2008 Year-in-Review

By Michael C. Hill

January 15, 2009

January 2, 2008 - Federal Reserve releases minutes of its last meeting in 2007 in which policy makers recognized that their reduction in a key lending rate might not be the last amid continued problems in credit and housing markets that have crept into consumer spending. Officials "agreed on the need to remain exceptionally alert to economic and financial developments and their effects on the outlook, and members would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy if prospects for economic growth or inflation were to worsen," according to the minutes of the Dec. 11 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The FOMC voted 9-1 to lower the federal funds rate by a quarter point to 4.25%, with Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren dissenting in favor of a half-point cut.

January 3, 2008 - Iowa caucuses: Democratic caucus won by Barack Obama (many political experts marked this event as the most significant event leading to Obama’s election as the 44 th president of the United States), Republican caucus won by Mike Huckabee., Chris Dodd and Joe Biden drop out of the Democratic race.

January 4, 2008 - U.S. employment growth slowed markedly in December. Nonfarm payrolls rose 18,000, the job market's worst performance since 2003, the Labor Department said. November's 115,000 payrolls gain was revised up from an initial estimate of a 94,000 increase. The umemployment rate hit 5%, a two-year high, indicating a weak finish for the U.S. economy in 2007. The poor employment report should clear the way for another Federal Reserve rate cut as concerns mount about ongoing troubles in credit markets.

January 5, 2008 - Wyoming Republican caucus won by Mitt Romney.

January 8, 2008 - New Hampshire primary: Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton, with Barack Obama a close second; Republican primary won by John McCain.

January 9, 2008 - Voting begins in Illinois

January 10, 2008 - Bill Richardson drops out of the Democratic race

January 10, 2008 - Republican debate in South Carolina

January 10, 2008 - Retailers posted weak December sales figures due to a sluggish Christmas season. Target reported a 5% decrease in same-store sales, while rival Wal-Mart posted a 2.4% gain, excluding fuel. Department stores, including Macy's, J.C. Penney and Kohl's, all posted declines. Macy's sales fell 7.9%, worse than expected, and Kohl's reported an 11% decline and lowered its earnings outlook. The latest Wall Street Journal survey of economic forecasters sees 42% odds of a U.S. recession this year along with mounting inflationary pressures, an uncomfortable mix that could influence the focus of the presidential campaign and complicate life for the Federal Reserve. The average of the 54 forecasts sees the economy growing at slower than a 2% annual rate for the first and second quarters of this year. On the political front, while the majority of respondents say the stock market would perform better under a Republican president and most personally back a Republican, the economists expect a Democrat to win this year's election. Some 56% disapprove of President Bush's handling of the economy versus 59% of the public in a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

January 11, 2008 - Bank of America agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial for about $4 billion, in a move that could build a bulwark against the mortgage-default crisis by protecting one of its biggest casualties from collapse. The deal comes just months after Bank of America plugged $2 billion in Countrywide during the height of the summer's global credit crunch. The market value of Countrywide has plunged to about $3 billion amid a continuing surge in defaults and foreclosures afflicting the Calabasas, Calif., company.

January 13, 2008 - Green Party debate in San Francisco, California, featuring Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, and Kent Mesplay and moderated by Cindy Sheehan, Ross Mirkarimi, and Matt Gonzalez

January 13, 2008 - Jared Ball withdraws from the race for the Green Party nomination and endorses Cynthia McKinney

January 15, 2008 - The Michigan primaries: Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton (although no delegates will attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention); Republican primary won by Mitt Romney.

January 15, 2008 - Democratic debate in Nevada

January 17, 2008 - Israel imposes a complete blockade on the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.

January 17, 2008 - Report released that home construction plunged in December to a seasonally adjusted 1.006 million annual rate, the slowest pace since 1991, while a sign of future groundbreakings also dropped sharply. Builders have been pulling back because sales for new homes have plunged whilethe supply of unsold homes hovers high.

January 18, 2008 - President Bush called for about $145 billion of tax relief and other incentives to stimulate a sagging economy and fend off a possible recession. He didn't outline specific proposals, but said a growth package must include tax incentives for business investment and "direct and rapid" tax relief for individuals.

January 19, 2008 - Nevada caucuses: Democratic caucus won by Hillary Clinton (but Barack Obama claims more delegates); Republican caucuses won by Mitt Romney. Second place in the Republican caucuses went to Ron Paul

January 19, 2008 - South Carolina Republican primary won by John McCain; Duncan Hunter ends his campaign.

January 21, 2008 - Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute/CNN Democratic debate in South Carolina.

January 22, 2008 - Fred Thompson drops out of the Republican race.

January 22, 2008 - Louisiana Republican caucuses, 2008: "Pro-life Uncommitted" slate wins, John McCain second, and Ron Paul a close third.

January 24, 2008 - Republican Presidential Debate at Florida Atlantic University.

January 24, 2008 - Dennis Kucinich drops out of the Democratic race.

January 24, 2008 - The French bank Societe Generale admits that a single securities trader lost it almost five billion euros (seven billion dollars).

January 24, 2008 The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announces that 2007 had the largest drop in existing home sales in 25 years, and "the first price decline in many, many years and possibly going back to the Great Depression."

January 26, 2008 - South Carolina Democratic primary won by Barack Obama with 56%.

January 27, 2008 - Caroline and Ted Kennedy endorse Obama

January 29, 2008 - Florida primary: Republican primary won by John McCain, with Romney second; Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton (but no delegates are awarded).

January 30, 2008 - Rudy Giuliani withdraws from the Republican race and endorses John McCain.

January 30, 2008 - John Edwards drops out of the Democratic race in New Orleans, Louisiana.

January 30, 2008 - Reagan Presidential Library Foundation/CNN/Los Angeles Times/The Politico Republican debate in Simi Valley, California.

January 31, 2008 - CNN/Los Angeles Times Democratic debate in Los Angeles, California.

February 1, 2008 - U.S. employment unexpectedly tumbled in January for the first time in more than four years, fueling worries that the U.S. economy, which already limped into 2008, might soften further or even slip into recession in coming months. Nonfarm payrolls fell 17,000 in January, the Labor Department said Friday, the first drop since August 2003, when payrolls slid 42,000. Gains in services like health care, retail trade and leisure offset declines in other sectors including manufacturing, construction, financial services and government. The unemployment rate fell, as expected, to 4.9% from 5%.

February 2, 2008 - Maine Republican caucuses won by Mitt Romney.

February 3, 2008 - Hillary Clinton agrees to appear on Fox News-sponsored debates.

February 5, 2008 - Super Tuesday or National Primary Day

February 6, 2008 - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean proclaims that "We're going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement," if there's no nominee by April.

February 7, 2008 - Retailers reported weak January sales figures, further fanning fears about the U.S. economy. Wal-Mart Stores posted a 0.5% gain in January U.S. same-store sales excluding fuel, below its forecast. Nordstrom, Macy's, J.C. Penney and Gap posted same-store sales declines, while Ann Taylor was flat and Saks moved higher.

February 7, 2008 - Mitt Romney suspends his campaign.

February 7, 2008 - The Democratic National Committee announces that it is considering plans for a possible "revote" in Michigan and Florida.

February 7-9, 2008 - Ron Paul, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee address the Conservative Political Action Conference convention in Alexandria, Virginia.

February 9, 2008 - Democratic primaries: Louisiana Democratic primary won by Barack Obama. United States Virgin Islands Democratic territorial convention won by Obama. Washington Democratic caucuses won by Obama. Nebraska Democratic caucuses won by Obama.

February 9, 2008 - Republican primaries: Louisiana Republican primary ends with Huckabee only slightly ahead of McCain, no delegates assigned. Kansas Republican caucuses won by Huckabee. Washington Republican caucuses won by John McCain, according to media projections, without all votes having been counted.

