By Kai Ma
Remember When?
JANUARY
- Fanned by the subprime mortgage crisis, stock markets plunge worldwide. Fears spread of a recession in the United States.
FEBRUARY
- An arsonist torches South Korea’s Sungnyemun Gate, a 600-year-old national treasure.
- School shooting at Northern Illinois University leaves six dead and 18 wounded. According to reports, the gunman admired the tactics of Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
- Fidel Castro resigns.
- Lee Myung-bak becomes the 10th president of South Korea.
- The New York Philharmonic tunes up in Pyongyang, North Korea.
- Thousands perish as a 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes near the Chinese city of Chengdu.
- Statue of Seo Jae-pil, a scholar who fought for Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule, is unveiled in Washington, D.C.
- Cyclone devastates Myanmar (also known as Burma), killing 100,000-plus.
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MAY
- Jeff Han, the brains behind CNN John King’s favorite interface-free touch screen, snags a spot on Time’s list of the world’s most influential people.
- This time, John Cho runs away from the joint in Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.
- The war in Iraq turns 5 years old.
- The shrinking of Arctic sea ice from global warming places the polar bear under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
- Mixed martial artist B.J. Penn defends his title as lightweight champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
- Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) dies on ABC’s brain-twisting drama Lost. Or does he? We still believe.
JUNE
- South Koreans have a cow over imported U.S. beef, with nearly 100,000 protestors hitting the streets of Seoul.
- The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a Washington, D.C. gun law, citing the Second Amendment.
- Rising star Anthony Kim wins the AT&T National, his second PGA victory this year, and will later help the U.S. team win the Ryder Cup.
- U.S. Census Bureau predicts minorities will outnumber whites by 2042.
- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin becomes the first female veep G.O.P nominee — earning her cult-hero status … until an unfortunate appearance on CBS.
- U.S. swimming phenom Michael Phelps wins a record eight gold medals in Beijing.
- The Ladies Professional Golf Association unveils a controversial English-language policy that it later rescinds.
- Violent clashes break out between Georgia and South Ossetia.
- South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja, 53, is fatally shot by a soldier at a North Korean mountainresort.
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SEPTEMBER
- Hurricane Gustav prompts one of the largest mass exoduses in the history of Louisiana.
- Ike barrels into Galveston, Tex. with 110-mph winds, killing dozens.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is rumored to be ill.
- Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) moves on from ex-fiancé Preston Burke (wah!) after a lip-lock with Dr. Owen Hunt on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
- As Wall Street continues to crumble, President Bush signs a $700 billion economic bailout plan approved by Congress.
- The war in Afghanistan turns 7 years old.
- South Korean visitors can now enter the U.S. visa-free, under a visa waiver program.
- Los Angeles burns.
- Gus, the world’s fugliest dog, dies after a lengthy and courageous fight against cancer.
- Samsung becomes the leader of the U.S. phone market for the first time, toppling Motorola.
- Bans on same-sex marriage pass in California, Arizona and Florida, triggering protests nationwide.
- Obama is elected POTUS.
