'2008' ('
MMVIII') will be a
leap year starting on Tuesday of the
Gregorian calendar. It has been designated the International Year of Planet Earth.
[1]
It is designated to be:
★ 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.
Predicted and scheduled events
January
★
January - Building for the new
Liverpool Arena should be completed.
Source
★
January 1 -
Russia will be composed of 84 federal subjects instead of 85 as
Ust-Orda Buryatia is merged into
Irkutsk Oblast following a
2006 referendum.
★
January 1 -
Cyprus and
Malta adopt the
euro.
Source
★
January 1 -
Slovenia will start the presidency of
European Union as the first of new member states.
★
January 1 - The
Republic of Ireland will have fully implemented its
postal code system by this date.
★
January 1 - The
Venezuelan bolívar is expected, as a result of a government decree issued on
March 7,
2007, to be revalued at a ratio of 1 to 1000 and renamed the ''bolívar fuerte'' (
ISO 4217 code: VEF).
★
January 9 -
Singapore Changi Airport's Terminal 3 is due to be completed on this day.
★
January 15 -
NASA's
MESSENGER spacecraft makes its first of three flybys of
Mercury at 200 km altitude, to decrease velocity enough to a
2011 orbit insertion.
★
January 19 -
Parliamentary elections in the
Faroe Islands.
★
January 19 - The state of
Nevada will hold its presidential
caucus, sandwiching itself between what, to date, had been the two earliest votes on the candidacy for U.S. presidents, the
Iowa caucus and the
New Hampshire primary.
★
January 20 - Scheduled
opening ceremony of the
2008 African Cup of Nations to be held in
Ghana.
February
★
February 1 -
Sweden plans to cease
analog television broadcasts.
★
February 1 -
Space Shuttle Columbia 5 year Patriot Day held at
Belgrade, Serbia
★
February 2-
February 6 -
Carnival in
Brazil.
★
February 3 -
Super Bowl XLII held at
University of Phoenix Stadium in
Glendale,
Arizona.
★
February 7 - Annular
solar eclipse
★
February 8 -
Santo Domingo Metro will be complete and open.
★
February 10 - The
50th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at the
Staples Center in
Los Angeles,
CA.
★
February 14 - The 178-metre high
Singapore Flyer is expected to be completed in this day and could become the tallest
observation wheel in the world.
★
February 17 - The
2008 NBA All-Star Game is to be played in
New Orleans, the first year the
New Orleans Hornets are expected to return full-time to New Orleans.
★
February 17 - The 50th annual
Daytona 500 to be held at
Daytona Beach,
Florida.
★
February 21 - Total
lunar eclipse -
North and
South America.
★
February 24 - The
80th Academy Awards will take place at the
Kodak Theatre in
Hollywood, California.
★
February 27 - The
Santo Domingo Metro will successfully be completed and ready for test-runs as expected by the
Dominican Republic Government.
March
★
Spain will hold
elections for the
General Courts.
★
March 9 - Tentative date for the
2008 Russian presidential election.
[2]
★
March 22 -
2008 presidential election to be held in
Taiwan.
★
March 23 - The earliest
Easter since
1913.
★
March 30 - Smoking will be banned in all enclosed public places in the
Isle of Man.
April
★ April - The
20th NATO Summit takes place in
Bucharest. It is expected that
Albania,
Croatia and
Macedonia will join
NATO at this date.
★ April -
Washington Nationals' new ballpark expected to open.
★
April 5-
April 7 - NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four to be held at the
Alamodome in
San Antonio.
★
April 5 - Some
Rastafaris believe that
Haile Selassie will be resurrected due to the belief that he will rise after 33.3 years, the approximate age of
Jesus when he died.
★
April 12 - The new
Oslo Opera House in Oslo, Norway will open.
May
★ May - The
Boeing 787 aircraft will enter service.
★ May -
Large Hadron Collider Located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland is scheduled to begin operation.
★
May 1 - Elections to all 22 county and county boroughs take place in
Wales.
★
May 11 - The
Formula 1 Turkey GP to be held at the
Istanbul Park in
Istanbul.
★
May 12 -
Cassini Spacecraft is set to orbit within 100 km of
Enceladus, its closest encounter of the sixth largest moon of
Saturn.