February 10, 2008 - Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle resigns but remains with campaign as senior adviser. Maggie Williams is announced as her successor.

February 10, 2008 - Maine Democratic caucuses won by Obama.

February 11, 2008 - A Defense Department analyst and two Chinese nationals were arrested on espionage charges related to the alleged sale of military secrets to the Chinese government. Much of the information pertained to U.S. military sales to Taiwan, the government said. Separately, a former Boeing engineer was arrested on allegations he stole trade secrets related to several aerospace programs, including the Space Shuttle, and passed them to China.

February 12, 2008 - The "Potomac primary": the District of Columbia Democratic primary, Maryland Democratic primary, and Virginia Democratic primary won by Obama; the District of Columbia Republican primary, Maryland Republican primary, and Virginia Republican primary won by McCain.

February 12, 2008 - Cynthia McKinney wins the D.C. Statehood Green Party primary with 41.07% of the vote

February 17, 2008 - A suicide bomber kills some 80 men and boys attending a dog-fight event in Afghanistan.

February 18, 2008 - With support from many but not all western countries, Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia.

February 19, 2008 - Wisconsin Democratic primary, Hawaii Democratic caucuses and Washington Democratic primary won by Obama. No delegates were at stake in the Washington primary.

February 19, 2008 - Washington Republican primary and Wisconsin Republican primary won by McCain.

February 20, 2008 - A missile launched from a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific struck a decaying U.S. spy satellite 130 miles above Earth's surface, a Pentagon official said. Full details weren't immediately available, and officials said it might take a day or longer to know ifthe satellite's fuel, which the U.S. deemed a toxic threat, was burnt up. Final decision for the launch, which was followed with intense international scrutiny, rested with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Bush administration ordered U.S. diplomats to inform governments about the operation. Russia accused the U.S. of using the missile launch as a veiled test of its missile-defense system.

February 20, 2008 - New York Times article accuses McCain of inappropriate conduct during his 2000 presidential campaign.

February 20, 2008 - The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.4% in January, matching December's rise, while "core" CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced 0.3%, the Labor Department reported. The numbers, which slightly exceeded Wall Street forecasts, present a challenge for Federal Reserve officials who must balance a sharp slowdown in economic activity with stubbornly elevated price pressures. Separately, the Commerce Department reported that home construction rose a slight 0.8% in January, but an indicator of future groundbreakings fell to the lowest point in 16 years, suggesting more pain ahead for the housing sector. Federal Reserve policy makers said downside risks to the economy remained even in the wake of recent interest-rate cuts, according to minutes of their Jan. 29-30 meeting. In their quarterly economic summary, central bank officials lowered the forecast for gross domestic product this year to 1.3% from 2%. In addition, the central tendency for core inflation was revised up, with officials now expecting core inflation in 2008 to range between 2% and 2.2%. The officials said inflation could tick higher if energy and commodity prices were to weigh on consumers more heavily than expected. The severity of the housing downturn, tightening in the credit markets and high oil prices were factors leading to the cloudier outlook, the officials said.

February 21, 2008 - The Democrats Abroad primary is officially announced to have been won by Barack Obama.

February 21, 2008 - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debate in Austin, Texas.

February 21, 2008 - Turkey mounts a major offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

February 22, 2008 - Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he will extend a cease-fire order to his Shiite Mahdi Army by another six months in a message read by clerics during prayer services. Sadr's decision to halt the activities of his powerful militia last August was considered a key step that has been widely credited with bringing the Iraqi death toll down considerably in recent months.

February 23, 2008 - American Samoa Republican caucuses won by McCain.

February 24, 2008 - Ralph Nader announces his independent candidacy on Meet The Press.

February 24, 2008 - Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro formally ended in Cuba on Sunday as lawmakers selected his brother Raul Castro as the country's next president. The vote came five days after the ailing 81-year-old Fidel Castro said he was retiring. Raul Castro, 76, has headed Cuba's caretaker government for the past 19 months, since Fidel Castro announced he had intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding his powers.

February 25, 2008 - Existing-home sales fell for the sixth month in a row during January as pressure on the housing market refused to abate. Home resales fell to a 4.89 million annual rate, a 0.4% decrease from December's revised 4.91 million annual pace, the National Association of Realtors said. The median home price was $201,100 in January, down 4.6% from $210,900 in January 2007. The median price in December was $207,000.

February 26, 2008 - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debate in Ohio.

February 26, 2008 - Former candidate Christopher Dodd endorses Barack Obama

February 27, 2008 - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered an economic forecast fraught with risks from housing, labor and credit markets, suggesting policy makers remain on track to lower interest rates further next month. "It is important to recognize that downside risks to growth remain," Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee in prepared semiannual testimony on the state of the economy and monetary policy. Fed officials "will need to judge whether the policy actions taken thus far are having their intended effects," Bernanke said, adding the central bank "will act in a timely manner as needed" to keep the economy on track.

February 28, 2008 - American International Group reported a fourth-quarter loss of $5.29 billion, or $2.08 a share, after taking an $11.12 billion pre-tax write-down on the value of insurance contracts tied to mortgages. Shares were down as much as 3.7% in after-hours trading. Earlier this month, AIG disclosed in an SEC filing that its outside accountants had found "material weakness" in its accounting systems that were forcing it to boost its fourth-quarter write-down of the value of insurance contracts.

March 1–June 18, 2008 - 406 people are arrested for mortgage fraud in an FBI sting across the U.S., including buyers, sellers and others across the wide-ranging mortgage industry.

March 2, 2008 - Dmitry Medvedev is elected president of Russia.

March 2-3, 2008 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pays a visit to neighbouring Iraq.

March 3, 2008 - General Motors said its U.S. sales of light vehicles last month fell 13%, compared with an "unusually strong" February last year. Sales also fell at Ford Motor and Toyota Motor, by 6.6% and 2.8%, respectively. Both GM and Ford pegged second-quarter production below year-earlier levels, as a slowing economy and high gasoline prices crimp demand. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called industrywide sales last month "very disappointing" and said the difficult market conditions could continue for some time. "We're in a very uncertain period," he said. "We still expect the economy to recover in the second half but it's by no means certain."

March 4, 2008 - Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island primaries won by Hillary Clinton. Vermont Democratic primary and Texas Democratic caucuses won by Barack Obama.

March 4, 2008 - Mike Huckabee withdraws from the Republican race.

March 4, 2008 - John McCain passes the 1,191-delegate threshold and becomes the Republican presumptive nominee.

March 4, 2008 - Socialist Party USA nominee Brian Moore wins the Liberty Union Party primary/nomination.

March 5, 2008 - President George W. Bush endorses John McCain.

March 6, 2008 - John McCain heads to Europe for a working vacation.

March 8, 2008 - Wyoming Democratic caucuses won by Obama, Guam Republican caucuses won by McCain.

March 10, 2008 - Dow Jones Industrial Average at the lowest level since October 2006, falling more than 20% from its peak just five months prior.

March 11, 2008 - Mississippi Democratic primary won by Barack Obama, Mississippi Republican primary won by John McCain.

March 11, 2008 - Mike Gravel endorses Green Party candidate Jesse Johnson for president

March 12, 2008 - 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro resigns from Hillary Clinton campaign after accusations of racism.

March 12, 2008 - Eliot Spitzer announced he is resigning as governor of New York, effective Monday. The prominent Democrat, facing a firestorm of criticism over his alleged hiring of a prostitute, said he has begun "to atone for my personal failings." In the future, he said he would look to serve the public good "outside of politics." Spitzer, who made a name for himself as a crusading attorney general, didn't address his legal standing in his statement today. He has been identified as among the clients cited in a federal complaint unsealed last week that charged four people with managing the prostitution ring, and could himself face charges relating to his alleged dealings with the ring.

March 13, 2008 - John McCain goes on a tour of Middle East and Europe.

