.

It all might seem impossible, and yet, Obama did not seem at all daunted when he spoke to thousands at Chicago’s Grant Park, on the night of his victory.

“This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope.\"

The following is a chronology of news events in 2008.

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  • Jan. 1: Revelers celebrate the new year around the world; ball drops for 100th year in New York’s Times Square.

  • Jan. 2: Pakistan postpones elections to next month due to continued rioting after the assassination of leading opposition candidate Benazir Bhutto.

    Oil prices soar to $100 a barrel for the first time.

  • Jan. 3: Barack Obama wins Democratic caucuses in Iowa, while Mike Huckabee wins Republican caucuses.

  • Jan. 4: Nation’s jobless rate hits 5 percent, a 2-year high, fanning recession fears.

    Britney Spears loses custody of her two sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline a day after police and paramedics are called to her home.

  • Jan. 8: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John McCain win New Hampshire primaries.

  • Jan. 10: President George W. Bush, visiting Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, says a Mideast peace pact will require “painful political concessions by both sides.”

  • Jan. 11: Bank of America says it will buy Countrywide Financial in a deal that rescues the country’s biggest mortgage lender.

    Sir Edmund Hillary, first to summit Mount Everest, dies.

  • Jan. 13: Golden Globes are announced at dry, news conference-style ceremony, devoid of stars because of the Hollywood writers’ strike.

  • Jan. 22: Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger, 28, dies of accidental prescription drug overdose.

  • Jan. 28: Bush, in his final State of the Union address, urges passage of an economic stimulus package, saying “we can all see that growth is slowing.”

  • Jan. 31: Dow industrial average closes at 12,650 to end its worst January in eight years with a decline of 4.63 percent.

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  • Feb. 1: Exxon Mobil posts the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — and the biggest quarterly profit, breaking its own records.

    Microsoft announces unsolicited bid for Yahoo, which soon rejects it.

  • Feb. 3: New York Giants score late touchdown for spectacular Super Bowl win that ends New England Patriots’ run at perfection.

  • Feb. 5: McCain wins several states on Super Tuesday; Clinton and Obama trade victories.

  • Feb. 7: Sugar dust explosion at a refinery near Savannah, Ga., kills 14 workers.

  • Feb. 10: Amy Winehouse wins five Grammys and delivers defiant performance of “Rehab” from London.

  • Feb. 11: Pentagon charges six Guantanamo Bay detainees with murder and war crimes for Sept. 11 terror attacks.

  • Feb. 12: Obama overtakes Clinton in race for Democratic convention delegates.

    General Motors says it lost $38.7 billion last year, the largest annual loss in automotive history, and offers buyouts to 74,000 hourly workers.

    Barking, baying Uno becomes first beagle named Westminster’s best in show.

  • Feb. 13: Roger Clemens tells Congress: “I have never taken steroids or HGH,” and is later investigated for possible perjury.

    Hollywood writers end 100-day strike that disrupted TV season and canceled awards shows.

  • Feb. 18: Opposition parties of Bhutto and ex-premier Nawaz Sharif win enough seats to form new government in Pakistan.

  • Feb. 19: Fidel Castro resigns the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; brother Raul later named as president.

  • Feb. 23: Jennifer Lopez gives birth to twins Max and Emme, with husband Marc Anthony.

  • Feb. 24: Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” wins Academy Awards for best picture, best director.

  • Feb. 29: British defense chiefs pull Prince Harry out of combat zone in Afghanistan after word of his 10-week deployment becomes public.
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  • March 2: Dmitry Medvedev, hand-picked as Vladimir Putin’s successor, scores crushing victory in Russia’s presidential election.

  • March 4: Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre retires after 17 seasons, says he’s “tired.”

  • March 5: McCain clinches Republican nomination.

  • March 7: Labor Department says employers slashed 63,000 jobs in February, most in 5 years.

  • March 9: Spain’s governing Socialists win second term but without a majority in parliament.

  • March 12: New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigns two days after reports surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring.

  • March 13: Gold hits record, rising to $1,000 an ounce for first time, but falls sharply later in year.

