June 2008:
June 2008 was the sixth month of the current leap year. It began on a Sunday and ended after 30 days on a Monday.
[edit] International holidays and commemorations
[edit] Current events
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- Antonio Pettigrew hands back the gold medal he won as part of the United States Olympic 400 metre relay team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney following an admission that he used EPO and human growth hormone between 1997 and 2003. Michael Johnson, another member of the team, returns his gold medal on the grounds that it was "tainted". (AP via Forbes) (AP via CNN)
- China National Petroleum Corporation signs an agreement to produce oil in Niger. (BBC News)
- General Motors announces it will close 4 pickup truck and sports utility vehicle factories in Janesville, Wisconsin, Oshawa, Ontario, Moraine, Ohio, and Toluca, State of Mexico, eliminating 10,000 jobs; it also announces plans for a small car that will achieve 45 miles per gallon in response to rising fuel prices. (AP via Google News)
- NASA reveals that Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center sustained unusual amounts of damage during the launch of STS-124. They are unsure what caused the damage, but are certain it will not cause any delay for the next launch, STS-125, in October. (CBS News via Spaceflight Now)
- United States Democratic Party primaries, 2008:
- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization opens the High-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, focusing on the world food price crisis, climate change and agriculture and food vs fuel issues.
- Three people are dead and many more injured as a result of flooding in the Zollernalbkreis region in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. (CNN)
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- After five years of searching, the Caribbean Monk Seal is declared officially extinct (MSNBC)
- Japan and North Korea resume bilateral talks, last held in September 2007. (BBC News)
- Colombia and Ecuador restore relations following the Andean diplomatic crisis in March. (BBC News) (Reuters)
- A Venezuelan National Guard sergeant and 3 more people are captured in the Colombian Department of Vichada with 40,000 AK-47 rounds for the rebel group FARC. (El Tiempo) (Noticias24)
- The Diet of Japan recognizes the Ainu as an indigenous people for the first time. (BBC News) (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc-Our Ukraine Bloc coalition loses its majority in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada after two deputies quit. (BBC News)
- The America's Climate Security Act of 2007, a greenhouse gas emissions reduction bill, stalls in the U.S. Senate after a 48-36 vote fails to invoke cloture on a Republican filibuster. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were among six senators absent from the vote who expressed support for the bill. (AP via San Jose Mercury News) (BBC News)
- A rush-hour explosion targeting a bus in Colombo, Sri Lanka kills at least 21 people and injures 80. (BBC News)
- The price of a barrel of crude oil rises a single-day record of nearly US$11, settling at a new record of US$138.54. (CNN)
- Joseph Muscat becomes the leader of the Malta Labour Party, to become the opposition leader of Malta, to take the place of Charles Mangion, after the resignation of Alfred Sant. (Times of Malta)
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- Two bombs explode at a train station near Algiers, Algeria, killing at least 12 people. (BBC News)
- A fire sweeps through the historic Texas Governor's Mansion, leaving much of the 152-year-old building charred and severely damaged. (AP via Google News)
- A dispute between Southern Sudan and the central Sudanese government over Abyei will go to international arbitration. (BBC)
- Robert Kubica of the BMW Sauber team wins the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, becoming the first Pole to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix auto race, and giving BMW its first win as a constructor. (F1-live) (Formula1) (Wikinews)
- At least two people have been killed as an earthquake rocked southern Greece, collapsing buildings and causing panic. (CNN)
- The government of Southern Sudan withdraws its mediation efforts at the Juba talks between Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. (The Uganda Monitor)
- At least 37 miners go missing after an explosion in an Ukrainian coal mine causes it to collapse. (RTÉ) (BBC News)
- At least 7 people are killed and 10 injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan, coinciding on the 7th anniversary of the Osaka school massacre. (RTÉ) (BBC News)
- In tennis, Rafael Nadal wins the men's singles title at the 2008 French Open for the fourth year in a row, equalling Bjorn Borg's record. (BBC News)
- A day of mourning is declared in Russia's Kaliningrad Region as the death toll from Thursday's explosion and fire on the MV Yenisei reaches eight, with two missing. (Xinhua) (Wikinews)
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- French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner warns Ireland, saying the Irish would be the "first victim" if they reject the EU Treaty of Lisbon. (RTL France)
- June 2008 Midwest Flood: A stalled storm system in the midwest of the United States causes further heavy flooding in Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin with storms on the weekend causing 10 deaths in four states. (The New York Times)
- Pakistan lawyers begin a "Long March" of protests against the Government of the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf calling for the reinstatement of judges dismissed last year including the former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. (The Guardian)
- 24 miners are rescued from the Ukrainian coal mine collapse with 12 still missing and one reported fatality. (Reuters)
- A further three British Conservative MEPs (Robert Atkins, Sajjad Karim, and John Purvis) are facing allegations of financial abuse, following the resignation of two fellow members from European Parliament positions last week. (The Independent) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times) (The Courier)
- Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi Arabian oil minister calls for a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations to discuss record oil prices. (AP via ABC News)
- Apple, Inc. introduces a new iPhone with 3G capabilities, a GPS, and new features. The device is called iPhone 3G. (Business Week)
- IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory break processing speed barrier with the world's first petaflop computer, Roadrunner. (Network World)
- India's prime minister Manmohan Singh calls for global nuclear disarmament asking world countries to create 'timebound framework' to rid the world of atomic weapons. (VOA)
- Indonesia makes the practice of the Ahmadiyya form of Islam in Indonesia a crime punishable by five years in prison. (BBC News)
- McDonald's stops serving sliced tomatoes in its hamburgers in the United States following a Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak linked to raw tomatoes. (Chicago Tribune)
- Tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers start an indefinite strike over the increases in the price of diesel. (BBC News)
- The government of the Indian state of Rajasthan meets with leaders of the Gujjar community after two weeks of protests over the reservation system. (BBC News)
- The President of the United States George W. Bush commences the last visit to Europe of his presidency. (USA Today)
- The United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates nominates Norton Schwartz to be the next Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force with Michael B. Donley nominated as the next United States Secretary of the Air Force. (RTT)
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- Kosovo adopts a national anthem named "Europe"; composed by Mendi Menxhiqi, it comes without lyrics in any language to avoid offending the newly independent state's Serbian minority. (International Herald Tribune) (B-92)
- The United States Food and Drug Administration has received 167 reported incidents of Salmonellosis from eating tainted tomatoes in 17 states with New Mexico and Texas the worst affected areas. (Reuters)
- NASA launches the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP via Google News)
- June 2008 tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Little Sioux, Iowa kills four Boy Scouts and injures several others. (Des Moines Register) (AP via Yahoo! News) (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) (National Public Radio)
- Cuba introduces a wages system where workers are paid according to productivity rather than all workers in the same job receiving the same income. (Miami Herald)
- The Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper apologises to tens of thousands of the aboriginal peoples of Canada for more than a century of abuses of First Nations, Inuit and Métis at residential schools set up to assimilate them into Canadian society. (SBS) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- The United States House of Representatives votes today on whether to refer Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush introduced Monday evening by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to a committee. (The Washington Post)
- InBev, the world's largest brewing company makes an unsolicited $46 billion takeover bid for United States brewing company Anheuser-Busch. (AFP via Google News)
- Estonia, Greece and Finland ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. (Xinhua) (The International Herald Tribune)
- Norway legalises same-sex marriage. (Pink News)
- The last King of Nepal Gyanendra of Nepal departs from Narayanhiti Palace for the last time after Nepal is declared to be a republic. (CBC)
- The Metropolitan Police launches an inquiry after top secret British government intelligence on al-Qaeda is found on a train going from Waterloo Station to Surrey. (BBC News)
- Sheikh Hasina, a former Prime Minister of Bangladesh detained on corruption charges, is released to seek treatment in the United States. (Bloomberg)
- Stojan Župljanin, a wartime Bosnian Serb police commander is arrested near Belgrade and will be sent to the Hague where he will face trial for alleged war crimes. (Reuters via TVNZ)
- Former basketball referee Tim Donaghy accuses other referees in the National Basketball Association of rigging games, including Game 6 in the 2002 Western Conference Finals, allowing the Los Angeles Lakers to win that game, the series, and ultimately the 2002 NBA Finals. (ESPN)
- President George W. Bush says that he wants to solve the Iran issue peacefully but "all options are on the table" in a joint media conference with the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. (Reuters)
- The British House of Commons considers anti-terrorism legislation extending the period of preventive detention to 42 days with a close vote expected due to a backbench revolt in the Labour Party. The House eventually passes the bill by 315 votes to 306. (Press Association via Google News) (Press Association via The Guardian)
- Japan's House of Councillors passes a censure motion against the Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda, the first such motion to be passed since World War II. (BBC News)
- Afghanistan:
- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels overrun the Irukkulampiddi Sri Lankan Navy outpost killing at least 10 sailors. (AFP via Google News)
- Taiwanese negotiators led by Chiang Pin-kung, Chairman of the Strait Exchange Foundation, travel to the People's Republic of China to conduct talks on improving Cross-Strait relations. (BBC News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
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- Wildfires in northern California lead to the evacuation of residents in Paradise, California and Bonny Doon, California. (AP via The Guardian)
- Ecuadorean police arrest four men including three Colombians on suspicion of plotting an assassination of the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
- Tendai Biti, the Secretary of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, is arrested in Harare. (AFP and ABC News Australia)
- Four thousand homes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa are evacuated as the Cedar River floods due to heavy rain in recent days. (CNN)
- David Davis, the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary resigns as the Member of Parliament for Haltemprice and Howden in order to contest the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008 on civil liberties issues. (The Times)
- The Salmonella outbreak in the United States caused by tainted tomatoes continues to worsen with 228 victims in 23 states. (Bloomberg)
- The United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates invites Pakistan and Afghanistan to participate in an investigation of the Gora Prai airstrike. (AP via Forbes)
- Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles sets a world record of 12.87 seconds for the 110 metre hurdles at a Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic. (Associated Press)
- More than 80 countries and international aid organisations meet in Paris to develop a strategy for delivering billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan. (AFP via The Australian)
- The People's Republic of China and Taiwan begin their first formal talks in a decade on improving cross-strait relations. (AFP)
- Irish voters go to the polls for the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland to enable ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union. (RTÉ)
- In Boumediene v. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay have constitutional rights to challenge their detention there in US courts. (The New York Times)
- Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin wins the Hart Memorial Trophy as most valuable player for the National Hockey League 2007-2008 season as well as the Art Ross Trophy for most points and the Rocket Richard Trophy for top goal scorer. (TSN)
- Bill C-61, An Act to amend the Copyright Act, is tabled in the second session of the 39th Canadian Parliament by Minister of Industry Jim Prentice, in efforts to better comply to the WIPO treaty. (CBC News)
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