March 14, 2008 - Controversy over Barack Obama's pastor and Jeremiah Wright's past remarks on race and patriotism begins.

March 14, 2008 - Bear Stearns gets Fed funding as shares plummet.

March 14, 2008 - Violence erupts in Lhasa, capital of the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet.

March 16, 2008 - Bear Stearns is acquired for $2 a share by JPMorgan Chase in a fire sale avoiding bankruptcy. The deal is backed by the Federal Reserve, providing up to $30B to cover possible Bear Stearn losses.

March 16, 2008 - The Federal Reserve has approved a cut in its lending rate to banks by a quarter point to 3.25% and announced a new lending facility designed "to improve the ability of primary dealers to provide financing to participants in securitization markets."

March 18, 2008 - The Supreme Court heard arguments about the meaning of the Second Amendment and the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. A majority of justices appears to support the view that the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns, rather than linking the right only to service in a state militia. But it is less clear what that means for the District's 32-year-old ban on handguns, perhaps the strictest gun control law in the nation. The case is likely to produce the most important firearms ruling in generations. A ruling is expected by summer.

March 18, 2008 - The Federal Open Market Committee voted 8-2 to cut the fed funds rate from 3% to 2.25%, its lowest level since December 2004, and signaled more reductions are likely, unloading heavy artillery in its effort to keep the credit crunch from triggering a prolonged recession. The rate cut, though extremely aggressive by any historical measure, was likely to disappoint many on Wall Street who thought a full percentage point was needed. The Fed's statement said: "Recent information indicates that the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and the tightening of the credit conditions and the deepening of the housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters."

March 18, 2008 - Barack Obama gives his "A More Perfect Union" address in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He discusses race in the United States in response to past comments made by Reverend Wright, as well as issues such as racism, white privilege and race and inequality in the United States.

March 23, 2008 - The US military death toll in Iraq passes the 4,000 mark.

March 25, 2008 - Hillary Clinton admits that she "misspoke" in campaign comments about a 1996 visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which she claimed to have been under hostile sniper fire.

March 26, 2008 - Former Senator and Democratic candidate Mike Gravel of Alaska announces intentions to run for the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President, ending his run for the Democratic nomination.

March 26, 2008 - New-home sales slid 1.8% in February from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000, the lowest mark in 13 years, the Commerce Department said. The median price of a new home decreased by 2.7% from a year earlier to $244,100 in February. The number of houses for sale declined, but remains at a level likely to weigh on prices. Earlier, the Commerce Department reported that demand for expensive goods, such as cars and aircraft, fell 1.7% in February, an unexpected decline, while a barometer of capital spending tumbled 2.6%.

March 29, 2008 - Barack Obama nominated by the United Citizens Party ( South Carolina) via convention ( South Carolina has electoral fusion).

March 30, 2008 - Clinton rejects call to end her campaign.

April 1, 2008 - The U.S. auto market continued to slump in March, with light-vehicle sales falling 19% at General Motors, 10% at Toyota and 14% at Ford. The month had two fewer selling days than in March 2007, which magnified the declines. But analysts were expecting weak monthly results in what is shaping up to be one of the toughest years for U.S. auto sellers in at least a decade. The downturn in the economy is damping demand in general, while high gasoline prices continue to cut deeply into sales of traditional SUVs and pickups. "This is a very challenging external environment, reflecting a seismic shift in consumer preferences," said Ford marketing executive Jim Farley. "These conditions will likely persist in the near future."

April 2, 2008 - The opposition in Zimbabwe claims it has won elections, but President Robert Mugabe refuses to concede.

April 4, 2008 - Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton's tax returns from the years 2000-2006 are released.

April 4, 2008 - Report released that nonfarm payrolls fell 80,000 in March, the Labor Department said Friday, the biggest decline in five years, after falling by a revised 76,000 in both January and February. The third straight sharp drop in U.S. payrolls backed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's recent warning that the U.S. economy may be in recession. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate moved sharply higher to 5.1%.

April 5, 2008 - Heartland Libertarian Conference/Presidential Debate: entrepreneur Wayne Allyn Root wins straw poll; former Congressman Bob Barr, who came in second in the straw poll, announces presidential exploratory committee.

April 5, 2008 - United States Virgin Islands Republican caucuses are won by John McCain, running unopposed.

April 7, 2008 - Libertarian candidate Bob Jackson drops Presidential bid and endorses Bob Barr.

April 7, 2008 - The passage of the Olympic flame through London and then Paris is marred by protests, causing anger in China.

April 10, 2008 - Chuck Baldwin declares his candidacy for Constitution Party presidential nomination

April 13, 2008 - "The Compassion Forum" held at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania; Senators Clinton and Obama participate.

April 15, 2008 - Alan Keyes, former U.S. ambassador and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, officially announces his departure from the GOP and his intentions to seek the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party.

April 16, 2008 - The Supreme Court has upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injections for executions. The justices, in a fractured decision, rejected a constitutional challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates.

April 18, 2008 - The U.S. and South Korea have reached formal agreement on a plan to lift the Asian nation's long ban on U.S. beef exports, removing a major impediment that has held up action in Congress on a trade pact that would tighten economic ties between the two nations. The agreement, the result of a furious round of negotiations among trade officials for both countries, came amid South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's first formal visit to Washington since taking office two months ago.

April 22, 2008 - Pennsylvania Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton and Pennsylvania Republican primary won by John McCain.

April 23-26, 2008 - The Constitution Party's National Convention is held in Kansas City, Missouri. Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party's 2004 Vice Presidential nominee, is chosen as the party's 2008 presidential nominee. Darrell Castle, an attorney from Memphis, Tennessee is the vice-presidential candidate.

April 27, 2008 - Police in Austria arrest Josef Fritzl, who has kept his daughter locked up in a specially designed cellar for 24 years, fathering seven children by her.

April 30, 2008 - The Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate by one-quarter percentage point but also signaled the seven-montheasing cycle may be coming to an end. Policy makers voted 8-2 to lower its target for the fed-funds rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2%, its lowest since November 2004. The cut was modest by recent standards, reflecting upward pressure on inflation from higher food and energy prices and the weak dollar. Those trends suggest further rate cuts might do more harm than good in the months ahead.

May 2, 2008 - U.S. nonfarm employment fell by 20,000 in April, a fourth straight decline but a smaller drop than previous months, suggesting the economy may be starting to find its footing after several months of stagnation. Manufacturing and construction firms continued to cut payrolls aggressively, but services employment rebounded. The unemployment rate, which is calculated using a separate survey, fell 0.1 percentage point to 5%. Just ahead of the jobs report, the Fed announced new steps in coordination with European central banks to expand efforts to tackle the credit crunch. The Fed announced that it was boosting the amount of emergency reserves it supplies to U.S. banks to $150 billion in May, from the $100 billion it supplied in April.

May 3, 2008 - Barack Obama wins Guam Democratic territorial convention by seven votes.

May 4, 2008 - Tens of thousands of people die and millions are made homeless when a cyclone devastates the secretive Asian state of Myanmar.

May 6, 2008 - UBS AG Swiss bank announces plans to cut 5500 jobs by the middle of 2009.

May 6, 2008 - North Carolina Democratic primary, won by Barack Obama; Indiana Democratic Primary won by Hillary Clinton.

May 6, 2008 - North Carolina and Indiana Republican primaries won by John McCain.

May 12, 2008 - A massive earthquake hits the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, killing tens of thousands and causing massive destruction.

May 12, 2008 - Bob Barr officially enters race for the Libertarian Party nomination.

