Life In 2008

                         Life in 2008

-          Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries (Jan. 1^st.)

-          New Jersey officially apologizes for slavery, becoming the first Northern state to do so (Jan. 8^th.)

-          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% (Jan. 21^st.)

-          Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes an historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations (Feb. 13^th.)

-          Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia (Feb. 17^th.)

-          Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election (March 24^th.)

-          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 15^th.)

-          The Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental organization between states in South America, is founded (May 23^rd.)

-          The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty (May 28^th.)

-          Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologizes, on behalf of the Canadian government, to the country's First Nations for the Canadian Indian residential school system (June 11th.)

-          Radovan Karadžić, the first president of the Republika Srpska, is arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on allegations of war crimes, following a 12-year-long manhunt (June 21st.)

-          Denmark is the first European economy to confirm it is in recession since the global credit crunch began; its GDP shrinks 0.6% in the first quarter after a 0.2% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2007 (July 1^st.)

-          Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Aug. 26^th.)

-          US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Sept. 7^th.)

-          The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland (Sept. 10^th.)

-          Singapore becomes the first Asian country to slip into a recession since the credit crisis began: growth has faltered as a result of less demand for exports, a reduction in tourism, and the end of the real-estate boom (Oct. 10^th.)

-          "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 (Oct. 24^th.)

-          Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to 5 (Oct. 29^th.)

-          U.S. Senator Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first black President (Nov. 4th.)

-          The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) set sail on her final voyage to Dubai (Nov. 11^th.)

-          Eurozone officially slips into recession for the first time since its creation in 1999, pushed down by recessions in Germany and Italy (Nov. 14^th.)

-          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 (Dec. 10th.)

-          Bernard Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme (Dec. 11^th.)

-          Jessica Cox became the world's first licensed armless pilot.

-          The United States was ranked the 18th most obese nation.

-          DNA tests were made available to the public.