Current events of 8 May 2008 (2008-05-08) (Thursday) edit history watch

The Congress of Bolivia agrees to hold a recall election by 7 August on whether the President of Bolivia Evo Morales should remain in power. (CNN) Commissioner Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez of Mexico's Federal Preventive Police is shot dead in central Mexico City. (CNN) The United States House of Representatives approves legislation developed by Barney Frank to let the United States government insure up to $300 billion in mortgages to help homeowners avert foreclosure. (Bloomberg) The Iraqi Minister of Defence claims that the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been captured. (BBC News) North Korea hands over thousands of pages about its nuclear program to a visiting diplomat from the United States that will help verify its plutonium holdings. (AFP via Yahoo! News) Russia expels two United States military attachés following earlier expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the United States. (Bloomberg) Latvia and Lithuania become the latest EU member states to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. (RTÉ) 2008 unrest in Lebanon: Gunbattles erupt in Beirut as the government of Lebanon cracks down on Hezbollah. Two people are killed and eight injured in the fighting. (AFP) (AP via Google News) The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay reaches the peak of Mount Everest. (AP via Google News) Cyclone Nargis: An international relief operation begins after cyclone Nargis strikes Burma, with at least 63,500 people reported killed or missing. (Reuters via NineMSN) Three planes carrying vital food aid for the World Food Programme to Burma are delayed in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai due to a failure by Burma's State Peace and Development Council to grant approval. After approval is granted, planes start arriving in Yangon. (Reuters via NineMSN) (AP via Google News) Silvio Berlusconi is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy for the fourth time. (EuroNews) The PRO-IP Act passes through the United States House of Representatives. (Ars technica)