May 12, 2008 - A major earthquake struck southwestern China Monday, jolting cities as far away as Bangkok and prompting evacuations of office buildings in Beijing and across China. The precise magnitude of the quake varied according to different sources, with China's official Xinhua news agency, citing the State Seismological Bureau, putting the magnitude at 7.8, while the U.S. Geological Survey measured it as 7.5. As people across China braced for aftershocks, there was little immediate information on the extent of damage or injuries. The official Xinhua news agency said four students died in Chongqing, a large municipality near the quake area, when two primary schools collapsed. More than 100 students were reported injured. A fifth person died when a water tower collapsed in the city of Mianyang, in Sichuan province where the quake hit, Xinhua said. Chinese media said the earthquake death toll in one Sichuan county was estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 people, raising fears of huge fatalities. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck central China, but sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.

May 13, 2008 - West Virginia Democratic Primary won by Hillary Clinton.

May 14, 2008 - Israel celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding.

May 14, 2008 - Senator, former Democratic candidate and 2004 Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards of North Carolina endorses Senator Barack Obama for President.

May 16-18, 2008 - Hawaii Republican Convention held. 19 delegates are selected, who support John McCain at the Republican National Convention.

May 20, 2008 - Oregon Democratic primary won by Barack Obama; Kentucky Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton.

May 20, 2008 - Oregon Republican primary won by John McCain; Kentucky Republican primary won by John McCain.

May 23-26, 2008 - The 2008 Libertarian National Convention is held at Adam’s Mark Hotel in Denver, Colorado. Former Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia is chosen as the party's presidential nominee and Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada is chosen as the party's vice presidential nominee.

May 24, 2008 - Hillary Clinton apologizes for her controversial remarks about Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 assassination as she defends her continuing nomination bid.

May 27, 2008 - Idaho Republican caucuses won by John McCain.

June 1, 2008 - Puerto Rico Democratic primary won by Hillary Clinton.

June 3, 2008 - South Dakota Republican primary and New Mexico Republican caucuses won by John McCain.

June 3, 2008 - Montana and South Dakota Democratic primaries won by Barack Obama. Obama wins enough delegates to officially become the Democratic nominee, however, his opponent Hillary Clinton does not concede.

June 4, 2008 - Supporters in Congress tell Clinton that the race is over in a conference call.

June 4, 2008 - Republican presumptive nominee John McCain challenges Obama to a series of "town hall" debates starting on June 12. Obama considers it.

June 5, 2008 - Hillary Clinton officially concedes via e-mail at 2am Eastern Daylight Time.

June 5, 2008 - Obama appoints his vice presidential selection committee.

June 6, 2008 - The U.S. unemployment rate posted its sharpest one-month increase in 12 years last month, suggesting U.S. consumers already facing a housing slump and soaring gasoline prices now confront growing pressure from a weakening jobs market. The unemployment rate jumped 0.5 percentage point to 5.5%, its highest level since October 2004. Meanwhile, nonfarm payrolls, which are calculated by a separate survey, declined 49,000 in May, the fifth straight drop. The decline was broad based, including manufacturing, construction, retail trade and business services.

June 12, 2008 - Republican candidate Ron Paul officially suspends his campaign.

June 13, 2008 - Around 1,000 inmates of an Afghan prison escape when Taliban guerrillas mount an attack.

June 13, 2008 - Voters in Ireland reject the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.

June 16, 2008 - Former Vice President Al Gore endorses Barack Obama.

June 18, 2008 - As the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Connecticut's Christopher Dodd proposes a housing bailout to the Senate floor that would assist troubled subprime mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Bank, Dodd admitted that he received special treatment, perks, and campaign donations from Countrywide, who regarded Dodd as a "special" customer and a "Friend of Angelo." Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide. The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Kent Conrad and the head of head of Fannie Mae Jim Johnson also received mortgages on favorable terms due to their association with Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo.

June 19, 2008 - Ex-Bear Stearns fund managers arrested by the FBI for their allegedly fraudulent role in the subprime mortgage collapse. The managers purportedly misrepresented the fiscal health of their funds to investors publicly while privately withdrawing their own money.

June 24, 2008 - The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index of 20 cities fell by 15.3% in April versus a year earlier, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. It marked the first time all 20 metro areas posted year-over-year declines. Month to month, April prices fell 1.4% from March, with Miami and Phoenix the worst performers, down more than 3%, though several cities showed gains.

July 2, 2008 - The French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt is freed after being held hostage for six years by FARC guerrillas.

July 3, 2008 - Report released that U.S. payrolls shrank for the sixth consecutive month in June, as businesses faced with rising costs and a weak economy shed morejobs. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 62,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, slightly more job losses than economists expected. May payrolls were revised down by 13,000 to show a 62,000-job decrease. The unemployment rate held at 5.5% in June.

July 4, 2008 - Former Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, a lion of the conservative right, died Friday morning at 86 years old. Elected in the Republican landslide of 1972, Helms carved a reputation as a supporter of North Carolina's home-state interests, such as tobacco, and was known as a foreign-policy hawk and sometimes a severe social critic during his nearly three decades in office.

July 7, 2008 - Suicide bombers kill over 60 people in an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.

July 9, 2008 - The Senate has approved a bill overhauling the rules on secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecom companies that helped listen in on Americans after Sept. 11. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday, 69-28. When the president signs the bill, as expected, it will effectively dismiss some 40 lawsuits filed against telecom companies for alleged violations of wiretapping and privacy laws.

July 10-13, 2008 - The Green Party holds its 2008 National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia is nominated for President and community organizer Rosa Clemente is nominated for Vice President.

July 11, 2008 - Indymac Bank, a subsidiary of Independent National Mortgage Corporation (Indymac), is placed into the receivership of the FDIC by the Office of Thrift Supervision. It was the fourth-largest bank failure in United States history, and the second-largest failure of a regulated thrift. . Before its failure, IndyMac Bank was the largest savings and loan association in the Los Angeles area and the seventh-largest mortgage originator in the United States.

July 11, 2008 - In an extraordinary move, the Bush administration is publishing a document Friday listing various ways to control global-warming gases, while simultaneously disavowing the document's conclusions and warning that new regulations could lead to a "command-and-control" regime covering a "broad range of commercial and household activities," including factories and power plants but also lawnmowers. The document, which has been the subject of a weeks-long conflict between officials at the White House and Environmental Protection Agency, attempts to summarize the benefits and costs of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, without drawing any conclusions.

July 12, 2008 - Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room as President Bush's press secretary, has died of colon cancer, Fox News reported Saturday. Snow was 53 years old.

July 12, 2008 - The Nebraska Republican primary is won by presumptive nominee John McCain.

July 16, 2008 - An ancient genetic variation that protects people of African descent against a certain type of malaria may also make them 40% more susceptible to HIV infection, a new study has found.

July 17, 2008 - Major banks and financial institutions had borrowed and invested heavily in mortgage backed securities and reported losses of approximately $435 billion as of 17 July 2008.

July 18-20, 2008 - Reform Party National Convention is held in Dallas, Texas. Ted Weill of Mississippi is nominated for President, and Frank McEnulty of California (also the presidential nominee of the New American Independent Party is nominated for Vice President.

July 21, 2008 - Serbian police capture the fugitive Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, who is extradited to a UN war crimes tribunal.

July 22, 2008 - A young Palestinian man driving a bulldozer wounds at least 16 people in Jerusalem before being shot dead.

July 23-28, 2008 - Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama makes a trip to Europe and the Middle East.

July 24, 2008 - Barack Obama spoke to an enormous crowd in Germany and summoned Europeans and Americans to work together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it." The Democratic presidential candidate told Berliners that "the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand." He spoke of tearing down walls between countries, between races, between religions. Obama's stop in Germany is part of an international tour designed to burnish his foreign-policy credentials.

July 25, 2008 - Federal regulators shut down two national banks, First National Bank of Nevada, based in Reno, Nev., and First Heritage Bank of Newport Beach, Calif., in the latest chapter of the credit crisis. Both banks were units of First National Bank Holding Co. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. successfully protected all depositors by selling the accounts to Mutual of Omaha Bank. Seven banks have failed so far this year, including three having more than $1 billion of assets.