  • March 14: Protests led by Buddhist monks in Tibet turn violent, leading to an extensive crackdown by China’s military.

  • March 15: Construction crane topples in New York City, killing seven people.

  • March 17: Paul McCartney’s divorce from Heather Mills is settled for $48.6 million.

  • March 18: In bold speech in Philadelphia, Obama urges nation to break its “racial stalemate.”

  • March 19: Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90.

  • March 23: American death toll in Iraq reaches at least 4,000 after roadside bomb kills four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad.

  • March 30: Army says remains of Sgt. Matt Maupin, captured in Iraq in 2004, have been found.

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  • April 3: NATO decides not to put Georgia and Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement Russian opposition, but pledges they will become members one day.

  • April 4: Texas authorities start removing first of more than 400 girls from compound built by polygamist sect.

  • April 5: Charlton Heston, big-screen hero and later leader of National Rifle Association, dies at 84.

  • April 7: Anti-China protesters disrupt the Olympic torch relay in Paris, at times forcing Chinese organizers to put out the flame and take the torch onto a bus to secure it.

  • April 14: Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., announce they are combining.

  • April 16: Supreme Court upholds lethal injection method, which lets states resume executions after seven-month halt.

  • April 18: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gives birth to a boy, Trig, who has Down syndrome.

  • April 21: Gasoline prices jump to record $3.50 a gallon in U.S.

  • April 24: White House says North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and a nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel last year was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”

  • April 25: Three New York police detectives are acquitted in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day.

  • April 26: Police in Austria arrest man, free his daughter and her six children, whom he fathered while holding the woman captive in a cellar for 24 years.

  • April 28: First tax rebates are sent from the $168 billion stimulus package.

  • April 29: Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD, dies at 102.

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  • May 3: Powerful Tropical Cyclone Nargis strikes Myanmar.

  • May 10: Jenna Bush marries Henry Hager, son of Virginia Republican party official, at Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas.

  • May 12: Devastating earthquake in China’s Sichuan province kills 70,000; deaths of children in shoddily built schools prompt public outrage.

    Nearly 400 workers arrested in immigration raid at kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa.

  • May 13: LPGA great Annika Sorenstam says she will retire at end of golf season.

  • May 15: Red Cross estimates Myanmar cyclone caused as many as 128,000 deaths and predicts more unless ruling junta lets in aid quickly.

    California Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage, but conservatives press for constitutional ban to be on November ballot.

  • May 17: Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown runs away with the Preakness; Triple Crown quest ends three weeks later when he finishes last in Belmont Stakes.

  • May 20: Sen. Edward Kennedy is diagnosed with cancerous brain tumor.

  • May 21: Oil prices blow past $130 a barrel and gas prices climb above $3.80 a gallon.

    David Cook wins “American Idol” in landslide over David Archuleta.

  • May 22: Indiana Jones returns to big-screen in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

  • May 23: Myanmar’s rulers lift ban on foreign aid workers and commercial ships, but refuses cyclone aid from U.S., French and British military ships.

  • May 25: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander arrives to begin search for water on Red Planet.

  • May 29: Texas Supreme Court says children seized from polygamist sect should be returned to parents.

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  • June 3: Obama clinches Democratic nomination, making him first black candidate to lead his party.

    General Motors closes four pickup and SUV factories as it tries to adjust to customers’ preference to small cars amid high gas prices.

  • June 6: Dow industrial average drops 394 points to 12,209, its worst loss in more than a year.

  • June 7: Clinton ends her presidential campaign and gives Obama unqualified endorsement.

  • June 9: Retail gas prices rise above $4 per gallon.

  • June 13: Floods swamp Iowa cities, evacuations urged in low-lying areas of Des Moines.

  • June 16: Tiger Woods, playing on a throbbing injured knee, wins epic U.S. Open after 19-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate. He later has surgery and misses rest of year.

  • June 17: Truck bombing in Baghdad kills 63, highest toll in Iraq in three months.

    Boston Celtics win 17th NBA title, and first in two decades, over Los Angeles Lakers.

  • June 19: Obama says he’ll bypass public financing for general election, even though McCain accepts it.