★
May 14 - The
UEFA Cup Final to be held at the
City of Manchester Stadium in
Manchester.
★
May 16 - A
Presidential election slated for the
Dominican Republic.
★
May 20 - President
Chen Shui-bien scheduled to step down after eight years as President of
Taiwan, officially referred to as the
Republic of China.
★
May 21 - The
UEFA Champions League Final to be held at
Luzhniki Stadium in
Moscow.
★
May 22 - The
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Semi-Final will take place in
Serbia.
★
May 24 - The
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Final will take place in
Serbia.
★
May 25 - The
Teatro Colón is set to re-open on its 100-year anniversary after two years of extensive renovation.
★
May 25 - NASA's
Phoenix spacecraft will land on Mars.
★
May 26-
May 31 - The
Urdd National
Eisteddfod will be held at
Penrhyn Bay,
Llandudno,
North Wales.
June
★
June 7-
June 29 -
UEFA Euro 2008 Championship
tournament. Joint hosts
Switzerland and
Austria.
[3]
★
June 8 -
NASA's
Pluto probe ''
New Horizons'' will cross the orbit of
Saturn, after 2½ years journey. The ''
Voyagers'' spent 3 to 4 years to get to Saturn.
★
June 9-
June 15 - the
United States Golf Open 2008 is scheduled at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course).
[4]
★
June 14 -
Expo 2008 scheduled to begin in
Zaragoza,
Spain.
★
June 15 - Launch of NASA
Interstellar Boundary Explorer
★
June 28 - Scheduled remodeling of
White House
July
★
July 15 - The
2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held at
Yankee Stadium in
New York City
★
July 15-
July 20 -
World Youth Day 2008 in
Homebush,
Sydney,
Australia
★
July 31 -
Bill Gates will step down from daily duties at the
Microsoft Corporation after over three decades.
★
July 31 - The
Planck Surveyor will be launched by the
European Space Agency
August
★ The
United Football League plans to launch.
★
August 1 - Total
solar eclipse:
northern Canada, Siberia, Mongolia, northern China
★
August 2-
August 10 - The 31st
European Juggling Convention (EJC) will be held in
Karlsruhe,
Germany
★
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 25 - The 2008
Democratic National Convention convenes in Denver, Colorado.
September
★
Shenzhou 7, China's third manned spacecraft will be launched.
★
September 1 - The 2008
Republican National Convention convenes in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota.
★
September 10 - The
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' is expected to launch on this date on
STS-125, the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission for the
Hubble Space Telescope. This will be the final Space Shuttle mission that does not involve Space Station construction, barring any
STS-300-series rescue missions.
★
September 11 - Tentative topping-out of
Freedom Tower at
World Trade Center site, exactly seven years from
their destruction.
★
September 30 - Set date for the establishment of
United States Africa Command.
October
★
October 6 -
NASA's
MESSENGER spacecraft makes the second of three flybys of
Mercury.
★
October 25 - The
2008 Rugby League World Cup begins in
Sydney with hosts
Australia -
New Zealand.
November
★
Peru will host the 20th
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (
APEC) forum.
★
November 4 -
Presidential election slated in the
United States to elect the
44th President of the United States.
★
November 4 -
Gubernatorial election slated in
Puerto Rico to elect the
Governor of the island.
★
November 22 - The
2008 Rugby League World Cup final takes place at
Suncorp Stadium in
Brisbane.
★
November 27 - The British luxury liner
RMS ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' is to be retired at the
Palm Jumeirah in
Dubai.
December
★
December 15 -The
Netherlands Antilles is to be disbanded.
★
December 26 (approximate) - Opening of the
METRO Light Rail in
Phoenix, Arizona.
★
December 30-
January 12 2009 - 2008
FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship to be held in
Chile.
Unknown dates
★ Construction on
Interstate 10 in
Houston, Texas will be completed.
★ The High Street Bridge & the 5th Street Bridge on
Interstate 880 in
Oakland, California, will be replaced and rebuilt starting in 2008.
★
Lucas Oil Stadium will host the
Bands of America Grand National Championship and
Drum Corps International World Championship for the first time due to the closing of the
RCA Dome in 2008.