July 28, 2008 - In one of several such incidents, a US missile fired from Afghanistan kills six people in a tribal zone of Pakistan.

July 29, 2008 - World trade talks collapse in Geneva.

July 30, 2008 - President Bush signs into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which authorizes the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee up to $300 billion in new 30-year fixed rate mortgages for subprime borrowers if lenders write-down principal loan balances to 90 percent of current appraisal value.

August 1, 2008 - The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a four-year high in July as companies shed workers for a seventh-straight month, further evidence that the economy remains vulnerable to a recession in the second half of the year. Nonfarm payrolls declined 51,000 in July, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate, which is calculated using a separate survey of households, rose 0.2 percentage point to 5.7%. The Labor Department noted that over the past three months there has been a "notable increase" in youth unemployment, though joblessness also rose for those over 25 years old.

August 3, 2008 - Some 150 Hindu worshippers die in a stampede at a temple in northern India.

August 3, 2008 - The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who denounced the Soviet Gulag system of labour camps, dies aged 89.

August 6, 2008 - Government forces in Georgia mount an assault on the breakaway region of South Ossetia, prompting a massive response from neighbouring Russia.

August 6, 2008 - A U.S. military jury found a Yemeni national guilty in the first Guantanamo war-crimes trial. Salim Hamdan, a onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, had been charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. He was captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan by militiamen under American command. The jury sentenced him to 5 1/2 years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in just six months. Salim Hamdan, who was captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan, had faced a possible life sentence in the first war-crimes trial at Guantanamo.

August 8, 2008 - The Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing. They go off without incident.

August 9, 2008 - Beijing authorities say a Chinese man attacked two American tourists on the opening day of the Olympic Games, killing one of them before committing suicide. The U.S. Olympic Committee said the incident involved family members of a coach for the U.S. Olympic men's indoor volleyball team.

August 12, 2008 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an end to military action in Georgia, Russian state television reports.

August 12, 2008 - Michael Phelps has become the winningest Olympic athlete ever, earning his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Games with a world record in the 200-meter butterfly. It was his 10th career gold medal.

August 16, 2008 - Republican and Democratic presumptive nominees John McCain and Barack Obama make a joint appearance at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

August 18, 2008 - Threatened with impeachment, Pervez Musharraf resigns as president of Pakistan.

August 19, 2008 - Ten French soldiers recently deployed to Afghanistan are killed in a battle with Taliban forces.

August 20, 2008 - 153 people die as a Spanish passenger plane crashes at Madrid's airport.

August 21, 2008 - Afghan officials say 76 civilians, many of them women and children, died when US forces attacked a village in the west of the country.

August 23, 2008 - Barack Obama announces his selection of Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, announcing it via text message, e-mail, and on his website.

August 25-28, 2008 - 2008 Democratic National Convention convenes in Denver, Colorado.

August 27, 2008 - Barack Obama is officially nominated for President by the Democratic Party. He becomes the first African-American in U.S. history to receive the presidential nomination of a major party.

August 27, 2008 - Joe Biden is nominated by acclamation to be the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, accepting minutes later.

August 28, 2008 - Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Party presidential nomination in a speech delivered at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado.

August 28, 2008 - The US Democratic Party formally nominates Barack Obama as its candidate for the upcoming presidential election.

August 28, 2008 - Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nomination with a speech promising a middle-class economic renewal and tying Republican rival John McCain tightly to the record of the current president. "We meet at one of those defining moments -- a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more," Sen. Obama said in before tens of thousands of supporters at Denver's Invesco Field. "These challenges are not all of government's making," Sen. Obama declared. "But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed presidency of George W. Bush." Talking of lost jobs and homes and unpaid bills, Obama sought to frame the race as a referendum on middle-class economic anxieties.

August 29, 2008 - North Korea reverses a pledge to dismantle its nuclear installations.

August 29, 2008 - The Caribbean hurricane season kills hundreds of people in several countries, notably Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The latter country also suffers flooding.

August 29, 2008 - Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is selected by John McCain as his choice for the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

September 1, 2008 - In Thailand, clashes break out between security forces and anti-corruption protesters occupying government buildings.

September 1, 2008 - The US Republican Party suspends its congress due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Gustav on the Louisiana coast, where the city of New Orleans is evacuated. Resuming a few days later, the congress nominates John McCain for the presidency.

September 1, 2008 - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced his resignation less than a year into office, the latest problem to rock Japan as the world's second-largest economy flirts with recession. Mr. Fukuda said he tried to implement various measures to overhaul the economy amid mounting difficulties, but decided it would be better for someone else to lead the nation.

September 1, 2008 - Hurricane Gustav made landfall near Cocodrie, La., about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was downgraded to Category 2 as it began lashing the Louisiana Coast early Monday, bringing heavy rain and maximum sustained winds of 110 miles an hour. Crude-oil futures fell, as damage to energy infrastructure was seen as less than feared.

September 1-4, 2008 - 2008 Republican National Convention convenes in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

September 3, 2008 - John McCain is officially nominated for President by the Republican Party.

September 4, 2008 - Sarah Palin is officially nominated for Vice-President by the Republican Party.

September 4, 2008 - John McCain accepts the Republican Party nomination in a speech delivered at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

September 5, 2008 - The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), two Government sponsored enterprises, and the largest single mortgage backing entities in the United States are seized by the Federal Government.

September 5, 2008 - The U.S. jobless rate jumped in August to a nearly five-year high of 6.1%. Nonfarm payrolls, which are calculated by a separate survey, declined by 84,000 in August, the eighth-straight decline. The unemployment numbers raise the risk of recession as households face a struggling labor market and high inflation. Meanwhile, the data, which included a modest rise in wages, support the view that Federal Reserve officials will hold interest rates steady when they meet later this month and at subsequent meetings through the end of the year.

September 6, 2008 - The Pakistani parliament elects Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain politician Benazir Bhutto, as the country's new president.

September 7, 2008 - Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which at that point owned or guaranteed about half of the U.S.'s $12 trillion mortgage market, effectively nationalizing them. This causes panic because almost every home mortgage lender and Wall Street bank relied on them to facilitate the mortgage market and investors worldwide owned $5.2 trillion of debt securities backed by them.

September 11, 2008 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is reported to have undergone brain surgery after a stroke.

September 14, 2008 - The crash of a Russian airliner near the city of Perm kills 88 people.

September 14, 2008 - Merrill Lynch is sold to Bank of America amidst fears of a liquidity crisis and Lehman Brothers collapse

September 15, 2008 - Global financial services firm Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt, Merrill Lynch & Co. is dissolved and incorporated into Bank of America, and AIG is seized by the Federal government precipitating a stock market crash and a major financial crisis.

September 15, 2008 - Lehman Brothers said it would declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, spelling the end of the 158-year-old firm. Separately, Bank of America said it will acquire Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion, all-stock deal.

September 16, 2008 - U.S. consumer prices fell last month for the first time in nearly two years reflecting a rapid drop in oil prices as well as lower prices for automobiles and housing, which slid for the first time in over five years. The consumer price index fell 0.1% in August, the Labor Department said Tuesday, reversing a fraction of the previous month's 0.8% rise. Excluding food and energy, the CPI advanced 0.2%. The figures were in line with Wall Street forecasts, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey. The figures, which included a tame rise in core prices excluding food and energy, should make it easier for Federal Reserve officials to address severestrains in financial markets by cutting interest rates if needed without having to worry about an inflationary outbreak.

September 16, 2008 - Moody's and Standard and Poor's downgrade ratings on AIG's credit on concerns over continuing losses to mortgage-backed securities, sending the company into fears of insolvency.

September 16, 2008 - The US central bank bails out AIG, a huge insurance company.