  • June 22: Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulls out of Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff because violence against his supporters has discredited the vote.

    George Carlin, known for “Seven Words...” comedy routine, dies.

  • June 26: Supreme Court affirms that Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to own guns.

    Oil prices pass $140 a barrel, and Dow industrials drop 358 points, more than 3 percent, to close at 11,453.

  • June 27: North Korea destroys the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program, the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor.

    Widespread voter intimidation ensures President Robert Mugabe of winning Zimbabwe election.

  • UNDATED: Zimbabwe election.
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  • July 2: Colombian spies trick rebels to free kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors.

  • July 4: Jesse Helms, unyielding conservative in Senate for 30 years, dies.

  • July 6: U.S. launches airstrike at combatants in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province; Afghan government later says 47 civilians died.

    Rafael Nadal wins riveting five-set Wimbledon final, denying Roger Federer sixth straight title.

  • July 7: Suicide car bomb at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan kills at least 58, the deadliest attack in Kabul since 2001.

  • July 9: Prosecutor says new DNA tests clear JonBenet Ramsey’s family in the girl’s 1996 slaying.

  • July 11: Oil prices reach all-time high of $147 a barrel.

  • July 12: Angelina Jolie gives birth to twins Knox and Vivienne, making family of eight with Brad Pitt.

  • July 14: Belgian brewer InBev SA says it’s buying Anheuser-Busch.

  • July 18: Epic Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” premieres.

  • July 19: Obama visits U.S. troops in Afghanistan during war-zone tour with other senators.

  • July 24: Ford Motor Co. posts worst quarterly performance in its history, losing $8.67 billion, and plans to quickly change focus from trucks to small cars.

  • July 30: Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is extradited to face genocide charges at U.N. war crimes tribunal after nearly 13 years on the run.

  • July 31: Monthly U.S. toll in Iraq falls to lowest point since war began; Iraqis also dying in dramatically lower numbers.
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  • Aug. 5:Oil prices fall below $120 a barrel for first time since May.

  • Aug. 6: Government says troubled Army scientist Bruce Ivins was solely responsible for 2001 anthrax attacks.

  • Aug. 7: Brett Favre ends offseason-long retirement and joins New York Jets.

  • Aug. 8: Former presidential candidate John Edwards admits he had an extramarital affair.

    Russia sends armored column into the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia after Georgia launches offensive to crush separatists there.

  • Aug. 10: Michael Phelps wins gold in his first swim event at Beijing Olympics.

  • Aug. 14: Consumer prices jump 0.8 percent; inflation rising at fastest rate in 17 years.

  • Aug. 15: Nastia Liukin edges U.S. teammate Shawn Johnson for gymnastics gold.

  • Aug. 19: Georgia’s president signs cease-fire that also calls on Russia to end hostilities.

  • Aug. 16: Phelps wins a record eighth gold medal in a single Olympics.

    Jamaica’s Usain Bolt speeds to Olympic gold in 100 meter dash.

    Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi marry at California home.

  • Aug. 20: Flooding from Tropical Storm Fay swamps Florida for a third day.

  • Aug. 23: Obama introduces running mate Joe Biden as leader ready to be president.

  • Aug. 26: Russia recognizes independence of two Georgian breakaway regions over Western opposition.

  • Aug. 28: Obama accepts Democratic presidential nomination, saying his life shows the promise of America.

  • Aug. 29: McCain picks Palin as running mate, says she is reformer like him.

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  • Sept. 1: Weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav hits Louisiana with only glancing blow on New Orleans.

  • Sept. 4: McCain accepts Republican nomination and urges crowd to “fight for what’s right for our country.”

    Dow industrial average falls 344 points to 11,188 on gloomy economic data.

    Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigns and pleads guilty to obstruction of justice in sex scandal. He’s later sentenced to four months in jail.

  • Sept. 5: Unemployment climbs to 5-year high of 6.1 percent.

  • Sept. 7: Troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac placed in government conservatorship.

  • Sept. 11: Two U.S. deaths make 2008 deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since 2001 invasion.

