by LAURA TABOR
Lifestyles Reporter

The past year saw positive changes to the world as well as negative events. Many messes were cleaned up, and many messes are still left for 2009.

Early in the year, as the Iraq war was nearing it’s lowest monthly casualty point ever, fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia over the independence of South Ossetia, a small enclave of Georgia.

A ceasefire was reached, but Russia and Georgia severed diplomatic ties, according to the CNN Web site.

Various leaders left office and came to office.

Fidel Castro ceded the presidency of Cuba to Raul Castro, his brother.

Pervez Musharraf left office after resigning his position and Asif Ali Zardari succeeded him.

Natural disasters such as the Myanmar cyclone and a 7.9 Richter scale earthquake in China devastated Asia and other parts of the world.

However, as a ‘go green’ initiative began to take hold over America, the G8 concluded a resolve to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half before 2050, according to the MSNBC Web site.

Even more nations gathered in order to celebrate the global community of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Highlights included the opening ceremony featuring over 14,000 performers, and swimmer Michael Phelps achieving an unprecedented 8 gold medals in a single Games.

In November, Barack Obama became President of the United States; the country and much of the world looks to him as the recession continues.

However, one of the most enduring events in everyone’s minds was the late-year financial meltdown.

”Perhaps the most important global event of the past year was the failure of the world financial system,” Dr. Karl E. Campbell, associate history professor said. “It devastated millions of people’s lives and revealed the myths behind the exploitive economics of the past few decades."

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