September 17, 2008 - Chinese officials say that thousands of babies are ill after consuming tainted milk.

September 17, 2008 - The US Federal Reserve lends $85 billion to American International Group (AIG) to avoid bankruptcy.

September 17, 2008 - U.S. home construction tumbled a second month in a row during August, falling below expectations to the lowest level in 17 years. Separately, the U.S. current account deficit widened in the second quarter, pushed higher by rising oil imports.

September 18, 2008 - A fire aboard a truck being carried through the Channel Tunnel causes major damage, but no casualties.

September 19, 2008 - Paulson financial rescue plan is unveiled after a volatile week in stock and debt markets.

September 19, 2008 - The Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily halted short selling of 799 financial stocks as part of a coordinated effort with the U.K.'s markets regulator aimed at strengthening investor confidence. The short-selling ban, which is effective immediately, is set to last for 10 days, but could be extended for up to 30 days.

September 20, 2008 - At least 40 were killed and dozens wounded when a massive truck bomb devastated the Marriott hotel in a high-security neighborhood of the Pakistani capital, engulfing the building in flames. The terrorist attack, one of the worst in Pakistan's history, occurred just a few blocks away from the prime minister's residence, where the country's top civil and military leaders were attending a dinner after President Zardari addressed a joint session of parliament. With many people trapped inside the hotel, the death toll is expected to rise. Three Americans were among the wounded.

September 21, 2008 - The scandal-hit Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, resigns.

September 23, 2008 - The fact that the FBI was looking into the possibility of fraud by mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group is revealed, bringing to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation.

September 23, 2008 - A student kills 10 people and then himself in a Finnish school.

September 23, 2008 - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is interviewed by Katie Couric.

September 24, 2008 - John McCain announced he is suspending his campaign in order to work on the financial crisis, and implies he may not attend the first debate on the 26th.

September 24, 2008 - President George W. Bush addresses the nation on the financial crisis.

September 24, 2008 - The International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea plans to reinsert nuclear material into its Yongbyonreactor and that agency seals have been removed from the reactor.

September 25, 2008 - Washington Mutual is seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and its banking assets are sold to JP MorganChase for $1.9 billion.

September 25, 2008 - John McCain addresses Clinton Initiative conference.

September 25, 2008 - Obama and McCain meet with President Bush and congressional leaders to discuss the financial crisis. Republicans and Democrats in the United States House of Representatives cannot agree on the contents of a tentative bailout deal.

September 26, 2008 - Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loan association in the country, is seized by the Federal Government, dismembered, and some of its assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase.

September 26, 2008 - McCain decides to attend the first Commission on Presidential Debates sanctioned presidential debate at the University of Mississippi on foreign policy, national security and the financial crisis. .

September 27, 2008 - US film star Paul Newman dies at 83.

September 28, 2008 - Chinese astronauts return to earth after a mission including their first space walk.

September 29, 2008 - Despite John McCain's work with House Republicans, The House of Representatives ultimately rejects the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777 points, the largest one day point-drop in its history.

September 29, 2008 - Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is defeated 228-205 in the United States House of Representatives; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announces that Citigroup Inc. would acquire banking operations of Wachovia.

September 29, 2008 - US politicians agree on a 700 billion dollar rescue plan for their economy.

September 30, 2008 - At least 149 people die in a stampede at a Hindu temple in western India.

September 30, 2008 - US Treasury changes tax law to allow a bank acquiring another write off all of the acquired bank's losses for tax purposes

September 30, 2008 - President Bush again addresses the nation on the financial crisis.

Late September, 2008 - Early voting commences in selected states.

Late September, 2008 - Democratic nominee Barack Obama has raised $150 million during this month.

Early October, 2008 - Absentee balloting begins.

October 1, 2008 - The U.S. Senate passes HR1424, their version of the $700 billion bailout bill. .

October 1, 2008 - The financial crisis spreads to Europe.

October 1, 2008 - The United States Senate passes the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (a revised version of the bailout plan) by a vote of 74–25.

October 2, 2008 - Vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis between Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

October 3, 2008 - The House of Representatives passes the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act by a vote of 263–171 and President Bush signs it into law.

October 3, 2008 - President George W. Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, creating a $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program to purchase failing bank assets. It contains also easing of the accounting rules that forced companies to collapse because of the existence of toxic mortgage-related investments. Also key to winning GOP support was a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ease mark-to-market accounting rules that require financial institutions to show the deflated value of assets on their balance sheets."

October 3, 2008 - Using tax law change made September 30, Wells makes a higher offer for Wachovia, scooping it from Citigroup

October 3, 2008 - The Alaska Supreme Court is asked to rule on the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal investigation after state court judge Peter Mihalsky refuses to prevent issue of legislative report on the investigation.

October 4, 2008 - State of the race with one month to go: RealClearPolitics average Barack Obama 49.3%; John McCain 43.4%.

October 4, 2008 - Todd Palin, husband of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is reported to have agreed to testify in the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal investigation.

October 6-10, 2008 - Worst week for the stock market in 75 years. The Dow Jones loses 22.1 percent, its worst week on record, down 40.3 percent since reaching a record high of 14,164.53 October 9, 2007. The Standard & Poor's 500 index loses 18.2 percent, its worst week since 1933, down 42.5 percent in since its own high October 9, 2007.

October 6, 2008 - Fed announces that it will provide $900 billion in short-term cash loans to banks.

October 6, 2008 - The Dow Jones Industrials fall 800 points before recovering sharply later in the day.

October 6, 2008 - The McCain campaign accuses Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" in reference to his alleged links with anti-war activist Bill Ayers.

October 7, 2008 - The Federal Reserve announces details of a plan to buy massive amounts of "commercial paper," a short-term financing mechanism that many companies rely on to finance day-to-day operations, such as purchasing supplies or making payrolls. World markets rally briefly before continuing the slow motion crash, falling another five hundred points.

October 7, 2008 - Second presidential debate at Belmont University is held. The debate is in a town hall format, in which audience members ask questions of the candidates.

October 7, 2008 - Fed makes emergency move to lend around $1.3 trillion directly to companies outside the financial sector.

October 7, 2008 - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) relaxes rules on US corporations repatriating money held oversees in an attempt to inject liquidity into the US financial market. The new ruling allows the companies to receive loans from their foreign subsidiaries for longer periods and more times a year without triggering the 35% corporate income tax.

October 8, 2008 - Central banks in USA (Fed), England, China, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Central Bank cut rates in a coordinated effort to aid world economy.

October 8, 2008 - Fed also reduces its emergency lending rate to banks by half a percentage point, to 1.75 percent.

October 8, 2008 - White House considers taking ownership stakes in private banks as a part of the bailout bill. Warren Buffett and George Soros criticized the original approach of the bailout bill.

October 10, 2008 - The Alaska Legislature releases its report on the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal investigation.

October 10, 2008 - The U.S. and its G-7 allies agreed on common guidelines to address the world financial crisis, a move that opens the way for a series of government actions but falls short of the joint plan that many investors had sought. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Paulson announced that the U.S. government will move ahead with plans to buy equity stakes in financial institutions. The administration received authority to make direct purchases of stock in the $700 billion rescue bill Congress recently passed.

October 11, 2008 - The U.S. said that North Korea has been removed from a terrorism blacklist after Pyongyang agreed to nuclear verification demands. North Korea will allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of the North's declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent.

October 11, 2008 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average caps its worst week ever with its highest volatility day ever recorded in its 112 year history. Over the last eight trading days, the DJIA has dropped 22% amid worries of worsening credit crisis and global recession. Paper losses now on US stocks now total $8.4 trillion from the market highs last year.

October 11, 2008 - The G7, a group of central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading economies, meet in Washington and agree to urgent and exceptional coordinated action to prevent the credit crisis from throwing the world into depression. The G7 did not agree on the concrete plan that was hoped for.

