World Events
- (Jan. 1–31): Tribal violence erupts in Kenya after December 2007's presidential election between Raila Odinga, of the Orange Democratic Movement, and incumbent president Mwai Kibaki. More than 800 people die in violence across the country. Preliminary results had Odinga defeating Kibaki, 57% to 39%. In the days after the election, however, Odinga's lead dwindled and Kenya's electoral commission declared Kibaki the winner, 46% to 44%. International observers said the vote was rigged.
- (Jan. 6): President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, is reelected, taking 52% of the vote. He had called for early elections in November 2007, after massive protests prompted by accusations that he abused power and stifled dissent.
- (Jan. 31): Final report by an Israeli-government-appointed panel, the Winograd Commission, on Israel's 2006 war against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, calls the operation a "large and serious" failure and criticizes the country's leadership for failing to have an exit strategy in place before the invasion.
U.S. Events
- (Jan. 3): The presidential primary season begins with Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee victorious in the Iowa caucuses.
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Nobel Prizes in Science
- On 22 October, India launched its first unmanned spacecraft for a two-year mission to map a three-dimensional atlas of the Moon and search for natural resources on the lunar surface. This achievement demonstrated India’s technological capabilities and willingness to compete with other space faring nations for commercial opportunities.
- On 27 September, Zhai Zhigang stepped out of the Shenzhou-VII spacecraft and made the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut. The achievement was an important one in China's quest to build a space station by 2020 and someday land on the Moon.
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