  • Sept. 12: Commuter train strikes freight train in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

    China says it’s investigating milk powder tainted with industrial chemical melamine that has sickened babies. Country later reports more than 50,000 illnesses from milk products.

  • Sept. 13: Large Hurricane Ike bashes Texas coast, blows out windows in Houston skyscrapers.

  • Sept. 15: Dow industrial average drops 504 points to 10,917, while oil closes below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in financial industry.

  • Sept. 21: Sleek ’60s drama “Mad Men” becomes first basic-cable show to win top series Emmy; “30 Rock” and its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin win comedy awards.

  • Sept. 24: Galveston reopens to residents who are warned about Ike’s debris and lack of utilities.

  • Sept. 26: Hollywood screen legend and philanthropist Paul Newman dies.

  • Sept. 27: China marks its first spacewalk as astronaut Zhai Zhigang floats outside for 13 minutes.

  • Sept. 29: Stock markets plunge as House defeats $700 billion emergency bailout plan.
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  • Oct. 3: The $700 billion bailout of nation’s battered financial industry is approved by Congress and signed by Bush amid dire warnings if it fails.

  • Oct. 4: O.J. Simpson convicted of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

  • Oct. 6: Dow industrial average drops to 9,955, first close below 10,000 since 2004.

  • Oct. 7: In second presidential debate, Obama and McCain clash repeatedly over the causes and cures for economic crisis.

  • Oct. 10: Pirates off Somalia issue ultimatum to destroy hijacked tanker carrying tanks and other heavy weapons if ransom is not paid.

  • Oct. 11: U.S. removes North Korea from terrorism blacklist after it relents on nuclear inspections.

  • Oct. 13: Dow industrial average gains shocking 936 points after eight days of losses, but can’t withstand economic worries.

  • Oct. 14: Florida mother Casey Anthony arrested on first-degree murder charge alleging she killed her 3-year-old daughter, Caylee.

  • Oct. 15: Madonna and Guy Ritchie announce they’re divorcing after nearly 8 years of marriage.

  • Oct. 16: Oil prices fall below $70 a barrel, less than half the July peak.

  • Oct. 24: Relatives of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson found slain in Chicago home; her estranged brother-in-law later arrested.

  • Oct. 27: Alaska’s Sen. Ted Stevens convicted of corruption but calls verdict unjust; later loses re-election to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

  • Oct. 29: Philadelphia Phillies close out rain-delayed Game 5 after two days to win World Series over Tampa Bay Rays.

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  • Nov. 2: Madelyn Payne Dunham, grandmother whom Obama praised as teaching many life lessons, dies.

  • Nov. 3: Alaska personnel board finds Palin violated no ethics laws by firing public safety commissioner.

  • Nov. 4: Obama wins presidency, says “change has come to America.”

    Democrats gain seats in Senate and House.

    Voters in California ban same-sex marriage just months after state Supreme Court legalized it.

  • Nov. 7: School in Haiti collapses while children are in classes; causing more than 90 deaths.

    Unemployment bolts to 14-year high of 6.5 percent.

  • Nov. 12: Same-sex marriages begin in Connecticut, month after court ruled gays have right to wed.

  • Nov. 15: Wildfire destroys nearly 500 mobile homes in Los Angeles.

  • Nov. 17: Somali pirates hijack Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million in crude.

  • Nov. 19: Dow industrial average closes under 8,000 — lowest close since March 2003.

    Aid groups say Zimbabwe’s government is to blame for a cholera epidemic.

  • Nov. 22: Obama promotes economic plan he says will create or save 2.5 million jobs.

    Revised Nebraska safe-haven law takes effect with 30-day age limit, ending abandonments of older children.

  • Nov. 26: Gunmen storm luxury hotels, crowded train station and Jewish center in Mumbai, India, holding and killing captives while repelling police response.

  • Nov. 28: Dow industrials rise for fifth-straight session, rallying on Obama’s economic team and government efforts to fight financial crisis.

  • Nov. 29: Indian commandos end militants’ 60-hour rampage through India’s financial capital that killed 164 people.
    "; // END editorial data