October 11, 2008 - The Austrian far right politician Joerg Haider dies in a high-speed car crash.

October 14, 2008 - The US taps into the $700 billion available from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and announces the injection of $250 billion of public money into the US banking system. The form of the rescue will include the US government taking an equity position in banks that choose to participate in the program in exchange for certain restrictions such as executive compensation. Nine banks agreed to participate in the program and will receive half of the total funds , 2008 - 1) Bank of America, 2) JPMorgan Chase, 3) Wells Fargo, 4) Citigroup, 5) Merrill Lynch, 6) Goldman Sachs, 7) Morgan Stanley, 8) Bank of New York Mellon and 9) State Street. Other US financial institutions eligible for the plan have until November 14 to agree to the terms.

October 15, 2008 - Third presidential debate at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York on domestic and economic Policy. Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, enters the national spotlight through a series of references made by John McCain.

October 16, 2008 - Obama and McCain address the traditional Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.

October 17, 2008 - Housing starts in the U.S. sank 6.3% in September to a seasonally adjusted rate of 817,000, the lowest level in 17 years. Economists had forecast a 1.7% drop in home construction. And further declines are expected in the fourth quarter. Building permits, an indicator of future activity, fell 8.3% to a 786,000 annual rate. The decline in housing starts -- the third steep drop in a row -- should help whittle down existing housing inventories.

October 19, 2008 - Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama on Meet the Press.

October 21, 2008 - The RNC announces they spent over $150 thousand on clothing worn by Sarah Palin.

October 21, 2008 - The US Federal Reserve announces that it will spend $540 billion to purchase short-term debt from money market mutual funds. The large amount of redemption requests during the credit crisis have caused the money market funds to scale back lending to banks contributing to the credit freeze on interbank lending markets. This government is hoping the injection will help unfreeze the credit markets making it easier for businesses and banks to obtain loans. The structure of the plan involves the Fed setting up four special purpose vehicles that will purchase the assets.

October 23, 2008 - The Republican candidates personally reach out to a campaign volunteer who claimed that an African-American man had carved a backward “B” on her face during a mugging to punish her for not supporting Obama. The volunteer later confesses to having fabricated the story.

October 26, 2008 - Free and Equal sponsors a fourth debate, in which all candidates who are on the ballot in enough states to actually be elected president are invited. Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney and independent candidate Ralph Nader agree to appear. It is covered by C-SPAN.

October 26, 2008 - US forces operating from Iraq kill eight people in an attack on a Syrian village.

October 27, 2008 - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has been found guilty of lying about receiving gifts. Stevens, 84 years old, was charged with lying on financial documents to conceal $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from oil services contractor VECO Corp. Stevens has steadfastly maintained his innocence and had hoped to obtain a jury verdict before Election Day. The 40-year Senate veteran is facing a tough re-election challenge from Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage.

October 28, 2008 - State of the race with one week to go: RealClearPolitics average: Obama 50.4%; McCain 43.6%. Obama's margin ranges from 1% ( Gallup) to 14% (Pew Research)

October 29, 2008 - An earthquake kills over 200 people in southwestern Pakistan.

October 29, 2008 - The Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Series, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games. The decisive game was won 4-3.

October 29, 2008 - Obama buys a half-hour period of prime-time television on several networks, including a live component at the end of the broadcast. A late-night rally with former president Bill Clinton follows.

October 29, 2008 - New fighting flares up in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

October 30, 2008 - Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger attacks Sarah Palin's lack of experience in foreign affairs. He recants the next day on Fox News.

October 31, 2008 - Former White House Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein endorses Obama.

Late October, 2008 - Absentee ballot application deadlines.

November 1, 2008 - Republican nominee John McCain appears on Saturday Night Live.

November 2, 2008 - North Korea releases pictures of its leader, Kim Jong Il, who is believed to have been seriously ill.

November 2, 2008 - About 27 million absentee and early votes are cast in 30 states as of this date, more than in any previous presidential election. Democrats outnumber Republicans in pre-Election Day voting in key states.

November 3, 2008 - The candidates make their final pushes before the end of the campaign.

November 4, 2008 - Election Day. US voters hand a convincing victory to the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, who will be the first ever African-American president. Barack Obama is declared the President-elect by the media at around 11pm EST.

November 7, 2008 - At least 93 children and teachers die when a school collapses in Haiti.

November 7, 2008 - U.S. job losses accelerated the last two months, pushing the unemployment rate to 14-year highs in October. Nonfarm payrolls, which are calculated by a survey of establishments, tumbled a larger-than-expected 240,000 in October. The unemployment rate, which is calculated using a survey of households, soared 0.4 percentage point to 6.5%, its highest since March 1994.

November 8, 2008 - Indonesia executes three men for the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali.

November 10, 2008 - The veteran South African singer and anti-apartheid campaigner Miriam Makeba dies in Italy.

November 12, 2008 - Treasury Secretary Paulson abandons plan to buy toxic assets under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Mr. Paulson said the remaining $410 billion in the fund would be better spent on recapitalizing financial companies.

November 13, 2008 - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for state unemployment benefits unexpectedly soared past the half-million mark last week for the first time in over seven years. Initial claims for jobless benefits jumped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 516,000 in the week ended Nov. 8. The weekly data suggest further big drops in employment that threaten consumer spending ahead of the critical holiday spending season. Separately, the U.S. deficit in international trade of goods and services for September shrank by 4.4% to $56.47 billion from August's revised $59.08 billion.

November 15, 2008 - As G-20 crisis talks came to an end in Washington, world leaders in a statement pledged to take all stepsnecessary to stabilize the financial system. The statement noted five common principles on fixing the financial system. G-20 leaders agreed to meet again by April 30, 2009.

November 15, 2008 - The group of 20 of the world’s largest economies meets in Washington DC and releases a statement of the meeting. Although no detailed plans were agreed upon, the meeting focused on implementing policies consistent with five principles: strengthening transparency and accountability, improving regulation, promoting market integrity, reinforcing cooperation and reforming international institutions.

November 17, 2008 - The Treasury gives out $33.6 billion to 21 banks in the second round of disbursements from the $700 billion bailout fund. This payout brings the total to $158.56 billion so far.

November 18, 2008 - Pirates operating off the coast of lawless Somalia grab a Saudi supertanker laden with two million barrels of crude oil.

November 24, 2008 - The US government agrees to rescue Citigroup after an attack by investors causes the stock price to plummet 60% over the last week under a detailed plan that including injecting another $20 billion of capital into Citigroup bringing the total infusion to $45 billion.

November 25, 2008 - The US Federal Reserve pledges $800 billion more to help revive the financial system. $600 billion will be used to buy mortgage bonds issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

November 25, 2008 - The Food and Drug Administration said that it found one positive sample of U.S.-made infant formula containing melamine "at very low trace levels." Stephen Sundloff, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the agency also found melamine in a few samples of products such as nutritional supplements and medical supplements, all made by the five U.S. manufacturers of infant formula. Dr. Sundloff said the melamine detected was at "extremely low levels" and likely was the result of contact with melamine during the processing or from packaging. Melamine was approved to be a "food contact substance" in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

November 26, 2008 - Report released showing consumers cut spending at the sharpest rate in seven years in October, the Commerce Department said. October personal consumption fell 1.0% from the month before. Separately, orders for durable goods decreased by 6.2% last month, in another sign tight credit conditions and rising pessimism over the economy are leading firms to put off capital spending.

November 26, 2008 - Sales of single-family homes decreased 5.3% to the lowest level in 17 years in October, while prices kept retreating. New-home sales in September, meanwhile, were revised to a 0.7% increase; originally, the government said September sales climbed 2.7%. The median price of a new home fell 7% to $218,000 in October, down from $234,300 in October 2007.

November 26, 2008 - Heavily armed men landing by sea wreak havoc in the Indian city of Mumbai. At least 163 people die in three days of violence.