★ The
U2 Tower, potentially Ireland's tallest building, opens its doors some time in 2008.
★ The
Indian Space Research Organization plans an un-manned human spaceflight.
★ The United Nations is to review drug policies around the world.
[5][6]
★ Both
Liverpool (
England) and
Stavanger (
Norway) are
European Capital of Culture.
★ The
ECB is expected to issue a new series of
euro banknotes, replacing the old series, and should include new security features along with the incorporation of
Cyprus on the
EU map.
★ The
United Kingdom plans to begin 5-year process to cease
analog television broadcasts region-by-region, starting with
Border[7].
★ The inaugural
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup will be held in
New Zealand.
★
The Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino will be completed in
Las Vegas.
★ The
Palm Jumeirah, part of the
Palm Islands development, is expected to be completed this year in
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates.
★ The
New York Mets will play their final game in
Shea Stadium at some point in late September or October.
★ The
New York Yankees will play their final game at
Yankee Stadium ever at some point in late September or October.
★
Belize must hold
a general election before June of this year.
★ The
Westfield London shopping mall will open.
★ The
Avenue of the Saints, a 4-lane expressway connecting
St. Louis, Missouri, and
St. Paul, Minnesota, is scheduled to be complete.
★ The
Marquette Interchange of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that joins
I-94,
I-43, and
I-794 is going to complete a $810 million reconstruction of the of the
interchange that is going to be completed sometime in December.
★
Karlsruhe,
Germany is set to host the European Juggling Convention
EJC 2008.
★ The
FIA will introduce new regulations for the
Formula 1 in order to reduce the costs and improve racing.
★
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's third runway is expected to open.
★
Honda will start introducing the first commercially available
hydrogen vehicle, the
Honda FCX.
★ The
maiden flight of the
Sukhoi T-50 is expected to take place late in the year.
Major religious holidays
★
February 1 -
Imbolc, a
Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on
February 2 in some places)
★
February 6 -
Ash Wednesday
★
March 9 -
Purim
★
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day celebrated in
Ireland and the
United States
★
March 20 - March
Equinox, also known as
Ostara
★
March 23 -
Easter Sunday, the earliest Easter has fallen since
1913
★
April 20 -
Passover
★
May 1 -
Beltane, a
Cross-quarter day
★
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 9 -
Yom Kippur
★
November 1 -
Samhain, a
Cross-quarter day and
Neopagan new year
★
December 21 - December
Solstice, also known as
Yule
★
December 21 -
Hanukkah
★
December 25 -
Christmas in Western
Christianity
2008 in fiction
Books
★
P.D. James, ''
The Children of Men'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) No children have been born since 1995, and the last generation reaches puberty
Computer and video games
★ ''
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.
★ ''
Banjo Threeie'': The fifth installment to the "Banjo Kazooie" series by Rare. (Not certain. Could be in 2009)
★ Set in 2008:
★
★ ''
Mega Man 2'' (1989)
★
★ ''
Twisted Metal 3'' (1998)
Film
★ ''
Jason X'' (
''Friday the 13th'' series, 2002): Mass murderer
Jason Voorhees is
cryogenically frozen.
★ ''
The Lake House'' (2006): The ending takes place on
Valentine's Day, 2008
★ Set in 2008:
★
★ ''
Silent Running'' (1971)
★
★ ''
Southland Tales'' (2006)
★
★ ''
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'' is primarily set in 2008.
★ ''
seaQuest DSV'': Set in 2018, but it is mentioned that in 2008, Seattle played Havana in the
World Series and that
Florida State won the NCAA football championship.
Media franchises
★ ''
.hack'': The
MMORPG The World reaches twenty million players.
References
1. http://www.iugs.org/iugs/news/iype_04.htm
2. Russia’s Presidential Election Set for March, 2008
3. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html retrieved 22 August 2007
4. http://www.usopen.com/future/ retrieved 14 June 2007
5. http://www.un.org/ga/president/57/pages/speeches/statement030408-Vienna-Narcotics.htm
6. http://www.drug-policy.org/modules/countdown_2008
7. http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/en/when.html
External links
★
2008 Calendar at Internet Accuracy Project
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