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THE YEAR THAT WAS - Best of 2008
DECEMBER
Signatories to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (in force since 1997) meet in The Hague: 188 countries have signed the convention, and 182 have ratified it.
Leaded fuel for cars and lorries, already eliminated from developed countries, is due to disappear worldwide, following a programme begun in 2006 to phase out leaded petrol in less developed countries.
End-of-year deadline, after four years, for European Union nations to recover or incinerate 60% by weight of their packaging waste.
NOVEMBER
America chooses (11/04) a new president. Voters also elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the 100-seat Senate. Several states elect governors, too.
The world's tobacco industry meets in Macau for World Tobacco Asia 2008—recognition that while the West persecutes smoking, China, already with 350m smokers, remains a growth market.
In a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, Wal-Mart opens its first store in India.
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (book VI) is expected to be released in theaters. And "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 2010.
OCTOBER
Azerbaijan holds a presidential election; Belarus holds a parliamentary election. International observers will doubtless find electoral imperfections in both countries.
Lithuanian voters choose a new, four-year parliament.
The Rugby League World Cup, featuring ten teams, begins in Australia. It is the first for the tough types of rugby's 13-a-side code since 2000 in Britain.
The International Salon of Taste opens in Turin, organised by Italy's Slow Food Movement, a group founded in 1986 to protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Rome's Piazza di Spagna.
The French-speaking world, boasting 200m people in some 68 countries (with French an official language in 32 of them), celebrates la Francophonie in Quebec.
SEPTEMBER
The Republican Party holds its pre-election convention in Minneapolis-St Paul to anoint its candidate to succeed President Bush—and to lambaste the Democrats.
Some 4,000 disabled athletes from around the world meet in Beijing for the Paralympic games.
The UN General Assembly meets in New York.
Hong Kong elects a new 60-seat Legislative Council—half by direct popular vote and half indirectly.
AUGUST
China plays host to the Beijing Olympics (8/08-24) — and the athletes pray for clean air.
After an exhausting primary season, the Democratic Party gathers in Denver to anoint its presidential candidate and lambaste the Republicans.
Scholars, journalists, geeks and other fans of Wikipedia, an open-access internet encyclopedia, meet in Alexandria for Wikimania 2008.
JULY
All but the most minimal amounts of trans fats will be banned in New York restaurants.
France takes over the EU presidency from Slovenia.
Japan hosts the G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido.
Cycling's Tour de France, three weeks of drama and drug-testing, starts in Brittany.
JUNE
Roger Federer hopes to win the final of the French Open, the only grand-slam tournament so far to have eluded him.
France delights in the Fête de la Musique, free live music in the open air for the whole nation.
America celebrates Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
UEFA's Euro 2008 football tournament takes place in Austria and Switzerland.
The hurricane season officially begins in the North Atlantic, threatening the Caribbean region in particular.
MAY
Cinema people gather for the Cannes film festival — and TV viewers tune in to the kitsch of the Eurovision song contest, live from Serbia.
Israel throws a party for its 60th anniversary; Palestinians mourn the nakba (catastrophe).
London elects its mayor, pitting the Labour Party incumbent, Ken Livingstone, against the Conservatives' Boris Johnson.
APRIL
Environmentalists celebrate Earth Day, to encourage energy efficiency and deplore ecological waste.
No more Harry Potter books, but parents will still celebrate International Childrens Book Day.
The QE2, destined to become a floating hotel in Dubai, ends its final round-the-world cruise.
MARCH
Iditarod dog-sled race, in which mushers drive their huskies across more than 1,000 miles of snow-covered Alaska wilderness.
Taiwan presidential polls (3/22) after a new legislature is elected (1/12), the oppostion KMT is well placed to dominate both.
China suppressed the worst outbreak of violence in Tibet since 1989 and perhaps since 1959 (when Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was forced into exile). The violence spread from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, to other areas of the region. China blamed the Dalai Lama for fomenting the violence even though he called for an end to it. See article China's annual session of parliament ended (3/18) with the appointment of Li Keqiang as vice-prime minister. Mr Li is tipped as a candidate for the top when the current generation of leaders retires.
Russians elect (3/02) Dmitry Medvedev 梅德韋杰夫 to succeed term-limited Vladimir Putin.
Zimbabwe holds a presidential election. The last, in 2002, led to charges of fraud and intimidation.
Fifth anniversary of the American-led war in Iraq.
Western Christianity celebrates Easter on the 23rd, the earliest date since 1913.
FEBRUARY
Brazilians and foreigners alike dance to hedonistic excess at the Rio de Janeiro carnival.
Hollywood, for the 80th time, hands out the Oscars to the film world's finest — one day after the Golden Raspberries for the film world's direst. "No Country for Old Men," the terrifying tale of a drug deal gone awry, did the expected and took home Oscar gold Sunday night (2/24) as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named it the best picture for 2007.
Authorities in China are stepping up efforts to deal with some of the worst winter weather in half a century. Heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures across much of the country have left more than 100 people dead, cut power supplies and hit millions of people trying to go home for the Year of the Rat (2/07): supposedly clever, charming and quick-witted.
On the "Super-duper Tuesday" (2/05), a score of states in America hold primaries that could point to the presidential nominees.
JANUARY
President George Bush makes his first visit to Israel and the West Bank as president (1/08-16). Bush delivers his last state-of-the-union address (1/28).
Africa starts its Cup of Nations soccer tournament, depriving European teams of many of their best players. 16 teams come to Ghana to contest the championship. The quarterfinals start this weekend (2/03), and Egypt won (2/10) a record sixth African soccer championship with a 1-0 triumph over Cameroon.
Movers and shakers from politics, business and the media meet at the World Economic Forum (1/23-27) in Davos, Switzerland.
In Taiwan's legislative elections (1/12), the opposition Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, trounced the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, resigned as chairman of the DPP, which faces an uphill struggle in March's presidential election.
America's presidential hopefuls take their chances with the voters in the Iowa caucuses (1/03), and in New Hampshire (1/08), one of the few states that allow independent voters a say in primaries.
The WTO opens (1/03) the next round of long-running Doha talks to open up global trade, which seek a cut in farm aid by wealthy nations in return for lower tariffs on manufactured goods in poor countries.
Smoking is banned in France's bars, restaurants and night clubs, adding to the restrictions already in place in offices and public buildings.
If the first trading day (1/2) is any indication, 2008 could be a wild year for the markets. Stocks fell sharply after a key manufacturing report was surprisingly weak, and oil prices touched USD100 a barrel, though there was only one Nymex trade at that price.
Kenya crisis over a disputed vote: The electoral commission had named President Mwai Kibaki winner of the 12/27 vote, even though his party was heavily defeated in the parliamentary election. Rival Raila Odinga alleged fraud. The result stirred tribal rivalries and provoked bloody protests across the country, leaving more than 1,000 dead.
Slovenia assumes (1/01) the presidency of the European Union, and the euro zone expanded to 15 countries as Malta and Greek Cyprus adopted the single european curreny.
Welcome to 2008, Chinese Year of the Rat and the International Year of the Potato. Happy nibbling.
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And What's Ahead
Also of Note:
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