November 26, 2008 - Zimbabwe appeals for help to combat a serious cholera epidemic.

November 27, 2008 - The Iraqi parliament approves a contentious agreement with the US, under which foreign forces will leave the country by 2011.

November 27, 2008 A suicide car bomb exploded about 200 yards outside the the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in an attack against an American convoy. At least one person was killed and six wounded in the attack. The U.S. Embassy was hosting a Thanksgiving Day footrace, and Americans and other Westerners were entering the embassy compound at the time of the explosion.

November 28, 2008 Commandoes killed the militants making a last stand at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, Police Chief Hasan Ghafoor said, ending days of terror that left more than 150 people dead.

November 28, 2008 - The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the global organization behind the Basel Accord, issues a consultative paper providing supervisory guidance on the valuation of assets. The paper provides ten principles that should be used by banks to value assets at fair market value.

December 1, 2008 - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said further interest-rate cuts are "certainly feasible," but he warned there are limits to how much such action would revive an economy likely to stay weak well into next year. Mr. Bernanke also said the Fed's powers don't end with the federal funds rate, and its ability to inject liquidity into markets through its balance sheets "remains effective."

December 2, 2008 - Thailand's Constitutional Court has dissolved the three biggest parties in the ruling coalition for electoral fraud and temporarily barred the prime minister from politics, bringing down a government that faced months of protests seeking its ouster. Government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kau said that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his ruling, six-party coalition would step down. "We will abide by the law. The coalition parties will meet together to plan for its next move soon," he said. The ruling also set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their siege of the country's two main airports.

December 3, 2008 - Economic activity is weakening nationwide, the Federal Reserve's beige book survey shows, with few sectors spared from the deepening downturn. Through late last month, nearly every area of the U.S. reported sales declines, drops in manufacturing activity, weakening real estate markets, tighter lending and deteriorating labor markets, according to the Fed's survey of regional economic activity released Wednesday. Most sectors that had been bright spots until recently -- such as agriculture and energy -- also softened as commodity prices declined.

December 3, 2008 - The Treasury Department is considering a plan to halt the slide in home prices that would lower mortgage rates using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The plan could reduce rates for newly issued loans to as low as 4.5%.

December 6, 2008 - Mass unrest breaks out in Greece after the shooting dead of a teenager by police.

December 8, 2008 - Tribune filed for bankruptcy-court protection, in a sign of worsening trouble for the newspaper industry. Tribune has been on wobbly footing since last December, when real-estate mogul Samuel Zell led a debt-backed deal to take the company private. Tribune owns eight major daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun, plus a string of local TV stations.

December 11, 2008 - Details emerge of a worldwide pyramid scheme run by a prominent US financier, Bernard Madoff. He is believed to have lost some 50 billion dollars in all.

December 11, 2008 - A frantic, last-ditch attempt to forge an emergency-relief package for the Big Three auto makers collapsed in the U.S. Senate, amid a sharp partisan dispute over the wages paid to workers at the troubled manufacturing giants.

December 14, 2008 - Bush pays a final visit to Iraq. An Iraqi journalist hurls his shoes at him.

December 14, 2008 - European banks, including Spain's Grupo Santander and France's BNP Paribas, said their clients and shareholders face billions in losses on investments with Bernard Madoff, underscoring the global reach of the alleged Ponzi scheme run by the veteran New York money manager.

December 16, 2008 - U.S. consumer prices posted a second straight record decline last month, falling 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis. That is the largest drop since the government started compiling the figures in 1947 and well in excess of the 1.3% decline Wall Street economists had expected. Excluding food and energy, prices were unchanged.

December 16, 2008 - Goldman Sachs posted its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999, losing $2.12 billion, or $4.97 a share, during its fiscal fourth quarter. Net revenue was negative $1.58 billion. Goldman shares were up 3.5% in premarket trading.

December 16, 2008 - U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday slashed official interest rates to a historic low range to combat a deepening recession and signaled they will keep rates "exceptionally low" for some time amid rapidly waning price pressures. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to reduce the target fed funds rate for interbank lending from 1% to a range of zero to 0.25%, the lowest since the Fed started publishing the funds target in 1990. The market-determined effective fed funds rate already has already hit record lows in recent weeks. The Fed signaled in minutes from its December meeting that the recession could drag well into the new year, with economic output contracting for 2009 as a whole and inflation possibly "uncomfortably low."

December 19, 2008 - The Bank of Japan lowered interest rates to support an economy increasingly feeling the pain of a global slump, becoming the latest central bank to cut rates to rock-bottom levels. Japan's central bank also announced new steps to provide liquidity to capital markets, aiming to make it easier for cash-starved firms to raise funds.

December 19, 2008 - The White House plans a $17.4 billion rescue package for the troubled Detroit auto makers that avoids bankruptcy, officials said. President Bush was set to make an announcement at 9 a.m. The deal would extend $13.4 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler in December and January, with another $4 billion likely available in February. The deal is contingent on the companies showing that they are financially viable by March.

December 22, 2008 - The longtime leader of Guinea, Lansana Conte, dies. A military junta then seizes control of the west African state.

December 23, 2008 - Existing home sales plunged 8.6% in November to 4.49 million from a downwardly revised pace of 4.91 million in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median sales price fell by the largest amount on record, plunging 13.2% in November to $181,300, from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004 and the biggest year-over-year drop since the index began in 1968. New-home sales fell a fourth time in a row during November, and prices remained below year-earlier levels. Sales of single-family homes decreased by 2.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 407,000, the Commerce Department said.

December 24, 2008 - Consumers slashed spending 0.6% in November from the month before, despite falling prices, and continued to boost their savings to cushion themselves from the recession. U.S. workers, meanwhile, filed 30,000 new claims for state unemployment benefits last week.

December 24, 2008 - Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize-winning British playwright and one of theatre's biggest names for nearly half a century, dies aged 78 of cancer.

December 25, 2008 - Eartha Kitt, the versatile US singer and actress, dies at 81.

December 26, 2008 - Pakistan redeploys thousands of troops to the border with India.

December 27, 2008 - Israeli attacks on Hamas-run Gaza Strip kill at least 228 Palestinians.

December 30, 2008 - Home prices continued to drop as the economic downturn deepened further in October, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price indexes, a closely watched gauge of U.S. home prices, with home prices in the Sun Belt continuing to be hit hardest. In Case-Shiller's index of 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 18% from the prior year, a record, and were down 2.2% from September. Phoenix and Las Vegas dropped 33% and 32%, respectively, from a year ago. Month-to-month decliners were led by Detroit, which fell 4.5%, and San Francisco, which dropped 4.2%.

December 2008 - Retail sales tumbled by 2.7% in December, marking the sixth consecutive decline, the Commerce Department said. The deep, broad drop indicates worried consumers were adding to savings instead of spending at the height of the holiday season. Nonfarm payrolls tumbled 524,000 in December, the 12th straight decline, following a revised drop of 584,000 in November. For all of 2008, the economy lost 2.6 million jobs, the most since the end of World War II. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.2%, the highest since January 1993. U.S. consumer prices rose for the year by their slowest pace in over a half century. Much of the reversal was due to a roughly 75% decline in oil prices from their July peak. For December, the consumer price index dropped 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists had expected a 0.8% decline. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was unchanged. For the full year, consumer prices rose just 0.1%, the lowest increase since 1954 and well below the Fed's 1.5% to 2% reference over the long run. The core CPI, however, was up 1.8% for the year, suggesting the U.S. doesn't yet face economy-wide deflation. The median home price was $175,400 in December, down 15.3% from $207,000 in December 2007, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price in November this year was $180,300. Home resales rose to a 4.74 million annual rate, a 6.5% increase from November's revised 4.45 million annual pace. Of all sales in December, about 45% were distress sales at discounted prices.