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The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge that it set a record for being the most distant seen on Earth by the naked eye. The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reached Earth on March 19. However, NASA had no reports that any sky watchers spotted the burst, which lasted less than an hour.
Bhutan held its first general election on March 24 for the National Assembly. The two contesting parties were registered by the Election Commission for the election: the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (DPT, for Druk Phuensum Tshogpa), which was formed by the merger of the previously established Bhutan People's United Party and All People's Party and is led by Jigme Y. Thinley, and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). The third political party, the Bhutan National Party (BNP), had its application for the registration cancelled.
Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok in September, after clashes left at least one person dead. Dozens more were hurt in the worst violence seen in Bangkok for 16 years. Separately, in a fresh blow to the government, the Thai election commission recommended that Mr. Samak's People Power Party be disbanded over claims of vote buying in elections last December.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda resigned after less than a year in office, throwing the world's second-largest economy into political confusion in September. Mr. Fukuda's popularity rose briefly after he shuffled his cabinet in the summer, but ongoing scandals over political funding, missing pension funds and kickbacks in the Defence Ministry refused to go away. Coupled with the political deadlock, rising prices and a lacklustre economy, the writing was on the wall for the third Japanese prime minister in less than three years.
Nearly a year after assassins killed Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her widower Asif Ali Zardari, won the country's presidential election and hailed his triumph as a victory for democracy in September. Zardari, 53, had been the front-runner in the race to replace former President Pervez Musharraf. The election was not by public vote, but rather by lawmakers in the two houses of the National Assembly and in the four provincial assemblies around the country. Under Pakistan's constitution, the president is elected by a majority vote.
Israel's embattled Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, confirmed his resignation on September 21, but assured he will remain in power until a new government is formed. It was still unclear, however, when Olmert would formally submit his resignation to the president, Shimon Peres, and there is speculation that he may remain in power for a number of months.
The Diet of Japan elected Taro Aso as the new Prime Minister of Japan in September. Aso, 68, easily won a lower house vote to become Japan's third prime minister in just over a year. Aso's rise at his fourth attempt to the top of Japanese politics began on Monday with a landslide victory in a vote to choose a new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) following the surprise resignation of Yasuo Fukuda. |
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| Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 28, was crowned as the King for the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan early this November. He is one of the youngest monarchs in the world. After Jigme Khesar father's was abdicated in 2006 as part of plans to change the Buddhist nation of 600,000 people to a constitutional monarchy, the crowned king became the head of state of the world's newest democracy. |
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| In March, Bhutan held the first democratic elections for a new parliament and prime minister. The coronation came in what is known in Bhutan as the month of the male earth rat and was watched by thousands of foreign dignitaries, including India's President Pratibha Patil. |
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Barack Hussein Obama became the President-elect of the United States. The first African American to be elected President of the United States, Obama was elected to be the junior United States Senator from Illinois in 2004 and served until his resignation on November 16, 2008, following his election to the Presidency. His term of office as the forty-fourth U.S. president will begin on January 20, 2009. His win as a President has brought out hopes in bettering U.S. relation with the rest of the world.
Reliance Industries (RIL) chief Mukesh Ambani displaced steel czar Lakshmi Mittal as the richest Indian in the world with a net worth of $20.8 billion, a list of the nation's 40 richest people compiled by Forbes magazine showed. The number of billionaires in India fell to 27 this year from 40 last year. |
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| On December 2, after weeks of opposition-led protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolved the governing People's Power Party and two coalition member parties and banned leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, from politics for five years. As such, Wongsawat promptly resigned and was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul as caretaker Prime Minister. |
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Parvathy Omanakuttan of India was picked up as the first runner-up of the 2008 Miss World contest held at Johannesburg on December 13. Kseniya Sukhinova of Russia bagged the coveted crown of Miss World title while Miss Trinidad and Tobago Gabrielle Walcott won third place.
The 21-year-old south Indian supermodel, Parvathy impressed the jury with her looks and quick wit and was one the five finalists out of the 109 contestants of the beauty contest. |
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